The Flu Pandemic

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Many, many years ago my good friend (and fellow Flying Fish Sailor) Greg Henkel wrote a song about the 1918 Flu Pandemic that killed over 20 million people worldwide.

The Flu Pandemic song became one of our most popular performance pieces. Despite the grim subject matter, the song is often referred to as “a happy little ditty about death” and brings smiles and laughter to those who hear it.

The current swine flu outbreak has generated a lot of interest in the song and is driving a lot of traffic to the band web site.

The song is available on our Loch Ness Monster CD which is available @ amazon.com or from us directly.

Interestingly enough, there is a live version of the song that was recorded at Rockefeller’s during Son Of Blarneyfest in 1996 that I almost forgot existed. It predates the Loch Ness Monster studio recording by several years.

You can listen to it here:
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The Flu Pandemic

Copyright 1999 Topmast Production and the Flying Fish Sailors

Chorus: It was the Flu pandemic
And it swept the whole world wide
It caught soldiers and civilians
And they died, died, died!
Whether they’re lying in the trenches
Or lying in their beds
Twenty million of them got it
And they’re dead, dead, dead!

There was a soldier on the battleground in 1917
He turned there to his buddy with his face a ghastly green
He said “We made it both through Passchendaele, the Somme, and Flanders too
But now my number’s up my lad for I’ve gone and caught the flu”

chorus

Well a nurse was in the hospital when Tommy was brought in
When he sneezed she caught a face full that was flying in the wind
She wrote a letter home to England to tell them of her plight
But the letter never got there ’cause the postman too had died

chorus

From the meadow-lands of Somerset and o’er the bounding main
To the shores of old Americay they sung the same refrain
Mothers, fathers, uncles and aunts as well as the odd nephew
Brothers and sisters and bosses and lovers were all got by the flu

chorus

Well a farmer out in China watched his family dropping down
And a businessman in Cairo hit the street without a sound
And an eager little Bolshevik in old Sevastopol couldn’t keep up his grinnin’ at Lenin as Comrade Virus took its toll

Houston International Festival – 2009

The Flying Fish Sailors performed at the Houston International Festival this past weekend. The weather held and we were not washed away in a deluge like the performers on the previous Saturday. Thanks to Elaine Mesker-Garcia (aka @cybertoad) of Fresh Photography for these wonderful shots:

We have the rest of Elaine’s shots in the Flying Fish Sailors Photo Gallery.

And thanks to Sandy Grimm for this exceptionally linear photograph of the entire band!

FFS @ Discovery Green – Earth Day 2009

The Flying Fish Sailors played at the 2009 Earth Day Festival @ Discovery Green. I’ve seen and photographed a number of bands on that stage, but this was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to perform on it. It was a great deal of fun. Thanks to the lovely and talented Cynthia we have photographic evidence of the event.

Additional photos from the event in the Flying Fish Sailors Gallery

Houston Press Music Awards 2008 – The Results

After receiving 2 e-mails and one phone call from the folks at The Houston Press that indicated they would REALLY like to see us at the award ceremony on Wednesday I had a strong suspicion that my band may have actually won this year.

At the risk of fatal disappointment, I asked my co-hosts on Technology Bytes to cover for me while I attended the award ceremony just to be on the safe side

There was a lot of buzz about The Tontons who were nominated for Best New Act. They even performed during one of the intermissions.

The Tontons did, in fact, win Best New Act

some of the other winners that evening:

Best Neo-Folk: Sideshow Tramps
Best Miscellaneous Instrument: Geoffrey Muller (Sideshow Tramps, Umbrella Man, Pistoleros de Tejas)

Best Bassist: Nick Gaitan (Umbrella Man, Billy Joe Shaver)

Best Punk: Los Skarnales
Best Rock en Espanol: Los Skarnales
Best Male Vocalist: Felipe Galvan (Los Skarnales)

And did I make the right choice abandoning my cohorts to attend the ceremony?

I can has Houston Press Music Award!

Unfortunately my bandmates could not attend the event so I celebrated for the five of us.

The complete winner’s list can be found here.

The rest of the pics are in the 2008 Houston Press Music Awards Gallery.