It's that time of year in the Virgin Islands when humans by the hundreds take to the sea in search – visually – of passing humpback whales.
"Grab your binoculars and scan the horizon; it's time for the world's largest animals to enjoy their annual Caribbean vacation," reads a release from the Environmental Association of St. Thomas-St. John, which annually organizes whale-watch excursions.
This year, there will be three such outings, on Saturday, Feb. 17; Saturday, Feb. 24; and Sunday, Feb. 25. As a special added enticement, all three trips will be aboard Grand Nellie, a historic 75-foot schooner.
For each full-day trip, an experienced ecological guide will provide commentary on marine life and seabirds in addition to helping excursion participants spot any whales in the area.
For each of the trips, the ship will depart American Yacht Harbor at 8:30 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. The daysail does not include lunch or drinks, but the boat will anchor by an offshore cay in the afternoon for swimming and snorkeling.
"Humpback whales typically make their way through Virgin Islands waters in February and March in order to mate and nurse their calves," the EAST release states. "Each year, the Environmental Association sponsors whale-watching trips where the public can get a closer view of these spectacular creatures."
Last year's whale-watch participants got glimpses of lone males as well as mothers and calves traveling in pairs. According to EAST president Carla Joseph, "This year's first reported sightings are beginning to trickle in." She expressed the opinion that "Everyone should go out at least once and see the humpbacks in their natural environment."
Joseph added that the Grand Nellie "is an attraction in itself" and that the ship's crew "is very enthusiastic about taking part in the whale watches."
The cost of each outing is $55 for those who aren't members of EAST and $45 for those who are. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and they virtually always sell out well before the day of departure. In fact, in years past EAST has been known to schedule an additional trip to accommodate demand.
Ticket outlets are St. Thomas Communications in Crown Bay Marina, the Draughting Shaft in Havensight and East End Secretarial Service in Red Hook.
Proceeds from the excursions will benefit EAST environmental education, awareness and advocacy programs. The release describes the association, which is a chapter of the V.I. Conservation Society, as "a not-for-profit, all volunteer organization that seeks to protect and improve the quality of life for all Virgin Islands residents."
More information about the association and about the whale-watch trips may be obtained by telephoning 774-8348 or 774-8816.

The St. Thomas-St. John Arts Council's 13th annual Caribbean Colour fine art exhibition was judged in five categories, including Student Art. Double honors for a single work went to St. John artist Kimberly Boulon for her portrait of Liston "Matey" Sewer.
Boulon took both the People's Choice Award (based on balloting by those who attended the opening reception on Sunday) and first place in the "Everything Else" category, which encompasses everything other than oil and water media, three-dimensional entries and student works. Her winning pastel, titled "Exultation," depicts steelpan instructor Sewer conducting the Burning Blazers of Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School.
The show, comprising 80 works by adult artists and 17 by students, will hang through Saturday in Pistarckle Theater at Tillett Gardens. It's open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. All of the artwork is for sale.
The entries were judged by Marcia Goldenstein, professor of drawing and painting at the University of Tennessee. This was just the second time in the history of Caribbean Colour that the Arts Council was able to bring a judge from the states, according to council president Susan Edwards. She said doing so this year was made possible by the generosity of the show's sponsors, the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts (VICA), the West Indian Co. Ltd. and Wireless World.
Goldenstein also taught an all-day painting workshop in Tillett Gardens.
Following is the list of winners, by category:
Student Art
1- Sarah Suhich, "Sea Urchin from Below"(clay)
2- Heidi Peters, "Color Pose" (tempera)
3- Adrienne Miller, "Sea Beauties" (linoleum print)
Honorable mention – Lester Angol (collage), Davin Charles (two, acrylic and pastel), Kanmah Cyntje (tempera), Kalisha Jn Baptiste (clay), Michael Simmonds/Marvin Ford/Andrea Breedy (watercolor), CAHS Collaborative of 18 students (watercolor)
Oil Painting
1- Deborah St. Clair, Untitled
2- Mace McDowell, "Male Torso"
3- Ahmed Alarefi, "The Land"
Honorable mention – Aphrodite, Kathy Carlson, Jeanette Dunn
Water Media
1- Elizabeth Ford, "The Beat Goes On" (acrylic)
2- Mitch Gibbs, Untitled (watercolor)
3- Lisa Etre, "Too Tomatoes" (acrylic)
Honorable mention – Ayson Benford (watercolor), Bente Hirsch (watercolor), Francine Jacobson (acrylic), Edie Paljavcsik Johnson (watercolor), Gail Van de Bogurt (watercolor), Denise Wright (acrylic)
Three-Dimensional
1- Gail van de Bogurt, "La Luna" (clay)
2- Amy Dolin, "Love Song" (mixed media)
3- Lynn Paccassi-Berry, "Caribbean Twilight" (clay)
Honorable mention – Peggy Seiwert (clay), Marsha Stein/Lynn Paccassi-Berry (clay)
Everything Else
1- Kimberly Boulon, "Exultation" (pastel)
2- Mace McDowell, "Woman on Wall- Cruz Bay" (drawing)
3- Doreen Walsh, "Bamboula" (batik)

The St. Thomas-St. John Arts Council's 13th annual Caribbean Colour fine art exhibition was judged in five categories, including Student Art. Double honors for a single work went to St. John artist Kimberly Boulon for her portrait of Liston "Matey" Sewer.
