The Credits

This is the part of the movie where we roll the credits.

We have to thank many people who were a part of this latest chapter. These people helped make this trip Jaguar’s most successful ever.

  • Reed and Sherry Compton
    The World Famous husband and wife owners of the World Famous Beach Bar. Thank you for allowing us to grace your stage for 5 nights. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Thank you till we are blue in the face.

  • Priscilla Lynn
    The heart and soul of Street Level VI. Her mission is to share the wonderful music of the United States Virgin Island with the world. There is no bigger advocate for the local musicians on the islands. She was with us from the day we landed until the day we left. We are so happy we got to know her better. Thank you ‘Cilla. Let’s do again… and again…

  • Priscilla’s Tribe
    Priscilla brought her “tribe” every night from St. Thomas to the Beach Bar. Their enthusiasm, love and support was noticed by the band every night. What a wonderful way to meet new people and to celebrate everything that is wonderful about the Caribbean. Thank you for the support. You made us look so good. (Please send me a note if I forgot anyone)

    • Susan Kinder

    • Captain Joe Andrade

    • Deborah Woods

    • Mik Morales

    • Nick Heineman

    • Paul Perkins

    • C.J. Fey

    • Richard Root

    • Ruby Rachelle

    • Adam Collins

  • Andrew “Drew Rock” Clarke
    We met Andy the day we arrived and we were lucky to have him join us on stage twice. He is just the nicest musician you could ever meet. He did a great job as the unofficial “other guitar player” of Jaguar. Well done Mr. D. Rock. Thanks for making us sound so good. Well done.

  • Zarah Rose
    Our property manager, our savior, our hero. Zarah works with St. John Ultimate Villas. We can’t recommend them enough. Zarah did everything she could to make sure our stay was perfect. She handled every issue immediately. Thank for allowing a rock band to stay at one of your properties. We can’t imagine staying anywhere else.

  • Uptown Mary Brown
    Mary and her friends made the trip over Friday night. She brought a boat load of fun. What a hoot! We met Mary back in 2019 on our second reunion trip and have remained friends. Her and her husband are truly special people. Thanks again for hanging out with us.

  • Bill Crique
    Bill brought Christy (his way too pretty for him plus one) to see us Friday night. We met Bill the last time we were here and have kept in touch ever since. What a great person to have as an advocate and as a friend. Thanks Bill, the next time dinner is on us.

  • Nathan McGlone & Andy Easton
    Nathan and Andy perform in the island’s BEST band - Lourdes and the Switch. They made the trip over to see us on our first night. They offer us suggestions, support and encouragement on a night that we were struggling. Not every local musician supports off - islands bands. Nate and Andy are the exception. We can’t thank you guys enough for showing up and representing the island music commUNITY.

  • Ryan Deihl
    Mr. Ryan Deihl - Our rock star boat captain! Ryan has become a fixture in every trip since 2019. We can not think of a better person to spend the day with on the Caribbean Ocean. If you are ever in the neighborhood please consider a Sail with the Liberty.

  • Adrian Panjabi
    Adrian…. Adrian…. Adrian….
    You know how to make my wife a very happy woman. Almost too happy. Adrian helped us with some custom jewelry that my wife has been trying to find for many years. The buying process from start to finish was first class. There are many jewelry purchasing options in St. Thomas but I believe Renaissance Jewelers are the only one that is locally owned and operated. I believe it makes a tremendous difference when you are dealing directly with the owner. It is easy to see why Adrian is so successful. Please stop by and tell him Jaguar says howdy!

  • Zora Galvin
    Zora you are an inspiration. Thank you for your perseverance and contribution to everything that is beautiful about St. Thomas. You are making many happy feet smile around the world every single day.

  • Austin, Casey, Dani, Mike, Anthony, Pat …
    The staff at the beach bar. I wish I remembered everyone’s name. You guys are just unbelievable and do not get the credit you deserve. Thank you for a great experience from start to finish. Here’s a big fat bell ring from Jaguar!

Cheers to our Jaguar friends and family!


The Afterglow

The United States Virgin Islands are magical. I have often wondered why….

Is it the water?
Is it the weather?
Is it the geography?
Is it the air?
Is it the people?

