Well, maybe not quite paradise, but it sure feels like we've been living the life of rock stars. What with not being at our ordinary jobs, having someone else cook for and clean up after us, just being able to hang out, watching concerts, drinking and socializing, being up real late, and sleeping in.
Ok, so maybe the plan to post the blog entry the morning after is a bit flawed... I'll have to work on that for next year. Believe it or not, doing it at 2 a.m. worked better. Huh. But hey, at least it's still the same day we got off of the boat. Barely. And yes, I said "next year" -- I've already handed in my pre-reserve. :)
This was a more relaxing day -- we were in port in Nassau, and like I said, there's not many concerts on board while in port. So I got to sleep in some and take my time getting out and about. Which meant breakfast was at 11. I ran into T. from Alberta there (we met him last year), so we visited while we ate, and speculated about next year's cruise. We did go into Nassau for a couple of hours -- I was on a bit of a mission (mission accomplished). Funny, last year we didn't leave the ship at all, and this year we did both times.
Once back on the ship we had some lunch -- at 3:30 -- then hubby headed to the theatre to see Saxon while I posted the day before's blog entry. I told him I'd meet him there. Well, by the time I got to the internet cafe and did my thing, I got to Saxon in time for the last 2 songs. Then it was up to the pool stage for Kix's sail away concert. We were 1 of 4 ships in port, and as the music started up, some of our neighbours on the Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Sea (parked right beside us) gave us the horns (\m/) (as opposed to the finger!). That was cool.
We went to the last meet and greet -- with Black'n'Blue, London Quireboys, Faster Pussycat, Dio Disciples (and Wendy Dio!), and...Queensryche!! So, yes, we did get photos of us with them (hopefully) AND I got Scott Rockenfield to sign his recipe too. :) So that is 4/4 for the recipe book! Woohoo!
We stopped back at our cabin and got packed up for leaving, then headed to the restaurant for dinner. I think it was 9 p.m. at that point. We skipped dessert 'cause I wanted to get a good spot to see Great White -- and I did! Afterwards, we met up with A&A in the Zebra Bar for our last concert of the cruise: Black'n'Blue. Loudness were close by in the theatre, so my husband disappeared in to see more of them for about 20 minutes. Everything wrapped up by about 1:30. We headed up to the pool deck to see what was happening and got photos of us with Joel Hoekstra, Russ Dwarf, and Michael Lardie. Some of JSRG, the Dio Disciples, and Lita Ford's band were hanging out there too. We finally accepted the fact that the cruise had come to an end, and called it a night about 3. And we had to get up about 6 in order to shower, eat, and vacate our cabin on time. Let me just say I didn't feel very human on three hours sleep.
The disembarkation also went faster this year too. So kudos to the MOR team and MSC for all of the improvements this year!
My husband kept running into rockers at the elevators/stairs: he rode the elevator with Michael Sweet; ran into Eddie Jackson getting off the elevator and they found their way to the pool deck together; and Biff and other members of Saxon climbed up 7 levels of stairs in front of him.
So, it was another very cool rock'n'roll concert cruise vacation experience! And we get to do it again next year! I can't say at the moment that I can't wait, because I'm still recovering from this one, but I have a year + to let the excitement build. And I'm sure that will start to happen once they start releasing more details.
Stay tuned for photos...but give me a week or two!
Ciao for now!
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Tuesday 19 March 2013
"Well, in the middle of the night, and the early morning light, you can hear them a million miles away..." (Def Leppard)
Oy, these 2 a.m. bedtimes are going to kill me! My eyes are so tired, it's getting harder to stick those little pieces of plastic in them every morning.
Let's take care of some miscellaneous biz first, shall we?
So far, we've had very smooth sailing and pretty good weather -- until today. We were already in port in Nassau when I (and probably a lot of other cruisers) woke, and it's overcast and a bit rainy. Hopefully that will change for the better. Saturday evening was the only time it was uncomfortably windy and cool (and I know it's all relative -- it was still a lot nicer than it was at home). Since then, it's been great: warm and sunny.
Also, I have gotten a few autographs -- just 3, which I realize isn't a lot, considering autograph hounds can really clean up on this cruise. But allow me to explain: someone my husband played in a band with way back told us about the "Mosh Potatoes" cookbook. And of the artists on board this year, Lita Ford, John Corabi, Michael Wilton, and Scott Rockenfield all have recipes in it. So. I have gotten Lita, John, and Michael to sign their recipes so far. How cool is that?!
Ok, time for Monday's recap.
It was beach day at our stop at Coco Cay. The MOR team have scheduled things differently this year -- there's not too much happening in the way of concerts on the ship while we're in port. So, we hung out on the beach for a while (where I composed the previous day's blog entry and read), had some lunch, then caught Great White's acoustic set on the beach. After that, we headed back to the ship. There was another cruise ship anchored not too far away from us, and I'm sure they could hear our sailaway concert loud and clear!
"Cinderella and Friends" played on the pool stage late afternoon. I should tell you that the concerts happen at 5 different stages, starting at about noon, and then it's non-stop metal music until 2 a.m. (Hence the late bedtimes.) Back to Cinderella -- Tom Keifer couldn't make the trip due to illness (all of us here wish him well), so they only played one show, with a bunch of guest singers (John Corabi, Ron Keel, guys from Faster Pussycat and London Quireboys), and did covers, everything from Judas Priest to Rod Stewart to AC/DC, and even some Cinderella. It was actually a pretty cool show. After that, we were able to eat dinner (at the real restaurant, as opposed to grazing at the buffet) before heading back out to the pool stage for Stryper. We went to our meet and greet #2, this time with Cinderella (!), Loudness, Jailhouse, Nelson (?), and...Great White!! :) I actually have photos of us with Great White on my camera!
After that excitement, we saw more of Heavy Mellow, then I went in for some LA Guns. And then it was Dio Disciples in the theatre. At midnight (yes, midnight), we headed back up to the pool stage for Queensryche again. They started late (by 40 minutes -- I think they waited until Dio Disciples were done), and I gave up at the 20 minute mark. We ran into one half of A&A there too. I grabbed a snack (more buffet grazing) before we went to catch some of Keel's set. Then we called it a night.
We did get the form to pre-reserve for next year's MOR cruise, but the only info they gave us was March 29, 2014, for 4 days. The rumours abound, of course (different ship, bigger bands), and I've been pumping my inside sources for info, but to no avail. I'll keep you posted, but anyone who's interested, make note of that date! (S. in Scotland, that includes you!)
Only one MOR day -- and tomorrow Great White play!! Wooooo!
\m/
Let's take care of some miscellaneous biz first, shall we?
So far, we've had very smooth sailing and pretty good weather -- until today. We were already in port in Nassau when I (and probably a lot of other cruisers) woke, and it's overcast and a bit rainy. Hopefully that will change for the better. Saturday evening was the only time it was uncomfortably windy and cool (and I know it's all relative -- it was still a lot nicer than it was at home). Since then, it's been great: warm and sunny.
Also, I have gotten a few autographs -- just 3, which I realize isn't a lot, considering autograph hounds can really clean up on this cruise. But allow me to explain: someone my husband played in a band with way back told us about the "Mosh Potatoes" cookbook. And of the artists on board this year, Lita Ford, John Corabi, Michael Wilton, and Scott Rockenfield all have recipes in it. So. I have gotten Lita, John, and Michael to sign their recipes so far. How cool is that?!
Ok, time for Monday's recap.
It was beach day at our stop at Coco Cay. The MOR team have scheduled things differently this year -- there's not too much happening in the way of concerts on the ship while we're in port. So, we hung out on the beach for a while (where I composed the previous day's blog entry and read), had some lunch, then caught Great White's acoustic set on the beach. After that, we headed back to the ship. There was another cruise ship anchored not too far away from us, and I'm sure they could hear our sailaway concert loud and clear!
"Cinderella and Friends" played on the pool stage late afternoon. I should tell you that the concerts happen at 5 different stages, starting at about noon, and then it's non-stop metal music until 2 a.m. (Hence the late bedtimes.) Back to Cinderella -- Tom Keifer couldn't make the trip due to illness (all of us here wish him well), so they only played one show, with a bunch of guest singers (John Corabi, Ron Keel, guys from Faster Pussycat and London Quireboys), and did covers, everything from Judas Priest to Rod Stewart to AC/DC, and even some Cinderella. It was actually a pretty cool show. After that, we were able to eat dinner (at the real restaurant, as opposed to grazing at the buffet) before heading back out to the pool stage for Stryper. We went to our meet and greet #2, this time with Cinderella (!), Loudness, Jailhouse, Nelson (?), and...Great White!! :) I actually have photos of us with Great White on my camera!
After that excitement, we saw more of Heavy Mellow, then I went in for some LA Guns. And then it was Dio Disciples in the theatre. At midnight (yes, midnight), we headed back up to the pool stage for Queensryche again. They started late (by 40 minutes -- I think they waited until Dio Disciples were done), and I gave up at the 20 minute mark. We ran into one half of A&A there too. I grabbed a snack (more buffet grazing) before we went to catch some of Keel's set. Then we called it a night.
We did get the form to pre-reserve for next year's MOR cruise, but the only info they gave us was March 29, 2014, for 4 days. The rumours abound, of course (different ship, bigger bands), and I've been pumping my inside sources for info, but to no avail. I'll keep you posted, but anyone who's interested, make note of that date! (S. in Scotland, that includes you!)
Only one MOR day -- and tomorrow Great White play!! Wooooo!
\m/
Monday 18 March 2013
"Livin' after midnight, rockin' to the dawn..." (Judas Priest)
This is just TOO COOL!! (Have I mentioned that yet?)
Ok, so it wasn't to the dawn, but it was well after midnight...just after 2 am when I got back to our cabin. After a particularly strong mojito. The halls were pretty quiet, but I did pass a silver bustier lying on the floor on my way to our room. ?! Some things you just don't want an explanation for, you know? My other half was asleep with the tv on. (Though I did just double check that hubby wasn't harbouring the bustier-free harlot in our room.) He had left me and A&A partway through Y&T's set -- called it a night around 12:45. We had all met up earlier at Loudness on the pool stage.
I guess I should start at the beginning of the day, not the end.
It was St Patrick's Day, so it was the wearin' o' the green for us. We caught a bit of the Rock'n'Roll Q&A with Mark Weiss (photographer), Dave Meneketti (Y&T), and Wendy Dio (Ronnie James' widow) -- there's a big auction on board for his cancer charity. We actually stopped in at the auction later, where a Tony Iommi-signed Gibson guitar fetched $7,700. Crazy. I caught a bit of Heavy Mellow before posting Saturday's entry. Which I'm thinking was probably after noon. The Meister was there too, working on something. I know I said I'd have the posts up by noon, but that's apparently proving to be "-ish". Considering I'm sitting on the beach right now (not even near the boat) composing this, and it's 10 minutes to noon. Bear with me, people, I'm busy! :)
So after all that, we went to the meet and greet (#2 for the cruise, #1 for us). Same deal as last year, but it seemed to move faster. We met, said hi to, and had our pictures taken with: Saxon, Helix, JSRG, John Corabi, Lita Ford, and Femme Fatale. Then I headed to the Zebra Bar for some XYZ, and sighted some sharks -- of the Great White kind, if you know what I mean. ;) We checked out the Atomic Punks (Van Halen tribute), had a quick bite to eat, went up to the pool stage to see some Saxon, then down to the theatre for Queensryche. Who, I heard, actually started on time. In the theatre. Muchos improved over last year's timing. Queensryche were great, by the way. And as reported, their new singer sounded great. Although no one thought to report that he was a younger good-looking longhair who can rock a pair of leather pants. (Just sayin' -- hairdresser of mine!) Afterwards, we caught a bit of Heavy Mellow, where I was finally able to get their new CD. Then it was up to the pool for some Loudness. As I mentioned, we met up with A&A there and we all headed back down to the theatre for Y&T. A few songs after my husband left us, we went back up to the pool for JSRG. Another great show -- all the bands have been giving great performances. They finished with a rockin' version of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" -- which I'm sure my brother will think is pretty funny, and my niece (an Adele fan) will think is appalling.