Boulon took both the People's Choice Award (based on balloting by those who attended the opening reception on Sunday) and first place in the "Everything Else" category, which encompasses everything other than oil and water media, three-dimensional entries and student works. Her winning pastel, titled "Exultation," depicts steelpan instructor Sewer conducting the Burning Blazers of Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School.
The show, comprising 80 works by adult artists and 17 by students, will hang through Saturday in Pistarckle Theater at Tillett Gardens. It's open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. All of the artwork is for sale.
The entries were judged by Marcia Goldenstein, professor of drawing and painting at the University of Tennessee. This was just the second time in the history of Caribbean Colour that the Arts Council was able to bring a judge from the states, according to council president Susan Edwards. She said doing so this year was made possible by the generosity of the show's sponsors, the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts (VICA), the West Indian Co. Ltd. and Wireless World.
Goldenstein also taught an all-day painting workshop in Tillett Gardens.
Following is the list of winners, by category:
Student Art
1- Sarah Suhich, "Sea Urchin from Below" (clay)
2- Heidi Peters, "Color Pose" (tempera)
3- Adrienne Miller, "Sea Beauties" (linoleum print)
Honorable mention – Lester Angol (collage), Davin Charles (two, acrylic and pastel), Kanmah Cyntje (tempera), Kalisha Jn Baptiste (clay), Michael Simmonds/Marvin Ford/Andrea Breedy (watercolor), CAHS Collaborative of 18 students (watercolor)
Oil Painting
1- Deborah St. Clair, Untitled
2- Mace McDowell, "Male Torso"
3- Ahmed Alarefi, "The Land"
Honorable mention – Aphrodite, Kathy Carlson, Jeanette Dunn
Water Media
1- Elizabeth Ford, "The Beat Goes On" (acrylic)
2- Mitch Gibbs, Untitled (watercolor)
3- Lisa Etre, "Too Tomatoes" (acrylic)
Honorable mention – Ayson Benford (watercolor), Bente Hirsch (watercolor), Francine Jacobson (acrylic), Edie Paljavcsik Johnson (watercolor), Gail Van de Bogurt (watercolor), Denise Wright (acrylic)
Three-Dimensional
1- Gail van de Bogurt, "La Luna" (clay)
2- Amy Dolin, "Love Song" (mixed media)
3- Lynn Paccassi-Berry, "Caribbean Twilight" (clay)
Honorable mention – Peggy Seiwert (clay), Marsha Stein/Lynn Paccassi-Berry (clay)
Everything Else
1- Kimberly Boulon, "Exultation" (pastel)
2- Mace McDowell, "Woman on Wall- Cruz Bay" (drawing)
3- Doreen Walsh, "Bamboula" (batik)

St. Croix police officers were called to two public schools about midday Wednesday after administrators found students in possession of a starter's pistol in one case and a replica of a small caliber handgun in another.
Police Commissioner Franz Christian said officers of the VIPD School Security Unit recovered a .22 caliber gun replica from a 16-year-old at Central High School around midday. The student told authorities that he brought the replica to school to exchange with another student for a compact disc player. He was released to parental custody and will likely face disciplinary action by the school, Christian said.
At about the same time, he said, officers were dispatched to the Elena Christian Junior High School when a 13-year-old student was seen placing an item resembling a gun in his bag. When confronted by the school principal, it was discovered that the gun-like item was a starter's pistol that can fire only blanks. The student will likely face disciplinary action by the school, Christian said.
In light of the incident, Elena Christian School principal Susanna Smith said parent- student conferences will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at the school, counseling will be available to students who are in need of such service.

