11/14/09, 12:00 pm
I have to tell you something about our gig last night. It was an interesting experience, but one I would rather not have to go through again. While we were playing last night, we took a break, and everyone from the band went in different directions, some to get coffee or tea, some just to use the bathroom, whatever. I happened to be the first one to come back, and what do I see? These drunk guys, all in the same bachelor party, SITTING ON THE BANDSTAGE! And, not only are they sitting there, there’s a drunk guy banging on the drums, there’s a drunk guy trying horribly to play “Mary Had A Little Lamb” on the piano (and when he gave up, he started banging on the keys making whatever sounds he could), there was a drunk guy playing a $4500 bass guitar, there was a drunk guy pretending to be the singer, and even one drunk guy picked up a tenor sax and almost started playing on it. I was blown away for a second because I thought, “LOOK AT THESE FREAKING IDIOTS!” Then I finally got my head back together and went up on the stage. I said sternly, “Who gave you permission to be up here?” It was a dumb question, because obviously nobody would really give them permission to be up on the stage. When nobody could come up with a response, I said coolly, “Okay, you’re done, get off, go away.” I took the sax away, took the bass away, had to practically rip the mic away from one guy, told the rest of the guys to get off. One guy pointed back and said something to the effect of, “Look at this asshole, he won’t let us have any fun.” I was like, “whatever.” And by then, none of the other band guys had come back, so if I hadn’t have come back, it’s scary to think what could have happened to the instruments. I told the other guys what happened, and some of them were kind of nonchalant about it, saying, “Well, it’s happened before, people are stupid.” But a few guys in particular, including the bass, was really angry about it, and I don’t want to know what would have happened if he was the one who saw a drunk guy playing his bass guitar.
AND, if that wasn’t enough of an encounter with drunk people, about a half hour later, there were two girls (drunk) dancing with each other in front of the band, and nobody was really paying attention, but all of a sudden one girl loses her balance and almost knocks the sax player into the stage. So, we went on with the night, but were still partially shaken up by all the ruckus these idiots had caused the band. So, that’s my experience from last night. I would rather not go through that stuff again. So, for those of you who ever wish to go on a cruise; don’t be “that guy” or “that girl.” Nobody will like you for it.
I’m back in Ensenada today, and like everybody else, is very happy that Winter flavors have arrived at Starbucks. Today’s iced coffee, instead of my normal vanilla syrup, I went with peppermint syrup. Mmm, tastes like Christmas! Here I am, inside a Mexican Starbucks surrounded not only by locals but many other Carnival crew members, all from different nationalities, and none of them care about “American” football one bit. Regardless, here I am, checking football updates, silently cheering on the Kentucky Wildcats! Yes, I know today’s game is the fight not to be the worst team in the SEC, but winning today puts us at 6 wins, which probably doesn’t guarantee bowl eligibility, but gets us one game closer to being there. Gotta beat Georgia, and those stinkin’ Vols. Which reminds me – all my Kentucky friends, this will make you laugh – one of the songs in Xtreme Country is a medley with the tune “Rocky Top” written in, and of course I have the melody. I cringe every time I have to play that. And even worse, the male dancers are dressed in orange and white during this part. Go Cats!
11/13/09, 4:30 pm
What a day! This was the first time I’ve been back on mainland US since last week. I took the day to go into Long Beach and run some errands and see some stuff. There is a city bus line that runs a route from the pier to Downtown for free, and a lot of the crew and other people use this bus to get around. I took the bus to a store to get the ultimate shopping experience of Long Beach – yes, Wal-Mart. People had told me that there was a Wal-Mart, and I knew rather than buying things at almost double price on Catalina Island, I could wait and get them on land at Wal-Mart for regular price. Here’s the list of essentials I needed: spray deodorant, shoe insoles, laundry detergent, a box of Kleenex, and mouthwash. That’s all I came to land for. Not really, though. I also took my USB flash drive and made some copies of some photos of my lovely girlfriend to hang on my wall next to my bed, so she can always be with me. Go ahead everyone; say it – “Aww!” Okay, glad we got that out of the way.
