A CCSM Reader Lands a Job!

Congratulations and good luck to R., a friend and reader of CCSM, who recently landed a piano gig on a ship running eastern Caribbean cruises for the winter.  As I told him, I couldn't be more excited if I were going myself.  R. has been working hard toward getting this gig and I'm very proud of him.

R. got the gig directly through the cruise line, as opposed to auditioning thru a talent agency like Proship, Oceanbound or Landau.  He has also been given two months notice before leaving, which is more than most talent agencies are usually able to give (I was given 2 days notice before I was first sent out).  That also means he'll be skipping the 8-12% commission to the talent agency, which I'm sure he's feeling good about. 

R.'s is a real success story and I'm glad to be able to make this announcement.  He's been working on this for months.  I'm sure that'll he'll be back here with some insightful questions and thoughts before he goes and I look forward to that as well. 

Congratulations!

Posted 8/19/2008 | General Info | Comments | Email Me

Thanks Everyone

I put together a new welcome page this morning for people that are just visiting the site for the first time. 

I like to think that as the market for cruise ship talent agents becomes more competitive, agencies are getting better at helping musicians get to their ships with all of the information that they need.

While I'm on the subject, I really want to hand it to Marco at Oceanbound Entertainment.  His website and blog are also another great resource for cruise ship musicians.  I've heard nothing but good things about him from other musicians, so I think he might be the guy to go to for gigs right now.

Marco's sites not withstanding, as I say on the welcome page, this website fills a void - an informational gap.  And not just that, but I hope fills that gap in an honest way, as opposed to the crap info that you often get from the cruise lines themselves. 

Primarily, though, this site stays alive because musicians keep visiting and saying it's a useful resource.  I've received some great encouragement in the comments recently.  Check out some of these:


Thanks boys, it just warms my cockles to hear that kind of encouragement. 

There has also been more interest site-wide in sponsorship and advertising recently, which is also encouraging.  I know that might sound obnoxious, I assure you I don't have any interest in selling out my readers.  I actually think that it could be a good thing for everybody.  I don't like to push this stuff too much because I don't want this site to become too commercial, but I've found recently that because of the size of this site, it's actually possible to get some deals for my readers. 

On the front page you'll see a box under the fold with the heading "Useful links for CCSM readers."  I'll put a copy of it below too.  Check out the links there.  When I find discount or promo codes on music gear I'll post them there.  A kickback comes back to CCSM when you buy something and that, of course, helps with the cost of this site.  If you've found the info here useful, I would totally appreciate it.  I'm proud to be able to provide all the information on this site for free.

Thanks everyone for your support!  Keep reading!

Posted 8/17/2008 | General Info | Comments | Email Me

Photos of Athens 2004 Olympics

I'm in the Olympics mood after writing an earlier post about attending the Athens Olympics while working on a cruise ship.  I thought I'd post a few photos of that time.

The panoramic views are the Acropolis.  Note that the swimming venue has neither ceiling nor walls, as previously alluded to.  Also included is tennis, gymnastics and a wicked soccer match.  Argentina schooled Italy in the end 3-0.  Argentina went on to win the gold.  

I dig the turtle shot.  No other reason for that one. 

Click on the photo to see them.  You will be taken to flickr.com.

Posted 8/16/2008 | Travel Destinations | Comments | Email Me

Search Function Added

Do you wonder if your question has already been answered?  Is your answer stuck somewhere in the middle of the thick stack of posts that were put up before you got here? 

I understand.  I always feel that way too when I get to a blog.  Blogs can be hard to navigate sometimes. 

Google has recently refined its search feature for websites, and I'm mostly happy with what they've done.  I've added it to the site so that you can search for exactly what you're looking for. 

Go to the ARCHIVES and you'll also see this box just above the fold.  You can find it there after this one moves off the front page. 

All of the search results, minus whatever ads Google puts up, will all be from this blog.  Pretty cool.

Posted 8/15/2008 | General Info | Comments | Email Me

Attending the Olympics on a Cruise Ship

One of the coolest things I've ever done on a cruise ship - possibly one of the coolest things I've ever done in my LIFE - was to attend the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The deal was that Greece won the Olympic bid, but soon realized that they would be embarrassingly, woefully, tragically under-prepared for all of the visitors when the Olympics actually came.  This is true - and it actually did kind of happen like that.  For instance, rumor has it that the swimming venue for 2004 Olympic games was supposed to have a roof on it.  In the end it didn't even have walls.  The Greeks, as happened frequently, denied ever having intended it to be any other way and talked with pride about how lucky every one would be to enjoy the Grecian sunshine during the Games.

You may not see the humor here, so let me remind you that it was, like, 4,000 degrees Kelvin at the Summer Games that year.  3 of the top seeded marathon runners nearly fainted or puked from heat exhaustion - one of them was from the sun-drenched country of Kenya!  Needless to say, an outdoor swimming venue was the LAST thing spectators wanted.

Another fear the Greeks had was that there wouldn't be enough hotel rooms for the throngs of people that would come to the games.  That's where we came in.  The Greeks secured dozens of cruise ships to sit in the nearby harbor of Pireaus and serve as floating hotels.  Our ship was the newest ship in the fleet at the time, and probably for that reason, they sent us.  The Queen Mary was also there (the U.S. basketballers stayed there), and many other ships.

