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Published: August 7th 2015
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Reincarnation of the King and Knights Show
Uncle John, Kendall Flowers, Erica, Papa, Carla and Griff Some time after the original King and Knights club burned down, the show was revived at the Nassau Beach Hotel, and it was called the King and Knights 2. The members of this band were my dad King Eric, Kendall Flowers on drums, Griff on keyboards, Fred on the bass guitar, and Uncle John on the bass guitar and his sexy phone. There were also other performers such as Trixie the fire dancer, Don Black the limbo dancer, Count Bernadino, and an act called The obeah man.
Fire dancing is a tradition that goes back many years. The dancers use wands that are dipped in rubbing alcohol, then set on fire. The dancers move and shake to a very sexy song played by the band, while rubbing wands of fire on their body. They would also do something called fire eating, which is taking these same wands of fire and putting them in their mouth. Rubbing alcohol is used because the temperature of the flames is much lower than using another substance.
Limbo dancing is something that everyone has seen at some point if they have ever been to a caribbean country. The object is to dip the body
really low, and get under the pole without anything but the dancer's feet touching the ground. Sometimes they would light the pole on fire with rubbing alcohol to really give the crowd a show.
Franklin "Count Berndino" Ellis was a Bahamian entertainment legend, and he was a regular performer at the King and Knights 2. The Count, who recently passed away at the age of 91, was survived by his wife Juanita and 27 children. The Count acquired his singing skills in Nassau, Jamaica and New York and got his big break in a New York where he had a job washing dishes. The restaurant owner realized his talent, and allowed him to perform for the customers. Mr. Ellis eventually joined a group of other Caribbean singers who all enrolled at the New York School of Music. They later formed the Bacchanals Band and toured America for the next few years. The Count ended up back in the Bahamas, and some of his final performing years were at the King and Knights 2. He had a song that ended like this. "When I die, bury me deep, put two bottles of whiskey at my feet, six girls across my
chest, saying Count Bernadino has gone to rest." Take your rest Count, a true Bahamian legend.
Ronnie Butler, who also performed at the King and Knights, is another Bahamian legend. Ronnie Butler is a calypso entertainer and singer, who began his musical career at the age of 16. He performed at many Bahamian night spots, such as Ronnie's Rebel Room, the Rum Key, Big Bamboo, the Trade Winds Lounge, and has also toured throughout Europe, South America and North America. His most famous songs are Burma Road, Pretty Brown Eyes, and Married Man. Mr. Butler's achievements were recognized in 2003 when he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
At this point, I have to mention a very important person in my dad’s life, his wife Brigette Neven. Brigette and my dad originally met in 1965, when Brigette was a photographer on the cruise ships. They remained friends until about 1981, when they started a long distance relationship. During this time Brigette owned a photo lab in Vancouver, and my dad helped her quite a bit with his extensive knowledge of business. Brigette moved to the Bahamas
in 1987, and they lived together until his death. Brigette was a great help for my dad as well. She helped manage the books at his club, she was a partner in their fishing charter business, and she spoke several languages, which was a great help with the various tourists that came to the club. The national sport in the Bahamas is sloop sailing, and papa was very involved in this as well. Not only did he own a few boats himself, he was also a master sail maker, and Brigette was instrumental in
this business. Papa taught also taught her to sew, and the quality of his sails so good his competition purchased them.
One thing my dad always wanted me to bring down to him were salmon heads. Salmon head stew is one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. It sounds weird most of the flavour comes from the head of the fish, and it’s very popular in asian cuisine. When I used to bring them, back when I was 20, the fish stores in Vancouver almost gave them away because they just threw them out. Now, with
more asian influence in Vancouver, they started to cost more and more. Venal, my dad’s cousin and chef at the King and Knights, made a mean fish head stew, johnny cake, anything you wanted. In my dad’s later years during my dad’s dialysis, Venal stayed with him during the day and drove him at 2 in the morning to his dialysis, drive him home, and cooked his meals. When 2 o’clock hit, he would go to his next job at a local radio station. Venal was a great help, and a wonderful man himself. His son Stephano used to work at the club as well, and played drums in the show. Steph now sows sails, carrying on papa’s tradition.
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