Scroll down to see all pictures The World-Renowned Sweet River Band
My husband Al and I arrived at Mario’s Marina on July 1st, 2005. We already knew many of the cruisers here because we had become friends in Isla Mujeres, and had heard a lot about Mario’s from other cruisers. So we felt right at home the minute we arrived at the dock. The next evening Al and I were finishing dinner at the Cayuco Club while at the next table two fellow cruisers with guitars were sorting out the chords to a tune. They were having trouble singing the melody, and I said to Al, “Those guys need some help!” I’ve been singing all my life and I’ve never been accused of being shy, so I went over to their table and started singing. Rob Aubé (Siqqittuq) and Steve Pavlidis (IVPlay) looked at me and said, “Hey we need a singer… you wanna be in our band?” I said sure, and that was the start of organized music at Mario’s. Rob, Steve and Neil McNeil (Away II) had been jamming together for a couple of weeks. Rob worked as a professional musician for many years and by mutual consent was our “leader”. Someone dubbed us the “River Rats”, and believe it or not, after only 2 days of rehearsal, we performed at Mario’s 4th of July party!!! Steve played a wicked lead guitar, Neil played rhythm guitar, Rob played bass (as well as guitar and mandolin), and I sang. It was hardly an award-winning event, but nobody complained and we played again for Mario’s Labor Day party.
Sometime in September Neil left for the Bay Islands and we needed another guitarist. Mike McCoy (Haliai) had heard us play and was at the Mario’s Swap Meet one Saturday. He and I got to chatting and he said he had played bass professionally for many years, but didn’t play anymore. A light bulb went on in my head and I hastily took Mike to meet Rob. Mike remembers being talked into playing bass again, recalling “I tried to tell them that I hadn’t played in 30+ years, but that didn’t seem to matter to anyone!” Not taking no for an answer, we convinced Mike to join us to play bass, while Rob switched to lead guitar, and we were off! At a rehearsal I said I really didn’t like being called the “River Rats”, so we brainstormed for a new name. It didn’t take long to come up with the translation for Rio Dulce, and we became known as The Sweet River Band.
We played at the Cayuco Club every Friday night the rest of the 2005 season. And we had a lot of help from our friends along the way! The owner/managers of Mario’s Marina, Mac and Ron, were overwhelmingly supportive and provided sound equipment as well as the venue for us to play. Mike Payne (Gitane) and Cindy Bonham-Miller (Dragonheart) frequently joined us to sing. Trish and Bob Meredith (Barnacle) contributed, too- Trish bought me a tambourine on a trip to Puerto Barrios and Bob banged on a bongo drum provided by Breeze and Debbie Filina (Blue Sky). Between sets we’d have open mike for story and joke tellers. Paul (Angelheart) and Hal Schade (Griffin) had us howling with laughter at their stand up routines! Grey Wicker (Sa Lako) showed up one Friday with a recording/mixing program on his computer and recorded us live. The result was a CD with 19 tracks that several friends are lucky enough to have! Expectations were low, we all got along great and everybody had a blast!
Then folks went their separate ways, as cruisers are known to do, and the 2006 season found me, Mike and Steve playing as a trio. Mike bought an electronic drum machine to complete the band. As it added a level of structure none of us was used to it became an inside joke to “fire the drummer” when we mere humans couldn’t follow the pre-programmed drum tracks! One Friday evening “Dr. Richard” (Cerita) showed up with his electric guitar and joined in. He had his own backing tracks, and when not practicing neurology at his office in California, he wails on his guitar and sings some mean rock ‘n roll! A few times our friend Odie (Cloud Walker) shared his talents on percussion with us. In 2006 Gary Albers (Ishi) arrived and became a fourth member of the band, playing rhythm guitar. Gary is an accomplished musician and has entertained in many places with his solo act. Coincidence brought us a professional keyboard player, Stali (Dagmar), and a Yamaha portable keyboard owned by Mary Lou (Cupid). Wow- that was totally cool! I was so inspired that I bought my own Yamaha keyboard and started teaching myself to play. I got some tips from Gary (Kaija’s Song), another keyboard player who jammed with us a few times.
When 2007 rolled around the only SRB members left standing were me and Mike. Undaunted, we persevered and developed a new SRB sound. Inspired by Dr. Richard’s MIDI based backing tracks, Mike developed his own methodology for creating “virtual musicians” on his laptop computer, using several software programs. It was a frustrating learning curve for Mike at times, but if you know him you know he is a perfectionist and he never gave up! The results of many tedious hours and his dedicated efforts are the backing tracks in MP3 format that the audience now hears when Mike and I perform.
When Jim Ellis became the owner/manager of Mario’s Marina in 2007 he assured us he wanted us to carry on. Demonstrating his commitment to our music, Jim asked Mike to upgrade the sound system at the Cayuco Club. Mike also designed and installed stage lights for a professional touch. Now the Cayuco Club has the finest multimedia sound system on the river. For the convenience and safety of our audience, Jim and dock master Marco Linares now provide free lancha taxi service to the Cayuco Club for SRB performances.
Are you wondering what kind of music we play? That’s a tough question to answer, because our playlist covers a lot of territory. We want to please our audience and provide a lot of variety, and we often hear positive comments about our selection of songs. Our selections include country tunes, blues, rock ‘n roll oldies, slow dance ballads, Latin rhythms, and quite likely a few numbers you’ve not heard before. Mike and I have been performing together now for over three years and feel we have put together an act that is not just a couple of cruisers playing music, but truly an evening of entertainment. We must be doing something right… 2008 is our fourth season and our unique style is bringing in record-breaking SRO crowds!
So, what about this world-renowned business, anyway? The SRB has only played right here in “River City”! Well, over the past four years we have performed for cruisers from all over the globe: the USA, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Czech Republic, Argentina, Scotland and of course, Guatemala… Mind you, I didn’t say “world-famous”, just “renowned”! Looking through photos to select some for this article I was reminded of all the great times we have had… man, we’ve had some terrific parties! And that’s the whole point of this venture- to have fun and share music. Mike and I absolutely love to perform and thrive on the energy we receive from our audience. We’ll keep playing as long as there are people who want to listen, dance and party!
Copyright October 2008, Linda Card
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