RANGER REPORT – Thursday, December 29, 2005 

Interviewer:  “What gives you a feeling of fulfillment now at this point in your life?” 

Bob Dylan:  “Just watching…seeing growth, different growth in people. And trying to love as much as I can.” 

Yesireebob. What a year…What a month…We performed on The Gene Shay Show on 88.5 WXPN FM a couple of Sunday evenings ago.  (Dec.11)  Live radio.  Ted The Fiddler was in rare form.  He even sang a Billy Joel song a cappella at one point.  Uncle Ronkle made a CD of the show.   

The next Saturday (Dec.17) was the Pete Allen 50^th Birthday Party.  Los Manatees opened for The Toller Brothers Band featuring the legendary Danny Toller on lead guitar.  Danny played for years with The Allman Brothers and The Greg Allman Band on stage and in the studio.  Pete and Danny have known each other for a long time.  When it came time for the big 5-0 bash some of Pete’s friends got together and flew Danny and his band up here for the event.  Pete was delighted.  To see pictures of that evening’s festivities you can go to our web-site photo gallery.  (Photos by Ginger Weber)  The birthday party also marked our 10-year anniversary of playing with Manatee drummer Ritchie DeCarlo (almost to the day).  There are some great shots of Ritchie playing at the party and sitting in with The Toller Brothers Band (the same goes for “DJ Big Daddy” aka Scott Gourley).  The whole evening was recorded by Uncle Ronkle.  Special thanks go out to John Stephens, Mike Marvel, Andrew Meehan, Steve & Anna Lisa Doud, Josh Bartek, and a host of others.  Happy Birthday Pete! 

The following Friday (Dec. 23) we played The Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, PA.  Ted The Fiddler was the host as it was his birthday party (a lot of birthdays this time of year).  Singer/songwriter Jack Murray performed with Ted as did singer/songwriter John Train.  During intermission Ted showed an old movie cartoon from his extensive collection.  We played the whole second half of the show with an all-acoustic performance that included a four-song mini-set by Ray Adkins. Once again Uncle Ronkle recorded while others filmed.  This theater is so cool that we’re going to use it for a CD release party next year. 

Recently Los Manatees music was being played in Thailand (thanks to G. Best), Jamaica (thanks to G. Pedano), and Philadelphia (thanks to G. Shay). 

Los Manatees sax/flute man Chris Delsorto celebrated his birthday (Dec.17) (yep, another one) by coming out to the Dutch Cottage that night and jamming.  Rev. Bebop Brunner came out with his sax as well so we had twin hysterical saxes blowing mightily. 

Bob and Barbara Tomlinson have just released their new children’s educational tool “Act Me Out - Adventures in Magic Land”.  It comes with a book, 4 hand puppets, and a CD.  You play the CD, read along with the book, and act it out with the puppets.  (I got a chance to do some sound effects and music on the CD)  For more info check out www.puppetspizzazz.com  

Well that’s about all the news from here in Funtown.  Thanks to Annie Fanelli for inviting me to play the melodica for The West Chester Christmas Carolers (can’t wait ‘til next year).  Thanks to Bob and Carrie McCarthy for the manatee figurine.  Thanks to Dancing Tommy for the manatee licence plates.  Thanks to Dorrie for the Bob Marley poster.  Thanks to Ras Michael and Dance for the Jagermeister.  Thanks to Patty Alexander and Ginger Weber for all the photographs.  Thanks to Uncle Ronkle for all the recordings.  Thank you, Liam Hodgson for running the web-site. 

Thanks to everyone for your continued support   All the best in 2006.  Thank you Jah. 

All my lovin’,
Ranger Will

XOXOXO