Galactic

January 7, 2009



Galactic

Twelfth Night Party

Galactic



Key West has a lot of good music, there are a ton of bars that feature live music and we get a constant stream of bands that play here, but we still suffer from a distinct lack of big national touring acts that play our island. This is partially due to our small size and the lack of really good large venues to host the big names. When a big name act does come to town, we make an effort to go out and support them which will hopefully help encourage additional shows.







Such was the case this week when the Ocean Key House brought in New Orleans funksters, Galactic to play a show at the sunset pier. The band plays a mostly instrumental blend of an eclectic mix of musical styles that include jazz, funk, hip hop, blues, electronic, rock and blues. They were joined onstage by legendary New Orleans horn player, Trombone Shorty. The show was an awesome, well attended and fun way to kick off the New Year.



Trombone Shorty

Galactic Live

Of course, just because the holidays have wrapped up, it does not mean that the party scene in Key West has died down. In fact, January is really the beginning of the busiest portion of the island season.

Todd & Lisa

We continued our party ways by attending two more parties this week, the first was a birthday party for our friend Dr. Mark Whiteside which was followed by an extravaganza hosted by our friends (and neighbors) Michael Shields and Carol Tedesco to celebrate the twelfth night. Both were fun parties and we are so thankful to be part of such a wonderful community.

Happy Birthday Mark

Fran Ford & Granddaughter

Michael, Carol & friend.



My friend Joel Biddle pointed out to me that we see each other at so many parties and social functions that we become involved in one long extended conversation at various parties, separated only by brief intervals of living our “normal” lives. There is something to his notion, especially this time of the year.

Kathy & Lucy

Kathy & Michael

Galactic Website

Happy 2009!!

Happy 2009!!





January 4, 2009



Key West has been ranked in the top 3 or 4 destinations in the United States to ring in the New Year for the past couple of years, right up there with the likes of New York City, Las Vegas and New Orleans. There are a variety of options of things to do here and people seemed to get the message as the island was as crowded as I can recall for the week between Christmas and New Years.

New Year’s Eve Key West

The most popular, due mostly to the live coverage on CNN with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin is the midnight dropping of resident Drag Queen Sushi in a giant shoe. It attracts thousands of revelers. Of course there was also this year the Conch Shell drop at Sloppy Joe’s, the Pirate Wench drop at The Schooner Wharf Bar, The Conch Booster Club party at the Westin and a new event, New Year’s Eve on Sunset Pier with Key West Burlesque.



Nancy, Terry, Alicia, Mark & Kathy

Which of these wild parties did we attend you may ask? Actually, none of the above, is the answer. We opted instead to celebrate the new year at a party at the home of our friends, Nancy Klingener and Mark Hedden. We had every intention of heading to sunset pier at some point, but we were having such a great time with friends that we never made it downtown to the chaos at all.

Tom

Champagne Spill- Try the ShamWow

Carol, Michael, Nick, Ashley & Haven

Personally I can’t think of a better way to say goodbye to 2008, which in many ways was a very difficult year for many, than to be with friends in the relative calm. Frequent readers of this blog, may get the idea that our life is a constant party, but the difficult economic times have had a huge impact on our lives and the lives of many of our friends. We are hopeful that 2009 will bring relief to those being impacted by the current hard times.

Elena & Michael

The first few days of the New Year saw beautiful weather and we spent a few days just hanging out at the beach at Ft Zachary Taylor State Park with Uncle Al, Aunt Kathy and about a million or so tourists. The crowd did not stop us from having a relaxing and fun time at the beach.



Aunt Kathy

The fun continued the next day as we had yet another party to go to, this time the 50th birthday celebration of our friend Martha Barnes. It was a great party and a wonderful way to start off the year, at another party once again surrounded by friends. Happy Birthday Martha !

Martha

Carol, Jeff, Rosi & Sherry

Michael, Erika, Kurt, Anja, Kathy (Haven, Bill, Mark & Ashley)