I’d give you the play by play on day 2, but frankly I can’t remember that far back, so we’re going to start with day 3: far more entertaining and easier to remember. This is a long one, so make sure you grab a snack and start reading.
8:30AM – I wake up bleary-eyed, thanks to Zac Brown and his 8-hour late night jam, and head down to the gym to meet up with a certain somebody. This certain somebody decides to stand me up and sleep through our gym appointment. I don’t want to call him out, so I’ll just give you his initials: ANDY LEVINE.
10:00AM – After a hardy breakfast, I head up to room 14000, one of the garden villa suites on the Norwegian Dawn, where 8 of the Sixthman ladies are spending the week. Wow. I note the grand piano in the corner and expect to spend many a night playing here making beautiful music and absolutely butchering songs vocally. Can’t wait!
10:30AM – Because we’re currently docked in Samana, Dominican Republic, we all have most of the morning and afternoon off. I grab a book (rereading the 4 Hour Workweek) and sit up in the private sun area in that garden villa. Not bad for a Monday.
12:00PM – I run into my parents, who are on the deck and have made approximately 400 new friends thus far. My mom says, “Hi Steve, I want you to come meet our new friends (turns around, and introduces me to the dozen new people she and my dad are hanging out with). I’ve invited all of them to our Kentucky Derby Party on Cape Cod.” Do you THINK they’re having a good time?
4:00PM – Okay that’s enough sun, and I’m. Because I’m on 3 hours of sleep I figure it’s time for a nap.
4:15PM – I wonder if I’ll be able to fall asle….
4:16PM – Zzzzzzzzzzz
6:00PM – Allllllright! Much better, let’s get back to business. I head down to check in on Lyle Lovett’s final performance.
7:30PM – He ends with “If I Had a Boat,” and I’m blown away once again. Great performance, hilarious banter in between songs; Lyle is a true professional in every sense of the word. Everybody in the crowd got a good leg workout; I think I counted five standing ovations.
8:00PM – I grab dinner with the parents up in a nice steakhouse on board. I walk past Zac Brown and his entire family at one table, and then past Emerson Hart and all of his friends before we get to ours. Only on a Sixthman cruise.
9:00PM – 10 oz. fillet, Caesar salad, and a side of asparagus. Considering my dinner at home is either burgers cooked on a George Foreman grille or reheated spaghetti, I have no problem saying this is one of the most delicious meals I’ve had in a long time.
9:15PM – Back to work: ushering for Brandi Carlile and then the Indigo Girls.
9:45PM – Brandi – wow. Her vocal range is ridiculous, and I am once again blown away with her show. I love when the crowd sings along with the three-part harmony in “Turpentine.” I still get chills down my spine every time she hits that last crazy note in “The Story”
11:00PM – Indigo kicks things off and the main room goes bonkers. This is one of my first Indigo experiences and I’m very impressed. Love the harmonies ladies! Yeah, my job is pretty fun.
12:30AM – After our staff meeting, I run by Dazzles and catch Emerson playing “Sugar.” I applaud myself for my timing. Good work Steve. I then applaud Emerson for being such a great musician. His talent is way better than mine.
12:35AM – Let’s hit the craps table and try to turn around my luck on these cruises.
1:00AM – I’m an idiot.
1:05AM – It’s okay, I didn’t want that money anyways.
1:15AM – Let’s go check in on Zac Brown. I find my Dad (who we’ll now refer to as “D” because it’s after midnight) at the bar. Apparently he took a two-hour nap after dinner to make sure he’d be awake for Zac’s show. My mom opted to stay up and ultimately ran out of steam so she went to bed.
3:00AM – Zac is still playing, and I’m standing around cracking jokes and drinking beers with D (who has told me “Zac Brown is the man” at least twenty times), Andy, Kappy, and John the cruise director. I’m exhausted, and hoping my Dad is ready for bed. I’d never live it down if I let him outlast me.
3:15AM – Steve: “Hey Dad, I think Zac is winding down, want to get out of here?”
D: “Yes, let’s go gamble!”
3:20AM – Yup, the casino is still open. The craps table is shut down, but there are still a few blackjack tables open. D sits down at the table, and I designate myself his financial adviser. On the first hand, the dealer pulls an eight card 21, and D asks him “what, did your mother not like you?” Our dealer Bogdan immediately yells at my father for bringing his parents into this. Woops, we make a note to refrain from involving Bogdan, his parents, immediate family, pets, cousins, girlfriend, and anything else related to him in any of our jokes.
3:45AM – Reinforcements have arrived! Red and Mike from Sixthman show up to the table, and the momentum shifts in our favor. Don’t call it a comeback.
3:50AM – D: “Steve should I hit?”
Steve: “Um, yes. You have 7.”
4:15AM – Red and D have exchanged approximately 47 high fives thus far. Everybody is winning, we’re all having fun, and I’ve kept my father up approximately eight hours past his bedtime.
4:30AM – They tell us we have to stop playing because they’re closing the casino. Probably a good thing; we’re currently up a lot of money and at this point in the morning things could go downhill very quickly.
4:45AM – D goes to bed, and I head up to the office of Alan, our sound/video guy who has recorded all of our podcasts and interviews thus far. He has just finished editing our podcast for this week, which is now up on iTunes and in our blog.
5:30AM – Time for sleep. Tomorrow is a port day in St. Thomas!
Yup, just another day at the office. Pretty typical Monday actually.
-Steve