Abubilla Music

11.12.06 Travels with the Bone – Africa

Written by Jimmy

Part One:  The Bone Guitar:  My wife got this for me for X-mas 2010 to travel the world and learn guitar.   It folds out to look sort of like a guitar.  But it also packs up to look like picture below:

It then folds up all tiny - this bag also holds headphones, tuner, metronome...

Part Two:  The Global Journey: We’ll  just keep one blog on the Bone’s global travels this year.

1.   January 2011:   Asia Trip: As indicated in Jimmy’s musical Journey, Blog 2,  Jimmy is in the open chord phase of his guitar lessons.  Spend most of Asian trip trying to master chord changes between C and G.  So not exactly Jimmy Page yet, but at least the Bone got a nice little trip out of it.

11.01.17: Singapore. Conrad Centennial Hotel, Overlooking the Marina

11.01.19 Seoul, Grand Hyatt, 'Mountain View' (Nice view of City on Other Side)

2.  February 2011:   South America Trip: The trip to South America was all about Samba Drums,  but Jimmy did manage to continue his musical journey, spending mornings in Sao Paolo struggling with the F Chord.  Never remotely mastered, but he will persevere…

The Boner, overlooking a parking lot, room 509 of Ceaser Park Hotel Sao Paolo.

From Sao Paolo trip, I  realised that these pictures are exceedingly boring given that they are just a bunch of shots of hotel rooms.  In upcoming trips I committed to be braver and start taking shots in front of famous landmarks!

3. March 2011:  Paris Trip.   The Bone and I stayed at a ‘under construction’ Le Maison Champs-Elysees, Room 222 with views of construction.  Braved the real world and took a picture of the boner against a fine landmark.  Also, a friend borrowed the guitar to play some Nickleback (thankfully to himself thru headphones… we were spared).

The Boner enjoys a rare day out of the hotel to enjoy the sites...

The reason we keep the guitar locked away is folks grab it and have Nickleback moments!

4. March 2011:  Nairobi, Fairview Hotel: We’ve arrived in Nairobi as part of the Singing Wells Project (See separate blogs at Abubilla Music and Singing Wells.    First night, made friends with the Tusker Family.   On Sunday morning, we had time off by the pool before heading into Ketebul Music Studio’s to line up all the gear for tomorrow’s trip.   The Bone took advantage of the sunshine.  This picture is even featured on a website (click here):

The Boner enjoys a bit of sunshine and time at the pool on Sunday

The Boner (oops, Andy), enjoys a little big of sunshine and time at the pool... please note the red shoes...

5. March 27 Afternoon 2011,  Travels round Nairobi, to Ketebul Music and Being Played by Winyo at Sippers: A big day for the Swiss Bone Guitar.  Plus, the Guitar travelled all through Malindi — see full report back here.

At the famous public view of Nairobi

Tabu, founder of Ketebul music, shows off!

And a proud moment - Winyo tries it out!

The Legendary Ayub Ogado and the Bone in Ketebul Studios

6. April 17-18, Moscow Russia, Marriot Courtyard.  Arrived on Saturday, played in hotel with a view of a very Western Looking church.   Tried multiple times to get a shot of Guitar at Red Square, but too much traffic.  Oh Well.

This really is Moscow, although it looks like a cloudy winter day in Oxford.

7.  May 13-19 Prague, Czech Republic, Hilton Hotel, Rm 6011.  Having failed utterly to take the Bone out and about in Moscow, I was determined to do so in Prague.  Together with St Kathy, we hit the town!

The Bone in front of the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, Old Town Square

The Bone and the Prague Astronomical Clock, first built in 1410

The Bone Joins us for Lunch at the U Princa Hotel's 4th Floor Terrace. Views amazing!

Swiss Guitar with Guitar at Prague Castle. No, we didn't look remotely foolish doing this!

Jimmy's Driver poses in front of the Lutheran Cathefral, which he sears will let the world know we're in Helsinki. And we didn't look foolish at all doing this... And note still loyal to Man U despite the spanking...

9.  9-19 June, Marbella, Spain.  Home villa.   Not a hotel this time, just a nice villa.  Here for Spanish Jam, with lots of Abubilla musicians, so lots of lessons (click here for full report back).  Martyn started teaching me the standard blues riffs.   I will work hard on these before seeing my brother in Alaska.

The guitar leaves the villa for a short trip to Marbella, where we were doing a video shoot for Footprints.

10.  June 28, Washington DC, Four Seasons Hotel, Room 533 (plus weekend in Virginia):   Warm and Sunny – actually held a set of work meetings on the road as we posed for various pictures.  Massive negotiation with Samy, our driver, but at end all parties were happy – although he made clear he still would have rather had a trip to Dulles airport.   But we managed to see all the sites:

Samy and 'J' jamming on the mall, with Washington Monument in Background.

