Hello Sixthmaners and boaters alike, this is Grande Rojo blogging from the high seas.  Ape asked for a quick blog, so here it goes:  my liver hurts… my pockets are lined with Carnival casino chips… we started eating grilled cheese sandwiches because we can’t do pizza anymore… I am getting a new sharpie tattoo everyday… Ashley has a crush on me… The LC (Lauren Craig) is madly in love with gelato milkshakes… I love ice cold beer and double vodkas… I think craps is the greatest game ever… BNL has been absolutely amazing… I miss my Rock Boat Family… Johnny Van Zant called me brother… Sixthman has done an AMAZING job and I marvel in their work ethic… Oakhurst has been a blast… The Cleveland Stever is learning the ways of the force… Babs shakes her booty like a bowl full of jelly… Jill Bessey loves her some Coors Light… Red loves the Grilled Cheese… there are many more things I would love to write, but I am still foggy… if you are coming on Mayer or Cayamo, I can’t wait to meet you…

Kappy… aka Grande Rojo

Hello to all of you! I can’t begin to tell you how smoothly everything has gone this year! Except for one wee wind glitch last night which caused some moves to shows….it’s all been magic. It’s been great fun hanging out and chatting when I have time and especially meeting alot of the message board folks who I only knew by their chat names. Thank you for being the best fans in the world and I sure hope to see you “somewhere near here” in about 12 months…;)….Happy Trails….Fin

PS – Kappy is naked.

 A few of us got off Ships & Dip III yesterday to fly back to Miami and meet the Mayercraft Carrier folks. I was sad to leave (especially since Guster is my absolute favorite), but am also eager to see what the next chapter holds. The 3 of us, April, Joy and myself debark in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We have a van taking us and hour and a half away to Montego Bay to catch our plane. We were running late and worried about missing our flight.

I don’t know if our driver knew this and was trying to save us time, or if this is just how he drives, but he passed no less than 55 cars on the drive…on two lane roads…with oncoming traffic…and goats. It made my toes curl. Literally. If there had been a speedometer, I’m sure we would have been going 85 miles an hour. Ok, maybe not, but in this rickety van, the engine sounded like it was about to pop through the hood, and an hour and a half felt like a lifetime. 

So after our ride, we make it to the airport. Luckily we get to check in quickly, get through security quickly and through Immigrations quickly, and were left with enough time to have a celebratory margarita to toast life and the fact it continues despite the oncoming traffic. 

Whew.

So, today is the Mayercraft pre-party. It’s feels very strange for us to be on the ground while the rest of Sixthman is still on the Victory. In my two-ish years with Sixthman I’ve always been in the middle of it, even on the Rock Bus when the rest of them were in the office (I know, I know, except you, Lauren).

As crazy and exciting as the last 3 cruises have been, they are flying by before I know it. The Alumni Show on the Rock Boat with Marc Broussard and his short shorts and wheelies, watching Ricky Medlocke play Guitar Hero (high kicks and all), Tyler’s impromptu song with Guster about beautiful heartfelt music, cheese fries, hey there’s cuba, as referenced in Ashley’s earlier blog, and confetti cannons.

I sure do love confetti cannons.

But I did last night.  I blame Ashley.  And the casino.  And Oakhurst.  And the girl in the brown hat that kept pulling me into the middle.  And alcohol.  It’s always alcohol, right?

I’ve spent most of this trip in the production office working on behind the scenes stuff for Ships and Dip, as well as getting things prepared for our next two cruises…so I have missed a lot of the fun things going on.  Last night I was itchin to get out, so I started the night in the Casino with Big Kap and Cleveland, and ended up dancing the night away with most of the Sixthman staff and members of various bands.    You should see my moves.

Oh!  And guess what?!  We made it to Grand Cayman yesterday!  After years and years of trying to get there on The Rock Boat and never making it, we finally got there.  But instead of venturing off the ship and enjoying this elusive island, I stayed on board and slept.  So it’s still a myth and a legend to me.

Now everyone’s back on the ship, and we just pushed away from Jamaica.  Lots of great music tonight and tomorrow…and someone please send me some good luck for the craps table.  The Victory has not been so kind to my pocketbook.

Holla.

I’m quoting Ryan from Guster, who explained his strange, awesome life during their first set. Sitting on the Lido Deck, listening to the beautiful, heartfelt music of Sarah Harmer, eating a plate of french fries (to which a fellow guest apparently added chili and cheese to – brilliant!), and thinking about how surreal this all is, when over the loudspeaker Sean Cullen yells, “wave to Cuba!”. He’s right! It can’t get more strange and awesome. This monologue causes Tyler, who is sitting in with Guster, to break out into a jam recounting these events. …beautiful, heartfelt music….cheese fries….and there’s cuba…. This is, of course, hysterical. Speaking of BNL sitting in, these guys are EVERYWHERE. I seriously think they have cloned themselves, because one or another of them pops up in pretty much every show I have seen. Even their security can’t keep up. All in all, its just as Ryan said, strange and awesome. I can’t wait for more.

