Ok, so I'm back in West Palm Beach. It's 5:28 friday evening, we played a 1:30 show today and have a 7PM to go tonight. I'm sitting in little place called Greenberry's Coffee & Tea company sipping a mocha latte, watching the sun go down and typing to you all.
Ok, enough for the scenery here. Last time I typed, I had just arrived in West Palm Beach (here after reffered to as WPB) Got situated, they didn't have power so I had to run the generator for the night, which was really alright since it was warm enough where I didn't have to run the space heater. The next day I spent routing through all the things in sight in order to figure out what needed to be mailed, thrown away, or packed for the 3 weeks ahead. I was packed in just the nick of time (and NO mom, the bus did not have to wait for me) In 3 separate waves, we took our scheduled bus down to Ft. Lauderdale where we spent the night at the Best western there, it wasn't the nices one I'd ever seen, maybe not even as good as the one I worked in Hershey way back when.....but that's another story. It was a bed to sleep in, and there was a Denny's next door (which usually turns out to be the unofficial food sponser for the the hometown edition tour......."a moons-over-my-hammy for the please" ) The next day we checked into the airport with out incident, no bombes were found on any children, and I was quickly reminded of how pricy airport food/water/smiles/anything really is. The flight left after dark and was about 2 1/2 hours. It went by fairly quick, I watched my Bolshoi ballet DVD until my battery died, but we all lamented the fact that we couldn't see the islands or the triangle of the bermuda triangle outside the window. We arrived in a steamy 76 degree san juan and we checked in and settled by midnight. What an unexpected joy it was to discover this place that would be my home for the next 3 weeks. Never before had I experienced "living" in a hotel and having it be paid for by someone else. It was also quite exciting to realize I was once again out of my element. Where in a place where US money is used, and the USPS sends the mail, but everything else was a new expereience entirely. Our schedule for that three weeks was basically this.......
week 1: relax, enjoy, don't spend too much money or get thrown in jail
week 2: Ringling owns you, work your little but off and top it all with a 9 pack weekend
week 3: You thought last week was bad, well we thought we'd give you a 2nd week of 9 packs.
So, in the face of the most intense playing I'd ever done looming ahead, I decided week 1 was relaxation time in order save my strength for the 2 heavy weeks ahead. I've realzed while trapsing around the globe that travelling an site-seeing is exhasting and I was determined not to start week 2 already tired. So basically that week, I slept a lot, took long walks on the beach ;-) and survived on bread, cheese, sausage, and wine. Actually, I did find some time to get around the island. After a few days of loafing, Ted (ringmaster) and I decided to get off our dairy-airs and see something, so we elected to do the bioluminescent bay kyak tour. So, we cought an evening shuttle and drove the 6 of us about an hour away. After some crazy PR traffic (is there any other kind in PR?) and some angry bumpy roads, we arrived in this little village that had a small boat port. We got out, it smelled like fish, but looked promising. We signed our life away, they gave us life jackets and then set sail in our 2 person kyaks alongside our fearless guide nestor. We paddles across the lagoon and were immediately entered a narrow canel lined with mangrove trees. And then, with out announcement or alarm, it hits you........there's no sound except for your kyak part the water, the coqui frogs, and your breathing. You it's toally dark, and you look up to see a heaven bursting with sequined-velvet. It's one of those moments in time that Thoreau alluded to at walden pond. Everything makes sense and you want to melt into the fabric of the creation that's around you. ok.......coffee time over, time to go do a show, na razia
Friday, December 30, 2005
And the beat goes on....
Ok, so I'm back in West Palm Beach. It's 5:28 friday evening, we played a 1:30 show today and have a 7PM to go tonight. I'm sitting in little place called Greenberry's Coffee & Tea company sipping a mocha latte, watching the sun go down and typing to you all.
Ok, enough for the scenery here. Last time I typed, I had just arrived in West Palm Beach (here after reffered to as WPB) Got situated, they didn't have power so I had to run the generator for the night, which was really alright since it was warm enough where I didn't have to run the space heater. The next day I spent routing through all the things in sight in order to figure out what needed to be mailed, thrown away, or packed for the 3 weeks ahead. I was packed in just the nick of time (and NO mom, the bus did not have to wait for me) In 3 separate waves, we took our scheduled bus down to Ft. Lauderdale where we spent the night at the Best western there, it wasn't the nices one I'd ever seen, maybe not even as good as the one I worked in Hershey way back when.....but that's another story. It was a bed to sleep in, and there was a Denny's next door (which usually turns out to be the unofficial food sponser for the the hometown edition tour......."a moons-over-my-hammy for the please" ) The next day we checked into the airport with out incident, no bombes were found on any children, and I was quickly reminded of how pricy airport food/water/smiles/anything really is. The flight left after dark and was about 2 1/2 hours. It went by fairly quick, I watched my Bolshoi ballet DVD until my battery died, but we all lamented the fact that we couldn't see the islands or the triangle of the bermuda triangle outside the window. We arrived in a steamy 76 degree san juan and we checked in and settled by midnight. What an unexpected joy it was to discover this place that would be my home for the next 3 weeks. Never before had I experienced "living" in a hotel and having it be paid for by someone else. It was also quite exciting to realize I was once again out of my element. Where in a place where US money is used, and the USPS sends the mail, but everything else was a new expereience entirely. Our schedule for that three weeks was basically this.......
week 1: relax, enjoy, don't spend too much money or get thrown in jail
week 2: Ringling owns you, work your little but off and top it all with a 9 pack weekend
week 3: You thought last week was bad, well we thought we'd give you a 2nd week of 9 packs.
So, in the face of the most intense playing I'd ever done looming ahead, I decided week 1 was relaxation time in order save my strength for the 2 heavy weeks ahead. I've realzed while trapsing around the globe that travelling an site-seeing is exhasting and I was determined not to start week 2 already tired. So basically that week, I slept a lot, took long walks on the beach ;-) and survived on bread, cheese, sausage, and wine. Actually, I did find some time to get around the island. After a few days of loafing, Ted (ringmaster) and I decided to get off our dairy-airs and see something, so we elected to do the bioluminescent bay kyak tour. So, we cought an evening shuttle and drove the 6 of us about an hour away. After some crazy PR traffic (is there any other kind in PR?) and some angry bumpy roads, we arrived in this little village that had a small boat port. We got out, it smelled like fish, but looked promising. We signed our life away, they gave us life jackets and then set sail in our 2 person kyaks alongside our fearless guide nestor. We paddles across the lagoon and were immediately entered a narrow canel lined with mangrove trees. And then, with out announcement or alarm, it hits you........there's no sound except for your kyak part the water, the coqui frogs, and your breathing. You it's toally dark, and you look up to see a heaven bursting with sequined-velvet. It's one of those moments in time that Thoreau alluded to at walden pond. Everything makes sense and you want to melt into the fabric of the creation that's around you. ok.......coffee time over, time to go do a show, na razia
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1 comment:
Mr. Slabaugh,
What a wonderful thing it is to reconnect! I saw your parents on Sunday and got your address. Sounds like you are living life large. You can get me at cstraka@lebanonvalleymall.com; love to hear from you.
Chris
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