It looks as though March will be the last full month that Dick Damron will be headlining every Monday at the Hotel Caravelle, for a while. In early April he will return to Alberta for the tail end of the ice fishing season, and probably won’t be back until the first blizzards of early autumn. It’s been another great temporada for the country music legend who has made Mazatlán his winter home for the last twenty some years. The poolside venue looks like a postcard from paradise, a spacious terrace overlooking the beach, the setting sun framed by palm trees. At six o’clock Mexican time, the man in the black cowboy hat picks up his guitar and starts to sing. After all these years, he’s still got it. The same people keep coming back week after week, only more of them, and what started as a mere eighty or so has snowballedbeen a few special occasions which really packed them in, such as the Burro Awards, a spoof of the Grammies spiced up by Dick’s often tasteful sense of humor. The amazingly you-thful Sherry’s birthday fiesta drew a great

crowd, and then there was the Bentley Invasion when half of into the hundreds. There have Dick’s hometown flew down to thaw out for a few days. Usually Dick starts off with a solo set of his greatest hits, such as “Countryfied”, “High On You”, and “Here We Are Again”, mixed in with his south of the border songs like “Tequila Charlie’s”, “Died and Gone to Mexico” and, of course, “Mazatlán”, and maybe a standard or two like “Me and Bobby McGee” or “Make the World Go Away.” Then there is a contest to determine which Canadian province can say “Yeah!” the loudest on that particular night. As the rose and azure sky darkens and the stars come out, Dick invites some of his musical friends to join him. Brent McAthey and Chris Buzan have been picking and singing with him all winter, and quite a few other fine vacationing musicians have made guest appearances. So if you want to see a living legend in a relaxed tropical setting, where the icy Coronas and flaming ribs are two for one, the Caravelle is the place to be Monday evenings. Save me a seat.