I was fortunate to be able to bring my wife on this trip.
The port of Miami…I must point out that this is the spot from which my professional career began. My first job after college was a cruise ship gig, which I boarded right where the barge in this picture is.
Our first night at sea was calm--we were asleep pretty early after a full day of traveling.
One of the highlights of our second day on the boat was a photo with KISS. They were very tall.
Day two was our first show. We were on the pool stage, playing 11:30 PM-1 AM. Good show! We didn't have a huge crowd, but the passengers on the ship were interested in almost nothing outside of KISS. The people who did hear us were enthusiastic, though.
The next day we were in port in Cozumel. Once again, great weather! It's pretty amazing to see a ship of that size back into a spot on the pier. On this day, we parked next to the Norwegian Star, the ship from the Jillian Michaels Wellness Cruise.
We saw these guys playing a marimba…really neat!
That evening, we played on the atrium stage (indoors) from 6-7 PM, doing our Beatles show (Please Pleaserock Me). Once again, we had a small crowd, but we played well.
I didn't have much to do on this show, but I did get a sax solo on Jealous Guy. It got a little off the rails at the end.
Jealous Guy (sax solo) by David B Freeman
We were without Peter Olson on this trip (maternity leave), so the other guys did a fantastic job of picking up his instrumental and vocal responsibilities. Nice work!
That evening, we went and watched part of the KISS show. I'm not a fan, but their show was AWESOME! Great songs with great hooks and sing-along lyrics. Very cool! Glad I went.
Saturday morning, we hosted a bingo tournament. Someone ordered KISS pajamas for us. This was probably our biggest crowd of the trip.
We ate at the Japanese steakhouse on board that night. We were at one table. KISS and their crew were at the other. Pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures, though.
Would you believe that the boat has a bowling alley?
Our third show was our Dazed and Confused set. We played again in the atrium from midnight to 1:30 AM. Once again, I got off pretty easy, and the other five guys crushed it. It was fun to watch.
Congratulations and thanks to Sixthman, KISS, and the sound crews at both stages for their hard work. They made it easy for us.
That was it! We flew home Sunday afternoon. I made it home early enough to go play my PM church gig. Not too bad! My playing was surprisingly coherent.
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