And that's finally the end of Day 2.
Tomorrow, a beached whale -- ooops! I mean shark -- Great White is playing a concert on the beach for our stop on Coco Cay. :)
Ok, so it wasn't to the dawn, but it was well after midnight...just after 2 am when I got back to our cabin. After a particularly strong mojito. The halls were pretty quiet, but I did pass a silver bustier lying on the floor on my way to our room. ?! Some things you just don't want an explanation for, you know? My other half was asleep with the tv on. (Though I did just double check that hubby wasn't harbouring the bustier-free harlot in our room.) He had left me and A&A partway through Y&T's set -- called it a night around 12:45. We had all met up earlier at Loudness on the pool stage.
I guess I should start at the beginning of the day, not the end.
It was St Patrick's Day, so it was the wearin' o' the green for us. We caught a bit of the Rock'n'Roll Q&A with Mark Weiss (photographer), Dave Meneketti (Y&T), and Wendy Dio (Ronnie James' widow) -- there's a big auction on board for his cancer charity. We actually stopped in at the auction later, where a Tony Iommi-signed Gibson guitar fetched $7,700. Crazy. I caught a bit of Heavy Mellow before posting Saturday's entry. Which I'm thinking was probably after noon. The Meister was there too, working on something. I know I said I'd have the posts up by noon, but that's apparently proving to be "-ish". Considering I'm sitting on the beach right now (not even near the boat) composing this, and it's 10 minutes to noon. Bear with me, people, I'm busy! :)
So after all that, we went to the meet and greet (#2 for the cruise, #1 for us). Same deal as last year, but it seemed to move faster. We met, said hi to, and had our pictures taken with: Saxon, Helix, JSRG, John Corabi, Lita Ford, and Femme Fatale. Then I headed to the Zebra Bar for some XYZ, and sighted some sharks -- of the Great White kind, if you know what I mean. ;) We checked out the Atomic Punks (Van Halen tribute), had a quick bite to eat, went up to the pool stage to see some Saxon, then down to the theatre for Queensryche. Who, I heard, actually started on time. In the theatre. Muchos improved over last year's timing. Queensryche were great, by the way. And as reported, their new singer sounded great. Although no one thought to report that he was a younger good-looking longhair who can rock a pair of leather pants. (Just sayin' -- hairdresser of mine!) Afterwards, we caught a bit of Heavy Mellow, where I was finally able to get their new CD. Then it was up to the pool for some Loudness. As I mentioned, we met up with A&A there and we all headed back down to the theatre for Y&T. A few songs after my husband left us, we went back up to the pool for JSRG. Another great show -- all the bands have been giving great performances. They finished with a rockin' version of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" -- which I'm sure my brother will think is pretty funny, and my niece (an Adele fan) will think is appalling.
And that's finally the end of Day 2.
Tomorrow, a beached whale -- ooops! I mean shark -- Great White is playing a concert on the beach for our stop on Coco Cay. :)
Sunday 17 March 2013
"We're here for a good time, not a long time..." (Trooper)
Wow. Hmmmmmm...where to start...
First of all, let me just say: Life. Is. GOOD! :) And vacation is highly underrated.
I think I'm going to backtrack a bit:
Friday night was the pre-cruise party at Exit 66 nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. Enuff Z'Nuff and JSRG (aka Vixen) were the evening's entertainment. Enuff Z'Nuff were already on when we got there. We found A&A right away and then the Meister joined us shortly thereafter. It was pretty busy, and the crowd included Jeff LaBar (Cinderella) and the London Quireboys. I was pleasantly surprised by JSRG -- I've never been a Vixen fan, and don't know any of their music, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. We also met A&A's friends from "across the pond" (England), P&S (first time cruisers), who, as I understand it, are heavily involved in Firefest, a big weekend metal music festival every autumn somewhere in England.
And then it was finally Saturday -- the day we boarded the ship for the SECOND Monsters of Rock Cruise!! Wooooo!!
They've changed the process a bit this year, and getting through security, checking in, and boarding all went faster. So, we were on the ship around 2:00/2:30. The first act playing was Heavy Mellow -- Flametal last year -- metal classics played in the Flamenco style, and very cool. I could even play this when visiting with my "old maid Catholic school teacher aunt" (her words, not mine) and she'd never even know she was listening to Metallica or Ozzy Osbourne. :) Anyway, we loved these guys last year and were so glad to see them back on board. We bought their CD last time and I was hoping they'd have a new one this year -- and rumour has it they do! I have yet to actually see or procure it, however.
We hung out at the pool for the "blackout at sea" photo before the sailaway concert with Tesla -- who were great, by the way. (Oh, too funny -- this year someone was wearing a Neil Diamond concert t-shirt!) And speaking of Tesla, we tried the "Tesla-tini" and the Faster Pussycat Iguana (tequila, pina colada mix, pineapple juice, etc., etc.) After that, we kind of roamed around, saw a bit of Russ Dwarf (of Canada's own Killer Dwarfs), Ron Keel, and Motley Inc. Actually, everyone is playing great sets! We tried to see LA Guns and Y&T on the pool stage, but I found it too windy and cool for me. I'm sure we'll get another chance to see both of them. Then to cap off the first day, Lita Ford was in the theatre for 12:30. As I mentioned last year, the theatre concerts NEVER started on time, but she was on and playing by 1:00 (yes, that's a.m.), so that's actually not too bad.
The celebrity sightings are too numerous to mention, but: members of Helix, Cinderella, LA Guns, Stryper, Keel, Black'n'Blue, Loudness, London Quireboys, Lita Ford, John Corabi, Russ Dwarf...well, as I said...
Ok, Day 1 is a wrap, and Sunday is our Rockin' Day at Sea. See you tomorrow!
\m/
Oh -- and Happy St Patrick's Day!
First of all, let me just say: Life. Is. GOOD! :) And vacation is highly underrated.
I think I'm going to backtrack a bit:
Friday night was the pre-cruise party at Exit 66 nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. Enuff Z'Nuff and JSRG (aka Vixen) were the evening's entertainment. Enuff Z'Nuff were already on when we got there. We found A&A right away and then the Meister joined us shortly thereafter. It was pretty busy, and the crowd included Jeff LaBar (Cinderella) and the London Quireboys. I was pleasantly surprised by JSRG -- I've never been a Vixen fan, and don't know any of their music, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. We also met A&A's friends from "across the pond" (England), P&S (first time cruisers), who, as I understand it, are heavily involved in Firefest, a big weekend metal music festival every autumn somewhere in England.
And then it was finally Saturday -- the day we boarded the ship for the SECOND Monsters of Rock Cruise!! Wooooo!!
They've changed the process a bit this year, and getting through security, checking in, and boarding all went faster. So, we were on the ship around 2:00/2:30. The first act playing was Heavy Mellow -- Flametal last year -- metal classics played in the Flamenco style, and very cool. I could even play this when visiting with my "old maid Catholic school teacher aunt" (her words, not mine) and she'd never even know she was listening to Metallica or Ozzy Osbourne. :) Anyway, we loved these guys last year and were so glad to see them back on board. We bought their CD last time and I was hoping they'd have a new one this year -- and rumour has it they do! I have yet to actually see or procure it, however.
We hung out at the pool for the "blackout at sea" photo before the sailaway concert with Tesla -- who were great, by the way. (Oh, too funny -- this year someone was wearing a Neil Diamond concert t-shirt!) And speaking of Tesla, we tried the "Tesla-tini" and the Faster Pussycat Iguana (tequila, pina colada mix, pineapple juice, etc., etc.) After that, we kind of roamed around, saw a bit of Russ Dwarf (of Canada's own Killer Dwarfs), Ron Keel, and Motley Inc. Actually, everyone is playing great sets! We tried to see LA Guns and Y&T on the pool stage, but I found it too windy and cool for me. I'm sure we'll get another chance to see both of them. Then to cap off the first day, Lita Ford was in the theatre for 12:30. As I mentioned last year, the theatre concerts NEVER started on time, but she was on and playing by 1:00 (yes, that's a.m.), so that's actually not too bad.
The celebrity sightings are too numerous to mention, but: members of Helix, Cinderella, LA Guns, Stryper, Keel, Black'n'Blue, Loudness, London Quireboys, Lita Ford, John Corabi, Russ Dwarf...well, as I said...
Ok, Day 1 is a wrap, and Sunday is our Rockin' Day at Sea. See you tomorrow!
\m/
Oh -- and Happy St Patrick's Day!
Wednesday 13 March 2013
"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!" (The Pointer Sisters)
3 MOR DAYS!!! WOOOOOOO!!!
Sorry -- I just had to start off with the countdown -- have I mentioned that I'm excited?!? Actually, I can't say whether I was more excited last year because I had no idea what to expect, or whether I'm more excited this year because I do know what to expect!
So. I'm pretty much ready to go. I've packed all but the few last minute things and I've got all of my paperwork together. I have gathered the necessities for the cruise: new MOR 2013 cruise t-shirt, camera, jeans, boots, black clothing, sunglasses, summer clothing, various and sundry accoutrements required for St Patrick's Day festivities... And, we have our door poster all ready to go too. :)
Oh! Speaking of St Patrick's Day, seeing as this cruise takes place over March 17th, I've changed the background colour of this blog to green, in honour of. (You may have noticed.)
This year, we're starting the party early as we're going to the pre-cruise party on Friday night. We'll be seeing our cruise buddies A&A there, and I'll (finally) get to meet the Meister. It should be a good night. (And really, only serve to ramp up the level of anticipation!)
Having been on the cruise last year, and still remembering the crazy schedule trying to see everyone we wanted to -- never mind eat and sleep -- I'm doing things a little differently this time around. I've decided to prioritize: I know the bands I really want to see, so I'll be staying for their whole set. Or sets, if I really like them. Then I have a secondary list of bands I'd like to see, and I'll do my best to see what I can of them, schedule depending. Everyone else is considered hit and miss. (Actually some of them will be out and out misses, as there are a couple I have no desire to see.) Now, for those of you who are laughing at this plan of mine, let me just say, trust me -- you have no idea what it was like last year. And if there are any new cruisers out there reading this, just you wait and see. You'll find out the hard way!
And as if there's not enough excitement here (I'm, like, doing the Snoopy dance inside!), I'm excited to find out the scoop on next year's cruise. That's right, people! The MOR team themselves have alluded to a "2014 cruise", AND they're testing the waters (pun intended -- ha!) to see if a Europe MOR cruise is a possibility!! How cool would that be?!? So, considering they announced this year's cruise while we were on last year's, I'm hoping we are just days away from finding out about next year's. :)
Alright. I'm signing off now until we're actually on the ship. Oh, FYI -- I've also decided to post the morning after during the cruise, instead of at the end of the day (which basically amounts to the middle of the night). So that means the next post should come out Sunday morning. And by "morning" I mean by noon, ok?
Ciao for now!
Sorry -- I just had to start off with the countdown -- have I mentioned that I'm excited?!? Actually, I can't say whether I was more excited last year because I had no idea what to expect, or whether I'm more excited this year because I do know what to expect!
