Kid Rock, you are one hell of a host.

Yesterday will go down as one of the most memorable, interesting, and enjoyable days in Sixthman history. I will attempt to do it justice, but words can really only do much.

Here we go.

Pimps and h…ladies of the night.

Because this is a first year cruise, we weren’t sure what to expect when it came to theme night participation. Usually it takes a year or two for people to “get it” before we get a good majority involved. Sure, we’ll have a few people join in, but many come ill-prepared or just aren’t ready to pack crazy clothes for a vacation.

Not Kid Rock’s Chillin’ the Most Cruise.

I’d guess that at least 75% of the population on board participated in last night’s Pimps and Hos Night, including one creative gentleman who dressed up like Tiger Woods. If there was an award for best costume, he would have won in a land slide.

Seriously, I saw a ridiculous amount of leopard print and and giant floppy hats, fishnets and high heels, wide eyes and smiles. This crowd is here to party, and they are having the time of their lives.

Kid Rock’s Main Show

Last night was also our first main stage show of the cruise.

Wow.

Like a incredibly high-quality variety act, Kid Rock did it all: rapping, singing, guitar-playing, piano-playing, turntable scratching, jumping, dancing, and screaming. Remember that Sportscenter commercial where Lance Armstrong was on a stationary bike generating power for the whole office? If you could bottle Kid Rock’s energy from stage last night and use it to power the ship, we’d be half-way to Europe right now.

“Epic” is the best word I can come up with here, but it still isn’t enough.

The Crowd

Now, what happened OFF the stage last night made this a night I’ll never forget. Imagine 1000 pimps and hoes dancing in unison, waving their arms in time, jumping in sequence, and singing every word to every song, for two hours straight. Like a giant choreographed dance scene from a Hollywood movie, everybody knew exactly what to do.

It was unbelievable.

After the show ended, we sat around the office and shared stories about our adventures ushering the crowd during the performance. Everybody told a story or two, all of which were hysterical, then Sixthman team member Dave stood up, pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and said, “I have five stories to tell.” Unfortunately, none of these stories can be repeated in a public forum. By the time Dave was done, there were tears in my eyes from laughing so hard, and my jaw hurt from repeatedly falling all the way to the floor.

Like in the movie “Old School,” if there were kids present in the room we would have had to tell them “EARMUFFS!”

Ty Stone

I had the pleasure of introducing Ty Stone yesterday afternoon. Having never met the man, I went over to introduce myself and ask if there’s anything special he wanted me to say.

Before I got any words out, he gave me a huge handshake, grinning ear to ear, and said “I am having the time of my life on this ship. Honestly, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done…and I’ve done some pretty cool stuff! I seriously woke up this morning downright giddy.”

When the artists are having more fun than the fans, I know we’re doing something right.

Uncle Kracker

I was lucky enough to catch some of Uncle Kracker’s lido deck show last night. Happy to be alive, happy to be on the ship, and happy to be doing what he’s doing, Uncle Kracker kicked ass. After telling a hilarious story about Kenny Rogers, he covered “The Gambler” in such a way that the song became his own.

Sorry Kenny, Kracker one-upped ya.

At one point while standing behind the stage, I noticed a guy around my age in the front row of the concert who looked like a little kid on Christmas. Just one glance at his giant smile, which was permanently frozen on his face, and you could tell that he was continually telling himself, “there is NO place I’d rather be than right here, right now.”

When I can SEE that feeling on somebody’s face without having to actually hear it in words, I know we’re doing something right.

Blackjack Madness

After catching Mickey Avalon’s set up on Lido at 1AM (which I couldn’t pull myself away from), I met up with Kappy, Lauren, and Jenna (Lauren’s sister) for some blackjack. After treading water for about an hour, we were joined at the table by a man named Jay. Everybody’s luck immediately changed, and for the next four hours our table went on a hot streak that would have made Rainman proud. Now, normally I stay away from any gimmicky bet like the “Fun Pair,” but last night things were going so well and we were all having so much fun screaming “I’M FUN PAIRING IT UP!” that we all started throwing five bucks into the little circle above our normal bet.

By the end of the night, we had pulled all of the chairs away from the table so that we could run around screaming while doing the airplane from hitting the fun pair so many times.  Ridiculous.

So, Jaybird from Ann Arbor, thanks for changing the mojo at the table. And thanks for being the man. We’ll see you tonight, back at the tables, around 1AM when we’re done working.

Bahamas!

I’d write more, but I can hear Nassau calling my name. Time to go throw on a pair of board shorts, put on my sun glasses, and “go to work.”

I like my job.

A lot.

-Steve