Local Transitioning

Space 1999...could've been '96...I suck at time but it was Windley Key not actually space though you could still get there from here, the Village of Id-, I mean, Islamorada was talking about incorporating back then anyhow...

The Photons was the band I was with and Holiday Isle was the place we were at. The electricity, a.k.a power a.k.a the wires that festoon every structure and roadway around the globe, was notoriously unreliable back then at the Isle.

It was especially bad in the heat of the summer with air conditioners and ice machines sucking lots o' watts, creating a condition known as a brown down- similar effect as when the lights dim in the prison when the switch is thrown on "Old Sparky" (electric chair).

Suffice to say this is less than optimum operating conditions for band equipment (most electronics actually) and leads to premature failure. That seemingly untimely failure, with my other amp blown up and waiting two weeks for the parts to repair it, led to the timely meeting of local guitar legend/band leader and character Jimmy Hawkins.

The Isle was a 6 nighter and we lucked into a 3 week stay. It was far better than the time we were trapped at the Wig Wam Resort on the Lake of the Woods at the Canadian border in Minnesota for 3 weeks due to blizzard conditions and excessive snow...saw the aurora borealis at -40ºF...It was pretty...cold that is...

How do you people do that year in and year out... scraping windshields, shoveling snow, desperately trying to escape 10 layers of clothes before I prematurely defecate and soil the inner most layer...I'm wandering...sorry...

At any rate, my back up guitar amp fried on the first Tuesday of our engagement. I was waiting on parts for my #1 amp, a.k.a a head because it sits atop the speaker cabinet. I tried playing thru a tiny practice amp but it just couldn't keep up- you can only "fix it in the mix" to a point, crap in = crap out basically.

It hurts me in my soul not to be able to perform to my best, errant and/or substandard sound ruins my ability to "unfocus" which takes the joy out of playing. Unfocusing is different than channeling- it's an unimpeded flow or stream of unconsciousness, moving my "self " out of the way...Damn it, man... I'm ramblin' again...

We were a road band. I didn't know anyone in town. A fellow that worked in the maintenance department at the "one Isle that has it all" gave me the number to a guy that might have a head I could rent. I'm loathe to borrow anything, especially something I don't have the money to buy should something go really bad, neither a lender nor borrower be...

I call up the number (a land line) and ask for the name on the paper...

"Yeah this is Jimmy. Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm the lead guitar player in the band at Holiday Isle and my head blew up the other night...tale of woe, blah, blah, blah, spare parts on the way, blah, blah...Do you have a head I could rent?"

"No...", he says, "but I got one you can USE. I'll bring it down to you tonight". I offered to go pick it up but I can see the flaw in that thought now as Jimmy didn't know me from Adam or Bill or fucking Gumby for that matter. "You blow it, you fix it" was the only caveat.

It was an 80's Marshall JCM 800. Amps that sound that sweet are hard to come by and they will never be built like that again. My current rig is an early 90's JCM 900 modified by Bert the bad ass tube guy. Yes, vacuum tubes, valves as the British call them. Back into the woods again...

 Over the next several weeks he and his wife Debbie came to hear the band a few times and when the parts for my amp came I was kind of sad to go back to playing through my JCM 2000 head which I ended up giving away a few years later. That model just didn't kick and scream like last century's amps.

Finally, one day, the Photons went back to Orlando and the wife and I never left the Keys. I occasionally played with Jimmy's band "The Cyclones" back when it was safe to party all night at the Ocean Reef Club 😇.

Jimmy decided to retire and I ended up with his "house band" gig at the world famous Caribbean Club. I'm semi-retarded now myself as I just don't have the enema I used to have, stamina that is....I can't retire 'cause I haven't gotten over being tired the first time.

Just recently on a rainy Sunday Jimmy sat in with me at the Carib (pronounced "Crib", a.k.a Caribbean Club). He always lights up the crowd. As an interesting side note, my current drummer Ronnie B. (a.k.a Stretch from Mom's Taxi) was working for Jimmy, then worked with me for a few years before taking a hiatus and now he's back behind the kit.

Jimmy and I have become "brothers" over the last several decades since those crazy days and crazier nights when the Keys were 24 hours with drive through liquor bars...If you're lucky you might catch Jimmy jamming at the #333 American Legion with the Key Largo Jam Band on Thursdays 6-10, public welcome.

There's a lot of people that are a huge reason why we call Key Largo home, blessed, synchronicity, luck of the draw...whatever you call it...When I click my heels together with my red shoes on and say "There's no place like home" it sure ain't Kansas I'm dreaming of...☮️ ❤️ 😊 👣 🎶 🖖 🙏🏼 ☀️

Jimmy (R) and Luke (L) at the American Legion jam night.