A Three Dimensional Travel Logue

So is Hawaii everything you've ever heard about? Is it the Ultimate Paradise? The answere is YES, it is all that!! It is all of God's beauty rolled into one: the romance of tropical islands, lush with palms, exotic flowers and plants and fruits of all types, colorful tropical birds, beautiful relaxed island natives playing slack key guitars, rolling plantations of sugar cane, bananas and coffee, contrasted by dramatic mountains rising suddenly into the heavens and dropping into the sea. Of course every fun-in-the-sun activity known to man is available: swimming, sunning, sailin, surfing,snorkling, biking, hiking, and helicopter rides into regions not so accessable...paradise!!!

I know all of this from the vantage point of observation, as apposed to participation. But such is the fate of the traveling minstrel, and thus I coin the phrase; Three Dimensional Travelogue! Our three concerts were played on a different island each day, so each day was a mega travel day, getting to and from airports and motels, soundchecks, and of course the gig. So we saw the islands, Oahu, Mauai, and Hawaii from the windows of our tour vehicles, and then there was the aireal view, out the window of the airplanes (which is actually a cool way to check out the islands), and once in our motel rooms, we could relax and turn to the "Hawaii" channel. Each island had a television channel dedicated solely to what that particular island had to offer. And I couldn't resist looking and lusting after all of the wonderful sights I could be seeing if I was actually on vacation and had some free time (and money). Who knows, maybe someday, eh?

But we did have a few windows of time to have actual "Hawaii" experiences, and the coolest thing of all was that we shared the bill each night with two other bands; E.C.Scott and Walter Trout. So band commeraderie was absolutely the highlight of Hawaii.

Walter and I go way back to our time spent with the Mayalls; he with John, and I with wife, Maggie. As those were our heavy partying years, pre-sobriety, you can immagine the crazy stories we share from that period of our lives, and we had a ball reminiscing and cracking each other up!! Since then Walter has had three kids, and of course had pix to pass around. What a good looking brood he has!!!

And what a treat to get to hear Walter do his thing again! He has always had the gift; a phenomenal guitar player, great singer, and he gives his all every night, reaching into the depth of his soul and wrenching out all of his feelings to expose to and share with his audiance. It is ammazing how the scorching tone of his guitar has a smoothness and smokiness to it as it bites the air, matched only by his powerful vocal delivery. The tone of his guitar and voice seem to be one force coming out of two matching channels.

E.C. Scott and I had only met briefly at festivals, so getting to hang together and shoot the sh_t for a few days was a rare treat. She is a true "Blues Mama"...big, brash,funny, and brilliant. She had us all laughing hysterically; a real sharp cookie with a razor sharp wit. And her crack band and she put on a killer, high-energy show, each night. Here's a woman who has the audiance in the palm of her hand within seconds after taking the stage. Half of the fun was waiting to see what she would wear every night. The first night at a theater on Mauii she wore a big white floor-length gown with brown sandals. She looked like a big black angel, coming to save the masses.

The second night in Honnolulu at the famed "Hula Hut" she wore a classic afro-centric outfit that worked perfectly after the ethnic Hawaiian Luau performances. And finally, at the outdoor festival in Kona, Hawaii, she had on the "orange outfit" and referred to herself as a big pumpkin!! Great stuff, great show.

And did I mention that there were some windows of time to get a little taste of Hawaii?

On Maui I had an hour in the morning to lay by the motel pool and kick back under all of the palms and Bird of Paradise plants. Then we all experienced an island sunset. And in Kona, we stayed at the most gorgeous resort at which I had three hours in the afternoon to explore the beach and venture into the water. Since it was a snorkel beach and all rocky, body-surfing and diving were out of the question. But even without a snorkel mask I was able to observe beautiful, brightly colored tropical fish; black and yello stripes, orange and blue...like what people have in tropical fish tanks only 10 times larger!! And who was basking on the shore, just minding his own business and getting some afternoon sun? Why it was Mr. sea turtle!! This guy's shell had about a two foot diameter, and he was so cute!! I pet his flipper and talked to him, but he was not to be distracted from his solar bath. Thanks again to Les Hershorn and Joseph Booth for making all of this happen.