Tonight we hosted the MAJESTY cast for a bon voyage dinner. It was great to have some time to talk to them about their backgrounds and professional paths. We watched them do a run through of a couple of their shows this morning - they are a high energy group and loaded with talent! Congrats to Ashley, Dale, Jeff, Brandon, and Kelly for doing such a great job getting this cast ready to go. The MAJESTY is one of the NCL ships we're now handling, and this will be the first cast we've placed on the ship. They will sale from Boston to Bermuda every week. What a great gig! Here are some photos of their rehearsals. I will have shots of the cast dinner online tonight. Have a great Thursday!

May 28, 2007

This has been a big weekend for a lot of our good friends. The Holloways, Quinns, McDonalds, Schuylers, Davis's and several others had kids who graduated this weekend. it has been an amazing journey to see of these young people grow into adulthood over these many years of knowing their families. We wish all of them the very best in the new lives they are about to pursue. Ahh, to be 18 again!

On a much more somber note, our prayers go out to the family of Stephen Bailey (best friends with Brandon and Sheryl Thomas) who lost his nephew in a tragic car accident earlier today. Stephen's niece was also critically injured in the accident. This was graduation weekend for them. This is every parent's worst nightmare come true. We will be praying for God's comforting power to be with their family through this difficult time. Our thoughts also turn to Brandon and Sheryl who are suffering along with them. Bless you, my friends. We will be thinking of you.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Here's a big shout out to Stuart and Spencer Holloway upon their graduation from Franklin High School. Karen and David had some family and friends over for a celebration dinner tonight in honor of the boys graduation tomorrow night. I make me feel a little old to see the boys all grown up after having rocked them to sleep as infants. Wow! Time has flown!! Congrats to David and Karen for raising such great young men!

May 23, 2007

I just remembered I had promised some pictures for Croatia from my trip last week. I expected to see bombed out buildings and a cities in disrepair. Not so. Both places we visited were amazing - especially Korcula, Croatia. Here are some photos of the two days we were there. You have to go if you ever have the chance. Just awesome!
This is the yacht basin in the town of Zadar, Crotia. It was a very quiet town, and incredibly quaint.

These flowers were so stunning - such a contrast to the blue water of the Mediterranean just a few yards away.

Zadar was filled with historic churches and commercial buildings that appeared to have been built hundreds of years ago. The courtyard in front of this church was being restored, and was temporarily the home of several street vendors selling linens and traditional Croatian crafts.

This was the restaurant where I had lunch in Korcula. This town is a perfectly preserved medieval village with the most picturesque buildings, alleyways, and sidewalk cafes you can imagine. My table was overlooking the Mediterranean just to the left of this shot. The pizza and beer were pretty tasty, too, I might add!

Is this like a postcard, or what?! This would be a perfect vacation spot for a totally relaxing getaway. Maybe someday...

This was the church at the center of Korcula. Live performances of traditional Croatian sword dancing are staged here throughout the summer months.

This photo was taken from our tender as we pulled into the dock in Korcula. And yes, the water really was that blue.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Today, we had a great meeting with Richard Ambrose, the new Director of Entertainment at NCL. He is a former actor/dancer from the Broadway world, and was a major creative force behind the entertainment productions at Disney Cruise Lines. Dave Patton, Mindy Johnson, Curt Wallen and I had an opportunity to talk through all of the production elements and progress on the new shows we're creating for the NCL GEM. Richard seemed very pleased with where we are creatively and logistically on the shows. We also talked through the status of the other NCL ships we're managing, including the Orient Lines' Marco Polo and NCL's Majesty. We will also be taking over the NCL Spirit in the spring. We then took Richard to the rehearsal facility to watch a couple of numbers by the Majesty cast that's here in Nashville rehearsing now. The cast really stepped up with a high energy performance. It was fun to see how far they had come on this show in only 2 days! Richard is a great guy with a lot of creative ideas. He will be a super addition to the NCL staff! Here is a shot of the Majesty cast taken during rehearsals last week. Brandon Thomas is one of the vocal directors (in the white shirt and baseball hat) and those are his kids, Maddie and Ella (Groupies are getting younger and younger!). We will get to see a couple of their final run-throughs this Friday. Look for rehearsal photos this weekend!

Monday, May 21, 2007

My new friends on Orient Lines' Marco Polo opened their final show this past Friday night. Dallas, Rochelle, Rod, Sarah, Juliana, Chelsea, Topher, and Gene really stepped up to the challenge and delivered two terrific performances of "MUSIC MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND" as their final new show. The audiences thoroughly enjoyed the performances and the cast was delighted to have finally mounted all four major shows in two short weeks. Here are shots from the show.

