First World Refugee

Day two as a First World Refugee. Day one of Mark Mulligans Island Fest. And who was the first person we met this morning while having breakfast? Mark Mulligan! What a nice guy. introduced us to his lovely wife, Elsa.

We spent the day in the golf cart, driving around the island, seeing how much it has changed. And to my surprise, not much. Coming in on the boat yesterday, I could have sworn there were a lot more new, high-rise hotels. But from the roads on the island, and in the town, it's not that different. There is a new one right behind us that's supposed to be awesome. And a couple of new ones on the western side of the island, but I couldn't see them from the road, and I have no idea how to get to them.

I took a ton of pictures today, and would love to share them with you, but for some reason, the function that is supposed to allow me to add them to this blog won't let me pick pictures from the iPad. Won't let, "BROWSE" come up. So I will try to post some on Facebook later.

And I can't get the, "chat" function on FB on this machine. And on top of that, it's telling me right now that I have no service and I'm listening to streaming audio from Sirius/XM, so that can't be right. Oh, and it changed from Mountain Daylight Time to Eastern Daylight Time when we went from Salt Lake to Atlanta over night, but now, here in Central Daylight Time, it still thinks I'm in the Eastern Time Zone.

I don't know if this is, "Pilot Error" on my part, or the machines fault. But if I'd picked up the instruction booklet for the iPad that I THOUGHT I was grabbing, instead of the one for the remote key board I actually picked up, I might have some answers to these questions. But I digress. On with the story.

Tonights show was on the beach in front of The Sunset Grill at, Nautibeach. Wish I could share those pictures. And it was beautiful. Perfect weather, The problem with having dinner on, Playa Norta is that the sand is SO soft, that when you sit down at your table you get the feeling of being a kid having dinner at, "The Grown Up Table". You sink so far into the sand, that you plate is at your neck. A small price to pay, granted, but still, they could have warned you that if you lean too far back when you sit down you might roll right into the ocean.

The music was great. We got to meet, "Sunny Jim". Walking back to the table we bumped into him before the show started and I introduced Deb and I. He said, "Nice to meet you, I'm, James". When we got back to the table, Deb said, "Who was that?" I had to tell her, "You have all his stuff on your IPod. You didn't know who you were meeting?" Which is not as dumb as it sounds, since before tonight, neither one of us had seen a picture of this guy. We just liked his stuff. So it wasn't that she couldn't see, it was that she didn't make the connection of why I was introducing her to this random guy on the beach in Isla Mujeres. Now, she gets it. He found that story funny when I told it to him at intermission.

There were less than 100 people at this thing tonight. And everyone was drinking. Heavily. After all, you're living on, "island time" so getting up in the morning is just not something you worry about. And as much as that matters on a big island, the effect is, "cubed" on an island that is only five miles long, and less than one mile wide. You don't have to get up early to get ANYWHERE on THIS island in a hurry, so why bother?

Hell, tomorrow nights concerts are about 100 yards from here, and don't start until seven o'clock. And that's why we're here. I got ALL DAY to sleep tonight off.

You know how you can tell you have had too much to drink in Mexico? When your waiter comes over and asks you, in perfect English while clearing tables if you would like another beer, and despite the fact that you DON'T speak Spanish, you answer, "Si! Uno mas cerveza, por favor!"

Just some advice. Heed it or don't. I'm just saying...

The guys did a great show. They all know each other's stuff, and each other, well enough to goof on themselves and others. And in this small a group, the fans. Seems that Deb and I have now joined a group of people who follow these guys to all sorts of beach concerts. And that's not a bad thing.

The music these guys write and perform is amazing. Mark Mulligan did a song from his latest album about Mexico. It was so beautiful and melodic, I turned to Deb and told her, "If Kenny Chesney did this song, it would sell a million copies" and she agreed.

"Sunny Jim" did a song called, Research, where I swear, he was channeling the ghost of, Steve Goodman. He even sounded like him.

I told, Mark after the show about my feelings about the song, and he was very appreciative. I told him, "If Kenny Chesney does this song, you could have a pool in your backyard made of Unicorn bones! You should shop it out to him." He laughed at that, but I was serious. I don't like pop country. I think it sucks. But if a guy like this can one hit by someone like, Chesney, Keith, or McGraw? Set for life.

As the show was ending and they were closing up the bar, the waiter came by and asked if we were doing ok or needed anything. I said, "Muy bueno. Gracias."

God Damn it! I can't help myself!