Michael

After an afternoon spent tolerating drunken, rude tourist from the northern latitudes, while trying to view and photograph the bed races on Duval Street, I needed a saner more relaxed atmosphere. So I turned north east up Green Street, and headed for the waterfront, a place where sailing vessels still have room to pull in without being run over by cruise ships. This is an area that used to be the center of the commercial fishing industry, including the processing and canning of thousands of green sea turtles which were turned into soup and shipped all over the world. Everyone in this area seems to stay more laid back than the boisterous lot found down town.

Enter the Schooner Wharf Bar, advertised as "A last little piece of old Key West". It well may be the last, or at the least, one of the last pieces of old Key West. My good friend Michael McCloud plays guitar there daily. Michael is an original and does not play to the parrot head and Van Morrison crowd, instead he play a mix of blues and original folk songs from his own pen, and a few odd covers that he likes. A very accomplished musician who is now getting a lot of airplay on satellite radio, Michael sets a great tone for a laid back relaxed time. Saturday he was being accompanied by Captain Carl Peachey on guitar. Carl plays a lot in the style of Mark Knoffler, and is also a highly acclaimed novelist. If you read check out his books "Immortal Logic" and "Unnatural Selection" available through Amazon.

So needless to say after a couple of sets of Michael's music and a few adult beverages I am in a much better frame of mind, and even the tourist seem better. I guess you just can't beat an open air place right by the water, covered by sail cloth were dogs wander in and out and the bar is shared by pigeons eating bread scraps.

Wish you were here.