Here is the entire cast - (L-R) Chelsea, Topher, Sarah, Dallas, Rochelle, Rod, Juliana, and Gene.

A real crowd favorite was the Irish step dance section. Topher, Juliana, Chelsea and Gene wowed the audience with their precision footwork!

Here's Rod, Sarah, and Dallas is a scene from the "New Orleans" section of the show.

This is the entire cast in "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

Another audience favorite was the Paris segment, where Chelsea and Juliana were featured in a high-kicking, high energy can-can dance. Congrats to the whole cast for creating a special night for guests of the Marco Polo!

Where do I begin? It isn't often that you get to have amazing new experiences that make memories for a lifetime. This week was one of those rare blends of new work, new travels, and new friends. If you read the entries before this one, you can see what all the work and travels were about. So here are the pictures that tell the tale. Venice, Croatia, Sicily, Sorrento, and Rome all in one short week. Pretty cool, huh?! Here are shots from our day in Sorrento. The two pictures are of the cast of the MARCO POLO and were taken during lunch on Saturday.

This is the port in Sorrento, Italy. The Marco Polo is the blue ship on the left. Mt. Vesuvius is the large mountain on the far left in the background.

The streets of Sorrento are filled with hundreds of shops and specialty stands that offer every type of food, designer clothing, trinket, and souvenir you can imagine.

This is the town square in Sorrento. We were there on a perfect day - the weather was gorgeous, the streets were not too crowded, and the setting was amazing. Truly awesome!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The new cost on the MARCO POLO opened their last show last night! It was great!! They have worked so hard and it really shows. Hats off to Claire, Cheryl, Susie and Judy for all their hard work getting the choreography and costumes ready this week - awesome job! I have great pictures to share here on the blog when I get to a real land-line Internet station that will allow uploads.

We spent today in Sorrento, Italy, a resort town across the bay from the Isle of Capri and Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii. I think this was the favorite port of the cruise for the guests on board. It was a PERFECT day. The weather was amazing and the energy of the town was really good for the cast to experience. They all had most of the day off from duties, so we all had lunch together in town before they took off for an afternoon of shopping. Tonight, we had a going away party for the production team. The cast gave me a MARCO POLO shirt which I will wear very proudly. Thanks you guys! It has been most enjoyable for me to get to know all of you better this week. You are going to have a great contract!

We leave from Rome tomorrow afternoon, with a layover in New York before arriving in Nashville. Its been a rewarding week... I'm eager to be home, though!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

This has been an exciting week! I am on board Orient Lines' "Marco Polo" cruising in the Mediterranean. Today we are in Croatia. What a beautiful place! I was totally surprised by how clean and charming this country is. It has a medieval feel to all of the buildings, but the shopping and lifestyle is decidedly modern European. I had a chance to get off the ship yesterday and today for a couple of hours each time. Now I see why guests love the Marco Polo so much!

Last night the cast opened "Standing Room Only". They did a fantastic job, in spite of the headset mic problems in the first show. After some quick mid-show adjustments, the guys started using handheld mics and things began to go much more smoothly. The second show was 100% better - the cast had settled into the show more completely and the sound was much better. Way to go you guys! One more show to open on Friday, plus a couple of "bumpers". The costume team is frantically trying to get everything ready. We have our fingers crossed! The cast asked me to send their best to all of the folks back in Nashville who helped prepare them for their shows - Brandon, Jeff, Garris, Mindy, David, and the rest of the GMC team. the internet will not allow me to upload pictures from here on the ship, but I will try next time we're in port. We are in Greece tomorrow...more then!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

This was a BIG weekend for my family. My wife, Ellen, graduated from nursing school at Belmont University here in Nashville. About 2 1/2 years ago, she decided to give up her studio singing career to pursue an entirely new career in nursing. After non-stop classes and studying for the past 2+ years, she graduated with honors yesterday morning. Oh happy day! She has been amazingly dedicated to this endeavor - we are so very proud of her! She doesn't really care to have her picture posted, so I will let you play "Where's Ellen?" with this shot taken at graduation.

And a big Happy Mothers Day to my mom in Colonial Beach, Virginia! I got to see her last week, so that was a nice treat for me. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of us, so I will have to wait until the next time we visit. She has always been an amazing mother and mentor - to me and so many others who have experienced her passion for life and God. Thanks for blessing all of us, Mom!

