chuckography

Ship? What ship?

As you wandered around on the peninsula on Monday, it may have seemed extra crowded.

You also may have noticed a brand new 13-story building sitting at the foot of Market Street, next to the Custom House.

That would have been the "Fun Ship" Carnival TRIUMPH.

I hope the 2,758 passengers - and an international crew of 1,100 - had planned ahead to be part of this year's Spoleto.

As I finished dinner, I heard a series of loud blasts of its horn. She set sail around 10pm.

It's a 5-day Caribbean cruise so they'll be back in time to take in some of the 32nd Arts and Music Festival.

I saw the ship when I came out of Mistral Restaurant.

Lee Barbour(L) and his band Caravan had just entertained us upstairs with their great mixture of Django Reinhardt Swing, Flemenco and even Samba beats. (Jake Holwegner, bass and Kris Woodrum , guitar).

There is a week of great music up there at Mistral as part of the 2009 JAC Jazz Series. Last year, the new JAC was affiliated with Spoleto but is not this year.

The night before I had enjoyed a Spoleto show that also featured Gypsy swing/Jazz music. Florin Niculescu, backed by his excellent jazz trio of drums, piano and bass, performed at Charleston Music Hall after inclement weather (we call them T-Storms) forced moving from the great outdoor setting at the College of Charleston Cistern area.

Lee Barbour plays again tonight at Mistral with his earlier group - Gradual Lean.

I'll be there. It's just the Gypsy in me.

Labels: Caribbean, Carnival Triumph, cruise ships, Custom House, Florin Niculescu, Fun ship, Gypsy

posted by chucker @ 1:57 PM