On Thursday April 16 a unique gathering of musical friends commenced. The next few days would be yet another chapter of their ongoing creative output amid long bouts of fellowship and laughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

Back in December I was trying to get my return flight from Fort Lauderdale to New Jersey delayed so that I could spend a few days in Florida once my contract was complete visiting Bob Macdonald and Jim Marino, once again the two guys who are responsible for me getting the cruise ship gig. As you may recall from previous posts, that staying in Florida thing didn’t work out. However, the Universe works in mysterious ways.

 

Since I was unable to stay in Florida after my contract was over, I decided shortly after my return to book a flight to Florida in April to stay with Bob and his lovely wife, Nancy, for a few days. I mentioned to Bob that I had a few new songs and said it would be fun to fire up his home studio and record them with me while I was down. Bob thought that was a good idea, so I went online, found a great fare, and booked my flight to West Palm Beach for Thursday April 16.

 

Back in ‘76, Bob & I had put together a small acoustic combo that played at a place called Henry’s in Wildwood, NJ. The band was named RD1, after “rural delivery 1″, the postal designation. We played a lot of old country and bluegrass music in our particular style along with a variety of popular songs and originals. Over the next few years, the personnel of the band changed and it’s popularity increased until in the summer of ‘78 we ended up with a truly remarkable collection of creative, skilled and talented musicians.

 

Gary McCarren had been playing at Henry’s also and eventually, once the band left Wildwood, NJ and moved to North Jersey, Gary became the band’s primary vocalist, although the band had four strong singers. John Hynes, a college friend of Dave & Bob’s and a frequent band mate in several previous projects, joined the band as bass player, singer and songwriter. Jonathan Yudkin, a remarkable fiddler from Philly joined us. Jonathan was a big asset, and eventually made a major place for himself in the Nashville music scene. Finally, Bob recruited Andy Vernon, an amazing drummer and percussionist that he’d found in Cape May, and the primary lineup of the band RD1 was off and running.

 

The band became hugely popular throughout the Jersey shore, west to State College, Carlisle and Shippensburg, PA, south to Baltimore, and eventually north to New York and the surrounding area. Relentless use of a mailing list and high-energy live shows had us on the road for the next several years as we played showcases and opened for big-name acts in New York and Philadelphia. We were discussing record deals with music biz suits in Manhattan. It was an exciting time, but we never got over the edge and into the big time. Members started leaving the band and by ‘81, the last version of RD1 dissolved.

 

Everybody went in different directions and re-created their lives, but everyone kept their hands in music, a few of us full-time. Marriages came and went. Kids were born and raised and letters and phone calls kept us somewhat in touch. Email and cell phones made it even easier to stay in touch and over time, I think we all came to realize what a unique creative collaboration we’d all enjoyed and perhaps even wanted to re-create.

 

There had been a few reunions, including a big celebration at Henry’s in Wildwood in 2001. They were always a great time, and it was easy to get a good crowd, as there’s still a lot of people who remember the energy that was produced by that combination of musicians.

 
So once I booked the flight to Florida, I mentioned it to John Hynes in a phone conversation and he expressed a desire to join in the fun. So since he was aboard, I figured I had to get in touch with Andy, Gary and Jonathan just in case they were interested. Jonathan had too much going on to make the trip from Nashville, but Andy and Gary amazingly came on board, although later on Gary backed out and said that he couldn’t swing it. Despite that disappointment, the rest of us were excited about getting together. Bob decided that a real studio would be a better idea than his home studio and so he booked a few hours at a studio where he’d worked before for Saturday the 18th.

 

I was, of course, absolutely thrilled that this combination of musicians was going to gather together and record some of my songs. I recorded a simple vocal/guitar track to give them an idea of how the songs went and started coming up with other ideas. I would, of course, have to document the entire five days in audio, blog post, video and stills.

 

John Hynes had managed to book the same flight as myself. He picked me up on his way down and we left for Atlantic City Airport and our Spirit flight to West Palm Beach Airport on Thursday April 16, 2009. We arrived somewhere around 9:00 PM and Nancy, Bob’s wife, picked us up and drove us straight to Bob’s gig with The Bob Macdonald Band at The Blue Anchor in Delray Beach.

 

Bob has a great band, which includes Jim Marino on keyboard. John & I had a great time. I had a little too much fun and ended up in the back of Bob’s van, listening to the band through the open window. That was only the first of several nights of music and fun. The next night, we went to Island Jack’s in West Palm Beach where Bob was doing a solo. Hynes had gotten a bass and amp from Jim Marino and we set up around Bob to join in. We were all excited when Andy Vernon walked in. He’d checked into a hotel nearby and showed up with a variety of percussion equipment. That night the four of us played almost all night together and it could not have felt better.

 

On Saturday we all made it to the studio and set up. The studio proprietor is in a Grateful Dead tribute band and his studio reflects that. We set up and after some technical troubleshooting, Corey got us up and recording. The first of my songs that we did is a funky blues tune called “Shakin’ Things Up” that I’d written while I was doing the cruise gig. It’s basically about the frame of mind that motivated me to take the cruise gig in the first place. We all set up close to one another and played the track live.

 

It didn’t take us long to get a good take. The second song we did is called “Most Every Night”, a bluesy song that builds to a mighty gospel crescendo. During the recording I suddenly heard some familiar whistling in my headphones and immediately knew what it meant. It was Gary McCarren in the control booth whistling the melody to what he calls: The Davey Weber Song”. Yes, Gary has written my theme song. He’d also gone to a lot of trouble to join us for two days in Florida. He then joined John Hynes and me in singing the gospel chorus to “Most Every Night”. I am absolutely thrilled to have recorded my songs with all these guys. They remain the pros that they have always been. We did it all in three hours, less actually.

