St.Croix/Thanksgiving
I live in a strange world. Well, we all do. But the one I created is a different one. And this past Thanksgiving was a testament to that. As my flight lifted off over the Pacific Ocean out of LAX and the mass of city lights illuminated the sky, I drew in a deep breath, and gazed out the window in reflection. I have always been dedicated to my work as a bassist. And when duty calls, I answer it, cause that is what I have trained myself to do. This quick run was started with a red eye departing on Thanksgiving night to play a music festival in St. Croix in the USVI. A trip to Orlando, connector to Puerto Rico, a prop plane puddle jumper to the St. Croix. The idea was to be able to sleep on the red eye to be somewhat coherent upon arrival, but because of my nocturnal body clock, that was hardly the case. But nonetheless, after 18 hours of traveling I reached my destination. Normally it doesn’t take this long, but flight logistics, and it being the busiest travel weekend of the year, made the routing a little extra.
We were staying at a place called Cane Bay right next to the beach. Very interesting place. First off, the nature night scene there was amazing. Crickets mixed in with sound of ocean wavs gently crashing on the shore provided the perfect soundscape to listen to under a canopy of stars that illuminated the sky. The stars were so clear you could see clusters. Now I’m sure there are some of you that are saying “Big Deal.” But let me tell you something, Living in Los Angeles you don’t really see many stars because of the mass of lights that shine the city. I believe it is called light pollution. So when I get out and see this I get excited. The place itself was rustic. Made up of a bunch of different cottages with one of the containing a beautiful pool that overlooked the whole scene. The cottages themselves were not great but nice places to lay my head down for a few days. Although I was a bit disturbed at the inch thick layer of soot on the ceiling fan blades. The restaurant on the property was pretty good but the close early. And unless you stock up on food and goodies you are out of luck after 8pm. So someone who stays up as late as I do it meant the equivalent of stocking up at lunch time to get through the night. The staff all treated us well and it was a nice/unique property to visit.
The show itself was fun as it seemed it was just a celebration of music with the locals and some tourists. We ended up playing a short set of an hour and a half. This is the funny thing about my work. 99 percent of my time is spent traveling and in transit to work a short amount of time. All that way to play an hour and a half. But always so worth it! To get to see how much people love music and watch them dissipate their troubles for the night to be present and listen to live music is a treat and a privilege to be a part of. After the show was done, I got to sit on the beach in the late hours just watching stars and listening to the ocean waves. Trying to take a breath a slow down this fast-paced life enough to gain some moments of true presence. At night they illuminate the streets along the beach with red lights to protect the sea turtles, so the sand had this mars red light that made for an interesting scene.
The next day was a day off on the road and I got to spend it taking a nice dip in the warm ocean, watching the sun set, and having dinner at the only local eatery/pub in the area located right on the water. This was more of a local spot, and it was nice to meet the friendly folks that inhabit the island. All in all, St. Croix is a beautiful place with a lot of history. If you ever go there/go back ask for a man named Prince to give you a tour of the Island. My summary is this property was not one that falls under the category of would I pay my own money to return. But it was really nice and a good trip overall! The journey home was a long one because of the holiday so St. Croix to Puerto Rico to New York to Los Angeles and I was finally home. Now a week off and back to Houston for two back-to-back shows with the Party Crashers to conclude the touring year. Thank you for reading and happy travels!