1 week

Hey All,

Long time no blog. Just getting back from our big Charter to Trinidad. It was a very cool experience, but I am glad to be back into the normal swing of things, even though its only for a week. I will have a ton of pictures and stories of the trip and my last week up soon, but with only a couple days on the trip I am going to try and experience the islands as much as I can before I am back in the States. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip for now.

I have also posted some new videos on my myspace page. Check em out and let me know what you think.

MYSPACE

All for now.

Contract Countdown: 6 Days!

Much Love,

BJSR

fun stuff

Hey All,

Thursday. It a beautiful day in Dominica. Im at our favorite coffee joint, doing a little bit of interwebbing. I am trying to get my affairs in order for my return to the States. Hard to believe I have been rocking the Caribbean for 5 months already. One more months to show this ship whats up!

So I recorded some of my set last night. I was kind of having an off night, but I did get a cool take of “I Shot the Sheriff” by Bob Marley. I will be recording just about all of my sets from here on out because I need demo material to book some gigs this summer.

Make sure you check out the Myspace page.

MYSPACE

I also got a link to this video from my friend, Kathleen. Its absolutely hilarious and I am not even a cat person.

Enjoy!

Contract Countdown: 31 Days.

Much Love,

BJSR

Pics

Hey All,

Happy Weekend everyone. I just posted some new pictures on my myspace page. My friend, Tony, just got a new camera and was taking some pictures of Bennett and I on the lido deck jamming out. Tony is a backstage tech on board and works in TV back home. He has an amazing eye for this kind of thing and I think the shots turned out really nicely. My favorite shot is the close up on my glasses. If you look closely you can see a really cool image of the lido deck and the water slide in the lenses. I think I shall send it to Carnival that they may use it for advertising. 🙂

MYSPACE

Enjoy!

Go Michigan State!  Elite 8, BABY!

Contract Countdown: 36 Days

Much Love,

BJSR

MUSIC

Hey All,

I have some new music for everyone. I have started recording some of my sets in the atrium and finally getting them up in the ole interweb. Still getting the hang of the recording equipment but I thought a couple were good enough to pass on to you. Check out the Myspace page and have a listen.

MYSPACE

I will be posting a lot more music as I get it laid down. Let me know what tunes you want to hear. I have been talking about getting these to you for a while, so thanks for being so patient with me. Tell everyone you know to check out the site.

Networking baby…networking.

Contract Countdown: 45 days

Word of the Day:

diversify |diˈvərsiˌfī; dī-|
verb
make or become more diverse or varied : [ intrans. ] the trilobites diversified into a great number of species | [ trans. ] they seek to diversify their approach to teaching | [as adj. ] ( diversified) a diversified economy.
• [ intrans. ] (of a company) enlarge or vary its range of products or field of operation : the company expanded rapidly and diversified into computers.
• [ trans. ] [often as adj. ] ( diversified) enlarge or vary the range of products or the field of operation of (a company) : the rise of the diversified corporation.
• [ trans. ] spread (investment) over several enterprises or products in order to reduce the risk of loss : a prudent investor should diversify his or her holdings | [as adj. ] ( diversified) a diversified portfolio of assets.

Much Love,

BJSR

Tuesday Fun

Hey All,

I have a little bit of humor for you. Steve sent me this last night and I thought ya’ll might enjoy it too. Follow the link and have some fun. Pass it on to some people.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.html

Much Love,

BJSR

Giggin’

Hey All,

So I finished my gig yesterday and was chatting with a couple from Michigan. There have been a lot of Michiganders on the cruise the last couple weeks, escaping the cold that is lasting far too long. Anyway, they were telling me that they own a book store and would love to have me play there this summer. While talking, one of the other gentleman that was listening asked me where I was from. He is from Chicago and own 4 Irish pubs around Wrigleyville. He told me he would also love to have me play there this summer. So, in a matter of 5 minutes I had booked myself for 5 gigs. I think that’s some kind of a world record.

