Life, Liberty & Pursuit Of Your Boyfriend

Moving indoors for our next show, Dexter Freebish was performing in Candlelight Lounge. (We would end up seeing Dexter Freebish — a band, not a person four times).

Here’s a run-down of concerts on night one: Carbon Leaf (Lido Deck), Michael Tolcher, Tyrone Wells, Will Hoge and Marc Broussard (Paris Lounge).

During the Tolcher show, there was apparently some technical (sound) issues. Tolcher seemed pissed, so the Eminen cover was appropriate (I think it was “Lose It” but I can’t remember). We’ve seen Wells (opened up for Zak Brown Band at the House of Blue Cleveland), and he is such a great artist — loved seeing him at shows throughout the cruise as a fan too. Good guy. Will Hoge was meh. Marc Broussard, well, I’m surprised there were not more panties thrown to stage because holy-moly the soulful voice of this guy is penetrable. Heh. I always wanted to use that word somewhere.

Too bad the boyfriend woke the next day and was pissed he missed Broussard’s show. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS THERE. Did I mention “Buckets of Beer”?

It was COVERS DAY on deck, with every other band playing a set from a popular album and artist.

B-liminal kicked off the afternoon on the Lido Deck, with their brand of reggae-ish pot music? *blink* I guess, think Sublime as an influence. I’m not sure how exactly to describe the music, but it was fun party stuff — wholly different than other bands on the boat.

Round up of the remainder of Day #2 shows: Sun Domingo covered The Police. Oval Opus (OHIO!!!) did their own set. Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers played Tom Petty’s  ”Full Moon Fever.” Mostly unknown hits, which I appreciated (even if everyone around wanted all his music of the Wildflowers era). Blackberry Smoke, a Southern Rock band totally kicked the party into high gear. I couldn’t listen to the music while checking out the promo CD — just difficult to get into the mood for genre of music — but live, it’s a completely different experience. Kudos to these guys. Good, good times.

(brief dinner, change for St. Patrick’s celebration)

Perverts. Don’t watch me undress.

Back to St. Patrick’s Day/Covers Day. “Fleetwood Hazel” played the entire Rumours album from Fleetwood Mac (I wrote a bit about that over at Addicted to Vinyl — Matt is also pissed that it’s taking me eight years to write music posts about my trip). Sister Hazel also gave a shout out to… The Cleveland Browns?! I think one of the guys from the group is hometown bred, but I didn’t catch who. Matt?

At some point during the day — could have been a bathroom break, since our room was nearby the Atrium. But I digress… Ken (Block) and Drew (Copeland) sang “Happy” acoustic and changed the words to dedicate to THE MAN of the Sixthman crew — the one-and-only, Cappy. It was an epic moment.

Shortly after Sister Hazel’s Rumours performance, we booked inside to see Tyrone Wells again, before heading BACK outside for Gaelic Storm — who are my new faves. (And coming to Cleveland’s House of Blues next Thursday!!!). Oh, and they sing my and AB’s song. I mean, our anniversary is ON St. Patrick’s Day, so is there anything more appropriate?

There are two ways to watch a Gaelic Storm show.

Exhibit A: dressing the part.

Wear green: get lucky!

Exhibit B: drinking the part.

Mel + Jameson = Best Friends 4Ever

I know, you’re thinking… “WHA? Another costume change?” Well, no, this was the next night (Mardi Gras), at another Gaelic Storm concert on the boat. But let’s get to the part where I’m swigging from a community bottle of Jameson. Good thing alcohol kills all what ills. There was little evidence of my drinking the night prior. Pseh. Right.
Both exhibits lend little to the true Irish tradition of St. Patrick’s Day, but certainly enhance the greatest of yearly holidays on the calendar. Especially when it’s JANUARY. Oooh, that means I get to celebrate it AGAIN this month (you know, since it took me until March to finish this post)! Sweet.

Gaelic Storm is great fun live — encouraging everyone to drink and get on stage. Almost everyone was in some sort of St. Patrick’s Day appropriate attire (or just wearing green, as it were). Hilariously, someone dressed as the ACTUAL St. Patrick (he was called up on stage too). Storm also referenced “the only black guy on the boat” cheering along in the audience. It was kind of funny, as Patrick (from Gaelic Storm) exchanged jokes with the crowd.

“Be quiet, St. Patrick - Shut up, black man.” was by far their funniest live moment. Seriously, the demographic point was spot on — this cruise was filled with 1,998 white 20-30-40-somethings. And (I saw two) a black men. Also in the audience were three guys dressed in all green — like “Green Screen Men” in head-to-toe bodysuits. Patrick laughed at them on stage, “Where are your penises?”

Oh, and again, back to Mardi Gras night (which I’ll get to, dammit!), on the left is Patrick from Gaelic Storm:

We hung out into the wee-wee hours.

One of the best things about a cruise is being able to eat whenever you want. If you don’t feel like 24-hour pizza, order something from room service. On our first night of the cruise, here was my late-night order (apparently for breakfast the next morning?): Cheerios AND Cinnamon Toast Crunch (no milk), a giant carafe of coffee, wheat toast, some bran-ish muffin, honey & strawberry jam (that looked eerily like chocolate). And a banana. Right. Decisions are made famously at 4am.

Day #3 and #4 are coming soon. This time, I promise not in another two months.