Fire Island

As summer 2009 is drawing to a close, I see that I have only 2 more weeks to play at CJs in Fire Island. The gig started a few weeks before Memorial Day, so it'll be a total of 17 weeks by the Labor Day weekend, at which time the Fire Island season ends, and with it my employment there.

Fire Island has been particularly appealing in recent weeks, with the really warm summer temperatures kicking in finally, seemingly very late. Last Saturday evening, after I finished playing, there was a fine 5-voice doo wop a capella group singing out on the dock, in the open air, with a large group of listeners, balmy late August evening at 7:30 PM......

.....one of those perfect moments that lingers, and becomes a cherished summer remembrance. We (my lady friend Dawn and I) were due to take the 8:05 ferry back to the mainland, and the back of the ferry overlooked the doo wop group on the dock.
We seated ourselves so as to watch the entire dock concert scene fade away as the ferry departed.

Ocean Beach is one of a dozen or so villages found along the long skinny 40-mile sandbar called Fire Island, which runs parallel to the South Shore of Long Island. Sometimes not even a quarter-mile wide, the whole island was created by the ocean dumping sand.

A shallow bay -- also 40 miles long - separates the sandbar from the mainland, and its width is big enough (a mile? 2 miles?) to require a long ferry service. All Fire Island visitors must leave their cars behind and take this ferry, $17 per round trip. Parking can be pretty expensive also, any where betwen $14 and $20, in the lots that are near the ferry. I got in the habit of avoiding the parking fee by using a lot that's 3/4 mile from the ferry. I needed a pushcart, to wheel my little suitcase PA and accessories bag.

So there are no streets or cars in Ocean Beach, just sidewalks in front of the very expensive homes, which I hear are mostly rented out during the summer. And on a good summer day, there's a little touch of paradise to the place. Shops and eateries (like CJs) are located along a cozy main drag, everybody walking around in beachwear.

CJs is a noisy place at 5PM -- the upright piano and I face a wall, and there is no requirement for anybody to pay attention. The people are young partyers, loaded and loud, so I bang out singalong-friendly rock music. No Gershwin here! The older patrons (Lets say - age 55 to 70) also want rock.

It's difficult work, and I'm glad the gig is only two hours, from 5 to 7PM. In recent weeks I've taken an early ferry, giving myself time to be a tourist, stroll, enjoy the beach, get a glimpse of some deer, who inexplicably appear in large numbers in Ocean Beach, knocking over local garbage cans to get "people food".

The gig is mine next year if I want it. The new South America ship gig is still 2months away, but it'll run through until May 2, 2010.......just in time to start another summer season at Fire Island.