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Jax Bar Extravaganza
2022: 2/9 to 2/10
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Wanda with Jeff and Teri’s next-door neighbors anxiously awaiting the big show at Jax Bar. | |
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Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Two years ago, the band, Road Trip, from Appleton, Wisconsin, came down to the Puerto Vallarta area with an entourage of fans to play a couple of gigs. Jeff knew some of the guys, in fact, one of the guitar players came to Buzzo’s Bar in Bucerias to hear Jeff and I play.
Anyway, we went over to one of the two shows held in the swanky coastal town of Nuevo Vallarta, located between Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias. They swapped sets with a local band, the Geckos, that are an area legend. Both bands were good, but Road Trip was dead-nuts hot that night.
Road Trip had planned on making this a yearly event. Of course, COVID interfered with that plan last year. This year they were determined to pull it off. The band contacted Jeff and asked him to help them find a couple of gigs and to dig up some equipment. Jeff put together a show at Jax for tomorrow evening. Originally, the Mexpats were going to open, then Jeff and I would play a set, then Road Trip would close out the show. Mexpats would provide the equipment as the Gecko band did two years ago.
As best laid plans go, this unraveled the week before the show. The Mexpats broke up and most of the band members joined other bands. These new groups all have gigs tomorrow, so they can’t lend out their equipment. Then Road Trip’s bass player got COVID and couldn’t make the trip.
But the show must go on. Jeff committed his sound system and one of his keyboards to the band. Road Trip hastily made bass soundtracks to cover the loss of the bass player. The drummer brought down an electronic set of drums. They take up very little space. The guitar players, with no amps, had to run directly through Jeff’s sound system.
So, much of today was spent at Jeff’s house to put together a song list for us to play. The final plan that we came up with involved Jeff starting off doing a few songs solo, as I didn’t know some of the new tunes he wanted to do. Then the ex-Mexpat singer would come up and sing a couple of tunes with Jeff. Finally, I’d make my grand entrance.
The songs we planned for me to play with Jeff were: Do It Again (Steely Dan), Cold Shot (Stevie Ray), Power of Love (Huey Lewis), Country Girl (Luke Bryan), Fantasy (Aldo Nova), Light My Fire (Doors), Good Times Bad Times (Led Zepplin).
As an encore, we hoped that Road Trip’s lead singer, Amy, would come up and do Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin) with us.
When I got home, I practiced for a couple of hours so I didn’t lay an egg in front of the Road Trip guys. I knew they were all excellent musicians. I had to at least be passible.
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On my walk to Jeff’s house, I came across this tanker truck. I was amazed at how long this rig was. Surely, it would not be legal back in Wisconsin. I am shocked that it is legal here. Even more so, I couldn't believe it got into this service road. | |
My practice gear - Fender Telecaster Deluxe guitar, iPod, Vox practice amp, and plug-in earphones. The Tiny Vox amp plugs directly into the guitar and it doesn't have a speaker. The earphones are necessary. It does have an auxiliary input to plug in the iPod. I can mix the guitar and the tracks from the iPod. It's a goofy unwieldy set up with wires dangling but it works and easily packs. | |
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Wednesday, February 9, 2022
SHOWTIME. Jeff picked me up at 12:45 pm to go to Jax and set up. The Jax Bar is an interesting mish-mash of a bar with an interesting story. Jax and the neighboring bar, Drunken Duck Bar, used to be rivals. The Duck was the “hottest” bar in Bucerias for several years. Jax could only watch the Duck’s success with envy.
Then, last year, Jax got a chance to buy the Drunken Duck, and the owner jumped on it. He knocked down some walls and combined the two bars into one huge venue. In the process, he moved the bar and stage to a central area. He had to make a lot of compromises and the bar kind of meanders all over the place, but it works.
With the new stage, he had a clean slate to play with. Unfortunately, he mucked it up a bit. He put in a smallish riser that most bands can’t fit on. So, bands usually set up in front of the riser. There is a fair amount of room in front of the riser, but a couple of building support columns get in the way.
Bottom line is that it took us a good two hours to figure out how to set up so Jeff’s keyboards and my setup weren’t in the way when Road Trip came up. It was a jigsaw puzzle. Jeff is usually good at these setups, but I added my two cents here and there.
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The central bar. There is another auxiliary bar along a back wall. | |
One of the many murals at Jax Bar. | |
Jeff started around 4 pm. I swaggered on a bit before 5 pm. Yesterday’s practice paid off. My little set went well. And we did get Amy to sing Piece of My Heart. She nailed it. | |
Jeff ripping-it-up during his solo act. He has more keyboards than hands. | |
The ex-Mexpats singer (his name escapes me right now). He’s Canadian during the summer and Mexican during the winter. | |
Jeff’s usual entourage. Jeff is a bit of a legend in Bucerias. | |
Isabella, whose 12th birthday is on Friday, and her mom, Thania, live across the street from Jeff and Teri. | |
Brent and Donna maintain dual citizenship - Canadian and Mexican. This is common (Jeff and Teri also have dual citizenship). If you own property in Mexico it is almost necessary. Brent and Donna own a house just two streets up from the house we are renting. In the summer, they live in a mega 40’ 5th wheel travel trailer with 5 slideouts. It takes a one-ton truck to haul. That’s traveling in style. They are very nice people. | |
Shirley is a bit of a legend in her own right. She never misses any show. I have seen her around every time we go see a band. | |
Jax bar is a large meandering bar. Above: Looking towards the right side and towards the back. This was the old Drunken Duck part. There is an extra bar on this side. Below: This is looking out towards the front. It is the original Jax part. | |
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Road Trip started around 6 pm. They struggled with the equipment all night, but I have to hand it to them, they were professional and were able to pull off a very good show despite everything. They had never played with tracks before, but it mostly worked. The drummer didn’t even know how to set up the electronic set and needed help sorting it all out. Yet he sounded great.