Nowhere Else on Earth
by Josephine Humphreys
Fiction
Viking, 341 pp, $24.95
The ability to impart a deep mystical quality to a period in U.S. history so savagely brutal as the War Between the States only scratches the surface of Josephine Humphreys' talent. The threads of the story she tells are loose and wandering in the beginning but become intricately woven to reveal the lives of a large family in North Carolina in the aftermath of the Civil War in 1870.
The family encompasses Indians, former slaves, freemen, Scots descendents and perhaps, wonder of wonders, the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh. How they survive starvation and the killing on all sides boggles one's mind.
The daily living conditions paint a shocking canvas of how people can survive terrible conditions, willing themselves to live through it all. Normal feelings seem blunted; loving and caring are unaffordable luxuries. For want of a horse, a mule or even an ox, a man hitches his mentally retarded brother to the plough to cultivate his cornfield. Life seems to be almost worthless in the wake of that tragic war, the fields laid waste and no food to be found.
All is not dark and grim, however. Rhoda, the dominant character, is a star even as a teenager, when we first meet her. Her mother cannot even read, but she could sure teach a college course in philosophy; she never speaks without saying something you note and hope to remember. Seeing her deal with a string of disasters, accept them and go on is one of the highlights of the book.
Rhoda's mother-in-law teaches her how to bone a whole chicken, removing every bone before cooking – can you believe it? Her husband stands and calls to his bees, who come and cover him completely with not one sting.
There's a hanging: Rag-tag soldiers from the armies of both North and South are passing through the countryside, pillaging and raiding as they go. It's a lawless time. Everyone is afraid, day and night, not knowing who will come or what weapons they will have and use to get what they want. Doors stay locked and bolted while bands of outlaws hang out in the woods between forays.
The brilliance of the people's spirit brightens this dark period. The war that pitted brother against brother was a blot on the country for the five years it lasted, but the slaves were freed and a sound union was re-established – a great nation begun again, stronger than ever.
You will be enchanted by the lyricism of the prose, the word pictures of the swamps, forests, and meadows of rural North Carolina as peace gently returns in 1871. The reader feels a sense of wonder that human beings can forge ahead, loving and hoping, in the face of such extreme brutality. It's a feeling that remains long after the last page is turned.
"Nowhere Else on Earth" is available at Dockside Bookshop in Havensight Mall on St. Thomas. To check out other Dockside favorites, click here.

Nowhere Else on Earth
by Josephine Humphreys
Fiction
Viking, 341 pp, $24.95
The ability to impart a deep mystical quality to a period in U.S. history so savagely brutal as the War Between the States only scratches the surface of Josephine Humphreys' talent. The threads of the story she tells are loose and wandering in the beginning but become intricately woven to reveal the lives of a large family in North Carolina in the aftermath of the Civil War in 1870.
The family encompasses Indians, former slaves, freemen, Scots descendents and perhaps, wonder of wonders, the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh. How they survive starvation and the killing on all sides boggles one's mind.
The daily living conditions paint a shocking canvas of how people can survive terrible conditions, willing themselves to live through it all. Normal feelings seem blunted; loving and caring are unaffordable luxuries. For want of a horse, a mule or even an ox, a man hitches his mentally retarded brother to the plough to cultivate his cornfield. Life seems to be almost worthless in the wake of that tragic war, the fields laid waste and no food to be found.
All is not dark and grim, however. Rhoda, the dominant character, is a star even as a teenager, when we first meet her. Her mother cannot even read, but she could sure teach a college course in philosophy; she never speaks without saying something you note and hope to remember. Seeing her deal with a string of disasters, accept them and go on is one of the highlights of the book.
Rhoda's mother-in-law teaches her how to bone a whole chicken, removing every bone before cooking – can you believe it? Her husband stands and calls to his bees, who come and cover him completely with not one sting.
There's a hanging: Rag-tag soldiers from the armies of both North and South are passing through the countryside, pillaging and raiding as they go. It's a lawless time. Everyone is afraid, day and night, not knowing who will come or what weapons they will have and use to get what they want. Doors stay locked and bolted while bands of outlaws hang out in the woods between forays.
The brilliance of the people's spirit brightens this dark period. The war that pitted brother against brother was a blot on the country for the five years it lasted, but the slaves were freed and a sound union was re-established – a great nation begun again, stronger than ever.
You will be enchanted by the lyricism of the prose, the word pictures of the swamps, forests, and meadows of rural North Carolina as peace gently returns in 1871. The reader feels a sense of wonder that human beings can forge ahead, loving and hoping, in the face of such extreme brutality. It's a feeling that remains long after the last page is turned.
