TROP ROCK AWARDS IDEAS

My friend Chris Uhland is in the hospital. He stayed with us on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning I was on the computer when he said "Something really weird is happening. I have blood in my urine". Making a long story short, he's now in Baptist Hospital in Miami having had a 7lb. cancer tumor removed, as well as his kidney and spleen. They say he had the tumor for about seven years. A pound a year growth I gather?

Some of you may recall the live video feed of the TRMA awards at MOTM that was to take place, but was canceled for unknown reasons, which I mentioned in my last blog? Well, that was Chris "thedigidude" Uhland on the video side of the show, with the A1A Media Group.

One of the things I saw very early on in getting to know Chris, was that he always puts business first. Harry Teaford, of Radio A1A, is the other half of the A1A Media Group.

As the story was told to me, when Harry approached Chris about starting the A1A Media Group, like anything else he does, Chris did some research into this "Trop Rock music" to see what kind of potential it had and frankly, if it was worth his time.

One of Chris' other jobs is with the Keys television station WEYW. WEYW is connected business wise with WPBT up in Miami. In doing research into Trop Rock, Chris was able to access all of the media stats available, via both WEYW and WPBT. In his research, Chris found that according to all the media stats, Trop Rock has over two million fans. Over Two Million fans! After finding this out, Chris felt the A1A Media Group was justified and on solid ground with both Harry Teaford, and the potential growth for video media in this group.

Please keep Chris in your prayers. The energy he gets from prayers, good thoughts, vibes... etc, keeps him going. He's a very energetic guy. Watching him work is like watching the Energizer Bunny in the commercials! He doesn't stop! He's got several months ahead of him, so please don't forget him. He's a great guy, in addition to being a fantastic asset to the genre.



(Chris "thedigidude" Uhland (R) on the set)

With the stage set, first and foremost I would like to say that I'm happy to be a member of the Trop Rock Music Association! The group started off as a fan club for the group Latitude and was then called The Margarita Mafia and was overseen by Latitude's co-head Tom Becker.

The Margarita Mafia started giving awards at MOTM for various accomplishments within the Trop Rock genre. I always thought this was a great idea having a club voting and giving out awards. It keeps everyone in the club active within the club as well. Obviously, it comes as no surprise that a fan club of a band vote members of the band winners of the clubs awards. It would actually be a surprise if they didn't vote them in. A few years ago they changed their name to The Trop Rock Music Association and rightfully so, continued their club awards.

As I say, I'm all for clubs having their own awards. I belong to The Trop Rock Music Association (TRMA), as well as The Southernmost Coconut Castaways and The Key West Parrothead Club. Membership for each is only $20.00 and for myself, it's money well spent. The Trop Rock Music Association is the only one of the three that has awards.

As I write this, The TRMA show 340 members on their website, while their Facebook page has at this writing, 1,225 members. It should be noted that it may be that not all members of TRMA are signed to their website, as well as a number of people who like a Facebook page are not members of a given club.

Lets go back to my friend Chris "thedigidude" Uhland. His research into seeing if Trop Rock would be worthwhile for him to invest his time into, utilizing the media information available through stations WEYW and WPBT's sources, showed him that there are over two million fans in Trop Rock.

Just to underline this, back in August when Dani Hoy and I played at the Sandbox, Danny Lynn of Tiki Island Radio drove down from Tennessee to interview us before the show. Another station, AMI Radio, was going to air our performance live. As it turned out, the weather wasn't looking too good for an out door event and AMI Radio elected to pass. With that, Danny and I talked and decided to go with a spontaneous Tiki Island Radio broadcast of the concert. There was no promotion, as this was right off the cuff. Additionally, the rain held off. We played for a total of four hours, with a break to see the sunset.

When everything was all said and done, the broadcast brought in 28,365 average listeners over the entire show. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but 28,365 was the average.  Keeping in mind that there are between fifteen and twenty Trop Rock stations broadcasting world wide, and Tiki Island Radio had absolutely no promotion for this spontaneous event, I think that easily underlines the figure of "over two million" that Chris' media sources gave. For that night Tiki Island Radio had 28,365 average listeners, while the rest of the Trop stations had their listeners as well, and no doubt, the  vast majority of Trop fans doing something entirely different on a Saturday evening. So yes, the media figure of "over two million" comes across as accurate in my book and perhaps a bit conservative at that.

