Grand Cayman

As the weather starts to get colder, my thoughts turn to planning a winter vacation.  My first "real" winter vacation was in 1978, after having saved for a year at my first job.  I went to Grand Cayman, where I stayed with my Uncle Joe, the Island's resident Presbyterian Minister.

Uncle Joe was preparing his sermon on Saturday night and I was reading the tourist guides.  I stumbled across an ad, saying that the Barefoot Man (real name George Nowak) was playing at the Holiday Inn, just a short distance down Seven Mile Beach.

Well !  I just had to see him.  So, off I went to the Holiday Inn.  I was personally introduced to the Barefoot Man and got the best seats in the house (Thank you, Uncle Joe), and I came home with 3 of his LPs !! (picked up another CD, while in the Bahamas earlier this year too !!)

(Who Put The Pepper in the Vaseline)

I had first heard of the Barefoot Man on the Dr. Demento show, singing "I Get High By Going Down".  Get your mind out of the gutter, folks; the song is about a "diver's high", from scuba diving.  Of course, I'm sure it was not that interpretation that got this song aired on Dr. Demento !!  Ditto for his songs, "Divers Do It Deeper" and "You Dont Have To Be Gay To Ride a Ferry".

I guess that, like me, everyone who sees "Barefoot" in person for the first time is a little shocked.  When you hear him on the radio, you picture him looking like Harry Belafonte -- wrong !!  He's of German descent and has blonde hair and blue eyes !  His lyrics are extremely funny and highly satirical, mocking everything from Caribbean life and love to local and international politics.  Some people say that "he's to the Caribbean what Jimmy Buffet is to Key West", while others say that's selling him short.

His "Bank Song" is quite entertaining; it tells the true story of Jean Doucet who lured many Caymanians into investing in his bank.  Then, as the lyrics go, "Where oh where has all the money gone / .....Well I heard somebody say / that they saw it fly away in a Lear jet / That's why I'm poor today".

"That's A Moray" is simply hilarious !!  It reminds me of my phone call to Uncle Joe, prior to our visit.  The movie "Jaws" was still quite popular and I just had to ask Uncle Joe, "Are there any sharks in Grand Cayman ?"  He laughingly told me the only ones I had to worry about were "land sharks" !!  "That's A Moray" goes like this: "See that thing in the reef / With the big shiny teeth / That's a Moray / Put your hand in the crack / and you won't get it back / That's a Moray."  Ha ! Ha ! Ha !

While preparing this post, I actually learned a few things about the Barefoot Man.  The Barefoot Man and Band was featured in the 1993 film, "The Firm", starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman. For this film, George Nowak wrote the song "Money, Money, Money" which appears on the film's soundtrack. I'll have to check that out more closely.

I've also learned, from this article about his book "Which Way To The Islands" (http://www.abacoescape.com/Books/Abacobookpage.html), that he "...accidentally killed a man in a bar room scuffle ...".  Wow !  All those years ago, I had been rubbing shoulders with a murderer !!....in an island bar, no less !!

Now...where was I?  Oh yeah, planning a winter vacation.  Actually, the weather has been so fine lately, I think I can procrastinate a while longer.  I'll get back on that wavelength at the sight of the first snowflake of the year !!