"Nowhere Else on Earth" is available at Dockside Bookshop in Havensight Mall. To check out other Dockside favorites, click here.

Haruko Nackenhorst of Coral Princess, Christiansted died Monday, Feb. 7. She was 58.
She is survived by her husband, Dick Nackenhorst; daughter, Sachie Kerewalla; sisters, Sadie Foley, Sacho Shismko, Kikumura Reiku, Kiyoko Bowers, Sabo John, and Hayako Toyota; brothers, Uchida Hiroshi, Otsuki Yaeko; nephews, James Foley and Joseph Foley; son-in-law, Carl Kerewalla; and other relatives and friends.
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14 at James Memorial Funeral Chapel.

Blues guitarist Jimmy Thackery, who's performing Thursday on St. John, Friday on St. Thomas and Saturday on St. Croix, needs your help. Well, at least he's asking for it.
No, actually he needs it.
Like most Baby Boomers in the public eye who haven't already done so, he is developing a web site, and it's an unabashed work in progress.
Visit www.jamthack.com and you'll understand. Here's all it says, essentially promoting his new CD:
"Jim Gaines [his three-time CD producer, a Grammy winner who has also worked with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Miller and Santana] and Jimmy Thackery are reunited on ‘Sinner Street' and the results speak for themselves. Jimmy's guitar playing has never been hotter and songs like ‘Lovin' My Money,' ‘Hundreds Into Ones' and ‘Million Dollar Bill' are some of his wittiest thus far. The sound of the band has an exciting new dimension, provided by sax man and newest Driver Jimmy Carpenter. Two instrumentals, the swinging title cut and the Peter Green-like ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' are true highlights. Jimmy Thackery's career has produced many highly acclaimed recordings, but ‘Sinner Street' is destined to outshine them all.
"That's about all until next time…..jimmy
"help me with the page
"what do we need to do…"
So, feel free to offer suggestions – online, or in person while he's in the V.I.
Now, about the man, the music and the gigs on our islands …
Thackery has been playing professionally for three decades and has been doing so in the Virgin Islands for going on two. What he plays is a blend of blues/rock, urban blues, acoustic blues and "a splash of contemporary zydeco," according to his biography.
He grew up in Washington, D.C., where, as a teenager, he was impressed by Buddy Guy performing in a church and then blown away by Jimi Hendrix letting loose in his first gig after getting kicked off the Monkees tour.
In 1972, Thackery connected with harmonica player Mark Wenner to form the Nighthawks, a band that would become one of the most popular blues groups in the country. After being on the road 300 nights a year for 14 years, he decided in 1987 to give it a rest, but that didn't last long. Soon he had a new six-piece group, The Assassins, in action. The band made three critically acclaimed albums before it broke up in 1991.
Meantime, in 1985, he recorded an acoustic duet album, "Sideways in Paradise," with slide guitar master John Mooney in Jamaica. A Blues Access critic praised his "remarkable facility here for the acoustic setting … The players trade National steel guitars and mandolins, and explode the barriers of possibility for traditional acoustic music." (The album was reissued on the Blind Pig label in 1993.)
Next, to put his guitar pyrotechnics back in the spotlight, Thackery formed the Drivers – just him, a bass player and a drummer. Their first release, "Empty Arms Motel," for Blind Pig in 1992, wowed critics, won them new fans and became one of the top blues titles of the year. There've been five other CD's since, including "Sinner Street" and the one live album, "Wild Night Out!" recorded in Detroit and released by Blind Pig in 1995. Guitar Player magazine called that one "a watershed of industrial-strength roots rock" and Blues Revue hailed Thackery for the "depth and breadth of his awesome ability."
The band grew to four members two years ago with the addition of saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter, a veteran bluesman who had been crossing paths with Thackery for years. Since then, he, bass player Ken Faltinson and drummer Mark Stutso have been the boys in the band.
Thackery says he decided to approach "Sinner Street" differently in terms of recording sessions: "Instead of putting all the material together in one basket and running into the studio and recording it real fast, we would take time out, record pieces of material in groups, and then live with it for a while until we decided where we wanted to go with the next group of tunes, thereby giving ourselves a sense of direction."
Recorded in Memphis, the album consists "mostly of songs that I wrote or co-wrote with Keith Sykes," he says.