So. I'm pretty much ready to go. I've packed all but the few last minute things and I've got all of my paperwork together. I have gathered the necessities for the cruise: new MOR 2013 cruise t-shirt, camera, jeans, boots, black clothing, sunglasses, summer clothing, various and sundry accoutrements required for St Patrick's Day festivities... And, we have our door poster all ready to go too. :)
Oh! Speaking of St Patrick's Day, seeing as this cruise takes place over March 17th, I've changed the background colour of this blog to green, in honour of. (You may have noticed.)
This year, we're starting the party early as we're going to the pre-cruise party on Friday night. We'll be seeing our cruise buddies A&A there, and I'll (finally) get to meet the Meister. It should be a good night. (And really, only serve to ramp up the level of anticipation!)
Having been on the cruise last year, and still remembering the crazy schedule trying to see everyone we wanted to -- never mind eat and sleep -- I'm doing things a little differently this time around. I've decided to prioritize: I know the bands I really want to see, so I'll be staying for their whole set. Or sets, if I really like them. Then I have a secondary list of bands I'd like to see, and I'll do my best to see what I can of them, schedule depending. Everyone else is considered hit and miss. (Actually some of them will be out and out misses, as there are a couple I have no desire to see.) Now, for those of you who are laughing at this plan of mine, let me just say, trust me -- you have no idea what it was like last year. And if there are any new cruisers out there reading this, just you wait and see. You'll find out the hard way!
And as if there's not enough excitement here (I'm, like, doing the Snoopy dance inside!), I'm excited to find out the scoop on next year's cruise. That's right, people! The MOR team themselves have alluded to a "2014 cruise", AND they're testing the waters (pun intended -- ha!) to see if a Europe MOR cruise is a possibility!! How cool would that be?!? So, considering they announced this year's cruise while we were on last year's, I'm hoping we are just days away from finding out about next year's. :)
Alright. I'm signing off now until we're actually on the ship. Oh, FYI -- I've also decided to post the morning after during the cruise, instead of at the end of the day (which basically amounts to the middle of the night). So that means the next post should come out Sunday morning. And by "morning" I mean by noon, ok?
Ciao for now!
Sunday 3 March 2013
"Take a ride on the wild side..." (Motley Crue)
Well, here's one from the "ask and ye shall receive" files...
In my last post, I mentioned that out of all of the bands on my MOR hit list, I was just missing seeing Motley Crue. (I've seen all of the others over the past year and a half, and will be seeing Great White on the cruise -- can't wait!) And what do you know, but just days after that post went up, a Motley Crue concert is announced for Hamilton in May. :) So. Guess who now has tickets? In the tenth row on the floor, no less? Moi. And my husband. How cool is that?! And I think this is the third time I've seen Motley Crue.
Actually, the best concert experience I ever had was seeing Motley Crue in a club in Oklahoma City in August of '94. It was during the period when Vince Neil had left/been kicked out of the band, and John Corabi (also on the MOR cruise, as he was last year -- we have a pic of us with him) was singing for them. As I understand it, the band wasn't doing so well on that tour, and the venues kept getting downgraded due to poor ticket sales -- a la Spinal Tap. Regardless, it was very cool to see such a big rock band in a smaller club setting.
Speaking of Spinal Tap, we did watch it this past week in preparation for the cruise. Apparently, they're having a Spinal Tap night on board. Hmmm, not so sure we'll be all costumed up for that one... But -- I have found myself a green t-shirt perfect for St Patrick's Day, which will be Sunday of the cruise, the first full day at sea. Which is 2 weeks today!!!
13 MOR DAYS!!!!
(Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!! I can't wait!!)
In my last post, I mentioned that out of all of the bands on my MOR hit list, I was just missing seeing Motley Crue. (I've seen all of the others over the past year and a half, and will be seeing Great White on the cruise -- can't wait!) And what do you know, but just days after that post went up, a Motley Crue concert is announced for Hamilton in May. :) So. Guess who now has tickets? In the tenth row on the floor, no less? Moi. And my husband. How cool is that?! And I think this is the third time I've seen Motley Crue.
Actually, the best concert experience I ever had was seeing Motley Crue in a club in Oklahoma City in August of '94. It was during the period when Vince Neil had left/been kicked out of the band, and John Corabi (also on the MOR cruise, as he was last year -- we have a pic of us with him) was singing for them. As I understand it, the band wasn't doing so well on that tour, and the venues kept getting downgraded due to poor ticket sales -- a la Spinal Tap. Regardless, it was very cool to see such a big rock band in a smaller club setting.
Speaking of Spinal Tap, we did watch it this past week in preparation for the cruise. Apparently, they're having a Spinal Tap night on board. Hmmm, not so sure we'll be all costumed up for that one... But -- I have found myself a green t-shirt perfect for St Patrick's Day, which will be Sunday of the cruise, the first full day at sea. Which is 2 weeks today!!!
13 MOR DAYS!!!!
(Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!! I can't wait!!)
Wednesday 20 February 2013
"Closer to it every day..." (Warrant)
Close indeed! Just 24 MOR days -- less than a month away!! I can hardly wait! :)
It's been a couple of months since my last post, and I figure I have a few things to cover here. So let's get to it, shall we?
First of all, I had a pretty exciting Christmas: friends of ours got us the "Metal Evolution" series on DVD (awesome!!), and my husband surprised me with Bon Jovi tickets (very awesome!!)!
We've only watched the first episode of "Metal Evolution" just yet (life's been too busy...and we have already seen the series once) -- we watched it with our cruise buddies A&A when we got together just after Christmas.
The Bon Jovi concert was just a few days ago, and boy, did they deliver -- what a great show! 2 straight hours of Bon Jovi, plus a 6 song encore. (And it was actually nice not to have to sit through an opening band for once.) The ACC in Toronto was packed and rockin', even though that was their 2nd night there. I've checked my old concert ticket stubs, and I see that this is just the 3rd time I've seen Bon Jovi. My husband isn't really a fan (as evidenced by the "Is this Bon Jovi again?!" comment every time they come up on the ipod), so I took a friend who's a fan but has never seen them. And needless to say, a good time was had by all!
Now if you remember, in one of my first posts, I said my personal Monsters of Rock lineup would be: Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, and Great White. Well, wouldn't you know it, but in the past 18 months, I've seen Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Def Leppard, and now Bon Jovi. I'm just missing Motely Crue (who I probably should have made more of an effort to see last September when they were in Toronto with Kiss), and Great White (who I'll be seeing on the upcoming Monsters of Rock Cruise). Not too bad, if you ask me. :)
And speaking of the cruise (which is really the whole point of this blog after all)...
We were on vacation in Cozumel (Mexico) a couple of weeks ago, and we saw the MSC Poesia in port there. That got me excited about -- and looking forward to -- the cruise!
The Monsters of Rock cruise has a facebook page, and everyone's been submitting countdown photos, some of which the MOR team post. We've submitted 4 thus far, and have had all 4 posted. Which I think is pretty cool. I'm planning one last one in the coming weeks, too.
And while we're on the subject of the MOR countdown, here's a photo of my "official countdown calendar" that I have up at work:
(Of course, the original will be included in my "official commemorative album" of this year's cruise.)
I'll probably do one more post in March before we sail, so stay tuned. In the meantime...
24 MOR DAYS!!!
(Are you excited?! I'm excited!!)
It's been a couple of months since my last post, and I figure I have a few things to cover here. So let's get to it, shall we?
First of all, I had a pretty exciting Christmas: friends of ours got us the "Metal Evolution" series on DVD (awesome!!), and my husband surprised me with Bon Jovi tickets (very awesome!!)!
We've only watched the first episode of "Metal Evolution" just yet (life's been too busy...and we have already seen the series once) -- we watched it with our cruise buddies A&A when we got together just after Christmas.
The Bon Jovi concert was just a few days ago, and boy, did they deliver -- what a great show! 2 straight hours of Bon Jovi, plus a 6 song encore. (And it was actually nice not to have to sit through an opening band for once.) The ACC in Toronto was packed and rockin', even though that was their 2nd night there. I've checked my old concert ticket stubs, and I see that this is just the 3rd time I've seen Bon Jovi. My husband isn't really a fan (as evidenced by the "Is this Bon Jovi again?!" comment every time they come up on the ipod), so I took a friend who's a fan but has never seen them. And needless to say, a good time was had by all!
Now if you remember, in one of my first posts, I said my personal Monsters of Rock lineup would be: Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, and Great White. Well, wouldn't you know it, but in the past 18 months, I've seen Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Def Leppard, and now Bon Jovi. I'm just missing Motely Crue (who I probably should have made more of an effort to see last September when they were in Toronto with Kiss), and Great White (who I'll be seeing on the upcoming Monsters of Rock Cruise). Not too bad, if you ask me. :)
And speaking of the cruise (which is really the whole point of this blog after all)...
We were on vacation in Cozumel (Mexico) a couple of weeks ago, and we saw the MSC Poesia in port there. That got me excited about -- and looking forward to -- the cruise!
The Monsters of Rock cruise has a facebook page, and everyone's been submitting countdown photos, some of which the MOR team post. We've submitted 4 thus far, and have had all 4 posted. Which I think is pretty cool. I'm planning one last one in the coming weeks, too.
And while we're on the subject of the MOR countdown, here's a photo of my "official countdown calendar" that I have up at work:
(Of course, the original will be included in my "official commemorative album" of this year's cruise.)
I'll probably do one more post in March before we sail, so stay tuned. In the meantime...
24 MOR DAYS!!!
(Are you excited?! I'm excited!!)
Monday 26 November 2012
"It's gonna be a long, cold winter..." (Cinderella)
Oof, let's hope not! But considering we have to get through the better part of winter before we can get to the cruise, which is practically in the spring...
Since my last post, we've been to see Nightwish at the Sound Academy in Toronto (September). It was my first time there, my first time seeing Nightwish, and my first time seeing Kamelot, who opened for them. I enjoyed both bands, but I really liked Nightwish, and everyone put on great shows and sounded great.
I actually first heard of this band while I was watching "Metal Evolution", an 11-part series on the history and evolution of metal music, by Sam Dunn and his company, Banger Films. The series aired on Much More Music here last winter, and it is fascinating. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sam Dunn, he's an anthropologist with a passion for metal music, and he's managed to successfully combine the two. He's done the documentaries "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage" and "Iron Maiden: Flight 666", as well as "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", just to mention a few. In "Metal Evolution" he goes right back to the very roots of metal, seeks to answer the question, "Who is the first heavy metal band?", and explores the influences of classical, jazz, blues, and punk music on the heavy metal genre. There's a ton of interviews with band members, and he travels all over the world to meet up with everyone and to do his research. Each episode focuses on one sub-type of metal (such as progressive rock, shock rock, hair metal, grunge, thrash, etc., etc.). It is really just a fantastic series -- so interesting and very well done. If you have even a passing interest in heavy metal music, I urge you to check it out. Anyway, in one of the later episodes, Sam and Co. were in Europe covering the rock festivals (still going strong) over there, and one of the many bands shown was Nightwish. I liked their sound right from the first time I heard them, and so I was quite thrilled to get to see them this year in Toronto. (We don't get a lot of access to European bands -- or music -- here in North America.)
We also went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in November -- and that was our first time seeing them too. A few of our friends have raved about them, so when I heard they were coming on tour, I contacted everyone and we ended up with a group of seven (no pun intended) going. I think 3 of us had seen the TSO before, and it was the first time for the remaining 4. WOW! I have never seen a stage show with such fabulous special effects. They put on a great show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, their tickets aren't crazy expensive (the way some rock bands are). They must charge enough to make a living and cover their expenses (and it cannot be cheap hauling that stage set-up around the globe), and still have some left over to donate to charity. (Makes me wonder about the level of greed out there...) It was definitely great value for my money, and I'd see them again. And for all of you MOR cruisers out there, Joel Hoekstra was with them this time around. Remember him with Night Ranger on the cruise?
