I Have Great Words

This article originally appeared in the Howler Magazine in the August, 2020 issue Written by Mike Shannon | August 2020 Rarely a person come along that has an immediate positive effect on the world around them. Steve Bakunas is that guy. Steve is an artist, musician, actor, activist, world traveler and philanthropist. He and his wife have just purchased a home in Guanacaste, and his story is worth relating. The Formative Years Steve’s resume of life experience reads like a grab bag of antidotes… born in 1957 in Milford, Connecticut, he enjoyed a typical childhood surrounded by 1 brother and all of 7 sisters. After his father’s untimely passing when he was 13, the house was full of girls and Steve, at the ripe age of 16, felt the need to “broaden my perspective”, and bravely ventured out on his own. His enterprising spirit and sense of adventure produced a laundry list of unusual vocations, such as driving a limo for the Grateful Dead, selling used cars, tending bar, becoming an upholst...

This article appeared in the Howler Magazine, October 2020 issue. This organization was featured in The Howler 3 years ago, and so we were so impressed, we thought we’d check back in to see what they’ve been up to. After a pleasant conversation with Rocio Echeverri, the Executive Director, and Stephanie Joseph, project manager, I was left with a sense of community and enthusiasm that is, no doubt, a major reason for their success. A True Community Effort Dedicated to Their Love For Costa Rica ProParques Costa Rica is a publicly registered, non-profit, national parks conservation association. Members include academics, environmental activists, entrepreneurs, and tourism professionals committed to projects that assure the long-sustainability of the National Parks of Costa Rica. With them, ProParques strives to meet these 2 core objectives: 1)   Continuous professional development and support of the park rangers by implementing practical solutions for the cherished national parks. 2)...


Grammy Nominated Musical Producer From LA is Building
 a Unique Musical Culture Here on The Gold Coast This article appeared in the May 2020 Issue of Howler Magazine Published in Guancaste, Costa Rica Written by Mike Shannon _____________________ Costa Rica’s most prominent natural resources are the nature and the beaches, both of which feed their #1 industry, tourism. Those are no more prominent than in Guanacaste, the northern most province of the country, and home to what is referred to as The Gold Coast, a magical strip of beach that runs from south of Tamarindo, up past Playas del Coco and points further north. These two beach towns serve as hotspot bookends to an endless variety of beaches and smaller beach towns that dot the region in between. Each of these places offer surfing, hiking, camping, fishing and exploring of this incredible country, to name only a few activities, making this region a bonified tourism hotspot. With that comes the plethora of hotels, clubs and restaur...

  Last night, as I sat in my room, headphones on, watching a YouTube video from the 70’s of a live rendition of Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” far too loud to be audibly healthy, with Rick Derringer on guitar, wearing quite a smashing little gold lamé jump suit number, I couldn’t help but be a bit disgusted at the overt display of LOOK AT ME in the performance… the likes of which I never seemed to connect with at the time! Now this was one of my favorite tunes of my early teen years growing up… and it’s just now that this occurs to me… why is that? I mean, sure, I get it – that’s what the business… I mean ART FORM was all about then right? Rock like a mother with zany mad-cap chops dressed like a girl. What’s not to like? But the difference between Kiss’ “look at me” and the Edgar Winter’s “look at me” is that Kiss never took themselves so seriously. UPDATE - since this writing, that last statement was proven inaccurate by listening to Gene Simmon's self aggrandizing blabb...

An ode to the great Leon Redbone who I was privileged to see live at the Musician's Exchange in Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Circa 1990 I recount this here because it was one of my greatest memories that I don’t want slipping away from me. I saw Leon Redbone... I'm going to guess it was late 80's early 90's... at the Musician's Exchange's brand new digs in down town Ft. Lauderdale beside the Discovery Zone and museum. They used to have a dingy little bar with 7' ceilings down Sunrise Blvd... a place I'd seen the likes of Buckwheat Zydaco and other random well know and not so well known local acts… but they'd recently grown up, and apparently came into some money and opened this slick new venue in the heart of the Fort Lauderdale at the end of Los Olas Boulevard. Quite high-brow considering from whence they came. And Leon Redbone, if I remember correctly, was one of the first acts to open there and I was not about to miss it. We were in the audience wa...

In 2019, an on-line acquaintance of mine, Molly, whom I've yet to meet face to face, recommended that I watch the Netflix film "13th",  about the events that followed the ratification of the 13th Amendment in the United States in 1964.  She brought this film to my attention because of my recent Facebook posts which, during the Trump debacle, were of a decidedly political bent, resplendent with outrage at the rise of racism his presence caused on the political landscape in the United States. I felt, up until that point, that I was reasonably well read and was on the right side of things. I found out that I had no idea. The following is my response to her after viewing the movie. A documentary by Ava DuVernay The Thirteenth Amendment—passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864; by the House on January 31, 1865; and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865—abolished slavery “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” 13th - Full Movie (on YouTube) 13t...