Sunday, March 1, 2015

Key West - 20th Anniversary Celebration at BO's Fishwagon

Barry and his band of the day
We had pastries in the morning from Old Town Bakery, about three blocks from our boat in Key West  Bight Marina. Each pastry is a work of art and delicious but at $2.50 apiece, you can't have too many of them. As is my custom, I bought a local paper with a good comics section and sat down to enjoy a quiet morning. Then I saw an ad for a 20th Anniversary Celebration at BO's Fishwagon. We hadn't seen any mention of it anywhere else except for the small ad in the paper. The best part was that Barry Cuda was going to be playing from 12:00 to 5:00 and the sandwiches were to be at 1995 prices, $8 for a grouper sandwich. With the combination of the excellent sandwich price and free entertainment from someone we greatly enjoy, it was a bargain.

The Cellist with Ann
We arrived just before noon and was even able to get a table. Usually when Barry plays, the place is packed - it's a small restaurant - and you have to arrive at least an hour before the performance to get a seat. I don't think the word got out to his usual fans.

Barry plays songs mostly from the 50's with an occasional hit from the 60's. He uses an old upright piano he wheels around town from gig to gig. You may see him pushing it down the middle of a street at times. Today he had several friends that helped him celebrate the 20th anniversary that included one on the trumpet, another on a cello and a drummer.

I took a video of the cellist who was very animated in playing his instrument, take a look here. The video was shot and uploaded in HD quality (720p) but the resolution you see may vary with your internet speed. Later I took a second video of the drummer and Barry playing his piano. As you know, once something is put on the internet, it never leaves - it will be there for all time, even if the blog is deleted. If you doubt that, just look at Wayback. I was once approached by a person with a professional site for his business that was hacked and destroyed. He was distraught since the site cost him $1500 from a professional designer. I told him it was not lost and I recovered the site from Wayback.. So if you ever thought you erased something embarrassing off the web, you really haven't, beware.

No green flash but a nice sunset
So we stayed at BO's Fishwagon for almost three hours, great fun! After wine on the back of our boat, we walked over to Mallory Square for our once per month visit to see the sunset. I was hoping to see a green flash but no such luck this time. There are keys far on the horizon that aren't visible until the sun sets so you don't get a true horizon which is required to see the green flash.

So after all that excitement, we're back on our boat in Key West Bight Marina enjoying the quiet night, just a fun day.

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