Kusadasi, Turkey

For some reason the administration has decided to change all of the showtimes and corresponding dinner seatings on board. We used to always have shows at 7 and 9pm, and now they are all at 7:30 and 9:15. The strange thing is that this slight change has dramatically increased the number of people to our shows. Where we used to have only a couple of people at the first show, its now really full, and so is the second show. Its amazing that half an hour or fifteen minutes could make such a difference to people, but for some reason tons more are coming to the shows. As a result we're having a lot more fun performing - it sure is nice to have bigger audiences!

Tonight we are off! There's a comedian giving a show and we've already played several nights of jazz, so finally we get a day off. We haven't had one in a couple weeks. So the band is all going to the dining room again! I'm pretty excited. The food is so good.... Anyway today I'm out enjoying my day off and the free internet. Poor Marie is on the ship practicing clarinet for the show tomorrow. There are some really challenging clarinet parts in the show, which will be a violinist from England, a lady named Nicola Loud. We met her last night - she came and listened to us play our big band set and then introduced herself and bought us all drinks. She is very nice, and really funny and outgoing. And she seems pretty young. I'm excited to play her show tomorrow - she has a reputation of being the best violinist that plays cruise ships. And her show is supposed to be hard. We might be in for a long rehearsal tomorrow. It should be fun, though. Thats all for now!