SPOTLIGHT: Gary Robinson
Gary Robinson loves making music. Making it for the people of Boca Grande raises it to a whole new level for him. Gary is the drummer for the new rock band known as “The Green Flash, Boca Grande,” which has taken the island by storm this past spring. The music the band plays and the town have a lot in common.
“It’s what I love about Boca Grande, “ Gary said. “We’ve been coming here for over 30 years, and it’s like stepping back in time. Like when I was younger, much younger. Like the ‘60s and ‘70s. That hasn’t been lost here … courtesy and friendliness. I get very emotional about it.”
That is kind of the flavor of the Green Flash’s music, as well. It’s classic rock, mostly. And the affection the members of the band have for one another is evident as they play.
The band includes Mark Wetmiller, Jim “Hooter” Hoyt, Sal Joseph, Rick Ganong, Julia Pierce and backup singers Shannon Coe and Kelly McDonald. Alle te Velde handles audio-video tech and logistics.
“What I love about the band, about this band, in particular, is that we’ve all played in bands, but we’re at an age now that the playing part is easy. It’s the camaraderie and fellowship we have. We’ve become a family, so quick, and we really love each other.”
He noted that each of them is going through “withdrawals” now that the fast and furious season is over and they are not practicing and playing as a group. Since the first of the year they had been together almost nonstop. “We’ve been practicing three, sometimes four times a week, and then the jobs … so everybody’s having a little bit of a hard time,” he said. “There’s some talk we may do something in the Northeast this summer, but that hasn’t been firmed up.”
Although the group started coming together last fall, they did not play their first job until early March of this year. They played in the driveway of one of the members, jamming and rehearsing. Many people in the neighborhood came to know about them and encouraged them as a group.
“But the island was still recovering then, and Miller’s wasn’t fully ready for us, but once we started there it really started coming together. I think we’ll be playing there more frequently,” Gary said.
So far all their playing has been on-island and for private events. They provided the celebration music after the PanCAN walk for pancreatic cancer in April.
“It’s really been magical. It’s like a dream come true. I can’t say enough about the guys … and Julia,” he said. “We truly love each other. And I think it shows when we play. That’s what’s helped us grow so fast. And our love of this area, I think has really been something that we kind of fight for.”
Gary has been playing drums since he first saw the Beatles on television. He was 10 years old then.
“It just captivated me, and I started playing in the school band first. And my folks said, ‘We ought to get you a set of drums.’ ” He was bitten by the music bug almost instantly.
Gary can play some guitar, but he said it was too slow for him. “I didn’t really take to it. Then my dad bought this drum set, and the guy who sold them was kind of shady. He said, ‘Well, I’ll give you free drum lessons.’ ”
One lesson later, Gary was on his own, listening to the radio and the songs on the record player.
“We had little bands all through late elementary and junior high school,” he reminisced. “I didn’t play much in high school. Other people wanted me to play in bars, but my folks didn’t want me doing that.”
He was a headstrong teenager by that time and refused to play at all if he couldn’t play in bars. But after high school the beat of the drum was back in his heart. He played on the road from about 1973 to ’79.
His life changed when he met Pat, the woman who would provide the melody for the rest of his life. He recalls that she would often come to hear him play, and they fell in love quickly. They were in Columbia, Missouri and after they married, Gary realized that many bands, even successful ones, tend to fall apart after a while. Once they start having some success, something comes up to break them apart. Anticipating this, Gary decided to bolster his stability.
“I was about 24 or 25 and started to look for something a little more stable,” he recalled. “I also had been kind of an apprentice making Indian jewelry since I was right out of high school, and before that I used to do leatherwork. I had a little leather shop when I was in my junior year in high school, and then I went to work for some other leather shops.
One day he was doing his leatherwork and a man came in and admired the work he was doing. He asked if Gary could make jewelry, but he only knew the leather aspect. The man offered to teach him, and a new career opened up.
“It was really a good education. I did that off and on until 1980, when I went to trade school to learn how to set diamonds and casting. Everything I’d done up to that point was construction, sheet and wire, so I learned how to make fine jewelry.”
He worked for local jewelers for about six months. Then he decided to see if he could make it on his own.
“I got a small loan from the bank, and I went to area jewelers and said, ‘I can do repair or custom work for you.’ I would go and pick up and deliver twice a week for about two-and-a-half years.” Pat suggested he was doing a lot of running around, and maybe working harder than he really needed to, putting in 60 hours a week and getting paid like he was working 40.
“So we decided to open a small retail store, and we grew that. We were like 30 by then. Pat was a dietitian at a cancer hospital, but she came to work with me probably the second year we were in business. We doubled the size of the store. We carried all kinds of fancy jewelry, we made and repaired, did the whole ball of wax. We were open for 34 years. We closed that in 2018.”
