Cuba - In early 2017 we were able to travel to Cuba to visit my wife's extended family in the Guantanamo city area. 

We stayed at the Hotel Guantanamo, which is inside the city. It has an open air lobby, just like resorts I've visited for work in Mexico and Dominican Republic. But it has a more urban vibe. There's an elementary school on one side, a park/square at the front and a neighborhood behind. And it's not near the ocean.

My brother-in-law, his son and I played music in the lobby and out on the dining patio. We took 3 guitars that we gave to churches in the area a day or so before we left.

One of the highlights for me was being able to play a song with my brother-in-law one night in a second floor restaurant. An excellent singer and guitar player was performing that night in the restaurant, and he entertained us with traditional songs, plus some of his originals.

He heard that we were musicians, so he kindly asked if we wanted to play a something for him. Well, we just happened to have our guitars in the trunk of the 1950s Pontiac parked on the street below. Pretty cool. We only played one song, "Shaving and Daydreaming," restraining ourselves from taking over the gentleman's gig. From the blank stares we received from the folks around us, our Americana sound must have seemed pretty foreign to Cubans.

Later in the week, we traveled to a an ocean resort in Guardalavaca. At a rest stop along the way, a troubadour played songs. Both musicians are featured in the video and their interpretations of "Guantanamera" are the soundtrack.

At the resort, a Canadian woman told us she and her husband had been coming to Cuba for many years, and we were the first Americans she had met there.

I've heard people say that they would like to visit Cuba before it's Americanized. 

I understand what they mean. There's almost no advertising. No fast food. No seat belts in the old cars. Buses are pulled by semi-trailers. Bikes and motorcycles compete on the road with cars. Riding in a horse drawn carriage is not a novelty there. It's a legitimate transportation option. And that's in the city! Everywhere there are kids walking to and from school in their uniforms. 

Even if relations were completely normalized overnight, I don't think Cuba will be Americanized anytime soon.

It would be nice to have some decent ketchup in the hotel restaurants, though. They call it ketchup, but it's really some very thin, watery stuff that only hints at the real thing. I think if we go again, the next time I'll take a bag of Heinz Ketchup packets to leave behind. Who knows. I might start a... revolution.

Flying with a Guitar: Gate Check

I try to take my guitar on business trips so I can play in my hotel room (quietly). I've even played for co-workers at times, but mostly it's just me in my room.

Here's my experience with traveling with my guitar:

Most airlines treat musical instruments and baby strollers as a special category of luggage. It's called Gate Check.

Don't check your guitar with the regular checked baggage. I did that once and the case came out looking like an elephant had sat on it. The guitar was OK.

Take your guitar through security like a carry on. If it's a gig bag, try placing a few rolled up T-shirts under the neck for extra support. I usually loosen the strings to reduce tension on the neck. But I've also forgotten to do this and I've never really noticed any difference.

A few times in Mexico the security people opened the case and asked me if this was my guitar. I said yes and they seemed to approve. They did not ask me to play, however.

At the gate you'll need to walk up to the desk and ask to "gate check" your instrument. They'll put a special tag on the handle and give you a receipt stub. You'll keep the instrument with you while you wait to board.

When it's your turn to board and they scan your boarding pass, sometimes they'll also scan your gate check stub. Not always.

You'll walk down the ramp with your instrument. Just before you get on the plane, you'll hand the guitar to a luggage worker. Or you can just place it next to the door. Usually, somebody's baby stroller is already sitting in the same place. 

The luggage handlers will place your guitar in the plane's luggage compartment. So what's the advantage of gate checking your guitar?

I've observed that they seem to place the instrument on top of the checked luggage, which should be safer than checking it and having it land under a giant pile of heavy bags.

Then when the plane lands, the guitar should be there waiting in the little area just outside the plane door for you to pick up and carry up the ramp.

With smaller instruments like a ukulele, you should be able to carry the instrument on the plane and stow it in the overhead compartment or under the seat in front of you.

There is usually not enough room for a full-size dreadnought guitar, but I have seen someone do it. I guess it depends on how full the flight is.

One time a flight attendant asked if I wanted to keep my guitar in the locker where the flight crew keeps their baggage. That felt pretty cool, but it really wasn't very different from gate check.

Again, I would recommend against checking your guitar with the regular luggage. Have you ever seen the Toy Story 2 airport scene?

Hope this helps my fellow players.

Peace.

Billionaire

When you hear the word "billionaire," who comes to mind?

I've got a billion dollars
I own the night
I own the skyline
Black tie and smiles
But inside I'm raging

Like I said in a previous entry on "Secret Identity," one of my goals is to write a song based on a very famous licensed character, make enough money to put my kids through college and not get sued.

Look behind the mask
There's a little boy
In a dark back alley
Two pools of blood
In the pale moonlight

Armored car and armored vest
I've got my own symbol across my chest
And I don't need a gun
To get justice done...

I've grown up with comic book culture. I don't claim to be a huge fan of any one character or title. As a kid I enjoyed the feel of the pulpy pages and exploring the issue from cover to cover: Ads promising boxes of toy soldiers for less than $2; pages showing transistor radios, acoustic guitars and other items that could be earned by selling subscriptions to stationery; way too serious letters to the editor; the always puzzling pages of T-shirts with adult messages I didn't fully understand and, my personal favorite, a solid page of cheap novelties. Oh, and sea monkeys.

At times the actual stories seemed almost secondary. Here's where I managed to borrow a few lines from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots:

Got a thousand bruises
No regrets 
And no excuses
I discipline my body
Got to be strong to fight them

Most of the time superheroes fought supervillains or even other superheroes for complicated reasons. But I always felt like the best stories involved a hero coming to the aid of the defenseless against seemingly impossible odds.

I watch over the city
Hear the screams
Of innocent victims
I climb, I glide, I brawl
Driven by the need to save them all

If I had a secret life, I think I would always be on the verge of giving myself away. Especially if I met someone who seemed genuine, who seemed like she might have already guessed.

Met her at a party
Red hair, black velvet
I wondered as we were dancing
Could she understand?

Met her at a party
Black hair, red velvet
I wondered as we were dancing
Did she understand?

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the song.