{"id":3314,"date":"2014-08-22T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T17:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3314"},"modified":"2014-08-22T10:50:30","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T17:50:30","slug":"round-table-charlottetown-pei-08202014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3314","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Round Table \u2013 Charlottetown, PEI \u2013 [08\/20\/2014]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chocolate_by_Juli_SnowWhite\"<\/a>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\u2019re trying to ask something they\u2019re not 100% sure about how to ask\u2026<\/p>\n

Oh hey, Shaughnessy, meant to ask you \u2013 I\u2019m trying to organize a band dinner for the \u2018Cats, and I was wondering if you would like to join us?<\/em><\/p>\n

Me? But\u2026I\u2019m not a \u2018Cat?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah, I know, but you\u2026kinda are. I mean you\u2019re always with us, and you\u2019re so super supportive and I know Amras would love for you to be there\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m flattered then\u2026but only if you check with him first\u2026I don\u2019t want to actually invade on band territory or anything<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry\u2026I will\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

And he did, apparently he told Amras that I\u2019m something like the 5th<\/sup> Beatle ;), Amras agreed of course \u2013 I somewhat knew he would, but I\u2019m very sensitive about not treading on the band\u2019s time together. I am, after all, not officially a \u2018Cat, 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.<\/p>\n

Then I got a knock on my door this afternoon after shift, I hadn\u2019t 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\u2019s neither of those two people, it\u2019s Johe, telling me that the dining room has just called him back, and that they have an opening for 7\u2026in 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

blink\u2026<\/p>\n

You called Amras?<\/em><\/p>\n

No, you\u2019re the first one I found, \u2018cause your door was open\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay\u2026hang on a sec<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

First paying gig: how old were you, what was it, and how much did they pay you?<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2019t quite know how he got there, I think he went in the back of an unmarked van \ud83d\ude1b ). I naturally assumed they\u2019d skip me, because I\u2019m not a working musician at the moment, nor have I ever been. I mean yes, I\u2019m a musician, I\u2019ve been paid to perform<\/em> but I\u2019ve not really been paid to sing<\/em>, except the one time I was hired to provide entertainment at a wake\u2026my 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\u2026<\/p>\n

Sis, what about you?<\/em><\/p>\n

Me?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Um\u2026okay\u2026but my first performance gig wasn\u2019t music, it was acting, I don\u2019t know if it counts<\/em><\/p>\n

It counts<\/em><\/p>\n

Um\u2026okay then.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2019ve ever done. I would have just told them about the wake, but I didn\u2019t land that gig until I was 21, and I\u2019d been performing so long before then that it would feel weird to list that as a \u201cfirst\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/em> there, and then there are the specialty deserts that you might get once a cruise if<\/em> you\u2019re 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<\/p>\n

Could I have the baked chocolate soup please<\/em>?<\/p>\n

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 \u2026souffl\u00e9? I don\u2019t really know how to describe it, except perhaps heaven in a glass\u2026I just handed it around the table.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll\u2026um\u2026take that back before you actually try it.<\/em><\/p>\n

The piano player hands the flute back to me, raises and eyebrow and puts her spoon in her mouth\u2026and immediately just closes her eyes.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s why I asked for it back!<\/em><\/p>\n

At which point Amras just looks at me, and I hold the champagne flute out to him.<\/p>\n

Oh my god<\/em><\/p>\n

I know right!<\/em><\/p>\n

Death by chocolate, whilst among friends\u2026so<\/em> not a bad way to go\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019re … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,4,77,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cat-chronicles","category-below-the-waterline","category-east-coast-adventures-2014","category-summer-contracts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-Rs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3316,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions\/3316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}