Last trip through the Canaries

There ought to be a law that I have to follow about keeping up with my writing. I’ve been doing some, but I haven’t been very systematic about it, like I was on the Star, where I kept a journal that fed the blog. I’m near the seventh week of my contract on QE2, and although adjusting to the ship has been tough, I think it’s time to get the old daily or at least a couple times weekly routing going. 

I’ve had some health problems, probably the result of the whole Orpheus fiasco, with my blood pressure cresting at just under 200 over 100. The doctor aboard the ship has been patient, and I brought it down to normal because of the drugs I got from Dr. Moran before I left Austin. 

There have been several challenges otherwise, but nothing serious. The thing about having high blood pressure is that you can get sent home any time they decide to. I’d been obsessing about the implications of being sent home, and that’s not a good idea. Not only will you leave an unfulfilled contract, probably meaning you won’t work again, but there’s that little matter of getting past security at Heathrow with 2 saxophones over my shoulder. That’s enough to raise my blood pressure all over again.

This ship has its moments. When I ran into Kerry at the Colosseum in Rome and told him what I’ve been doing, he said he’d heard that the Queen’s Room was a brutal gig. I enjoy it, though. Three hours of face time is enough to help me through a lot of difficulties in my playing. The guys in the band were strangers, then cordial, then they all came together musically. Well, there’s still a problem with Pedro, who is trying his best to make the gig and the band into something they are not, which is more hip but not the point. 

The other band is another story. Everybody does their job, a part of which is complaining about the musical triviality of the acts. But much of it is good-natured kvetching, because otherwise why the hell wouldn’t guys in the show band make their own shows, in light of their superior musical tastes. (The desire not to stand out is strong in the herd mentality that is musicians’ lives. Fear of flopping might also have a lot to do with it.)

I’m sitting in the Grand Lounge for a rehearsal of Kyle Esplin’s show, which is something I was on the other side of on the Star. Between Kyle and Mac Frampton, no piano was safe. I remember all the complaining Kyle generated because he was Scottish and did Jerry Lee Lewis and played the piano and had inferior charts and aside from the fact that each criticism was demonstrably right, it’s pointless to criticize the acts. It’s an exercise in futility. They’re acts and we’re musicians and there are few transfers processed across that membrane. 

And then there’s the individual musicians, like Sian the harp player from Wales, Simon the chauvinistic Brit from Cornwall and Frankie the Israeli loudmouth who plays piano and sings with the reverb at painful levels. 

We in the Queens Room band get a lot exposure to the Gentlemen Hosts, who are there to keep the single women dancing. I’ve been wondering if they ever got lucky, and maybe at some point between now and when he leaves I’ll be able to ask Cornelius Cousins from New Orleans what the deal is. I know they pay their way at reduced rates. They pay their own way. They help out on tours in the daytime. But no idea right now. There’s a story there, though, somewhere. 

Last night, coming in close to Southampton, we had one of those tipping things happen at around 7:40. I was setting up my horns for the 8:00 set when one of the speakers that has a corner of the stage started slipping with the ship’s tipping, and finally fell. Not a problem in and of itself, but the line of fronts was in the way and so they went too, and along with them a mic stand and my flute, which I’d set up already and put on its stand. Just then Jim, the bandleader, came into the room and knew something had to be done, some decision had to be made, and went to find one of his superior officers so he could consult. The word came back from Warren, the cruise director, to leave the pile and play anyway. Which would have been fine, except the ship kept doing tips, so we were obliged to tip with it. Brian, the pianist, almost tipped backwards. Tentatively, dancers started to do their thing, but there was an almost comical incident on a quickstep where a couple was so driven by inertia that they had no choice but to tumble into another couple who were seated at ringside. The comedy was their faces as they danced by the band knowing that they were headed for a certain collision 10 meters away. Someone could have been really hurt, but luckily they had enough time to plan out their landing so the damage was minimal (though I’ll bet the lady had a few bruises). But clearly someone could have been hurt. Jim, to his credit, closed the dance floor and suddenly and unexpectedly we were playing at a jazz club to an attentive audience of non-dancers. Too band we didn’t think about taking advantage of the situation and modifying the repertoire. We could have lost the tango medleys. 

My mood darkened. Clearly the cruise director was not reasoning well, making us play when the ship was lurching side to side. I have many thousands of dollars of equipment on the stage, to say nothing of my health, and I was risking all in this situation so that there would be dance music in the Queens Room. I believe in fighting the good fight, but this is ridiculous. 

All forgotten now, I’m in an upstairs Starbucks sipping coffee and NOT using their T-Mobile connection, which costs 10 pounds for 24 hours of internet. I’ll be hoofing it to the internet place in the class C mall’s basement as soon as the coffee’s gone. 

This is the place where the QE2’s cruises, which to date have been to the Med and the Canaries--basically from the dreary, gloomy Southampton, change. We’re going to Oslo, Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Zebrugge on the cruise starting this afternoon. Then a 2 day back to Zebrugge. Followed by the long march to the Caribbean, where we’ll be having sea days galore (including Christmas and New Years days).We’ll be back in Southampton in the middle of January and off we’ll go to the World Cruise.