I guess I should start by introducing myself.  A newbie to the blog, and overall newer member of the Sixthman group, hello, my name is Lisa.  Also known as Switchblade Siouxsie, and partly the reason I came to know Sixthman.  That’s right, I am in the cult of rollergirls that roam the Sixthman hallways.  I’m not sure if I was hired for my strategic thinking, strong organizational skills, or my ability to knock people over on skates.  But…something tells me it was the latter.

However I came to be a part of Sixthman, I’m glad it was in my destiny.  I have met some very interesting people, as well as spent some very interesting evenings with this group.  While I started as the trusty receptionist/office manager smiling to everyone as they walked in the building, I have now blended my way into that stealthy area of ninjas that practice their skills all day in the back of the office.  Here is where I learned to answer a ring with super lightening fast speed, hook up all the faithful travel agents with a mission, switch between live chat and email with covert simplicity, and even dabble a bit in the PR/Marketing arena.

So, now that you know me and my place here, be ready for some Rockstar blogs coming your way.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold a candle to Joy’s daily fiascos, or Cole’s speedy scooting abilities, but I’m sure you’ll get to know a little bit about the sane side of the call center.  The side where tattoos are cool, dogs are fun, skating is easy, calls are always answered, and home is somewhere over the rainbow.

-Lisa

Steve and Lauren discuss two new artists on the Rock Boat, an exclusive announcement of an artist on Cayamo 2010, and the special Sixthman events taking place the week of May 17th.  Following the discussion, we highlight an interview of Don and Donnie from 38 Special talking about their experiences and sharing some old stories while on Simple Man Cruise 2009.

Sixthman Podcast #16 - 38 Special [ 15:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I send out the orders for fun.

And with the help of a few friends, I can conquer the world with my sweet moves. This past weekend, I saw the Electric Six. You may have heard of them- they had that song about gay bars… you know the one. Well, these guys are still touring and rocking faces off across the country. They were even touring with one of my favorites- Bang Camaro- for a while, but not for this show. In fact, the only thing that could have made this show rock any more would be if Bang Camaro had opened up for them. But, alas… I did not leave un-rocked.

My boyfriend and I headed out for dinner first, which obviously meant we had some fine, high quality beers. We then headed to the venue, Lenny’s Bar. If anyone knows about Lenny’s, you know that “fine” and “high quality” are rarely associated with the beer selection. After a few PBRs, I ran into a fellow rollergirl, and the night was officially getting crazy. I think she may have gotten into a fight with a drag queen next to the secret bathroom. I’m not sure, though. We started out the show in the back, enjoying the people watching, but by the end, I was shoved up against a guy with smelly dreadlocks. That’s how I rock.

This blog doesn’t have any deep spiritual meaning. It’s not particularly funny. It definitely doesn’t showcase the best of … anything really. Except pure, unadulterated GETTING MY FACE ROCKED OFF. That show was so loud, I’m still asking everyone to repeat everything.

Just to give you a taste of how awesome this show was, check out this video. And yes, that is also how I dance.

Electric Six – Dance Comander

-Barb

One thing I have always loved since I was little is a festival. The local vendors, the junk food and, now that I am all grown up, the beer. This weekend we went to the Inman Park Festival…quite possibly the best festival Atlanta has to offer. The highlight of the festival every year is the parade. It’s a cavalcade of all the most fun, weird and awesome community groups in Atlanta. Besides our beloved Roller Girls, the Seed and Feed Marching Abominable has to be my favorite part of the parade. If you have never seen them, you don’t know what fun is all about.

These folks dress in the craziest outfits…in drag, in feather headdresses…you name it. No outfit is too crazy. And besides that, they are a marching band like no other. They don’t hold back and just let it all hang out.

People whoop and holler for these guys. They get so excited just to see them coming down the street.. For my part, I got a kick watching Rachel flail her arms and squeal in excitement every time a feather came close to tickling her face and the pure joy the Seed and Feeders got from performing for such an adoring crowd.

It got me thinking – how many people can say they have a hobby or an activity like that in their lives? Something that gives them a chance to be as silly as they want to be, feeds their soul and gives other people joy in the process? At Sixthman we have the honor of giving people a few days out of the year to let loose and I am lucky enough to have a little one that REQUIRES me to be as ridiculous as I can possibly be. But what I want to know is besides our cruises, what are you all doing to let your hair down for the rest of the year. What is feeding your soul?

A big focus for us this year is to assign ourselves ownership of specific responsibilities so it is clear how each person can impact our mission.  When we do this, things get done.

