Sunday Mornings

It was early Sunday morning. When I say early, I mean by musician’s standards. The gig starts at 11am. When thinking of Sunday morning, you must also consider Saturday night…which more often than not turns into Sunday morning for these guys. Sometimes things can get a little tense here at Café Bambino.



“Listen man, I’m sick of you bitching about Maiden Voyage. I like that tune and I want to play it. By the way…you smell like beer and you look like crap. Why don’t you do your hair for me the way you used to??”



“Oh man…here we go again. Every week it’s something else. It’s amazing they haven’t killed each other yet.”
“Yeah. Last week when you were on vacation they got into it about who was going to get the last spinach and feta croissant. Kevin whipped out the bow and started beating the crap out of Brandon. I had to throw iced coffee on the both of them just to break it up.”



“No man! If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times…I freaking hate that tune and I’m not playing it. Don’t make me tell you again or so help me…”



“Okay, okay just relax. Since we only have two more weeks together before you leave again, I’ll pretend that you’re still in charge, even though last week you clearly relinquished all the responsibility for this gig over to me. We can play whatever tunes you want. Okay Mr. Cranky Pants!”

“Thank you Kevin…that’s very kind of you.”

The beginning of the End

ME: Well, isn't it a bit early for you to be up and about?
MYSELF: Why yes. Yes I suppose it is a bit early, though I do play at Cafe Bambino in an hour from now.
ME: Ah yes. So what did you do yesterday?
MY: Well let's see...I slept quite late. Friday night was a failed attempt to take it easy and go to bed early. Usually when I try, it's worse of than it would have been had I just gone about the partying. So...Friday night lasted until after 6am Saturday morning...though the last hour or so of that was spent organizing some things in the room after everyone else had fallen. I often have difficultly sleeping after surprise summer blizzards like we had that night. So I slept until 1pm.
ME: Wow! 1pm. That's quite late for you.
MY:: If now is quite early then I'm not sure if 1pm could possibly be quite late...I just don't think there is enough time between them to necessitate the use of a word of such extremity as "quite". But whatever. After a while Rob got up and cooked us breakfast. Did a lot of sitting in the sun and reading and writing yesterday. Then I got some stuff at the place of shopping and then did a bunch more organizing in the room. Almost there. Last night I went through most of the Cd's. That's a huge project in and of itself.
ME: Yeah and one that hasn't been done in quite sometime. Say, how's the coffee this morning?
MY: You know how it is with that little coffee pot. The first cup is always good...then the next always taste like ass. I think it's too small and so it burns fast. If you grab a cup now it should still be QUITE good!

Lost at Sea

So I planned on writing to you world...truly I did, but on my third day aboard the MS Sensation there was this terrible storm! Lightning strikes surrounded the ship, and the waves! Oh, the waves...we tried to fight them, lord knows we tried...but the ocean is just too powerful for men, her arms came up over all sides and swept it clean.

After that it was dark for a long while. It seemed I lived a thousand years in blackness, each moment taking an eternity and passing in a instant. Eventually I awoke, coughing up sea weed and salt water, face first in the sand, skin on my back raw from over exposure to the sun...



On a beach that extended only a few miles in either direction before turning back into itself and revealing the endless blue canvas where the ocean meets the sky meets the ocean meets the sky meets the...

Many days and nights I waited. Of course during the days I explored the island, gather food, made a nice little shelter near the beach and chased monkeys through the jungle, and during the nights I sat alone around a giant bond fire on an empty beach trying to stay within the circle of light cast by the flames. It seemed that the dark spirits of the island were afraid to cross into the light. Sleep only came in tiny fragments here and there, mostly through the day when the spirits were away.

I discovered many ancient buildings...ruins from a lost civilization...a lost...time.









And then finally, just as I was starting to get settled in and making friends with all the demon spirits of the night, just when they started to let me play in the demon games...



...I saw it out there, in the distance. Slowly, as the sun made it's journey across the sky, it grew larger and larger...until there was no denying what it was, but how could it be...it was impossible but it was happening right before my eyes. I did consider for a moment the fact that I had been washed overboard, unconsciously swept through the sea and dropped on my face in the sand on some deserted island and had been living off of bad pizza and coconut rum juice and hadn't slept for weeks? Months? Years...for fear of my new found friends, the scary demon spirit monkeys...yeah maybe I was a little insane...and it occurred to me to not believe it, even though "I" was "seeing it" with my own "eyes"...I even thought for a moment that I had died at sea...and this was a sort of purgatory...a place to sit a go crazy thinking about nothing but sand and jelly fish and how my only pair of boxer shorts had just the other day been swept out to sea as a was frolicking in the waves!...but no...it was there, it was real, they had come back for me. I was saved!

Setting Sail

It's hot in Orlando. I'm writing from the Mariot lobby computer. I got up at 5am this morning...made some great hotel room coffee and practiced for an hour. Just had some breakfast and I got about an hour before I head out to the ship. It was a wonderful last night on land! Hello ocean.

Packing (the checklist method)

Closing the suitcase and saying it's all good to go, that's the hard part. How can I not be forgetting something that I can't possibly live without for the next three months? I can't even walk out the door less than three times on the way to the mail box.

Basically we have three departments, plus the instrument.

Department 1: The garment bag. This $2.99 Value Village purchase is now home to most of my wardrobe! Tuxedo and accessories, 3 white shirts, 1 black pants, 1 other nice pants, and 1 fancy night time jacket, also a Value Village purchase...Check.

Department 2: Rolly suitcase. $4.99 at Good Will. This is holding all leisure time clothing, sox and undies, pedals, cables, and books...Check.

Department 3: The carry-on. Backpack. The usual. Cd player, cds, books, journal, important documents, 1 pair black pants, 1 black shirt, in case of a fashion emergency!...Check.

Instrument...Check.

Cheers to tonight, the last night of sleeping in my bed for a while.

The Final Stretch...(part 1)

This is it...in seventy two hours from now I will be well on my way to Dallas. From there it's off to Orlando for a lonely night in a strange hotel...a comped dinner, one last sleepless night on land, a comped breakfast, and a free ride to my new 855 foot, 70,000 ton floating home...The MS Sensation! How's the song go?...'all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go'. Some mixed emotions, some sleeplessness, a cute girl I'll miss snuggling...and a whole lot of excitement! Stay tuned world for...Tales from the Caribean