What I know is - I don’t know.

I have had life changing experiences with every visit. There is something about the islands that touch me deeply. It is hard to explain. Chris and I have been to the Islands 5 times. Debra 4 times. Jason and Rick twice. We all have experienced something soul touching. Something unique to each of us yet something exactly the same.

Every visit we see things that we have never seen. Do things we have never done. Meet people we have never met. Taste things we have never tasted. Hear things we have never heard. And somehow believe the unbelievable. Yet in spite of the uniqueness of each trip there is one thing that is constant…. something called “The Island Vibe”.

My guess is that everything that is wonderful about this place is reflected through the hearts of the people that live and visit here. It creates this magical feeling that is perpetuated eye to eye, smile to smile… from soul to soul.

I am fortunate to have shared this experience with my closest friends. Like most people I start planning our next trip before the current one ends. So the end never feels like the end and Jaguar always has one more chapter yet to be written.

So good night St. Thomas, good night St. John.

See you in my dreams…...

The Long Road Home

Rick, Debra and I got early to clean up the Villa and to make the 9 AM car ferry. Debra had her last appointment with Zora. She had her last fitting and her last adjustments. Spending part of our last day with Zora made our last day a little less miserable.

We picked up Tommy and he drove us to the airport. We got through ticketing and customs like a breeze only to find out our flight had been delayed for 2 hours. Welcome to post pandemic air travel. It’s a roulette wheel where few of us win.

Our very last look at St. John.

Chris and Jason left the villa at 11 AM and took the next car ferry to St. John. They stopped for lunch at the popular Duffy’s Love Shack located in Red Hook. They then stopped by Tommy’s to pick him up and take the inevitable long sad ride to the airport.

Jason says the Love Shack that’s where it’s at….

Debra and I finally left St. Thomas at 2:15 on a flight to Miami. Rick was on the next flight behind us. Jason and Chris were on a direct flight to Dulles that left at 4:45 PM.

Leaving the islands… Debra is only smiling on the outside….

We met up with Rick in Miami and boarded our 5 hour flight back to Las Vegas. Quiet, uneventful and really sad is how I remember the flight. We met Rick at the baggage claim said quick goodbyes and “hey, I will see you next week.” And like that we were home and the trip was officially over. We were stuck somewhere between - sad it was over but glad we were home. Goodnight St. John. Goodnight Las Vegas.Goodnight Baltimore.

Jason is having troubled finding his gate…

The Yachtly Crew

We had one last full day with the US Virgin Islands. Tomorrow morning we will be packing our bags and our sunburns and heading to the airport. We had scheduled this day to do one thing….. Sail with Ryan Diehl. Chris and Ryan have know each other for many years. It goes back to when he was a drummer in Annapolis, Maryland. Every single trip since 2019 we have scheduled one “Boat Day” with Ryan and his charter company Sail With Justice. It is ALWAYS a highlight of our trip.

Rick starts to sing “I’m sailing away….” We stopped him.

This year we had one request, to swim with turtles. Ryan said “OK, lets go see some turtles”. We left Yacht Harbor in St. Thomas and headed for Honeymoon Beach on St. John. The ride was a little bit choppy but the views from sea level are always amazing. As Ryan said to me, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

Ryan “Captain Chesapeake” Diehl is the REAL DEAL!

We moored at Honeymoon Beach and Ryan dingyed us to the beach. He brought his snorkel gear and he turned to me and said, “lets find some turtles” 15 minutes later we were watching turtles living the life in the Caribbean ocean. We watched them eat grass, swim and saw them come up for air. It was wonderful.

Jason is our second mate for this afternoon. We did not call him Gilligan once…. (well not to his face)

We swam with the turtles for a long time. We then came back to the boat for a rest. The band hung out with Ryan and his assistant Debra. We had lunch and listened to the album we recorded in Las Vegas during the pandemic. You can listen to it here. It was surreal. It allowed us to celebrate everything we accomplished in the 2 1/2 years since our last visit.

This is a rare picture of Chris without his Resting Bass Face. Who knew?

We then made another quick snorkel stop before heading back to St. Thomas. The sail back was all that and a bag of chips. Ryan dropped us off and we made the 4 PM ferry back to St. John.

