“Everybody knows that song round here….”

November 4, 2012







“Everybody knows that song round here….”

Anyone that knows me, most likely knows about my strange fascination with the band The Counting Crows, heck I may have even dragged you to see one of the almost fifty or so Counting Crows concerts that I have attended over the years. Since 1993, I have not missed a single tour, seeing at least one show each tour (and often more).







I thought my streak might be broken this year, as I missed their two Florida shows in the spring and did not think they would be back again during their current tour in support of their most recent CD release of cover songs, “Underwater Sunshine (or What We did on our summer vacation.) But thankfully, they added additional dates in Florida- in West Palm Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville and I was able to score good seats for the show in West Palm.







I had also gotten tickets for the show in Orlando, but the unfortunate passing of a good friend back in Indianapolis had me planning a trip to a memorial service instead. But I was able to drive up and catch the show at the Mizner Park Amphitheater the night prior to flying up to Indianapolis. Since I was now flying out of Fort Lauderdale, Kathy opted out of attending and I headed up solo and met up with my friend Sarah at the show.





Before departing though, Kathy & I spent the previous evening at Honest Works Pottery where we have been taking weekly classes learning how to do a little pottery. It is a lot of fun, though Kathy has taken to it way better than I have.  We have a small but fun group of students taking the Tuesday evening classes and we have already created a bunch of fun ceramic items.







The day after class, I was on the road to Mizner Park and the Counting Crows concert. The place is a beautiful, small and intimate outdoor venue in the middle of downtown West Palm. There were three acts on the bill, beginning with a new young act that I was unfamiliar with called Mean Creek followed by the reunited band Tender Mercies which features three members of the Counting Crows.



Mean Creek



It was cool to get to see Tender Mercies and to hear them play many songs that I knew because the Crows often cover their material, it was sort of strange to see much of the band playing those songs yet having a different lead singer, but they were really quite good and Crows fans certainly appreciated the opportunity to see the band.

“Like Teenage Gravity”

The Counting Crows were the unqualified highlight of the evening, tearing through a sixteen song set featuring music from their latest disk as well as dipping back in to their catalog and playing many of their classic songs, many of them as usual during the live show, full of alternate lyrics and additional choruses that make the live shows so compelling.

Fantasy Fest

October 30, 2012









Rock

Fantasy Fest

For most of the past twenty years that I have lived in Key West, I have spent the final night of Fantasy Fest riding aboard a float in the main parade. I think it has been more than fifteen straight years on a float created by my friends Rick, Steve, Hutch and David. That’s a lot of years of fun, many prizes including winning the overall float grand prize a few times..it has been a great ride. But nothing Gold can stay and alas this year, our group did not actually enter the parade for the first time and Kathy and I were left not knowing exactly what to do.







Erin & Chris

Every year for at least the last five, we have heard that, “This was the last year we are doing this….”, apparently last year it was actually true. As fun as the float is for most involved, it is a ton of work and a huge expense and also takes an inordinate amount of time and can often be exhausting, so this year there was no entry from us.

Tom

Marky





Kathy and I had a few offers from other friends who also create floats, any of which would have been great fun, but we made a conscious decision to take in the parade as spectators this year and watch with the thousands of other revelers from the street. I did not even don a costume for Fantasy Fest night, for the first time in years. It was a very different experience.









While it was bittersweet not to be riding on a float, in a way it seemed very freeing and we were able to go and do whatever we wanted and watch from wherever and actually go out and enjoy the massive party that is Fantasy Fest.



Lisa & Kathy



Carolyn

One of my favorite parts about riding on the float has always been hanging out in the marshalling area in Truman Annex prior to the start of the parade. It is always fun, full of anticipation and everyone always looks as good as they are going to the entire night. There was nothing to stop us from heading down and taking part, even though we were not on a float, so that is exactly what we did.



Ann & Dan





It is so cool to see all the floats lined up and everyone making their last minute preparations. We ran in to lots of friends including many refugees from our old gang including two of the principles who each joined in the parade without all the stress of being responsible for a float. It was nice to see so many friends.





Esme & Cayman

As the parade started, we walked over to watch from near the very start of the parade route and watched the floats as they exited the marshalling area and begun the long parade. Well actually it wasn’t that long, in fact it was sort of short, over in a little more than an hour – due to the combination of fewer floats and that at the beginning the parade does not have time to get all strung out.





It was pretty decent parade and fun to watch from the throngs on the street. The early finish for us allowed us to sneak over to Braza Lena to grab a bite to eat while the parade was still heading down Duval street and to once again finish our evening and Fantasy Fest celebration at the Porch. It was another wonderful and wacky Key West experience.

Masquerade March 2012

October 27, 2012

Michael & Kathy

* Photo by Nick Doll

Liz





Masquerade March 2012

Lee

The penultimate event of Fantasy Fest week is the annual Masquerade March, which for many years held the title as our favorite event of the week. It is still pretty awesome, but recent additions to the line-up such as the Tutu party and Zombie Bike ride have pushed passed the march and relegated it to third or fourth on the list. Still it ranks among the best and most fun events of the year and Kathy & I still enjoy it.

Erin & Chris

Kathy & Michael

Wendy & Tony

Liz

Nick

The event has grown massively and now thousands of costumed revelers take part in the march, which begins next to the Key west cemetery and follows two routes through Old Town that eventually re-unite on Duval Street, blending in to the Street Fair which is ongoing through the entire day.

Suzanne







The event used to be where you would see the most local involvement, as the parade was overwhelming a local event in past years. Recently though, its popularity has spiked with the tourist crowd and while the numbers of locals may have remained steady, the tourist numbers have almost overwhelmed the local participants and it has just changed the feel of the thing slightly.



Jevne & Chris



Andy & Suzy Jo

Julie & Michael

Not that locals do not turn out en masse. In fact one of the best parts of the event for us is the pre-parade party that our friends Scott and Wendy have hosted in recent years. Here a huge crowd of our friends gather in costume for a pre-party and to prepare for the annual march. And while we all will eventually become strung out and separated along the parade route, at the party we all have a chance to hang out and even get a group photo taken.







Katharine

Keeping of our Masquerade March theme of recent years, Kathy & I continued to dress as Disney characters. This year – she dressed up as Peter Pan and I was a large, fat Tinkerbell. The costumes seemed to go over well and people enjoyed our concept. A large man dressed up as a fairy seems to bring out the laughs in a lot of people, but the funniest thing was the large number of small children who wanted to get their photo taken with a fairy princess.







Kathy



The weather was about perfect, unlike the blazing heat of last year as we began the march and headed toward the more popular Fleming Street route. Along the way, we passed countless friends both in the parade and along the path watching all the fun. It was as crowded as I have ever seen it in 20 years of participating and the march took a lot longer than usual. Drinks were plentiful along the route as many guest houses hand out free drinks for participants; which simply adds to the revelry.



Elaney

Erika

The march wrapped up for us (as many nights do) at the bar at the Porch where we hung out and closed out the final night before the big Fantasy Fest parade. It was a good time and we had a pretty great time, already thinking ahead about crazy Disney characters to dress up as next year.