John Bartus: News

Well, the band finally has a name: John Bartus & Storm Watch! Just in time for both the Marathon Seafood Festival (we're headlining!) and welcoming two new band members: the father-son team of Marc Davis (keyboards & vocals) and Christian Davis (bass).

The Marathon Seafood Festival happens on the weekend of March 15-16, and we'll be performing both days. John Bartus & Storm Watch is the headliner on Saturday night, and the band will perform as part of the Conch Republic All-Star Jam on Sunday afternoon.

I've lost count of how many St. Patrick's Day celebrations I've hosted at the Key Colony Inn, but Monday, March 17 is just around the corner. Look for the all-day lineup to start at noon and run until the leprechauns pass out from overindulgence or sheer exhaustion. Key Colony Inn, 700 West Ocean Drive, Key Colony Beach, FL.

I'll be performing a live solo concert at Key Colony Beach's Sunset Park Sunday, March 2, 2008. I'm glad to be asked back again this year, and I'm looking forward to performing originals both new and old, and some of everyone's long-time favorites as well. The concert starts at 4:00 p.m., and I hope to see a lot of friendly faces there!

John & Band will perform once again at the 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Weekend-End of Hurricane Season-John Bartus Birthday Concert. This year's show will include tributes to Pink Floyd and the Beatles, original material from John, and (quite possibly) a special appearance by Sir Elton John. Admission is free; proceeds benefit the charitable works of the Marathon Rotary Club. Showtime is approximately 6:00 PM.

This Friday (October 19), weather permitting, my band (Dave Howell, Glenn Faast, and yours truly) and I will have our performance filmed and recorded for a possible DVD release. We'll be performing our regular gig at Dockside, and Mark Wesley (from Mark Wesley Video Productions) will oversee the video shoot. For those who can make it, Dave, Glenn, and I will be glad to see as many smiling faces as possible.

The inaugural Boot Key Bivouac will take place Sunday, October 7, 2007 at the Marathon Community Park Amphitheater. This all day (noon until 10 PM) event is a show of appreciation for our veterans, and is also a benefit for local veteran organizations. John Bartus (with Dave Howell and Glenn Faast) will headline the event. Other performers include Howard Livingston and the Mile Marker 24 Band, Brian Roberts, the Key Lime Pie Band, the Florida Straits Band, Mark Wesley, Johnny Maddox, and more.

Admission is free, and families are welcome. There will be a bounce house for the kids, great food and drink, and all sorts of vendors. The event is sponsored by Dockside Lounge, Smorgasboats, The Weekly Newspapers, Marathon Rotary Club, and the City of Marathon.

Friday the 13th (of July) was a lucky day for John, Dave, and Glenn, as the Big Man himself, Mr. Clarence Clemons, sat in on his saxophone for two long incredible sets at Dockside! Said John, "It was an honor to jam with the Big Man, even more so that he wanted to come back and play another set with the band!" Look for photos on the Photo page!

...sweating profusely, dodging hurricanes (hopefully, few to none). New photos and bio information on Dave and Glenn can be found, and some new music will be uploaded shortly. Be sure to follow us around the islands on the Calendar page. Work continues on the next CD, titled (at this point) End of the Road. Be sure to look us up if your summer plans bring you to the Keys!

Dave Hoekstra, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, paid a visit to the Keys to sit and chat with yours truly. (There was also something about Da Bears being in the Super Bowl.) I've posted the text as well as the link to the Sun-Times article on the Press page. Check it out! And special thanks to Dave Hoekstra for taking the time to listen to Keys Disease and coordinating the interview!

John Bartus, with Dave Howell and Glenn Faast, will perform a New Year's Eve show at the beautiful Pavilion located at the Key Colony Inn on Key Colony Beach. It'll be a real fun rockin' time, and if you're anywhere near the Keys, we'd love to see you there. We'll be playing lots of stuff, including my tunes and our tribute to Pink Floyd. For info & reervations, call (305) 743-0100.

The First Annual Thanksgiving Weekend End Of Hurricane Season Community Park Dedication & John Bartus Birthday Concert, held November 24, 2006 at Marathon's Community Park Amphitheater, raised nearly $3000 for the Marathon Rotary Club. We had a great time and raised money for all the good things our local Rotary Club does in the Keys. I'll be posting some pix real soon -- stay tuned!

John's KEYS DISEASE CD has been officially re-released, and there is a limited time sale on both the KEYS DISEASE and LIVE FROM THE FLORIDA KEYS CDs through the CDBABY.COM website. Both CDs will be on sale for just $11.95 for a limited time, and John will be doing a media tour and PR campaign to promote the re-release and the end (for now, at least) of his political career due to term limits. In the meantime, why not head on down to the islands and catch John performing live with David Howell around the Midddle Keys? Come on down, the weather and water are great, and the local seafood and refreshing beverages are certainly abundant!

Well... I finally got some photos from this year's Bash at the Bridge uploaded! These pics were taken by a very talented photographer and fellow Marathon resident Larry Benvenuti. Larry also shot the photo that was on the cover of the Velvet Elvis cassette back in '95, and I'm grateful to be able to post these photos.

Currently, we're enjoying the heat and humidity of summer in the Keys. The fishing and diving are great right now, so come on down.

My studio is almost back together, and I'll be dragging Dave out of the heat and into the studio for the recording of the next CD. I've got lots of songs, and now I think I've got some time to put them down on tape (disk now; old habits die hard). I'll keep you posted on the progress. Check out the new pics, and don't forget the free downloads on the Music page!