Robert Murphy, reviewing the album for Blues on Stage online, offers this assessment: "The opening cut, ‘Grab the Rafters,' is reminiscent of the Blues Brothers with its horns … ‘Bad News' goes back in time a bit to almost a '50s jazz blues time frame with backing horns and the back-and-forth interplay of the guitar with the horns. ‘Sinner Street,' the title cut, is an instrumental … a driving guitar sound with soulful horns on top with just a hint of surf sound, very different and familiar at the same time … ‘Lovin' My Money' is vintage Thackery with a basic blues beat … ‘Chained to the Blues Line' is straight out of '60s Motown with modern production. ‘Havin' A Heart' is a slow number, also vintage Thackery but with more background vocals and horns added. The last song on the CD, ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' is a slow, grinding blues instrumental with great guitar work."
The album should be available at the St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix concerts.
Thackery is no stranger to any of the three islands, although he is performing at venues new to him. In the early 1980s, he played with the Nighthawks at the old Barnacle Bill's on St. Thomas. Ironically, he'll be introduced in Tillett Gardens Friday night by Bill Grogan, Arts Alive concerts technical director and master of ceremonies, who owned and operated Barnacle Bill's until the government pulled the plug on his government-land lease a few years ago.
He was vacationing on Virgin Gorda even before that and remembers the St. Thomas of 25 years ago, when it was "a little more colloquial." He's been a repeat performer at the Green House more recently, the last time two years ago.
Thackery has played on St. Croix in a number of bookings arranged by Charlie Campbell. In the late '90s, these included a couple of January one-day blues festivals Campbell put together utilizing the talent that sailed into the Frederiksted harbor aboard ships making a "blues cruise." The last one was in 1998, and it was memorable.
"Jimmy was playing at height of his show" in the Paul E. Joseph Stadium, Campbell recalls. "The stage was about 5 feet off the ground, he jumped off, and he landed on his foot wrong. He was on his back in pain – but he didn't miss a beat. The crowd kind of gathered around and helped him back on his feet. He got back onstage and finished the set."
It was the next day before he went to the hospital. That evening he amazed those who knew what had happened, keeping his performance date in King's Alley, walking on with his foot in a cast and playing sitting down.
As for St. John, Thackery remembers well his gig at Skinny Legs a few years back. It was quintessential Coral Bay: "The gear they provided me was basically like a Zenith TV and a boom box," he says, "and I had somebody go get me something else, and what they brought me was ancient but it worked. I remember that the crowd was really big, and everybody had a blast."
One of the guitars Thackery is playing on this tour is his 1964 Fender Stratocaster that disappeared, along with a less valuable custom guitar, backstage after a concert in Kansas City last summer. The Strat, which turned up a couple days after the incident, is one he's played for more than 20 years. Now, "I keep my eye on it," he deadpans.
Thackery says his idea of a good audience is one that's on its feet – dancing. A polite, seated audience "means people are paying attention to what you are playing," he says, but &qu
ot;the feedback we get back is better when everybody's out boogie-ing."

Concert details
The St. Croix concert Saturday begins at 8 p.m. at Club 54, on Company Street in Christiansted. It will feature a special guest appearance by "the Queen of Boogie-Woogie," Wendy DeWitt. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and space is limited. They are being sold at the club, the T-Shirt Shack at Cheeseburgers in Paradise, Strand Street Station in the Pan Am Pavilion and The Saloon in Frederiksted.
For further details, call 773-0878.
For information on the St. John and St. Thomas concerts, click, respectively, on St. John Things to Do and St. Thomas Things to Do.

Blues guitarist Jimmy Thackery, who's performing Thursday on St. John, Friday on St. Thomas and Saturday on St. Croix, needs your help. Well, at least he's asking for it.
No, actually he needs it.
Like most Baby Boomers in the public eye who haven't already done so, he is developing a web site, and it's an unabashed work in progress.
Visit www.jamthack.com and you'll understand. Here's all it says, essentially promoting his new CD:
"Jim Gaines [his three-time CD producer, a Grammy winner who has also worked with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Miller and Santana] and Jimmy Thackery are reunited on ‘Sinner Street' and the results speak for themselves. Jimmy's guitar playing has never been hotter and songs like ‘Lovin' My Money,' ‘Hundreds Into Ones' and ‘Million Dollar Bill' are some of his wittiest thus far. The sound of the band has an exciting new dimension, provided by sax man and newest Driver Jimmy Carpenter. Two instrumentals, the swinging title cut and the Peter Green-like ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' are true highlights. Jimmy Thackery's career has produced many highly acclaimed recordings, but ‘Sinner Street' is destined to outshine them all.
"That's about all until next time…..jimmy
"help me with the page
"what do we need to do…"
So, feel free to offer suggestions – online, or in person while he's in the V.I.
