distinguished visitor

Sunday 24th June 2007

5:26 p.m. CET The last few nights haven’t exactly been monumental but not the worst either. On Thursday there was one group in for the whole evening (who I later found out were from Worksop) who I was chatting to and had some banter with, and although they were rather merry towards the end of the evening, they were good fun and singing along to most of the songs. I also had some positive comments relating to my playing and my singing, and about a dozen requests, which was good. Also, one chap was asking if it was possible to get hold of a recording of me playing which was very encouraging!

Friday night was typically busy, and had a fairly good night, with the same group from the night before back on, and also a group of Germans sat nearby who were very appreciative. Had quite a few requests again, including some for some more obscure / complex material - one chap who asked for the 18th variation of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which needless to say I had to decline…

Last night was quite busy too, but didn’t really feel like a weekend eve, like many weekends of late. Had a slight complication early on in the form of the bar staff who were interfering with the volume controls seemingly at will, but I managed to swiftly correct both. Played a couple of numbers which I don’t perform very often, such as From A Distance, which seemed to go down especially well, and I played You Do Something To Me again, which yielded positive remarks. I had a fright later on when I was just about to launch into Let It Be, when just at that moment a guy walked past me who was the spitting image of Paul McCartney. Fortunately I discovered it wasn’t him, which was probably just as well, as I’m not sure what he would have said had it been the real Macca (plus I reasoned that the likelihood of him being on a P&O ferry was very slim indeed).

Gareth’s last night for a week tonight, and Marie will be covering for him once again. By the time he gets back next Sunday I will have already left, this being my last week on board, until my next contract (which all being well, should be back on this ship).

11:50 p.m. BST Again this evening was not exactly outstanding, but it was still a fairly good night. It was fairly busy, and the reception was quite warm all evening. Being a Sunday it was quite a laid-back affair (as is often the case), and for the first time I think I played as many standards as I did regular pop tunes. I had quite a few requests, including one for Dolly Parton which was a first! (I have yet to add any of her material to my repertoire…)