The Crown Dynasty

Soon after graduation from Capital, Mark and I played in a surprisingly great production of Ain't Misbehavin in North Carolina. I was contacted first and was asked to bring a long a trombone player so Brian Banyon went down with me. The guy who was directing the show also provided the singer/dancers for some cruise ships. He was happy with Brian and I and the show's drummer was not cutting it. So, I called Mark and he drove all the way down with his drums from Ohio in his Blazer.

The show went well and the guy was pleased that I had brought along such great musicians so they trusted me to put together a band for a cruise ship. The Filipino band that played regularly needed a vacation. Anyway, here are some photos and memories from the ship.

The first picture is one of us in our tiny space where we played for dance sets and twice every night for the singer/dancer performances. We also played for any special guest performers and official party games the cruise director scheduled. You can just see Mark's head back at the drum set.


It was during this time that Mark started to experience some serious health problems. There were at least a couple weeks where he would barely get out of bed and times when he couldn't play. The ship physician could find nothing wrong. Later I think there was some speculation by other doctors that he had a parasite from the trip. I now wonder if this was the case and how that may have eventually triggered other problems with his condition.

Here's Mark standing in the doorway to our very, very tiny cabin.


The next two are from one of the times when we stopped in Costa Rica. Randy Wanless, the guy with the injured leg, spoke a decent amount of Spanish and worked out a deal with a cab river to take us around for the day. Here we stopped for a photo. The second shot is when we took a dip in a swimming hole. Unfortunately Mark's head is blocked by a leaf but you can see him giving a peace sign.





Next is most of the band on the upper deck where we often lounged around in the sun when we weren't performing or rehearsing. This was a great shot was taken by Randy.



Finally, here we are at a beach in Acapulco where we were pressured by some locals to buy hammocks. You can see me in the silly hat and Mark looking at the rainbow colored one that they're spreading out. That's the one he bought.

Across from that beach location was a fresh water lake where we could jet-ski and water-ski - although I don't think anyone water-skied for some reason. Probably too expensive. We also had some great authentic Mexican food over there.