And now for a sidenote: I was in Toronto on a Saturday afternoon recently to meet up with a friend for lunch, and we were just sitting in the hotel lobby for a bit before heading into the restaurant (we were early). There was a man and a woman sitting nearby, and when they got up to leave about 5 minutes later, I glanced up and it turns out it was Bruce Springsteen and his wife!! How cool is that?!
110 MOR days! Less than 4 months to go!!
We're closing in on double digits, people!
Since my last post, we've been to see Nightwish at the Sound Academy in Toronto (September). It was my first time there, my first time seeing Nightwish, and my first time seeing Kamelot, who opened for them. I enjoyed both bands, but I really liked Nightwish, and everyone put on great shows and sounded great.
I actually first heard of this band while I was watching "Metal Evolution", an 11-part series on the history and evolution of metal music, by Sam Dunn and his company, Banger Films. The series aired on Much More Music here last winter, and it is fascinating. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sam Dunn, he's an anthropologist with a passion for metal music, and he's managed to successfully combine the two. He's done the documentaries "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage" and "Iron Maiden: Flight 666", as well as "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", just to mention a few. In "Metal Evolution" he goes right back to the very roots of metal, seeks to answer the question, "Who is the first heavy metal band?", and explores the influences of classical, jazz, blues, and punk music on the heavy metal genre. There's a ton of interviews with band members, and he travels all over the world to meet up with everyone and to do his research. Each episode focuses on one sub-type of metal (such as progressive rock, shock rock, hair metal, grunge, thrash, etc., etc.). It is really just a fantastic series -- so interesting and very well done. If you have even a passing interest in heavy metal music, I urge you to check it out. Anyway, in one of the later episodes, Sam and Co. were in Europe covering the rock festivals (still going strong) over there, and one of the many bands shown was Nightwish. I liked their sound right from the first time I heard them, and so I was quite thrilled to get to see them this year in Toronto. (We don't get a lot of access to European bands -- or music -- here in North America.)
We also went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in November -- and that was our first time seeing them too. A few of our friends have raved about them, so when I heard they were coming on tour, I contacted everyone and we ended up with a group of seven (no pun intended) going. I think 3 of us had seen the TSO before, and it was the first time for the remaining 4. WOW! I have never seen a stage show with such fabulous special effects. They put on a great show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, their tickets aren't crazy expensive (the way some rock bands are). They must charge enough to make a living and cover their expenses (and it cannot be cheap hauling that stage set-up around the globe), and still have some left over to donate to charity. (Makes me wonder about the level of greed out there...) It was definitely great value for my money, and I'd see them again. And for all of you MOR cruisers out there, Joel Hoekstra was with them this time around. Remember him with Night Ranger on the cruise?
And now for a sidenote: I was in Toronto on a Saturday afternoon recently to meet up with a friend for lunch, and we were just sitting in the hotel lobby for a bit before heading into the restaurant (we were early). There was a man and a woman sitting nearby, and when they got up to leave about 5 minutes later, I glanced up and it turns out it was Bruce Springsteen and his wife!! How cool is that?!
110 MOR days! Less than 4 months to go!!
We're closing in on double digits, people!
Thursday 16 August 2012
"After the boys of summer have gone..." (Don Henley)
I know that baseball players are generally considered to be the boys of summer, but this is Canada, and summer is concert season here, so my boys of summer are musicians on tour. :) Not only did I see the Scorpions and Def Leppard 2 weeks apart, I also managed to snag myself a ticket to see Aerosmith in Toronto beforehand, so that made 3 big concerts within 3 weeks!
But, before I expound on my summer concert series, let's discuss the cruise, shall we? There's cruise news!! The latest announcement of bands was very exciting: Stryper, Saxon, and Queensryche! My husband has always been a big Queensryche fan, and although this is them sans Geoff Tate, he's still really excited about it. He did enjoy himself on the first cruise, and he thought that it was a very cool experience, but now he's actually really looking forward to next year's. I've never seen Saxon, and Stryper were great this year so I'm looking forward to seeing them again. So -- that's about 32 acts on board this time around? Wowsa. Even though next year's cruise is 1 day longer, it's still going to be crazy busy!
Alright, summer concerts:
Aerosmith was very good. We saw them the week before Steven Tyler had to take time off to rest his voice, and he sounded just fine to me. Their new album hasn't been released yet, so they did a lot of their older hits. Of course, they saved "Dream On" for the encore, and it started with Steven Tyler playing a white baby grand piano rising up out of the stage. Very cool. I had a look through my old ticket stubs before going to the concert, and apparently this was the 6th time I've seen Aerosmith. Huh -- who knew? I mean, I do like them, and I knew I had seen them more than a couple of times, and (fortunately) they've always put on a good show when I've seen them. But I didn't realize I had seen them quite so often. Cheap Trick opened, and I've seen them before too as they seem to regularly open for Aerosmith.
I have decided I'm not a Cheap Trick fan.
Nothing personal.
Thanks to EMD for sharing the photos. ;)
Next up, the Scorpions at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. An outdoor concert -- my favourite kind! There's something magical about an outdoor concert on a warm summer evening. What a great concert, they were fantastic! I was a little concerned initially 'cause I wasn't sure how Klaus Meine's voice would sound. I just felt he's got one of those voices that may not have aged well. Holy cow -- let me tell you, he sounded great! He had no problem hitting any of the notes on any of the songs. Never looked like he was having any difficulty. And those guys really looked like they were putting their all into playing, and having a great time doing it. In comparison, Aerosmith looked a bit like they were trying too hard to say "See? We still get along." (Just my opinion.) We also ran into our MOR cruise buddy, A., before the concert, and met his brother, G., who he was there with. We all had a chat and a visit on the GO train ride back home afterwards.
My total Scorpions concert count is now 3 (not much, I know).
Def Leppard -- ahhhh! I like Leppards. :) This was the 5th time I've seen Def Leppard in concert, and it was a really good show. This is the "Rock of Ages" tour, so it was all their hits and other really good tunes. Of course, they couldn't play everything one wanted them to (not enough time for that!), but it was still great. And, Joe Elliot still sounded really good too. Lita Ford kicked things off, and I quite enjoyed her. I hadn't seen her before. Her small band seemed a bit lost on the big concert stage, and I don't think women have quite the power in their voices that men do, so I think she'll "show" better in the smaller venues of the cruise. But again, it all sounded good, and I was surprised at how many of her tunes I recognized. After Lita, it was Poison. I'm not a fan per se (as I am sure you well know), but I do have to give credit where it's due: they played with lots of energy, really perking the place up, and their songs are catchy. My main problem with Poison (time for an editorial) is this: they are NOT a metal band. I wouldn't even classify them as hard rock. To me, their music is pure pop. Sure, they had the look of the other rock/metal bands at the time, but good grief people -- listen to the music!! Ok. I'm done.
Not too much happening in the foreseeable future. I am going to see Nightwish in Toronto in September, and I'm looking forward to that. I don't know too much about them, but I do really like what little I've heard. So it should be good.
Time for the countdown...
7 MONTHS TODAY CRUISE #2 SETS SAIL!!!
\m/ (horns up)
But, before I expound on my summer concert series, let's discuss the cruise, shall we? There's cruise news!! The latest announcement of bands was very exciting: Stryper, Saxon, and Queensryche! My husband has always been a big Queensryche fan, and although this is them sans Geoff Tate, he's still really excited about it. He did enjoy himself on the first cruise, and he thought that it was a very cool experience, but now he's actually really looking forward to next year's. I've never seen Saxon, and Stryper were great this year so I'm looking forward to seeing them again. So -- that's about 32 acts on board this time around? Wowsa. Even though next year's cruise is 1 day longer, it's still going to be crazy busy!
Alright, summer concerts:
Aerosmith was very good. We saw them the week before Steven Tyler had to take time off to rest his voice, and he sounded just fine to me. Their new album hasn't been released yet, so they did a lot of their older hits. Of course, they saved "Dream On" for the encore, and it started with Steven Tyler playing a white baby grand piano rising up out of the stage. Very cool. I had a look through my old ticket stubs before going to the concert, and apparently this was the 6th time I've seen Aerosmith. Huh -- who knew? I mean, I do like them, and I knew I had seen them more than a couple of times, and (fortunately) they've always put on a good show when I've seen them. But I didn't realize I had seen them quite so often. Cheap Trick opened, and I've seen them before too as they seem to regularly open for Aerosmith.
I have decided I'm not a Cheap Trick fan.
Nothing personal.
Thanks to EMD for sharing the photos. ;)
Next up, the Scorpions at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. An outdoor concert -- my favourite kind! There's something magical about an outdoor concert on a warm summer evening. What a great concert, they were fantastic! I was a little concerned initially 'cause I wasn't sure how Klaus Meine's voice would sound. I just felt he's got one of those voices that may not have aged well. Holy cow -- let me tell you, he sounded great! He had no problem hitting any of the notes on any of the songs. Never looked like he was having any difficulty. And those guys really looked like they were putting their all into playing, and having a great time doing it. In comparison, Aerosmith looked a bit like they were trying too hard to say "See? We still get along." (Just my opinion.) We also ran into our MOR cruise buddy, A., before the concert, and met his brother, G., who he was there with. We all had a chat and a visit on the GO train ride back home afterwards.
My total Scorpions concert count is now 3 (not much, I know).
Def Leppard -- ahhhh! I like Leppards. :) This was the 5th time I've seen Def Leppard in concert, and it was a really good show. This is the "Rock of Ages" tour, so it was all their hits and other really good tunes. Of course, they couldn't play everything one wanted them to (not enough time for that!), but it was still great. And, Joe Elliot still sounded really good too. Lita Ford kicked things off, and I quite enjoyed her. I hadn't seen her before. Her small band seemed a bit lost on the big concert stage, and I don't think women have quite the power in their voices that men do, so I think she'll "show" better in the smaller venues of the cruise. But again, it all sounded good, and I was surprised at how many of her tunes I recognized. After Lita, it was Poison. I'm not a fan per se (as I am sure you well know), but I do have to give credit where it's due: they played with lots of energy, really perking the place up, and their songs are catchy. My main problem with Poison (time for an editorial) is this: they are NOT a metal band. I wouldn't even classify them as hard rock. To me, their music is pure pop. Sure, they had the look of the other rock/metal bands at the time, but good grief people -- listen to the music!! Ok. I'm done.
Not too much happening in the foreseeable future. I am going to see Nightwish in Toronto in September, and I'm looking forward to that. I don't know too much about them, but I do really like what little I've heard. So it should be good.
Time for the countdown...
7 MONTHS TODAY CRUISE #2 SETS SAIL!!!
\m/ (horns up)
Saturday 16 June 2012
"The waiting is the hardest part..." (Tom Petty)
Hello everyone!
I know that I said you wouldn't hear from me again until probably after Christmas, but I just couldn't resist! Mainly because the new website is up for next year's cruise (Finally! I've only been checking a few times a week for two months!), with lots o' bands announced (25 and counting!), and now that we've been able to actually book the trip...well, I'm just so excited, I just had to share! (And it's also partly because I've already been warned by a co-worker that a countdown lasting longer than 90 days would simply not be tolerated.) So, I'm back.
The first order of blog business is to change the title from "Monster Cruise Adventures I" to "Monster Cruise Adventures II". I do realize that we're not quite close enough to sailing to be all cruise news, but the first one is definitely behind us, so...it'll have to do.
So far, about half of the acts are new to the cruise -- which is exciting, and half are returning from last year's -- which is a good thing, seeing as I certainly didn't see as much of everyone as I would have liked. So now I get the chance to catch up, so to speak. :)
My husband is still unsure if he'll be joining me again, but I think he's feeling very tempted, now that Lita Ford and Vixen (or some incarnation thereof) are on board. And he didn't see as much of Tesla as he wanted to...
