Sunday, October 28, 2007

Hey gang! It's been a busy week in Nashville. We have been catching up on a lot of projects that are coming up in the next two months. We're building sets for Holloway and Associates for use at the after-party for the Country Music Association Awards telecast, as well as helping with specialized props for the Universal Records CMA Awards party. Jim Sheridan, Jonathan Yeaworth and I have been writing a proposal for the First Tennessee Bank annual marketing awards in Sanibel, Florida, and I've been working with the Orion Performance Group on a creative plan and budget for a major NAPA AUTO PARTS show in Canada. We were also just awarded the Nissan car show for all of the corporate employees at their national headquarters here in Nashville. Bert Hensley will be producing that event. Curt Wallen is working with the William Morris Agency on developing a series of symphony and performance arts center shows we'll be producing in the coming year. Jonathan and I are going to New Orleans on Wednesday to do a site visit in advance of the International Association of Administrative Professionals show there next summer. I am also working with the Fisk Jubilee Singers on the creation of a new show that will feature the world renowned group in a showcase of their music and amazing achievements. The cruise ship team is busy casting the NCL Majesty, and we are preparing for upcoming auditions in Nashville (Nov. 3-4) and Toronto (Nov. 18). If you're interested in auditioning - or know someone who should audition - please have check out our website at www.garymusick.com. All the information on auditioning is there. We're hoping for a great turnout!

Have a great week everyone! I will try to post some new pictures in the next few days.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Today was a day of reconnecting. All of the travel we've been doing lately has made it hard to stay connected with friends and coworkers. I had a chance to do some of that today, and it was good. We all stay so busy working it is sometimes hard to make time for the really important stuff - like talking, visiting, sharing, and dreaming. I feel blessed to have people in my life who care enough to do just that. Thanks!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Here are a few more shots from the three shows on the Norwegian GEM. These were taken during the mainden cruise last week. Enjoy!

PS. How about those Tennessee Titans today? Pretty scary for all of us Tennessee fans!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES!

If you are working out on any of our ships and have some great photos to share, please send them to me and I will post here for the rest of the GMC team to see. The address is gary@garymusick.com.

These are some shots I just received from Ryan Walton, one of our singers who's on CELEBRITY's SUMMIT. Thanks Ryan!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I am finally home and its great to be back! As promised, here are more pictures of the shows we just produced on the Norwegian GEM. These are from "COLORZ", the third and final show to go up earlier this week. "COLORZ" features music inspired by color, or somehow featuring color as a significant aspect of the song. Here is the promo paragraph posted in the ship's newsletter, the "Freestyle Daily":

“Colorz” is a fantastic kaleidoscope of music, dance and special effects drawn from an artful blend of color, fabric sculptures and light. This is a visual fantasy that will have you moving to red hot rock-n-roll, swinging under an orange colored sky, and grooving to your favorite rhythm and blues tunes. The show is filled with exciting music and dance inspired by some of the world’s best loved popular music. “Colorz” will entertain you with its endless palette of performance artistry and colorful costumes, all enhanced by dazzling lighting and video effects. Come enter the wonderful world of "Colorz"!

Friday, October 19, 2007

It is about 8:00am in Barcelona and we are about to head to the airport! The cast on the NCL GEM is all set and ready for a fantastic run for the next 6 months. We will see them again in Boston and New York inaugural events when the ship comes to the United States. It will be based out of NYC and do weekly Caribbean runs. It has been a great month here on the ship, and I am looking forward to getting home to see my family and catch up on life after being away for so long. Special thanks go to Bruce Stegmann (our choreographer) and Richard Ambrose (Director of Entertainment at NCL) who have been here helping with the final show for the past 4 days. Also, thanks go to Andrew, Jeremy, and the entire tech team on the GEM. They have been a huge help to us over the past two months. I know they are eager for us to get out of here so they can do their REAL jobs!

I also wanted to thank David Patton, Mindy McLemore, Curt Wallen, Eric Cardwell, Phil Barnes, Blair Binkley, Garris Wimmer, Claire Williams, Skip Stewart, Rick Stetson, Dean Tomasson, Keith Brogdan, and our entire creative and production team for their dedicated work over these past months. All the hard work was very apparent on the GEM stage!

