EVERYBODY
WANTS TO KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING IN KEY WEST!
Every
now and then I hear or see someone proclaim “What happens in Key West stays in
Key West”. This statement is entirely false, has no foundation whatsoever, and
if someone is naïve and gullible to fall for it, it could very well end up
biting them in the ass big time. Often it does. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Key West
in the slightest. Nothing at all.
The
saying “What happens in...” does apply to Las Vegas, and perhaps rightfully so.
But how could anyone, even remotely compare Las Vegas with Key West? Not really. We’re talking two very opposite
ends of the spectrum here. Key West is actually the polar opposite.
Contrary
to the Las Vegas slogan, Key West is a virtual on line stage that broadcasts for
the entire world to see, 24/7/365. Ain’t
no secrets here at all. None. Fact is, whatever one is doing in Key West could
be being viewed by thousands of people from Los Angeles, to New York, to
London, to Moscow, to Johannesburg, to New Deli, to Beijing. ‘’..Stays in Key
West”? Hello.
I recall
long before I moved here, there were more streaming web cams in Key West than
there were in anyplace else in the world. Key West is on display to the world! Today I’d make a safe wager that there are
more streaming web cams in a square ¼ mile radius in Key West than anywhere
else in the world and then there are more outside that radius. How many times
have people visiting Key West called their friends back home to see them on the
web cams waving and toasting them? How many people have followed their friends,
via on line web cams, going bar to bar, drinking with them in front of their
computers? How many marriages went south because a spouse saw their significant
other in a bar with someone else that they weren’t supposed to be with, in Key
West? Answer: A LOT!
And
there are people who say “What happens in Key West Stays in Key West”? Really? What planet are they on anyway?
Everyone just saw Jane from Peoria pull up her shirt and flash the camera. “..
Stays in Key West”? HA HA HA! You’ve GOT to be kidding.
Key West
is a stage to the world and the world wants to know what’s happening in Key
West. They tune in too. Via the web cams,
people can hear bands playing live as it goes down. Back when I was up in
Miami, I’d listen at my day job. It isn’t just web cams either. This blog alone
is getting between 100 and 300 hits per day, from around the world. (Thank you
everyone!!!) Here’s where people are looking at this blog from this week alone:
Italy,
United States, India, Russia, Germany, France, Canada, Ukraine, Latvia,
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Last month
this blog had over 4,200 views. That’s an average of 257 views per day from
people around the world, who want to know what’s happening in Key West. Both
the blog and Facebook work out well for me because when they come to Key West
they ask me where I’m playing and also a nice place to stay, not forgetting
where to eat as well. (What’s good for the goose is good for the gander)
Be advised:
When you are in Key West there are no secrets and the world is watching you.
Nothing stays in Key West because it’s broadcasted all around the world. Again,
you’re on stage when you’re in Key West.
The bottom
line here is that, like this blog’s motto states:
“What
happens in Key West stays in Key West…
WRONG!!!!
EVERYONE WANT’S TO KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING IN KEY WEST!”
Here’s a
link to some of the web cams in the Keys
SHOOTING
A VIDEO
Sailing
For over
a month and a half Gary Ek and I have been attempting to shoot a video for my song
“Sailing”. First we were going to film it on “Aurora”, my friend Blackheart
Charlie’s boat, with his girlfriend Rachel and her dog Charlie (She had the dog
before she met Charlie her BF.. it’s a REALLY long story! HA HA! ), However, we
were rained out. Unfortunately for us, they were leaving for summer and fall on
a massive sailing adventure in two days, so it didn’t work out unfortunately.
Gary’s
girlfriend Bobbie however knows the captain of the Key West based charter sailboat
Blue Ice, Captain Bruce and his wife Tina, not forgetting their young son
Brandon, who is a very able deckhand, incidentally! As it turned out, I know
Bobbie’s daughter Michelle and felt she’d be a marvelous addition to the shoot.
Michelle’s free days were on Wednesdays at that point and that worked for
everyone… except it didn’t. For the next five or six weeks, some kind of obstacle
came up every Wednesday. Finally we had all of the stars fall into place and
what a great day we had! Bobbie and Gary also came with Collette, while Michelle
came with two knockout friends from New Orleans who were visiting, Helen and
Pearl. In addition we also had my friend Sarah. So we had a complement of ten
aboard the 47 Ft. Blue Ice Trust me, it was scenic!
We had a
very fun shoot and we’ll see how it turns out and when the editing is done! I’ll
post it in a future blog once it’s complete!
