After winning the Eurovision song contest last year, one of Alexander's videos on Youtube is currently registering over 22 MILLION hits!  Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiH4BFTELME.  This should be a really fun cross-cultural musical event -- particularly since it looks like most of the Jacks will also be supporting Alexander as his backing band!  We are brushing up on our Viking references already!

Skol!

Henk

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The Three Jacks and The Breffni Dancers have been focusing on raising funds and visibility for children’s causes over the past two years and we thought that there was no better cause than Fabretto.  After an exploratory trip to Managua, in February, we helped set up a benefit concert at Managua’s 1,500 seat national theater, Teatro Nacional Ruben Dario, for Saturday, August 14, 2010.  Fabretto organized a round of pre-show media interviews before the event to pitch the show.  And we all crossed our fingers that we could fill the house!

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So, that is how we found ourselves in the check-in line at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 12, 2010, for the 5:10 a.m. TACA flight to Managua.  All in all we were twelve: “The Three Jacks” – Jack Stamates, Jack Shawde, Debbie Duke, Diane Ward and me – the Breffni Dancers – Cristina Rodriguez, Carolyn Ho and Kiera Daley – one groupie (my wife, Pippa) -- two roadies (my sons, Cameron and Alexander) – and our cultural translator/sheepdog/Fabretto volunteer and general factotum, Carlos Osorio -- a/k/a "Fred."  (Groupie, roadies and sheepdog, all went at own expense).

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As of take-off, early on Thursday, none of us had slept since we had gotten up on Wednesday morning.  Most of us got 20 minutes kip en route before our arrival at 5:30 a.m., Nicaragua time.  So, most of us started off with having been awake for about 24 hours.  Some of us managed a certain nonchalent elegance, nonetheless:

Blessedly, we went in through the VIP system – where we met up with the lovely Gaby Arguello and Eliza Brennan, the Fabretto honchos in charge of the arrangements – and got to hang in the VIP lounge while airport minions went to clear our bags and immigration for us.  All we had to do was get into the Fabretto bus with the gear when we were told.  (Hmmmm, some aspects of third-world culture beat the first-world, hands-down!)

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Here's the iconic Sandinista statue, downtown:

After a quick coffee at the hotel, it was off to the TV station, Canal 12, for an interview on the morning show at 8:30 a.m., (me doing my best Miami-Spanglish) and a live acoustic performance with the dancers.  Here we are with one of the hosts, Giovanni (who I got to do an impromptu dance with, on the show).

By 10:00 a.m., we were over at the offices of the daily newspaper, “La Prensa,” for a photo-shoot and interview.  (Here we are clowning in the garden of the news offices with the photographer).

After a change back at the hotel, and a really delicious lunch at a local restaurant, arranged by our hosts, we set off up a mountain-side through the mud-slide-ravines and dirt trails that pass for roads, to the Fabretto Center at San Isidro, where we turned in a rowdy acoustic performance for a couple hundred kids

 – who returned the compliment by serenading us back.  Here they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lWAYVKWts8

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After sliding back down the mountain – our intrepid driver, Danilo, faultlessly negotiating the pot-holes and ditches -- we returned to the hotel and went out for a bite of Mexican food and a margarita or two.  We had all been up for about 42 hours by now and were running on fumes.  Back to the hotel and blessed oblivion!

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Over our Friday morning breakfast -- gallo pinto, eggs, bacon, fuit, juices, pastries, coffee, etc., etc., etc.  (the Crowne Plaza has a great buffet!) -- we read all about ourselves in the morning paper, which had an article and a nice piccy in it.

Hits on the website were running over 2,000 a day, so I figured we were creating a bit of a buzz about the show: all good.

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And then off to the theater for sound check,

where we got to see Sylvia Osorio, mother of our sheep-dog, who was greasing the way into a lot of the media for us and also sponsoring the reception. 

(Her husband, Alfredo, who had joined us for brekky, is an architect.  He designed our hotel and the theater – which is about all that withstood the huge Managua earthquake in 1972 -- as well as the Terrazza Country Club where the post-show reception was to be.  So we felt pretty safe as far as earth-movement was concerned!)