I need to go finish paking - I leave in about 2 hours to head to Barcelona to board the Orient Lines' MARCO POLO for a week. This will be my first time on the ship, and I am pumped about this new experience! I'm looking forard to seeing our cast in their first full cruise of shows. I will post some pics as soon as possible. Have a great week!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Barry White character from "Legends in Concert". The women in the audience loved him!

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What a week we've had! Jonathan, Chris, Jim, Jacob, Scott, Johnny, Jimmy, Sean, Chris Yeaworth, and Greg Tipton joined me in Washington, DC, for the National Association of Electrical Distributors annual meeting. We produced a number of general sessions, awards shows, and entertainment events during the week. It was around the clock production starting at 6:00am last Saturday - we finally finished at 4:00am this morning.

Here are some shots from a private party we produced for General Electric's top customers who were attending the NAED meeting. The show was "LEGENDS IN CONCERT" - the same group of performers who do the "Legends in Concert" shows in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Myrtle Beach, etc. It was an awesome show! The "Legends" were Barry White, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Buddy Holly, and Johnny Cash. Here are some pics I took during the show and at a VIP reception after the show.

Johnny Cash "Legend"

Tina Turner - what a voice! And those legs...just like the real Tina!

The entire cast of "Legends in Concert" - great show!

Aretha Franklin - killer voice!

Friday, May 4, 2007

Last Friday, I had a peak experience. When I was in high school in Birmingham, Alabama, I spent most of my time being involved with my youth group at Canterbury United Methodist Church. The youth director at the time was Leon Precise, a terrific youth leader and a very influential force in literally thousands of young lives during his tenure at Canterbury. After 38 years of service to the church, Leon retired last week. All of my high school friends came together for a giant retirement bash in tribute to Leon. It was truly awesome! It was the first time I had seen all of my best friends from high school since I graduated in 1974. We had a blast talking about old times and trying to catch up on our life experiences over these past years. Time was short, so we barely had a chance to scratch the surface. Here are some shots of the old gang. It was I night I will always remember with great fondness.

Here's Dawn, Mike, and Carla. Dawn and I sang together all the time for youth group gatherings. Mike and I had a lawn mowing service together one summer.

This is Lou, Anne, and Lynn - some of my best friends from church and high school.

Leon is the guy seated in the front. I am in the second row in the center.

This is Kathy and Tim Parsons. They were high school sweethearts, but went separate ways and married other spouses. They eventually reunited and married after the sudden death of Kathy's first husband. We are planning a summer weekend reunion so we can pick up where we all left off at Leon's dinner. It was great to see Kathy and Tim!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The cast of the MILLENNIUM is one really talented bunch! Here are some photos I took a couple of days ago during the first run-though of "I Love the Nightlife". They are really coming together in a great way. They head for the ship in a couple of weeks, so its coming down to crunch time for them. I'm looking forward to seeing them in their other shows when I get back next week. Keep up the good work, gang!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The TJ Martell "Best Sellers" event on Monday night was spectacular looking! We have worked on this fund raising event with coordinator/designer Holly Whaley for the past 6 years. This year's theme was built around "Blackberry Farm", the fabulous east Tennessee resort known internationally as one of the nation's top destinations for outstanding cuisine and wines. An eclectic combination of 150 of Nashville's top wine connoisseurs and music industry leaders enjoyed an evening of delicious food and wine, all to benefit the TJ Martell Foundation for cancer, aids, and leukemia research. Guests included Brooks and Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Leanne Rimes, BMI's Francis Preston, and a host of major record label executives. I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the dinner. Our table host was Randy Rayburn, one of Nashville's most successful restaurateurs. The wines he shared with us were fabulous! Our company provided the decor, and we worked with floral designer Scott Douglas on the centerpieces. It was an awesome looking event! A big thanks to our GMC team who worked so hard to make it all happen.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the event!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Sorry I have not added any new blog in the last few days. We have been too busy doing shows. It is midnight and I am packing to leave for a show in Washington DC early tomorrow morning, but I wanted to share a couple of quick shots of events we produced this past weekend. Here are some shots of the PREMIERE AUCTION of "L'ete du Vin", one of the top wine auction events in the US. The dinner was held at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel and raised over $400,000 for cancer research and assistance programs for cancer patients. It was an awesome event! I will post more photos tomorrow as time permits. Special thanks to Torrey Barnhill, Mike Haney, and the entire L'ete du Vin organization for allowing us to be part of the event again this year.

The featured artwork at the auction inspired the backdrop for the stage. We also created custom wine bottle centerpieces that matched the artwork you see in these panels. It was a great effect!