Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hi everybody! Hope that you've had a great week. I certainly have. So, what's been happening? Firstly, I had a great night filming an episode of Music Mania down at the 'Lost Paradise of Dilmun'. While there, I met up with three guys who were part of the Extreme Water Stunt Show being performed. And what a show it was! Two of the chaps were American (Tom and Alan), the other was French (Gilles) and one and all were experts on their personal water craft.
The stunts they did were truly astounding. During one section they performed a kind of 'water ballet' which demonstrated just how much control they really did have over their powerful machines. And the finale was simply spectacular; Tom whizzed across the water dressed all in black and was suddenly set alight. Imagine a figure engulfed in flames zooming across the water! Then he executed a flying jump and extinguished the inferno by diving underwater and popping back up. If you had the chance to see their performance you'd have to agree that it was a spectacular.
While watching the show I was reminded of when, a few years ago, a friend and I hired some jet-skis and scooted out into the sea (without receiving any prior instruction). We had a ball of a time flying about all over the place; the waves were quite high and it was exhilarating stuff. I lost sight of my mate for a moment and when he reappeared he shouted from behind that he was headed straight at me! To slow down he decided to cut the power to his engine and try to coast around me. (Neither of us knew that jet-skis can't be steered without engine power). His machine hurtled straight towards me and hit with an incredible whack! I was thrown into the water and had such terrible pain in my side that I couldn't even clamber back on. A boat had to come and rescue me as it was all I could do to cling to the side.
When I arrived on the beach I lay in the sand just concentrating on breathing. A doctor who happened to be there looked me over and recommended an X-ray. But instead I headed to a chemist, picked up some painkillers and went to bed. The next day when I went for a shower I had the shock of my life; 'cos all down my right side was the biggest, blackest and bluest bruising I'd ever seen. So take it from me; jet-skis are fantastic machines and amazing fun - but leave the stunts to the professionals and always wear a life jacket. A helmet would probably be a good idea too.
Later in the week I DJ'ed at a special 40th birthday bash for Lisa Doyne. The theme was all things 'ABBA', (the film Mamma Mia has a lot to answer for eh, because once again the whole world is ABBA crazy). It's hard to believe that for many years after ABBA's heyday they were the undisputed epitome of appalling musical taste. I also remember how much fun it was to ridicule anyone that was foolish enough to admit ever liking ABBA. Hard to believe that now!
Anyway, I turned up at Tim and Lisa's house and what a sight greeted me. They'd transformed their garden into a 70s' disco; complete with mirror balls, rope lighting and of course the requisite slash curtains so popular at the time. I wandered about just taking it all in and looking for Tim, who I was told was getting into his costume. When he emerged it was like looking at a giant Benny from ABBA. Tim is about 6' 7" when standing in his socks. But, with his super dooper silver stacked heels he was nearly seven foot. Talk about getting a crook neck whenever I spoke with him.
The guests arrived and the costumes were a sight to behold. In fact thinking about it, there probably isn't a square metre of silver or white material left in the whole of Bahrain after this night of 70s' fun. During the evening people were asked onstage to perform their very own dance routines to various ABBA songs. First up were 'Martha and her Muffin' (who in fact were Tim and his lovely daughter); they did a great rendition of Dancing Queen. Lots of people 'performed' and for the grand finale everyone got together onstage and sang 'Thankyou for the music' to Lisa on her special day.
There was a wonderful atmosphere and everybody had a fun night out. At one point everyone formed a conga line, and danced all over the place before eventually disappearing round a corner. I played on for about another 15 minutes with no one there, at which time I thought, 'ok time to pack up'. Just as I was leaving though Lisa returned soaking wet and said, 'Oh, everyone is in the pool do you want to join us?' I made a hasty retreat home because as the saying goes 'Tomorrow is another day!' and I had to be up early!
Keep singing and dancing
Krazy Kevin
