Gabby Shack for The Win

Last night I played an acoustic show at the Gabby Shack. 

Gabby Shack is kind of a community hang out on Roi. The Gabby Shack is 10 ft from the water. It has a fully stocked bar, a couple of rusty old refrigerators, and its own island cat. The air there is salty and thick. The people there are unbelievably laid back and as hospitable as can be. 

What I am trying to tell you is, it felt like home. Playing all night for a group of genuinely nice people while we all sat on a deck by the saltwater and drank.

I'd say this one was in my "wheel house".

There probably would've been way more people had it not rained. But I think the party was actually better for it having rained.

One interesting phenomenon in the Marshall Islands is the way it rains. 

Every single day, the Marshall Islands has crisp perfectly blues skies. Everyday the Marshall Islands also has rain. And I mean the good old Gulf Coast torrential down pour rain. The difference is that here the rain lasts a total of 10-15 minutes. So you can be hanging in the most picturesque weather imaginable, be in a severe rain, and then back to the perfect weather all in the amount of time it takes to walk to the store and back. 

I joked with the folks and said "yesterday was the best week of my life". 

I meant it mostly because we had done so many things in one day that it literally felt like many days, but this quickly changing weather played a role in that. I think when my body had been through two pretty harsh storms and three extended periods of perfect sunny weather it subconsciously drew the conclusion that days must have passed. 

Having experienced this weather change so much while we were here before and during the three days we've been here this time, we knew the routine. 

Well last night at the Gabby Shack show, it was different. It rained and rained and rained. It was an unusually long rain. It also had lots of lighting, which the locals tell me is a very rare thing. 

Anyway, you would think all that rain would have lessened the gig. And you'd be wrong. 

I think the show was enhanced by it. The rain caused all 20-30 people to have to be more tightly packed in because they had to all get under the roof. It gave it much more of a "listening room" feel than a bar feel.

The rain helped in another way too. I told you this island feels a lot like home. That includes the extremely hot and sticky salt air and the incessant insects. Because it rained all night there was a cool breeze coming through which made it the perfect temperature and also kept the flies away. 

With this nice set up and the rain helping, the show was amazing for me. I got to tell stories and play songs up close and personal to these folks. I love playing in environments like that. They were all very very receptive and interactive, but when I was playing they were attentively listening and quiet. It felt good. 

I played a while, then Dale played a while (and sounded great of course) and then we played the last hour together.

Gabby Shack definitely has a special place in my heart now. I'll always remember that show.

Today'a agenda: run across island to upload this blog, pack all my stuff, then head to the dock to sail 9 hours down to Kwajalein. Oh my god. I'm excited I can't stand it. I'm a sailor at heart and never had the opportunity to have such a large extended excursion (definitely not in the South Pacific). I'll tell ya how it goes later.