This past Sunday I had a good time in Tampa. I explored a
bit more and found a nice breakfast place. I chowed down hard: cranberry walnut pancakes with pure maple syrup,
2 eggs over-hard and some bacon. I miss having well prepared breakfast food and that meal really hit the spot. From the restaurant window, I saw a
field full of tents about a block away, so when I finished I went over to explore. Turns out there
was an arts festival that weekend. It was lovely to walk through the tents and
see all of the independent art from the area. The showing was diverse, with
everything from screen printing to woodworking to photo manipulation to jewelry
making. Most of it was nice, but there were a few stand-out booths; one guy
made these huge wooden humanoid sculptures that had a stringy and tribal style,
another took photos and made them into three dimensional prints using several
panes of glass, and one woman was in her booth cutting and polishing opal for her handmade jewelry. My favorite booth was this older couple who made didgeridoos. Being a sucker
for handmade instruments, I bought one.
It’s gorgeous, three sections of a hollowed-out bamboo stick. The middle section is stained a deep brown and the two outside ones are a golden hue with simple circular designs painted on it. The mouthpiece is coated in bee’s wax and the whole instrument evokes primitiveness. I like it, but have not had much of a chance to play it yet. After I had bought it, the couple played me a little song, the wife played flute beautifully and the husband shredded on the didgeridoo (I didn't even know that was possible.) Once I left the festival, I stopped at a coffee shop and talked with my sister for a bit before boarding the ship again. I taught her so well, she's going off to the Bahamas for spring break and is trying to arrange a trip to Vietnam with her biology professor. I'm so proud of my little vagabond...
It’s gorgeous, three sections of a hollowed-out bamboo stick. The middle section is stained a deep brown and the two outside ones are a golden hue with simple circular designs painted on it. The mouthpiece is coated in bee’s wax and the whole instrument evokes primitiveness. I like it, but have not had much of a chance to play it yet. After I had bought it, the couple played me a little song, the wife played flute beautifully and the husband shredded on the didgeridoo (I didn't even know that was possible.) Once I left the festival, I stopped at a coffee shop and talked with my sister for a bit before boarding the ship again. I taught her so well, she's going off to the Bahamas for spring break and is trying to arrange a trip to Vietnam with her biology professor. I'm so proud of my little vagabond...
We had rehearsal at four, where we began to prepare for a
rocky cruise. When the seas get too rough, the dancers aren't allowed to perform and we
have to find some other entertainment for the guests. One of the production
singers had a show singing rock classics that he did on past contracts. This show
would be the back-up for Monday’s production, so we rehearsed a bit of it, and I finally
began to understand the true stressors of this job. This was the only time we
would be rehearsing these songs, one or two runs and then its performance time.
None of it was too hard, but the drum charts were terrible. Parts were notated
in the wrong spots, things were left out and, in general, the singer wanted
different things than what was written. It was a lot to internalize and keep
track of in such a short amount of time.
When rehearsal ended, we got word that the dancers would have the night off, so the band would be on the stage for the welcome aboard show. No big deal. About ten minutes before the show, I get a call from my music director asking me if we had ever rehearsed this one chart. We hadn’t, but he still wanted to play it. Then he asked me how I would feel about playing an unrehearsed drum solo, I agreed reluctantly. We had no time to run the tune, so I just looked over the chart a few times and hoped for the best. I played the head well, but the solo was the most mediocre solo I have ever played. P wanted something really chops heavy and I went for the more tasteful approach. Either way, it would have gone much better had we rehearsed it. So far, this feeling of mediocrity has pervaded everything I’ve played this cruise.
The cruise director does this thing during the welcome
aboard show where he brings guests up on stage and has fun with them. He bit
off more than he could chew this time and got a guest who was significantly
funnier than he was. All of a sudden, I was expected to play rim shots without
being told. It was a bit frustrating to have these things expected of me
without any notice, but I guess it’s not a big deal really. Either way, this
guy was a riot and got a standing ovation.
Monday the realities of this job started to sink in. I slept
too late, woke up around two and sat in my room until around three. I felt like a lazy pile,
so when dinner rolled around I started a conversation about the musician schedule with the trumpet players. They had gotten
up at four in the afternoon and sauntered to the mess to eat dinner as their
first meal of the day. It was during this conversation that it hit me, this is
the laziest job I have ever had, probably ever will have and I don’t like it at
all. I’m a hustler by nature, when I’m working, I like to be doing, not waiting. Here, it feels
like I get paid to eat and sleep. I know what you’re thinking, “D, Why are you
complaining about getting paid to eat and sleep? I would kill for that!” Well anonymous
and curious reader, no you wouldn’t. It would be nice for a few weeks and then
you would start to get bored, which is exactly where I am.
My coworkers went on to say that about once a month, they have a few days where they totally question why they are on a ship. They claimed to pull themselves out of this existential crisis by reminding themselves that they are on the path to mastery of their instruments. Here’s the thing, I don't really have a desire to master the drumset, not anymore at least. When I was younger, I was all about it, but now I view myself as a multi-instrumentalist, and I don’t get much of a chance to play anything but the kit here. So, what I asked myself is the same question they get stuck on, why the hell am I here in the middle of the ocean? I have yet to find an answer.
My coworkers went on to say that about once a month, they have a few days where they totally question why they are on a ship. They claimed to pull themselves out of this existential crisis by reminding themselves that they are on the path to mastery of their instruments. Here’s the thing, I don't really have a desire to master the drumset, not anymore at least. When I was younger, I was all about it, but now I view myself as a multi-instrumentalist, and I don’t get much of a chance to play anything but the kit here. So, what I asked myself is the same question they get stuck on, why the hell am I here in the middle of the ocean? I have yet to find an answer.