Captain
Bruce was a fantastic help and what a great disposition he has! Bearing in mind
that he does so many weddings aboard the Blue Ice, he has an innate knowledge of
what video shots work and what doesn’t. That saved us so much time. He also
knew just where to put the boat for the shots as well! What a God send having
his help was! Turns
out, Captain Bruce is a first generation American of Norwegian stock. It’s very,
very reassuring to have a Viking at the helm!
I
brought my Ibanez for the video, as it’s so photogenic! Not quite as much as
the girls, but it did look good! Fingers crossed for a successful video!
When we
took a break I played another song of mine, “Liveaboard”. This is not the video
we were doing that afternoon, but it’s fun nonetheless. It was funny because I
forgot a pick and I played it like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, with a coin! HA HA!
The recoil off the strings takes a bit of getting used to! HA HA!
THE MOST
CHORDS IN A TROP ROCK SONG?????
A lot of Trop Rock consists of three or four chords songs
and that’s all good. For myself I’m
always looking for:
A) My own sound
B) Something that’s a bit of a challenge.
The fact that I have a bit of music theory education, makes
me downright dangerous, HA HA! Consequently
some of my songs are a bit “chordy”. But seriously, all of these chords I use
are with a purpose. Each one adds its own color and uniqueness. On my CD “Shanghai’d
and Marooned in Key West (things could be worse)”…”Key West Blues” has the
least with only 5, whereas “The South” and “The Beach” share the high of 11. As
you can imagine, I get a fair amount of abuse from fellow musicians for this.
HA HA HA! Keyboard player Bob Boyd, a
very accomplished musician, would often say to me when we were recording
Shanghai’d “Wait! Wait! Wait a minute!
What are you doing there? You CAN’T do that musically!” to which I would reply
“Bob, I just did. Listen to it. It works.”
Funny enough, even though I was breaking some of rules musically, it did
work. In the end Bob said “You know?
What you’re doing isn’t supposed to work, but it somehow does” A lot of that
has to do with the chords I use. Again, I’m looking for a unique sound, not
typical voicings, and the unique colors that they arrive with.
After Shanghai’d came out, I wrote “Island Blue”* and I guess I kind of
went over the top, with fifteen chords :-O
On my latest song, “Seaplane”, I fumbled through for only
the second time at the Key West Songwriter’s Fest on the 4th of
May. It was posted on Youtube and my pal
Bobby DeVito writes me and says “You got some chords in that one”. Well, I knew
nothing had more chords than “Island Blue”. Then I started thinking that there
were a few in that song, so I went back to look at it in the written form. Was I in for a shock! When I got to ten and
seeing what followed, I knew this was something truly insane. Twenty three
chords… and in the recorded version there will be one more in the instrumental
section.
E13, G#13, A13,
C#7, Fm7, B7,
Bdim, B9, CMaj9,
E9, D9, G#m#4, AMaj7,
CMaj7, C6/9, B6/9, FmAJ7, Eb9, F#m7add
4, EMaj9, Db9, EMaj7,
A11.
Yes, it’s most likely time to have me put in a strait jacket
and carted off, but at least it has a lot of color and I don’t sound like
anyone else!
Schedule: May 30 Sunset Tiki Bar 617 Front St. in the Galleon Resort. 617 Front St. on the water Playing 2 – 5 PM.
June 4th The Rum Barrel 528 Front St.
7 – 10pm on the rooftop bar
June 6th Sunset Tiki Bar 617 Front St. in the Galleon Resort on the water
June 6th Sunset Tiki Bar 617 Front St. in the Galleon Resort on the water
June 7th Meet Me In The Keys 1pm
June 8th Cancer fund raiser at The Cork and
Stogie 4 - 7
June 16th The Bull 10 – 2
June 20th Sunset Tiki Bar 617 Front St. in the Galleon Resort on the water.
June 20th Sunset Tiki Bar 617 Front St. in the Galleon Resort on the water.
If you are coming to Key West, be sure to check out The
Galleon Resort for accommodations!!!
Contact: chrisrehmmusic@yahoo.com
Purchase music at http://keywestchris.com/
·
“island
Blue” (along with other unreleased
recordings as well as the CD) is available on my website @ http://keywestchris.com/products/island-blue
“Shanghai’d and Marooned in Key West (things could be worse)”
can also be found at: iTunes, CDBaby, CD Universe, and Rhapsody. Search “Key
West Chris”
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