With all of this in mind, now lets go back to the TRMA. They show 340 members on their website and 1,225 fans on their Facebook page. I don't know how many members the club actually has. As I said before, someone who signs up, may very well not join their website and Facebook fans might not all be members. Some people have said they have around 600 paid members, others say over 800. Bear in mind, one has to be a member in order to cast a vote in the Trop Rock Music Awards. For this, I'm going to give the TRMA the benefit of doubling the highest number of members of the estimates that I've been given (800), which brings the total number of voting members to 1,600.

For the sake of easy numbers, lets call the media's call on the amount of Trop Rock fans of "over two million", to just plain 2,000,000.


The bottom line here is that 1,600 people voting on behalf of 2,000,000 equals .08%

Yes, that's not a typo, you read that right, .08%

Having said that, if the TRMA does have 1,600 members, at $20 per membership, that's $32,000.00. I have no problem with that whatsoever. Some may argue it, but as I've stated earlier, that's the going rate to join any club and they have expenses, just like anyone else.

Here's where I differ on it. However first I will state again, that fundamentally I support what they are doing. Their intentions are spot on and from the heart.

One of the things that myself, TRMA, and many others are trying to do is to make Trop Rock a recognized genre. At the moment, the artists, clubs, organizations, and radio stations within the Trop world see ourselves as our own genre, but those in the industry do not. They'll just label it as Rock or Country.

Should Trop Rock become recognized, it's a boost for all involved. Our fan base will at minimum, double and more likely, triple. Country star Kenny Chesney, who does a LOT of music that could also be categorized as Trop, has over 6,500,000 fans on his FB page. There really is a lot of potential here.

For a moment lets just pretend that Trop Rock did become a recognized genre. BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, all put us in our own category. You go on iHeart Radio, or Pandora and search Trop Rock and up come choices like Sunny Jim, Dani Hoy, Pup Morse, Jimi Pappis, Barefoot Reggie Starrett, John Friday, Chris Bellamy, Loren Davidson, Renn Loren, B-Man and Miss Behavin', hell, even me, Key West Chris, and the list goes on and on.

What happens with news, such as a new recognized genre, is attention and that attention comes from the media. This is the type of thing that the media would be all over as well! Believe me, that's where our exposure to new fans is at it's hight. Everyone in the media, the music industry, and the fans are all over it.

With the "everyone" that I mentioned, did you notice the first listed was the media? Yes, of course there will be Rolling Stone, the media television shows, and everything else that goes along with all the hoopla that would be happening.... including reporters who report along the same lines as say, the great Mike Wallace.

A reporter like that would have a field day with Trop Rock, regarding the awards, and subsequently the entire genre that was just created. Here's an organization that started out as a band fan club, run by the heads of the band, who won virtually all the awards throughout the history of the organization, then finally, the Trop Rock Music Awards encompass a total of maybe .08% of the entire fan base.

In short, as soon as the genre starts, it's down the tubes from the way an investigative reporter writes. It would make Volkswagen look like the Arch Angel Gabrielle in comparison to Trop Rock. Right or wrong, they will tear us to ribbons. We would qualify as confetti in New York's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I couldn't say how the TRMA is set up on paper legally, and if it's set up properly, all is well and good. If not, it has the potential of blowing up like a gasoline storage facility hit by a cruise missile.

Again, I think that the intent of the TRMA is very sincere and they put a lot of blood,sweat, and tears (this year particularly) into it. For their efforts both past and present, they should be commended!

On the flip side, unfortunately, it's very vulnerable.

A couple of years ago, Beachfront Radio had a contest where listeners wrote in and voted via e-mail. If memory serves me correctly, they had around 14,000 votes. If those figures are correct, Beachfront is at .7%, up from .08%. Additionally, the voters at Beachfront Radio didn't have to join a club, or pay dues.

Trop Rock has grown quite a bit in the last two years as well. Case in point the 28K+ listeners we had with Tiki Island Radio on a live broadcast one evening from The Sandbox (Thank you Pablo, Diana, Sheryl, Rick, Debbie, and Danny!), was twice the size of the replies that Beachfront Radio received, I believe over a two week period.

Obviously, in my opinion, it's clear things should change from the status quo.  I don't think the TRMA should be a by product of a fan club for anyone. Additionally, it's my view that anyone who is a fan of Trop Rock Music, should be able to cast a vote and shouldn't be required to join a club to do so, or pay a fee. This was the thing I liked best about Beachfront Radio's contest a couple of years back.

