Michael Beans Returns To Marina Cay January 1

Michael Beans at his perch on Pusser's Marina Cay. It's Happy Aarrr!

Michael Beans, the Happy Aaarr pirate, returns to Pusser's Marina Cay on January 1, 2007. He'll be playing five nights a week Sunday to Thursday at the Happy Aarrr Bar in the Robb White house on the summit.

Starting at Happy Aarrr each night (5.30pm) Beans' two hour show is a crowd pleasing, uplifting medley of original, seafaring, and classic island tunes. With a large repertoire of cover songs and original music, Beans enjoys working a crowd, exuding an energy that creates a rapport with his audience that is truly captivating. Be prepared to be part of the show with audience participation, conch shell blowing contests (for blowhaarrrds), question and answaarrrs, and much more.

He's part musician, part showman, part sailor and pure entertainment. He's made a life out of pirate lore, sailor's tales and the songs of the islands. He is a one-man band with no artificial or pre-recorded gadgets. He plays acoustic guitar with a harmonica on a rack, all while singing and adding vocal percussions to the beat of a stomp box that he plays with his feet.

Singing, sailing, and songwriting has been his forte for the last 25 years in port towns internationally, with focus on the Great Lakes of the USA and the Virgin Islands.

Born in Grand Haven, Michigan in 1956, Michael Beans is a high energy entertainer who cut his musical teeth on the port towns and islands of the Great Lakes. He was raised to the sound of jug band music and spent countless hours absorbing the magic that is found at spontaneous jam sessions with family and friends during hunting and fishing camps.

With an ever-growing love for the old timer's stories, he grew especially fond of backwoods lore and the seafaring songs from the early days of sail. Inspired by the music of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Donavon, he began writing his own songs in the mid-1970s.

His musical career began in 1977 playing the nightclub and festival circuit throughout Michigan in the summer and touring the Florida Keys in the winter. In 1980 he recorded his first album "Driften'" under the Pro Am label. For the next decade he continued to follow the North/South trail while expanding his horizons.

In 1987 with four albums to his credit, he purchased his first boat named "Esperanza" and took his music to sea. Working the United States and British Virgin Islands led him to record two more albums with his band "The Hornswagglers".