It's time for a little update as to what I've been up to since the cruise. Well, I've put together my "official photo album of the inaugural Monsters of Rock cruise". That was done before the end of March, when everything was still fresh in my mind. And I'm very pleased with how it turned out -- I've included some souvenirs, lots of photos, our meet and greet photos with some of the bands, and, of course, I've even printed off all 9 of my blog entries and included them too. Needless to say, I've been carting it around for show and tell every possible chance I get.
We went to see Nickelback at the ACC in Toronto in April. We had bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale, before the cruise, and, unbeknownst to us, A&A, who we met on the cruise, had tickets to go also. We've kept in touch, and when we discovered we were all going to the same concert, we met up for dinner and a visit beforehand. It was a really good concert, and I do like Nickelback's music and sound, even as I take issue with some of their lyrics.
Next up, a friend and I are going to see the "Rock of Ages" movie. I've seen the stage play, and enjoyed it, but I was a bit disappointed 'cause it wasn't all hard rockin' tunes. It's really a pretty wide selection of 80s music, a lot of it from the top 40 charts, a lot of it good and enjoyable, and it just happens to include the likes of Whitesnake and Bon Jovi. The movie version looks a bit more...campy? Spoofy? It's more like it's poking fun at the 80s instead of celebrating them the way "Rock Star" did. You know what I mean -- there won't be any really good hair in it. (And I'm sorry, but no amount of long hair can make Tom Cruise appealing to me. Even if he's singing a Bon Jovi tune. Mark Wahlberg, however...) But, I'm sure it'll be entertaining and good for a laugh.
And in July, we have tickets to see the Scorpions on their (allegedly) final tour. They're one of my favourite bands -- I'll be sad to see them retire. Then two weeks later, it's off to see Def Leppard! Another one of my favourites, who, as far as I know, are NOT retiring yet. Lita Ford is opening -- and I'm looking forward to seeing her, as I never have (we had these tickets before she was announced on next year's cruise) -- and, um, so is Poison. Who I can do without.
So, now you're all up to date, and I think that's a wrap for a while. Perhaps until after the upcoming concerts.
Ready...? Here we go:
EXACTLY 9 MONTHS TODAY WE'LL BE ON CRUISE #2!!!
Wow, the waiting sure is going to be the hardest part! :)
\m/
I know that I said you wouldn't hear from me again until probably after Christmas, but I just couldn't resist! Mainly because the new website is up for next year's cruise (Finally! I've only been checking a few times a week for two months!), with lots o' bands announced (25 and counting!), and now that we've been able to actually book the trip...well, I'm just so excited, I just had to share! (And it's also partly because I've already been warned by a co-worker that a countdown lasting longer than 90 days would simply not be tolerated.) So, I'm back.
The first order of blog business is to change the title from "Monster Cruise Adventures I" to "Monster Cruise Adventures II". I do realize that we're not quite close enough to sailing to be all cruise news, but the first one is definitely behind us, so...it'll have to do.
So far, about half of the acts are new to the cruise -- which is exciting, and half are returning from last year's -- which is a good thing, seeing as I certainly didn't see as much of everyone as I would have liked. So now I get the chance to catch up, so to speak. :)
My husband is still unsure if he'll be joining me again, but I think he's feeling very tempted, now that Lita Ford and Vixen (or some incarnation thereof) are on board. And he didn't see as much of Tesla as he wanted to...
It's time for a little update as to what I've been up to since the cruise. Well, I've put together my "official photo album of the inaugural Monsters of Rock cruise". That was done before the end of March, when everything was still fresh in my mind. And I'm very pleased with how it turned out -- I've included some souvenirs, lots of photos, our meet and greet photos with some of the bands, and, of course, I've even printed off all 9 of my blog entries and included them too. Needless to say, I've been carting it around for show and tell every possible chance I get.
We went to see Nickelback at the ACC in Toronto in April. We had bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale, before the cruise, and, unbeknownst to us, A&A, who we met on the cruise, had tickets to go also. We've kept in touch, and when we discovered we were all going to the same concert, we met up for dinner and a visit beforehand. It was a really good concert, and I do like Nickelback's music and sound, even as I take issue with some of their lyrics.
Next up, a friend and I are going to see the "Rock of Ages" movie. I've seen the stage play, and enjoyed it, but I was a bit disappointed 'cause it wasn't all hard rockin' tunes. It's really a pretty wide selection of 80s music, a lot of it from the top 40 charts, a lot of it good and enjoyable, and it just happens to include the likes of Whitesnake and Bon Jovi. The movie version looks a bit more...campy? Spoofy? It's more like it's poking fun at the 80s instead of celebrating them the way "Rock Star" did. You know what I mean -- there won't be any really good hair in it. (And I'm sorry, but no amount of long hair can make Tom Cruise appealing to me. Even if he's singing a Bon Jovi tune. Mark Wahlberg, however...) But, I'm sure it'll be entertaining and good for a laugh.
And in July, we have tickets to see the Scorpions on their (allegedly) final tour. They're one of my favourite bands -- I'll be sad to see them retire. Then two weeks later, it's off to see Def Leppard! Another one of my favourites, who, as far as I know, are NOT retiring yet. Lita Ford is opening -- and I'm looking forward to seeing her, as I never have (we had these tickets before she was announced on next year's cruise) -- and, um, so is Poison. Who I can do without.
So, now you're all up to date, and I think that's a wrap for a while. Perhaps until after the upcoming concerts.
Ready...? Here we go:
EXACTLY 9 MONTHS TODAY WE'LL BE ON CRUISE #2!!!
Wow, the waiting sure is going to be the hardest part! :)
\m/
Sunday 18 March 2012
"My, my, my, once bitten..." (Great White)
My, my, my...I do believe I've been bitten by the (rock) cruising bug (or maybe in this case, it's a shark...ha!). I can't wait for next year's cruise!
For all of you who are looking for photos, go to my previous post -- I've included 2 photos and a link to some more.
Well folks, I think it's time to wrap this up for, oh, about 10 months or so. I've actually enjoyed doing this blog thing, and it's been fun sharing my excitement for and experiences of this particular adventure. But I feel I've milked this cruise just about as much as I can for blog material, so I'm signing off until it's time to get ready for Monster Cruise Adventures II (Wooooo!). (You may have noticed, I've also updated the blog title from "Monster Cruise Adventures" to "Monster Cruise Adventures I".) But first, a few final notes...
The final count was (according to my calculations): 20 bands, 3 solo artists, and 3 media celebrities on board for the inaugural cruise. Two of the bands, Cinderella and Stryper, were even the original lineups! And the band members and celebrities, for the most part, did just hang out amongst the rest of us enjoying the music and the cruise as well. It was really cool to see them in the crowd (Steve Whiteman, Brian Vollmer, Eddie Trunk), in line at the buffet (Ron Keel), in the dining room (Eric Brittingham), walking around (Michael Sweet, Jeff Keith), or catching other bands in the bars (John Corabi) or in the theatre (Ted Poley, Jeff LaBar, Brad Gillis, a member of Lynch mob, and all of Stryper). It was the first time a lot of the musicians had been on a cruise, and the first time also for a lot of the crowd, although there were a fair number of both who had been on a cruise before too. And though there was plenty of drinking, music, and good times, virtually everyone was well-behaved and respectful. The celebrities and fans alike (even the staff!) seemed to enjoy it all. So very cool. If any of you are interested in or considering something like this, I would highly recommend it!
After the cruise, my husband and I met up with a couple of his dive buddies, and headed back down to Key West. While I was in one of the shops on the main street there, I got to chatting with one of the staff about the cruise. They told me that when the ship left Key West (it was the only one in port that Sunday), it could still be heard long afterwards, even though it was a few miles offshore and could barely be seen. Now how's that for shiprockin'?
The Monday that we were docked in Nassau, we were one of 4 ships in port there, 2 of the others being Disney family cruises...I wonder what they thought of us as their neighbours?
Just in case some of you have not yet scoped out next year's cruise on the Monsters of Rock cruise website (hard to believe!), here's the info to date:
March 16 to 20, 2013 (one day longer!)
Still 2 ports of call (as yet unknown), and 1 rockin' day at sea!
Bands confirmed and announced: Tesla, Enuff Z'Nuff, Great White (yay!), Helix, Kix, Y&T, XYZ. That's 7 -- obviously, there'll be MANY more to come, based on the numbers from this year. How exciting!!
We had a fantastic time! What a blast! I can't wait for the next one!
Until 2013, ciao for now!
\m/ (devilhorns emoticon/symbol)
P.S. Only 364 more days!! Less than a year away!!
Kidding!
Sort of. :)
For all of you who are looking for photos, go to my previous post -- I've included 2 photos and a link to some more.
Well folks, I think it's time to wrap this up for, oh, about 10 months or so. I've actually enjoyed doing this blog thing, and it's been fun sharing my excitement for and experiences of this particular adventure. But I feel I've milked this cruise just about as much as I can for blog material, so I'm signing off until it's time to get ready for Monster Cruise Adventures II (Wooooo!). (You may have noticed, I've also updated the blog title from "Monster Cruise Adventures" to "Monster Cruise Adventures I".) But first, a few final notes...
The final count was (according to my calculations): 20 bands, 3 solo artists, and 3 media celebrities on board for the inaugural cruise. Two of the bands, Cinderella and Stryper, were even the original lineups! And the band members and celebrities, for the most part, did just hang out amongst the rest of us enjoying the music and the cruise as well. It was really cool to see them in the crowd (Steve Whiteman, Brian Vollmer, Eddie Trunk), in line at the buffet (Ron Keel), in the dining room (Eric Brittingham), walking around (Michael Sweet, Jeff Keith), or catching other bands in the bars (John Corabi) or in the theatre (Ted Poley, Jeff LaBar, Brad Gillis, a member of Lynch mob, and all of Stryper). It was the first time a lot of the musicians had been on a cruise, and the first time also for a lot of the crowd, although there were a fair number of both who had been on a cruise before too. And though there was plenty of drinking, music, and good times, virtually everyone was well-behaved and respectful. The celebrities and fans alike (even the staff!) seemed to enjoy it all. So very cool. If any of you are interested in or considering something like this, I would highly recommend it!
After the cruise, my husband and I met up with a couple of his dive buddies, and headed back down to Key West. While I was in one of the shops on the main street there, I got to chatting with one of the staff about the cruise. They told me that when the ship left Key West (it was the only one in port that Sunday), it could still be heard long afterwards, even though it was a few miles offshore and could barely be seen. Now how's that for shiprockin'?
The Monday that we were docked in Nassau, we were one of 4 ships in port there, 2 of the others being Disney family cruises...I wonder what they thought of us as their neighbours?
Just in case some of you have not yet scoped out next year's cruise on the Monsters of Rock cruise website (hard to believe!), here's the info to date:
March 16 to 20, 2013 (one day longer!)
Still 2 ports of call (as yet unknown), and 1 rockin' day at sea!
Bands confirmed and announced: Tesla, Enuff Z'Nuff, Great White (yay!), Helix, Kix, Y&T, XYZ. That's 7 -- obviously, there'll be MANY more to come, based on the numbers from this year. How exciting!!
We had a fantastic time! What a blast! I can't wait for the next one!
Until 2013, ciao for now!
\m/ (devilhorns emoticon/symbol)
P.S. Only 364 more days!! Less than a year away!!
Kidding!
Sort of. :)
Tuesday 13 March 2012
"All I've got is a photograph..." (Def Leppard)
Actually...it's a couple hundred photographs. :) Hello all. Sorry it's taken longer than I had hoped to get some pics up for you. I've been somewhat distracted by reality...you know how it is. But here is a small selection for you. If you'd like to see more, check out the photo album: Monster Cruise Adventure Photos 2012. (And for the record, a lot of these were taken by my husband, but there's a few of mine in there too.)
