i forgot to mention that last night’s themed set at 10 was “over the rainbow” where the songs all have a color reference… still trying to train the crowd that the 10 o’clock themed set it is not a free-for-all set (they seem to want to go off on tangents and just run crazy with it!); i finally realized they just want to have some sort of say so, so i eventually went ‘round, table to table, and just said, “pick a color!” then they could at least choose something, and i could do the song(s) i had so lovingly handpicked and actually prepared that matched their chosen color (note: need more green songs…). there’s also always one or two folks who fancy every night should be all about 'stumping the band' with obscure songs from forgotten musicals of the 20’s; that’s funny, right? but i s’pose that builds my character… y’know what’s really scary? just give me another year or two and i will know umpteen of those forgotten songs… i have scary visions that some day when i am very old, i will be in some assisted living home driving all my neighbors crazy while i sing these odd songs at the top of my lungs because they are stuck in my head, and tho i prob’ly won’t be able to remember my own grandkids’ names, i’ll still know every word to “Tale of the Oyster”… this is my fear… i do have one novelty songbook at home that has oodles of novelty songs like itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini, camp granada, purple people eater and the like… man, i should have brought that book with me! bob scanned a few out of there for me that i asked him for, but this one fellow has asked for at least a dozen songs i happen to know to be in that book… argh! and this guy is getting off in hong kong right after bob gets on, so even if bob brings it, it’ll practically be too late… bob? honey? sweetie? is it possible to scan a few more from the novelty song book and email pdf file or text file? let me know, babe… if not, I think my guest will live…
tonight’s set is called “guilty pleasures,” which is basically songs about smoking, drinking, gambling, fooling around… they don’t have any songs yet about bravo reality shows such as top chef and tabatha’s salon takeover or real housewives of beverly hills, so i may have some more songs to write… anyway, as far as the audience choice factor, i think i will go table to table and they can share their guilty pleasure out loud (if they dare), and i’ll try and match it topically to one on my list… don’t get me wrong, i am all about doing requests, but on such a long trip (110 days) you can’t do all request, all night. i always solicit requests during the cocktail hour and at the last set of the night, so out of 5 sets, i aim to do 3 that are programmed so i don’t repeat a lot… and besides, 8-9 is a bit of a ghost town in my lounge, so the second set is kind of a throw-away set anyway; most people are either at the first show or the 2nd dinner seating, both at 8… so really they get to program half the usable night… i think that’s a pretty fair ratio – if it was a 7-day cruise it would be all request, all night, every night… oh, how i wish people understood the weird challenges of the piano bar entertainer’s job! but i don’t ever want to whine on the bandstand and try and explain it (that’s what blogs are for!), or, worse, say ‘no’ to a guest… at least lives do not depend on these circumstances, right? so i will count myself lucky if this is one of my trickiest job-related scenarios… no port song, by the way, for panama canal, as it’s not really a port, it’s more of a scenic cruising experience… i’ll include a few cool pix, tho!
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| the landscape is very lush and green |
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| boat repairs |
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| lock closing behind us |
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| ships waiting in line |
it was raining quite a bit as we went through at first, so i didn’t get out to snap til about halfway through…
big hugs and shout out to nino: so glad you are back in guitar lessons after a short break, bean! way to shred in the new year! make sure you thank grandpa for taking you – i know he looks forward to spending that time with you more than you know… dan the guitar player says to say ‘hi’… and i got you some panama habanero hot sauce with a panama-native-carved red, black and white monster head that fits on top of most standard hot sauce bottles… also got you and your papa some panama canal construction blend coffee beans – if it saw all those guys through building the canal, i hope that surely it will see papa through another day at kennelly keys and you through another day in the trenches of high school… “don’t forget who you are and what you stand for!” i miss you, love! talk to you soon! xoXoxxOOxXo, mama
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