Good friend Dennis was back in Jersey visiting his folks and was nice enough to call up and invite me out one night last week. Of course, the plans he proposed would have required me driving down to the shore, then going out to a bar. Not the best thing in the world to do when you have to make that same dive back and be at work early the next morning.
Still, the gears were now set in motion as I looked to my schedule to see what else I had coming up that might be of interest. That’s when I mentioned my plans to see Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe this past Thursday as part of my four week Rocks Off cruise fest plans. That caught his interest and we solidified plans for seeing the show.
And what a show! The performance and the atmosphere made this one of the best shows I’ve ever been a part of — top 10 if I had to list them somewhere. First off, the venue was different that the other boat shows I’ve been to. Different ship. Bigger ship. Swankier ship. Plus, we rocked out on the Hudson instead of the East River, which gave me a whole host of new waterfront sights to look at during the performance.
We also met up with some rather nice people, including a couple from Colorado who were on their first ever trip to NYC. I got to play partial tour guide for them by pointing out landmarks on the river front. They were particularly interested in seeing Lady Liberty, so we made way to the bow of the ship in between sets. While we were out at the foot of the statue, the crowd sang two songs: one chorus of “Happy Birthday” for one of the fans in attendance and a rousing rendition of “Oh Canada” for the statue, with tongues firmly in cheek.
But back to the music: this group of gentlemen played as tightly as I any group I’ve seen, and all of their talents were equally featured along through the two sets. We were able to land a spot standing next to the drummer — close enough that I could slap him a high five if I so wanted to. In most other venues we would need laminates or at least have to bribe security to get that close to the action.
The final perk of the evening I will get to enjoy over and over again. About half way through the last set Karl announced that the show was being recorded and would be available to purchase within minutes of the boat docking. No less than five minutes after the ship was tied down I had a lovely two disc set of the performance, complete with screen printed discs and cover artwork. I’m still trying to hunt down the track list, but I have faith it will turn up sooner or later.
The only down side to the whole experience was my camera. The one time I forget to bring my extra battery and you can guess what happened. Yup, the other one died way too early in the evening. I grabbed what I could, but I’m doubt I’ll ever get a chance to take shots with such a great vantage point again. Then again, who knows what the future holds.
I do know it holds some Tiny Universe album purchases, though….