First up, a photo of that awesome denim jacket I was telling you about:
This has all been painstakingly hand stitched by the owner. Hours upon hours worth of work, resulting in a truly remarkable one-of-a-kind piece of art! (And this photo doesn't even capture all of the logos.)
Next, a glimpse of what you all missed. You're looking at the "Castle Donington" stage on the pool deck, one of 5 different performance spaces on the ship. This was Kix at the sail away concert when we were leaving the port in Key West on Sunday, February 26.
There'll be one more post on this blog before I wrap things up until the next cruise. (Oh my God, there's a next cruise!! :D)
First up, a photo of that awesome denim jacket I was telling you about:
This has all been painstakingly hand stitched by the owner. Hours upon hours worth of work, resulting in a truly remarkable one-of-a-kind piece of art! (And this photo doesn't even capture all of the logos.)
Next, a glimpse of what you all missed. You're looking at the "Castle Donington" stage on the pool deck, one of 5 different performance spaces on the ship. This was Kix at the sail away concert when we were leaving the port in Key West on Sunday, February 26.
There'll be one more post on this blog before I wrap things up until the next cruise. (Oh my God, there's a next cruise!! :D)
Tuesday 28 February 2012
"We're on a holiday, hooligan's holiday..." (Motley Crue)
Hello again.
Well folks, today was the first day that I felt we had a more relaxed schedule -- some breathing space, if you will. We actually had time to eat all 3 meals today. And we didn't have to rush from stage to stage to squeeze in seeing everyone we wanted to. Well...only a couple of times in the afternoon.
We did finally get to see Stryper, and they were really good. Today we also saw: UFO, Keel (again), Tesla in an acoustic set, a bit of Bang Tango, Rhino Bucket, Flametal, and Lynch Mob. Lynch Mob are playing the final concert of this cruise and it's their only show due to them being delayed getting on the ship.
I did finally figure out who our singing neighbour is: a gentleman by the name of Philip Monti, who did percussion and backup vocals for Ted Poley's acoustic set. We heard him warming up again this evening before we went for dinner. And he was in the cabin right next to us!
My husband has finally admitted that this was a lot of fun and a very cool vacation experience -- even before he gets underwater. Oh! By the way, for all you SCSDs reading this, Irene was spotted crowd surfing at the Keel show this evening -- we have photographic proof. P.L., best you reign her in a bit, eh?
Today's specialty drink was a UFO Cosmo: Absolut, something else, and cranberry juice.
And now for the news you've all been breathlessly waiting for...
THEY'VE ANNOUNCED NEXT YEAR'S MONSTERS OF ROCK CRUISE!!! (I suspect some of you figured as much.)
AND GREAT WHITE IS ON IT!!! WOOOOOO!!! (You may remember in a previous post I listed Great White on my personalized MOR lineup.)
It's March 16-20 (5 days!), 2013.
Am I excited? Yes!
Am I going? Of course!
Am I already pre-reserved before it goes on sale? You bet!
(I've decided it will be my birthday present to me. :) )
Is my husband excited? Not so much... (?)
As incredible as all this has been, he's not so sure he can do this every year. But I can! So...just in case...I'm putting the word out: I may need a cabin mate. (Apparently he's not keen on my doing this solo. No idea why...)
To our hairdresser: I know you want to be on the cruise with Queensryche, but I can guarantee you'd have a blast on this one!
To S. M-S.: Please consider it. (And maybe even check with your friends J. & S.?)
Anyone else? I'm open to suggestions. Anyone? Bueller...?
I realize that I've been excited about this cruise since I first found out about it last fall; very excited about it since I booked it; and increasingly unbearable since I started the official countdown after Christmas. So I apologize to all of you in advance...it's going to be a long year!
I'm signing off now. We're starting the rest and relaxation part of our "R&R" vacation, so there'll be no more posts for a week or 2 -- after we get back home. But -- I will be putting up photos, so check back.
See you all soon!
Well folks, today was the first day that I felt we had a more relaxed schedule -- some breathing space, if you will. We actually had time to eat all 3 meals today. And we didn't have to rush from stage to stage to squeeze in seeing everyone we wanted to. Well...only a couple of times in the afternoon.
We did finally get to see Stryper, and they were really good. Today we also saw: UFO, Keel (again), Tesla in an acoustic set, a bit of Bang Tango, Rhino Bucket, Flametal, and Lynch Mob. Lynch Mob are playing the final concert of this cruise and it's their only show due to them being delayed getting on the ship.
I did finally figure out who our singing neighbour is: a gentleman by the name of Philip Monti, who did percussion and backup vocals for Ted Poley's acoustic set. We heard him warming up again this evening before we went for dinner. And he was in the cabin right next to us!
My husband has finally admitted that this was a lot of fun and a very cool vacation experience -- even before he gets underwater. Oh! By the way, for all you SCSDs reading this, Irene was spotted crowd surfing at the Keel show this evening -- we have photographic proof. P.L., best you reign her in a bit, eh?
Today's specialty drink was a UFO Cosmo: Absolut, something else, and cranberry juice.
And now for the news you've all been breathlessly waiting for...
THEY'VE ANNOUNCED NEXT YEAR'S MONSTERS OF ROCK CRUISE!!! (I suspect some of you figured as much.)
AND GREAT WHITE IS ON IT!!! WOOOOOO!!! (You may remember in a previous post I listed Great White on my personalized MOR lineup.)
It's March 16-20 (5 days!), 2013.
Am I excited? Yes!
Am I going? Of course!
Am I already pre-reserved before it goes on sale? You bet!
(I've decided it will be my birthday present to me. :) )
Is my husband excited? Not so much... (?)
As incredible as all this has been, he's not so sure he can do this every year. But I can! So...just in case...I'm putting the word out: I may need a cabin mate. (Apparently he's not keen on my doing this solo. No idea why...)
To our hairdresser: I know you want to be on the cruise with Queensryche, but I can guarantee you'd have a blast on this one!
To S. M-S.: Please consider it. (And maybe even check with your friends J. & S.?)
Anyone else? I'm open to suggestions. Anyone? Bueller...?
I realize that I've been excited about this cruise since I first found out about it last fall; very excited about it since I booked it; and increasingly unbearable since I started the official countdown after Christmas. So I apologize to all of you in advance...it's going to be a long year!
I'm signing off now. We're starting the rest and relaxation part of our "R&R" vacation, so there'll be no more posts for a week or 2 -- after we get back home. But -- I will be putting up photos, so check back.
See you all soon!
Monday 27 February 2012
"I wanna rock'n'roll all night, and party everyday!" (Kiss)
Come on -- you knew I was going to use those lyrics at some point, right?
Have I mentioned how incredibly cool this is?!? 'Cause it is! Not to sound like a broken record (pun intended -- ha, ha!)
Some of you may have noticed the time that I posted Saturday's entry (and tonight's for that matter...). When I was done, my husband insisted it was bedtime -- at 2 am. God, I haven't been up this late watching bands in years. I didn't even feel tired. My eyes did, but I didn't. I'm sure this will all catch up with middle-aged me.
Ok. So, today. Even with the late bedtime, I was awake about 9. Which turned out to be a good thing because very shortly afterward, someone very close -- next door or above us or below us -- started singing scales to warm up their voice. We are apparently in the vicinity of celebrity! No idea who (yet), but it was one of the best wake-up calls I've had!
After breakfast, we caught Ted Poley in an acoustic set -- he was very good. (He wasn't our singing neighbour -- we asked.) We saw cruisemates A. & A. there again too. After that, we were going to go to "Rock'n'Roll Church" to see Stryper, but both Stryper and Lynch Mob missed the boat due to the snowy weather up north. Both bands are to meet up with us today in Key West. And we're told there'll be some re-scheduling as a result. So we stood in line for a while to do the "meet & greet", which was really more like being herded through band "stations" and quickly having one's picture taken with them. So we saw, "met", sometimes shook hands with, and had our pictures taken with: XYZ, Black'n'Blue, Keel, Rhino Bucket, Helix, Y&T, Eric Martin, John Corabi, and...CINDERELLA!! I got to stand beside Tom Keifer! :) It was still pretty cool.
After that, we went back out to the stage at the pool to catch some of Kix's set, then back in for the "so you think you can shred" guest guitar competition. Then it was into the theatre for Night Ranger, who, by the way, put on a great show (probably the best we've seen yet). And then it was back out to the pool to see some of Y&T's set. Aaaand back in to catch Helix, where we once again ran into A. & A. Believe it or not, we actually had a chance to eat dinner after seeing Helix (it was past 8 pm at this point). So 6 of us went for dinner. Three of our dining partners left early to catch Cinderella's show. We remaining 3 chatted for a bit before heading off to see Motley Inc. I wrote up most of this post on paper (to save precious internet $) between Motley Inc. (finishing at 11 pm), and Firehouse (starting at 12:15). I should tell you that the times for the theatre are "-ish". The doors for Firehouse aren't even open yet and it's now 12:30. We're standing in line being serenaded with Ozzy tunes courtesy of George Lynch's all-star jam. (This is apparently the extended version of "Paranoid"...) Needless to say, Lynch Mob is now on board, and, judging by the fact that I've seen 2 members of Stryper, so are they.
We've decided against seeing Firehouse at this point -- maybe they're playing sometime tomorrow. (Can you believe we get to do this again all day tomorrow?! Woooo!) And I think today is a wrap at this point.
The ship is rocking pretty good tonight, both literally and figuratively. My husband's advice: "Drink enough such that you cannot tell the difference between bed spins and boat motion, and you'll be fine." (KMS -- this means you!)
That reminds me, speaking of drinks, today's specialty drinks were a Kix Voo Doo (lots of rum, not much of anything else) and a Stryper Shark Bite (yummy!).
Today, the ship was docked in Key West (port? what port?). It is WAY too busy here to get off of the boat. There is barely time to sleep, not really time to eat, and definitely no time to sightsee on land. (Not when the sights are pretty decent on board... ;) )
Oh! I have exciting news...TBA tomorrow, so stay tuned!
(No, we did not get married. And no, I did not run off with a band. Yet.)
Have I mentioned how incredibly cool this is?!? 'Cause it is! Not to sound like a broken record (pun intended -- ha, ha!)
Some of you may have noticed the time that I posted Saturday's entry (and tonight's for that matter...). When I was done, my husband insisted it was bedtime -- at 2 am. God, I haven't been up this late watching bands in years. I didn't even feel tired. My eyes did, but I didn't. I'm sure this will all catch up with middle-aged me.
Ok. So, today. Even with the late bedtime, I was awake about 9. Which turned out to be a good thing because very shortly afterward, someone very close -- next door or above us or below us -- started singing scales to warm up their voice. We are apparently in the vicinity of celebrity! No idea who (yet), but it was one of the best wake-up calls I've had!
After breakfast, we caught Ted Poley in an acoustic set -- he was very good. (He wasn't our singing neighbour -- we asked.) We saw cruisemates A. & A. there again too. After that, we were going to go to "Rock'n'Roll Church" to see Stryper, but both Stryper and Lynch Mob missed the boat due to the snowy weather up north. Both bands are to meet up with us today in Key West. And we're told there'll be some re-scheduling as a result. So we stood in line for a while to do the "meet & greet", which was really more like being herded through band "stations" and quickly having one's picture taken with them. So we saw, "met", sometimes shook hands with, and had our pictures taken with: XYZ, Black'n'Blue, Keel, Rhino Bucket, Helix, Y&T, Eric Martin, John Corabi, and...CINDERELLA!! I got to stand beside Tom Keifer! :) It was still pretty cool.
