It was 1999 when i started posting in this page. My Profile says otherwise but somehow i lost my original profile and had to create a new one. I met Paul, Phil, Gary , Woody , David and got to visit Rick when he lived in Georgia (My son still lives there) and even he helped me with some Delta "buddy passes".

When i started posting here, there was no facebook, no my space, it was just a great way to share our fascination with Spyro Gyra and other jazz bands.

Facebook is a great tool, but i'm 100% sure that we here have a more profound and more serious discussion of the band and other matters. Yes....maybe some of us are not posting like we used to (including myself) but our lives are not the same as 12 years ago. Everyday life has changed for all of us (unless you've been inside a cave).

I like the job that the guys from this page have done for all these years and i treasure all of you even though i've never seen your faces.

We're a select group of people.....people that love this site and love this band. People that Tom, Scott and Julio calls by their names each time they see!!! Isn't that great!!??

I know, Facebook is the new thing....it's more exposure, more "fanwith".....but i still love my island!!!


Peace!

Well said, Eril.
General activity around the Island has been steadily waning over the last few years.
But as I have abandoned other discussion groups over time, for many of the same reasons you mentioned, MagicIsland is still the one I visit whenever I'm online.

You guys and Kat need to lobby Phil to add a link to this board to the new SG website.

Curious as to why Bonny is not shown on the front page!

You guys deserve the answer to that question. Bonny has left the band for health related reasons. You may remember that Bonny missed about a month earlier this year while Will Kennedy and (mostly) Josh Dion filled in for him.

What happened was a stroke, from which Bonny has not yet fully recovered. Further, his doctor has advised him that the travel, that is a necessary part of being in this band, poses a threat to his continued health and recovery.

We wish him well as we look for a potential replacement. Josh Dion is once again filling in while we try some people out in our search for that person for the permanent position.

Please share my best wishes to Bonny.

Please Phil, give Bonny a biiiig hug from his puertorican fan and wish him the best from me!!!

It is a sad thing about Bonny,i myself found out last night while talking with the guys after the show here at the Dakota(short but great show btw),can only hope and pray for a full recovery for Mr B. My prayers are with him,on a happier note Josh did a great job last night :-)

That is terrible news, Phil, of which I am sorry to hear. I hope he is able to recover.

All the best for Bonny. He is a terrific drummer and was a real enrichment for the band. Perhaps he can still share recordings with them.

Concerning our island it looks like people seem to loose the joy for discussions on this BBS. Facebook is certainly no replacement for that.

In my case. my enthusiasm for the genre has waned! While many have embraced what I call 'snooze' jazz, I have not! I was extremely excited about contemporary jazz especially during the 80's and 90's but IMHO, it has become 'cookie cutter', same ol' drum machine & predictable chord progressions music. The few times artists stepped outside the box (Paul Taylor, Brian Culbertson, etc), even the industry ignored them! That's not to say there isn't any good music out there but this site was dedicated to a few really good bands I liked (it's how I found it) and those bands, with the exception of Spyro Gyra, have all lost my interest by losing their edge!

Phil -- Thanks for sharing -- and give my best to Bonnie .. (I just read this on facebook as well)

Bonnie was such a boost to the band when he joined. I feel he re-energized the band, helped bring back a tight ensemble sound, as well as bring a new dimension to the songwriting. He will be missed!!!

And if start with the outer space conjecture on who the next drummer will be (remember the Billy Cobham thread) .. please set us right!

Jim

Back to the original topic .. yes -- facebook has sucked the life out of us!!! leaving little time for these more focused "old fashioned" forums. ... email usenet anyone?

Usenet? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

Us die hards owe it to ourselves to keep the "Island" more active -- we have much better discussions here than on facebook -- it's a smaller circle -- and we tend to be more open -- probably because what we discuss is not visible via the the new FB ticker, newsfeed, wall etc -- for all of our facebook friends to see.

Long Live the Island!

This may not be true of the Spyro Gyra page, but I've noticed in some Facebook groups that there are few discussions.
On one page I used to visit, discussions of the group took a back seat to a couple of people who uploaded videos of themselves playing music.

Also, we know each other for quite a bit too!!

Hey guys! I've been remiss in not visiting this site much in the past couple of years. I still love Spyro's music. (It occupies about 60% of my iPod, which I listen to a lot as I'm working out.) Unfortunately, since we moved to Arkansas and my flying schedule has become more complicated, I'm not getting the opportunities to make it to Spyro's live performances like I did when I lived and was based in Atlanta. I guess it's kind of an out of sight out of mind thing. I'll try to do better.

Like Eril said, we've made some great friendships here over the years. I've also seen first hand the appreciation that Tom and the guys have for our support here.

On Bonny B's departure... I'm really sorry to hear about his health issues. Such a talented musician and exciting performer... but I'm glad he's making his health his first priority.

I like Josh Dion. I saw him play a gig with Joel Rosenblatt in NYC a few years ago. Josh was singing and playing keyboard in that gig (which he did very well!). Joel came out during a break to visit with me and we were talking about Josh as a drummer. Joel then asked Josh to play drums on the next couple of tunes. He did a great job! And on this gig, Joel was playing with only a bass drum, snare drum, high hat, and one cymbal! Holy cow... I thought only Joel could pull something like that off, but Josh handled it quite well too.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. Hope you guys are all doing great. I'll try to check back more often. My best to all of you!!!

Phil,
Please pass on to Bonny our wishes that he have a speedy recovery. We are all pulling for him.

I do want to say that I hope that I have not witnessed his last live show with the band (Annapolis, MD, Nov 20th). I hope some day he can come back to the band and continue performing one day.

I also want to say that he is a true talent and made a such a great impression on my lady friend. i brought her to the Annapolis show. This was the first time she had seen the band live. After the performance she told me that she had to get a picture with her and Bonny. To show how great of a guy he was, he took the time to take a picture with her.

We are praying for you man!