The Black Cat Bone - travelling to STRAB 2011

By Marley

Part 2 of 3...

Waking up after a freezing night in the tent just after sun rise made me realized that I'm officialy not in my home country anymore. The bird life is just so different; the two late sleepers which included me, got up wondering where in the was Christine? The lady found the rest of the Nelspratan herd just a few short meters from us. It was decided to move our camp to their camp site to join them. After we moved the the tent, the car and everything else. We got advice on how to turn the mattress so all 23 of us can fit on it, heaven! We almost wanted to go to sleep again just be comfortable this time.

But the beach, sand and rum was calling us and we made off after a quick breakfast to the beach. When you wake up this early and you think you are going to have a nice warm shower, think again. I was lucky to had some hot water the previous evening. The rest all complained.

Paradise

Friday mid-morning Christine decided to have a read and snooze while the Captain and I went exploring. The wind was a bit ruff and we sat on the beach drinking our first R 'n R for the day. After exploring some of the coast line we made our way back to the bar stage to watch Shotgun Tori. Apparently at the boarder she was stopped and searched because her name in form a of a sticker on her guitar case. The cops thought it was a new type of weapon, at least she was on time for her performance. What spoiled the performance wast the alcoholic bees that keeps on zooming into our drinks. Back at camp we made a plan with a bottle and we ended up with almost a liter of R 'n R, well done us!

Shotgun Tori

The view from the bar deck

Never stop being creative

Not long afterwards we were joined by the rest of the crew and enjoyed watching some bands. Even Sunny and Gomez got a chance to see the ocean and the deck, posing for few pictures as well. The likes of D-Siblime and Mrs. B did their thing on the Arcade Empire acoustic stage and model Christina Storm was in there in her grace. Back at camp the red wine made an appearance, an early dinner snack and the wait for the No One’s Arc band members to arrive from the boarder.

Foot rests, seats, the cows are there

Our tent became the short term storage for band equipment while Dylan and his girl (who recently returned from Finland) went to get the rest of the band. After they all settled up camp and everyone had a drink in hand it was off to the bar stage to get the last artist for the day shift. The night line up on the Mokha Rock Main stage was really something, check this line up:
Raul and The Black Friday
Jack Hammer
Dan Patlansky
The Southern Gypsy Queen
with The Black Cat Bones extravaganza which totally took over.

For the first time since I last saw The Black Cat Bones (and not just hear them) they gave a phenomenal performance as always. These guys knows their stuff. They had friends on stage with them from No One's Arc, Mrs. B, Dan Patlansky, Rauol, Gareth Wilson of SGQ and the legend Mr Piet Botha. After that mind blowing slot I was almost too tired to stand but you continue on like a good solider. Catching up with news with my good friends, Mimi, Goophstar and Bongs before I sneaked off to the bed eventually. Another night ending to a day that was almost make believe.

Click here to find out about the last day (part 3) of STRAB