As it stands right now, the TRMA is a fan club, who self-appointed themselves as the delegation to award those in the genre and in doing so, changed their name from The Margarita Mafia to the very official sounding Trop Rock Music Association. Again, this is a self-appointed group.

I think other options could prove more democratic and farther reaching. One idea could be having all the Trop Radio Stations pool together contests from their own listeners. One of the coolest things about this crazy genre, is that each station plays different artists from one another! The results could be fascinating!



Thanks again for reading! Tell everyone what you think and we can pool ideas! I made a Facebook page to do so. Here's the link:


https://www.facebook.com/groups/TropRockAwardsIdeas/

Sorry, but the bottom line is .08% of Trop Rock fans voting for 99.92% of the fans just doesn't cut it.



All The Best From Key West

Key West Chris Rehm

Update, Day Two

EPILOG: 

After over 133,000 views on this blog, an epilog is unprecedented. However, after yesterday's release of this blog, so many have offered information and experiences via messages to me, or posts, that an epilog is only appropriate. After yesterday's feedback, I can only imagine today, tomorrow, and the next few days will be similar.

One question that popped up was with the TRMA was:

1) Does one have to be a member to be nominated?

The answer to this was no. Only members can nominate those for awards though. However, if say Jerome Howard were nominated, he could only get an award if he joins TRMA, and pays the entrance fee to do so.

Opinion: This is obscene, plain and simple. If true, this puts the organization into serious question regarding integrity. Frankly, calling it by it's true definition, this would be extortion. It sounds like something the Mafia would do.

2) A former TRMA winner suggested that the figure I came up with of .08% was being generous. The Media figure of over 2M Trop Rock fans is set in stone. My figure of 1,600 votes  within TRMA would therefore be the number in question. As I mentioned above in the piece, I've heard TRMA numbers as low as 600, which would equate to .03% of the media figure of 2M. It doesn't really make a difference in the end however, as .08% and .03% are light years below even 1%.

3) Many are in question regarding TRMA's legal incorporation. Most are suggesting that it is not set up as a legal entity at all, and that it's basically a group of people who have a private club, with no legal incorporation whatsoever. I have no information on this one way, or another. This is however, the general consensus of what I'm seeing from others.

Dedicated to a Brother - DJ Jeff Allen

                                             Dedicated to a Brother

( A DJ Jeff wristband, a soundings chart of Key West, and a guitar which represents music, all things DJ Jeff)

The timing just flat out sucked. There is no better way to say it and there is no candy-coat to butter it up to make it better than it was.  I got the news via text, from my friend Dani Hoy. Earlier I saw an ominous post on Facebook from Christa, which pleaded for prayers for him and her mother.

I was running a gig with many people involved when I received the text from Dani “are you available?”. I pretty much knew at that point, though you never want to accept it. I tried to write back, but it was insanely busy at that point. I wrote “Jeff”  “did he pass?” when I pushed the send, the answer already came in. Jeff had passed.

For me, the news wasn’t entirely unsuspected. It was the timing that hurt as much as anything else.

Jeff, Carol, and I are good friends. There wasn’t much, regarding his condition that I was not privy to. I always told him, regardless of what the predicted outcome might be “Jeff, when we talk, we’re talking about the future. We’re not talking about doom and gloom. We’re talking about the future and all that it holds regarding the music. I know your situation, but if you are focused on living, let’s talk about things that are live and happening. You’re already going to be addressing your condition with everyone else. While naturally I’m interested and very concerned about it, I don’t want to be on that bandwagon. I want to be the escape from it, even if it’s for just a few minutes”

Jeff and I did talk about his condition several times, the last being a few months ago, where he informed me that he was terminal. We talked about it for maybe three minutes. All that was needed to be said about it was. He mentioned that basically the doctors had stopped treatment and now were focused on making him comfortable. Jeff told me some things that were private regarding how it affected him mentally, as well as physically. We both understood it to a “T”. I again told him that I knew that so many good natured people would always be inquiring about his health and therefore, my job was not to bring up the subject. My conversations would consist of music, the radio station, Key West, …ex. He appreciated that.

Jeff never spoke on the radio that he was terminally ill. So, while the masses knew he had pancreatic cancer, Jeff always put on a very brave fighting face and would let folks know of his battle, he never let on that he was near the end. Never looking for pity, but rather support for the fight against cancer cause. He was a very brave and noble man for that.

There are Trop Rock performers who have known Jeff for ten, fifteen years. I was different. I met Jeff at the 2009 MOTM when he was DJing at, of all places, Garden of Eden, a clothing optional bar on the roof of The Bull. The key word here of course is “optional”. Jeff was not naked, nor was I, HA HA HA!  

