When Michael first started the OG blog, he asked me to write a little something about my experience for the St. Maarten Regatta 2009. Needless to say, I am pretty late, but I will try and make up for the time lost with an interesting and highly stimulating blog (hahaha)… well, I know I will not come close to Michael.
This is my very first blog ever, and although it is some what creepy that people will be reading my “thoughts”, it is at the same time quite interesting for the exact same reason. Soooo, without anymore delay, let the blogging begin…
OG ON THE ROCK.As you probably already heard, we arrived on Thursday, 05 March and of course it was terrific to be back in the nice warm Caribbean air, and to see my family again. It is a good thing I told them from beforehand that I probably would not be seeing them very much until maybe the last week of our trip. It worked out pretty well.
So we had our first practice up St. Maarten Academy sides, and it was cool. Although it was a small concrete house (like a storage room type thing), the place had character. And the warm breeze blowing through the open door was a welcome to the chilly and somber places we usually get to practice in in Holland.
After practice I went home and made some calls: CARIMI was performing that same Friday night and I WANTED TO GO! I did, and it was great, but the next day I realized it probably was not a good idea to be screaming and talking loudly to people during a concert. My voice was mashed, and on top of that I had had a cold for a week or so already.
SHOW DAY.
So show day arrives, and we all meet down at Kim Sha beach for sound check that morning. However, there is a delay (ahh, my island) so we decide to go and have breakfast at ZeeBest. Let me tell you, this place has some of the best tasting pastries and other breakfast items. YUM-O! Maybe I will get some free stuff from there after this advertisement. After breakfast we headed back to the beach. And after another delay (ahh, my sweet island) we got to sound check.
That night I was sooooooooooo nervous. I mean, I am usually nervous/excited, but this night I 
was particularly nervous, because besides Michael’s performance, I was also going to perform one cover song… IN FRONT OF ST. MAARTEN PEOPLE. Now some people might be wondering what is the big difference if I perform in front of large crowds in Holland all the time? But I know that if there is a St. Maartener reading this right now, they know what I mean. All I will say is that with a St. Maarten crowd, there is no grey area. Oh well, ma mama would be there to give me a hug (hihihi).
The moment came for me to be up front now, and after the first few sentences of the song, I decided to just do what I normally do; I got lost in the song and the music. I was gone! And after our show, I received so many compliments, and people were telling me how they love that song and how I sang it. I was pleased to hear this… my job was done (hehehe).
ON TO THE NEXT... AND SADLY THE LAST.
That same week on Thursday we would be performing at The Alley. That afternoon we did our usual sound check to make sure we had everything we needed. While the guys were setting up, Michael came over to tell me he would be handing out prizes that night, but he had not decided how the prizes would be won yet. He HAD decided what the prizes would be, however. After he told me his idea, well, the only thing more I will say about this is that Michael is a “special” guy and ya gotta love him. Now do not ask me what the prizes were; you should have been there.
Before the show, we got to have dinner at the wonderfully delicious
Pineapple Pete, and just chill out with each other and talk about our time on St. Maarten so far and crack jokes. It was also satisfying to hear that the non-St. Maarteners in the band were having a time of their lives on the island (after they returned to Holland, I received an e-mail that now that they were back, “Holland sucked”. Hahahaha, that is what the experience of good food, good company and good weather does to a person. They finally understood what we have been talking about all these years.
There is just something about St. Maarten).
This performance and the last performance we had at Sunset Beach Bar were nice, because we got to be more intimate with the crowd as opposed to being on a huge stage far away from everybody. Though both ways have their positive and negative sides, the interaction with the crowd is on a different level when they are closer to the stage.
THAT’S ALL FOLKS.After the show at Sunset Beach Bar, most of us headed for the newly opened nightclub on the island, Tantra, where I met some faces I had not seen in a long time. I was happy meeting up with some of the “good ‘ol, good ‘ol” peeps, and seeing that they were all fine.
Good food, good company and good weather… that is what this trip was for me. And that is all I can really ask for.
All the best,
Jazzy.