Cruise #3…let’s do this (Timeline style!)

Day 1 of the 2nd annual Ships and Dip III (yeah, try to work through that one.)

4:00PM – Lifeboat drill begins.

4:15PM – Lifeboat drill ends.

4:16PM – Everybody frantically runs back to the room to ditch their life jackets.

4:17PM – Everybody frantically runs up to the Lido Deck.  I haven’t seen people move this quickly since Pamplona (blogger’s note:  I’ve never actually seen the Running of the Bulls, but I imagine the people run really fast…the ones that make it anyway) Apparently some band named the Barenaked Ladies (henceforth referred to as BNL) was playing up there, and they’re quite popular with this crowd.  Who knew?

5:15PM – I scramble down to my room to grab my camera.

5:16PM – I wish I didn’t live on the first floor so far away from the Lido.

5:17PM – Quick break to replenish fluids.  Gotta stay hydrated.

5:18PM – Out of breath, I make it back up the 8 flights of stairs to the Lido Deck.

5:20PM – BNL takes the stage and plays for probably 95% of the guests onboard.  (I can only assume the other 5% got lost in this monstrosity of a cruise ship.  Lets hope they’ve since found their way).

6:20PM – I walk away absolutely amazed from my first BNL performance.  It was like watching a chorus in perfect unison, with the band as the conductors.  I think everybody in the crowd knew every word to every song, and sang them all loudly and proudly.  After seeing a guy jump naked into the pool at the pre-party, I knew I was in for a ridiculous cruise with some crazy Canucks and wild Americans, but I didn’t know they’d be doubling as BNL’s backup singers too.

10:30PM – After a few hours of actual work, I get to do the fun part of my job (actually the whole job is fun but some parts more so than others): make sure people are smiling, enjoying themselves, and then listen to some amazing music.  Tonight’s performance is another BNL performance for the alumni that came on last year’s cruise.

12:00PM – They continue to amaze me.  BNL just played a full set of requested songs.  Everybody in the audience put a song name in a bucket, the guys pulled them out one at a time, and played them immediately.  I’m pretty sure these next 5 days are going to kick ass.

1:00AM – Begin playing craps with Uncle Kappy and our accountant Brandon (B), both of whom I taught to play craps on the Rock Boat, and are now completely addicted.  Lauren (nicknamed “The L.C.,” our 4th partner in crime and craps) decided to take the night off from the tables.  She was greatly missed.

1:15AM – Realize that I should be charging money for these craps lessons I’m giving.

1:45AM – Almost fall over from laughing hysterically at B’s dice-throwing style.  Words cannot do it justice, it must be seen.  He is instantly the most famous person in the casino as everybody comes over to watch him roll.

2:00AM – Continue playing craps.

3:00AM – Continue to play craps.

3:30AM – They shut down the table, and I vow to never again play craps while under the influence of Uncle Kappy unless the L.C. is present.

4:00AM – Head up to the pizza kitchen/bar (re-dubbed the “Caligula Lounge” due to the odd placement of a pool directly in the middle of the place).

4:15AM – Laugh my ass off as Kappy challenges Zack, the banjo player from Oakhurst, to a game of jumbo chess (the board is built into the floor, and the pieces are 3 feet tall).

4:16AM – Zack beats Kappy in 4 moves.  Seriously. 4 moves.  It was like watching a very large monkey try to challenge Einstein to a thinking contest.  The poor guy never stood a chance.

4:30AM – Fall asleep and gear up for day 2:  Carbon Leaf, Guster, Gaelic Storm, Great Big Sea…and more craps.

All in a day’s work…

Seriously, how did I get here?

I spent the afternoon today hosting a 32-team flip cup tournament, complete with a full color bracket and every team in custom uniforms.  Josh Kelley and Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel were gracious enough to host, referee, and commentate.  These guys were hilarious.  Although there was no official winner for uniforms, I gotta give a shout out to my new friends, the girls of Team College, hailing all the way from Texas A&M.  A for effort ladies.  The eventual winners were the Buzz Killers, defeating the Slore Corps in a close final match.  Congrats!

A surreal moment hit me today halfway through the Sweet Sixteen.  As I’m explaining the rules to two teams, Boys Gone Wild (a super band comprised of Keith Kane and the guys from Stroke 9) started playing “Don’t Stop Believing” to a packed house on the deck below.  Immediately everything stopped, Josh and Drew grabbed their megaphones, and sang along to every word with everybody else onboard.  I don’t think it gets any better.

I realized today that the Sixthman family, and Rock Boaters in particular, go far beyond just yearly vacationers.  With year-long contests, endless message board conversations, and a constant desire to never grow up, this group of people has evolved into a way of life.  No matter what takes place for the other 360 days of the year, everybody reverts back to their days of youth (while those still in those days try to keep up) and forget all worries for a week. As Andy Dufresne says in the Shawshank Redemption, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really.  Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin.’”