I received a wonderful note from the Celebrity Infinity cast a couple of days ago. They are doing really well and the audiences are loving their performances. It is always great to see talented casts being rewarded with the audience applause and feedback they deserve.

Take care everyone! I will try to post some pics later today if the airport has WiFi.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

We did it! We mounted our final show last night on the Norwegian GEM. The premier of COLORZ went very well. Our rehearsal time was cut short by an unexpected fire drill (a common thing on cruise ships), so some of the cast members were a little nervous before the first show. Aside from a few brain cramps and normal "nerves", both performances went well. COLORZ is a cool show - truly something unique and entertaining - and there's music for every taste. A couple of cast members told me that this is their favorite of the 3 new shows. I know it will only become stronger into the next couple of cruises. I have some great pics that will be posted when I'm on land again. We are currently sailing to Barcelona. We fly home tomorrow. it has been a great experience out here. Thanks to the cast, band, crew and NCL entertainment team who helped us make these shows so successful so quickly. We wish the cast the very best for a great contract!

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Norwegian GEM was in Gibraltar today (as in "the rock of"). It was a great place with literally thousands of people filling hte streets. In addition to three ships being in port, it was a national holiday in Spain so their were tourists everywhere. The weather was awesome and the sailaway took us just past the rock face of the island. I have a ton of pictures to post when we get to an internet location!

Thursday, October 10, 2007

It is a beautiful day in Lisbon! The sky is perfectly blue, and there is a steady breeze coming off the ocean. I just spent the last hour searching for an internet site...fewer people speak English here than in most European countries, so getting directions was a bit challenging. I finally stumbled across the Museum of Communications, and it was like hitting the language and internet jackpot!

While I'm thinking about it, we are looking for a male dancer and a male singer/dancer to go aout for a few weeks to fill in on a couple of contracts. If you are interested, or if you know anyone who fits the bill, please get in touch with Mindy Johnson in our office (mindy@garymusick.com). If you are one of our current or past performers and recommend someone who we actually hire, there will be a nice "thank you" in the form of a referral fee waiting for you :-)

Here are some shots I took during the prevue performance of "Get Down Tonight" a few days ago. We will do the show again in 2 days for the inaugural cruise guests. I think the reaction will be terrific since we have a nice blend of Americans and Europeans on board.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

We are in port in Vigo, Spain, today. I had a chance to go off the ship for about an hour this morning. It is a great city with many quaint streets and shopping areas within easy walking distance of the port. I did not see any internet cafes, though, so all the new pictures will have to wait until we're in Lisbon tomorrow. We had reallysuccessful performances last night. The cruise director for the Norwegian GEM said he had never had so many outstanding comments on the entertainment. The cast really responded to the energy of the audience and the result was two great performances. Congratulations to the cast, band and crew for a great effort!

Monday,October 8

We had another successful show opening last night on the Norwegian GEM. The show is called "Get Down Tonight" and features some of the best pop music of the 1970's. The cast and band pulled together to create a really exciting show for about 2000 guests who were on a mini-cruise from Dover to Amsterdam and back. Great responses...and many of the guests did not speak English! Today marks the beginning first full cruise for the Norwegian Gem. We just sailed from Dover, England, about 15 minutes ago, on our way to the Mediterranean. About 50% of the guests are American on this cruise, so we believe this will be better gauge of how all the show will be received in the future. We fully expect an even better response from this audience than from our non-English speaking German and Dutch guests from the past 2 cruises. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Friday, October 5, 2007

NORWEGIAN GEM - "WORLD BEAT!"

Finally! We are in Dover, England, and I was able to get to an Internet cafe to post some pics from the new World Beat show on the new Norwegian GEM. It has turned out to be a really spectacular show. We've had great response from the travel industry VIPS who've been on for the past few days. Hope you enjoy the shots! I will post more photos later of this show and the others as we complete them.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Today is going to be our first day at sea on the Norwegian Gem! We leave Eemshaven, Netherlands, in about 3 hours. We're headed for Rotterdam on an overnight excursion with an invited group of VIP guests. We're working hard on the remaining two shows and things are going well. Thanks to the GMC team back home helping to pull the final details together on that end. I have some great pictures to post when we get to an Internet station on land. Stay tuned!