By Khalida Sarwari
Most days, Luke Piro can be found in the tasting room at Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards in Saratoga, pouring wine and making new friends. By night, he trades in the wine bottles for drumsticks and can be spotted usually on a stage somewhere in downtown San Jose.
Last month, though, that stage was in Tahiti.
Piro hopped on a plane to Tahiti to play some of his music for locals and tourists on the island. For Piro, the trip fulfilled a wish he’d had since the 1980s. When the opportunity finally knocked on his door earlier this year, he didn’t hesitate to book a plane ticket to Papeete, where for two weeks in June he stayed in a fellow musician friend’s bungalow on a beach in the town of Puna’auia and lived like a local, spending his days snorkeling, spearfishing in the reef and noshing on fresh raw tuna and baguettes.
He said he met the Tahitian friends, who actually hail from Paris, through friends from San Jose–Sam and Steve Carlino, who are also musicians. Sam Carlino is the owner of Sam’s BBQ on Bascom Avenue.
On two occasions, he played with a band called Rom MC & the MCs, once at the ritzy InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa, and another night at the Manava Cafe. Rom MC might be returning the favor by coming to perform in San Jose in October, said Piro.
Highlights of the trip include a four-wheel drive 2,000 feet up a mountain, a homemade dinner with his new French friends cooked by a man from Seychelles, and a drive around the entire length of the island, which took about 2 1/2 hours, Piro said.
“I started thinking about all the people I met, the places I went,” he said. “I thought about it and I thought, man, you know what? The whole two weeks was the highlight.”
As amazing of an experience as Tahiti was, though, Piro said he faced a few challenges on the island, related mostly to the cost of commodities such as coffee. A cup of cappuccino there, for example, could set one back $8.
“One thing’s for sure: When I go there again–probably in February–I’m going to bring my own coffee, my own rum and my own wine, because the pickings are very slim,” he said. “Living the island life so far out and remote, you make do with what you got; you don’t have a lot of choices.”
Still, he’s already looking forward to taking yet another trip to Tahiti for his 56th birthday in February. And next time, he’ll be taking cases of wine to show his gratitude to his hosts.
Piro has been a familiar face at Savannah-Chanelle for the last 10 years, where aside from working the tasting room five days a week, he helps winemakers make wine during the harvest season. He’s been playing drums longer than that–for 50 years–and considers himself a “semi-professional musician” who plays at venues in the Bay Area. He lives in San Jose.
Luke Piro is the drummer for the South City Blues Band; the group will play at Savannah-Chanelle on July 11, 6-8 p.m. Other performers at the winery this month include Chain of Fools on July 10, Isis & the Cold Truth on July 17, The Ones on July 25 and Engine Room on July 31. Savannah-Chanelle Winery is located at 23600 Big Basin Way, Saratoga.
