Howard
Livingston, Six Pack And a Tan
“He’s got
this habit that I’m growing to hate, his almost continuous status updates ‘bout
his life in the Keys and all that he’s going through…When it’s all said and
done, man you know we wanna be like you. I wanna be Howie….” - Paul Roush, “I
Wanna Be Howie”
Who WOULDN’T
want to be Howard Livingston? A closet full of shorts and flips flops, fishing
and playing Trop Rock…with the blue water and sand of the Florida Keys as the
backdrop to your daily activities? It’s a Parrot Head’s dream! But, there’s
only one “Howie” and if we can’t BE him, the only choice remaining is to live
vicariously through him, via his Facebook page…and his cds.
Howard’s
latest release is called “Six Pack and A Tan” and, like of all his earlier cds,
it’s a lyrical and music tour of the Conch Republic, a tropical party on a
round silver disc. “Six Pack…” opens
with the title track, the story of a retired military man who makes “cold beer
and a fishing pole his new battle plan.”. Ditching it all and heading for
somewhere warm and sunny is a recurring theme in Howard’s music and, why not?
It’s what he did many years ago, leaving the corporate life to be a guitar
picker in the Keys.
Next up is
“Magic In Key West”, an ode to the Conch Republic that name drops Jimmy Buffett
and Jerry Jeff Walker. One interesting thing about Howie’s music is that,
although he calls South Florida home, many of his tunes sound like they were
written South of the Border – with Tijuana brass and Mariachi rhythms that
would make Mark Mulligan proud.
“Keysified”
is another in a long line of ‘leaving the business world behind and heading for
the beach’ songs that owes their origin to Buffett classics like “The Weather
is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful”. In Howard’s version, the heroine is headed
to a convention in Miami when she gets the bug, rents a convertible and heads
down US1. Fueled by a Pina Colada in Islamorada, somewhere over the Seven Mile
bridge she loses her business suit, changes into “a little bikini” and never
looks back.
Another
recurring them in Howard Livingston’s music - and a key ingredient for a
majority of all trop rock, for that matter - is alcohol and the partaking of
it. Boat Drinks, Margaritas, Rum, ice cold Cervezas. It’s not much of a Parrot
Head Party without ‘em . “Five Lines in A Tervis Tumbler” is a reggaefied
tribute to those wonderful hot/cold drink recepticles – a Trop Rockin’ version of “Red Solo Cup”,
featuring Howard’s favorite beverage, Coconut rum.
Marine-based
puns are nothing new to Trop Rock (see John Reno’s “Lobster But Never
Flounder”) and Howard incorporates a number of them in the boogie woogie “Something
Fishy’s Going On”. Funny song, but all I
can say is, if I ever walk into my house and find “candles were lit, lights were
low, Marvin Gaye on the stereo” and find my wife “laying in our bed wearing a
leopard skin thong”? I’m not questioning the motives!
“Six Pack
and a Tan” also features one of the oddest Trop Rock songs I have to say I’ve
ever heard. Riding a “Puff the Magic Dragon” beat, “Peeing On A Coconut Tree”
includes lines like “we were peeing on a Sycamore tree, just my daddy and me”.
I’ve GOT to ask Howard about that one the next time I see him…
But, not all
of “Six Pack and a Tan” is about throwing responsibilities to the wind and
firing up the blender (or relieving yourself on vegetation). Howard
intersperses the party tunes with some self reflection and songs tailor-made
for swinging in a hammock. “Another
Sunset” rocks gently on a Mexican breeze, “Slow” is a romantic ballad with an
appropriate title, and “Younger Every Day” is a mellow number about not fearing
the passing the time. Need a song to help you take a mental vacation the next
time it’s cold and cloudy? Cue up “Rainy Day in Paradise”. Somehow, even bad
weather seems imminently more bearable when the rain drops are falling into the
ocean.
Wrapping up
the cd is an upbeat musical snapshot of life in Livingston Land: “Out On Sandy
Key”. Friends, food, music, booze and
boats – all under the South Florida sun. Like Paul Roush’s song says, I wanna be Howie!