 

After the recording session, we all adjourned to Bob & Nancy’s wonderful villa in Boynton Beach. We ended up eating and drinking, talking and laughing until late in the evening. Video and still cameras were in constant use, and will become available after this is all sorted out. I’ll make a movie of the whole experience that I will upload to YouTube in episodes and link to from this post. Sunday, we all joined in at Bob’s gig at Sand’s Harbor in Pompano Beach and it was again a true joy to play with such amazing performers.

 

Hynes left on Sunday night. Andy and Gary left on Monday. I’m now the last to still be taking advantage of Bob & Nancy’s hospitality, writing this post in the guest room of Bob’s house on his computer. I cannot express how unique and precious an event this past few days have been for all of us. I hope you get even a bit of a feel for how it was for us. And, by the way, there is a bit of talk about us getting together up north for a show and a studio session in the not-too-distant future.

 

    This will be the last post of this blog, since I seemed to have turned a corner in the unfolding events of my life. I’ve created a new blog that will be mostly associated with this ongoing process with the boys from RD 1, but will also include my usual personal take on all of my goings-on. I will re-post this entry as the first post on the new blog and that one will include the videos and audio that will come out of this collaboration.

 

To access the new blog, go to:

 

rd1music.wordpress.com

More to come.

RD1 in "09

My plan to take much of March off, and include some adventures, has been working out pretty well. The trip to Georgia and back was successful, enjoyable and completely productive. I even managed to write a few songs while I was driving through the American countryside.

There’s a few things that I noticed about driving on the big interstates that I’d like to share with you. Many of you who have done it will know what I’m talking about. Every ten miles or so, there is a series of signs that tell you what motels, eateries or gas stations are available at the next exit. Invariably, it is usually the same no matter what exit you get off. The gas, of course, is a toss-up. You’re looking for the best price. The motels are a little different. They are all looking for customers and there are a lot of them, so it’s easy to get a cheap one-nighter, but they vary widely in their cleanliness, safety and general accommodations. The food is inescapably bad, filled with the most fattening, toxic substances know to man. I often felt like I was going to throw up, despite trying desperately to find some real food.

I stayed in an “America’s Best Value Inn” which I had never heard of before and it was very clean, had HBO on the TV and was right next to a steakhouse where I got a crappy dinner at an over lit bar. All in all, it wasn’t bad. However, in Charlotte, North Caroline, I stayed in a Motel 6. Again the price was right, but the room smelled musty and the sign on the door said I should engage the deadbolt for my own protection. I kept looking out the window the whole time checking to make sure nobody was messing with my car.

I had some time to walk around Charlotte. I was on the south side. I just kind of walked like I do when I get off the cruise ship at whatever port-of-call. The funny thing about this one was that although I was in the U.S.A., I felt less safe than I did in many of the islands I walked around in the Caribbean. How weird is that? I wandered into a part of town where all the signs were in Spanish. The first bar I came to said “Chicas e Cervesas”. Something told me that being the only gringo in a Latino strip bar was not a good idea. I didn’t go in there. I was really a bit thrown off by my reaction considering that I walked through some completely local parts of some of the depressed neighborhoods in the Caribbean and felt more secure, or maybe I was just lucky and kidding myself about my safety.

So I took three days getting to Flowery Branch, Georgia, just a bit north of Atlanta. That’s where my X, Tina, lives. We get along fine. We’ve been in regular communication and were completely prepared emotionally and mentally for the inevitable get-together. My car was packed with her stuff, the obvious reason for the trip, but the “stuff” took a backseat to the day and a half of communication, clarification and outpouring of love that enabled both of us to feel both closure and comfort in the ongoing process of being in long-distance relationship after the intensity of a long-term, committed, live-in relationship.

Tina showed me around Lake Lanier and the communities that surround it. We had a really good time just sharing the things that we were always good at sharing. When I left on Sunday morning, I could hear the orchestra swelling as the sun came up and we said our goodbyes for who knows how long. However, I had an adventure ahead of me and so did not dwell too long on the previous two days. That will take a long time to process.

On Sunday, March 22, I left Flowery Branch, Georgia just before 8:00 AM and arrived in Carlisle, PA at around 8:30 PM. I made a few stops for food and gas on the way, but I doubt that they added up to an hour total. By the time I got to Carlisle, I was completely wiped out. The drive through the Shenandoah Valley, with the Blue Ridge Mountains on my right and the Appalachian Mountains on my left was spectacular. However, a twelve-hour drive will take a lot out of someone who doesn’t drive long distances for a living and, even as I write this, there is still a major cramp in my leg two days later.

I stayed that night in Carlisle, PA with my old, dear friend Gary McCarren and we had big fun until early in the morning. I left early in the afternoon of Monday March 23 and got back to Forked River in the late afternoon. I logged almost exactly 1, 750 miles round trip over seven days. All things considered, I highly recommend a long road trip to everyone. It’s a great opportunity to really explore your own psyche and “shake things up”.

As far as my ongoing plans, I am going to Florida for five days in April to visit the guys who got me involved in the cruise thing. We are going to do some recording, have some fun and generally move things forward. That will be a good entry in the blog, I am sure, so stay tuned. I will keep this blog going until I start really ramping up to my next contract on The Solstice in September.

Lake Lanier, Georgia.

In a few days I will be taking a road trip. It’s been a long time since I made a long drive by myself. In fact, I think it was over thirty years ago. I drove from Phoenix, Arizona to Wildwood, NJ. This trip won’t be quite that long. I’m going to Georgia and back.