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While the rest of the crew went off to tour another Fabretto center, next to the town rubbish-dump, where Fabretto teaches kids how to make and sell – really cute -- jewelry out of scavenged junk, Gaby and I went off to do an interview at 4:00 p.m. on the cultural program on Canal 12.

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The TV show ran at 8:00 p.m. and the whole crew got to watch it back at the hotel in the bar before we went out for dinner and a show – also arranged by Fabretto.  We lucked out on a double whammy:  Carlos Mejia Godoy – national singing icon, and author of “Nicaragua, Nicaraguita” – was the main performer and there was a guest appearance by Luis Enrique – another national star. 

Carlos pitched Fabretto and our show to the crowd for us – which was a nice bit of extra publicity!  (Loved his show!  With all the jokes and clowning around, it reminded me of The Three Jacks!)

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Saturday started with final sound-check at 1:00 p.m. and then the pre-show reception at 6:30 p.m. in the Crystal Room at the theater.   (Dancers here with our co-stars, The Fabretto Choir):

Guest of honor was the U.S. Ambassador, Bob Callahan, and his wife, Debbie.  (Alexander, of course, greeted him with: “Callahan?  Like Dirty Harry?  Make my day, punk!”)  Here is “Dirty Harry” back-stage with the dancers, before making our introduction:

8:15 p.m. was show-time!!!  We had a pretty much full – and very loud and enthusiastic – house.  By the time we were three songs in we had 40 people dancing on the stage with us.  (I am gonna have to find some video clips of that).  We ended the set to huge applause and then our co-stars, the Fabretto choir took the stage before our second set.

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Backstage, Eliza told me that there was a Breton piper, Stephane Leborgne, who wanted to talk to me.  I went out front and met the lad.  Very nice guy -- with a set of Scottish Highland pipes in his ruck-sack.  In a mix of French and English and Spanish, he explained that he worked with street kids in Nicaragua with the outfit “Chavalos De Managua,” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5tb9ppXxZo ) one of whom – Alejandro -- he had brought with him, and he asked if I would like him to play a couple of tunes.  After a quick audition out front of the theater, it was immediately apparent that Stephane could really play!!!  We quickly came up with a plan for a bit of shtick.

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As the Fabretto kids left the stage, and the applause died down, I opened a side-door at the back of the theater and Stephane fired up the pipes.  After 30 seconds or so, I marched in, with him behind me – like a Clan Chief with his personal McCrimmon – down the aisle as the house lights came up, along the first row of the audience, up the other side and onto the stage, pipes skirling “Scotland the Brave.”

The house was stamping, clapping and cheering – and then, as we hit center-stage, Stephane switched to “Nicaragua, Nicaraguita.”  Shoulda bin there!!!  They loved it!!!

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What are the odds of something like that happening?  Taking a Celtic rock band and Irish dancers to Central America, to help support a kids charity, and run into a Breton Celtic/Highland piper, down there working with a parallel kids charity.  Musta bin some kinda Karmic thing . . .

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And so into the second set, ending with “Bare-Ass Girl,” “Last Chance Bar,” and out, drenched in sweat.

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We dropped the gear at the hotel and did a quick change and it was off to the post-show reception at the Terazza Country Club, sponsored by the Osorio Montealegre Family.  Big cheer as we walked in.  The band started playing salsa, so Alexander leaped to his feet, switching his hips and dipped and bobbed just about every woman in the room in turn!  (Mr.  Center Stage: no idea where he gets it from).  We all got to hang with the Ambassador and his posse from the U.S. Embassy and a bunch of fine people – Fabretto sponsors – until sometime in the wee hours we called for our pumpkin back to beddy.  The adrenaline had well and truly dropped by then so most of us were just about able to crawl.  (I have vague recollection that our dancers went clubbing until 4:00 a.m. or so.  Ahhh, the energy and folly of youth!)

