Rock Boat Day by Day – Day 5

Katie February 3, 2009 0 Comments

Tuesday January 20
We were supposed to dock at Half Moon Cay this morning and Hanson was going to be holding a walk on the Island. However, when I woke up Maribeth was looking out the window and said “We’re still moving”

It was announced that due to the swells, we wouldn’t be able to port and we would try again tomorrow morning to visit Half Moon Cay.

I stayed in the room and watched part of the Inauguration while the others were sunning on the Lido Deck. Marisa came back and got me and we watched part of Obama’s speech on the HUGE screen on the Lido Deck (so surreal) and then grabbed some chairs. I ended up falling asleep and of course, getting sun burned.

I took a nap in the room and woke up VERY red. We went to dinner in the formal dining room again and then headed to the Palladium where Hanson would be playing later that night. We found good spots on the balcony near the stage on the side that Zac faces.

We stayed for all 3 sets, Curtis Peoples, Gaelic Storm and then Hanson.

After that, Shayla, Marisa and I went to the casino and listened to The Spring Standards.

Rock Boat Day by Day – Day 4

Katie February 3, 2009 0 Comments

Monday January 19
Before we went to bed, we ordered room service breakfast to be delivered Monday morning. We had planned to eat, and then get in line for the Hanson (and others) M&G.;

Around 11:15 we headed to get in line, and the line surprisingly was not that bad. Of course, by the time 12 came around (when the M&G; was scheduled to start) the line went up a set of stairs, into the dining room, around the dining room and was almost meeting itself!

The line moved really fast and first up was Hanson. Zac signed my poster and wrote “TO KATIE” on it for me. I was happy about that because I have an autograph where Taylor had written my name and one where Isaac had, but none where Zac had yet! Then it was on to Taylor and Isaac. I told them they had to top “Under The Sea” from the night before and Taylor said they should “Keep it in the family” and sing “Kiss The Girl” then he and Isaac started SINGING IT TO ME! They were still going when security was shooing me away, I wanted to wait for Maribeth but they wouldn’t let me.

We also met Blackberry Smoke, Tyrone Wells and Wideawake. The lead singer of Wideawake gave Maribeth a one of a kind signed tea cup from the band.

We headed to the Lido Deck where Sam Thacker was playing. As soon as we got out there they introduced Stephen Kellogg to the stage. We stayed for Sam and some of Carbon Leaf.

After that, we decided that we’d use my leg brace to curt the M&G; line and try to get our poster signed by as many bands as we could.

Because the Hanson line was STILL GOING, the next M&G; was held on the floor above. Here we met Graham Colton, Cowboy Mouth, Scott Muns, Alternate Routes and Ernie Halter. Eric from the Alternate Routes has been best friends with my cousin for as long as I can remember, and when I introduced myself to him he was like “The Hanson Fan!” Apparently my cousin does talk about me LOL We were the first ones through and it went very quickly.

Went back out to Lido for more Carbon Leaf (I think) until it was time for M&G; #3 of the day – where we met Michael Tolcher, Green River Ordinance, David Ryan Harris and Gaelic Storm who were so drunk and hilarious.

We also found out that Hanson signed from 12 until 2:45. YIKES. Those boys must still be recovering from hand cramps!

Later in the evening, Marisa and I felt like we were in an episode of Seinfeld. We were relaxing in the room. Maribeth was buying a shuttle ticket because she had to disembark early because her flight had gotten bumped. Michele was out and about. We hear all this noise at the door and Michele busts in saying that she just met ZAC HANSON on the 9th floor near the elevators. Five minutes later, we hear MORE rustling at the door and Maribeth busts in saying that SHE met Zac Hanson on the 3rd floor. Marisa and I just kind of looked at each other like “Why are we in the room?” And we decided to go explore.

After dinner we went to the Palladium to see Aslyn and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. We went to the balcony because the floor area was not sloped so we weren’t sure how well we’d be able to see. We ended up near the VIP section and Isaac and his wife watched SK6ers. Isaac got really into “Start The Day Early” and was dancing and singing it to his wife. It’s cute how in love with her he is!

We left and checked out the tail end of The Alternate Routes set on the Lido deck. Then we wanted to snag seats for Michael Tolcher and Friends, but SH/DC was in the Criterion Lounge and it was hot and crowded so we decided to leave. Maribeth sat me down near the Promenade stage and went to see if Marisa was around. She wasn’t, but who should walk by but Zac Hanson?