There are many reasons for this trip and I intend to accomplish a lot, not the least of which will be a re-examination of many aspects of my life. Since the first contract on the Constellation, I have opened myself up to new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. I realized that I am very much a creature of habit and I fall into patterns rather quickly. This can be fine for navigating the everyday logistics of life, but becomes a hinderance to the expansion of my perceptions, always one of my primary focuses.

The Aborigines of Australia go on their walkabouts. That’s what I’m considering this road trip, a modern version of a walkabout. I know I should be preparing a route and figuring what I need to pack, but something is holding me back. Perhaps I sense an inherent need for spontaneity to accompany me on the journey.

I still have several pages at the end of my written log from the Constellation contract. I will use them to record my mental musings while I take my walkabout. Traveling sat well with me. I have a feeling it will remain a big part of my process for my remaining years.

Other than that, I have been doing a few gigs here and there. Some of my regular rooms like The Captain’s Inn, Sandy’s, Wading Pines and The Shell are giving me bookings. I’m sure more will roll along as we get closer to the summer. I’ve been greatly enjoying the light workload that I’ve had since I got back to NJ, although I have kept myself busy with both the projects that I’d planned while I was on the ship and the various surprises that pop up on a daily basis.

Life continues to be a wonderful adventure and I look forward to each new day. I was wondering if the depression would come back once I got home. I know it’s only been about three weeks, but so far, so good – no depression.

A Smile From God

It’s been an interesting ten days. I apparently am not very good at
just sitting around doing nothing. This past week I set up a recording
rig in my little studio. I spent one day setting it all up so that I could
play the songs live and simply record them to a clean, high quality
stereo file. I decided to use DAT tape. The quality is technically
better than CD. Of course it all depends on what you put into it.
So much time was spent cleaning contacts and figuring out the best
way to cable it all together. Then I spent two days recording, about
six hours a day, until I had what sounded on the fly like good takes.

Getting it all onto tape is a good thing, but then comes the process
of reviewing all the recordings, transferring them to the computer as
cleanly as possible, editing them a bit, and assembling them into a
cohesive sequence. It’s a long, painstaking process, but I have a
feeling it will pay off down the road, like many things that I do and
I’m not really sure why I’m doing them.

This one has a specific purpose, though; the production of a
product to sell at gigs. There is far more to the process than I’ve
mentioned so far. I need to contact the manufacturing facility and
go over all the options and required specs for the end product.
I need art and graphics. I need to decide what to put on the insert.
I need to get all the royalties ironed out. However, I’m committed
to the process, so I’ll just take it a step at a time. It’s not like I
haven’t done this before.

Other than that, I’ve actually been laying pretty low. I’ve visited a
few venues, mostly the ones that I play at. A few gigs have come
along, perhaps earlier than I would have liked, but some extra
pocket money is always nice. I’ve seen most everybody I wanted to
see around here and my family had a real nice get-together at my
sister Peg’s house.

Now I’m planning my road trip. It’s in the rough stages of planning
so far, but it will come together in the next two weeks I’m sure. So
of course I need to get my car thoroughly checked out before I do that.

My house is now completely scrubbed and I’m consolidating stuff
and preparing to get rid of a whole lot of stuff. It’s time to unclutter,
and unclutter to a staggering degree. I’m going to start stripping it
all down until it can’t be stripped down no more. I think it’s an
outward manifestation of an inward drive.

Port Everglades inlet

The last two days of the contract were a mix of powerful emotions and
logistical maneuvers that were new to me. The sign-off meeting two days
before I disembarked was a process of form signing and checklist
rundowns for procedures that needed to be fulfilled before Monday
morning at 10:00 AM, the time I was scheduled to leave the ship and
take the shuttle to Miami International Airport.

That night my last gig in The Cova Café it was formal night. Everything
I did, I kept thinking, “this is the last time I will be doing this”. It kept going
round and round in my head. I wandered around my cabin, trying to
organize things that I really knew couldn’t be organized until after my
last set on Sunday night, which ended around 8:30 PM. However, my
luggage had to be in deck 1 forward by 10:00 PM, so I had to get a bit of
a jump on things.

We crossed a time line Saturday night, so we got an extra hour
of playtime after work. I, of course, spent it in the staff bar saying
goodbye to all the people I’d gotten to know in the five months I was
aboard.

Those two days, the 22nd and 23rd, were almost as much of a
whirlwind as the first day of my contract, but easier since I knew where
to go for help and I’m more hip to how things work in the organization.
Once again, it was a hurry-up-and-wait as I performed various
necessary final processes. However, the checklist was fairly well laid
out and I managed to get everything done.

One of those things was to get my performance evaluation from Tina,
my bandmaster. After a general department meeting for everybody, where
I was bid farewell, I got my copy of my evaluation, which is “outstanding”
in every area plus lots of good comments. The overall rating was
“outstanding”, so I was pretty happy about that. I didn’t say anything
negative and basically just thanked her. I couldn’t bring myself to be
effusive, but she was being nice, so I was nice.

I managed to get to bed on Sunday night around 1:30, even though
the party was still in full swing. I figured I had to be up by 4:30 if I
wanted to get showered and down to the purser for my last pay and
settlement of accounts. I did just that and was surprised to see that I
got paid for de-embarkation day. I paid off my account and
headed for the BATEOTE (The Bar At The End Of The Earth) by
6:00 AM for immigration.