I had put together a YouTube video several months earlier, based on a demo recording I had of my song “Raise My Glass to the Upper 48”, which Jeff had seen and told me he really liked! The song/video focused on living in Key West and the Keys in general. I was so complemented in hearing that, I can’t explain. The recording I used on it was not airworthy for radio however. I knew that from the get-go, however Jeff mentioned that when I did record it for a CD, he wanted it.

Somewhere around that time Carol and Jeff became an item and they started Beachfront Radio. Whenever they were in Key West, we’d always hang out. One evening was particularly nice. The three of us just hung out at McConnell’s at a small upright table, grabbed dinner and a few beers. It was one of those times that later, often when we talked, we reflected on in fond retrospect. It was also funny because this drunk guy kept coming to our table and striking up a conversation. It was kind of funny/strange because I was playing there last evening, running the open mic, and was talking to my friends while someone else was playing. I was at that exact same table when I received the aforementioned text.

I knew it was coming, so it wasn’t so much a shock then it was a major disappointment and hurt.  Damn. Jeff covered everything so well, plus he did his last show the day before and was scheduled to leave for the Keys. It was to be a sail through the Keys, from Key Largo, I believe. The impact didn’t hit me right away. There was nothing I could do and I also had a job to complete myself and it wasn’t even 8:30 yet. I’ve been in situations like this before and candidly, I deal pretty well with them. As in the other previous situations I would deal with this later.

Jeff is a friend however. It wasn’t just a business relationship, or acquaintance. Both he, Carol, and I shared things that were private information. There was a trust and a bond. That’s a friendship. One, not a story that was private, but back early on in our friendship he inquired about the possibilities of him coming to Key West for the winter and shacking out at my place. Jeff is my friend.

However, when I arrived home after the gig last night, was when I opened up the doors to the emotion I had them closed for earlier in the evening. That’s when the pain of losing a friend landed home.

When my CD, “Shanghai’d and Marooned in Key West (things could be worse)” came out, Jeff was all over it. He was ecstatic on the production of it. I also had super accolades from Shelly Liebowitz, producer of Miles Davis, Dr. John, Ella…ex.  The production and musicianship was second to none. I’ll always be grateful to Dan Simpson (producer) and the 18 local musicians who made the album what it was.

First and foremost, Jeff LOVED Key West! I think that had a good bit to do with why Jeff liked it so much. I didn’t scoot off to New York, Los Angeles, or Nashville and record it with a bunch of studio musicians there. I recorded it at the San Carlos Institute, right on Duval Street and also at Private Ear Studios, here in Key West. Everyone on the CD lives here and they get it! They know the Key West vibe because they live it every day, on top of being as good musicians as anywhere on earth.

Jeff was a very sensitive and perceptive guy. He not only saw this, he felt it. This album represented everything about the Keys that Jeff loved and I was touched that he saw it in this light, because that was my goal. This album was designed to be feeding off of the pulse of Key West and the Keys. Not everyone has the ability to see or feel that. As a matter of fact, very few do. It's a musical variation of 'Reading between the lines'. Jeff picked up on that as soon as he got the CD.

I was also a guest interview on his show several times and almost a year ago, I was a co-host when the show went live in Key West from the former T's Bistro. I've gotten a fair amount of broadcast time down here on Key West and I guess I have a knack for keeping it fun and the ball rolling. It was always a complete blast being on the show with Jeff and we always had great ratings (thanks Everyone!). The last time I was on, I think it was around the time of the Key West Songwriter's Festival which I was in, the station received the highest ratings to that date. It was always great chemistry with Jeff and myself on the air. Always a lot of fun and laughing. I'm going to miss that a lot.

Another thing that Jeff liked, was where I was coming from musically. Unlike most Trop Rock musicians, I was entering the genre from an entirely different perspective and angle. Back in the 12” vinyl days I had hundreds of records. Of those hundreds of records, which ranged from The Allman Brothers, to Frank Zappa, from Charles Mingus to Pink Floyd, to Stephan Grappelli…I had one… one Jimmy Buffett record “Son of the Son Of a Sailor”, which I really loved. But that’s all I had. I remember being on stage over at Smokin Tuna in a big jam of Trop Rockers playing a Jimmy Buffett song with them, when they pointed to me to sing the next verse. I kept playing my guitar and shook my head no. The reason? I didn’t know all the words!