These guys are livin’, and I’m just glad to be a part of it.

Hello rock boaters….Zac Brown here, and there with
you in spirit of course. First, my family and I want
to thank you for all of the great get well wishes and
prayers you have been sending our way. Let me bring
you up to speed….My wife, Shelly, is on bed rest in
the hospital until she delivers our baby girl, and
well, it is way too early for baby Lucy to be
delivered. We are hoping Lucy can wait a couple more
weeks and we will be clear of most of the
complications that can come with premature births.
Again , we are fortunate to have such great friends,
family and fans thinking of us. However,  health care
in general is an issue I would to tackle with you and
other folks in the world at a later date. This has
definitely been an eye opener….

But back to you on the boat…please look for the rest
of the band members of ZBB. In particular,  John
Hopkins and his new fiancé Jennifer Janowski (sorry
ladies) and buy them a drink. And you can look out for
my brother Mike….this is his first time on
the TRB and we are trying to live vicariously through
him this time around.

Lastly, we made some kick ass shirts for this boat and
you can still hit up the merch store and get one as
well as a copy of the new CD “The Foundation” if you haven’t
done so already. Look after each other out there and
we will get back with you in a few days with an
update.  So drink a Red Stripe for me in Jamaica and play music all night
long at the 24 hr bar.  I will mss you all but it is great to be able to take care my lady,

This will be a great year for us to get to your town so let us know where you guys are and be watching the Myspace page for
free downloads.

Peace Love and Chicken Grease,

Zac Brown

i dont think there are 4 wiser men than those who i had the pleasure of encountering, all together, today.
And I know there aren’t 4 more complimenting, yet contrasting, personalities on the boat as these.

hear me out. dean from toad, keith kane, matt nathanson and stephen kellogg. absolutely hysterical.
the end result of the hour long rendition of ‘how much do you know about your music, their music, and rock n roll music’ was nothing less than perfect. here is my recap:

keith admitted he wore female underwear sometimes
matt nathanson’s tour manager said she laughed so hard she peed herself
stephen kellogg couldn’t decide if he enjoyed being a contestant better or the host better
i personally saw three guests literally fall out of their chair in laughter
word spread like wild fire and members of other bands flocked, asking to be involved next time
all three participants received carnival trophies that are plastic and gold-plated and im sure will secure a permanent spot on their mantels
dean somehow went from having the lead with 980 points, to having 10. and was not happy with the new scoring method
stephen affirmed the new scoring method, and insisted dean was cheating

i could keep going, but its 2:15am and there is still plenty of music to see.

please check those guys out. all of them. although im not sure anything will ever give you a taste of what happened onboard today.
hilarity at its finest.

For the past couple of years, Sixthman has always tried to do something special for repeat guests. Usually in the form on an onboard spending credit, but this year we wanted to give everyone something a little more special. After months of discussion, budgeting, and designing, we came up with a universal alumni plan that had longevity and that we thought could eventually span over all of our cruises. We decided to present it to The Rock Boat first to see if they were as excited about it as we were.

Turns out, they sure were.

In this new program, when you are a guest of a certain number of Sixthman events, you earn a prize. Could be a t-shirt, track jacket, or bathrobe in the case of TRB, but we also had something extra special for everyone who had attended more than 3 previous events (that included over 600 people!).

We put a call out to a bunch of our artists asking them to participate in an exclusive alumni show for this group of people. The response was great, and we ended up with a concert jam packed full of talent – Ken and Drew from Sister Hazel, Marc Broussard, Pat McGee, David Ryan Harris, Marc Broussard, Josh Kelley, Aslyn, Dave Yaden, and Oakhurst. (Incredible, right?) The whole group (nicknamed the Semi-Circle Jerks) got together for a couple of short rehearsals to work through some cover tune favorites.

All of the alumni filed in and most sat on the floor. We encouraged floor seats because the show was completely unplugged. And, at this point, no one knew who was playing. After the guests were in, Andy and I introduced the new band, and everyone went nuts. It was the perfect mix for this crowd.

The Semi-Circle Jerks played The Weight, Seven Bridges Road, The Joker medley, and Rock Boat favorite – Drift Away. The whole show gave me such chills. It was a powerful moment to hear the band play completely unplugged and the crowd singing along to every song. Really amazing.

The artists were completely hilarious, ribbing each other and having a lot of fun the entire time. And, if you could picture Marc Broussard with a tight blue shirt, navy blue spandex shorts, a sweatband on his head, skating around the stage on heelies after every song, maybe you could get a better idea of the fun we al had.

We had a couple people record it, and got a little bit of video footage, so when that’s loaded and ready to go, I’ll be sure to post it somewhere. It was too good not to share.

Alumni, thanks for coming back year after year. I hope you know how much we appreciate you. Newbies, now you have something great to look forward to from now on. You know, besides the actual cruise, right?

The Semi-Circle Jerks

Alumni Show Crowd