Saturday, 27 April 2013
Zut!! I forgot to get a picture!! Well, maybe someone got one for me... Anyway, let me begin at the beginning...
The gang from Wakwetu has invited us to come sit in at their regular gig at a local jazz club (MelMoz) tonight. This is totally our thing! Some of our favorite "diplomacy" is done at these late night, after hours type events. A chance to hang out with the cats on the real scene.
They say they're playing from 9-12, so we figure if we get there between 9:30-10 it will be normal. For some reason, they schedule the pickup for 8pm though, saying it will take 45 minutes to get there... and we don't know any better so we're ready on time. Turns out it's only 20 minutes away though, so we're early and none of our guys is actually there when we arrive, so we ask our friendly driver, Robert, if he has any place to suggest for us to go visit for a short hour or so... maybe with a view of the sea, I ask?
He delivers us to the White Sands hotel, and boy did he deliver! I didn't check out the price of the rooms, but this is definitely your luxury, beach-side hotel, complete with tiki bar out on the pier with a moonlight ocean view. And to our surprise, the drink are actually cheap! So, we relax to the sound of the waves for a half an hour or so before heading back to MelMoz.
This time, when we arrive, things are in full swing - the band is grooving, and clearly in their element. This is their home turf, and we're glad to see them there!
I'm introduced to the handsome bar manager, and a few other folks filter in who were also at some of our previous gigs from earlier this week.
At some point, the guitar hints at strains of a famous Norah Jones song, and I'm guessing it might be my cue to step up to the mic. Indeed it is! So we do a rendition of "Don't Know Why" together with just me and the guys. Then little by little the whole gang (Jeff, Damien...) joins in for a series of what is now becoming our greatest hits ;-)
The crowd seems very pleased :-) But this is Wakwetu's gig, so of course we graciously step out of the way to let them and a few of their other friends shine for the rest of the night. It's such a pleasure for us to participate in the local live music culture like this. That said, we have been on the job for the Embassy off and on all week, so round about midnight, I start yawning uncontrollably (it's embarassing!) and since we have to be up for an early call to go work with a school in the morning, we start saying our goodbyes.
If they had it their way, we'd be there jamming with them till 1:30am to be sure! And normally, that would totally be our thing too, but the trip is taking it's toll, and prudence suggests it's time to head back to the hotel for some shuteye. Not without first satisfying the request from aforementioned handsome bar manager, Terrence, who wants to sing a duo with me on "Fever" (gulp!). So, we sacrifice ourselves one more time for the (ahem) cause before finally heading out just past midnight ;-)
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