The Caribbean Summer looks so good on Debra.

We stopped at the St. John Spice Company for some last minute souvenirs. We walked down to the Beach Bar for one last round of Painkillers and to say goodbye to the Beach Bar.

Goodbyes are hard…. really hard.

We drove back to the Jaguar Villa for our last dinner together. Chef Rick made us a grilled chicken dinner that was the best meal we had all week. In a word, spectacular. We then got to the band tradition of answering 6 questions as a way of reliving the best memories of our trip. It turns out there were many great memories. We said our long goodbyes with big hugs since Jason and Chris were on a later flight and probably would not be out of bed when we left.

Did we mention that Rick is also a good singer?

Jason and Chris went to the Beach Bar one last time to say another goodbye to the amazing staff. We will always remember how they welcomed us, danced with us, sang with us and drank with us. They are one big fat reason why the Beach bar is world famous. Well done Reed Compton… well done.

Jason made a quick stop at the Quiet Mon Pub to have one last toast with the locals and to say goodnight to St. John.

Goodbyes are hard…. really hard.

This is not a picture of Beavis and Butthead.

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

Debra and I got up early ate a quick breakfast and headed to Hawksnest Beach for our last beach day. Chris, Rick and Jason were coming later so this was our last chance to spend a beach day together with the entire band. We wasted no time and got our snorkel gear on as soon as we planted on the beach. We saw even more marine life than yesterday. We watched a Caribbean Squid for a long time. We had never seen one and were mesmerized.

And then I said to her…. act natural

Chris, Jason and Rick joined us just as we were coming out of the water. They had found a perfectly shaded section of the beach. We spent the next hour snorkeling, floating, laughing and enjoying everything that this trip had become.

It had quickly become our 5th and last night at the World Famous Beach Bar. One last performance. One last toast to this latest chapter in the Jaguar story. It started off with a BANG! KC - one of our favorite bartenders at the Beach Bar got up and sang Africa by Toto with Jaguar. HE CRUSHED IT! I didn’t know he could sing that well. We had to follow that. DANG IT! The pressure was on.

KC sings Africa with Jaguar. The man can bring it!

We opened our set with A Little Bit More, one of our originals. It is an emotional ballad and we thought it was appropriate to play it on our last night. The night was full of surprises. It was the best crowd response we have had since our reunion started in 2019. It brought back many great memories of Jaguar playing at World Headquarters (now Morgan’s Mango) in 1989. Somehow Jaguar had finally come full circle.

There was a huge Conga line that went to the beach and back. We also had a spectacular limbo contest that was crazy fun. People were singing and dancing and laughing. It was an amazing time for us to bring everything to a grande finale. We can hope it was a highlight of someone’s vacation like it was ours.

Jaguar…. lowering the bar since 1989!

We all knew it was coming. The last song on our last night. I am proud of Jaguar. This night will be a big part of the never ending Jaguar story. Somehow we saved the best for last.

For 5 nights we gave everything we had. We gave performances that we felt the Beach Bar customers and staff deserved. When we arrived and I saw Reed for the first time in 2 1/2 years, I thanked him for having us back and told him we would make him proud….

I hope we did that.
We can’t wait to do it again.

Good Night Beach Bar! Good Night St. John!

Until next time St. John….

No Power No Problem

Deb and I woke up to a power outage. The part of the island where we staying was out of power and would be for several hours. Apparently it a very common occurrence in the United States Virgin Islands. That meant one thing - Breakfast at the Beach Bar! Whoo Hoo! It seemed that we ate 75% of our meals at the Beach bar and we were consistently surprised how much we liked everything on the menu. Hats off to Reed and his staff.

After breakfast Jason, Rick and Chris arrived at the Beach Bar as we were leaving. We told them to meet us at Hawksnest Beach for some quality beach time and snorkeling. And off we went. The third beach in three days on our St.John beach tour.

Debra makes her own waves at Hawksnest Beach.

Hawksnest Beach is mostly coral reef. Right off the beach you have an abundance of reef in shallow water. We were amazed. We saw an tremendous amount of sea life without swimming in water above our waist. It was like we jumped into someone’s aquarium. It was something special. Chris and Jason made it to the beach right after we left.