At our recent retreat, I decided to try something I had been thinking about for months.  I am not talking about camping.  I am talking about a session during the retreat where I had identified 26 items that needed to be owned by someone in the company if they were to ever have a chance of being executed.  All these items were outside the scope of anyone’s particular job description but I felt were instrumental to our culture.  I called it the “Garage Sale” because it reminded me of things that were lying around that could be valuable to someone who would put it to good use.

A few examples were:

Sixthman University – leads the development of a book list that the company will read over the course of a year.  Everyone that reads the books will earn additional participation in our profit sharing pool.

Expense Patrol – reviews monthly expenses (travel, entertainment, office supplies etc) and identifies ways for us to be more efficient.  This can include challenging anyone for questionable “starbucks” visits.

Port Service – identifies opportunities for us to invite guests, artists and our staff to participate in activities during our stops at different cruise ports that enrich the local community in some way.  This was inspired by what we witnessed Guster do on board Mayercraft Carrier 2 when they delivered instruments and performed a show at an orphanage in Cabo San Lucas.

On one afternoon of the retreat, I printed a summary of each item on a sheet and hung the sheet to the wall inviting each team member to list their names on the items that interested them the most.  At 10pm that evening, we held an auction where everyone had 1,000 Sixthman Dollars to bid on items of interest.  See Steve’s Blog about the item Cole won. It was one of the funniest things I have witnessed in our history because Cole is one hell of an “Auctioneer”.  Each item had 2-3 people who were passionate and willing to go “all in” and forcing a “rock, paper, scissors playoff”.

It was a great experiment and has already helped give people clearer understanding of what they “own” at Sixthman.  The irony of it all was that to make sure we actually followed through on this program, the last thing we auctioned of was the “Garage Sale” itself.  Lauren won and she is owning the entire initiative.

Do you know what you “Own” at your job?  If not, don’t you think you should know?

It’s no secret to all of you sixthman fans out there, that our company is growing. Over the next year, we will try new things, make new mistakes, overcome new challenges, and meet lots of new people like you.

We will launch new events.

One of the biggest charges I feel personally for the company is how to properly invite these new people to join us on these new events. I mean really, we are asking them to trust a company they don’t know – to put on a ‘cruise’ event with a band or two or three they are really passionate about (and probably some they have never heard of) – and make this event one of the top 5 purchases of their year.

For most, if we don’t nail this “invitation” of sorts, or the initial announcement of a new partnership between sixthman and Band X, it will be nearly impossible to win them over later. So, with that charge (and a very big undertaking that has kept me awake already a few nights lately), I look to you, the people that already get what Sixthman delivers, for insight. So, here it goes!

I want you to imagine that you have never heard of any such company called Sixthman. (what in the world does that mean anyhow?!?) Imagine you have never been on a cruise. And certainly never thought about spending money on a ‘music cruise’. Sure, you’ve heard of some… but it’s just not your thing.

Imagine you have been a fan of Band X for a few years now, been to a crazy amount of their concerts, bought all the tour t-shirts and are the first (ok, top 100) to participate in any fan-centered contest, promotion, or special event.

NOW – here’s the hard part. Imagine Band X is about to launch a music cruise. How would you want to be ‘invited’ to join them? Or how would you want this music cruise experience to be announced to you? On a personal level, think hard about what would make feel from minute one that this is something you COULD NOT MISS.

If it’s too much to share here, email me. I truly feel your input will help us shape our approach, and that excites me.

-Ape, Aprilg@sixthman.net.

The Simple Man Cruise may have embraced the “family reunion at sea” concept, better than I’ve ever seen it embraced. Not only because many brought along their own families, but because the kinship within the guest community is so viral, you can’t help but become a part of it. It flourishes through out the year on the message boards and at shows but comes to life once we sail away each year.

I know a thing or two about family reunions myself. Mine might not have involved 23 of my favorite bands, an all you can eat buffet or stops at tropical islands. However, it did include 23 members of the Humes’ family who drove and flew in from around the country to celebrate the “leader of the pack” (my Grandmother, “Lea Lea” as we call her) 80^th birthday. Now, unlike many Simple Man cruisers who technically have the option to become a part of this gigantic family, we are all stuck with each other. And by stuck, I mean we are all lucky enough to have been born into a family who thrive off of each other, connect over the phone, internet and with letters while we aren’t together, and look forward to those limited but incredible moments that we get to spend all together as one big family.