That night the show went on regardless of the shifting ship. The dancers did
well, there were a few hickups but all in all it went smoothly. It was also the
first time I felt relatively comfortable with this show, which was nice. We
played a solid but lackluster dance set afterwards. When the show was over, P
pulled the band aside and told us that if the seas are rough, we won’t dock in
the Grand Caymans, and we’ll have to play several sets tomorrow. I crossed my
fingers for calm seas and went to the bar. Yet again, I spend about an hour
there which consisted of a few brief conversations, some binge drinking and
some awkward time spent in a circle of yelling entertainment department
employees. Things got to my breaking point, so I bailed, tried to drunkenly
write this post, failed, and went to bed.
Luckily, today the ocean was forgiving and we docked. I
spent the morning in the Caymans catching up with friends on the mainland, then headed
back to the ship for a quick bite. I went up to the lido deck for lunch and got
scolded by some officer for waiting in line in front of guests. As I ate, I saw
him yelling at someone else for sitting at a guest reserved table. I understand
someone needs to be an enforcer, but dude was totally power tripping, looked
like he was just walking around the dining room looking for people to yell at.
We had rehearsal for MA’s show at 2:30. We got a noise complaint during
practice, some grumpy guest was not happy with the fact we were playing
music. This was the fourth noise complaint made during this cruise, all of
them were during performances or rehearsals. Nothing we could really do about
it, the guests want entertainment so we just kept practicing.
The rehearsal ended around four, and after a few hours of lounging, I ate an uneventful dinner around six. I have been eating a lot of salads here. The entrees they provide for us in the staff mess are unappealing pretty regularly, so I usually avoid them. The produce we get is decent, so I throw some grilled chicken on top of a salad about once a day. Today the chicken was way overcooked, yesterday it was almost raw. Oh well, I'm getting the food for free so I guess I can't complain. At dinner I spoke with the singer and pianist about boredom on the ship. The pianist is trying to learn Spanish, maybe the two of us can practice together.
Apparently I'm getting better with the MA shows, but this performance did not feel very good. Improvement without any gratification sums up these past few day pretty well, now that I'm comfortable with the material, I'm much less satisfied with what I'm playing. I know there are months and months to perfect them, but I'm just making silly mental mistakes because of a lack of focus. We have yet to have a real train-wreck, but I usually have a few hickups every show. My roommate tells me not to worry about them, mental mistakes happen to everyone, but they are the most noticeable for the drummer.
Speaking of my roommate, it's his last week on the boat. I was wrong about him in a past post, he has a wife back home who he's excited to go see. He told me he doesn't want to leave because P is a good boss and the band here is solid. Honestly, I've warmed up to him much more. I think I had a rocky first few weeks and I wouldn't have liked anyone no matter what. Now that I'm more comfortable and playing better, he's a good guy and has been helping me adjust to life here. It will be sad to see him go, but I get the bottom bunk when he leaves!
After the shows, I went to the mess for my third meal of the day and I sat with a waiter from Hungary. He was a talkative man with a strong accent. The first question he asked me was "why would anyone from the US want to work on a ship?" I told him you can't really have a steady music gig like this anywhere else unless if you're very talented and lucky. He was also curious about traveling in the USA I wanted to know about backpacking around Europe, so we talked about visas and spots to visit. It felt like it was the first real conversation I've had with anyone on the boat. Then I went back to the room and watched some Breaking Bad, I'm almost done with season two now.
The rehearsal ended around four, and after a few hours of lounging, I ate an uneventful dinner around six. I have been eating a lot of salads here. The entrees they provide for us in the staff mess are unappealing pretty regularly, so I usually avoid them. The produce we get is decent, so I throw some grilled chicken on top of a salad about once a day. Today the chicken was way overcooked, yesterday it was almost raw. Oh well, I'm getting the food for free so I guess I can't complain. At dinner I spoke with the singer and pianist about boredom on the ship. The pianist is trying to learn Spanish, maybe the two of us can practice together.
Apparently I'm getting better with the MA shows, but this performance did not feel very good. Improvement without any gratification sums up these past few day pretty well, now that I'm comfortable with the material, I'm much less satisfied with what I'm playing. I know there are months and months to perfect them, but I'm just making silly mental mistakes because of a lack of focus. We have yet to have a real train-wreck, but I usually have a few hickups every show. My roommate tells me not to worry about them, mental mistakes happen to everyone, but they are the most noticeable for the drummer.
Speaking of my roommate, it's his last week on the boat. I was wrong about him in a past post, he has a wife back home who he's excited to go see. He told me he doesn't want to leave because P is a good boss and the band here is solid. Honestly, I've warmed up to him much more. I think I had a rocky first few weeks and I wouldn't have liked anyone no matter what. Now that I'm more comfortable and playing better, he's a good guy and has been helping me adjust to life here. It will be sad to see him go, but I get the bottom bunk when he leaves!
After the shows, I went to the mess for my third meal of the day and I sat with a waiter from Hungary. He was a talkative man with a strong accent. The first question he asked me was "why would anyone from the US want to work on a ship?" I told him you can't really have a steady music gig like this anywhere else unless if you're very talented and lucky. He was also curious about traveling in the USA I wanted to know about backpacking around Europe, so we talked about visas and spots to visit. It felt like it was the first real conversation I've had with anyone on the boat. Then I went back to the room and watched some Breaking Bad, I'm almost done with season two now.
It's gonna be a long six months. ‘Til next time…
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