Floridaze (excerpt from chapter 24)

I don't think it was any big surprise to friends and family when we made the big move to Florida, settled in and adapted easily. If you've done any moving in your life, there are signs of differences everywhere -- in dialects, food, businesses, weather -- and music, as I've found, is always a part of that new ambience. My musical head was spinning with Jimmy Buffett tunes and tropic-pop obscurities such as the Kinks' "Come Dancing" and Bette Midler's "Yellow Beach Umbrella." And my enthusiasm for playing guitar and writing, fueled by Bedford's bluegrass agenda, was growing, with a tropical twist of course.

We discovered that Florida and definitely our fast-growing southwest Gulf Coast area, was a melting pot of transients from other states, particularly the Midwest and Northeast. Plenty of retirees, sure, but we were in our pre-retirement years and ahead of the baby boom descendance into the Sunshine State. I quickly encountered live, spontaneous music in Punta Gorda's Lindquist park. There, musicians who dubbed themselves the Punta Gorda Guitar Army assembled weekly for impromptu jams. These were mostly players and singers with varied repertoires in country, rock and folk. They brought their songlists and instruments from places throughout the United States, gathering together to play both classic and original songs. I was a passive observer, soaking in this exciting and inspiring assemblage.

It wasn't long before I discovered another group of musicians, called the Englewood Acoustic Guitar Society, who played occasionally in a waterfront park pavilion in the beach town of Englewood. I was ready to participate. On a typically beautiful evening, I joined with several guitarists as well as people singing and playing harmonica, mandolin and bongos. I took my turn leading at the microphone as pleasure boats passed by, passengers waved and egrets grazed along the shoreline. My new musician friends were all transplanted Floridians, ranging in age from the 20s through the 6os. The music varied from the Eagles to Pearl Jam to Bonnie Raitt and everything in between. This was about as perfect as the music, the collaboration and the ambience could get.