By Brad Ryan

The Culture Orphans survive Germany!

Hello again,  from the Mojo Zone ! Well, Spring has sprung, although it feels more like summer, and somehow we managed to combine spring cleaning with our big move off of the 5th Avenue to the Ejido. We found a nice house with a big garden (the tomatoes and bananas are almost done!) on Calle 60, just off of Constituyentes and only 5 minutes to the center of downtown Playa del Carmen. You can find us by turning right off of Constituyentes, 3 blocks after the highway, and then we are just  3 more blocks on your right hand side, the only big white house with a wall all around it!

We will be having our re-opening BBQ-Bash soon; check back here on the Playa Maya News web site, or local hangouts like Java Joe's, for our announcement for the date, it will be in May some time. Our telephone is the same by the way, 984-807-1472.

Somehow, mostly thanks to Ron's determined construction efforts, we were up and running in time to break the place in with a recording of Al Radley, who was here for the past  2 months playing with the Local Band, RETUMBA. After gigging at La Rana Cansada for 6 weeks or so, they were well rehearsed and managed to record the CD in less then a week!  Al is a Singer/Songwriter/Carpenter (remember kid’s: don’t give up your day job!) from Wisconsin who plays mostly original material with his band up north, and has been coming down to Playa del Carmen, and playing a couple months a year for the past few years.

He writes his own songs, and with the band RETUMBA backing him up, his style encompasses everything from Folk to Rock to Reggae and even some funky little Blues numbers! They had a CD release/going away party at La Rana Cansada the night before Al returned to the US, playing all their new tunes and a great time was had by all!  And, thanks to some $upport from  Thed at La RANA CANSADA, RETUMBA will be coming into the studio  this month to record their original CD as well! With the brothers Ricardo (bass) ,and Polo (guitar), and their longtime Paisano, Eric on percussion, these guys have the Latin groove down pat!!! You can catch 'em this month at, where else? La Rana Cansada every Thursday night.

As you may remember from the last Mojo Zone newsletter, the Culture Orphans were en route to Germany for a couple weeks to play......well, we returned frostbitten, but intact, and miraculously no one was injured after our day on the slopes, it was the first time that Kike or Noe had skied, or rather, fallen down the frosty hill, and they were a source of amusement for the locals who had never seen anyone take 20 minutes to get down the bunny hill. They did, to their credit, manage to beat Yvon and myself in the toboggan portion of winter events, and other then that, and some sight seeing, we were confined to the Bar/Restaurant as the temperature was between -10 and -25 everyday! We played 6 nights, and had a great turnout, and luckily, due to heavy snow, we did not have to play outside in -10 degrees, as we were booked to do, but we saw 2 other bands somehow playing in that weather and it did not look like fun! The trick we discovered was Glutwine, a hot spicy red wine that acts as an antifreeze, and enables the Germans to brave the extremes and somehow, even enjoy themselves in such absurd conditions! Thanks again to everyone that kicked in some cash to help us get their and back!!

Well, that's all we got this month at the Mojo Zone.......see you next time and don't forget to check back here on the Playa Maya News web site for updates on local and visiting artists!

Thanks, Brad Ryan, Mojo Zone Studios