Elvinas Famous Bar on Eleuthera

Elvina's Bar and Restaurant on Eleuthera is one of those unique travel destinations you never forget. As with any number of the more popular bars I've been to throughout the Bahamas, the unique ones have some common characteristics; one of the prominent being who of the rich and famous has patronized the place and who has entertained there. Elvina's fits this M.O. to a Tee.

Every Tuesday and Friday night, Elvinas has "open mike" night. The stage is typically occupied by a variety of local musicians, many that are quite good, and some who are infamous to the locals and the "sometime locals" of Eleuthera. I don't have any names to drop, no offense to those that perform there -- I'm horrible with names. But I can remember when I've had a good time and I've been to enough live concerts to have some say about whether the music was good... maybe.

I do know every time I visit Eleuthera, I check to see if Lenny Kravitz is on the island, and if so, if he's gigging at Elvinas. I can only imagine what an experience it was for those who were lucky enough to be at Elvinas when Mr. K. decided to drop in for an impromtu jam session. Just had to be special -- especially if you like his music.

To put it another way, I'd have to turn the plane around enroute to Eleuthera if I couldn't find Lenny's "5" disk on my Nano. Something about those tunes match the ambiance of the island... just sounds like "island". Fave tunes? "Thinking of You" and "If You Can't Say No". And don't forget "Eleutheria" from his "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" CD.

I've spent several or so evenings in Elvinas and thoroughly enjoyed myself. One of the best attributes of "famous Bahamas' bars" is the people that visit them; they come from all over the world, and many of them have been to a number of the other Bahama islands. You can spend mucho hours with these folks talking island travel. And then you mix in the semi-famous locals and you have a very spicy crew very capable and ready to P-A-R-T-Y.

Okay, so I never got to see Lenny Kravitz, at least not yet.

I dropped in on Elvina's in Gregory Town one afternoon as I was headed towards Palmetto Point after having stayed in Lower Bogue and Current Settlement for so many days. The place was empty with exception to Elvina and "Chicken Ed" being there. Elvina was doing chores around the bar while Ed was dutifully sleeping off last night's entertainment on the stage. What a perfect composition! A year later, I had the opportunity of showing Elvina and Ed the virtual reality photo and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yo, Lenny! Missed seeing you.

pj

P.S. Check out my other blog entry on Lenny Kravitz -- if you're so inclined.

Eleutheria -- Home to Legend Lenny Kravitz

My life is perfect
Because I accept it
as it is
The sunshine is shining
Because it is what it is

What a beautiful feeling it's bringing
All the birds in the sky are singing

Eleutheria
Lenny Kravitz

How cool would it be to listen to Lenny jam at the local digs in Gregory Town? You can bet I'm going to inquire as to whether he's gigging while I'm on island. Love this man's style, his attitude, and most of all, his talent for playing the git. Love your stuff, Dude! I make sure the pod has some of your tunes on it before I make the trip.

Best friend and locally famous musician Ralph Butler and I were driving through Pineapple Town one afternoon and came upon a street party right in the middle of town. We could hear the thump of no less than a 1000 watts from the outskirts of town -- and we know our wattage when we hear it. We thought for sure we were going to get lucky and find Mr. Kravitz in the middle of all the blare, but turns out it was a weekend record spin. A cool experience nonetheless.

The home of Kravitz knows how to do it right -- loves stacking speaker boxes 10' high and cranking it up. And unlike many of the Bahamian "boxes" I've heard over the years that sound like there's not much left of the cone in the speaker box, these folks do it right, clean, 60 hertz clear as an earthquake. Ralph and I bummed because we had a date to make and couldn't stop to check out the jam. We still talk about it and vow next time we're stopping no matter.

I've seen L.K. at North Eleuthera airport several times -- tooling around in his jeep either picking up or dropping someone off -- always smiling. God bless you, Lenny! You're living the good life. Somebody's got to do it and you da' right man for the gig because you dig it sincerely.

We're going to give it another chance this trip. My wife and her pal have talked about trying to catch L.K. The girls say they know where he hangs. Scary thought they've done the homework. Think I'll just be in the way?

Now how hip would that be? Oceanside on Eleuthera listening to rock written in the key of freedom?

Yo, Lenny! Hook me up! When's your next gig?

pj

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©2008 Perry Joseph