Samy rocks on in front of capital, with groupie 'J' giving mad encouragement

'J' at Lincoln Memorial. While we were taking picture, a tourist stopped by and said 'Oh, let me get a shot of that as well. My son likes...' (at this point we expected him to say guitars)... 'My son likes Asian woman.' Ouch. 'J' couldn't duck fast enough.

'J' looking out at drained reflecting pool toward Washington Monument.

The Bone Guitar at the White House. Obama did not invite us in... Some Secret service questions us about whether Swiss Bone was a rifle. Not pretty

11.  July 6-8 Conrad Hotel, Room 707.   A one night stay (two nights on planes!).    This is a ‘Fountain view room’, so we show the bone overlooking the fountain.

The Bone overlooking 'The Fountain'

Benny with Bone in front of Marina Bay Sands

12.  June 21-28 Anchorage Alaska, Crown Point:  The bone was there for trips to see ice, bears, whales, otters and eagles.  Sadly, we only took one actual photograph – the Bone in front of the private plane, flown by Dan, and taken on a little tour of a bunch of beautiful glaciers around Anchorage:

Hunter of Mah Knees fame, poses with Bone in Anchorage before plane flight. Black and white isn't 'art' - Jimmy pressed wrong button.

13.  Williamsburg Virginia:  Williamsburg Lodge, room 4041.  Too hot. Stayed inside. Except for short trip to take photos with the bone.

Elena and Valerie pose with Swiss Bone in period costume at 'ye ol' inne'

Kathy poses with Swiss Bone at 'ye ol' torture place'

Swiss Bone poses with Sheep at 'ye old sheep pen'

14.  Southern Shores, Outer Banks North Carolina, House 201A.   Family vacation continued with huge family reunion on the Outer Banks (OBX).  Decided to take pictures with family…

The Bone Guitar with Bobby Bananas on the front porch. Later, whisky and cigars was seen on the same porch late into the evening.

Bone Guitar with Brandi from Alaska - my brother's grand daughter. She's four...

Bone Guitar with Jimmy's Mom (GiGi, Grandmother, G-Mom, to others). She's a bit older than four... but still Rocks and Rolls

15.  New York City, New York Grand Park Hyatt, Room 2133:   We then drove up to NYC from NC and Hunter and Jimmy walked around NYC, while the girls went shopping.   The bone went with the boys, naturally.  It’s not a shopper.  It’s a roamer … a rolling stone that gathers no moss.

The Bone at a Street Party near 59th and Lexington. Hunter with a smoothie...

The Bone on Park Avenue facing the Met Life Building

The Bone Guitar at the Musuem of Modern Art (the first and most influential director of which is Kathy's great uncle Alfred Barr).

The Bone at Times Square with Hunter. Hunter was getting slightly annoyed at the Bone at this point (and Dad).

The Bone in front of the original soup store of the 'Soup Nazi' from Seinfeld. This looks very odd if you haven't watched the show.

The Bone in front of the Dakota, where Lennon Lived and was murdered. Yoko still there with five apartments

The Bone at the Apollo. Jackson 5 Debuted there. James Brown gave his legendary live show there. And the Bone appeared there in August 2011

16.  August 8-15, Greensboro Vermont, ‘Big House’:   We ended our time in the States with a visit to Kathy’s family in Greensboro Vermont, where they’ve had a family property for over 100 years, and pencil marks on the measuring wall, going back to Kathy’s grandparents as young adults.

Bone Guitar resting on the deck of the 'Big House' with views of Caspian Lake

Bone Guitar with Cowboy who we think was attacting an audience for an Ice Cream Shop (or there's something strange going on in Stowe.

Kirsten plays a bit of guitar at a local barber shop in Stow.

Yes, the Bone enjoys a photo in front of 'iconic' views - this of a typical Vermont Church

Bone Guitar in fron of Covered Bridge!

17.  August 23-24th, Saxon Hotel, Villas 2, Pres Suite:   I won the lottery on this trip; through a combination of local office contacts, the fact we were hosting an event there, and their love of the ‘Bone Guitar’, I was able to stay at the Saxon hotel.  This was originally a private residence, and is one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve stayed in.  My room had a bigger footprint than my house… too bad I only stayed there 9 hours, 7 of which I was sleeping.

The hotel, including my room, was filled with stunning tribal art. None of the pictures do justice. The guitar was a big frightened on the plinth.

You didn't have 'room service' at the Saxon. You were supported by a butler. In my case, I was lucky to have Dan, who proudly showed the guitar, but far more importantly wanted to make sure you could see the Man U name tag...

