Yes, she really is that tiny.
This might be my favorite cruise of all the ones we've done this year (The Rock Boat X, Kid Rock's Chillin' the Most Cruise, and Zac Brown's Sailing Southern Ground Cruise). The other three cruises were music oriented cruises, which meant that we were always out hanging with other musicians, being seen, and partying hard until dawn. This one was a boat of people who we trying to get their lives together by getting in shape mentally and physically, and they couldn't have cared less about us. As a result, I spent lots of time in my room (we had our own cabins this time), asleep--like ten or twelve hours a day. It was great. I needed the rest.
We played three shows--Thursday night, Friday night, and Sunday night. Playing on the deck of a cruise ship isn't bad--I usually don't even notice the motion of the boat, but the wind was a problem with all the microphones up. I didn't have a windscreen on my sax mic, so I made one out of a paper napkin and gaff tape. It worked great.
The time that I wasn't asleep was spent out and about. We stopped on Friday at Norwegian Cruise Lines' private cay (Great Stirrup Cay) in the Bahamas...nice!
Saturday was all day in Nassau, Bahamas. Again, nice! I hung out with the one and only Mark Dannells. A good time was had by both of us. It was almost like a date.
We began with coffee.
Not much else to report from that.
We got back into town Monday afternoon, and I went straight from the airport to a House Live gig at Ventanas. It was kind of tough. I wasn't tired, per se, but walking off a plane and onto a four hour gig was harder than I thought it would be (especially when the first hour is solo saxophone!). I survived. Wayne played some cool iPhone synth stuff (and I played drums).
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Tuesday was an unpacking and teaching day. I spent most of Tuesday night fixing charts and writing charts for the Lovett show. As fate would have it, he wanted to add Thriller (the song), but my Thriller chart was in my cruise gear (not at home yet!) because we played that album on the boat. Nuts! I had to retranscribe the song and put it in Finale. I went to bed around 5 AM.
Wednesday morning I had a mega rehearsal with Ben Lovett for his upcoming Halloween show this Sunday night. It should be great! His music is cool. You can hear some of it here. I played some stuff on his record last year.
I left straight from there to go to Sixthman to pick up my gear from the cruise (all of our equipment went down to Miami last week to get on the boat--now it's back!). I grabbed my stuff, went home, put it away, took a shower, taught a lesson, and left again for a House Live gig at the Aquarium!
It took me two hours to get to the Georgia Aquarium last night. Two hours! What the hell! I heard different things...all I know is that I was stopped outside of the 285, and I freaked out and got on Northside Drive and made my way, and it took 2 hours. I heard multiple accidents and high water were the culprits. Anyway, I got to the Aquarium right at 7 PM, and Wayne and Jeff started without me. No biggie. What could I do? I requested that Jeff send a helicopter, and he said no.
The gig was for CAT (as in Caterpillar). Usual stuff...House Live. This one was actually really fun. We were on the loud side, which made it easier to play (and hear the track). I think I've finally got my articulation for improvising worked out on flute. It's taken me this long to figure out how to have that lose feeling in my face, tonguing lightly, but still have the focus to make a good sound. It's different on every instrument, for sure, and just because you can do it on tenor doesn't mean you can do it on flute, even if you are a competent flutist!
The usual Wayne Viar lovefest:
Tonight is just our usual Yacht Rock gig at the 10 High. It feels like I haven't been there in six months.
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