Our Man in Antigua

courtesy of Maria Muldaur, ‘midnight at the oasis’ and so on..ah, our ‘music scene’ is about to get even lesser…Nelson’s gonna be around for a little while, might play ‘one last gig’ and thence he’s one the road til October…recording a CD, playing the Cadillac Hotel in San Francisco(with a 1884 model Steinway valued at at $100K)…whew..big time…and good for him…however, as mentioned, that leaves Antigua is kinda of a musical vacuum…you know, sucking?

Djinn, announcing their move? yeah…in one day, across the street to Sangre and the previous site of Estrella(in the front)…the owner of Sangre has gotta be happy ($$) at least something to show for 2 years of zero profits/massive/passive losses but if the owner is really what’s been said/implied, that hasn’t been an issue…nope…no slander..Guatemala has serious slander laws…ask a few bar/restaurant people who’ve fallen into that trap around here.

Fabrizio…Joe’s Cafe? working for the last month at La Sala (the kitchen)…gotta be an improvement, especially since Mario B of Johnny’s Place picked up a slice of La Sala..the implication being that Joe’s Cafe hasn’t been exactly…um…busy?  on Sunday, the First..that may change just a bit: the American Legion is planning a combined Canada Day/4th of July thing, starting at 2pm…hoagies, philly cheesesteaks plus the usual Joe’s menu…

that day is also a day at the races(not the Marx Brothers movie)with big time races at the Pedro Cofino track on the way to Esquintla…Rich Neel is offering limited transportation via his van, leaving Sunday 8am at the park…yeah, I’m in…

der Henrik of Reillys? back from Denmark but no one has seen him…Lava installing a big flat screen TV for the sports nuts…the no-smoking law/enforcement has dented their and Ocelot’s business just a bit…Wokco, that new Chinese restaurant in what was La Esquina? doing a good evening crowd, and no, I haven’t…got an incoming shipment of Bull Durham’s xlnt Tecpan ribs tomorrow, so that’s out…maybe Saturday?

Alabama Bob? aka Plumb Bob? “what has 8 legs and three teeth?”…’shift change at the Waffle House..’ drum roll…ah, my printer? bless his heart but the latest print run had a smaller cover, size wise..and yes, Debbie, ‘size does matter’…so, before getting/going ballistic, i thought about asking folks for a judgment/opinion on which size they liked better…old vs new? 11 outa 11 liked the new smaller size…better/intense color and more info(content)…that print run is pretty much gone but as of the 9th, 10th or so, expect the latest/greatest version of “Our Man in Antigua-stan” to be around town..tomorrow the banks are closed for 5 days…if you’re thinking of putting on a mask and shouting…’ok, mutherstickers, this is a fuck-up’ wait til next week…and thank you, John Saint-Simon (my landlord)for two great ideas about the book…next month…the beet goes on, one way or the other.