I’d managed to use all but a few seconds of my Internet access the
night before, so I was slowly wresting myself from my attachment to
the ship. Immigration was another sit-around-and-wait process, but
I was going with the flow. We had a few hours to kill after immigration,
so I had breakfast in the Seaside Café and went back to my cabin
and caught a short nap before there was a soft rap on the door.
It was Tina. She had come for my safety cards and my room key card.

It was down to the final shipboard phase and I headed to the
BITMOTS (The Bar In The Middle Of The Ship), which is the staff, or
non-smoking bar, and sat around waiting again. Finally the Crew
Welfare Manager (ours is Maria) called out our names and returned
our precious documents that they’d been holding for the past five
months.

So now I had all the essentials – my passport, my medical papers,
my performance evaluation, my flight details and my money. After
we got our papers, we were shuffled right off the ship into an area
in the terminal where we picked up the luggage that had been
opened, inspected, stickered and held overnight, and brought it to
the scanners where we put all our stuff through, even my guitar.

It was bedlam, but everybody managed to make it through and
out to the pickup and drop-off area. I was free. I had talked to Bob
Macdonald earlier in the day and, as he had promised, he drove
down and picked me up from the terminal. After I put my guitar,
suitcase, garment bag and carry-on in the back of his van and
got in the passenger seat, I let out a huge breath of relief. I really
felt like I’d finally left the ship.

Bob is a long-time friend and we always have a good time together.
This time he decided to take me to Hollywood, Florida to show me
around some of the places that he used to play and hang out when he
first moved down there some 25 years ago or so. We went to a great
place called “Le Tub” that is an open-air bar & eatery right on the
Intracoastal Waterway. It’s famous for it’s burgers, which were touted
in GQ magazine as the greatest in the USA. I couldn’t pass that up
and we did enjoy two of the best burgers I’ve ever had.

 

For a short video, click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHSeN3R6Bk

 

I was starting to unwind now and we had a great time laughing and
reminising. After lunch we drove around a bit and then Bob headed
down to Miami International Airport and dropped me off about
mid-afternoon, since I was going to try to go on standby because
when I had called American last time I was in Fort Lauderdale, they
said there were five flights earlier than mine and they were not
booked up, so I’d probably be able to get an earlier flight without
a confirmation.

I should have gone for the confirmed earlier flight. Everything was
full and so I had six hours to kill in the airport until my flight left at
9:05 PM, arriving in Newark, NJ a little before midnight. Airports are
not the best place in the world to kill time, but they do have beer and
I had my paper log and my laptop to keep me occupied. In fact, this
is being written as I wait for flight 1382 at Gate D-36.

I am tired, but strangely content. This is the very last phase of this
five-month adventure. In a few hours Janet and Dallas, my sister and
her husband and the people who took me to the ship in Bayonne back
in September, will pick me up and drive me back to Forked River,
where I will no doubt crash fairly quickly.

********************************************************

3 DAYS LATER

I arrived back at my house around 2:30 in the morning. Janet and
Dallas had turned up my heat, but it was still cold and the bed was
real cold. I was exhausted, though, and managed to sleep through
the night. Waking up in my own bed in Forked River was a bit of a
thrill and I wandered around, turning things on and making sure
everything was working.

The rest of the day was all about getting things up and running
again. My driver’s license had expired while I was away, but it was
no problem getting it renewed. I had to get my broadband service
back, which was easy. I had to get my mail re-directed back to my
house, which was also easy. I went to the bank and the Shop-Rite
for supplies. The only thing that didn’t proceed smoothly was that
the batteries had leaked in a primary remote, but after some
cleaning and new batteries, it works as well as ever.

I’ve seen some friends and visited some of my favorite haunts.
I’ve dropped by some of the places I play to let them know I’m
back. I had wings and beer at Caffrey’s. Everybody is real nice
and I have no problem answering the same questions over and over.
I think I feel a little like Dorothy after her adventure in Oz.
There’s no place like home.

My Facebook site has a lot of pictures from the contract. Please
feel free to get in touch. I’m going to figure out what to do with
this blog. Maybe I should just close this one out and start a new
one that will run from now until I join The Solstice in September.
Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on that. My love to you all.
Thanks for joining me on my adventure.

Dave

Life in Puerto Limon

Caribbean sunset

The contract is nearly complete. In three days I will travel back to
New Jersey to recreate my life there. This will be the last blog that I will
post from the ship, but I will keep it going for a while as I evaluate
this extraordinary experience amidst the comfort and familiarity of my
Forked River home. I very much wanted to complete this contract
successfully and from all appearances I have. I am getting good
comments from the guests and the crew alike. Having my foot in
the door of the cruise industry is a very fortunate option for work
security in very insecure times. I am blessed.

As I leave each of the ports-of-call for the last time, I wistfully bid
them adieu and try to take in every last sight that I can. Today was
my last shore leave, in Phillipsburg, St Maarten. It’s one of my
favorite places and I left the ship early and walked to a somewhat
quiet beach that I’d found. I parked myself in the sand and simply
drank in the beauty of this paradise of an island. The walk back to
the ship was a long, slow one and not without a strong mix of
emotions.

Now there’s two days at sea and we dock at Port Everglades in
Fort Lauderdale where I disembark. The sign-off process has
begun and it’s all hitting home that this incredible adventure is
really coming to an end. I have a lot of goodbyes to say.

 

For a short video, click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnWsFmZEecY

 

**********************************************************

One of the things that I was warned about before I started this
adventure, and which inevitably happened was the loneliness that I
initially experienced amidst this sea of humanity. Being a stranger
in a strange land is exciting and enlivening, but without the bonds
of friendship and someone to share your burdern with, it can be
quite overwhelming.

