Lots more music in La CruzAs I mentioned, the engine problems were very much mitigated by the fact that we were having so much fun in La Cruz. In addition to the jams I have mentioned on previous pages (the first jams at Philo's and Ana's, and the Bucerias New Years Gig), over the following two weeks, I also had occasion to participate in six more jams, more than I would typically do in a two weeks in San Diego! 
Because Peggy, the regular bass player, had come down with the flu, Philo asked me to fill in for several evenings, so two times I got to play all four sets at Philos. In fact, he tried to pay me for playing a Friday night gig, but I told him to just donate it to his "Friendship Fund" which helps needy families in the area. On the Dec 27th jam at Philo's, I got a chance to play with Willie, the violin player from Willie and Lobo, which everyone had raved about, as he got up on stage with Me and Philo and did a bunch of great tunes. Also notable to me was the Friday Dec 28th jam at Philo's when I got to work with Diego, the drummer, who was the first musician I had actually met in La Cruz, as we were wandering around the streets the first day we arrived. 
The subsequent Open Mic's at Ana Banana's just got better and better too. I continued to back Rusty and Hock, met Greg, and got to see and meet the players in this great young Flamenco band called Tatewari. I backed a guy named Greg who sang really sweet nice songs, and got to do another set with Nicholas. I think that was the night that Denny Lunsford blew into town. Denny is an excellent blues guitar player and I got several chances to jam with him. In fact, my final jam in La Cruz was with Denny on Guitar, a young guitar player named Paul who ripped up, and Steve on Drums. They let me front a few songs, so we did Big River, Dancin in the Streets, and some nice blues tunes at Britannica the night before we left La Cruz. 
I also have to mention the great time we had seeing Willie and Lobo on Wed January 2 at the Black Forest with our good friends Laura and Louis, and new friends Ari and Maurice and several other couples Willie on violin and Lobo on Flamenco Guitar were a fantastic combination of Mystical Gypsy Country music that defies description but brought the crowd to a heighted state of awareness with each song they played. Of course, with Tequila (Dudley) there, we got our awareness so heightened that I had a hard time waking up the next day! At my final jam in La Cruz, the one at Britannica, the Tequila flowed more than ever. Note in the picture above how many shots were lined up! At one point I ordered 5 and they brought 10 shots, yikes! I think we had 8 or 9 shots to drink, each, that night :-) ... Once again, on our last night in La Cruz, we got toasted and had a great time. 
Still more music in La Cruz
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