I was reminded of a fact this week: No matter how modern the Cayman Islands have become, they have thankfully not lost that small-town sensibility.
Chuck Quappe of Sea N’ B band gave me a call to chat about the PAWS animal charity fundraiser, which happened last Saturday in Cayman Brac. Some musicians from Grand Cayman were going over to perform for it and were trying to arrange sound equipment. It made sense to source what they could in the Sister Island instead of transporting amps, speakers and other unwieldy, heavy items by air.
“I think we’ve managed to piece it all together,” he said. “[This person] has an amp over there, and then [another person] has got some speakers they’ll lend us… ”
My favourite part of Chuck’s tale, however, was that a very kind soul had volunteered their keyboard, but apparently it switched off after every two minutes of use. It had got wet at some point in its life and subsequently become specific about its working hours. You might say it was now a union keyboard.
So long as it was played for the two minutes, then unplugged for a five-minute break, then plugged back in again, it was good to go!
It reminded me of the way of things in Grand back in the day. Before rental and other supply companies became established, you’d either have to have your own equipment, or beg and borrow somebody else’s. People were always happy to help each other, particularly musicians. A beloved guitar might not have been handed over quite so readily, but there was a definite ‘what’s-mine-is-yours’ attitude in the community.
Tracking down someone or something might be more difficult in the larger world, but in Cayman, networking is the norm. When you’ve lived here a while, you know how to work the system to get to your target. Admittedly, social media groups now provide a lot of information to residents, but before the wonders of Facebook, you’d hunt down what you required using the ol’ six-degrees-of-separation method. Needed someone with a truck to move a sofa? You’d call one friend who had a cousin that went to church with a guy whose dad worked in construction and boom! Truck located, furniture moved!
In the days pre-street names, directions were given in much the same way. My mother was always good for pulling over her car and giving ladies lifts when we were kids. Mum would wait until the woman was seated comfortably, and then ask where she was going.
For starters, there was a 50/50 chance we’d be making a quick stop along the way so she could “give something to mah daughter” before she went home. We knew the drill – there were no regular buses to speak of, so people took their opportunities where they could.
Then the olde tyme GPS would kick in. Go down a little way until you come to the big poinciana tree, then make a right when you reach the place where Miss Mary used to live (“… her granddaughter is in university now, yuh nuh… ”); take a left there and keep going until you pass…
Imagine giving those kinds of directions to the pizza guy – maybe some modern upgrades aren’t so bad after all.
Whenever I think back to being a kid growing up in Cayman, and I miss what it used to be like (I know I’m officially old when I start any sentence with “Back in my day…”), there is always something that happens to remind me of the community spirit here.
Whether it is a family needing furniture, or someone requesting help getting groceries, there are immediately volunteers jumping up (on social media) ready to assist, and they galvanise others to get involved. Musicians are terrific for stepping up and playing cheaply or for free to help raise funds for a good cause, even when they themselves aren’t exactly thriving in these COVID times. A venue will donate its space, businesses will donate prizes (honestly, the number of restaurants that are hurting right now, and yet they still happily give gift certificates to charities for raffles), and suddenly you’ve got an event with a purpose.
I called Kathleen Bodden-Harris, the organiser of that PAWS fundraiser in the Brac, to see how it all went on Saturday. She said it was an amazing evening with a terrific atmosphere.
“You know, the bands were fantastic,” she said. “They were all so professional and made it work so well.”
It might have been the musicians’ experience, or their raw talent on stage that made the night so successful.
Or maybe, just maybe, that two-minute keyboard was what took it over the top to downright magical.
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