Seeking out like-minded souls is what people do. The work, the daily
requirements of life, they are what we do to get by. If we love what we do,
so much the better. But without people to help us carry the load, give us
advice when we’re stuck, tell us that it will all work out, remind us that it’s
not that big a deal and buy us a beer and make us laugh and cry, the whole
process is meaningless.

And isn’t it all ultimately about love? Love gained. Love lost. The love for
those we leave behind. The love that grows with a new friendship. The great
love that haunts us through the years. The comfortable secure love of a
decades long life partner. The unconditional love that is gained from years
of communication and unselfish giving. Love for our families, for our work,
for our animal companions and for the gift of life itself.

It’s the laughter and the intimate sharings of fears and concerns and
frustrations that I will untimately remember. It is the stories of growing up
in foreign lands under difficult circumstances that I will remember. It is the
faces, and especially the eyes, of those who chose to look into mine and
share an intimate part of their souls with me. It is the jokes and the playful
teasings that helped us all release the tensions of a long day. It is the
gathered emails addresses and the photos and the anticipation of future
contacts that will stay with me. Gone are the petty annoyances. Gone are
the miserable co-workers. Gone are the corporate idiocies.
All that remains is the love.

Robert, the piano player for the easy listening band,
became a good friend. I am sure we will stay in touch. He is a
very profound man and his French-Canadian accent put an
interesting spin on his life musings. One of the things he
mentioned one day that really struck me was how beautiful
and true are the lyrics to “When You Wish Upon A Star”.

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

(Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing)

Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true

This is how clear the water is

Living and working on the ship, everybody has to be “on” all
the time. Even when we aren’t working, we have to adhere to
strict dress codes and behaviors when in any guest areas. We
aren’t allowed to wear shorts or sandals. We have to wear
collared shirts. No jeans. Our hair can’t be wet and we have to
be clean shaven. Facial hair must be neatly trimmed. Men are
not allowed to wear earings or any other piercings. Shoes have
to be clean and shined.

Guests must always be addressed as sir or madam and must
always be greeted with “good morning/afternoon/evening”.
Certainly no “hey” or “how you doing”. Guests must always be
given the right of way and if we are eating in a guest area, we
must stay out of their way and let them go ahead of us in line.
Once I got used to it, these rules were not a problem, and they
certainly make sense. This is a service industry after all and
appearances and behaviors are muy importante.

I am somewhat fortunate in having something called modified
guest entertainer status. Almost all of the crew, staff and officers
have to wear name tags. Besides your name, they also say your
position and country of origin. Actually they come in pretty
handy. For some reason, I am one of the few people onboard
who doesn’t have to wear a name tag. This can be an asset in
that it makes me cool, but there are down sides. I am often
mistaken for a guest. When I get on the crew elevators I am
often given the skunk eye by crew members who don’t know me
and are wondering why a guest is on the crew elevators and
maybe they should call security or something. A name tag
would just make things easier for me.

I also have access to various guest areas that are verboten
for most other crew and staff. I can use the guest elevators,
which is a big plus. They guest elevators not only have four
mirrored sides, they also have top to bottom mirrors in the front
corners at a 45 degree angle, so you can check yourself out
from all angles. I can use the guest gym, which is beautiful, and
the sauna, and I can hang out in the various venues, have a
drink and interact with the guests.

I am encouraged to hobnob with the guests, which is fine with
me. I like meeting people and hearing their stories. The guests,
like the crew, are invariably an international mix. On this cruise
alone I’ve met people from England, Scotland, Germany, Canada,
Spain, and several Latin American countries. We also have a
group of 300 Greeks on board. They actually brought their own
band and have been given one of our main venues for two hours
a night on sea days. I caught a bit of the act. They play all Greek
folk songs. Everybody sings along and dances. They have a
really smoking bousouki (sp?) player. It’s really cool.

So I’ve learned how to initiate conversation and draw people
out. Most people are happy to just start talking and all I really
need to do is be a good listener. The standard “Where are you
from?” is an obvious ice breaker. Sometimes they don’t speak
much English and that can be fun too. I am surprised by how
much of my High School German I’m remembering and I am
continually given opportunities to improve my Spanish, one of
my primary goals.

This is all when we are in guest areas. On I-95, the crew
corridor, and in the crew and staff bars and messes, we can
wear whatever we want. Also, when we go ashore we can dress
however we want as long as we get to the gangway via the crew
corridor. The crew bars in particular are places to let your
personal clothing tastes hang out. Jeans abound, of course,
and the ladies go to great lengths to display the assets that
they must keep subdued during the day. The theater staff in
particular are real entertaining in that regard. None of this is a
problem, of course, once you get used to it. It just becomes
business as usual.

***********************************************************

 

For a short video, click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7VZX93xeo

I got a fifth day off on Wednesday the 11th. That will most
likely be my last day off for the duration of my contract, so I will
have worked 149 out of 154 days that I was with the ship or
roughly one day off a month for the last five months.

It was a good one though. We were in Cozumel, Mexico
again, probably my favorite port-of-call of them all. I had met
a woman, Jessica, who works in booking shore excursions,
through some mutual friends . She had just signed on this cruise
but knew a few people from a previous contract. There was a
group of us sitting in the staff bar after hours and when I
mentioned that I had the day off, she asked if I wanted to go on
an excursion. Apparently when you go with excursion
personnel, it’s all free. Of course I said yes.

We’d planned to take the ferry to Playa Del Carmen and a tour
bus to Tulum to see the ruins, but because she had to help
direct people to their desired destinations, we missed the ferry.
Undaunted, we took an excursion van to a Dolphin Encounter
facility where we got to swim and interact with dolphins. It was
really cool. By the way, I asked one of the trainers, a woman, if
she thought the dolphins loved. She said that people have different
opinions on that but that she is convinced they do.

