"No dance look pretty as reggae dance! You can dance the whole night and it keep you in a mood. You love yourself when you dance reggae music. You proud of yourself, you come like you born again. A feeling come in the music like you baptized. Music is great. Music can carry you to some places where you don't know. Carry you to Zion." -Bob Marley, June 1975

Yes, it's time again for another installment of Manatee insanity. Here's a review of some of last month's adventures in order of appearance:

May 1st - Los Manatees played a free outdoor Sunday afternoon show at the Lock 60 Schuykill Canal Opening in Mont Clare, PA. A DVD of the band's set was created by their projectionist Bob Rominiecki. A second DVD was created by photographer Hy Mayerson. Hy also took still shots of the show which can be seen on our web-photo gallery.

May 7th - Saturday night at The Funhouse in Bethlehem, PA. The club was filled to capacity. At the end of the show the band was stopped from leaving the stage. The crowd roar was deafening. Harmony singer Kathleen Weber said that she had never received an audience reaction like that in her life.

May 13th & Friday the 13th at La Taverna in Phoenixville, PA. Former Manatee band members Ray Adkins and Tim Campbell sat in on guitar and drums respectively.

May 18th & Wednesday at Appetites On Main St. in Exton, PA. Outside in the courtyard under the stars. Manatee drummer Ras Michael Sheffer brought his pet pit bull named Samson, As Ras Michael drummed, Samson slept beside him. Samson's leash was tied to Ras Michael's drum stool.

May 19th & Thursday at the Rising Sun (aka The Bell House). Harmony singer Kathleen Weber's birthday. The Big Three-O. She arrived with her boyfriend Doug Hawk who sings with the Wilkes-Barre cover band Music For Models as well as his own jazz-pop band Three Monks. www.threemonks.net Kathleen sat in for two sets and sang to a room filled with many of her family and friends. Elelctric mandolinist Bud "Beefbone" Burroughs also played. Manatee Web-master Michael Jones recorded the entire first set on his new Archos G-Mini digital recorder. It's about the size of a cigarette pack and Michael had two small microphones set up on the table in front of him. After the set we went out to his truck to listen and the sound quality was amazing. 21st century live recording…

May 22nd & Sunday night at the Bridgeport Rib-house (or is that the Ridgeport Brib-house?). This is the spot for live music on a Sunday evening. We are doing one Sunday a month here throughout the summer. Manatee drummer Ritchie DeCarlo brought his wife Debbie who was celebrating her birthday. Amongst the family, friends, and fans much merriment ensues.

May 23rd & Manatee keyboardist Karl Frick returned from a 5-day visit to Amsterdam. He brought me a very cool refrigerator magnet…

May 27th & Los Manatees played the Unami Fish & Game/ Gun Club in Emmaus, PA. There are bullet holes in the ceiling! This time it was Mark's birthday. We brought along my long-time friend, band-mate, and fellow Canadian, Andrew Roblin and his girl-friend Joanne. Andrew brought his five-string banjo and soon we were playing a mini-bluegrass set that included "Ring Of Fire" and "Me & My Uncle".

The last six months have seen an influx of new faces into the Manatee family. First we introduced Ras Michael Sheffer on drums, then Kathleen Weber on harmony vocals, and now we would like to welcome Chris Del Sordo on flute and tenor and soprano sax. Chris was introduced to us by Karl one night at Crazy Carl's. We invited him to sit in for a few songs and that was that. Welcome Chris!

This Sunday (June 5th) we are playing our first Fitzwater Station show of the summer. This is an all-ages family show. We play from 4:00 in the afternoon to 8:00 in the evening. The Fitzwater Station is in Mont Clare, PA beside the canal where you can paddle a canoe or kayak. The stage is in the middle of a small meadow. This is an acoustic show.

Immediately following our Fitzwater show we are driving to Dylanava Studios in Blue Bell, PA to continue recording our new album. Producer David Ivory has made it possible to do our first live web-cast! On Monday June 6th at 9:00pm we will be web-casting from Dylanava Studios out to the world-wide web! It's Mana-reality TV. It's ManaTV. To find the web-cast just go to www.ivoryproductions.com go to the home page and click on "Dylanava Live"

June 10th we are back at Crazy Carl's with the 3-piece Rhino Horns and La Banda Grande.

The next day, Sat., June 11th, we are playing an outdoor benefit concert for the Natural Lands Trust (www.natlands.org) at Saunders Woods in Gladwyne, PA. The music starts at 1:00pm. Los Manatees will be going on around 3:00. Other featured bands include Willis (rock) and Inity (reggae), You can get directions to the event by clicking it on our schedule listing. There will be vending, food, beer, etc. Tickets are $25 and all proceeds go to the preservation of wildlands both locally and nationally. This is a non-profit event and everyone is volunteering their services. It's a good cause, folks.

On Thursday, June 16th, Los Manatees will be playing our biggest show of the summer. It takes place at the Upper Saucon Pavilion in Upper Saucon Township, PA. It is a free outdoor evening concert for all ages. We will be playing from 7pm to 9pm. What makes this night so special is the fact that it will be the largest group we have ever assembled on one stage! This "Roots Orchestra" will be a 10-piece big-band made up of a 3-piece horn section, a 3-piece rhythm section (featuring Ras Michael Sheffer AND Myles Rothwell playing together for the first time on two full drum sets positioned on either side of bass-master Randy Wagner, Joe Rizzo and I on guitars, Keyboardist Karl on Hammond B3 and Wurlitzer electric piano, and Kathleen on vocals and percussion. The show will be filmed and recorded for a possible DVD. To get directions - go to the schedule page on our web-site and click on the date you desire.

Cherri, our Manatee merchandise maiden, is engaged to be married! Andy is the name of the lucky man and the two of them are flying down to Jamaica in July to tie the knot. All of us here at Manatee headquarters wish these two lovebirds all the best.

Steve Shail, my brother-in-law from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, recently flew over to London, England to hang out with rock legend Robin Trower and his band. Click here to see a picture of Steve with the group. Steve is the one seated in the middle. Robin Trower is on the left. Steve is friends with several members of the band and he and my sister Sue host a cool web-site for them. http://www.members.shaw.ca/stevesplace

Part-time Manatee guitarist/vocalist Bob Tomlinson and his wife Barb have recently written a children's book that is about to be published with a companion DVD. They have asked me to help with the writing and recording of background music and sound effects. Hopefully it will be out by the end of this year.

Well that's about all the time and space we can muster right now. Watch for another e-mailing in a couple of weeks concerning more upcoming summer shows.

Thank you all for your continued support,
Ranger Will

Johnnie Johnson 1924-2005 R.I.P.

Thanks,