I love to sing songs about the ocean, Mexico, sunshine, beaches, south of the border life, etc….given that's the type of music I like to sing and write about, I couldn't ask for a better situation than San Carlos. So from the time I got my Mexican work permit through the rest of the '90s, other than summers and frequent trips north to sing in the U.S., I spent most of my time in Mexico….living in Guaymas or nearby Empalme but performing in San Carlos.
Until 2004, in fact, I never lived in San Carlos, but always in places that were affordable on a solo musician's income. One was a room at a bayfront motel called Las Playitas. The place was up for sale and was completely vacant except for me and one other guy, who died a couple months after I moved in. So it was "Gypsies In The Palace"…just me, the bay views, my windsurfer, a pool that was still maintained, and my own little private dock to tie my kayak up to. Not bad for 60 bucks a month. Las Playitas finally sold and is now a whorehouse.
Probably my favorite place that I lived, while in the process of getting my work permit, was about 45 minutes from San Carlos on a desolate beach called Playa Cochorit. It definitely was not a tourist beach, just some fishermen and a bunch of abandoned homes with no running water. I asked around and found a place for rent. After negotiating (and splitting rent with a buddy), I paid about a buck a day. Come to think of it, I kind of got screwed on the deal when you consider I had no cement floor, no furniture, no running water or electricity, although my landlord ran an extension cord from his house…with that and an adaptor I was able to run a fan, a light bulb, and my radio. I did my cooking on a camping stove on the front porch, used a sleeping bag for a bed, and showered with a bucket behind the house. I used my ice chest as my fridge, and got free ice every time I bought beer in town. Needless to say my ice chest stayed cold. About thirty yards from my house was a bar on the beach that served only one thing…quarts of Tecate. You could stick your feet in the sand and munch on seafood while Cesar, the owner, would drink half your beer and sing you Mexican ballads at the top of his lungs with tears streaming down his face. When it comes to authentic Mexican beaches, this place was the real deal. And you couldn't beat the price.
Life was good at Playa Cochorit. I spent a lot of time on the water, sailed my little boat daily, wrote a lot of songs, and ate a lot of fresh seafood. . There was an actual house (electricity and all) further down the beach that I used to walk by and admire…little did I know that one day Adela (who I had just met) and I would actually live there as a married couple with a child.
About the time I got my Mexican work permit, I came out with my third album, fittingly titled "Mexico". After the first home project and my second CD, "Son of the Sunshine", I felt like with this new album I was finally doing a style of music that fit my lifestyle. Tropical with touches of country…acoustic guitar and marimbas, James Taylor meets Jimmy Buffett. My producer, Jeff Tatum, was a big part of this. He helped me develop the sound that was to become our trademark in later albums like "Going Coastal", "First World Refugee", and "Life In A Beach Town". The CDs were selling better and better and opening doors that had always been closed to me.
Ironically, the more time I spent living in Mexico the more success I had in the States. Maybe I had a little more authenticity since I was actually living in Mexico instead of hanging out in the suburbs singing about margaritas. Or maybe it was just years of planting seeds that were finally ready to harvest. Whatever it was, it led to some really nice gigs on my visits to Phoenix. Places like the Pointe Resort, Steamed Blues, The Duck and Decanter, The Lantana Grille….all a far cry from "The Saloon" several years before. In 1998 I met some members of a group called The Arizona Parrothead Club, which eventually led to my first booking at a major music festival, "Parrot Grande". In May of that year, somehow I ended up getting interviewed on Phoenix radio station KNIX, a major name in country music. That led to a TV interview and live performance on TV station KTVK Channel 3, also in Phoenix.
I ended up scoring a couple more live TV performances around Arizona in the coming years. There was one in particular that brings back memories. I was booked to appear at five in the morning on KPNX, Channel 12 in Phoenix. Thank God most of my friends were asleep for that one. On my first song, I forgot to turn the volume in my guitar pickup on. So viewers were treated to an "a capella" version of "Pacifico Blue" until the station mercifully went to a commercial. The producer stormed in and reminded me that we were being broadcast all over the state. Again, thank God it was five in the morning and nobody I knew was watching. I turned the volume on and got two more songs in, this time with vocals AND guitar, before the broadcast came to an end. Amazingly, a producer from a small station in Yuma saw the whole thing and booked me for an appearance later that week on her station. Given what she saw that day, I concluded that they must be desperate for entertainment in Yuma. I doubt we won any ratings wars that day, but I'll TV exposure whenever I can get it. Hello Yuma!