After that, we went back out to the stage at the pool to catch some of Kix's set, then back in for the "so you think you can shred" guest guitar competition. Then it was into the theatre for Night Ranger, who, by the way, put on a great show (probably the best we've seen yet). And then it was back out to the pool to see some of Y&T's set. Aaaand back in to catch Helix, where we once again ran into A. & A. Believe it or not, we actually had a chance to eat dinner after seeing Helix (it was past 8 pm at this point). So 6 of us went for dinner. Three of our dining partners left early to catch Cinderella's show. We remaining 3 chatted for a bit before heading off to see Motley Inc. I wrote up most of this post on paper (to save precious internet $) between Motley Inc. (finishing at 11 pm), and Firehouse (starting at 12:15). I should tell you that the times for the theatre are "-ish". The doors for Firehouse aren't even open yet and it's now 12:30. We're standing in line being serenaded with Ozzy tunes courtesy of George Lynch's all-star jam. (This is apparently the extended version of "Paranoid"...) Needless to say, Lynch Mob is now on board, and, judging by the fact that I've seen 2 members of Stryper, so are they.
We've decided against seeing Firehouse at this point -- maybe they're playing sometime tomorrow. (Can you believe we get to do this again all day tomorrow?! Woooo!) And I think today is a wrap at this point.
The ship is rocking pretty good tonight, both literally and figuratively. My husband's advice: "Drink enough such that you cannot tell the difference between bed spins and boat motion, and you'll be fine." (KMS -- this means you!)
That reminds me, speaking of drinks, today's specialty drinks were a Kix Voo Doo (lots of rum, not much of anything else) and a Stryper Shark Bite (yummy!).
Today, the ship was docked in Key West (port? what port?). It is WAY too busy here to get off of the boat. There is barely time to sleep, not really time to eat, and definitely no time to sightsee on land. (Not when the sights are pretty decent on board... ;) )
Oh! I have exciting news...TBA tomorrow, so stay tuned!
(No, we did not get married. And no, I did not run off with a band. Yet.)
Sunday 26 February 2012
"Gonna rock it up, roll it up, do it all, have a ball, Saturday night..." (The Bay City Rollers)
Oh. My. God.
WOW. I mean W-O-W!! This is just...wow.
This is incredibly, unbelievably, fucking amazingly awesome.
I don't even know where to start.
This is exactly everything I thought it would be. No, wait -- this exceeds my expectations. But I'm sure it's exactly what a lot of you suspected it would be -- for better or worse. :)
We just finished watching Cinderella (!) in the theatre -- good show -- and are now at the stage out on the pool deck, sipping today's specialty drink (a Cinderella Paradise -- vodka, peach schnapps and fruity stuff), listening to the last half of XYZ's show. Before we head back inside to one of the many bars to catch Keel.
We're out on the open water at 10:00 at night and there's still a few people too cool to take off the shades.
Everyone is wearing black -- Monsters of Rock gear or concert shirts. TONS of concert shirts. A lot of the bands on board, of course, but everything from Poison (ick -- and really?) to Iron Maiden and Ozzy. And beyond. And everything in between.
We've actually already befriended a few fellow canucks -- T. from Alberta (here solo) and A. & A., who live about an hour away from us. I actually spotted his denim jacket in the waiting area of the airport before we even boarded the plane. I saw it, turned to my husband and said, "They're going on the cruise!" It is covered in band logos -- I do believe about 27 of them, 8 of which are on this ship. It turns out every band name/logo is embroidered onto the jacket itself, by hand, by him. No patches here. Everyone who spots it approaches him to check it out, compliment him on it, and take photos of it. Including us.
So. Before the boat even left the dock, we saw celebrities (sorry -- I don't know names): the blond from Kix, Ted Poley, the guitarist from Night Ranger, Ron Keel, Brian Vollmer (from Helix). Wowsa. Very cool.
We hung out at the pool deck for the group photos before Tesla's sail away concert, but headed in about 6:30 to grab dinner before going to see Cinderella. The dining room was EMPTY. There was more staff there standing around than there were diners! I thought that was hilarious! There's always a line up at the bar though -- I guess this crowd is more concerned about drinking than eating.
This is all just so very cool.
Jeans, boots, long hair...ahhh, it's good to be back!
Off to catch Keel -- until tomorrow, rockin' it old school!
WOW. I mean W-O-W!! This is just...wow.
This is incredibly, unbelievably, fucking amazingly awesome.
I don't even know where to start.
This is exactly everything I thought it would be. No, wait -- this exceeds my expectations. But I'm sure it's exactly what a lot of you suspected it would be -- for better or worse. :)
We just finished watching Cinderella (!) in the theatre -- good show -- and are now at the stage out on the pool deck, sipping today's specialty drink (a Cinderella Paradise -- vodka, peach schnapps and fruity stuff), listening to the last half of XYZ's show. Before we head back inside to one of the many bars to catch Keel.
We're out on the open water at 10:00 at night and there's still a few people too cool to take off the shades.
Everyone is wearing black -- Monsters of Rock gear or concert shirts. TONS of concert shirts. A lot of the bands on board, of course, but everything from Poison (ick -- and really?) to Iron Maiden and Ozzy. And beyond. And everything in between.
We've actually already befriended a few fellow canucks -- T. from Alberta (here solo) and A. & A., who live about an hour away from us. I actually spotted his denim jacket in the waiting area of the airport before we even boarded the plane. I saw it, turned to my husband and said, "They're going on the cruise!" It is covered in band logos -- I do believe about 27 of them, 8 of which are on this ship. It turns out every band name/logo is embroidered onto the jacket itself, by hand, by him. No patches here. Everyone who spots it approaches him to check it out, compliment him on it, and take photos of it. Including us.
So. Before the boat even left the dock, we saw celebrities (sorry -- I don't know names): the blond from Kix, Ted Poley, the guitarist from Night Ranger, Ron Keel, Brian Vollmer (from Helix). Wowsa. Very cool.
We hung out at the pool deck for the group photos before Tesla's sail away concert, but headed in about 6:30 to grab dinner before going to see Cinderella. The dining room was EMPTY. There was more staff there standing around than there were diners! I thought that was hilarious! There's always a line up at the bar though -- I guess this crowd is more concerned about drinking than eating.
This is all just so very cool.
Jeans, boots, long hair...ahhh, it's good to be back!
Off to catch Keel -- until tomorrow, rockin' it old school!
Thursday 23 February 2012
"It's the final countdown..." (Europe)
Oh, boy...if you thought I was excited before...! I am just buzzing, I'm so excited! I feel like a 7-year-old going to Disney World! I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight. I think part of what's contributing to this insane level of excitement (at least on my part, I can't speak for my husband) is the fact that this is all so new. I haven't done anything remotely like this before, so I have no idea what to expect. It almost doesn't seem real -- I can't believe that we're actually doing this. And I can't wait!
We received more info today about boarding and being on the ship. AND the daily schedules for the cruise! Wow. Let's see...hmmm...strangely, there's nothing happening much before noon each day. But the concerts and events don't end until after midnight, either, so... At least it looks like I will be getting some sleep, after all. Breakfast? What breakfast?
So folks, I'm all packed and ready to go. In less than 48 hours, we'll be shiprockin'!!
Keep watching this space, my next post should be from the cruise ship itself...
We received more info today about boarding and being on the ship. AND the daily schedules for the cruise! Wow. Let's see...hmmm...strangely, there's nothing happening much before noon each day. But the concerts and events don't end until after midnight, either, so... At least it looks like I will be getting some sleep, after all. Breakfast? What breakfast?
So folks, I'm all packed and ready to go. In less than 48 hours, we'll be shiprockin'!!
Keep watching this space, my next post should be from the cruise ship itself...
Tuesday 21 February 2012
"Now are you ready to rock?" (Whitesnake)
Hello again. 3 days to go!! I'm so excited!!! As a friend of mine says: "I'm positively vibrating with excitement!"
I even actually started packing last weekend. Any of you who know me well also know I'm somewhat of a procrastinator, and as for packing to go away, I usually do it in the last day or two. I mean, one has to do laundry, and some toiletries get used right up to the last day...so how can one possibly pack too far in advance? I've never understood that. I guess with going somewhere sunny and warm in the winter, it's easier, because I'm sure not using any of my summer clothes right now, so they at least can go into the suitcase. Let's have a look at the checklist, shall we?
Official Monsters of Rock cruise t-shirt: check
Official Monsters of Rock cruise id pass: check
Mandatory black clothing: check
Denim: check
Leather: ...hmm...I don't actually own any leather clothing. Never have, come to think of it. Aside from a few pair of shoes and some bags, no leather... Ah! How about back suede?
Black suede: check! (still just a pair of shoes, however)
earplugs: check
mirrored shades: check
digital camera, with empty memory card and fully charged: check
ipod, loaded with heavy tunes and freshly synched: check
appropriate reading material in case there's actually any R&R time (unlikely): check -- "The Heroin Diaries, a Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star" by Nikki Sixx. My husband is taking "The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzy Osbourne". (Good choices, eh?)
Ha! Ha! "R&R"!! I meant "rest and relaxation", not "rock'n'roll". HA! I'm sure there'll be LOTS of R&R on board! :) Heh, heh, I kill me...
I'm going to try to include a photo with this post, so let's see if I can do this...wish me luck!
Ta-DAAAA!!! Holy cow -- I'm impressed! As I'm sure a few of you are, not the least of which will be my husband and my tech support, as this did not involve them helping me.
So, my husband says to me the other night, "I wonder if we'll see anyone famous on the cruise." Huh?!? I just look at him for a moment, then reply, "Like Gopher? Or Isaac?" He laughs and says, "Maybe Julie. Or Captain Stubing." I understand that these bands aren't exactly household names, exactly, but they can be considered famous. They're more famous than anyone I personally know. He seems to think that with 3,000+ people on board, it'll be difficult to spot the "stars". Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I guess we'll find out soon...in 3 DAYS, to be exact!!
We can board the ship as early as 2 pm on Sat., Feb. 25, and it "sets sail" (so to speak) at 7 pm that evening. We return to Ft. Lauderdale at 7 am on Tues., Feb. 28. I hope to be updating this blog daily while on the cruise, but we don't travel with a computer (except for the better half's dive computer, and I may be no techie, but I'm pretty sure that won't help me). However, there seems to be a cyber cafe of some sort on board, though I don't really know how that all works, so hopefully I'll be able to get all sorted out and keep you updated -- and entertained.
Ciao for now!
I even actually started packing last weekend. Any of you who know me well also know I'm somewhat of a procrastinator, and as for packing to go away, I usually do it in the last day or two. I mean, one has to do laundry, and some toiletries get used right up to the last day...so how can one possibly pack too far in advance? I've never understood that. I guess with going somewhere sunny and warm in the winter, it's easier, because I'm sure not using any of my summer clothes right now, so they at least can go into the suitcase. Let's have a look at the checklist, shall we?
Official Monsters of Rock cruise t-shirt: check
Official Monsters of Rock cruise id pass: check
Mandatory black clothing: check
Denim: check
Leather: ...hmm...I don't actually own any leather clothing. Never have, come to think of it. Aside from a few pair of shoes and some bags, no leather... Ah! How about back suede?
Black suede: check! (still just a pair of shoes, however)
earplugs: check
mirrored shades: check
digital camera, with empty memory card and fully charged: check
ipod, loaded with heavy tunes and freshly synched: check
appropriate reading material in case there's actually any R&R time (unlikely): check -- "The Heroin Diaries, a Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star" by Nikki Sixx. My husband is taking "The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzy Osbourne". (Good choices, eh?)