Now, about the man, the music and the gigs on our islands …
Thackery has been playing professionally for three decades and has been doing so in the Virgin Islands for going on two. What he plays is a blend of blues/rock, urban blues, acoustic blues and "a splash of contemporary zydeco," according to his biography.
He grew up in Washington, D.C., where, as a teenager, he was impressed by Buddy Guy performing in a church and then blown away by Jimi Hendrix letting loose in his first gig after getting kicked off the Monkees tour.
In 1972, Thackery connected with harmonica player Mark Wenner to form the Nighthawks, a band that would become one of the most popular blues groups in the country. After being on the road 300 nights a year for 14 years, he decided in 1987 to give it a rest, but that didn't last long. Soon he had a new six-piece group, The Assassins, in action. The band made three critically acclaimed albums before it broke up in 1991.
Meantime, in 1985, he recorded an acoustic duet album, "Sideways in Paradise," with slide guitar master John Mooney in Jamaica. A Blues Access critic praised his "remarkable facility here for the acoustic setting … The players trade National steel guitars and mandolins, and explode the barriers of possibility for traditional acoustic music." (The album was reissued on the Blind Pig label in 1993.)
Next, to put his guitar pyrotechnics back in the spotlight, Thackery formed the Drivers – just him, a bass player and a drummer. Their first release, "Empty Arms Motel," for Blind Pig in 1992, wowed critics, won them new fans and became one of the top blues titles of the year. There've been five other CD's since, including "Sinner Street" and the one live album, "Wild Night Out!" recorded in Detroit and released by Blind Pig in 1995. Guitar Player magazine called that one "a watershed of industrial-strength roots rock" and Blues Revue hailed Thackery for the "depth and breadth of his awesome ability."
The band grew to four members two years ago with the addition of saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter, a veteran bluesman who had been crossing paths with Thackery for years. Since then, he, bass player Ken Faltinson and drummer Mark Stutso have been the boys in the band.
Thackery says he decided to approach "Sinner Street" differently in terms of recording sessions: "Instead of putting all the material together in one basket and running into the studio and recording it real fast, we would take time out, record pieces of material in groups, and then live with it for a while until we decided where we wanted to go with the next group of tunes, thereby giving ourselves a sense of direction."
Recorded in Memphis, the album consists "mostly of songs that I wrote or co-wrote with Keith Sykes," he says.
Robert Murphy, reviewing the album for Blues on Stage online, offers this assessment: "The opening cut, ‘Grab the Rafters,' is reminiscent of the Blues Brothers with its horns … ‘Bad News' goes back in time a bit to almost a '50s jazz blues time frame with backing horns and the back-and-forth interplay of the guitar with the horns. ‘Sinner Street,' the title cut, is an instrumental … a driving guitar sound with soulful horns on top with just a hint of surf sound, very different and familiar at the same time … ‘Lovin' My Money' is vintage Thackery with a basic blues beat … ‘Chained to the Blues Line' is straight out of '60s Motown with modern production. ‘Havin' A Heart' is a slow number, also vintage Thackery but with more background vocals and horns added. The last song on the CD, ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' is a slow, grinding blues instrumental with great guitar work."
The album should be available at the St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix concerts.
Thackery is no stranger to any of the three islands, although he is performing at venues new to him. In the early 1980s, he played with the Nighthawks at the old Barnacle Bill's on St. Thomas. Ironically, he'll be introduced in Tillett Gardens Friday night by Bill Grogan, Arts Alive concerts technical director and master of ceremonies, who owned and operated Barnacle Bill's until the government pulled the plug on his government-land lease a few years ago.
He was vacationing on Virgin Gorda even before that and remembers the St. Thomas of 25 years ago, when it was "a little more colloquial." He's been a repeat performer at the Green House more recently, the last time two years ago.
Thackery has played on St. Croix in a number of bookings arranged by Charlie Campbell. In the late '90s, these included a couple of January one-day blues festivals Campbell put together utilizing the talent that sailed into the Frederiksted harbor aboard ships making a "blues cruise." The last one was in 1998, and it was memorable.
"Jimmy was playing at height of his show" in the Paul E. Joseph Stadium, Campbell recalls. "The stage was about 5 feet off the ground, he jumped off, and he landed on his foot wrong. He was on his back in pain – but he didn't miss a beat. The crowd kind of gathered around and helped him back on his feet. He got back onstage and finished the set."
It was the next day before he went to the hospital. That evening he amazed those who knew what had happened, keeping his performance date in King's Alley, walking on with his foot in a cast and playing sitting down.