Afterwards we had a great mexican lunch and a bunch of Mexican
beers before we headed back to the ship. I was really grateful to her
for taking me along and I think she was grateful for the company
also. It’s good to know someone who works in shore excursions.
I’ll remember that on my next contract.

**************************************************************

I am only eight days from my return to New Jersey. I find myself
thinking about things like packing and the sign-off process which
will include an evaluation session with the bandmaster, cruise
director, activities manager and probably a few other officers and
staff. There will be a written evaluation of my service here during
this contract and I will have the opportunity to evaluate those
who I have been serving under. I’ve been going over that one in
my head for weeks now, but I have a feeling that when it comes
down to it, I will just decline to comment. I may have to work with
some of these people in the future, after all, and it would not be
in anyone’s best interests for me to vent my frustrations with
those who managed me, or at least tried to.

There were a lot of personnel changes the last time we were in
Fort Lauderdale. We lost some close friends, but we’ve got a whole
new cast of characters and getting to know them has been fun.
I obviously won’t have much time to really get to know them, but
everybody understands that that is the nature of this cruise ship
gig. It is rarely mundane. It is dynamic and new all the time. I like
that.

The Constellation deck 10 pool

I’m on a Celebrity cruise ship. I was not aware, when I first started my
contract, that there is a marked difference between the various cruise
lines in a number of ways. Celebrity seems to be targeting an older
demographic. Scooters, wheelchairs and oxygen tanks are the norm
around here. Younger people on the cruises often find it a bit
disconcerting, especially in the area of entertainment.

I’ve had several younger people ask me something like, “Hey, dude!
Where’s the rock & roll? You’re the closest thing they have to it on this
ship.” And indeed, I am. As many of you know, I can kick it up to a lively
pace and accomodate those who want a danceable beat. However, the
vast majority of the time I find myself filling requests for music of the
60s, the singer/songwriters and old country western.

I am the only guitarist on the ship. That says something right there.
Even the party band doesn’t have a guitarist, although they have an
excellent keyboardist who covers guitar parts quite adequately. Other
than that we have the a capella quartet, a classical quartet, our
excellent cabaret singer, Perry Grant, and an easy listening trio that
has to do “My Way” like five times a night.

I find myself comfortable with this demographic. I’ve heard stories
of other cruise lines like Carnival who have a much livelier entertainment
lineup, catered to a younger clientele. When I talk to my fellow musicians
onboard, they have widely diverging stories of life on other ships.
Apparently much of the, how shall I say it……..contentedness, of life on a
ship has to do with our immediate supervisors, the bandmaster, the
cruise director, and the hotel manager. Depending on the competence
and the administrative style of the people in those positions, a ship can
be one big happy partying hot spot or a miserable disgruntled sentence
in hell.

I don’t know if I could handle a more partying circumstance. This feels
just about right for me. Sometimes, when I watch the party band, I wish
that I had my Fender Telecaster and my Hotrod Deluxe tube amp. You
can’t really rock unless you have a loud electric guitar in the band. That’s
just the way it is. If you doubt that, go watch “Spinal Tap” again. But I’m
getting older now and, as much as I love to rock, the acoustic gig seems
to suit me a lot better and takes far less of a toll on my body, especially
my ears, which have taken a nasty beating over the years. What?

So if you want to drink yourself silly and join a conga line dancing to
“Hot, Hot, Hot” around the pool being led by a Jamaican waiter balancing
a tray of margaritas on his head, you might want to bypass Celebrity.
However, if you want a high-quality, classy yet somewhat mellow and
relaxing vacation, we’re the cruise line for you.

************************************************************

Now that four and a half months have gone by, I’ve made some pretty
good friends. I’m getting regular friend requests on my Facebook page,
so if you would like to get to know some of these folks that I’ve been
sharing this adventure with, Facebook seems to be the most popular
venue for that. I, for one, will be following many of their exploits.

We’ve formed a little band of regular cohorts who gather in the staff
bar after hours to unload the frustrations of the day and laugh ourselves
to sleep. It’s an extended group that waxes and wanes with the days and
the sign-offs and sign-ons. It’s a truly international gathering and makes
for some very unique interactions. I am encouraged that once cold war
enemies can now sit and become friends. Then again the span of time
between the Nazis bombing England and the Beatles playing in Hamburg
was not a long one either. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just skip the
war part and all just get along.

**************************************************************

Now that I am only 13 days from my return, I find myself considering
things like packing and flight details quite often. I won’t even go into the
latest with regards to my flight home. Suffice it to say I don’t have it as
bad as some people. I’ve heard stories of people being flown to airports
that were 500 miles from where they lived, and there ain’t a thing you
can do about it.

My biggest concern is my guitar. Since I got driven to my embarkation
point at Port Liberty in Bayonne when I started this contract, I didn’t have
to fly and so had no qualms about bringing my Martin D-35 to use as my
instrument. It’s a beautiful and valuable guitar and it’s provoked a lot of
conversations with guests who are hip to cool guitars. But since I’m flying
back, I’m not sure how to handle my guitar. I’m going to try to ship it back
home. I think that would be a lot safer than checking it. However, the
logistics of doing that might be a bit tricky. My friend, Bob, has offered to
help me with that. I’m hoping that’s how it works out. I’m also sure that
it will all work out fine and I should stop worrying about it. Stay in the
NOW, Dave. Oooooommmmmmmm

The Dolphin Experience at Chankanaab

I’ve been listening to so many different languages and hearing
so many different accents that I’ve become acutely aware of my
own accent, or the way that I talk, and how I might sound to others.
And despite the many people I talk to for whom English is not their
first language, most of them have no trouble following me, even
when the conversation gets beyond the trivial. It’s very impressive.