John Bartus with David Howell will headline this year's July 4th celebration in Marathon (Florida Keys) at Sombrero Beach (approx. 5:30 PM). The Florida Straits Band and Johnny Maddox & the Fantasy Band will round out the day's live performances, which will be capped by the evening's SkyConcert, an impressive fireworks display choreographed to patriotic music. The event is Marathon's biggest community celebration, and live perofrmances start after the opening ceremonies at noon.

Hello, all -- it's been awhile since the last update, but here's the latest:

I've recently started working with an incredibly talented keyboardist named David Howell. David just moved back to Marathon permanently after working with just about everyone under the sun. Dave and I have worked together in the past, and we've known each other forever -- we're calling it a musical partnership 20 years in the making! Dave will be helping out with keyboard and production duties on my upcoming CD. My studio will be put back together starting later this week, and I can't wait to get started!

Dave was instrumental in putting a band together for my appearance at this year's Bash at the Bridge, where I was the concert host and we performed all three nights. Kansas, Rick Derringer, Mark Farner, Edgar Winter, Cosmo, and Alto Reed were the headliners for the three day festival, and it was a real kick to be featured alongside these great musicians and bands. I'll upload photos soon.

And, finally, my political career is over for now, as my term as Mayor and City Council Member ended April 25th. The six years I served were an incredible experience, and somewhere in there a book is waiting to come out. If you get to the islands this summer, look me up! We'll share a tropical drink and hopefully a great time! Ciao for now!

Well, the City Council election is history, but there's a runoff election for the seat I hold... so I'm still Mayor until April 25. After that, I should finally have the time for...

RECORDING MY NEW CD!!!! I already have at least 12 songs to record, and I just need the time to get my studio back into shape and start laying down tracks. I can't wait!

This year's Bash at the Bridge (to be held at our city's new amphitheater) will feature some great acts, and yours truly is on the bill all three nights. Those three nights are May 18-20, 2006. More details, including Ticketmaster info, will follow soon.

Being Mayor of a town that’s hit by a hurricane is bad enough. Being Mayor of a town that’s been impacted by four in one year – that’s almost unthinkable! But it happened in 2005, with Wilma saving the worst for last. Here’s the quick rundown on this year’s storms:

Dennis: a bit of wind, downed trees and branches everywhere, some minor structural damage.

Katrina: wasn’t supposed to come to the Keys; made a drastic turn overnight and blew through before wreaking total havoc on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Tornado came way too close to my house and one of our shops, destroying fences and signs and damaging several less fortunate buildings in its path. It is not in the least bit fun to be awakened by a tornado going past your house at 4:00 a.m.

Rita: Some wind, but a surprising amount of oceanside storm surge, which was compounded by the astronomical high tides. Two feet of water under my house; some flooded buildings, little wind damage.

Wilma: worst wind event of the season with gusts well over 100 mph in the Keys. And just when we all thought the storm was over, in comes the bayside storm surge: up to 10 feet in the lower and middle Keys. Marathon was totally inundated in several areas; the airport was totally flooded; the bay overran neighborhoods and businesses, going over U.S. 1 and flowing out into the oceanside. In Marathon alone, 1200 homes sustained damage, thousands of cars were totaled, marinas and docks were devastated, many businesses were totally destroyed. Several building and vehicle fires started after power was restored to buildings previously flooded with salt water. One structure fire occurred during the height of the storm surge, and city firefighters used jet skis to stretch the hose from hydrant to fire. The beautiful waterfront dock that’s in the photo in the upper left corner of my website is no more, a victim of Wilma’s storm surge. The human need after this storm continues to be met on a daily basis, and recovery will take months, if not years. Compared with what Wilma did to Cancun and the Yucatan, we were lucky.

This is why I haven’t had the time to update this site as much as necessary. Official duties have pre-empted my musical pursuits as storm after storm rolled across our islands. Hurricane season 2005 is, mercifully, winding down, and I hope to spend a little more time with music in the coming year. Happy Thanksgiving, and best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

-JB

Florida Keys-based singer/songwriter and Marathon Mayor John Bartus has just announced that ALL of his proceeds from CD sales at his CDBaby.com website will be donated to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast. From now until at least October 1, 2005, 100% of all money that John would have collected from sales of his "Keys Disease" and "Live From The Florida Keys" CDs will go directly to the American Red Cross to help storm victims in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

"Here in the Keys, we got a little taste of the wrath of Katrina, but it's nothing close to the devastation wreaked on the Gulf Coast," Bartus said. "Whatever we can do to help those people who have lost everything is part of our responsibility to our neighbors."

To help out, just click on the "Buy The CD - Click Here" graphic above, and choose one or both CDs. Enjoy some Florida Keys music and help out Katrina victims at the same time.

John's article, "How To Record a Live CD," is a feature article in the September issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine! For all those visiting the website from the magazine, welcome! And for those unfamiliar with the magazine, check out their website at www.acousticguitar.com.

There are some cool new photos of yours truly at the 2005 Bash at the Bridge, on Chaplin Field at the world-famous Seven Mile Bridge. These photos were taken by Michelle Pinkus, daughter of one of my fellow City Council members. Over 7,000 people jammed the field for this two-day event that raised a lot of money for the Rotary Scholarship Fund.