Ha! Ha! "R&R"!! I meant "rest and relaxation", not "rock'n'roll". HA! I'm sure there'll be LOTS of R&R on board! :) Heh, heh, I kill me...
I'm going to try to include a photo with this post, so let's see if I can do this...wish me luck!
Ta-DAAAA!!! Holy cow -- I'm impressed! As I'm sure a few of you are, not the least of which will be my husband and my tech support, as this did not involve them helping me.
So, my husband says to me the other night, "I wonder if we'll see anyone famous on the cruise." Huh?!? I just look at him for a moment, then reply, "Like Gopher? Or Isaac?" He laughs and says, "Maybe Julie. Or Captain Stubing." I understand that these bands aren't exactly household names, exactly, but they can be considered famous. They're more famous than anyone I personally know. He seems to think that with 3,000+ people on board, it'll be difficult to spot the "stars". Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I guess we'll find out soon...in 3 DAYS, to be exact!!
We can board the ship as early as 2 pm on Sat., Feb. 25, and it "sets sail" (so to speak) at 7 pm that evening. We return to Ft. Lauderdale at 7 am on Tues., Feb. 28. I hope to be updating this blog daily while on the cruise, but we don't travel with a computer (except for the better half's dive computer, and I may be no techie, but I'm pretty sure that won't help me). However, there seems to be a cyber cafe of some sort on board, though I don't really know how that all works, so hopefully I'll be able to get all sorted out and keep you updated -- and entertained.
Ciao for now!
Friday 17 February 2012
"Anticipation...is keeping me waiting..." (Carly Simon)
Ok, here we go with post #2. And aside from just counting down to the cruise (8 days!! Woohoo!! The countdown is into single digits!!), I thought I'd expound a bit upon the bands on board. Hmmm...there actually won't be much for me to say, as I'm really only a fan of one of them (Cinderella).
I've heard of many of the bands, and I even know a couple songs from some of them specifically -- and it's likely that I would recognize a song or two without knowing who the artist is, but really, I've only ever seen Cinderella in concert. (I say that, but it's quite possible that I've seen some of them as opening acts for bigger bands whose concerts I've been to, but I don't have that kind of recall.) I haven't even seen Helix, and we exist in the same geographical area! That being said, I only own 1 Cinderella album: "Night Songs" (another really good whole album). I am looking forward to seeing as many of the bands as possible (sleep? what sleep?). At the top of my list is: Cinderella (of course), Helix (of course), and Lynch Mob (Dokken guitarist George Lynch's band). I'd also like to see Kix, Keel, Stryper (though I'm not really sure why...morbid curiosity, I think -- they're a Christian Rock band, or at least they were), Night Ranger, Black'n'Blue, Y&T, UFO, XYZ... The rest I can probably take or leave.
This closer look at the bands booked on this cruise has got me pondering: who would I book on my own personal Monsters of Rock bill? Hmmm...Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Scorpions... Aerosmith...Motley Crue, and Great White. In no particular order, but those are my favourites. Do share: who would you have on your personal Monsters of Rock lineup?
There is also a tribute band on board (just in case there's any gaps in concert time, I guess). Actually, I think it's two tribute bands...or maybe one and a half...or a quarter. Let me explain: They are called "The Atomic Punks" (a Van Halen tribute band, for those of you to whom the name means nothing, like moi), and "Motley Inc." (obviously a Motley Crue tribute band). When I was scoping out their respective websites, I noticed that the sites looked remakably similar. Upon further investigation, I see that the two bands share the same bassist, guitarist, and drummer, just changing up the lead singers, depending on whether they need a Vince Neil or a David Lee Roth. So, I guess the Monster Cruise people get 2 bands for the price of 1. And a quarter. I understand they're supposed to be very good, so they are also on our hit list of bands to see while we're shiprockin'.
Speaking of "we"...my husband has read my first post, and wondered why I didn't include his glory days in my stories. So. He too had long hair back in the day and played bass in a Burlington-based band. They played a few of the clubs over a few years, and even got to play a gig at the Gasworks in Toronto. For smaller bands, that was a really big thing back then. They played heavier stuff like Black Sabbath and Queensryche, not so much my type of music, but they did introduce me to a few songs that I like.
For those of you who are intrigued by and wondering about the cruise, you can check it out via the website: http://www.monstersofrockcruise.com/
Until next time...
I've heard of many of the bands, and I even know a couple songs from some of them specifically -- and it's likely that I would recognize a song or two without knowing who the artist is, but really, I've only ever seen Cinderella in concert. (I say that, but it's quite possible that I've seen some of them as opening acts for bigger bands whose concerts I've been to, but I don't have that kind of recall.) I haven't even seen Helix, and we exist in the same geographical area! That being said, I only own 1 Cinderella album: "Night Songs" (another really good whole album). I am looking forward to seeing as many of the bands as possible (sleep? what sleep?). At the top of my list is: Cinderella (of course), Helix (of course), and Lynch Mob (Dokken guitarist George Lynch's band). I'd also like to see Kix, Keel, Stryper (though I'm not really sure why...morbid curiosity, I think -- they're a Christian Rock band, or at least they were), Night Ranger, Black'n'Blue, Y&T, UFO, XYZ... The rest I can probably take or leave.
This closer look at the bands booked on this cruise has got me pondering: who would I book on my own personal Monsters of Rock bill? Hmmm...Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Scorpions... Aerosmith...Motley Crue, and Great White. In no particular order, but those are my favourites. Do share: who would you have on your personal Monsters of Rock lineup?
There is also a tribute band on board (just in case there's any gaps in concert time, I guess). Actually, I think it's two tribute bands...or maybe one and a half...or a quarter. Let me explain: They are called "The Atomic Punks" (a Van Halen tribute band, for those of you to whom the name means nothing, like moi), and "Motley Inc." (obviously a Motley Crue tribute band). When I was scoping out their respective websites, I noticed that the sites looked remakably similar. Upon further investigation, I see that the two bands share the same bassist, guitarist, and drummer, just changing up the lead singers, depending on whether they need a Vince Neil or a David Lee Roth. So, I guess the Monster Cruise people get 2 bands for the price of 1. And a quarter. I understand they're supposed to be very good, so they are also on our hit list of bands to see while we're shiprockin'.
Speaking of "we"...my husband has read my first post, and wondered why I didn't include his glory days in my stories. So. He too had long hair back in the day and played bass in a Burlington-based band. They played a few of the clubs over a few years, and even got to play a gig at the Gasworks in Toronto. For smaller bands, that was a really big thing back then. They played heavier stuff like Black Sabbath and Queensryche, not so much my type of music, but they did introduce me to a few songs that I like.
For those of you who are intrigued by and wondering about the cruise, you can check it out via the website: http://www.monstersofrockcruise.com/
Until next time...
Sunday 5 February 2012
"Please allow me to introduce myself..." (The Rolling Stones)
Some of you who know me as a technophobe will be shocked that this is even happening, so I hope you're sitting down while reading this! However, I thought that my upcoming trip on the Monsters of Rock Cruise (the inaugural cruise, no less) was such an unique experience that I wanted to write about it and even share it, so my trusty tech support has helped me get all this set up and started (thanks, eh). Here goes nothing...
I also felt an introduction of sorts was warranted, so I'd like to share a bit of background info with you. I'll try to keep to the basic facts, but I'll warn you now this may get a little wordy/long.
This all started when I was in college and discovered a new band at the time: Bon Jovi. It was the late 80s, and the metal music of the day was becoming mainstream. Now, some of you may take issue with the likes of Bon Jovi being considered "metal", and really, I call this sort of music "hard rock" -- I think it's more suitable. Anyway, this opened my ears and eyes to other bands of the genre, such as Def Leppard, Whitesnake, The Scorpions, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Guns'n'Roses, etc., etc. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture. This, in turn, led to a friendship with S., as we shared this common taste in music. We went to lots of concerts together, the first being, I believe, Def Leppard in June of 1988 at the CNE Grandstand in support of their "Hysteria" album. (Awesome album, by the way. Do you remember when you could buy an album and discover that you liked all of the songs on it? That the whole album was good? And, in my opinion, the CNE Grandstand remains the best place to see a concert. A warm summer night, with the sights and sounds of the CNE drifting up to you in the stands mixing with the anticipation of the rockin' time about to start. Mmmmmm! The best!) Anyway, we ended up going to about 25 concerts, in all.
The popularity of the hard rock music and its long-haired players in the late 80s spawned just a whole whack of local "garage bands" (cover bands for the most part), and the bars and clubs jumped on the bandwagon, so the local hard rock music scene was quite happening. S. and I also frequented the bars and clubs to watch the local hair, uh, I mean talent. From about the spring of '88 to the end of '93, we saw over 67 different bands, oftentimes more than once. And we would even venture out beyond the local clubs to Niagara or Toronto. Some of our regular haunts were (in no particular order): Dallas, Dorsey's, Citylimits, Bannisters, and, of course, Rock'n'Roll Heaven in T.O. (a moment of silence, please, for the demise of Heaven...) Naturally, we also had our favourite local bands. Some of my fav's were (also in no particular order): White Knuckle Flyer, Cheater, Renaissance, Kalamity Jane, T.O. Joker, 7th Veil, Lost Johnny, Scorcher, Ragadee Anne, Nasty Klass. But topping my list were Emerald City (a Niagara area band, I believe, though we never did find out much about them -- not even their names), Harem Scarem, who went on to moderate success, and Tora Tora from Toronto. (Steve "Tora", if you're out there, I hope life has been good to you, my friend.)
S. and I even made a pilgrimage out to L.A. in '94 to visit the clubs and see the bands of the infamous Sunset Strip. That was a great holiday.
Like everything, music is cyclical, and no sound remains popular forever. The mid-90s brought in the Grunge sound, and the "hair bands" with their fun, upbeat, good-time, easy to sing-along-to and dance-to music fell out of favour. I was sad to see it all go, I loved the sounds (and sights!) of that music. Now, some of the better bands did survive and managed to carve a long-term career out of music (Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, to name but two), but most faded into oblivion. And, like everything, nostalgia is a powerful tool that can resurrect the strangest things (leg warmers, for example -- I mean, really?). Hence the recent (and somewhat bizarre, I admit) phenomenon of rock cruises. I guess us children of the 80s are now middle aged (gulp!), and are a prime target for this sort of thing. And it looks like we are, judging by the fact that between October of 2011 and March of 2012, there have been 4 rock-themed cruises out of Florida alone. The two from last fall have already announced cruises for this fall, and I hear that the Monsters of Rock cruise is making plans for next year's too.
As for the nostalgia thing, I have recently re-discovered all that music that I enjoyed, and find that I do still love it. (Although my tolerance for Axl Rose's caterwauling has decreased significantly...) So, when I saw the Monsters of Rock cruise with the likes of Cinderella, Stryper, Helix, Kix, Keel, Black'n'Blue, and many others, I thought, "That's cool. That sounds like a cruise right up my alley!" Surprisingly, it didn't take much to convince my husband to join me, (although I suspect he thinks I need a chaperone for such an event...), but I will admit I threw in some scuba diving to get him "onboard" (pun intended).
And now we're just 12 days away from a vacation (exciting), my first trip to Florida (also exciting), our first cruise (exciting!), and a rock'n'roll concert event like I have never experienced (very exciting!!). Needless to say, I am super-excited about this one!
On that note, I guess I've blathered on long enough, so I'll wrap things up. But I want to invite you to share your memories with me of the heyday of the "hair bands" of the '80s: what was your first hard rock/heavy metal concert? (Def Leppard, June 1988) What was your most recent? (Whitesnake, August 2011) What one was your favourite/most memorable? (Motley Crue at a club! in Oklahoma City, August 1994)
I promise that the next few posts will be considerably shorter, but I'm not making any guarantees for the posts I write during the cruise!
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