I am hoping to be doing a lot of playing when I get back home. If you know of any places…anywhere that you think might fit my music please let me know. I am going to start doing some email with my material in the next month for the summer music boom. I would love to hit up a big chunk of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. I am also going to try and play some gigs in Canada because I have gotten a great response from the Canadian guest on board. They all think I’m from Canada, actually, so I can take advantage of that.

So, keep the venue ideas coming.

Much Love,

BJSR

New Video Post

Hey All,

Got a new video for you.

Much love,
BJSR

Mitchell Symons

Hey All,

Yesterday I had a little Adventure in Barbados. Last week some guests cruised with us from the UK. They came by a couple of my gigs, requesting some songs and were always the first to start the applause. During my breaks I chatted with them about some Dylan tunes they liked and how his son played guitar. They were a really nice couple and I appreciated their interest in music.

Later that week I was talking with Matt and Michael (production singer and cocktail pianist), in the staff mess during Dinner. Matt was describing this gentleman he met during the Art Auction and their conversation. Michael and I both recognized the character and brought up that we both had our own great conversation with this guy and his wife. Well, Matt looked him up on Wikipedia because he had mentioned that he was a writer in Britain. Turns out that Mitchell Symmons and his wife, Penny, are both very well known writers in the UK.

If you google him, which you should, you will find that Mitchell has written many books both over seas and in the US. He used to be a Director and Writer for the BBC, and was one of the key writers of TRIVIAL PURSUIT?!  He now is a weekly columnist for a couple of papers in the UK and is working on two new books this year.

It all made sense. The guy could spark up the most interesting conversation about anything. Apparently he had caught the attention of crew all over the ship because a bunch of people had a funny story about meeting him. The rest of the week he stopped by all of our sets and by Saturday night, he had invited us to his Villa in Barbados where he and his wife, Penny, were on holiday until this week. This was definitely first for all of us, but we were all game for lunch with such interesting people, especially because it would mean that we didn’t need to eat in mess.

So, yesterday a group of us that got to know the Symmons all piled into a cab to drive across the island. Their villa was tucked into the hills with a lovely terrace overlooking the backyard. We all sat outside and talked for hours about everything from music and media to politics and family. These folks have done so many things and met so many amazing people, but I could swear that they were more interested in us than anything else they had ever done. We exchanged information and headed back to the ship, all of us completely content with how great a day we had. We are all looking forward to getting some of Mitchell’s books in the mail and I am working on a couple Dylan songs they suggested.

Here is a few pictures from the day. Enjoy.

Much Love,

BJSR

My Space

Hey all,

Thanks for all the votes. I will be getting some more polls on the site as I think of good ones. I wanted to let you know about my Myspace page. I recently created it for all the different music stuff I am involved in. Its pretty simple right now, but there are some pictures, music and videos to check out. The three songs up right now are tracks that I produced with Damon and Kenny at DalSegno. They were all used for the various documentary projects we worked on. As I record some more tracks, I will let you know. Please pass the link along and friend request me if you have an account!! let me know what you want to see on the site, I am very open to ideas and love the feedback.

www.myspace.com/bjsrmusic

Much Love,

BJSR

PAX

Hey All,

This has been an interesting group of passengers, (pax), this week. While they are very energetic, they have been requesting some very unusual songs. Last night, however, I got a request for a song that brought back a lot of memories. A gentleman from Iowa kept requesting “put the lime in the coconut” by Harry Nilsson. He knew that I didnt know how to play it but would insist that I do it after every song. Now, this song is directly linked in my brain to my Father, Mr. Stephen M. Rivet. I can remember him dancing in the kitchen while mixing a drink, singing this song. If it wasnt for this fond set of memories, I probably wouldnt have amused the annoyingly persistent guest’s song request, but alas I will be playing tonight for him. Thanks Steve.

While doing some research of the song on the Internet, I found a plethora of videos on Youtube. Here is one that made me laugh. Enjoy.

Much love,

BJSR