This is yesterday's blog, that I wrote last night at the end of the day  Nothing particularly notable has really happened since then, so I will leave you to it.

September 21st

    Time for another blog. Yesterday night (sunday) we played in the welcome aboard show for the new passengers coming aboard the ship from New York. It's basically an introduction to all the major acts on the ship, including our 70s tribute duo, a 70s soul/motown cover duo, the ship's comedian, the dance company, and a couple others. It was my first show with the dancers which was fun. I was pretty focused on the music due to my unfamiliarity with it, but the little bit that I had time to watch was excellent. It will be nice once I've done it a few more times and know my part well enough to watch the entire show.

    Monday was a crazy but excellent day. I started with some more training in orientation and safety on the ship, and we played a big band brunch in the beautiful Vinetian restaurant which is at the very back with windows with an excellent view. Later, we had a brief sound check, and then at seven o'clock and then again at nine o'click we played our first production show, "Band on the Run". It was my first time playing the show and also my first time playing to a click track, which is basically a metronome that changes tempos according to the music and includes lot of pre-recorded stuff that the band plays along with, so that what the audience hears is a mix of live and pre-recorded material. 

    The first show for me was a little rough, not helped by the fact that the boat was rocking a lot and I was feeling a little queezy - I don't know how the dancers and gymnasts manage to do all the crazy stuff they do with the ship lurching so. The second show was a blast as I grew more comfortable with it, and the sea calmed down. Band on the run is basically a huge disco/70s/funk musical revue dance production, with songs by The Village People, Queen, Abba, Donna Summers, and several other. The audience was very into it and singing along to everything which lent a lot of energy - I look forward to memorizing the show and being able to play up the rock star role a bit more.

    After that we played a Viva Las Vegas show at the ship's casino. We played songs mostly popularized by Tom Jones and Elvis as well as some pop-rock hits like "We Are Family" and a few others. We had several of the singers from the production show lend their voices, as well as two of our lounge piano players and our saxophonist. Generally the crew are not allowed to hang out in the casino, but when you play a show there it's an exception, so it was cool to see what it was like, to eat the free appetizers and to capitalize on the free drinks. I went to the crew bar afterwards to hang out a little more and then called it a night.

    Today was very exciting for me as it was my first day off the ship since I got on last friday. We were in Halifax, so my first stop was the closest coffee shop with free wireless (which was directly across the street, and already crowded with other crew and passengers). I skyped home, did some emailing and facebooking, and reveled in the internet. I then spent an hour or two walking around downtown Halifax, and did touristy things. Despite my disappointment of not finding any lobster burgers at their Macdonalds (which I was told that they have), Halifax was fun and relaxing - it had a coastal Canadian feeling of familiarity, and it was nice to blend into the anonymity. 

    This evening we played a big band swing set, this time in the Spinacker Lounge with is a lounge at the very front of the ship almost at the very top, with a nice view and a huge amount of seating. We had a very large crowd which was good, and it was nice to see so many people dancing. Afterwards I had a late dinner, a very brief recovery nap and then headed to a crew party at the crew bar, celebrating central american independance (basically  an excuse for free wine and beer for the crew).

    Tomorrow is when I will actually post this onto my blog most likely, as we will be in Saint. John (New Brunswick), and I will hopefully get a chance to post the rest of the photos I've taken so far - most notably some shots of the ship itself which I had lacked until today. Tomorrow will also be my first time playing our second production show, called South Beach Rave, which is exactly what it sounds like - dance music, with a latin-funk-pop flavour a la Miami beach. it will be most appropriate when we get onto the Miami-Carribean leg of our cruise. We will also be playing a Tina Turner Tribute afterwards which I look forward to.