Most
of the Buccaneers played in the Starboard Watch a bay area skiffle
band held loosely together by the legendary Skip Henderson. They
appear weekly at L. J. Quinn s Lighthouse on Embarcadero cove on
the Oakland Rivera and at occasional functions such as the National
Maritime Museums Festival of the Sea at San Francisco s Hyde Street
Pier, the Jack London Square Maritime Festival, the Coast guard
Auxiliary s Annual award banquet, The Sausalito Tall Ship Society s,
The Master Mariners Benevolence, and various other Yacht club celebrations
When skip set sail for parts south in October of 95 he retired
the
name "Starboard Watch" but the crew chose to play on as The Sons
of the Buccaneers. They have continued the tradition at Quinn s
lighthouse added more variety to the repertoire and grown in popularity.
Leading the buccaneers now is Mordecai no engine, no oars benHerschel
who always enjoys stirring the crowd to join lustily in the singing
of Chanties and Focsle songs. James Dean Nelson lays into sal try
ballads with his clear melodic vocals. Alan Lochheads concertina
skips through much of the music in delightful counterpoint. In
other
pieces his brilliant bass lines give the music a solid and inventively
rhythmic bottom end. The music of the Sons of the Buccaneers is
the music of the sailor and the sea. Old World ballads mix with
work songs, English music hall pieces, early American, Caribbean,
and Australian works. There s Irish and Hawaiian tossed in there
too. Many songs have easily taught choruses to sing, and crowds
have been known to get loud and rowdy.
Kai
benHerschel Sings
lead and harmony plays 12 string, classical and rhythm guitars,
melodeon, bass and antique cornet. He has sailed Bluewater, Hawaii,
Coastal and Bay and Delta since 1981. His home is his sloop, Chanteyman.
James
Dean Nelson sings
lead and harmony. Plays lead and Rhythm 5 string banjo, finger-
picked guitar, and harmonica. He has sailed the bay area on master
mariner vessels and has entertained aboard several of the bay areas
tall ships. Jim has an interest in maritime history and lives in
Oakland with his extensive antique record collection.
Alan Lochhead
Is an accomplished
classical musician who appears in concert with several bay area
orchestras playing with his 5 string German bass literally older
than America. He earned his master in music at the San Francisco
conservatory and has taught string bass at U.C. Berkeley. He is
known internationally for his Adaptations of a variety of pieces
for the concertina. He has published two collections of his works.
Other
Musicians Who Appear With Us Occasionally.
Ruup
brings his haunting
Pennywhistle melodies direct from county Dublin, Ireland. His inspired
playing evokes images of leafy green, damp woodlands and frolicsome
leprechauns. He himself has a mystic air about him, as though he
only exits in the corner of your eye.
Petie Devines
musical toys
are a collection consisting of washboards, blocks, cymbals, toms,
tap boards, clunkers, clangers, bangers, bongers, And other gadgets
whose sounds he inserts at just the right places to tickle your
funny bones.
George Alschuler
is a master mariner
whose bass voice sounds to the depths. He owns a Dutch design gaff
sloop, which he keeps in embarcadero cove by Quinns lighthouse.
He agrees that the tone of Easy Tiger is different — not dark, just
different—and suggests in passing that it may have something to do with
both sobering up and growing up (he’s 32). Then he goes on to talk
about the process, which is clearly something close to his heart. “I
write on a manual typewriter,” he says. “I get up, I have a cup of
coffee, I sit down at the typewriter. I never spent a useless day
behind a typewriter.”
