"If you behave badly, your name will get circulated around the island," Liston says.

And no one wants to be blacklisted--after all, the groups have to sing for their supper.

Something For Everyone

And singing for their supper can sometimes mean catering to the local tastes.

The Opportunes, who are heading to Jamaica armed with their perennial favorite "Zombie Jamboree"--complete with Michael Jackson-inspired choreography--as well as a new arrangement of Bob Marley's "Stir It Up," have decided to include at least one crowd-pleasing reggae song in their repertoire.

"We sing more for the staff--the Jamaicans--than the cheesy American tourists," Brown says.

The groups heading to Bermuda, on the other hand, tend to aim their musical choices at an audience of older American and British tourists. "It really depends from concert to concert," says Michael J. Sun '97, the Kroks' tour manager. "But most of the ballads hit home."

Since most of their songs are taken from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, audiences tend to respond well to almost all of their music, Sun says.

In return for singing at island restaurants and hotels, the performers receive free food and lodging.

In return for nightly performances, The Opportunes, for instance, will stay for free at Sandals resorts in Montego Bay, Negril and at Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica.

And for the Bermuda crowd, free dinner and drinks seem to be the preferred method of payment. Members of the Kroks and the Dins say their dining experiences are first-class.

"I have never in my entire life--and my life up till this point has been pretty good--had so many wonderful culinary experiences in such a short period of time," Adrian D. Ashkenazy '96, a Krokodiloes bass, says.

A perennial favorite is the Four Ways Inn, which is popularly reputed to be one of "the four best restaurants in the world," Liston says.

There it is not uncommon for singers to feast on five-course meals consisting of "everything from rack of lamb, to exotic fish dishes and seafood to the world's best desserts," says Werner J. Kienberger, manager of the four-star Four Ways Inn in Bermuda.

Although meals are often pricy, Kienberger says hotel owners and restauranteers do not begrudge the performers their just desserts.