Salt Touched

In and about the delightfully semi-organized chaos of backstage during the opening show this week, the following (or at least approximately the following), the party band drummer approached me somewhat awkwardly, that kinda sweet awkward way people have when they’re trying to ask something they’re not 100% sure about how to ask…

Oh hey, Shaughnessy, meant to ask you – I’m trying to organize a band dinner for the ‘Cats, and I was wondering if you would like to join us?

Me? But…I’m not a ‘Cat?

Yeah, I know, but you…kinda are. I mean you’re always with us, and you’re so super supportive and I know Amras would love for you to be there…

Well, I’m flattered then…but only if you check with him first…I don’t want to actually invade on band territory or anything

Don’t worry…I will…

And he did, apparently he told Amras that I’m something like the 5^th Beatle ;), Amras agreed of course – I somewhat knew he would, but I’m very sensitive about not treading on the band’s time together. I am, after all, not officially a ‘Cat, nor will I ever be unless my voice changes from show tune to pop over-night, and I always try to be aware of the fact that I share my big brother with his job. Anyway, said drummer put in said request to the dining room, and because this is a very busy cruise with high guest demand for reservations pretty much everywhere, none of us really thought anymore of it.

Then I got a knock on my door this afternoon after shift, I hadn’t even bothered to close it as I was pretty much planning on heading right back out again on some random errand. I turned to the knock, thinking it was Amras or my cabin steward, who are pretty much the only people who ever knock on my door. But when I pull it open, it’s neither of those two people, it’s Johe, telling me that the dining room has just called him back, and that they have an opening for 7…in 15 minutes.

blink…

You called Amras?

No, you’re the first one I found, ‘cause your door was open…

Okay…hang on a sec

So I ring my brother, and wince when he answers the phone having obviously just been asleep which always makes me feel guilty, but at least the promise of proper dining room food was worth waking him up for. That touched off the chain of phone calls, which led to all of us sitting around one of the biggest tables in the lower level of the dining room, clinking glasses, tearing into Alaskan King Crab legs, and going one by one around the table with the question of who played what when.

First paying gig: how old were you, what was it, and how much did they pay you?

Some very random answers came out of that question: two punk rock bands, one jazz group, one busker, oh and one gig for the FBI (Amras claims he doesn’t quite know how he got there, I think he went in the back of an unmarked van 😛 ). I naturally assumed they’d skip me, because I’m not a working musician at the moment, nor have I ever been. I mean yes, I’m a musician, I’ve been paid to perform but I’ve not really been paid to sing, except the one time I was hired to provide entertainment at a wake…my resume is full of community theatre, professional theatre and semi-pro theatre, plus two commercials. But, my big brother was not about to leave me out…

Sis, what about you?

Me?

Yes you.

Um…okay…but my first performance gig wasn’t music, it was acting, I don’t know if it counts

It counts

Um…okay then.

So I told the table about working a circus exhibit for 6 months, and how that led into my semi-pro stuff, which ultimately led to Rocky Horror, which remains the best show I’ve ever done. I would have just told them about the wake, but I didn’t land that gig until I was 21, and I’d been performing so long before then that it would feel weird to list that as a “first”

Whilst this was all going on, we were polishing off the main course and they came around to take the dessert order. Now, when you go to the dining room there are deserts that are always there, and then there are the specialty deserts that you might get once a cruise if you’re lucky. As soon as I opened that menu I knew precisely what was ordering, because it basically jumped off the page and screamed my name

Could I have the baked chocolate soup please?

I was the only one at the table who ordered it, but when it arrived in a champaigne flute and turned out to be more of a …soufflé? I don’t really know how to describe it, except perhaps heaven in a glass…I just handed it around the table.

I’ll…um…take that back before you actually try it.

The piano player hands the flute back to me, raises and eyebrow and puts her spoon in her mouth…and immediately just closes her eyes.

Yeah, that’s why I asked for it back!

At which point Amras just looks at me, and I hold the champagne flute out to him.

Oh my god

I know right!

Death by chocolate, whilst among friends…so not a bad way to go…

Every week at the beginning of the new cruise we have a departmental meeting. It’s one of those things that’s required by head office even though we rarely have anything that we really need to talk about – the entertainment department on my current ship is one of the top (if not the top in some sections) in the fleet, and we work like a well-oiled machine. However, the meetings are required, and it at least gives us all a chance to see each other in one place, introduce new faces, and go over the previous cruise’s comments and ratings if anything needs addressing. Even if it’s just a “well done guys, we did it again”

It’s also announcement time. If any of you remember what it was like in home room in high school when you all had to sit and listen to the principal read out the day’s activities and postings over the PA, it’s much like that, only we’re all adults and hey – we’re all entertainers – which means we utterly talk back. We shouldn’t, but we do. Today perhaps more so than usual.

You see, the ‘Cats have this set…this set on Charlottetown day which everyone detests, because the darn thing hardly ever runs, it always gets cancelled due to weather, or technical issues or something, and I usually end up ordering Amras and myself lunch and just chilling out until official word comes down that once again we have all come back from port early for nothing whatsoever. Except a hot dog. Aaaanyway, there’s a point to this, and I’m getting to it I swear. The all aboard time for Quebec has been drastically altered this cruise in order to allow us to make clearance under the bridge that allows us to get out of the city, the day has been shortened by several hours. We were all sitting in the meeting today, listening to our supervisor explain the effects this was going to have on various people…and this is what brings me back to that troublesome “jinxed” Charlottetown set;

Soo…good news in the world of the ‘Cats, this means the Mussel Bake set is a no go this week…

And he’s completely unable to finish his sentence as every ‘Cat in the room, including me (hey, I’m still the ‘Kitten here), erupts into roof-rattling applause. Seriously, we cheered, as in full on whooped and hollered. I think at one point ‘Gale was actually praising heaven. The supervisor just blinks, laughs and looks at all of us

Come on guys, it’s not THAT bad a set

YES IT IS!!!!

Oh honestly…

So we have an unexpected near full port “off” in Charlottetown, I’ve no idea what we’re going to do with it, but we have it.

So that’s cool.

Since my computer was being held prisoner by the fact that Amras had taken it downstairs for me after our gaming session this morning and then promptly locked his key in his room, I had nothing to really do in the gap between the end of my afternoon shift and the start of dinner hour, so I hung around and watched the rehearsal for the opening night show. And laughed, and laughed and laughed…rehearsal for a show you perform every single week often leads to a special kind of insanity, not only are people marking (that’s normal), but people make up their own crazy variations on choreography, occasionally a singer will randomly lip-sync to someone else’s part while they do the actual singing off stage (such as what happened this evening), and all the while the band is standing in place at the back, trying ever so hard not to crack up…

Yes, out here we definitely put the fun back in dysfunctional…