I’m starting to think I might sound a bit odd. It’s not like I have a
strong NJ accent. I don’t sound like Tony Soprano. In fact, a lot of
people are surprised to hear that I’m from NJ. I often get the
“Oh, New Joisey” line that everybody else seems to think is pretty
funny. But when I listen to people speaking these beautiful flowing
languages like French and Spanish, my English sounds as gutteral
and harsh as German sounds to me. Phillipino is also about as
harsh a language as I’ve heard and we have lots of Phillipinos
onboard, but there’s a lot to be said for a woman with a French
or Spanish accent.

**************************************************

I eat many of my meals at the Seaside Cafe on Deck 10. It’s where
I play most of the time, everybody knows me and the food is
awesome. Imagine – free sushi all the time and an extensive salad bar.
It also has some of the best coffee on the ship, so I usually get a light
breakfast with my morning coffee and check out the port-of-call that
we just docked at or just gaze out the glass walls at the Caribbean
going by.

It’s real pleasant, but they have a nasty habit of playing either
Celine Dion or Barry Manilow over the intercom in the morning and
that wreaks havoc with my digestion. I apologize to all the Manilow
or Dion fans, but Manilow and Celine
Dion are not to my liking. Do you know what
it’s like to have “Mandy” stuck in your head all afternoon? It takes
a lot of AC/DC to push “Mandy” out.

**************************************************

The continuous flow of people on board is a positive aspect. It
certainly keeps things from getting stale. I seem to constantly
be saying goodbye to some people and meeting others. Even
in my main venues, the bartenders and servers are shifted
around regularly. So not only do the guests not get sick of me
on our eleven days together, my fellow crew members really
don’t see me enough to get sick of me either. It’s especially
nice when they deliberately come to catch a set.

That puts a very different wrinkle on my performances that
is not there back in Ocean County, NJ. Back home, I have to
constantly be learning new material and work at keeping it
fresh so that my very regular crowd doesn’t tire of me, and
that definitely happens despite my efforts. When you’ve seen
someone perform for twenty years, there is often a “Oh, it’s
him again” sort of reaction that is understandable and
unavoidable.

That is not a consideration here. There are songs I’m going
to learn, but not to stay fresh. It’s because I’ve gotten lots of
requests for some songs and it’s obvious that I should learn
them. I could probably play the ships indefinitely with very
little change to my act. That is, if the cruise industry survives.

***********************************************************

It looks like the economic chaos has spread to the cruise industry.
Up until the last two cruises, people were spending money like it was
just materializing in their pockets. On the last two or three cruises there
has been a marked decline in spending in all areas of the ship. The
casino, in particular, has seen a dramatic drop in earnings. My crowds
out on the back deck have been fairly meager. Granted, the weather
has not been the greatest out back, but you can just get a cup of tea
and hang out there and listen to music without spending anything if
you want to.

Much of the conversation these days centers around people
losing their businesses or their jobs. People who own businesses
are having to lay off their workers and you can see that it really bothers
them to have to do that. Many of these people very likely booked their
cruises before September, when everything went south. All they can
do now is minimize their spending while they’re here.

Of course there are those for whom money doesn’t seem to be a
consideration. I was in St Maarten and one of those short but intense
rainstorms came through. I scrambled under an overhang in front of a
store next to a guy somewhere around my age I guess. He was drinking
a Carib Beer. Good stuff. It didn’t take long for a conversation to start.
He was on his 146th cruise. I meet a lot of people who do back to back
cruises. That’s 21 days on our ship. Must be nice.

The last time we were in Fort Lauderdale, my old friend Bob drove
down again and picked me up. We drove to Fort Lauderdale Beach
and he showed me some of the venues he’s played at, some 25 years
ago. He was talking about how much it’s changed, how vital and busy
it used to be compared to the meager crowds we saw as we had
breakfast at a sidewalk cafe. Fort Lauderdale is hurting bad.

And when I watch the news it’s pretty scary. I don’t know what
kind of world I’ll be returning to, but I hope the news is all just made up
and I’ll come back to a thriving, happy Forked River where everything
is wonderful all the time. It’s been said that there are no degrees of
difficulty in the making of miracles.

 

For a short video, click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7Ncj0gqac

 

*****************************************************

I have entered into true countdown mode. I felt it on the last embarkation
day. It occured to me that these next two cruises are the last I will be
making on this contract. I will have done the southern loop and the
eastern loop five times each. Every time we return I learn a little more
about the various ports-of-call and I’ve gotten to like all of them, even
Colon, Panama. I just had to learn how to appreciate them safely.

Work has gotten easier over time as I adjust to the schedule and get
better at entertaining the guests. As a result, I find myself liking this
experience more all the time. Making friends has eased the loneliness
that can be real uncomfortable at first. When I read back on my written
log, I’m amazed at how my perspective has changed in really only a few
months. As always, people make a difference.

Sure there’s annoyances. Of course working with people is always
filled with surprises, many of them unpleasant, but most often things
go the way they are supposed to and a good time is had by all. The
feedback of you, the readers, has been of enormous value in my
adjustment process. Collective consciousness is a valuable tool
for any of life’s challenges. I am grateful to you, my extended
consciousness. Thanks.

I packed real well for this adventure. I spent a lot of time,
considering the limited amount of time I had to prepare,
trying to figure out what to bring and what to leave behind.
After all, a week vacation is one thing. A five month contract
is something else. The music equipment wasn’t that hard to
figure out and I brought very little that I don’t use and
everything I need. Clothing was a little different.

