THE INVADERS, THE LISBON CLUB, BAY STREET, NASSAU, BAHAMAS 1965

THE INVADERS, THE LISBON CLUB, BAY STREET, NASSAU 1965

A popular 1965 Bahamian band, The Invaders, at The Lisbon Club, Nassau Bahamas.

Background music: "Nassau Samba", "Uncle Lou", and "The Crow"/"Bullfrog" by George Symonette from back in the 1950's. These songs are all sung here as a calypso medley by Erskine Knowles.

Erskine used to stop at the Carlton House Hotel, East Street, Nassau, opposite Batelco (now BTC) on his way home from work on Bay Street and listen to George Symonette (piano and vocals), Peanuts Taylor (drums) and Harold McNair (flute).

His band "The Invaders" played in The Lisbon Club, Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas (it used to be located near where Hoffer's is now) for about six months in 1965. They went on from there to play at parties leading up to Christmas and New Year. Left to right: Lorin Cartwright (singing and shaking maracas), Peter Catalyn [Catalano] (drums) and Erskine Knowles (electric guitar and vocals).

Fay used to sing with them sometimes in The Lisbon Club, which was run by Johnny ("Long John Silver") from Portugal. Sometimes she'd pop across the road and sing in The Purple Onion too. Later Johnny and his Jamaican wife moved to Jamaica.

Erskine had sent this photo to his mother on Long Island, with an inscription, sending her his love. You can still see the faint writing on the photo.

Background music - acoustic cover by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Erskine Knowles from The Bahamas.

Research by Erskine's wife Fay, an author, long time resident of The Bahamas and originally from Scotland.

Adaptation of picture to video and background music added: Fay and Erskine's son Rory Knowles.

If you like Fay and Erskine's videos, tips would be much appreciated! Here's the link to drop a few dollars! - https://www.paypal.me/youngheartsforever Thank you!

SONGS BY ERSKINE KNOWLES!

My husband Erskine is a great guitarist and vocalist (I think I’m permitted to say that!). He started playing guitar at the age of fifteen, but played the kettle drum before that (once he was in a wedding procession on Long Island as a small boy, playing the drums!). He also learned to play the accordion.

When we met in 1965 he was playing in a band called “The Invaders” in the old Lisbon Club on Bay Street, downtown Nassau. See my blog post Bahamian Music is Blowing in the Wind.

Since then he’s jammed with a lot of musicians over the years in The Bahamas and England. He’s played with Jay Mitchell’s band in the British Colonial Hotel, Nassau; “Little Joe Cartwright” in Count Basie Square, Freeport, Grand Bahama; Count Bernadino and his daughter Nita Ellis at Westwinds II, Nassau; musicians in a pub in Exmouth, England; pubs around Exeter, England (with me singing along with him); entertained on the SS Oronsay on the way to England; formed a two man band with our son Gavin called “Roadblock” while we were living in Long Island (with other musicians coming down to join them at gigs around the island); the former Holiday Inn, Paradise Island, with Buddy Rae; and at the former “Buzz” night club and Crazy Johnny’s on East Bay Street, Nassau, with such musicians as the late Berkley Van Byrd.

Here's a short video of Erskine singing and playing Roy Orbison's song "Pretty Woman" at “Crazy Johnny’s”, Nassau, Bahamas (formerly “The Buzz”) in 2009 - "Pretty Woman".

Now he’s writing his own songs. You can hear some of them on soundcloud.com at the following links:

YOUNG HEARTS
Lyrics, music, guitar and vocals by Erskine Knowles
(Based on true events when Erskine first met me!)
© 2015 Erskine Knowles

CLICK HERE FOR YOUNG HEARTS

THE WRITER’S PRAYER
Lyrics by Fay Knowles
Music, guitar and vocals by Erskine Knowles
© 2014 Erskine Knowles

CLICK HERE FOR THE WRITER'S PRAYER

BORN AGAIN
Lyrics, music, guitar and vocals by Erskine Knowles
(Inspired by spiritual events and dreams!)
© 2015 Erskine Knowles

CLICK HERE FOR BORN AGAIN

It’s a great joy being married to a musician!

BAHAMIAN MUSIC IS “BLOWING IN THE WIND”

The Invaders playing in the old Lisbon Club on Bay Street 1965.
Left to right: the late Lorin Cartwright, 
Peter Catalano and my husband Erskine Knowles

I heard a recording yesterday on the Charles Carter radio show of the late great Brook Benton’s song “The Ties that Bind” by Bahamian legendary entertainer Marvin Henfield. Henfield’s rendering brimmed with the sensual Bahamian beat that I fell in love with when I first came to The Bahamas. I’d never heard that type of music before I arrived in Nassau. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven!

Where is all that lovely Bahamian music now? Gone like Peter, Paul and Mary’s song “Where have all the flowers gone?” It should never have been allowed to practically disappear. It’s unique. Tourists loved it. Bahamians loved it. Expats loved it. Now we are subjected all the time to gangster rap, watered down reggae, hiphop…. I couldn’t even find a Bahamian CD downtown the other day as a present to send abroad.

Thankfully, radio hosts like Sir Charles Carter and Steve McKinney keep Bahamian music alive to some extent on their shows. But it should be everywhere for everyone to enjoy. Cuba and Mexico have retained their national musical identity for example (and of course countries like Scotland where I come from – oh how my heart stirs to the bagpipes!). Why couldn’t we have done the same here?

Once we met some tourists when we were out for a walk. They wanted to know where they could listen to some Bahamian music. We really had to stop and think. We suggested Junkanoo Beach and probably Atlantis.

We should have an income producing Bahamian Cultural Museum downtown, featuring our traditional Bahamian musicians (past and present), like Liverpool has for The Beatles. When we visited that Merseyside tourist attraction some years ago, we were able to go from section to section with various Beatles’ music playing and memorabilia for all to see. Live performances by traditional Bahamian musicians could take place in the Bahamian Cultural Museum from time to time.

The Bahamian Cultural Museum could also feature Bahamian artists, authors, and everything cultural that is Bahamian, with workshops. I keep suggesting this, but no one ever carries my suggestion any further. It all just keeps like the Bob Dylan song “blowing in the wind”!