Here are some long lost tunes from 1971.

We were in Key West playing at the Great Escape Lounge at the Key West Airport

Key West…part #1

Key West.. Part #2

Zanzibar….part #1

Zanzibar…part #2

Woodstock(instrumental)

Kenny Dixon(Bass), Charlie Dechant(sax, flute, guitar, piano, vocals), Christian Gandhi(electric piano, Alto flute,), David Tasse(sax), Sherry?? (vocal) Buddy Helm(Drums), and Roger Cruz(vocals, congas, alto sax)

We left Coconut Grove under a new name. Bethlehem Asylum no longer existed. Christian put this band together and so we called it the Christian Gandhi Syndrome as a joke, but it stuck.

The Great Escape lounge was a place of strange people and situations. The Key West Airport closed at Sunset back then. The chairs were put up on the tables and everyone went home in the airport.

That’s when Dieter and his wife, Maris came to open the funky dive of a nightclub. Dieter was from West Germany, Maris was a princess from Miami beach. They had a strange symbiotic relationship that was loving yet bizarre.

We played for the odd assortment of people that passed through Key West, but did not want to go down to Duval street where the regular military and college joes hung out. The Great Escape lounge was out at the edge of town, and you had to know how to get there.

There were spies, and bikinied beauties dancing and drinking with off duty soldiers from Belfast still wearing their kilts.

Once we were playing an instrumental version of “Woodstock” when….I glance back over my shoulder, I was sitting at the drumset up on stage in front of a huge plate glass window that stretched up and out in classic 50’s architecture. The landing strip was dark-no landing lights. The jungle hung close by the little tarmac strip. A small Piper cub dropped down out of the dark new moon night sky and lightly touched down on the landing strip, completely unaided by modern flight equipment. This was a tree top flier. Then out of the shadows came a long low Chevy station wagon, also without running lights. They met in the faint moonlight like two animals hunting for love. They exchanged whatever mysterious cargo and payment was required and the plane lifted up and silently flew away into the moist night. The station wagon also cruised away into the Key West shadows. We finished the song and everyone had another beer on the House. Dieter was a consummate host.

more music:

Blues Walk

Boogie