It was nearly 10 years ago that all 23 of us were in the same place. Many have moved away from our hometowns, entered middle school, graduated from colleges and high schools, made career moves, traveled around the world, dated losers and found some winners, dyed our hair, got the braces off, got the braces on ( me! ughh, 24 with braces is not cool no matter how you spin it) but somehow we all ended up together for a weekend, in the midst of our crazy individual lives, to reconnect and recharge ourselves. I’m not a math wizard but by the time it took 23 people to each make 22 individual connections (someone has to know that formula!), have a piece of cake and sing happy birthday twice because it takes a long time to blow out 80 candles, we were already being whisked away from each other and back to our daily grinds. That seems to be the way it goes though, you always want that extra day, or that double encore. Although, I have to believe that you should always leave something wanting more, or else the charm of it’s presence would be lost.

I will certainly miss everyone; hopefully not for another 10 years, someone has to get married or have a milestone birthday before than. But like every genuine family, I know that even when our physical company is absent we’re there for each other with love and support and the distance keeps us interesting. I really believe a family is what you make it.

The “Word” dictionary describes family as : fam·i·ly n - 1.a group of people living together and functioning as a single household, usually consisting of parents and their children or  11. a branch of the Mafia or of a similar large criminal group

I disagree with the 1^st, the 11^th is more like it, disregarding the Mafia and criminal group. Our families are branches of us whether by blood or by common interests, they keep us who are and remind us when we’re not.  They will travel by plane, car or BOAT to be together. Who’s at your family reunion?

- Melissa

So, a few months back I told the “Ticket Stub” story, the tale of the Great Flood that took out basically my entire musical history. It was a drag. Well, I’ve been working hard to overcome the grief and resulting disinterest, aversion, and hesitancy to get back in to music full force. I’ve been to several shows, I’ve bought several albums of bands I’ve never heard of and I try to think about getting back on track throughout my day. One thing I also decided to do was to re-visit my history. WHY I got hooked on music in the first place.

Let’s take it back to “Free To Be You and Me”. I got it as a gift when I was about 8 years old. I was instantly hooked. So much so that when I reheard it several years ago I still knew all of the words, all of the melodies, and most importantly, all of the feelings. Fast-forward about 8 years. Two words: “Purple Rain”. This is the first album, as a whole, to completely AFFECT me. Top to bottom. Front to back. Track 1 to Track 9. I was all in, as we say here at Sixthman. I was 16, I was in between, and “Purple Rain” said it all. Next thing you know, I’m a junior in college and “Nothing’s Shocking” by Jane’s Addiction came along. It fell neatly into a specific time for me, with specific friends and very specific, mind boggling, thought altering moments. It is truly the album that changed my life, for nothing was the same after that record spun on my turntable every day (multiple times) during the summer of 1989.

And now here I am today. There have been other records to find and capture me. “Songs for the Deaf” by Queens of the Stone Age would be the most recent. If you can call 2004 recent! So the search is back on. The ears are open again. I feel excited to discover the next record to get under my skin! If someone asked you “What album changed your life?” what would you say?

–Carla

Sixthman team members Lauren and Steve talk about their favorite memories from last week’s retreat, discuss new performers added to our 2010 events, explain the Sixthman Wikipedia project, and highlight an interview with the guys from Wideawake.  Following a song from the band, Steve and Lauren talk about some new updates on the Elvis Cruise taking place this fall.

Sixthman Podcast #15 - Wideawake [ 24:27 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

HEY! I’m Cole. I work for Sixthman. You might have seen me on a ship or three,  either as the guy with the really tight green pants on, the dude with the Mexican wrestling mask, sombrero, and prom dress, or the guy announcing onstage dressed as…….well, you get the picture.  And somewhere along this timeline, I became employed with the company.  Personally, I think the green tights and mustache sealed the deal.  I did see Andy sneek a peek….

So welcome to Sixthmanland! Where chocolate flows, music listens, and scooters fly like carpets. It’s interesting working here, to say the least.  I can run the office in 14.6 seconds, scooter it in 17.6, and leave in exactly 8 hours (that’s 1,636 laps!).  I can’t steal any cups or plates though, cause they got all these Sixthman logos everywhere. But  I can get some sweet dog tags from some cruise two years ago, but the ladies haven’t been impressed with anything yet.  I guess Steve already cashed that check in. Anybody got any good ideas?

Anyway, when I find the good stuff, I’ll be back in touch. Is that mankini Mayer wore around here somewhere?

Cole Slaw