day 41 – at sea

today was a pretty good day all in all… last night we moved an hour back (= more sleep) and that felt good… i had a lunch date with my writing mentor/guru/pal patricia at the pinnacle grill (the nice joint) and we talked about all kinds of stuff – it is nice to get to know someone who is in another type of creative profession… when i went to the writing group today, we are doing project proposals, and i pitched one of my ideas and it went over very well – i am not saying what it is, because i may actually follow up on pursuing it and don’t want to jinx it… another published author in our group actually ran after me down the hall and said i’m nuts if i don’t craft a proposal and pitch it somewhere, as it is “high concept” which equals very marketable in the genre i am pitching… needless to say, i was encouraged, excited, and feel it will give me a project to work on on sea days and when at home so i can get a good sideline rolling while i continue to play and travel with bob… cross your fingers, and i will keep you posted! 

since we have a couple of sea days in a row, and we now all know each other fairly well, i figured it was time to throw down the first guest open mic night.  i have been dropping commercials for it for a few days, letting them know it’s coming and encouraging them to get excited and participate… it has been my experience that the open mic is more fun for them than karaoke, it’s more like a cabaret night, and i do a work session in the day with them to get ready for it, so we can figure out what key someone is in, pick out good songs they know, some folks even want to do a hula or a reading of some sort… you never know what you’re going to get… anyway, we had the get together for interested folks at 11, and it was quite the eclectic mix!  we got a blues guitar player, an accordeonist, singers, comedy sketches, poems, a pianist/singer husband wife duo who also told a good joke… the turnout was great, we were packed even in the hall and the bar behind… another successful guest show!  i do them because i think it’s a great souvenir memory for people to go home and remember that they got to perform in the club for all their friends… i left the mic open in case any others would be inspired to come out of their shells, and we had a few… lots of fun!  my favorite, sharon, who sang at her 80^th birthday party on an alaskan cruise last summer, had actually said she didn’t want to join the show last night because the ship was rocking a bit, but i knew we wouldn’t be able to keep her off the mic!  she got up and held onto the piano and sang ‘embraceable you’ and charmed everyone… after the show, we did a bunch of singalong stuff, and i kept a fairly good crowd for the rest of the night… a feel good evening for everyone…

i’d like to encourage everyone who is a regular here in the pages of the global piano bar to please consider becoming an official follower of this blog (see ‘followers’ window at the right hand side) as this will push me up the blogspot ladder… if not, no worries… i do appreciate your feedback on facebook, as it is easiest for me to respond to your notes there… if you are not on facebook, it’s easy to do!  just go to facebook.com and follow the directions or get one of your kids or grandkids to show you how easy it is!  hope everyone is well!  missing everyone near and far, and looking forward to getting to australia soon!  ciao, diane