So, I got up at 5:30 AM and did something pretty cool and moderately stupid. I ventured out into the dark, on a unknown Island, in a foreign country, with no information about possible risk to health or safety, and no idea where I was going or how to get there. I was determined to see the sun rise in Canouan and get pics and video of the Island beauty. I found a flashlight in my baggage but found out real quick that the flashlight only lit the surface of the thick brush and gave me no sense of security regarding the crazy sounds that came from the brush.

I tried to guess which way to go after much dialog with band members on where it seemed the stars direction was in the sky and then attempting to project where the sun would rise from that. I was really glad that 8 musicians did seem to give me a good direction to head off in and it began to look like the sun was going to rise from the bay I was attempting to reach.

I made it onto the golf course for the resort and then found it hard to navigate toward the beach as it began to be less visible as I climbed down from the hill the villa was situated on. As I fought the time, trying to beat the sun to the beach, I ran across a hotel employee that I asked where the sun rose and which way to go. He was very nice and gave me some direction, but then came back and offered me a ride to the beach which I gladly accepted.

This guy saved me morning adventure by delivering me to the cove just before the sun began to rise. I set up a video camera and began shooting pictures as soon as I could and was so blown away as the sun started to rise over the ocean and light up the sky. It was a magic moment and I have lots of images to post once I get to the files from my home computer. It was totally worth it and what a beautiful morning!

I realized I could get a ride on the resort and headed for the main buildings to get a ride back up to the Villa for breakfast. I arrived to a fun party vibe at the Villa and got to see Brian's injuries in the daylight - wow did he get messed up! He ended up felling OK, but both arms and his face were really wasted.

Now this was New Years Eve - Day. We spent some time discovering the joys of a kitchen and delivered foods and then headed off to the beach. What a great hang we had. The main beach was awesome. We did finally agree that the golf carts were for our use and from this point on, seemed to break off in smaller groups based on transport around th resort.

We had a sound check scheduled at 1PM and got to the casino to find a loud, and not very good sounding system that was run by a few guys that I would guess were really nice guys, but seemed to understand very little about sound reinforcement. (and I'm being kind...)

We gave up on trying to finish the sound check and rescheduled for before before dinner to give the guys time to work out some of the problems the system was having.

I took cameras everywhere and shot pictures all the time. I have so many awesome pictures to share and will lt you-all know when they are up online.

Lots of the pictures are of turtles. I was told that the Island is also called turtle Island and we all began to see why. There were beautiful large turtles everywhere. They even had Turtle Crossing signs on roads. Turtles, Lizards, Spiders and Mosquitoes make up the vibe and will be seen in many picks. The turtles came with different colors and were really cool.

The Lizards could be found in the Villa at any given moment. It was strange to see them "in the house", but the house was really open. Large open doors, no glass on windows and many windows and doors had blinds but no screens. The bugs and lizards were everywhere!

Down side was the amount of dinner the bugs enjoyed from our bodies. I would guess that most of us left the Island with around 50 bug bites each. Many of these bites swelled and itched like crazy and days after being off the island, we all have polka dots of various sizes, many are now scabs and still pretty ugly. I would have to say we were miserable with these bugs eating us alive.

Some of the rooms had air or fans, some had mosquito's nets over the beds, all had bug spray and Off. My room had none of the above except the poison and Off spray. We tried everything we could but saw more and more giant bites show you the whole time we lived on the Island. That really sucked!

Back to the time line. New Years Eve was very different than expected. We had been told the resort was sold out and the party was going to  be great. The guests started down in the resort restaurant and we were scheduled to start at 10:30 PM. We started at 10:30 to a few people in the room, outnumbering the guests with a 10 piece band!

The work we had done during sound check seemed to be completely gone. Feedback and mics either way to loud or off all together would sum up the better part of the night. I am convinced the sound guys had no idea where anything was in the board and the sound system was the defining issue that kept the gig from being really a great night.

We had a great band with great LA players all the way around. Yet the sound system made it feel much less than we all knew was represented on that stage. We made the best of it and I think the band really rose above the "STUPID" and delivered a great night of music.

The big count down was followed by a very cool fireworks show and a party set from the band into 2009!!

The food had been really awesome the first night we arrived. We found the closer we got to New Years Eve, the food got lamer and less, to the point that our new years eve diner included the tiny portion they delivered and a raided kitchen by musicians that are survivors. We made eggs and French toast to supplement the hotel food, and after Christina (singer) complained, we had leftover Sushi plates for after the gig. It was a nice attempt to feed the band, but the resort was so focused on the big money guests, that they totally did the very least they could to take care of the band. It really sucked. They had no salt or pepper, and many other things you might expect in a kitchen did not exist. We made due but did start getting more vocal about the oversight.

Another great party followed late into the night (or early morning depending on how you see it) and I was the early one up again on New Years Day. I think some of the guys got up around noon since bed time seemed to come around 5 that morning. We watched movies, although fought the TV at every turn, since it would not start once it turned off. We would have to call and fight to get someone out to fix the dang TV every night! That was really lame too, but the big party movies and kitchen raids were really fun once everything was stocked and working again.

We were invited to dinner at the restaurant that night and all felt much better about the food and way the Raffles was treating us. Now the morning started with the maid cutting her hand while doing dishes and bleeding pretty good - needing to take off for a while to get it checked out. I then had my special moment (just like the special Olympics) when I hit my hand on the glass soap dish, knocking it down and breaking it. I stood there for a minute and realized I needed to get out of the shower and try and get the glass cleaned up. It was the quarter size blob of blood on the floor that made me realize this. I had been bleeding the whole time I was cleaning up, and had not noticed it then.

I spent the next hour trying t get the glass out, very aware there was glass in my foot, but not able to see it. When i finally got it out, I was surprised to fine a triangle of glass about a 1/16th of an inch, with the wide part stuck in my big toe and a little tip sticking out. When I got it out it was a pretty good bleeder again.

So, I was injury #2 and the maid was #3. She was washing dishes and got cut on some glass too. She had to leave to get it checked out because it was a really good cut too.

New Years Day began the drama over our flights, travel plans home, and the adventure turned out to be pretty unbelievable. (But I'll get to that story  next post. It was really amazing and at the point of this posting, the band is half home and half stranded still!)

We hit the beach, broke off into smaller groups and would be given a meal schedule so we would come together and regroup after the next meal, negotiating the golf carts and plans of each little group. The Raffles did have us eat down in the restaurant that night and it was really nice to have good food and a good size portion to share! We really needed a good meal and finally got one!!

At this point, Alec Milstein spent every waking moment online and on the phone attempting to get the flights worked out, and discovered the week we were in happened to be the busiest time of the year for the Caribbean and Miami was the home port back into the US. Getting off the Island was all private jets and getting to Miami included a larger Island to connect with a major airline.

So what happened to our flights? How did we end up on the road stuck in funky places? 50+ itching bites - finding out we don't have flights available - missing flights and loosing connections and staying where we needed too?? Check back for Part III for extra night 1 in  Canouan Island and all the other junk we had to get thru to get home.