Issue #1

A piece of Lil' Red's Mind ...

Hawaiian Tour 2025🌸 🌊 🌸

Double Duos

Long Tall Deb & Colin John brought Lil’ Red & The Rooster to Hawaii for 7 gigs in two weeks in paradise … ✈️

I don’t feel like doing a day by day replay. No, that doesn’t feel right. So, I’m gonna mix it up and roll it out to you like the crashing waves on the Kona coast. Insert theme song from Hawaii 5-0. 🌊

Hawaii Five-O

The Ventures

PREVIEW

The Big Island

COQUI 🐸

At one of our House Concerts, I started singing “Stack ‘Em Up Baby” and thought someone was singing along, until I realized it was a sweet voiced Coqui. At the same gig, one jumped into Pascal’s extreme foot arch causing the rooster to leap.

Speaking of Roosters ... there were chickens EVERYWHERE!

You’re singing that theme song in your head now, right? Well, I was singing it for two weeks straight accompanied by the Coqui Frogs Quartet. These little leapers were croaking everywhere. They lulled us to sleep at night to a cool breeze on Monica & Leonard's lanai.

Sleeping on a lanai with the green geckos keeping the bugs away is true paradise. I slept like a baby. I miss those little crokers.

Lanai = a roofed open-sided porch or patio

FRIENDS

Colin John has a treasure box of friends he’s collected over his decades of international travel serenading the moons. We were fortunate to meet many of them and even play in a couple dream homes built with love, for love.

Speaking of friends, our dear friends and Jukebox sponsors planned one of their bucket list vacations around our Hawaiian Tour. Ralph and Theresa Denick joined us at two gigs and a party after their Hawaiian Cruise. They fit right in with the other jewels. 💎

Don’t forget the stars!! We stood freezing at 9,000 feet staring at the stars being guided by Keith, the scientist in the treasure box. ✨

MUSIC

Double duos in niches of music lovers. We finished each evening with a Hip Shake boogie “cause Lil’ Red & Long tall Deb got it in them and it’s gotta come out!” purred Long Tall Deb. Colin slid while The Rooster bent and the crowd begged them for more. 🎶

FRENCHIES

How many Frenchies and Frenchie talkers did we meet? Surprisingly, a lot! A Parsian couple of world travelers at our first house concert, a French chef and photographer and his partner fluent in many languages and a South African / Belgian French speaker! Funny thing for me about being in Hawaii, I kept being surprised by people speaking English. It’s such a gumbo of people and cultures. 🥖

FRUITS

Deb treated us to her favorite fish and chips joint, Quinns. Yep, it was good!

Holy crap it’s expensive!!! So, luckily the venues fed us and fruit flies a plenty from friend to friend. New flavors: Apple bananas, white pineapples, cheramia, fresh coconut water and flesh, cocoa beans, ono fish, fresh ahi sushi (hours fresh) and a real pina colada!!! Let’s just say I grew my own little coconut ... on my belly. Oh and a chocolate ganache with a warning label, “1 tablespoon every two hours, finish before 3pm or expect a sleepless night. 🌴🥥

Louis guarding the fruit from Pascal. photo by Monica

TIDE POOLS

High tide waves crash and swirl us around lava rocks while the sun feeds us vitamin D. Deb was smart enough to stay out of the high tide. the rooster got out just in the nick of time.

Secret tide pools at low tide greeted us warmly. Floating in salt water with giant turtles, urchins and tiny fishes.

Colin secretly is a merman, which is why he must return regularly to the Hawaiian shores. 🐢

Hawaiian Cowboys

A western rodeo farmer’s market, fresh home baked bread and roosters everywhere. We enjoyed CJ’s set of steel guitar. 🏇🏾

Have you ever seen a stretch ‘possum ? A what??? A mongoose. I grew up loving Ricky Ticky Tavi the mongoose who took on the evil King Cobra. I had no idea they were so tiny!!

Flowers!

Flowers, flowers everywhere … 🌸 🌴 🌸

Maui

Said goodbye to The Big Island and hello to Maui - Hawaii Beverly HIlls, Donuts & Mulligan’s on the Blue then back home with Long Tall Deb while CJ performed as part of the Kona Steel Guitar Festival!