As for St. John, Thackery remembers well his gig at Skinny Legs a few years back. It was quintessential Coral Bay: "The gear they provided me was basically like a Zenith TV and a boom box," he says, "and I had somebody go get me something else, and what they brought me was ancient but it worked. I remember that the crowd was really big, and everybody had a blast."
One of the guitars Thackery is playing on this tour is his 1964 Fender Stratocaster that disappeared, along with a less valuable custom guitar, backstage after a concert in Kansas City last summer. The Strat, which turned up a couple days after the incident, is one he's played for more than 20 years. Now, "I keep my eye on it," he deadpans.
Thackery says his idea of a good audience is one that's on its feet – dancing. A polite, seated audience "means people are paying attention to what you are playing," he says, but &qu
ot;the feedback we get back is better when everybody's out boogie-ing."

Concert details
The St. Thomas concert Friday begins at 8 p.m. in Tillett Gardens, presented by Arts Alive. Tickets are $25, with reserved cabaret-style seating. There will not be a prix fixe, pre-performance dinner with concert seating. Instead, Polli's Mexican Restaurant in the garden will offer its regular dinner menu until 10 p.m. to patrons at tables in the restaurant and a limited menu of light food to those seated in the garden. The Polli's bar will remain open throughout the evening.
For reservations and further details, call 775-1929, fax to 775-9482, or e-mail to www.tillettgardens.com.
For information on the St. John and St. Croix concerts, click, respectively, on St. John Things to Do and St. Croix Things to Do.

Blues guitarist Jimmy Thackery, who's performing Thursday on St. John, Friday on St. Thomas and Saturday on St. Croix, needs your help. Well, at least he's asking for it.
No, actually he needs it.
Like most Baby Boomers in the public eye who haven't already done so, he is developing a web site, and it's an unabashed work in progress.
Visit www.jamthack.com and you'll understand. Here's all it says, essentially promoting his new CD:
"Jim Gaines [his three-time CD producer, a Grammy winner who has also worked with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Miller and Santana] and Jimmy Thackery are reunited on ‘Sinner Street' and the results speak for themselves. Jimmy's guitar playing has never been hotter and songs like ‘Lovin' My Money,' ‘Hundreds Into Ones' and ‘Million Dollar Bill' are some of his wittiest thus far. The sound of the band has an exciting new dimension, provided by sax man and newest Driver Jimmy Carpenter. Two instrumentals, the swinging title cut and the Peter Green-like ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' are true highlights. Jimmy Thackery's career has produced many highly acclaimed recordings, but ‘Sinner Street' is destined to outshine them all.
"That's about all until next time…..jimmy
"help me with the page
"what do we need to do…"
So, feel free to offer suggestions – online, or in person while he's in the V.I.
Now, about the man, the music and the gigs on our islands …
Thackery has been playing professionally for three decades and has been doing so in the Virgin Islands for going on two. What he plays is a blend of blues/rock, urban blues, acoustic blues and "a splash of contemporary zydeco," according to his biography.
He grew up in Washington, D.C., where, as a teenager, he was impressed by Buddy Guy performing in a church and then blown away by Jimi Hendrix letting loose in his first gig after getting kicked off the Monkees tour.
In 1972, Thackery connected with harmonica player Mark Wenner to form the Nighthawks, a band that would become one of the most popular blues groups in the country. After being on the road 300 nights a year for 14 years, he decided in 1987 to give it a rest, but that didn't last long. Soon he had a new six-piece group, The Assassins, in action. The band made three critically acclaimed albums before it broke up in 1991.
Meantime, in 1985, he recorded an acoustic duet album, "Sideways in Paradise," with slide guitar master John Mooney in Jamaica. A Blues Access critic praised his "remarkable facility here for the acoustic setting … The players trade National steel guitars and mandolins, and explode the barriers of possibility for traditional acoustic music." (The album was reissued on the Blind Pig label in 1993.)
Next, to put his guitar pyrotechnics back in the spotlight, Thackery formed the Drivers – just him, a bass player and a drummer. Their first release, "Empty Arms Motel," for Blind Pig in 1992, wowed critics, won them new fans and became one of the top blues titles of the year. There've been five other CD's since, including "Sinner Street" and the one live album, "Wild Night Out!" recorded in Detroit and released by Blind Pig in 1995. Guitar Player magazine called that one "a watershed of industrial-strength roots rock" and Blues Revue hailed Thackery for the "depth and breadth of his awesome ability."
The band grew to four members two years ago with the addition of saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter, a veteran bluesman who had been crossing paths with Thackery for years. Since then, he, bass player Ken Faltinson and drummer Mark Stutso have been the boys in the band.