Sunday was downtime.  Nothing to do but make it back for the check-in for the 9:00 p.m. flight.  So, we got to stand on the lip of the crater of a live volcano in the pouring rain, looking over a three-foot parapet, down into the gassy bowels of Volcan Masaya, as a huge column of suphurous smoke rose silently into the sky before us.  (Park Service instruction:  “If it starts spitting out rocks, lie under your car.”)  We got to eat and drink at the restaurant overlooking Laguna de Apollo (I thought they said "Pollo" -- i.e. “Chicken Lake”) – a lake in the crater in an extinct volcano, while marimba players serenaded us with “Guantanamera” and – my request for Cristina – “Cuando Salide Cuba.” Here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXBBNHNVSs

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And back through the pouring rain to the airport and the first-class treatment at the Managua VIP lounge, and out.  It made the 2 hour line for immigration in Miami, at 2:00 a.m., seem especially brutal!!!

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We cannot wait to go back.  It was all truly magical how everything fell into place.  We loved the people.  We loved the country.  We love all our new friends – Kevin, Gaby, Eliza, Cristina, Lynn -- and all the wonderful children at Fabretto.  We feel truly privileged to have been allowed to take part in this effort with them.  Until the next time!

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Slainte!

Henk

Just back from Nicaragua and Mr. Shawde just came across some footage on Youtube of us in Lima, Peru, at one of two concerts we did at the Auditorio Santa Ursula, last year.  And I just came across a nice pic of the Breffni dancers at the "Odiosas" TV show -- which we stumbled into, fresh off the red-eye to Lima.

Our fantastic fiddler, Jack Stamates, couldn't make that one, so the wonderful Sha-Sha Zhang stood in for him at the last minute.

Here's the link, enjoy!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpSgsWtYY6c

Henk

I am writing a mini-blurb on our visit and collecting all the pics and vids and will post them imminently.  So circle back and check in tomorrow right here, on the "News" page.

In the meantime, here's a pic of Jack Shawde with one of the many babies he ate during the trip.

Love to all, 

Henk     

http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2010/08/13/revista/34450

We get off the plane on Thursday morning and go straight to the studios of TV Channel 12 to do a one-hour show on “Bueno Dias” to promote Fabretto and the show.  (We understand that this is like the Nic-version of “Oprah”).  Then we zip over to La Prensa, the national paper, where we have one-hour interview lined up.

Friday we get in a rehearsal at the super-nice Teatro Nacional Ruben Dario where we will be performing on Saturday night; zip over to play an afternoon acoustic set at one of the Fabretto Centers; and then, in the evening, we do another TV show – “Esta Noche” – (which is like the Nica version of “Larry King”).

Saturday we get to do a run-through at the Theater with the Fabretto Choir – which is performing a set between our two -- and then – “Ta-Raaaah” -- 8:00 pm is show-time!!!  The U.S. Embassy is one of the sponsors and Ambassador Bob Callahan is introducing the show.  (I am dithering on whether to surprise him by getting him to sing “Danny Boy”).  Several other Embassies are sending reps, too.  Then it’s a post-show VIP reception and off to beddy-byes.

Sunday we actually get to sleep late and chill and maybe go run with the bulls in the streets of Granada -- (Yeh, right – more probably, hoist a coupla cold ones at O’Shea’s) -- and then we are all on the red-eye back to Miamuh . . .

Ye’ll barely have time to have missed us!

So, if you happen to be in Managua on Sat’d’y night, we are gonna have huge bunches of fun.  If not, we’ll see yez somewhere a little closer to Miami, soon, promise.  (Really).

In the meantime, do check out www.fabretto.org.

Slainte!

Henk

La Asociación Familia Padre Fabretto (AFPF) y su organización hermana en los Estados Unidos de América, Fabretto Children’s Foundation (FCF), presentarán un concierto benéfico para la niñez de Nicaragua en el Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío, el sábado, 14 de agosto de 2010. 

El concierto presentará una banda de Rock Céltico, The Three Jacks (www.thethreejacks.com) y sus bailarinas acompañantes de la Academia Breffni, que especializan en la danza irlandesa. El grupo, quienes anteriormente han hecho conciertos de caridad en Perú y en los Estados Unidos, vienen de Miami, Florida, exclusivamente para este fin. Junto con el grupo se presentara El Coro Fabrettino, compuesto de niños de Fabretto del centro de Estelí.