So, I came into the Trop Rock scene with an entirely different outlook and perspective. Different grooves and using chords that really weren’t used so much in the genre. Chords like a C6/9, G7#9, Em+9, or a A13. Jeff liked this and he played the hell out of my CD, for which I’m eternally grateful and honored.

Jeff may not have made it to Key West for MOTM this year, but more importantly, he did make it to California and back to the woman he loved more than anything in the world. It almost didn’t happen. Jeff was rushed to the hospital shortly before he left to go back to California. It had us all concerned. However, God gave him the extra time to get out to Carol, spend some time with her and then, he passed in her arms with his step-daughter there as well. We all are going to go at one point or another, but Jeff was truly blessed to go like this.

(Jeff and I at Koz’s Green World Gallery for the Ya Mon cruise. Photo by Tammy Hollander)

All of my shows at MOTM, The Open Mic at McConnell’s on Wednesday evening, The Tropical Songwriters in Paradise on Thursday (noon to 8),   and the Sunday Afternoon Chill Dockside at Sunset Tiki (Noon to 5), will be dedicated to a brother, DJ Jeff Allen. As a matter of fact the Sunday show at Sunset Tiki I’m changing the format. Any players that want to a song for Jeff, please stop by, plug in, and let it Trop Rock for Jeff.

Again, first and foremost, Jeff and I are friends. Often I'd send him pictures from his favorite island. I know that made him smile. I was just keeping him in the loop. I also used to send him songs that I was working on. I’d record it on my iPhone’s voice memos and send it to him as a message. He was always very curious about them, but never critiqued them at all. The last one I sent him was one that I was going to write with Ryan and Andy from Homemade Wine. I sent Jeff what I had to that point and he was excited to hear the rest. It’s still incomplete, but when it’s done, I won’t need to send it to his phone for him to hear it. He’ll be right here.

Godspeed Jeff it was an honor having you as a friend. Thank you.

“Key West Chris”   Rehm

Open Mics/Open Jams & Yea Mon Cruise lands in Key West

^Listen to the demo of “Titusville!”* while you read the blog!^
*BMI, McClure and Trowbridge Publishing, Nashville…. Acoustic and electric Guitars: Chris Rehm, vocals: Chris Rehm/Bass and Drums: Nick Jason. One day I’ll cut a proper version!

OPEN MICS/OPEN JAMS
A preface: Open Mics and Open Jams are two names for the same thing. The first one I attended was called an Open Mic, so for simplicities sake, I’ll use that term henceforth in the blog, though either is common and accepted.


Open Mics are one of the best ways to play music, have fun, and meet like-minded people. You don’t have to be a musician to go either. I recall back in 1995, I met my friend Charlie Rathburn, who was playing at a place in Miami called “Chubby’s Bar B Que”, right across the street from The Falls. It was a spur of the moment, and impulsive move. My cousin Joe”Joco/Jombo/”Connolly suggested we forsake our usual weekly spot and try something new, “Chubby’s”. Charlie was playing there and sat down next to us at the bar for his break. After finding out I was a guitar player, he suggested I come to the open mic they had there on Tuesday nights by saying “Look, I don’t know how good you are, but I can promise you this: There will be people better than you and people worse than you. Nobody’s judging you, we’re all just having a good time”. Charlie was right too! I’ll be eternally grateful to him for that too. I ended up addicted to it and also ended up as lead guitarist in owner Glen Strong’s house band “The Chubby’s Bar B. Qued Band”… without doubt, one of the most insane, off the wall country bands that ever existed! A few weeks after that, I was invited to play in Deny Rowand’s fabulous band, “Outa D’ Blues”, which worked out fantastic, as the two bands played on different nights! I wouldn’t have been in those bands, or gotten back into music if it wasn’t for Charlie convincing me to go to that open mic. Additionally, because of going to that open mic, I also got back into songwriting and completed my first song in years, “Titusville”, which begot me a publishing deal in Nashville. BTW, the most famous open mic is in Nashville, at a little place called “The Bluebird Café”. A LOT of Country artists were discovered there.

From that point on, I searched out open mics. I’ve gained lifelong friends for which I’m eternally blessed. Half the people were musicians and the other half people who loved music. Every open mic is different too. I attended two in Tampa, yeas back. One was in a quiet, little coffee house, where everyone sat on couches to listen and play soft acoustic. The other was in a bar called The Corsair. It had a lingerie show beforehand and had a fantastic blues band that backed up whoever was on stage for the open mic.