Eric
Stone, Time To Fly
I have heard
his name for years but only recently became familiar with Eric’s music. On the
way down to last year’s Meeting Of The Minds, my wife and I stopped by to see
him play a set at a roadside tiki bar in Islamorada. Since then, I have included
several of his tunes on my show, Trop Rockin’ Live, and can now, happily,
answer “Yes!” when someone comes up to me at one of my dj gigs to ask, “Do you
have any Eric Stone?”
His latest
cd is a well-blended mix of Trop Rock and good old American R&R with a
swing through the Lonestar State. Much of the material focuses on chasing your
dreams and living life on your own terms, especially if those terms include
beaches, boats and bars. The main character in “Ave De Paso” is an “old man
chasing the wind”. “Jimmy’s Drive In” finds the hero leaving behind West Texas
for a different kind of sun and sand, and in “Way Down In Mexico”, Eric invites
anyone who wants to join him to “follow me…we’ll drink Pacificos, we’ll be
free…down by the sea”. “Life Like A Novel” and the title track continue the
theme of escaping and “searching for a better state of mind”. From
name-dropping tumbleweed towns like Odessa to mentions of rattlesnakes and
crossing the border, Texas also looms large on “Time To Fly”, musically and
lyrically… The Tex-Mex party is in full swing on “Bad Tequila”, where Eric
teaches us a lesson about the difference between rock gut and the good stuff.
Jerry Diaz & Hanna's Reef "On A Beach In Mexico"
I spent some time – many years ago – living in Corpus
Christi, not far from Jerry Diaz’s home on the South Texas Gulf coast. I loved
the lifestyle, sailboats, wind surfing and Margaritas (why I left is a long
story but involves thinking I needed to get somewhere less laid back if I
wanted to develop a career. I know, stupid, right? Now, all I can think about
is getting back to the beach!), While I was there, I also fell in love with Tex
Mex music; Freddy Fender, the Texas Tornadoes, Joe King Carrasco. Which is just
another reason why I love Jerry and Hannah’s Reef so much. They mix plenty of
south of the border into their Trop Rock for something they appropriately call
“Texas Beach Music”.
Named after a local Texas fishing spot, Hannah’s Reef is Jerry on lead vocals and guitar, Mark
Mireles on steel drums and acoustic guitar, Chuck Willingham on drums, Bobby
Summers on Bass, Bud Byram on percussion, and Heli Martin on guitars. If there
is a theme to Jerry Diaz and Hannah’s Reef’s latest cd, “On a Beach In Mexico”,
which I guess can be said about most Trop Rock, it is escape… Songs like the
title track, “Senoritaville”, and “Down To the Islands” are all about packing
your bags and heading to somewhere with sand, sun and drinks with salted rims.
In “Down To The islands”, the singer is “stuck somewhere in Arkansas” and says,
“I’m a restless soul in a watering hole, drinking rum just to get away” then offers
“When my ship comes in, I’m gonna jump right in. I can’t wait to get outta
here”.
The desire to leave what ails you behind and head to “a place
to go when you’ve had your fill of honey do’s and honey don’ts” continues in
“Welcome to Senoritaville” where the singer is down on his luck, “broker than
hell” and the IRS is “moving in any day”. Then the answer hits him, “a flight
down to Laredo was just what I needed”. And in “On a Beach In Mexico”, the
singer dreams of “tropical islands and places
I wanna be” while suffering under a “Cold Nebraska sky”.
But the songs on “On a Beach In Mexico” aren’t simply about wanting
to swap a bad situation for a better one, they’re also about the flip side: thoroughly
enjoying a really good situation: “I’ve got something money can’t buy, a good
lovin’ woman standing by my side” (“I’ve Got Love”), as well as making the best
of the hand you’re dealt: “Just give me
ten to twenty, and I’ll feel just fine. The wind at my back and a bottle of
wine” (“Ten To Twenty”) and “If there’s
beer in the cooler, I’ll be alright” (“Beer In The Cooler”). Wrapping up the cd is a staple of Hannah’s
Reef live shows, “We’ll Get By” – which features a guest appearance by John
Reno. Think of it as a Margarita glass half full kind of tune, with lines like,
“Well it takes me nearly all I’ve got, just to make ends meet”and “But that’s ok, come what may, we’ll get by”.
Amen, brother.
Loren Davidson "Of All The Rum Joints"
