Parrothead Ramblings

Mile marker 0 on US 1, Gettin' close to the end, folks. Real close.

Saturday. Recovery. Detox after the big street party. This was supposed to be The Big Night for MOTM up at The Reach, but by now, everyone knew that The Big Man was a no-show. I was looking forward to The Boat Drunks, which in my opinion is without equal in the world of Buffett cover bands, and their original stuff is second to none as well.

But man, it was hard to get completely fired up after the street party. TFMCD and I were looking for something a bit more sedate and relaxing that afternoon, and we had heard that Texas' own Kelly McGuire would be playing over at The Lighthouse Court. We ambled, or maybe strolled, on over there and found a hidden gem. This was the best show of the whole week. Kelly set up on the back deck at the Lighthouse Court, in the shadow of the old Key West lighthouse, and the combination of great music, cool shade, an even cooler pool in which to soak my tired feet, and yet even colder beer and boat drinks just made my afternoon. What started out as a "Let's go over there for an hour" turned into an all afternoon thing. It was way cool, because we met up with not only Cheesehead and Pab, but Headbeak and Queen Kathy as well. An added bonus - Lime Dart and The Bergermeister were there, which was the first chance we had to spend time with them at MOTM. I enjoy their company very much, and one of these days, I'll have to nut up and see if Lime Dart remembers "the incident" when first we met many moons ago. With any luck at all, she has no idea what the hell I'm talking about........

This, folks, was what it was all about. Yeah, it was Kelly's show, but you know how these trop-rock guys are. One's show is everybody's show. Before we knew it, we were being treated to music from Kelly, Rob Mehl, Gordon Price, Jerry Gontang, and a horde of other musicians whose names simply escape me. There was a harmonica player, a steel pan guy, a percussionist named "Buzz," and they all combined to carry the crowd away. What an afternoon!

We finally did head on over for The Boat Drunks show, and, as usual, they rocked the house. I got a big kick out of their Illinois homies. This was the second time I'd seen The Drunks, but the first with their following. These Illini make Hollow Man that much better when they chant "what a bitch, what a bitch, what a bitch" at just the right moment. I'm disappointed that The Drunks are apparently not joining us for Phins To The West 2006. They will be sorely missed.

The Cooler Nazis invaded the beach area early on, forcing everyone to drink up all of the evidence inside their coolers to avoid persecution. It was shortly thereafter that I achieved a certain level of satisfaction. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when I caught a rush of motion in my peripheral vision. I looked over just in time to see Cheap Bastard rolling on to the beach. His chair had completely collapsed and dumped his ass right on to the lovely Post-Wilma Key West sands. My own slow roll on the dive boat a few days prior had brought CB and I to a virtual tie in the slow roll competition, so thankfully, this one moved CB into the lead at least until the Christmas Party. He dusted himself off and was none the worse for wear. A few moments later, Annettte's chair also bit the big one, though she saw it coming and avoided the slow roll. Naturally, she placed the blame squarely on CB, for placing his weight on her chair in a valiant, but unsuccesful effort to avoid the slow roll.

So, another day in Margaritaville was in the books, and I managed to take a commanding lead over The Cheap Bastard in our ongoing slow roll competition.

Again, I got that going for me.
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