 |
| happy piano bar regulars at aussie wine hoe-down |
 |
happy aussie party-goer and piano bar friend with cork hat -
(i'll call him bushwhacker bob) |
much warmer outside and a bit more humid as we head north over the coral sea to cairns (pronounced ‘kaenz’ in australia, almost like ‘cannes’). i received an invitation to attend the huge mariner appreciation event (our most traveled guests) between 5 and 9pm, and the lido crew worked round the clock transforming the forward lido deck into an australian vineyard paradise… lots of cushy seating areas, mood lighting, many aussie wine tasting stations and designer aussie nibbles: meat pies, mudbugs (crayfish), shrimp, crocodile, emu and kangaroo even!
 |
| aussie "bugs" (crayfish) |
 |
walls of fresh fruits
|
also a real aussie band embarked in sydney for this event specifically… so nice that we were all included! since all my beverage staff was busy for this event, i didn’t have to do my 7-8 hour… i went up to the shindig around 6 and stayed 'til it was almost time to work… great get together; i am definitely a shiraz fan! the wine and bar were hosted all night for everyone which must of cost a mint! my boss was standing in a barrel of grapes for nearly 4 hours (i don’t think I’ll be having the grape juice tomorrow! hee hee!)… the aussie band was great and traded sets with the didgeridoo guy who was also quite good. everyone had a blast and complimented the crew who had worked overnight putting everything together…
 |
| aussie pub band (you could hear irish roots) |
 |
| didgeridoo man |
 |
| my shipboard boss stomping grapes |
i finally went to work full of wine, chocolate, shrimp, and just a wee bit of kangaroo... i practically hopped... did my nine o’clock set, featuring novelty songs (i.e. 'mairzy doats,' 'three little fishies'…), so it was a lot like summer camp... for people who drink! the people who did come were, indeed, pretty happy from the hosted party earlier, so everyone had fun…
staff were also invited to a private staff and officer appreciation party hosted by our ceo and wife on the lido deck from 10 – 11. i broke my ‘no break’ policy to at least make a brief appearance there… mr. and mrs. ceo were very nice – they apologized for not coming to the piano bar (accordng to her, their typical hang) but every moment had been so very scheduled… they live in bellevue, it turns out, and have a 16 year old learning piano with a teacher… i told them i have a musical teenager too, and, when in town, would be available if they ever needed someone else to give him any perspective or drop a lesson or two for whatever i could show him about chords and stuff, so they gave me a card to email them… it was exciting to find out (and meet the honchos from) that one of our sister lines, a smaller and more exclusive all yacht all suite line, are merging offices and some staffers (including my boss), which might open a little booking diversity into the mix… chatting with ceo of this line, who was also there, he said they do look for duos and solo pianists, and he said he had heard me play at the private party earlier and gave me a thumbs up… i told him bob and i might like to discuss doing the occasional duo gig between larger ships and got his name and will contact my seattle boss when i return… this is exactly the sort of chance bob and i are working towards, so once we have a grand world under our belt (the best our company offers), we will talk with the home office to see what type of possibilities exist to get at least some time out as a duo… maybe we can alternate big and small ships... i feel lucky to maybe have really been in the right place at the right time! stay tuned to see how it turns out… cheers! -di
No comments:
Post a Comment