My Last Farmers Market

Friday March 23

I rise and pedal my bike to what will be my last Farmers market at Lake Park. I have a bran muffin, coffee, and a pint container of strawberries. All very delicious. I hook up on last time with my musician buddy, Grant, for whom this is his final performance, and he and wife (who sells soap at the market) will be heading back to the Hamptons on Long Island. I don't buy any produce at the market today, because I don't think I will finish it in time for my departure.

I bike back to the condo, then set out for the Fleamasters Flea Market. Mostly to give Randy, the bike dealer, a "heads up" that I'll be bringing my bicycle back next Friday, so that he will be sure to have $50 with him to pay me back half the purchase price of the bike. He remembers the bike, the Murray "Westport," and says it will be no problem, in fact he will be happy to have the bike back, as he has a particular fondness for vintage Murray bikes. I also check with Chris, the watch dealer (he has nothing new) and also Chris, the bookseller, to see if he has a copy of Eric Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts," but it's too new for him to have at this point.

I also buy a cheap pair of binoculars for $2 from a dealer there who just has a whole bunch of "stuff" in her booth. My friend, Carol, has been talking about possibly going out on a "nature outing" for some sort for our final date, possibly even an "eco-Tour" of the Everglades. An "eco-tour" is a tour of the 'Glades minus the popular airboat that everyone thinks of. An airboat is really not an environmentally friendly way to tour the Everglades. It's so loud, that the boat scares off everything you might want to see, with the exception of the alligators, who apparently aren't afraid of much of anything. If you want to see birds, mammals, and any chance of seeing a Florida panther, a much quieter mode of transportation is required ... a shallow bottom boat with a small (even electric) motor, or even kayak. The only problem with the eco-tour is that they are kind of expensive -- in the $200 range -- and I don't know if Carol can afford that or not. But we are also talking about a couple of other nature tours, including the "Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary," which is by Bonita Springs (a little south of Fort Myers) and run by the Audubon Society and is (obviously) a bird sanctuary more than anything else. I'll need a pair of binoculars regardless of where we go, if I have any hopes of seeing anything. The pair I get is basically one level up from a kid's toy, but they will do the job and they are disposable.

I have lunch at the German lady's food booth where they have the milk, only this time I order a full lunch of a ham-n-cheese quiche with a small side salad and hunk of brown bread. It is all very delicious.

I also stop by the booth that sells specialty games and buy a deluxe Scrabble game that I am anxious to take home and try with my family and also my friend Amy who plays Scrabble.  I try to use my Chase Visa credit card, and the purchase is declined, so it appears Chase has made it's decision as to whether I am creditworthy enough to assume responsibility for the credit card which has been in Gwen's name since the beginning. And the answer is no. So now I will have to open a secured credit card when I get back to Wisconsin. I hate having to put $2K of my own money into a non-interest-bearing account to secure a credit card, but I absolutely cannot be without a credit card for travel. Car rental companies won't take them for renting a car, and there are other instances where you are better off using a credit rather than a debit card because you have more dispute privileges with a credit card.

Back at the condo,I get a nice email from Richard Arfin from the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, with regard to my "Beaches Bars and B3s" query. Turns out this was a series of articles he wrote for "Goldmine" magazine about the particular band sound that was coming out of Long Island in the 1960s. It was was kind of splintered, "garage rock" effort that coalesced and finally "hit" and was promoted up into the '70s, and included bands like Vanilla Fudge, the Rascals, the Vagrants, and the Hassles, which included a little known keyboardist at the time by the name of Billy Joel, who played a B3 organ (but who didn't know how to play the pedals) who of course later returned to his native instrument, the piano, and rest, as they say, is history. Arfin's articles were eventually combined into one article that ran in Rolling Stone magazine about the "Long Island Sound," which the LI Music Hall of Fame is now seeking to promote and preserve. Anyway, I make a few passes through Youtube and watch/listen, and I don't think this is my "thing," I think this one of those types of music you either really love or hate. It's sounds like raw, "garage rock" music to me, and much of the organ sound is just heavy handed chording with switching the Leslie speaker on and off for tremelo effect. There is very little finger virtuosity going on, in the style of "jazz-rock" organ, ala "Green Eyed Lady" and so forth, of the kind of organ playing I prefer. But it was a good effort, and it was certainly fun seeing Billy Joel when he must have still been a teenager! I'd still like to read Arfin's original articles if I can find them. "Goldmne" magazine is still in business, by the way, and I'm sure back issues can be referenced somehow. Arfin also tells me his articles may be brought back to the website at some point. Arfin himself was a Hammond B3 organ player for a LI rock band called "Spitball." He remembers those days fondly, but writes "One thing I distinctly remember was having to transport that motherfucker and the Leslie to gigs. I don't miss that."

So of course I cc my buddy Grant on all this, and he is very interested and wants to stay in touch.

Expenses: breakfast $6, lunch $8; Scrabble game $41. Total: $55

Bruce