El evento está programado para las 8:00PM del día sábado, 14 de agosto.  Los boletos están de venta (USD$8/$10) en los siguientes locales: taquilla del Teatro Nacional; la oficina de la Asociación Familia Padre Fabretto (Del ESSO Ministerio de Trabajo, 500 m. abajo); la tienda Palo Rosa en el Centro Comercial Galerías; el restaurante Ola Verde (Tip-Top Km.4, Carr. Masaya, 2 c. abajo, frente de pastelería Sampson); o en el sitio de web (www.fabretto.org). Para oportunidades de patrocinio, contactarse con Christina Falck al correo (falckc@fabretto.org).

La Asociación Familia Padre Fabretto se constituyó en Nicaragua después de la muerte del Padre Rafael María Fabretto (1920-1990) con el objetivo de asegurar el futuro de la obra que el Padre Fabretto había empezado en 1953 como era atender a niños pobres, abandonados o maltratados. Se incorporó como asociación sin fines de lucro en Nicaragua en 1990. Hoy día, en total Fabretto beneficia a más de 6,500 estudiantes nicaragüenses y sus familias en las áreas más empobrecidas de Nicaragua, a través de sus programas de educación, salud y nutrición. Fabretto apoya más de 40 escuelas y maneja 6 Centros Educativos en los municipios de Las Sabanas y San José de Cusmapa, Departamento de Madriz; en Estelí; y en los sectores del basurero municipal Acahaulinca y San Isidro de Bolas, en Managua.

Como parte de sus programas de educación y nutrición, Fabretto ofrece a los niños un almuerzo nutritivo, clases de música y danza, computación, deporte, cursos de inglés y reforzamiento de sus cursos del colegio público. También, Fabretto ha implementado un currículo de educación secundaria bajo la modalidad del “Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT),” el cual fue elaborado en Colombia. El programa SAT de Fabretto es el piloto en Nicaragua, y brinda una educación post primaria de alta calidad, la cual es más relevante a la vida de los jóvenes y satisface mejor sus necesidades en áreas rurales.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIByM2VuN2I  http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabretto/4460254908/in/photostream/ or http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabretto/sets/72157606204824039/

Hey All!

I have been ridiculously slow in updating the website, since I have known for months now that we are playing the really gorgeous 1,500 seat Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío in Managua on Saturday, August 14, 2010.

Our good friends, Kiera, Cristina and Carolyna, star stepdancers from The Breffni Academy of Irish Dance - veterans of Jacks TV shows and concerts in Peru  and Miami - will be flying down with us and kicking up a storm.

As a lot of you know, we have been focusing on playing music to raise money for medical and children's charities in the last couple of years.  The Managua show is in aid of a wonderful children's charity in Nicaragua: The Fabretto Foundation.  http://www.fabretto.org/  This is a well-established, non-governmental, non-sectarian charity that provides schooling, food and vocational training to thousands of kids around the country.  They keep expenses pared to the bone and make every penny count.  We are proud to be working with them.

I flew down to Managua in February to meet with the Fabretto folks and chat about doing a show.  I got to tour some of the Fabretto workshops and hang with some of their kids, and to pitch the idea of a fund-raising concert to some corporate sponsors.  By the time we wended our way round to the Teatro Nacional to see what kind of a price we could get it for, it looked like it would be a reality: one of the target sponsors had been there already to say they were thinking of underwriting the show!  (Thanks to all operative members of the Osorio clan for closing on the deal).

This is a beautiful country of mountains and lakes with wonderful people. 

(Including a whole bunch of McGregors, who seem to have moved there in batches after James I of England & VI of Scotland - very Gay and called "Queen James" behind his back -

outlawed the entire clan in the early 1600's.  These descendants of Rob Roy (stunningly played here by Liam Neeson)

seem to be entirely Latin American now, though.  I detected no discernible Gaelic, despite assiduous evesdropping).  The country has been peaceful for two decades now - despite all the Scots in their history!  (Including one Scot from Tennessee named William Walker who invaded the country and set himself up as "President" for a while in the 1850's).

For all you Miamians, its a short, cheap, plane ride.  So, make it a long weekend and come on down with us and Help Rock Managua!

Slainte!

Henk

(Looks like the next Jacks show will be at The Teatro Nacional in Managua, Nicaragua - http://www.tnrubendario.gob.ni/- firming up details.  Watch this space).