Thackery says he decided to approach "Sinner Street" differently in terms of recording sessions: "Instead of putting all the material together in one basket and running into the studio and recording it real fast, we would take time out, record pieces of material in groups, and then live with it for a while until we decided where we wanted to go with the next group of tunes, thereby giving ourselves a sense of direction."
Recorded in Memphis, the album consists "mostly of songs that I wrote or co-wrote with Keith Sykes," he says.
Robert Murphy, reviewing the album for Blues on Stage online, offers this assessment: "The opening cut, ‘Grab the Rafters,' is reminiscent of the Blues Brothers with its horns … ‘Bad News' goes back in time a bit to almost a '50s jazz blues time frame with backing horns and the back-and-forth interplay of the guitar with the horns. ‘Sinner Street,' the title cut, is an instrumental … a driving guitar sound with soulful horns on top with just a hint of surf sound, very different and familiar at the same time … ‘Lovin' My Money' is vintage Thackery with a basic blues beat … ‘Chained to the Blues Line' is straight out of '60s Motown with modern production. ‘Havin' A Heart' is a slow number, also vintage Thackery but with more background vocals and horns added. The last song on the CD, ‘Blues 'Fore Dawn,' is a slow, grinding blues instrumental with great guitar work."
The album should be available at the St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix concerts.
Thackery is no stranger to any of the three islands, although he is performing at venues new to him. In the early 1980s, he played with the Nighthawks at the old Barnacle Bill's on St. Thomas. Ironically, he'll be introduced in Tillett Gardens Friday night by Bill Grogan, Arts Alive concerts technical director and master of ceremonies, who owned and operated Barnacle Bill's until the government pulled the plug on his government-land lease a few years ago.
He was vacationing on Virgin Gorda even before that and remembers the St. Thomas of 25 years ago, when it was "a little more colloquial." He's been a repeat performer at the Green House more recently, the last time two years ago.
Thackery has played on St. Croix in a number of bookings arranged by Charlie Campbell. In the late '90s, these included a couple of January one-day blues festivals Campbell put together utilizing the talent that sailed into the Frederiksted harbor aboard ships making a "blues cruise." The last one was in 1998, and it was memorable.
"Jimmy was playing at height of his show" in the Paul E. Joseph Stadium, Campbell recalls. "The stage was about 5 feet off the ground, he jumped off, and he landed on his foot wrong. He was on his back in pain – but he didn't miss a beat. The crowd kind of gathered around and helped him back on his feet. He got back onstage and finished the set."
It was the next day before he went to the hospital. That evening he amazed those who knew what had happened, keeping his performance date in King's Alley, walking on with his foot in a cast and playing sitting down.
As for St. John, Thackery remembers well his gig at Skinny Legs a few years back. It was quintessential Coral Bay: "The gear they provided me was basically like a Zenith TV and a boom box," he says, "and I had somebody go get me something else, and what they brought me was ancient but it worked. I remember that the crowd was really big, and everybody had a blast."
One of the guitars Thackery is playing on this tour is his 1964 Fender Stratocaster that disappeared, along with a less valuable custom guitar, backstage after a concert in Kansas City last summer. The Strat, which turned up a couple days after the incident, is one he's played for more than 20 years. Now, "I keep my eye on it," he deadpans.
Thackery says his idea of a good audience is one that's on its feet – dancing. A polite, seated audience "means people are paying attention to what you are playing," he says, but &qu
ot;the feedback we get back is better when everybody's out boogie-ing."

Concert details
The St. John concert Thursday begins at 8 p.m. Presented by the St. John School of the arts, it will take place in a venue never before utilized for the school's concerts – the third floor atrium of The Marketplace, the new shopping center in Cruz Bay.
Tickets are $30, or $25 for students with I.D. They are being sold at Connections and will be available at the door. The covered open space will accommodate 300, "and we've bought a lot of new stackable chairs," school director Ruth "Sis" Frank says.
Facing the fact that the blues music would be "too loud to have in the school" and with the usual alternative sites at the Westin Resort unavailable, the idea of approaching the Enighed Partnership owners of The Marketplace "suddenly came to me in a flash from God or my mother," she says. There will be space for dancing, and a cash bar will be set up. She adds that the management is "helping us by supplying the lights and stage. I'm helping them by supplying the chairs; and Marketplace is getting publicity. It's a community effort."
For further details, call 779-4322 or 776-6777.
For information on the St. Thomas and St. Croix concerts, click, respectively, on St. Thomas Things to Do and St. Croix Things to Do