I'm late with the blog, so this one will be quick!
Thursday: I played a gig in Columbus, GA with friends (Rob Opitz, Marla Feeney, Wes Funderburk, Tyrone Jackson, Billy Thornton, and John David) at a meeting of Georgia Science Teachers. It was supposed to be a Mardi Gras theme with possibly 1,000 people in attendance, but it ended up being about 100 people drinking and sitting across the room from us. Very little to suggest Mardi Gras.
For our part, Rob had a couple of books of Dixieland arrangements that were really fun to read, so we played these and a few funky/second line jazz tunes for two hours. Not a bad way to spend an evening!
Friday: Yacht Rock flew to south Florida to join up on the Sail Across the Sun cruise, traveling from Miami to the Bahamas. We had three shows over four days. The rest of the time was spent watching the other bands, sleeping, eating, or running on the treadmill.
Night one looked like this on the pool deck.
Not bad, though I've noticed that the pool deck tends to be a bit lackadaisical about gear. For instance, I got a cheap Guitar Center keyboard stand, no table for my computer, and only one sustain pedal (the two theater shows had a better keyboard stand, the percussion table that I requested, and two sustain pedals for the two keyboards). Not sure who's to blame, but it's definitely not as good as it used to be five or six years ago. I wonder if the backline company just doesn't want their decent stuff to sit outside.
Saturday, was a sea day (no port), and we were in the theater. Another good crowd, though I had a pretty terrible performance and wanted to jump overboard. At least the pictures look cool.
Sunday was a day off in Nassau, Bahamas. The band had a photo shoot and then we walked around town a little bit, but there isn't a whole lot to do here. Mostly t shirt shops and duty-free places that sell questionable diamonds and expensive watches.
The best thing about Nassau (once you've seen it), is that everybody else gets off the ship. Stay aboard and enjoy some quiet time without them!
Monday was spent mostly at Norwegian Cruise Line's private island, Great Stirrup Cay. They have food and activities, and it's a nice way to spend a day. We tried stand up paddle boarding, snorkeling, sleeping in a lounge chair, and eating all the fruit at the buffet. Interesting that their watermelon source doesn't provide seedless melons like pretty much everywhere in the US.
Our last show of the cruise was really late (11:45 PM-1 AM). Not my favorite time slot. Pack your suitcase before you go to soundcheck!
For the most part, I rebounded from my shitty performance and played pretty well, though it once again took me about twenty minutes to settle into the pace of the evening.
