November 18 & 19 - Tampa and Sea Day

This week’s itinerary has been reversed – not sure why, maybe it has something to do with the Thanksgiving Holiday. One thing’s for sure: there are a LOT of families onboard this week, including the lead male singer’s entire family (25 of them altogether!) and 180 kids. It’s a FAR cry from the usual nursing-home crowds we have! It’s almost like being back on Carnival again… almost. ;)

Here’s where we’re headed this week:
Sunday – Sea Day
Monday – Costa Maya
Tuesday – Sea Day
Wednesday – Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Thursday – Georgetown, Cayman Islands
Friday – Sea Day
Saturday – back to Tampa

Worthy to note: On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the Veendam will be in port together with Carnival Conquest and Carnival Victory, and I’m planning to have lunch with several of my friends who are now serving on those ships – hooray! I already have so much to be thankful for….

Last night the band and I finally attempted to do “Conga” for a public audience. And not just any audience… the first night’s “Let Us Entertain You” (LUEY) show audience, where each performing group gets a chance to give the passengers a sample preview of what to expect throughout their week. We’ve been rehearsing this song on and off for a few weeks, but it’s been tricky, as the band had separate charts from the vocal charts that Dan and I had; they were in different time signatures and had different forms… it’s been a chore to pull this song together. At first I really didn’t think this song was at all appropriate for the LUEY show, as there are separate solos for each of the seven players, which leaves a LOT of time for me to just stand there and…. What? Shake my ‘groove thing’? Look lost? I’m not a choreographer, and I’m surely not about to make up some ridiculous dance breaks…

So for a long while, I’ve been resistant to the idea of putting this song in this show. But reluctantly I must admit: it’s not only a crowd pleaser, but it makes my boys very happy, especially our percussionist, as they all get a little machismo-rush with all the solo material they get to highlight. It would be just plain cruel not to indulge indulge them just a little.

And so when it finally got to the point-of-no-return, when I realized that we were going to do this song for the LUEY show whether I liked it (or looked like an idiot) or not, I did the best thing I could do with my perceived lemons – I made lemonade. Late on Friday night we had a last ditch rehearsal of the song, and I started to pay attention to who played what and where throughout the song, in all my lyrics breaks. I had to find a way to get the spotlight off of me when I wasn’t singing. Ideas were cooking.

Throughout this week, God has been humbling me, in a great way. I’ve had a lot of passengers stop me to compliment me on the job I do, that ‘celebrity factor’ I had such a hard time getting used to on the Fasc. I remember I learned to use it as an opportunity to compliment my dancers, and throw attention to all the hard work that they put in onstage as well as behind-the-scenes. I recognize how much harder they work than I, and I wish they were given more applause for it. So I do what I can with what I’m given.

Well, I’ve easily slipped into doing the same thing here, for my boys. I know how hard they are working and how little it is noticed… my job is easy by comparison. In any given 90-minute set, I might sing 5 to 10 songs, but they are playing for the entire 90 minutes. They play for me at deck sets, sailaways, cocktail sets and nightclub sets, but also for all the production shows, and all the fly-on entertainers. And that doesn’t include all the countless hours of rehearsal they dedicate individually! So some days I look at a schedule and I can see they have two rehearsals, and four sets, half of which don’t even require my attendance. To me, four sets is great! I love getting to work hard, and it’s just enough to be fun without being a burden. But these guys are really working their tails off! How come nobody knows it?

So when I started to put this idea together with all the solo opportunities in “Conga,” it finally clicked. This is for the introductions show… if all these singers are going to get their names mentioned and get their personal moment in the spotlight, then I’m going to make it my job to see that these boys get their names and their moments too. After the Friday night rehearsal, I ran back to my cabin and re-wrote a lyrics sheet with the new introductions written in. Essentially, as each guy plays his solo, I introduce him by name and instrument, and the spotlight hits him. It’s supposed to induce applause for him. I made a spotlight script and ran copies of it straight up to the lighting guy, Emiel, to give him as much prep time as I could.

Even so, I was still feeling anxious. This whole big change was happening very last minute, and at the LUEY run-thru on Saturday morning, we still weren’t completely on the same page with the form of the song. We ran through it three or four times, and only finally got it right the last time. But as it was our only day to be in Tampa, and we had four more sets still to go, we decided to call it quits and hope for the best.

I scrapped any thoughts of trying to go into Tampa myself that day. Whatever “things” I needed would have to wait. I spent every moment between sets going over my new form and new lyrics. I put together my five-points choreography and memorized the script faster that way. I had woken up at 6:30 am and started with a cappuccino, praying all the while that God would not just instill confidence in me, but BE my confidence.

And eight hours later, it happened! The first LUEY show got wild applause, thanks in part to the lead singer’s family being there. ;) The entire audience was great! They clapped for each individual band member as he played his own solo, the spotlights all cued in all the right spots, and you could see the pride in each guy as he finally got the moment he’d worked so hard for and so deserved. Praise the Lord for His provision of a great idea!

And then the Evil One tried to throw us a curveball. As I was making my entrance for the second show, the sound guy accidentally cued up the next song and it started to play as I came out to sing! The band stopped, and I stood there, doing my best to keep my calm for what seemed like an ETERNITY as the mistake was recovered, and we cued up to start again.

But once we launched into it, I felt more determined than ever to make this routine work! Even as the opening lyrics were coming out of my mouth, my head was spinning the prayer that would see us through. Once again, the audience clapped in all the right places, and each of these boys got his due. At the end of the song, the collective sigh of relief from the band was palpable if not audible! Thank you, Father!

Overnight, all the hard work has paid off in the response we’ve received. Everyone from cast members to administrators to passengers, have complimented the idea of giving credit to each player. And at this afternoon’s deck set, all my boys were clearly ego-boosted. It’s all I could have asked for.

Now I’m feeling much more confident, even energized, about making “Conga” the standard intro song for the LUEY show. I love being able to give credit to my boys. And I’m humbled to give credit for the inspiration and completion to my Lord. Praise the Father!