We started with three trips to Canada, so I needed some
warm duds, plus I’m returning to NJ at the end of February
so a few cold weather items were essential, but they’ve been
sitting idle since the end of October.

I ended up with a garment bag, a small suitcase and a
medium sized carry-on, plus my guitar of course. Thank you
George for recommending the hard case for the guitar. That
was the correct choice. I was able to mount the carry-on on
top of the suitcase to wheel it around, sling the garment bag
over a shoulder and carry the guitar with the other hand, but
it was super awkward, especially in the narrow ship corridors.

I’m currently in the process of trying to get my flight home
delayed a few days. Celebrity books and pays for my flight
home. I have to fill out a form and have it signed by three
relevant important people to request the delay, but it
shouldn’t be a problem. I have some friends here in Florida,
Bob & Jim, the guys who got me into this cruise thing, and it
would be great to hang with them for a few days before I head
back to NJ. Plus I’d like to skip as much of winter as possible.

There’s a perk, eh? I pretty much miss winter this year. My
next contract goes from Sept to mid-March, so I’ll miss even
more of the winter next year. I’ve been wanting to do the
snowbird thing for years. I didn’t think it would work out like
this, but I’ll take it. I don’t want to rub it in, but when I think of
what it’s probably like in NJ these days, I’m very grateful to be
snorkling in the clear aquamarine waters of the Caribbean.

Oh yea, packing. That’s what I was talking about. That’s what
I get for writing in the staff bar. Distractions. There were a few
things I didn’t bring enough of – socks & underwear, but that’s
about it and it was easy to get some more at several of the
ports-of-call. I’m wearing St Thomas socks, made in China.

I brought a few unnecessary things. I brought three pairs of
shorts and one would have been plenty, only because we’re
not allowed to wear shorts in any guest areas, so it’s easier to
just wear pants all the time. I definitely didn’t need sweatpants.
There were also a few shirts that were poor choices, but my
Aloha shirts are getting heavy rotation and I’ve picked up a
few in my travels.

The mask & snorkle were a great idea, of course, as were my
binoculars. The still and video cameras were a must as is my
beloved laptop, an Acer, which I highly recommend. I tried to
get as many of my files on my laptop as I could before I left, but
there are a lot of files and a program or two that I really wish I
had. I will be much better prepared in all ways for my next
contract. However, they are flying me to Rome to pick up my
ship, The Solstice, so that might put a wrinkle in the packing
process.

One of the comments on The Cruise Chronicles was from some
readers who were going to St Thomas and they were using my
blog to help them plan their time there. That’s what I was hoping
would happen. I’m trying to give information that can be of use
to people for whatever reason, be it a vacation or maybe even
someone deciding that they, too, might be suited for a life
working on a cruise ship, but I’m trying to be as entertaining
as I can for those of you who are comfortably settled and are
living vicariously through my unusual life.

***************************************************

The Superbowl, like the World Series, while significant an
event, has nowhere near the buzz that it does back on dry land.
It will be shown throughout the ship and they’ll set up a big
screen for it up on Deck 10 by the pool, but it will mostly be for
the guests and interested American crew members. The crew
tends to be more interested in soccer and, interestingly, boxing.
Even replays of classic boxing matches get a good crowd.

The TV programming on the ship really sucks, though. That
makes sense. They don’t want guests sitting in their rooms
watching TV. They want them milling about the ship spending
money and taking advantage of the shipboard activities. After
all, they’re paying musicians and theater people and an
extensive activities staff, so they want to get their money’s
worth out of them. It also keeps me from watching much TV
which is a very good thing. Now if could only stop watching
the stupid news.

***************************************************

Departure update. This is good. A month ago, when I approached
my bandmaster about having my return flight delayed a few days, she
said there was plenty of time and I should see the CFM (Celebrity
Family Member) Administrator. So I go see the CFM Administrator
and tell her I’d like to have my flight delayed a few days. She tells me
that my bandmaster is supposed to handle that. I go back to the
office and tell that to my bandmaster who promptly gets on the phone,
calls the CFM Administrator and is told that she, indeed, is supposed
to handle at least a part of it. My bandmaster tells me she’ll get on it
and will get back to me.

I should have known at “I’ll get back to you” that I was screwed. A
few weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything, confident that my
bandmaster was handling my flight change. When I finally did happen
upon her and asked about it, she said, “Oh, you have to go see the
CFM Administrator.” Unbelievable.

So I go see the CFM Administrator and explain my situation, same
person mind you, and this time she gives me a request form to fill out
and return to her. Why she didn’t give me the request form the first
time I made the request is anybody’s guess. That form needed the
signatures of my bandmaster, the cruise director and the Human
Resources Manager. That took me three days to get because the new
Human Resources manager didn’t make it onto the ship in Fort
Lauderdale, and didn’t get onboard until we got to St Thomas. So filled
out form in hand, I go and deliver it to the CFM Administrator who says
she’ll send it to Miami for processing.

The next day I get a call from my bandmaster that my flight has
already been booked and my only recourse is to get my flight details
from the CFM Administrator and contact the airline directly to make
changes. So the day after that I go back to the CFM Administrator to
get my flight details and she says she doesn’t have them, they haven’t
been sent to the ship yet. I point out that someone in the main office
has my flight details. Could she please request that they be sent to
the ship so that I can try to make arrangements with the airline
myself. She said she would. Gee, I wonder how that will work out.

I have a feeling I’ll be flying home on my sign-off date, Feb 23.

Apparently the Mayans worshiped Oprah Winfrey