And then she says to me, act natural…

When we got back to the house our power had been restored. Chris and Jason returned later and we all raved about how amazing Hawksnest Beach was. We all agreed that with only one more beach left, we had to go back to Hawksnest for an encore.

I wanna Whole Lotta Love for the Beach Bar!

We then headed back to the Beach bar for our 4th night. Dinner, set-up and then 3 hours of Beach Party Fun. We had it down. We dedicated our first song of the night (Simple Man) to our fearless leader Reed Compton. Reed, his Sherry and his staff are what you dream about when you are planning your trip. At no time could they be any more generous or accommodating.

We had Andrew Clarke do an encore performance. He played Come Together and Just what I Needed with Jaguar in the first set. It was great. He is a supremely talented all-around musician and will hopefully become a fixture in the local music scene. Jaguar will always have a spot on our stage for you Mr. Clarke.

All aboard the conga train!

The night was easily our best night of our trip. We were amazed how many people continued to come back night after night and spend part of their vacation with us. Even the Beach Bar staff on their off nights came to party with us. It was a big night filled with lots dancing, drinking, conga lines and limbo contests. It was Jaguar’s best night and we were thrilled to have one more tomorrow.

Did the wind sweep you off your feet?

For the 2nd beach on our St. John “Beaches Be Crazy” tour we selected Maho Beach. Deb and I got up early and ate breakfast and drove to the north side of St. John. What a beautiful scenic drive through the National Park. The island of St. John is only 19 square miles and 60% of it is protected by the US National Park Service. That means all development is very limited. Cruz Bay - the major town is tiny. The island has 0 traffic lights and very few stop signs. Although there never seems to be a place to park… the beaches and the streets are never crowded. It definitely adds to it’s charm.

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me…. time after time

Deb and I stayed at the beach and did some snorkeling and sightseeing. As we were leaving Jason and Chris arrived. Rick decided to spend a rest and relax day the villa. Enjoying the view from the hot tub was a big part of his afternoon. Debra and I drove to Mongoose Junction. We had lunch at the North Side Deli and bought some required St. John souvenirs.

Debra is doing her happy dance at Maho Beach.

When then headed out to the Beach Bar for our pre-performance dinner and out 3rd show. We learned that Reed’s Mom was struggling with some health issues so we dedicated our first song of the night - Drops of Jupiter to her. It was an emotional moment. We empathize with Reed and his family and understand this very difficult stage of life.

Drops of Jupiter for Miller.

To start the second set we were fortunate to have Andy “Drew Rock” Clarke sit in for the first 2 songs. He played Mary Jane’s Last Dance and What I Like About You with us. What a hoot! Andy will soon become famous. Hopefully he will still return our calls.

Austin brings it every night!

In the middle of our third set, during D’yer M’aker, Cruz Bay had a 5 second power outage. KC (the singing bartender) came over to me after the song was over and told me every bar and restaurant in Cruz Bay was with out power. Every venue except The Beach Bar. I told him it was a sign from God. He laughed out loud. He knew I was right.

Our third night was a huge success. We continued to build the momentum from the previous two nights. We felt like we could truly relax and just become one with the party that is the Beach Bar. Many people stayed long until the night. Way to go St. John…. you sleep when your dead..

Jaguar Gets It's Groove Back

Debra, Rick and I got up early and decided it was now time to live the “Beaches Be Crazy” part of our tour. First beach up was the world famous Trunk Bay. I personally had not been to Trunk Bay since 1989. It was where I learned to snorkel. Rick and Debra had only seen it online.

WOW! Now we understand why this beach consistently is named a top 5 beach in the Caribbean. The sand was like walking on confectionery sugar. The water was perfect. The views were spectacular. Jason and Chris joined us a little later. It was one of the few times we were all in the water at the same time. We had short discussions on what we could do to improve our performance from last night..That’s right, we had a band meeting at Trunk Bay standing in the Caribbean ocean…

I will let that sink in…..

This I promise you is not CGI. This is the Trunk Bay overlook on St. John. Rick and Debra breathe it in.

