Monday Jan 28th

With our first late night behind us and the first full day at sea ahead of us we got up around 7:30. With both of us up we went up for Breakfast at the buffet on deck 9. At 10, BNL was having a naked photo up on the lido deck. Everybody would go up to the lido deck in their robes and the band was there too and when the cameraman counted to 3 everybody dropped their robes for the photo. They did it last year and about 500 people showed up. This year there were about 1000 people. Yes we did it last year and again this year. We have the pictures to prove it although you can’t really see us at all. After that we went to our room and got dressed then we walked around to get acquainted with the ship.

We just hung around and relaxed the rest of the morning and early afternoon as there was nothing scheduled. Amy enjoyed soaking in some good Vitamin D by the pool. We ate lunch at the buffet and were going to try to get in a nap. On our way to the room we noticed a line forming for the Adriatic Lounge. Nothing was scheduled here 'till the evening. Upon asking someone what the line was for we found out that the Brothers Creeggan were playing at 3:30. We than noticed the signs marking the schedule change. We still managed to get in a 20 min. power nap before heading to the show. BNL bassist, Jim Creeggan and his brother Andy make up Brothers Creeggan. Andy Creeggan was a founding member of BNL but left the band in the mid 90s. This year Brothers Creeggan were rounded out by Kurt Swinghammer on guitar (a solo artist performing on the cruise) and Ed from BNL on drums. The Brothers Creeggan show last year was a highlight of the cruise and it was again this year. Great show. Andy and Jim are very talented musicians but when they play together it is remarkable.

After the show was over we went back to our cabin to get changed for dinner as it was a “Green Dress formal” night. Amy had her green dress and I had my green shirt and we went to dinner around 6. The formal night dinner is usually the best as they serve lobster. We had our lobster and it was really good, way better than last years. I guess we made an impression on the waiter as he had an extra lobster dinner that he gave us.

After dinner we planned on staying in Adriatic lounge all night. Starting at 7:30 with Howie Beck followed at 9 by The Vanity Projects (Steve from BNL’s side band) and finally at 11, the Songs of Paul McCartney w/ Steven Page from BNL and Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger. We got there about 7:15 and got really good seats. Howie Beck started at 7:30 and he was OK. The best part was that his band was Tyler, the drummer from BNL, Joe Pisapia, the guitarist from Guster and Ryan Miller the lead singer from Guster on bass. If we didn't have as good seats as we had we might have left early. The Vanity Projects came on and were awesome! Steve really puts on great show. His songs are really different from BNL but no less rockin'. A couple of guys from the New Odds came out and played with them. It was really strong set.



We didn’t know what to expect from the Songs of Paul McCartney but I really enjoyed it. Steve played guitar on the left of the stage and Sean played piano on the right of the stage. They each told stories of why they liked the songs before they played them. It was really fun and the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves as well.

It was almost 1am when the show ended and we as we did almost every night we headed up to the Lido deck for a snack and a drink and check out who was playing on the Lido stage. Tonight it was Thinbuckle, Kevin, the keyboardist from BNL, side band. They were really good but we didn't stay long as we had to go back to the cabin to get some rest for Grand Cayman tomorrow as we have to be at the charter place around 8am.