Music to soothe the savage beast

Funny how things work down here. Went down Wednesday to Elvis' to have an after work appertif, ran into an acquaintance of mine. We got to chatting and I told him I'm thinking of having music at The Cafe on Saturdays. I told him I wanted music unplugged. Just someone canoodling on a guitar. He asked me who I had in mind and I told him.......HIM!! He was astounded and flattered. He said he would come over on Friday to check it out, see what the acoustics were like, etc. Sure enough, he showed up, guitar in tow and proceeded to play for about 2.5 hours. Dylan, Buffet, Eagles, Beatles, even a little Zep. Somehow word got out and we had a very nice crowd within an hour. Had our best day ever and people all told me how they enjoyed getting away from the rat race, (if there is such a thing on this island), taking a respite from the tourists, and just limin' away the day. The vibe was exactly what I have been looking for since opening day. He has to go off island for a few weeks, but has promised to do a regular Saturday afternoon gig here. Looking forward to it and now all you who visit need to put Saturday afternoon at The Cafe, on your list of things to do.

Frat boy

Yep, after all these years, it appears I have finally joined a fraternity. Seems like every restaurant or bar I go into, the owners/managers, treat me different. We are all in the "what the hell were we thinking when we decided to go into the service industry" fraternity. All in all, it's a great fraternity to be in. Saturday went over to Picante since I was craving some Mexican food. Theron and Chloe both have been by my place and I wanted to reciprocate. Obviously, Theron being Theron, started with the shots. I guess that was my welcoming into the frat network. In walks Brett, another bar owner, and proceeds to buy some more shots. Toast were given all around to the new cafe and wishes for the best of luck. Great times, great friends, and here's wishing we all do well.

First couple weeks have been beyond expectations. Most of the island lives for the xmas holidays but since a large percentage of my business is expats/locals, it will be interesting to see how things shake out in the next couple weeks. Many of those locals are planning on being off island for the holidays.

Already looking at costs to expand the seating area. One of the drawbacks now is not enough seating in the garden so we have been using the upstairs for overflow.

Tonight is round two of Mojito Monday's. Always a good time with people unwinding for the day. Supposed to be from 3-6, but last time, people hung til 7:30.

Will probably start an acoustic Saturday from 2-4. We have a really nice group of people that come and hang out and some soft live background music might be just the ticket. Also have plans for some other events, but too early to even let on what those might be.

Yesterday was another Sunday on Anguilla, limin' with Turvin and Pacey at Gwen's. They took Merlzy for a long walk on the beach and I was able to enjoy Gwen's incredible Chicken salad and rum punch. I still haven't found anything better or more relaxing then Sunday's down here.

Yahoo. Ready for the first customer.

6:20 AM

6:15 PM. Getting closer

As promised

6:00 AM Opening Day November 27, 2008

Holy Shit!!!

Why didn't somebody tell me this was going to be this hard?!? Man, talk about a fish out of water. I'm clueless. There is so much to learn, do, pick up, banking, ordering, P.R., schmoozing, and getting it right. So far, not a single ad has happened and every day the sales have gone up. Today we did our biggest breakfast crowd and 3 people that had breakfast, then showed up later with more people for lunch. I keep asking people how everything is and they keep saying it is perfect and just what the island needed. Good to hear, but when they actually come back, you know they are telling the truth. One lady said it was the best muffin she ever ate!! The NY Post has asked C for some info on the restaurant and obviously she is going to promote the cafe. Stay tuned, maybe we'll hit the fish wrap soon. One item on my list of things to do is to post some pics on here, but so far, I'm running all day and haven't been able to download them. I figured tonight I would do that, but now I can't find my camera. I can't seem to find ANYTHING! I seem to be getting a little bit of a handle on things and feel confident that soon, this won't be so difficult, but so far, HOLY SHIT!!