We headed back to the Jaguar Villa and Rick made a delicious soup. We had a quick rehearsal to go over songs we wanted to add to our set list. We then headed to the Beach Bar for our second night.

What a difference. Our second night was all we could have hoped for. We were dialed in musically and sound-wise. We sounded like a band. We sounded like Jaguar. What seemed so difficult the previous night seemed so effortless tonight.

Jaguar had it’s groove back and the Beach Bar responded. What a great night to be at the Beach Bar.

The Local Music CommUNITY

Debra and I woke early to eat breakfast and catch the 9 AM ferry back to St. John. Debra had her second appointment with Zora and she did not want to be late. Priscilla picked us up at the ferry and offered to spend the morning with us. What a wonderful morning. Debra and I felt that we got to know, love and respect everything that is Priscilla.

Debra spent the next 2 hours with Zora. Zora’s sandals are perfection and perfection takes time. Deb will tell you it was worth every second. Zora is an island treasure and every moment with her is cherished.

We picked up our custom wedding bands at Renaissance and stopped at the grocery store before heading back to the ferry. We made it back to the house by 1 PM. The rest of the band had slept in and was in recharge mode. They were getting ready for the whirlwind that would be the next five nights. It was the proverbial calm before the storm.

We headed to the Beach Bar to have our first night band dinner, a couple of celebratory toasts and to set up the equipment. The Beach Bar is an open air venue directly on the beach of Cruz Bay. Open air as in no doors or windows. This requires the band to set up and tear down the music equipment every night. Reed provides everything necessary to allow bands to come to St. John and not have to transport heavy equipment. It is wonderful. Jaguar being newbies, it took us about 90 minutes to find everything and get set up. By the 5th night we had it down to less than 45 minutes.

As with most first nights we spent the evening trying to get our footing underneath us. We spent the night dialing in the stage volume and front of the house mix. Playing songs we had never played together as a band can be a challenge. We persevered and became a better band because of it. We have to give a big shout out to Andy Easton and Nate McGlone of Lourdes and the Switch. They have played the Beach Bar many times and their advice was invaluable. It helped us correct all our issues before the second night. Sometimes local musicians will see you as competitors. Andy and Nate could not have been more welcoming. It’s just another reason why we keep coming back to the Virgin Islands.

Jaguar Has Landed

We woke up bright and early and headed for our favorite breakfast spot - The Bolongo Bay Beach Resort. We believe everything tastes better with a cool Caribbean breeze in your face. We then headed back to our condo and packed our bags since we would be spending the next week on St.John. We then drove to the north side of the island and our favorite St. Thomas beach Magens Bay. It is always immaculate, with plenty of shade and parking. It has great facilities and just perfect water.

This is Debra trying not to look happy…. way to go Megans Bay.

Jason, Chris and Rick arrived by 12:30 PM and were picked up by Tommy Bronx. They dropped him off at his house and after a few stops headed for the car ferry to take their car to St. John. Debra and I reluctantly left Magens Bay and stopped at the grocery store before heading to the car ferry. Deb and I drove to our rental house on St. John and dropped off our luggage. Since the band was running behind schedule, we decided to all meet up at the Beach Bar for dinner.

You can tell Jason and Rick have just arrived by the long pants and long sleeves…. Yikes!

After dinner the band followed me to our house. Zarah Rose (our property manager) was waiting and gave us a tour of the beautiful Christy Anne Villa located on Rendezvous Bay. Zara was wonderful and the villa was perfect.

Outdoor shower? Yes please!

Our view from the Jaguar Villa- Rendezvous Bay, St. John

When spent the next few hours practicing tomorrow nite’s set list. The band was exhausted… in a good way. It was an incredible amount of effort to get us here and we were excited to start performing. We knew the next 5 nights would go by in a blur.

A Great Day for a Great Day

Most people believe we scheduled our trip to the Caribbean this week so Jaguar could play 5 nights at the World Famous Beach Bar of St. John. All those people would be wrong. Debra bought a pair of Zora’s handcrafted sandals in February of 2020. The longer she had them the more she knew she had to have another pair. Unfortunately the pandemic hit and the world denied her of a second pair. As any husband will tell you… it’s all about the shoes.