When I first came to Key West four years ago, naturally I searched the Open Mics out. Having found a few that died out pretty quickly, I heard about one just starting up at Harpoon Harry’s on Monday nights. It was run by Easy Ed and was a great time… and still is, though Easy Ed stepped aside maybe nine months ago. Harpoon Harry’s is on Caroline Street, across from the Waterfront Markey/Brewery. The food is suicide at night. Completely unhealthy stuff.. (Breakfast and lunch are great though!!!).. to the point that one performer actually wrote a hysterical song “They’re Trying To Kill Me Down At Harpoon Harry’s Bar”. On top of that, their TV’s always have on Fox with commentators like Bill O’Reilly. Imagine the political mindset of A) Key West and B) Songwriters and musicians… and they have Bill O’Reilly on??? Go figure? They’d be much better running cartoons! Seriously. Their saving grace however, is that they have a good staff and the open mic is fantastic, plus they have a full bar. In the first two years, they had someone new stop by and play every week. Some were traveling through, others just stopping by to play. Sometimes people will sit in with the players, other times they won’t. The musicians and staff create a great atmosphere and it’s always a great time. This open mic has a signup list and starts at 7 and goes to 10 every Monday evening.


Local performers Larry Baeder and Dora Gholson started their open mic on the rooftop bar of The Rum Barrel, on Front Street about a year ago. Theirs is the type where, for the most part, players have various musicians sit in on their set. You might go one night and have a bass player, keyboards, and a trumpet and the following week you might have a sax player. Larry’s always there to help out on guitar as well … and Larry’s been around the country for thirty years playing with everyone! The Rum Barrel has great food and a full bar as well. Larry and Dora kick it off at 7 and it goes until about 11, sometimes later. Great times on the rooftop of the Rum Barrel Thursday nights! No sign up list, just touch base with Larry. He’s really good at knowing who’s there and getting people up.


“Popeye” Dan Cunard just started an open Jam at Bobalu’s, on Southard St., right next to The Green Parrot. Thus far they’ve only had two, but it’s been a great success in the early going. Popeye’s is on Tuesday’s and starts at 7 and goes until 11. Check with Popeye when you get there so you can play. Great time, great atmosphere.


Like anything in the music/bar business, when the first gig is played, the time clock starts ticking. Sooner or later it ends. Some end sooner than later. I recall one that was on here, the guy who ran it didn’t have a signup sheet, couldn’t keep track of who came in, and if his friends came in, he’d scoot them in in front of everyone else who were waiting.. and buying drinks and meals waiting to play. He couldn’t figure out why people were getting upset. Nice guy and a great player, just organizing an open mic really isn’t his forte. That fell by the wayside.
Someone mentioned that there is another starting at Grunts, just off Whithead on Caroline St. Haven’t heard much more about it yet however.


There used to be an open mic at Sippin’, a coffee shop on Eaton St, just west of Duval on Sunday nights. It was acoustic based and also had poetry reading. It’s been a while since I was there, so I’m not certain if it’s still up.

BEACHFRONT RADIO’S “YEA MON CRUISE 2012”
I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Beachfront Radio’s Yea Mon Cruise 2012, when it made Key West it’s port of call! The cruise ship rolled into Key West from Ft. Lauderdale at 8am and my gig was at Artist Koz’ Green World Gallery at 712 Duval, for the kick off! What a great time! Artist Koz, quite often has musical artists play at his gallery and I’ve been fortunate enough to have played there before! This was a bit different, as it was a morning gig and cruise that Beachfront Radio had rolled into its first stop, Key West, Monday morning. A good amount of folks from the cruise headed to Green World Gallery, right off the ship! We had a great time at Green World Gallery. I played for over an hour then was relieved by Gary Phillips, then after that by Jimmy Jr. Hal, and Mark of Jimmy and the Parrots, who were the host band on the cruise. After that, everyone headed up to Smokin’ Tuna, where Jimmy and the Parrots (This time including Jimmy Sr.) took the stage. They also had Howard Livingston on the bill as well… towards the end I was up with all of them singing Jimmy Buffett songs, as well as Marshall Tucker’s “Can’t You See?”. A great time was had by all and a big thanks to Artist Koz, and his wife Pam Campbell of Green World Gallery, Captain Cali and Jeff Allen, of Beachfront Radio, Jimmy and the Parrots, Howard and Cindy Livingston, and Charlie Bauer of Smokin’ Tuna.