Live Music

Cruise # 6- This week was rather calm. I have been trying to run the shows without my notes. I still have to look at them from time to time during shows. This week I have been trying to focus on things other than shows. For example, maintenance and work orders. I didn't get off in Grand Turk so that I could fix some props and set pieces. It was a good time to do it because we go to Grand Turk every week and there isn't much to see there. I fixed the wobbly chairs so we wouldn't have another chair related accident. Also, I painted some set pieces and replaced a brake on a piano. It ended up being quite nice. No one was in my way and I was able to get some much needed alone time. It was nice to not have to talk to anyone for a while. I think I will probably do the same thing next week as I still have a lot to do.

One thing that I just discovered this week is musician sets on decks three and four. There is almost always live music being played somewhere on the ship. I knew there were various artists playing around the ship but I never found the time to go see them. Now that I don't have to study so much, I have time to explore new things on the ship. The sets can be quite relaxing. They have soloist piano and guitar players. This week John(piano) and Jay(guitar) got together and played a set. It was really cool. They played mostly rock tunes. I'm glad that I discovered this because I was quickly getting bored watching TV in my room.

Also, this week we had a crew party. It had a 70's and 80's theme. I didn't know until it was too late. Otherwise I would have dressed up. It was held in the crew bar. The place was packed and everyone was dancing and singing to the horrible selection of music. It was so bad it made it fun. Due to the extremely slow shutter speed I had my camera on, I took zero pictures that were in focus. The one's I have included in this post really give you a good idea of how the party was. Tons of people having tons of fun. Hands down it was the best crew party we have had. It was cool to see everyone let their guard down for a night and just have a good time.

This week we had Carl Strong, Marcus Monroe, Bob Brizendine and Jerry Goodspeed. Carl Strong is the most energetic entertainer we have had. He kind of reminds me of a cross between Cedric the Entertainer and James Brown. He danced a lot and did mostly white people jokes. He was a good guy though. He talked my ear off at the bar. Marcus as always was fun. We ran out of Coleman fuel for his knorches and he wasn't able to do his final juggling bit. We did however get his pyro helmet to work. He juggled three torches while on a seven foot unicycle and then he kit the pyro on fire so sparks were coming out of his head while he was doing all this. We only have ten second blasts so it is a little anti-climatic. We are working on getting pyro that will fire for longer. Bob is a magician. Just picture John Goodman with dark hair. He's funny because he makes fun of the audience. His best trick is pulling a bra out of a woman's shirt. It's not hers of course but last week we had a lady run off stage covering herself up. He has the woman put two scarfs down her shirt with the ends sticking out and then he pulls both ends and a bra is attached to them. Jerry Goodspeed is a ventriloquist.

This week I got off the first tender at Half Moon Cay. First, I help set up for the Calypso band. Then we enjoyed an early morning swim. It's worth getting up early to do this because you have the entire beach to yourself for an hour before they start letting guests on the island. After that, Greg(sax) and I walked down to the end of the island. I learned that there are actual waves on this end. Most of the time Half Moon Cay feels like you are swimming in a really nice lake. You know lots of wake but no real waves. Next, we walked the horse trail. We were able to get some really nice pictures because of the higher elevation. Note to everyone: DO NOT WALK THE TRAIL WITHOUT SHOES. It had a lot of dung along the trail. After that we found Matt(drummer) and got lunch before heading back to the ship.

The Pride was docked next to us in Nassau. Ben and I went over there and looked at their theatre. It is a sister ship and therefore has the same layout of our ship. It is just decorated differently. Their theatre has a Taj Mahal theme whereas ours is Phantom of the Opera.We met up with some their entertainment staff for lunch. It was interesting to see some people that I worked with at the beginning of my contract. I thought I would never see some of these people again. We pretty much took over the Double Dragon Chinese restaurant. Ben, Dave(trombone) and I went to Atlantis to place some bets on college and NFL football. I lost but was close on both my parlays.

New York this week had beautiful weather. Mid 70's with very light cloud cover. Everyone this week was doing their own thing so I slept in until about 11:00am and got off the ship. I needed that because this last cruise had a lot of extra curriculars. In other words I didn't sleep much last week. I met up with Mark, who was a saxophone player when I first got on board. He lives in Philadelphia and came to visit Jenn(lighting tech). A bunch of us met for lunch and watched football.

No comment on Georgia or App St.

Talk to ya next week,

Chris

Picture # 1-Jay the guitar soloist in the Phantom Lounge

Picture # 2-Peter the piano player in Sam's Piano bar. The piano he is sitting at rotates 360 degrees while he is playing.

Picture # 3-John the piano player in the Jeeves lounge.

Picture # 4-From L to R: Yetro, Greg, Matt and Mark. All members of the Showband who play our shows in the Phantom Lounge. They get together and play jazz sets from time to time.

Picture # 5-The Carnival Miracle from the horse trail on Half Moon Cay.

Picture # 6-Houses in Nassau. These house remind me of rainbow row in Charleston.

Picture # 7-A dock near our pier. I took this picture from deck 4 forward.

Picture # 8-The George Washington Bridge in New York. This is when we backed out from the pier. Normally, this would be behind us as we sail to sea down the Hudson River.

Picture # 9-I am still playing with my camera and took this on the Second Sea Day.

Picture # 10-Me at the party. some random girl put these glasses on me.

Picture # 11-The party at the the crew bar. Everyone dancin' and such.