Zora Galvin is a local legend. She turned 90 years old this year. (that is not a typo) She has been making custom fit sandals in St. Thomas since 1962. (that also is not a typo) Click here to read more about this amazing woman.

Here is a photo of Zora making my wife’s feet happy.

Debra swears that Zora’s sandals are the most comfortable, most amazing thing she has ever worn on her feet. Debra told Zora she was thinking about getting two sandals. Zora looked at Deb and said “Do you see how old I am?” “If you want two I think you should get them now.” It is a 3 visit process. First Debra selects her style options and Zora does the measuring and preliminary fitting. We then scheduled to come back first thing Wednesday so Debra could walk in each Sandal for 15 minutes so Zora could make more tweaks based on Deb’s feedback. We would then schedule to come back for the final walk-through (ha ha, get it?) the following Tuesday on our way to the airport. The process and spending time with Zora is a once (or in Debra’s case twice) in a lifetime experience.

We headed to Renaissance Jewelers and met Adrian Panjabi. Adrian came highly recommended by Priscilla Lynn and we had corresponded with him prior to our arrival. We were hoping to replace our wedding bands with something that would always remind us of the magic of the Caribbean. Adrian spent hours with Debra until he found the PERFECT custom rings. Debra was so happy. She has spent years researching matching rings and Adrian really came through.

Here’s a photo of Adrian pleasing my wife.

We walked to the Side Street Pub for lunch. On our last visit to St. Thomas we had stumbled upon this cafe and had the BEST fish tacos of our life. Since it has been over two years and post pandemic, we had low expectations for the same experience. We both took one bite and realized they were better then we remembered. They took our breath away.

We made a quick stop at the Caribbean Surf Shop for Jason’s belated birthday present and then headed back to the Sapphire Beach condo for a quick refresh.

We drove to the Margaritaville Vacation Club to take a Sunset Cruise on the Caribbean Ocean aboard the Snorkel Cat Catamaran. Priscilla Lynn invited us and Andrew Clark to spend the evening with her watching the sunset over St. Thomas. It was an evening of open bar, appetizers, cool ocean breezes and many rainbows. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Here is a photo of myy beautiful wife modeling her newly acquired beach hair.

What a trip it has been

Jaguar was scheduled to hit the islands on Tuesday. Debra and I decided to arrive a few days early to get some quiet beach and shopping time before the band arrived. We flew from Las Vegas to Miami Saturday and spent the night. We then hopped the 9 AM flight out of Miami to St. Thomas. Once you start the journey it seems like you can never arrive fast enough. We touched down in St. Thomas before noon and had our luggage by 12:15 PM. I know…it’s not always this easy…

No jet way at the St. Thomas airport. It’s like the Beatles landing at JFK in 1964…. but a lot warmer.

The infamous Tommy “Mister D!” Bronx picked us up and drove us to his home just above Charlotte Amalie. We have only met Tommy briefly in our previous trips. We got to spend quality time learning all about his life and how he is thriving in St. Thomas. He certainly is a renaissance man. It was a trip in more ways then one.

We dropped Tommy off and headed to Sapphire Beach. We had booked a condo for 2 nights since it has become one of our favorite places on St. Thomas. Yes, as soon as we arrived we immediately ordered our first fish taco and Painkiller. For the inexperienced, a Painkiller is the drink of choice in the US Virgin Islands. It is pineapple juice, cream of coconut, orange juice and rum with a sprinkle nutmeg on top. You go girlfriend….. you go!

Debra gets her prescription filled.

Wouldn’t you know it… Lourdes and the Switch - the BEST band in the Caribbean - was scheduled to play the Sapphire Beach Bar that afternoon. It was the unofficial Welcome Jaguar Back to the Islands party! We were so honored. It was wonderful catching up with Andy, Nate, John, and Lourdes. They sounded better then ever. They are local music perfection.

Lourdes and the Switch - This band has game!

We also spent some quality time with Priscilla Lynn of Street Level VI (also known as Jaguar’s Tour Manager) and our soon to be best friend Andy “Drew Rock” Clark. It was amazing being around our wonderful friends. It was an amazing Father’s Day.