Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Rock Boat

For those who are not familiar with the Rock Boat, it can only be described as a 5 day musical extravaganza at sea. Held annually on a fully chartered cruise ship, the event features a series musical artists / groups who perform scheduled (and sometimes impromptu) concerts.

Passengers enjoy music at a variety of venues around the ship and can move freely from show to show making it easy to see all of artists over the course of the five day 4 night trip. The Rock boat typically sails out of Tampa or Miami and the ports of call change annually.

This “festival at sea” started when the band Sister Hazel decided to organize a unique event to thank loyal fans who had followed them from their small town roots, to their first Platinum record and beyond. The first Rock Boat was attended by 400 Sister Hazel Fans and only one additional musical act “Dexter Freebish”. It was a huge success and the Rock Boat was born.

Now in its 10th year, and hosting upwards of 20 different artists / acts (including the founding band Sister Hazel) The Rock Boat has developed loyal group of followers (also known as “Rock Boaters”) .

Being a “Rock Boater” is more than just cruising with the bands. Rock Boaters are a special community of fans who have a heightened appreciation for the music and for the artists who work so hard to deliver it. When not on ship, Rock Boaters keep the magic going by staying in touch through Facebook, Twitter and the ever popular “Message boards” hosted by Sixthman (the company that organizes the Rock Boat). All year long, photos are shared, memories are posted, land based concerts are attended and discussed. The hype for next years sailing literally starts as Rock Boaters are disembarking the ship and heading home.

Anything can happen when you’re on the Rock Boat , you should be prepared to encounter impromptu jams and collaborative shows, waiters bursting into song in the dining room, artists flexing their muscles in a competitive round of FLIP CUP on the Lido Deck, songwriter panels where you can hear the stories behind the music. I could go on and on and I know that I don’t even know a fraction of the stories.

Highlights from 2010 included a “Fleetwood Hazel” set on the Lido Deck where we were treated to a cover of the entire RUMORS album, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers covering “Full Moon Fever”, More Reid shirts than ever before in the history of history (I threw that one in there for the Rock Boaters out there.. if you’re not a Rock Boater you’ll have to join us next year to learn about the Reid Shirts) The return of the soft serve loving “BlackBerry Smoke who are more suited for the Lynard Skynard “Simple Man” cruise but somehow fit right in as part of the Rock Boat Family , a raucus all-night finale featuring all of the acts both combined and singular rocking the atrium while thousands of Rock Boaters swarmed the floor and the railings for 8 stories, while a flood of balloons swirled the crowd.. and more treasured moments than I can fit in this blog. *sigh… I miss TRB already.

The most amazing thing about the Rock Boat (and I believe what makes it such a raging success year after year) is that it is an obvious labor of Love for all involved. Hats off to Andy Levin (founder of Sixthman and former band manager for Sister Hazel) and the entire crew at sixthman who work so hard to make the event more memorable each year - It’s obvious when you see them onboard that they love what they do and that they get as much joy out of making the event special as the Rock Boaters do attending it .

If you’re thinking about taking this trip, you’ll need to book with Sixthman directly and you should know in advance that the folks at sixthman put all of their efforts behind the execution of the event itself (and they do an outstanding job). The downside is that they’re not quite as flawless at the administration of the pre-cruise arrangements.

Working with Sixthman BEFORE the cruise takes some patience as they are constantly battling slow systems, website glitches, booking errors etc.. and their customer service team while very friendly, is not fully empowered to give great service. So my advice to you is to have patience, and trust that once you get onboard, all of the little annoyances will be ancient history and you’ll have the TIME OF YOUR LIFE!

It is also obvious that Sister Hazel is a band who loves to see people enjoy their music and who values fan appreciation more than anything. Back in February, just as we boarded the ship, I was in the cafeteria when Ken Block came in to sit down for a bite to eat. He greeted the Rock Boaters with an endearing smile and said “Welcome Home”. That's how we feel, that's how he feels, that's what the Rock Boat is all about.

This year, for the 10th birthday of the Rock boat, the folks at Sixthman gave us all a very special present. They made a yearbook which chronicled all 1 0 years of the event, with stories, photos, quotes and wonderful memories. Thousands of Rock Boaters from the past decade were asked to finish the quote “The Rock Boat Is…..” I was lucky enough to be selected for publication in the year book - so I’ll end my article with my own immortal words (from page 4th from the back of the Rock Boats 10th birthday yearbook) :

“ The Rock Boat Is…. Music, wrapped in bacon, dipped in chocolate”

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