Not long after the store first opened, Pat became pregnant with the first of their two children. Laura and Spencer are successful adults now, both living in Missouri, where Gary and Pat have their northern home. Spencer’s son, Logan, is just finishing ninth grade. He plays violin in the school orchestra and is accomplished in several sports.
While the jewelry store is closed now, Gary still designs and makes jewelry. He said he is available to work with anyone to make custom pieces.
He and Pat find themselves staying longer and longer in Boca Grande than they do in Missouri. Pat’s sister, Camille Williams, is a wedding and event planner on the island, and they had been coming to visit her for years before they became residents of Boca Grande. Today they live in the Sea Oats of Boca Grande condominium community on the north end of the island.
The decision to move to the island was sort of a message from heaven, Gary explained. He had lung cancer, and woke up from surgery in the hospital’s intensive care unit. There was a small TV playing, and as it came into focus, Gary realized it was a scene of people on a boat. “I wonder if those guys are fishing,” he said to Pat in his groggy state. They both started to cry and Pat said, “We’ve always wanted to go there. We’re going to do it as soon as we can.”
It took a few more years to get everything in place, but they moved to Boca Grande in 2020. They had been coming to visit since about 1990, but after the surgery they decided to make the dream a reality. They have not regretted that decision.
Gary’s health is in good shape today, and the new band is helping him keep fit. Their sets tend to be pretty intense, with lively pieces being audience favorites.
“We do try to stick pretty much to the original versions,” he explained. We’ll add our touches, but we’re not interpreting it so much. People want to hear what they know.”
When asked if he was having fun as part of the band, the answer was instantaneous and enthusiastic: “Oh, my God. Yes!”
Gary explained that the standard set would have them play for about 45 minutes and then take a break. Since they have been playing private parties and special events, however, the guests want to talk to one another for a while.
“They just start getting to the dance floor at 45 minutes,” he said. “So we just keep playing. When people start dancing you don’t want to say, ‘Ok, we’re going to take a 15-minute break now.’ So we just keep playing. It can be about two-and-a-half hours, almost three hours, playing straight through. For me it’s tough, since I’m the most physically active, but because we practice so much, that’s also kind of what we do. When we do a job we try to make it so there’s very little down time. That makes it challenging, but very exciting, and when we get done I am in a little bit of a fog, just because it gets so intense.”
There have been times when Gary would give the signal that he needed some relief, and the group would respond by playing something a little slower. At first, the dancers might not like the slower pace, but they tend to get into the groove and not object for long.
“The challenge for me,” Gary admited, “will be to keep in shape over the summer and fall so I can do that. But I think that’s what we need to do. We’ve had a lot of people comment, ‘Man, that was really great that you didn’t take a break every half-hour.’ We’re at that stage where everything is very new, and every time we get together we get a little bit better. And it’s really wonderful. Sometimes I’ve been in bands where things just get stale, but this is so much more, with the settings, the crowd …. it’s very inspiring. Nothing is old, and I think it will take quite a while, and hopefully, it will never get old. And people are very excited about it. We are learning seven or eight songs in two weeks. It’s coming easier to us. It used to take a week or two to really get a song together. At first you have to hone it and work on it, but that’s coming much faster. And sometimes, you play it the first time and everybody’s like, ‘Wow, that’s ready to go!’”
It is kind of like the green flash at sunset, for which the band is named.
When Gary first heard the band he approached Julia, letting her know he was a drummer. There was already a drummer who performed with them sometimes, but band member Mark suggested Gary join a couple of them who play at the Lighthouse United Methodist Church for Sunday service. Gary had not played in church before, but decided it might be fun, so he joined them.
“That was truly a gift because of Martyn (Atkins, the interim pastor) – Oh, my God! I don’t know how people will get over him leaving. He’s a very inspiring and impactful person. I could listen to him for hours. I watched the congregation this year really increase. Each week the crowds got bigger.”
Gary has continued to play at the church, along with several of the band members. When the new pastor arrives in July, the musicians will see what she has in mind, as far as the music is concerned.
There has been talk of playing regularly during the season at Miller’s and maybe other ongoing gigs, but nothing is set in stone at this time.
“It’s something we have to figure out,” Gary said, “because we have wives and husbands and other things we are doing. I would love to play all the time, but I’ve been in bands where you do that, but there are only so many new songs you can learn at a time, so then people get bored. You always want to leave them wanting more.”
When Gary is not rehearsing or performing, he likes to be outside. In Missouri he and Pat do a lot of yard work and have redone much of their house. He likes to ride bikes, to fish and to read, especially books that satisfy his overactive curiosity.
”I love learning things,” he said.
He started to take up pickleball, but the music got in the way. He thinks this summer will give him an opportunity to perfect that sport. Golf may also be on the agenda, although he said he is embarrassed to try, since he is so bad at the game. He is famous for his shelling, with lots of beautiful objects made with shells he has found on local beaches. He is fond of learning about the history of Boca Grande and feels it is fascinating that so much has happened here. Listening to the stories from island historians is a favorite pastime, as well.
