The Entertainer

yo' ... yang here.

OK. So Hope hears rumors that there is another cruiser anchored in the Bay who plays the harp and has one aboard. (What: we're NOT unique?) She discovers her identity, Gayle, and they make arrangements to get together one Sunday afternoon to play for each other, trade tips, techniques, and generally just share in the joy that only harpists understand. (Actually, anyone listening understands the joy as well.)

A local woman, Elizabeth, hears of their plans and indicates that she'd love to be able to hear them practice. So they pick a time, 2 pm, and Gayle goes off to do her thing and Hope goes off to do hers. Later that week, we all discover that the World Cup Final Game is being played from 1pm - 3pm so a postponement is made to the harp practice time but the word doesn't get around to everyone. So when they start playing, Elizabeth comes up and explains that she can't stay any longer, but would they like to come to her establishment that night and play for her and her customers? Turns out she owns the Arena Bar and Pizzeria, a nice place for locals and cruisers, with great food and great prices. So Gayle accepts for her and Hope. Actually, Elizabeth is that sort of person who won't take no (nor even a maybe) as an answer and you feel guilty about even trying to say anything except yes. Infectious smile and energy.

Initially, I'm involved because as the official 'Senor Burro' of ceilidh, I'm needed to schlep the harp from ceilidh, across the water, and into town. (I get to listen as reimbursement.) I brought along my Native American flute to play when they were talking and deciding on music. Gayle was able to figure out chords on the harp to play along with me while I was playing, so now Hope can play with me back on ceilidh. (To those musicians out there, the flute is in G minor, not the easiest thing to match on a C major harp with sharping levers for D and G major keys only.) So Hope plays the bahrain (drum) for some of my playing and next thing I know, I'm included in the performance as well.

So we get there around 8 o'clock on a Sunday night. Now Gayle is a professionally trained singer who uses the harp to accompany herself so Hope and I eagerly agree to let her carry the weight of the 'show'. Can we all say 'knock out voice'? Good, I thought we could. So Gayle starts with about 6 songs, then Hope plays some, then 6 more by Gayle, then Hope, then me on flute with harp and drum accompaniment, then Gayle wrapping up. We each got a glass of wine as a treat on the house, so that makes it a professional gig, right?

Anyway, a number of our friends from the cruising community showed up. Elizabeth had a big contingent of her family there (husband or ex-husband we didn't inquire, daughter, granddaughter, and others). And some local customers even stayed for the performance. Business was good, the place was packed, people applauded just a bit more than they politely needed to, and the word afterwards was it was fun and 'they'll' be back for the next performance.

And we had fun. Hope would have 'disappeared' but between Gayle, Elizabeth, and me, she couldn't. And afterwards we were all glad we came and played. Gayle is talking up another gig for us at the cruiser hangout, Puerto Amistad, and we're sure we haven't seen the last of Elizabeth. Plus we have some other friends in the community who missed the first performance and want to see any others.

So we'll practice some more and look forward to the next gig.

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