Once again, my lack of journal keeping has left me at a bit of a loss as to where to take up the tale of our travels. Instead of going from place to place and trying to recall all I can, you will get the tour based on different common themes. I hope. First and foremost has got to be the music.
Here we go. A quick look at the various venues we have played over the past 4 months. I seem to be missing some very good pictures of fun nights playing, but will not let that stop me now.
I thought this a great shot of or friend Arek, from the boat “Ariel.” He is traveling with his wife Evona, and they are good fun. He plays the accordion, piano, guitar, probably many more. Evona plays the piano and oboe at a professional level. Cannot find the pictures of the oboe night. She only got it out once for us. We had many good sessions with them. The accordion was always a big hit whenever we played on the beach with locals around. It is not really a common instrument seen out here. Unfortunately Ariel has headed on a different path than us for now and we are not sure when we will see them next. I will miss them. Will look for a picture of the two of them together, but for now will stick to the music.
Next is a good shot from the island of Huahine, part of French Polynesia. Our audience was a bit thin at this point, but picked up later on as the sun set. Here I am, with Jason Rose in the middle and his brother Alex. Bonnie is just behind Alex there. Most of the island towns we have visited have some sort of central area that is open for all to sit around in the shade and do whatever it is they want.
Jason Rose has been our steady companion throughout the South Pacific. He is sailing single handed on his boat Bodhran. (www.jasonrose.com).
Here he is working on a song with Bonnie. She is getting much better at the guitar thanks to her perseverance and Jason’s coaching.
There was one night in Tahiti that really stands out in my memory. It started out with a bunch of us sailors headed downtown in Papeete with the instruments in tow. Matt, Jason and I set up on the downtown waterfront and took a shot at earning some beer money. There were lots of people wandering around. As it turns out, American folk/country/blues draws a lot of attention. We ended up with about $70 in the guitar case in front of us. Unfortunately, in that town $70 is enough for two pitchers of beer, only just enough.
None-the-less, we wandered around until we heard some great music coming from an alley bar and had a seat. These local guys were awesome musicians. We sat for a while listening. Then, as usually happens someone calls us in when they see the instruments. I jumped in with the mandolin first, and gave it a go. Not to bad, but the island style of music can be very fast for me.
Jason and Matt jumped in there and we had an event. The three of us would do a song and they join in, then they lead and we try to follow. These fellows were really good. They had no problems figuring out what we were playing and added a huge new sound to all the songs we had been playing together for months. Well, the evening went on and more people crowded into the place. Pretty soon there were hundreds around, often singing along with whatever songs they knew.
That was a very, very fun night. Then we had to make our way back to the boats, and that took a while at 2a.m.
Here we are back in Huahine. There were many yachts anchored with us and most of them came in to shore this particular evening to see what would happen on a Friday night. Well, much did happen. We ended up working our way down the street stopping and playing wherever anyone seemed interested. These guys were just standing around their truck and asked for a song or two. Jason and I obliged them.
While playing at the truck another fellow came by and pulled us along to his fishing boat for some more tunes. They were commercial fishermen and just back from a long day on the water. All were in good spirits and we all took turns with the guitar and singing.
This is a more recent shot, taken at Palmerston Island, a very unique place to say the least. We spent 10 days there. Every morning Edward (blue shirt in middle) would pick us up in his boat and haul us in for a coffee and chat. Then, we would all get to work on the list of things that they asked us to help them with. We fixed heavy earth moving equipment, solar panels, generators (actually, could not fix the generator, needed a part); Jason was able to be a huge help to many of them with their computers and other electronic equipment. Bonnie taught the kids how to fly our big kites (made here a real hero for sure). Matt fixed up all of the broken bicycles lying around. Ben got some video cameras running and the list goes on.
Now, it was not all work. Every day they set out a huge meal for all of us. Followed by another coffee and music of course. Here Jason and I have a go with Tere and Edward.
These are some shots from several months ago, back in the Tuamotus Islands. Three or four boats anchored up away from the village and had a beach fire and music. Lets see. There was Willow, Bodhran, Ariel, Just Do It (German couple) and Robin (British boat).
It was a spectacular night.
Here is Matt off of “Robyn” having a go with his guitar.
Well, that was the quick tour. There were many more nights we played and mornings and afternoons, but do not have pictures of it all. I wish I had more and will try to take more as we go. We have met some fantastic musicians and have been luckily enough to play with them and learn from them. Hopefully there will be many more good times to come.