He jumped on stage with Scott Munns and Francisco Vidal and played drums for “Last Dance with Mary Jane” (which seemed to be a very popular cover song on the boat) after he was done i told him great job and he said thanks. He lingered around for a bit so Maribeth went to talk to him and got photos taken with him.

Then it was MY turn to bust in the room and say I had met Zac. But it had to be done quietly because Michele was already asleep LOL

Rock Boat Day by Day – Day 3

Katie February 3, 2009 0 Comments

Sunday January 18
We were docked in Nassau when we woke up. We got our bathing suits on and got ready for our excursion. We decided we were going to come back and change afterwards and then explore Nassau (looking back, probably a bad idea)

It was quite a walk to the boat, but luckily the guys running the boat were very helpful and made sure I had no problems getting on (though it was pretty freaking scary) We had a 30 minute ride out to the area where we would snorkel. I had decided last minute that I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Good thing I decided that because on the walk to the boat my shoe cut my ankle and I dont think it would have felt too nice to dip it in very salty water!!

Almost everyone went snorkeling and the water was FREEZING. Many didn’t last much longer than 15-20 minutes in the water. One of the crew guys said he was staying with the “sane” people because the water was so cold. If the locals think its cold – you know it is!

We had a nice ride back with some rum punch and dancing. Then we went back to the boat and we decided to rent a wheelchair for me so that I wouldn’t get tired out and I could try and not mess up my foot any more than it already was.

Our first stop was the Hard Rock Cafe because I am obsessed with them and have to get bears at them and visit them anywhere I go. I got 2 bears and then we went up and down a couple of streets and did some shopping and then headed back to the boat to rest until dinner.

We all shared snails at dinner. They were good. There were a couple guys we swore had to have been in a band but we didn’t know who they were. We also came back to our first towel animal, a rabbit we named peter.

Hanson was playing on the Lido that night so we headed out 2 sets before theirs to try and get a good spot. When we walked out, The Kin was on stage – and THEY were the guys from dinner! I knew they had to have been in a band!

Next up was Green River Ordinance who were also really great and then Hanson came on stage, of course ridiculously late. (Earlier we were commenting on how everyone elses sets ended and were set up like clock work, leave it to Hanson to mess that up lol)

Andy, the owner of Sixthman, had dared Hanson to play until 3 am – AND THEY DID. We were standing in that same spot on the Lido deck for 5 or so hours. My legs were KILLING me by the time we were done.

There were still a ton of more exciting things going on, but I was exhausted so Maribeth and I went back to the room to crash.

Rock Boat Day by Day – Day 2

Katie February 3, 2009 0 Comments

Saturday January 17We all woke up a lot earlier than we needed to – probably because we were ‘too excited to sleep’ We showered, even though the temperature control was a bit.. broken. Just before noon we headed to the hotel next door to ours, said hello to Nemo and Dory in the aquarium and waited for our shuttle.

We took the $10 shuttle ride to the port, gave our luggage to the porter and made our way to security to get on the boat. We showed our passports, went through the metal detector (where I was pleasantly surprised that my leg brace didn’t set it off) and made our way to check in.

Our sign and sail accounts were set up, which were also our room keys. It was about this time I noticed that my little schedule book had 2 of almost every page. It was very confusing to begin with, but I decided that they just knew I was a scrapbooker so I got double pages so that I could put almost all of them in my scrapbook once I got home!

We went up the escalator, got a group photo taken (I think one of the only photos of the 4 of us from the whole trip!) and got on the boat!

We checked out our room (so tiny!) and then headed to the Lido deck and got our first drink of the trip and some lunch. We also had our first encounter with one of the artists when we rode in the elevator with none other than Mr Stephen Kellogg, who showed us all the different Dramamine bracelets he was wearing. The last boat he was so seasick he had to sit for most of his sets!

At 4pm we did the lifeboat drill. Thank God we didn’t actually need to evacuate during the course of the trip because there was no way we’d survive. We barely figured out how to get our life vests on!

Then we headed back to the Lido deck for the sail away party where Cowboy Mouth was playing. Pretty much everyone on the boat was there, since it was the only show going on at the time.

We had our first Hanson spotting when Isaac and his wife were coming out of the pizza bar area while we were entering it. Isaac was sporting a spikey hairdo and Maribeth and I both commented on how it hadn’t been that long in a while and we liked how it looked!

As we walked through the casino area Maribeth noted that we were moving (we had no idea we had left the port) and I noted that I didn’t feel like we were moving at all, and was glad because earlier I thought I’d fall over when we took off.

