CABO LIVING® Rockin’
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CABO LIVING® rockin’ BASammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Birthday BashA has made its mark on the cultural fabricJ of Baja California Sur! ~by Michael Koehn | photos courtesy of Marco Monroy & Hagar Family~ At the beginning of the year, whenever new calendars are broken out and key dates written in, Cabo enthusiasts and Arock ‘n’ roll fans put a big circle around an entire block of days in October running from the 5th to the 14th. If you’re in Cabo at that time, there’s no mistaking the fact that something big is going on. People are lined up outside Cabo Wabo Cantina, Chevy Suburbans roam the streets with huge graphic images on their sides announcing a birthday bash and there’s a general hum of excitement in the air. That’s right, Sammy Hagar is having a birthday, and he’s throwing himself a party. As big an event as Sammy Hagar’s Birthday down shortly after, booking a full week at Bash has become - and it has become an the Twin Dolphin in October to celebrate his important part of the cultural fabric in the birthday. And, naturally, he fell in love with area - it wasn’t always that way. Hagar was the place. He came back again the following originally inspired to visit Cabo after seeing year and eventually bought a place at a photo of Keith Richards and Patti Hansen’s Terrasol, bringing his Mom and family down wedding at the Finisterra in 1983, and came for the next celebration, since his brother Continued on next page 42 • SPRING 2014 CABO LIVING • 43 and sister also had birthdays that same week in October. “There was just something so special about the place, with the mountains, the desert, the water, the climate and the people,” Hagar says. “When I first started coming down it was still a quiet fishing village and there was a very warm sense of hospitality here. I would meet an employee at the Twin Dolphin and that night I would be having dinner with their parents at the family home.” The visits to Terrasol became an annual family tradition, casual get-togethers with plenty of camaraderie. “I’d have a local chef come out and we’d just roast a big fish and a goat on the beach,” Hagar says. “It didn’t get much better than that.” What it did get was larger. When Cabo Wabo opened in 1990, Hagar moved the party there, and, at first, it was a pretty low key affair. “It was no big deal then,” Hagar says. “We just got together with whoever was in town then, played some music and had some drinks. We didn’t advertise it or promote it in any way, like we do now.” 44 • SPRING 2014 But word eventually got out on the still very informal birthday bash, and it began to grow. In 1994 things just exploded, and the Birthday Bash became an event that you couldn’t get into. In the years since, it’s become one of the biggest social events in Los Cabos, part of the cultural fabric, and every year it just seems to get more popular. Early on, the randomness of the birthday celebrations was right after he had (FAR LEFT AND ABOVE) | Sammy has many die-hard performances helped give the Birthday Bash left Van Halen and his hardcore fans rallied fans, and a great number of them were willing to wait a sense of mystery and excitement and helped behind him and came down to celebrate in line for tickets to his birthday bash at the Cabo Wabo it grow. No one knew what nights Hagar was his birthday week. “There was just a special Cantina. Among Sammy’s other ventures are his Cabo going to play, they just knew he was in town feeling at the party that year,” Hagar says. Wabo Tequila and his Beach Bar Rum. from about the first of October to the middle “There was a real camaraderie, like they were of the month. None of the performances telling me ‘we’re with you.’ The very public were announced ahead of time, as Hagar breakup of the band meant you had to choose would show up with his family and friends a side, and the ones that sided with me had a and a group of musicians and they would great party that year, I can assure you.” just go play when they got the urge. “It was There have been other special tributes, pretty informal then, and it was always a big like the year Hagar turned sixty and wife surprise every time I walked out on stage. Kari compiled a happy birthday video, and That was all part of the fun of it.” celebrities from all walks of life got to shout Once word got out about the bash at Cabo Wabo it didn’t take long for his fans to find it. One of Hagar’s more memorable Continued on next page CABO LIVING • 45 out their “happy birthdays” to Hagar. “That Chesney is a million dollar a night performer, was really great, and my Mom was still alive and having that as a birthday present is then and she got to see it,” Hagar says. “That pretty tough to beat.” made me pretty proud.” Those performances also led to a new way As the Birthday Bash evolved, so did the for Hagar to record his music. His latest mix on the live entertainment. The Wabos CD, “Sammy Hagar and Friends,” is a direct were always part of the show, but names like result of the relationships he has made over Toby Keith, Ted Nugent, Michael Anthony, the years at his birthday celebrations. It’s a members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, career-defining record featuring a lot of his Steven Stills and personalities like Emeril pals like Kid Rock, Neal Schon (Santana, Lagasse, Chriss Angel, Alice Cooper and Journey), Joe Satriani, Chad Smith Guy Fieri also wanted in on the action. There (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Michael Anthony was always a lot of good-natured kidding (ex-Van Halen, Chickenfoot), Taj Mahal, among the group, and a famous misdirection Ronnie Dunn (Brooks & Dunn), Toby play led to what Hagar considers his greatest Keith, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Bill Church birthday present. “Last year I had sent out & Denny Carmassi (Montrose) and, of all the e-mails about the bash, and Kenny course, The Wabos. Chesney said he couldn’t make it due to his “If it wasn’t for the Birthday Bash and (BELOW AND FAR RIGHT) | Sammy has the privilege of schedule, like ‘Dude, can’t make it this year, meeting so many people, just jamming and playing with many different musicians, including Michael would love to be there but I’m jammed.’ So being musical and all the crossing over with Anthony, Kenny Chesney and Joe Satriani. Around Los I took that at face value, and then he shows country and rock, I wouldn’t have known Cabos, SUVs were printed with graphics promoting up at Cabo Wabo with his entire band and how to make a record like that,” Hagar says. Sammy’s Birthday Bash. plays the whole night for free. Now Kenny “I learned how to put that together from the 46 • SPRING 2014 Birthday Bashes. And if I do another record I’d probably do it the same way. I have a list of people I like to perform with and write songs with, and I’m hoping I can eventually get together with people like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Bob Seger and other people I admire and make music with them in the future.” In the final analysis, everything comes down to the music, the rock ‘n’ roll that inspired him as a kid and he continues to enjoy, especially when he has friends over to celebrate. “Every one of these birthday celebrations is special to me,” Hagar says. “It’s the greatest event of the year for me every year, my favorite place to play, my Continued on next page CABO LIVING • 47 (ABOVE AND FAR RIGHT) | Sammy has met a great favorite time to play, my favorite show to play that way with the considerable career he has many people during his career, including Chriss Angel, in the world every year. It’s just a wonderful built up as an entrepreneur. When he visited Michael Anthony, Toby Keith, Chad Smith, Ted Nugent, experience for me and my fans.” Mexico’s tequila country on a trip to buy Vic Johnson, Emeril Lagasse and Matt Sorum. He loves Los You really have to admire Sammy Hagar, furniture for his home in Cabo, he had his Cabos, and enjoys spending time with his family here. a person who always seems to be moving first taste of 100% blue agave tequila and forward in some new and exciting direction. loved it so much that he wanted to share it Having just celebrated his sixty-sixth with everybody, and of course, his patrons at birthday, he could just as easily be hanging the new Cabo Wabo tequila bar. Promoting out at any of his clubs, regaling people with Cabo Wabo tequila through touring and colorful war stories from his Van Halen music, he eventually made his label the days. But that’s not his style. All of the fame number two premium tequila in the world. and success comes from one basic instinct, “That’s the way I have to do it,” Hagar says. a passion for what he is doing and a desire “I’m not really motivated by money or fame.