Hi Ed,
I never wanted your gig. I've seen how some of the musicians act on the cruise ships.
We played in the lounge --- and yes we played more sets than the orchestra musicians --- but we play music because we love to play music. So we considered that a bonus.

Bob, you are SO right. Between having to babysit the musicians, making sure all the music, monitors, dancers, soundman, were ready for the shows everynight, I eventually became so stressed out that I had a BIG drinking problem, I stopped practicing, the show music was usually so cheesy that I started to hate the music, then my instruments, etc. A few contracts as sideman fixed most of those issues for me, except for the fact that I had to take a big cut in Pay and living conditions.

Yes, your first job is always to entertain. If you can't look like you are enjoying what you do, the audience will pick up on it. Usually if you look onstage at a showband, the guys aren't smiling or moving, they look like zombies just looking forward to the end. If you go to the Lounge bands, they do look like they are having fun. I never noticed it until after I got out of Showbands.

Bottom line.....If you go out as a Solo or lounge act, you can have fun because you are playing the music you enjoy. You get a lot of instant feedback from your audience. If you go out in a Showband, you are much more likely to NOT enjoy yourself. In this case, you have to have the attitude "I took the gig knowing it wasn't going to be the Basie band, so I need to concentrate, focus and be as musical as possible". IF you can do that, you are better off than 90% of the musicians I've known on ships. I've known very few who became better musicians on ships, largely because of the easy access to Drink, Drugs, Video Games, etc. In fact, I remember a good friend saying to me once in the Crewbar after a show...."You know, I stopped practicing 3 months ago, I hate music now, but I'm really going to impress my friends at home with my drinking chops"............

How sad is that?

Ed