Then we headed to the formal dining room (we had met up with some Vets who told us to eat there as much as we could) and were told that the room was “full” except we saw empty tables. We had to walk to the other restaurant and take the elevator down to the 3rd floor. Once we were waiting for our seats, we really felt the rocking. The whole dinner it seemed like we’d fall out of our chairs the rocking was so bad.

Also, 2 tables away from us having dinner was 2/3 of Hanson and their crew. That was pretty cool and it was shocking that no on bothered them. Although it was funny to see the reactions as people turned the corner and noticed them.

After dinner Maribeth and I took a quick nap while Michele and Marisa checked out the boat. We headed to the Lido deck for Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers set.

We went to bed right after because we had to be at our shore excursion at 9am.

The Rock Boat Day by Day – Day 1

Katie February 3, 2009 0 Comments

Friday January 16
At 2pm I got picked up by my shuttle and was taken to JFK. The passenger that was picked up after me went to LaGuardia so I was excited to get to go by Shea Stadium to see the progress that has been being made on its destruction. Around 4pm I made it to JFK, checked my luggage (which weighed 41 lbs) and found my gate. My flight wasn’t leaving until 6:59 so I had plenty of time to people watch. Our take off time go bumped up to 6:55 but we spent close to 20 minutes on the runway. The pilot assured us that this was calculated into the flight time, but we still ended up arriving close to 30 minutes late to MIA. Once I arrived I got my luggage and waited for Maribeth. Her flight was also delayed the 30 minutes.

I thought that I would be waiting alone at the luggage claim for Maribeth’s flight to come in from Atlanta, but it turned out that somehow some of my flights luggage ended up on Maribeth’s flight so there was a decent amount of people around waiting with me.

Around 12:00am, Maribeth’s flight made their way to the luggage claim. After she got her luggage we grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel. We were escorted up to our room, almost did some severe damage to the mirror hanging on the wall (but my quick reflexes saved us 7 years bad luck) and got ready for bed.

We had a shuttle booked for the next day at noon to take us to the port.

Rock Boat&The Little Mermaid

Katie February 2, 2009 0 Comments

There seemed to be a bit of a theme on the rock boat, at least for me. The first night, Kit of SK6ers fame, sang a piece of “Part of your World” during one of the songs. The next night, Isaac Hanson sang part of “Under The Sea” and during the meet and greet I got serenaded by Isaac and Taylor Hanson who sang “Kiss the Girl to me” Unfortunately I don’t have video of the meet and greet, but I do have some clips of Kit and Isaac!

SK6ers “Not So Lost”

Isaac Hanson “Under The Sea”
The steel drum is a keyboard effect done by their backup musician Demetrius (who totally rocks, by the way)

I uploaded a bunch of my videos, most of which without really looking at them to see if they were decent or not. But I tried to get at least one video of every artist I saw (each time I saw them) so a lot of the bands are represented – but the video quality varies. Between the wind at times, the boat rocking, the drunk people… it made it difficult, for me at least, to shoot a decent video 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=zacbop

A day by day itinerary will be coming soon!

Back from the Rock Boat!

Katie January 22, 2009 0 Comments

I am back from the rock boat! Although it seems like my head still think it’s on a boat… I hope that rocking sensation goes away soon! It was a blast and I have tons of photos and videos I haven’t even attempted to get on the computer yet (in fact, I haven’t even unpacked the cameras and memory cards yet!) But I will definitely be posting things throughout the upcoming days/weeks.

Here’s who I saw:
Sister Hazel (1/21 – couldn’t see, just listened)
Alternate Routes (1/19)
Aslyn (1/19, 1/21)
Carbon Leaf (1/19)
Cowboy Mouth (1/17, 1/21)
Gaelic Storm (1/19,1/20)
Green River Ordinance (1/17,1/20,1/21)
Hanson (1/18,1/20)
David Ryan Harris (1/21)
Scott Munns (1/17)
Curtis Peoples (1/20)
Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers (1/17,1/19,1/21)
Sam Thacker (1/19)
The Kin (1/18)
The Spring Standards (1/20)
Michael Tolcher (1/19, 1/21)
Francisco Vidal (1/19)
Tyrone Wells (1/21)
Wideawake (1/21 – couldn’t get in, just listened)

Here’s who I missed 🙁 :
Benjy Davis Project
Blackberry Smoke
Ken Block
Graham Colton
Trevor Hall
Ernie Halter
Garrison Star
Tonic
Zac Brown Band

Overall, I think I did pretty good with seeing a majority of the bands. The first two days I napped a bit more than I probably should have (although, if I didn’t I might not have made it through the other days) but I think I did a darn good job at seeing a variety of artists – and trying to check out ones I hadn’t seen before.