- 8:00 am – we perform at Pembrook Pines East. Again our audience consists of early education children.
- 11:15 am – we perform at Pembrook Pines West, after which we…
- 1:00 pm – hit the freeway, bound for Miami.
- 3:30 pm – we are hopelessly lost with Thacher and Cecilio navigating.
- 3:31 pm – Roman is roused from his slumber to navigate. Within minutes we are on the right track. (The secret which is only now revealed: The van was already on the right track. We were not hopelessly lost. It only seemed that way because Ceeloe and Thacher were reading the map upside down. Roman may take the credit for finding the way, but he reveals the real story eventually)
- 5:15 pm – South Miami Beach is a frigid wasteland. The natives are decked out in winter coats. The beaches are empty. The homeless (of which there are many) are suffering, fearing the nightly freeze. We walk around.
- 7:12 pm – we meet Henry, Beatriz, and Anita, who invite us over and serve us some drinks. Beatriz is online with her brother in Belgium, who checks out the One Drum website, downloads our music, and tells us he likes it. Ahhh, the marvels of the Age of Information!
- 9:03 pm – Henry, Beatriz and Anita take us out to show us the sights and sounds of South Miami Beach.
- 11:51 pm – David and Roman pick up their sweeties from the Miami International Airport. Sarale is happy to see Roman. Maria and Ian are no less happy to see David.
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Jan
24
Jan
23
- 5:30 am – rise and prepare ourselves for a full day of school performances
- 7:30 am – Perform at Pembrook Pines Central school for kindergarteners.
- 12 noon – We drive to the beach in hopes of spending time on the beach. As clouds gather over Ft. Lauderdale’s fine beaches, Roman & David secure lodging for their families, who will be arriving tomorrow. The name of the motel is “By-The-Blue,” an artisitic gem among the throes of concrete monoliths that house America’s condo-dwellers. David makes a phone call to a school to get directions for tomorrow, and the lady on the other end says, “You’re scheduled to perform today, in 45 minutes, get over here!” Disappointed by our aborted beach trip, we drive like maniacs to the school.
- 3:00 pm – we perform 2 incredible outdoor sets for kindergarten children and their teachers. We have a great time, and so do the kids. The climate is pleasant; we perform in the post-drizzle glow in the setting sun.
- 5:00 pm – we wind our way to Susan Moss’s house, where we’re scheduled to perform a house concert at around 8:00 pm. Susan’s hospitality is immeasurable – she had food lined up for us, and we take our time setting up.
- 8:10 pm – we perform 2 sets of music, with special guest Laura Sue, the Silver Nightingale. The show is completely unamplified (it is in Susan’s living room), and the ambience is really different from our club shows – not as loud, but somehow more intimate.
- 11:07 pm – David & Roman brave Susan’s hot tub, which is notoriously hot. Last year, we actually had to add cold water to it to make it bearable. This time, Roman immersed his whole body in it before noticing that it was in fact way too hot for his comfort. It was an odd combination – the air temperature was frighfully cold (Florida’s record-breaking cold spell in decades), and the hot tub was too hot. It was really comical. Susan, we have a hypothesis about the hot tub: Since we’re from the cold Northern wastes of Wisconsin and Illinois, we have less tolerance for heat and more tolerance for cold. After all, Floridians were wearing their winter coats, and we seemed content with far less.
- 12:45 am – we all find our respective bedding for the night. Roman winds up in a sleeping bag under the dining room table. To each his own, I guess.
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Jan
22
- 8:30 am – pull into Fort Lauderdale, and make our way to the beach.
—decompress with sand between our toes, and the sun soothing our souls
—people look on with raised eyebrows as David and Roman dive into the Atlantic. Apparently Florida is having a cold spell. We neither noticed nor were we impressed by the cold.
—rescue a beached jellyfish, spot an interesting eel-like creature in the water
—Cecilio picks seashells for his children
—we can now add a layer of evaporated sea water to the already crusty film that coats our gear, our clothes and our bodies
—everytime we doze off for an hour during the road trip, it seems like a day has passed, and our awareness of time and distance is drastically affected. How many days have actually passed? It’s almost like travelling to the moon. - 1:30 pm – as we were asking directions to the Pollo Tropical, people looked at us as if we were nuts, because they take that food for granted down here. We engorged ourselves on yuca, fried plantains, black beans, ohhhhhhhhhh.
- 4:00 pm – arrive at our hostess Jo Ann Greenstone’s house and bid her daughter Sara hello and farewell. Nap until evening.
- 8:00 pm – Jo Ann and her boyfriend Paul prepare us a great snack. A million thanks!
- 11:18 pm – as David and Roman retire for the night , Thacher and Cecilio are still watching the TV footage of South Miami’s nude beach and the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous… Sweet dreams to all.
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