18.  September 9-14 Sydney Australia, Interncontental Hotel:  Had a wonderul stay in Sydney on business, saw an amazing spray artist over the weekend, and after some ‘photo’s from the hotel, handed the bone over to Edwina and Joanne to take a little trip with it to Bondi beach.  Ended up with photos of Andrew Reid from TV show Bondi Rescue.  This is becoming a celebrity blog.  Because there are so many photos, I’ve created a separate blog to see Bondi Beach.  Click here.

The Sydney Opera House from my Hotel RoomMore Sydney Opera house with nice view of harbor..

19.  September 15-16, Melbourne, Westin Hotel.   Flyin and flyout of Melbourne, but a good day with lots of speeches and meetings.   The bone got a quick walk around:

Quick views from one of the bridges...

Iconic building. So they say.

20.  September 20-21 San Fran, Le Meridian Hotel, Rm 2601:   No time for sightseeing, so Rubbish Photos from my room:

San Fran from my hotel room. The bone didn't even get out the first day!As long as you don't look down, nice room view.

21.  September 22-23 Marina Del Ray,  Ritz Carlton:  Lots of time to play guitar, and wonderful foggy views over the marina from my room:

The guitar looks down on the Marina. Lovely dinner on this porch learning a new song.

This is Earnie who picked me up at LAX. He played the 'talking african drum' for the English Beat!

22.  October 3-4 New York City, Waldorm Astoria Hotel, Working at 3 Times Square:   Fly in and fly out for speech.  No views from hotel, but next day Jen captured a couple shots from the 25th floor of 3 Times Square looking down (we have summer shots of Hunter looking up at 25th floor):

Swiss Guitar amidst the lights of Times SquareLooking straight down! Nice

23.  11.10.10-12 Mumbai, Room 1164, Oberoi Hotel:  Very short stay at the Oberoi (one of two hotels to be destroyed during the Mumbai attacks and only just re-opened).   Lots of business meeting all over down, but did manage to take one ‘tourist’ shot, of the  Haji Ali Dargah, the so called ‘island mosque’ which was built in 1431 and technically is neither a mosque or an island. Go figutre:

Picture from my room overlooping the bay - and yes it was hazy!

My driver in front of the Haji Ali Dargah. And yes it was that hazy.

24. 19-21 October, Barcelona, W Hotel, Room 1418.   Staying at the W which is on the main beach on newly claimed land.  Not a big W fan in general, but these rooms and views are stunning, so rethinking my views.

View from the bed, straight out to the ocean. The litttle table in front is a nice vodka martini set left in the room. Don't be fooled. 33 euros to take a sip.

View from 'office' portion of suite, looking at beach toward Marina and Barcelona proper. This was calm day - next day the area was full of surfers.

Sunrise...

25.  2011, November 5-8, Westin Hotel, Room 1126, Tokyo.   Very odd.  Hotel is completely made over for Christmas.  Hundreds of Japanese fill the lobby taking photos of their little kids in front of the ‘gold’ fake trees.  I went to local super-market, with Muzak pumping Silent Night over the loudspeakers.   I jumped on line to figure this out – turns out that most Japanese do not claim any one religious affiliation (although Shinto and Japanese Buddism dominate) and in fact up to 70% say they are agnostic or atheist.  Instead, they adopt lots of traditions that they particularly like – so they might not be Christian, but my goodness they do love Christmas.   I wonder what they would think of Annie’s view of Santa Clause down under.   Oh well, it is too crowded to get a picture of the Guitar in front of all those trees – sadly I just took another sad hotel room photo:

My sad little view from my sad little room. spending lots of hours awake in this little box, as jet lag hits hard.

26.  November 15-17 2011 Boston, Westin, Room 2114.     Lots of lobster, which is always a good thing.  But basically dragged my computer bag between Westin and work through Copley place mall.  We have a soft spot for the Westin – when we lived in Moscow this is where we entered and left US and always stayed a few nights with the kids. It always felt like the most luxerious hotel on earth and we died for room service.  All about perspective.

Sad, how I've been reduced to more ugly hotel shots, but a sign of how little time Ii spent outdoors, much less playing the guitar...

 27.  Rwanda/Uganda and Kenya.  Various Hotels!    The final trip of the year for the Bone guitar was by far the best, joining our good friends at Ketebul Music for the next major trip of the Singing Wells Project.    Here are a few fun snaps:

A.  Jessie at the airport in Kigali Rwanda:

B. Jessie on the border of Rwanda-Uganda:

C. Winyo on Road to Recording the Batwa, near Kisoro Uganda

 

D. Jovah with the Bone Guitar – before she becomes a star in Nairobi:

That’s it.  No more plane travel for the year.  Happy New Year