And then no one came.  No - people came - but it wasn't nearly the number of people that everyone expected.  Remember that this was 2004 - the first summer games after 9/11, and the world was petrified that there would be another terrorist attack at the games like had happened in Moscow and Atlanta.  People especially seemed alarmed considering how close Greece is to Turkey and the Middle East.  

The Greeks were more concerned about this than anybody I think.  To get into my ship there were 4 security check points, two of which were manned by Greek soldiers with automatic rifles!  

My cruise ship was to be the floating hotel for the Russians.  The whole place was supposed to be FULL of Russians.  We were all excited about this.  We couldn't wait to see what kind of havoc that would cause, as there was only one person in the crew - the watch salesman - that knew how to speak Russian.  Half the crew barely spoke English, let alone Russian.

Of the 1,800 Russians we were promised, 200 showed up.  

It didn't matter to the cruise line - a Russian company had rented the place for the 2 weeks and paid in advance.  It was the Russian company that was in a bad mood.

I had the time of my life!  I went to see swimming (I saw Michael Phelps and the Thor-pedo!), tennis, women's gymnastics, sailing, beach volleyball, soccer and others.  At night we'd go to the Olympic Village, during the day we'd visit the Acropolis.  The place was electric - news camera were everywhere, athletes walked around night clubs with their medals, everyone spoke a different language.  And I was getting paid to be there!

Tickets started out expensive.  I paid $75 for my first ticket - for one of the swimming pre-lims.  I made $50 a day back then, so I was originally very concerned about what I would end up spending altogether. But it soon became clear to everyone that huge swaths of tickets were going unsold and they lowered the prices almost immediately.  In the end, tickets were usually $10 or, in some cases, totally free.

My only responsibilities during the 2 weeks of the Olympics were to play 30 minutes a day - and not even every day.  Every couple days the showband would play a short jazz set on the pool deck at midnight.  Except we didn't really play because there wasn't a soul within three decks of the pool.  Mostly we sat around and told jokes and complained about spa girls.

It was a great experience and I have really fond memories of those two weeks.  I'm glued to the tube this week watching the Beijing Olympics, I totally love this stuff.  Now and then they show a clip of the Athens Olympics and I think, "I've was right there!"

I heard from two people just today who both said that their favorite post was about the transportation at the 2004 Athens Olympics.  I thought I'd dig it out and put it up here again in honor of the 2008 Olympics happening this week.

Go USA!!

*****************

Originally posted on August 14th, 2004:

Your Own Olympic Transportation Kit

Couldn't make it to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece? Wish you could experience the thrill of the games, the athletes, the unity and the city? Well now you can with this at-home, do-it-yourself Olympic Transportation Kit! With this new kit, you too can feel like you are really headed for your first Olympic event!

Materials needed:


Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the tram and bake at 100 degrees for three stops. At subsequent stops add even more people to the tram until every one is at least touching 3 other people while standing. Have poles hanging from the ceiling for stability, so that everyone, while grabbing the above poles, must have at least one armpit open to the air. The smell at this point should be thick, but not yet inescapable.

Now have the tram stop and feign a mechanical error. Make the stop last at least 10 minutes and do not open the doors. At this point look up and you'll notice sweat dripping down your forearms. Soon you will feel the sweat of the Spanish woman next to you drop onto your left foot. By now the smell should be thick, heavy and warm. It should smell strongly of a poorly-run puppy store and vaguelly of vinegar.

At this point, you'll start to feel claustraphobic, and you will want to kill someone, preferably the person that made the tram stop. Have no fear though, because this anger will soon subside and change into a feeling of anxious dispair. Instead of wanting to kill someone, you will now wish that, instead, someone would kill you and put you out of your misery. The Spanish woman's sweat should drop onto your foot again, and the pungent smell of the tram should now smell like a humid horsefarm. The tram is still stopped, and the doors have not opened. You, yourself, should be sweating perfusely by now, preferably onto the people around you as a sort of retaliation for the Spanish sweat that is now slowly creeping between your toes. Make sure the air is not working, the windows do not open, and the doors are broken and locked shut.

Continue this for a few more moments, including the 100 degree heat. Have a baby behind you start to wail. You notice your shirt is soaked with sweat and you can now feel your own sweat dripping down your back and legs. The sun and heat should be beating down on you, even though you are inside.

Now it's ok to make the tram start moving again. Try to get off at the next stop, but make sure that more people come on - so many that you are unable to leave the tram yourself.

Travel three more stops and finally fight your way though the wet bodies and throw yourself out the door.

Congratulations! Your have arrived at the stadium for your Olympic event! Enjoy!

And take a taxi next time.

Posted 8/15/2008 | General Info | Comments | Email Me

RSS Feed

This RSS feed was acting a little buggy, but it should be fixed now.  See if it works. 

Just to clarify, subscribing to the RSS feed means that you can have new posts automatically delivered to you.  For me, they end up in my Mac Mail application on my computer - they show up like email. 

See also: www.whatisrss.com

****************

Read the Chronicles frequently?  Subscribe to the new RSS feed:

Subscribe to Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Musician

Posted 8/15/2008 | General Info | Comments | Email Me