Jeff’s sound system was a tad too small for the band and running the guitars directly through it overwhelmed it a bit. But here is where a great sound man comes to the rescue. He walked around all night with his iPad loaded with a wireless sound mixing app, and tweaked and tweaked and tweaked. The sound on the first song was horrific. By the third song, he had it pretty well dialed in. By the fifth song, it was well balanced and the fidelity, while not show-quality, was more than passible.
It was a great night.
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The invaluable sound man with his electronic sound mixer. He was worth his weight in gold. | |
Road Trip with the entourage that they brought down with them. | |
Road Trip played two sets. During their break, Wanda and I took an evening stroll. | |
We stopped at a taco shop for a quick taco. This restaurant is run by a very young cute couple with a young son trying to make it. They are new at the restaurant business and the competition in that area is fierce. | |
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Thursday, February 10, 2022
Today was kind of a throwaway day. The plan was to go to the dental clinic to pay off Wanda’s portion of the bill. We could then check up on my appointments. We received my dental plan, but not any specific days or times yet. After scrutinizing the plan, I assure you that it will be brutal.
Walmart is in the same shopping center as the clinic. The house is completely bare of food and snacks, so we took some cloth grocery bags (plastic bags are banned) and our backpacks to replenish at Wally World.
When we reached Dentoamerica, they had my schedule ready. I start at 9 am on Wednesday for an all-day marathon - the worst day of my ordeal. I will be sliced and diced like carrots in a vegematic. I look forward to it being over.
Although not as nice as La Comer, Walmart was fun. We seem to escape these Mexican Walmarts with far less damage than their counterparts back home. It is a jolly mix of the usual American Walmart products and Mexican brands. Their homemade white corn tortillas are very good, as are their tortilla chips. Still, we like to support the local vendors whenever we can.
Back home, we are addicted to sparkling water, thanks to my European sister, Diane. She got us hopelessly hooked. We flavor it with a squirt of concentrated flavoring - usually black cherry (a splash of brandy or whisky also helps, but don't narc me out to Wanda).
Jeff and Terri pointed out the sparkling water sold down here. The brand is Penafiel and it is smooth like European sparkling water. The water we get back home is a little harsher. Now that we know the brand, we see it everywhere. We stocked up at Walmart and added a bunch of Zuko powdered flavoring packets. I skipped the whisky. I am enjoying my Modelo Negra beer.
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No theme here - these are merely scenes around Bucerias as we wandered around the less touristy neighborhoods. | |
Pictures of the wonderful paletas desserts - chunks of fruit in a fruit puree. Many have cream added for extra smoothness and flavor. | |
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Three years ago, we stayed a month with Jeff and Teri as they introduced us to Bucerias. Their neighbors at that time, own the Las Famosas Restaurant. We got to know them. Of course, we patronized their restaurant a couple of times. Although they have a variety of foods, they specialize in American-style super-deluxe hamburgers, and they are authentically scrumptious.
To take a very short break from Mexican cuisine, we decided on a Las Famosas gourmet burger for supper. After dropping off our Walmart booty it was Americana burger time.
Las Famosas moved. Their new spot is in a courtyard with three times the space. The owners didn’t recognize us until we name-dropped Jeff and Teri. An acoustic duet was setting up for some live dinner music.
Wanda ordered the Belieber Burger including bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato, a slice of onion, pickles, lettuce, and some kind of super sauce. My Ghostbuster Burger added bacon, gouda cheese, pickles, lettuce, and a different super sauce.
Over the past year, I have been amazed at how much Restaurant deluxe burgers cost back home. we are seeing $8 on the low end and $12 in many touristy establishments. The Ghostbuster was 109 pesos ($5.30 US). The Belieber was 119 pesos ($5.80 US). Both were excellent. We had to come all the way to Mexico for a great affordable American burger.
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The entrance to Las Famosas. The restaurant is a pleasant courtyard with no indoor seating. | |
This photo doesn’t do the burgers justice. They are much bigger than they look in the photo, and it doesn’t capture all of the yumminess under the top bun. | |
The owner after he recognized us. | |
On Thursdays, Las Famosas has live music. These guys had a nifty little gig going. The drummer used a box drum called a Cajon. He also sang and had a beautiful falsetto voice. The guitar player had an interesting guitar - most of the body was missing (lol). They ran everything through one little powered speaker. It all packs up into an easy-to-lug-around package. They mostly played their version of pop tunes. It was delightful dinner music. | | | | |