I was also on a mission to get some of the links taken out of my watch. The lady at the jewelry center wouldn’t fix it because it wasn’t a Wal-Mart purchased watch, but she told me to ask the watch vendor outside. The little Indian guy looked at it and determined he couldn’t do anything about it because the pins weren’t straight. Whatever; I know those pins can be taken out. So, I walked around some more, and found an open-air market that apparently is only open on Friday’s. I made my way through the tents of people selling things, and then I came across a group of people surrounding one man. He was a watch repairman. He had about ten other people in line, all waiting for either a new battery, or a new watch band, or some other repair or adjustment. So, I figured I would give him a try. Sure enough, he proceeded to tell me how whoever adjusted the watch the last time was a moron because they couldn’t put the pins in the right direction, blah blah blah. Long story short, he adjusted my watch, and now it fits – in the words of Ace Ventura – “Like a glove…” I was very happy to find him. He was entertaining, but also very efficient in his job, plus he was a nice guy. I also got a neck trim, because thanks to my father’s genetics, I get a lot of unwanted scruff on the back of my neck, and it needs to be cut more often than the rest of my hair during a regular haircut.
On my way back to the pier, I discovered a restaurant that a friend recommended to me. The name of the restaurant was Yard House, and their claim to fame is that they have 250 beers on tap! I told Michael Fox that it was Pazzo’s plus Old Chicago times 10! It was a nice restaurant, and the food was great. I ordered a Blue Crab Cake Hoagie, with bacon, Swiss, tomato, avocado, and 1000 Island dressing. Man, it was good! I did manage to get a picture of that, and it was about a 4” sandwich, including the bread. Once I was finished with lunch, I caught another bus and made my way back to the cruise ship terminal.
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Yard House Restaurant in Long Beach, CA
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Beers on tap…
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More beers on tap…
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250 beers on tap, to be exact!
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My sandwich – Blue Crab Cake Hoagie
Week two of cruise life is about to start – more music, more exploring in Ensenada, more ship food, and of course, more Xtreme Country! Yee-Haw!
11/11/09, 6:15 pm
Just got back from the gym, but one guest said something so funny, I had to jot it down here. After a combined 45 minutes on the elliptical, plus some weight lifting and sit-ups, as always my shirt is soaked with sweat. Because of all the huffing and puffing that I was doing, the woman in the elevator said to me, “Man, you were workin’ hard over there. You looked like a professional. I thought you were going to pick the machine up off the ground.” I only wish that I was a professional worker-outer. Haha. Off to shower and eat some dinner.
11/11/09, 3:00 pm
For the showband, Wednesday is our day off. I have played gigs the past five nights, so it’s nice to have an evening off. Friday we play in the casino bar lounge, Saturday and Tuesday we perform Xtreme Country, Sunday and Thursday we perform Shout, and on Monday we play in the Leonardo lounge. I’m not sure what I’ll actually do this evening. I don’t think there are any shows going on, because we would be playing the music for them if there were a show. There may be other music groups playing, and I think some nights there is a comedian on board, so I might venture around this evening and see what there is to do on board outside of lounge music and production shows. My safety training prevented me from going on the crew winery tour, but hopefully I’ll have another opportunity to go check out the winery in the area. I did make it to Ensenada today, mainly just to spend some time in Starbucks working on grad school applications. I didn’t eat lunch before I got off the ship, and I didn’t think to grab anything in Ensenada, so here I am waiting for the staff dining room to open this evening. I’m hungry! When I’m not sleeping, eating or working (performing), I find ways to occupy my free time. I do workout almost every day, I have plenty of Scrubs on DVD to keep me occupied, and I am finally biting the bullet and reading Harry Potter book one. I’ll either read outside on the deck, or I’ll read a few pages before going to bed. Not sure if I’m ‘hooked’ yet, but it’s pretty good reading. I’m also toying with the idea of taking some of my favorite jazz songs and arranging them for the showband here, for some added material to play in the evenings.
The picture of the Black Pearl is from the actual movie (according to the tour guide). There’s an extension of a movie company here that does some filming off the Ensenada coast, and apparently, some of the shots from Pirates of the Caribbean were done here, using that ship. Cool!
