Cruising

Award winning songwriter Allan Rich occasionally curates an event that features songwriters as part of an entertainment program on a cruise ship. He’s been asking me for years to come. Nope. Not interested.

I’d heard all about them: Yacht Rock Cruises. Riverboat Cruises. Holiday Cruises. It brings to mind claustrophobia, motion sickness, super spreaders. But when he called 6 months ago I was more open. I’m all about “yes” these days.

He said I’d have to perform 3 songs and talk about how and why I wrote them. That’s it?

In return, I’d be at sea (and in ports) for 9 days in the Caribbean with unlimited exquisite cuisine (Nobu on board) and beverage (Titos on board), access to a gym, a spa, a casino (for my date - Adam), a library, a pool, and a suite with a veranda and umm … a butler. 😳

Scenes from Nobu. I believe this was monkfish liver with caviar.

Sounds like a no-brainer.

The icing on the cake was that Gary Burr would be going, as well as his delightful wife Georgia Middleman who I would soon fall in love with.

I met Gary many years ago at the Bluebird. It was shortly after my father passed and Gary, one of the performers that night, sang his poignant ode to his father, “That’s My Job”  - a song about a father’s priority in life - his child. I was speechless and weepy in the back of the room but that’s what a song is supposed to do. Move me.

Oh and did I mention … I’m sorry, I love them, but … no kids. Just 500 adults (that’s a relatively small group as cruises go) on a top-of-the-line ship.

I called my doctor for some behind-the-ear anti-nausea patches, collected my vitamin C and started packing.

Boarding the boat was like “Love Boat” meets “White Lotus.” Effervescent greeters every 10 feet. Champagne on trays. I’m sure those of you who are familiar with ‘cruise culture’ aren’t surprised by this description of a floating resort but I was stunned.

We were invited to a welcoming hullabaloo where everyone was requested to wear white. I was hesitant at first but Allan said “why the hell not?" When on cruise do as cruise does.” I wore my wedding dress and Adam — a pair of white chinos he ordered last minute on Amazon. (I mean, who has white chinos?)

We surrendered to the fun. And let me tell you, it wasn’t without pause. Because two nights into our travels the LA fires broke out. As I explained last week, our home was in the Red Zone and we were helpless …

What were we supposed to do? Get off the ship and fly home? And do what? Or do we stay on and panic? We did neither. We made a conscious decision to enjoy the adventure but never did our fellow Angelenos (and our house) leave our minds and hearts.

Curiosity about the songwriter’s lifestyle was apparent by the number of people who showed up at our event to hear us play and tell tales of our path to the charts.

Allan, who wrote the smashes “Run To You” and “I Don’t Have The Heart” played voice messages he’d saved from James Ingram with news that their song went #1 and from Clive Davis saying ‘Whitney was a go.’

Gary played and talked about Juice Newton’s “Love’s Been A Little But Hard On Me” and shed light on the idea that although everyone knows the names of the dozens of #1s he’s written no one knows his name. He/We/Songwriters are unsung heroes. Indeed.

In the Q&A thankfully nobody asked what comes first; the lyrics or the music 😳 or how someone might ‘make it’ in the music business. The truth is, there’s no answer. Everyone finds their own path and tells a different story on that stage 30 years later. They did ask about where a song comes from (the sky) and if the songs we played were true to our lives. Yes.

There was an assortment of other “enrichment activities” offered on board. Lectures on the history of port destinations, ballroom dancing lessons, yoga classes. Gary and I were down for some watercolor. (Regrettably I forgot to collect my masterpiece before I debarked.) 😢

On port excursions we were clung to by parrots, monkeys and sloths in Honduras, climbed the Mayan Ruins in Belize, cradled starfish in Cozumel and swam with stingrays in the Grand Cayman. Not a typical day in a life.

My favorite parts of the day? Bookends: waking up in the morning and watching the sea go by and Adam and I meeting Gary and Georgia at the bow of the boat for nightly sunset shares of our original songs. Oh and a couple of covers — “Red Rubber Ball,” “Here Comes The Sun,” and … “Walk Away Renee.” Heaven on water.

I can be stubborn. Sometimes “yes” to the unknown can be a life-expanding cultural eye-opener despite a horrific incongruity with what’s going on elsewhere. I’m grateful beyond to have these opportunities to pull back a curtain and share what it is to be a songwriter. Whether on land or in this case at sea. To try to explain that our most favorite state is in that zone when everything but whatever it is you’re writing …  simply disappears. It’s magical.

Allan, I apologize profusely. I doubted you and I was WRONG! How could I have waited so long. BTW, I was flipping through the Crystal Catalog I believe I saw a trip from LA to Tahiti next January. In case you were wondering, I’m available. 😬❤️

Lyrics by my friend Gary Andrews:

Say 'Yes' to the Universe!
Darlin' don't tell me 'No'.
I don't know what's out there,
further down the road!
I know I'll only find out,
if I put on my hat and go!
Say 'Yes' to the Universe!
like it's Your First Rodeo!

Thanks for staying with me. You can subscribe to my blog here. Get a signed CD or a copy of “Confessions of a Serial Songwriter.” And here’s My Serial Songwriter Facebook Page! 💋