Phillip, your last post makes the timing of this blog entry fantastic.

We now have another event to celebrate in addition to Tift's birthday, Bramble Rose release date, etc.

Here are a few YouTube videos from the cruise.

"Do Something Good," preceded by an Obama story:

"Another Country," a partial take:

And here's a treat, Tift lending some guest vocals on a Simon & Garfunkel tune:

Hi all,

sorry for the waiting but I'm now in Chicago and I finally got a decent internet connection after travelling from Boston to Niagara falls and Toronto. Once I'll be back to Paris next week, I'll have more time to upload more pictures, audios and videos from the cruise as I am now too busy visiting the cities on this very dense road trip. okay, here's the review. Enjoy !



Cayamo in depth review : the vacation of a lifetime

leaving Miami


the Norwegian dawn, our boat (the closest on the picture)
 

Departing from Miami, Florida, the Norwegian Dawn set sails to the Carribean for what would become an unforgettable week of music and sun. I went on this cruise mainly to see Brandi Carlile and Tift Merritt. In addition to them, I would discover many other great artists like Katie Herzig, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Emerson Hart... I knew that this week would be very intense but not as much as it turned out to be. With the cayamo cruise, I had the chance to hear musicians that I would never have heard about because they just don’t get the airplay that they deserve. During the first two days I was trying to figure out the boat and everything inside and not get too seasick too. After some time you get used to it.

Emerson Hart at the spinnaker Lounge


Aslyn singing with Zac Brown at the dazzles


On the first day, I enjoyed seeing Beth Wood, Emerson Hart (from Tonic), Aslyn, Kathleen Edwards. They all gave convincing performances and they were definitely on my list of artists that I wanted to see again during the cruise. I’d like to give a special mention to Katie Herzig, an American singer born in Fort Collins, CO and now living in Nashville. Her sweet voice and shy demeanor totally won me over and it’s no surprise that I would get to see Katie 3 times overall. I’d say that the first days were a bit shaky, in a literal way (with the ship steadily advancing to the Dominican Republic) and also because there was some chemistry issues with roommates and everything else. In fact, I think I was one of the few people who were « on duty » while everyone else was enjoying their vacation but I stuck with what I wanted to do and never looked back. I think i started turning things around when I could talk for an hour with Brandi Carlile’s guitarist Tim Hanseroth at the buffet where it was quite easy to find the artists late at night. We talked about everything from music to food to travelling and I felt that the cruise really took off from there but there was still something missing…


with the lovely Katie Herzig

on Sunday, March 1st, I attended the strangest show of my life. we were sitting on the edge of the pool with waves of water splashing into our cameras and the wind blowing in very hard. These were the wether conditions of the show of the Indigo Girls with brandi Carlile. that was a pretty good show, although many people got sunburned (the show started at 1pm).


the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile at the pool deck


Brandi Carlile



the waterfall in Samana, Dominican Republic

On Monday March 2nd, the ship stopped at Samana in the Dominican Republic where we took a little trek to a beautiful waterfall. I really appreciated the Dominicans with their simplicity, I liked that things were kept natural compared to what I saw on the Virgin Islands or the Bahamas. Back to the ship, I was ready for the day I was looking forward to the most before the cruise.

with Tift Merritt after the show


I admit that I was a bit nervous before Tift Merritt took the stage at the Spinnaker Lounge because I brought some friends to her show and hoped that Tift would make a good impression. There was no need to worry at all ! During a one-hour show, Tift illuminated the boat with a performance for the ages.  I haven’t got enough words to express how I felt with our dear Tift pouring her beautiful songs on our helpless but happy minds. It’s been a very long time since I’ve felt goosebumps like that. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one having tears in the eyes.  Tift was very excited to play for us, she was beautifully dressed too and with the impeccable lightings, she seemed to shine even more. She sang  Hopes too high, Broken, Stray paper, I know what I’m looking for now, good hearted man, keep me happy, bar with a tv on, another country, tender branch, supposed to make you happy (no mic), virginia, still pretending, something to me. I don’t have much to say about the songs because well, she just sang them so perfectly, with such grace that it doesn’t require any comment, just listen to the audio that will be uploaded later and you’ll understand why whe got blown away by this amazing little woman. There was one particular funny moment during Stray paper, the engines started off making a strange noise that forced Tift to stop singing. She said she stopped because the noise creeped her out. Apparently, there was Titanic on the tv the day before the cruise and many artists actually watched it, prompting many jokes during the shows haha. Finally, after Something to me, Tift received a well deserved standing ovation. This show will stay as one of the most emotionally loaded concerts I‘ve ever attended. I forgot to tell that people were lining up before the doors one hour the show began and I felt something special but little did I know that it would go so far, so high. After the show, my friends and I went to meet her. I went first and we just kept hugging each other because we were so happy to meet again and secondly I was still shocked by the show she just put on. I was very happy to tell her that she made new fans (my friends who came with me !), one of them told Tift that we were also big fans of Brandi Carlile, this is an important point to remember for later. We finally said goodbye and headed towards the Stardust theatre where the Headliners performed on this cruise (like Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, the Indigo girls). Guess who took the stage : Brandi Carlile. As usual, she put on some kind of a show and her many fans would loudly cheer for her (we were like 25+ members of her forum). The thing is, Brandi is so popular now that I think she chose not to appear in public too much and in fact, I would barely meet her at all while you would think it would be easier to meet the artists as we are on the same boat but that just wasn’t the case. It didn’t disappoint me at all as I’ve seen her so many times before. This was the second point to remember for later ! But I’d say that brandi was strangely absent from my cruise.
To end this already magnificent day, I chose to go to a show without taking pictures or filming, i just wanted to rest a bit so we went to see Ed Robertson from the barenaked ladies. Well, I thought I would just relax and enjoy the show but this guy just played so good that he made me work, so I took my camera again and enjoyed his freaking good songs. Turned out he is Canadian and he can speak some French words so that was nice. Then we wanted to see Zac Brown Band but we only lasted 4 songs and we were too tired…..well Zac played 4 (!) hours until 5am ! Oh my !
It was still hard to find any sleep as I was still blushed by what Tift gave us that night.



Katie Herzig and her band

After a short night, we arrived in the American Virgin Islands. Well, this is the US on islands ! Same cars, shopping malls… well, I was back into action to see this amazing band Girlyman and my now dear Katie Herzig. I’m pretty sure I got a crush for her right now. So now, you remember the 2 points to remember ? Well, before the cruise, I saw that Brandi and Tift would play a show at the same time slot, which was quite a dilemma for me. My mind had settled right before the cruise on seeing Brandi over Tift but somehow, with the way things went on the boat, I was leaning towards seeing Tift but it wasn’t until the very last minute that I’d say to my roommate that I chose to see Tift. That decision was highly controversial to some other Brandi fans because they know i’m pretty much her biggest fan from France. But I really didn’t care at all, I made my mind and it would pay off in such a big way that it still hard for me to realize. So, Tift was playing this little venue (the dazzles) on the ship and it was obviously much too small. People were very excited and there was just no room left. Tift recognized me and waved at me. The show was very intimate, very dark too because there wasn’t enough lights. It was also weird because there was more people sitting on her right side than in front of her. At some point, I left my place, which was pretty good, but I just hadn’t got any lights for my photographs so I ended up right at her feet (« yes, yes, don’t be shy, come and sit here«  or something like that). She notably sang Mille Tendresses in front of the confused audience to finish the show haha. As a Frenchman, I felt very proud to say the truth. She also sang good-hearted man and my heart is free, full of rawness. And oh my, an acoustic version of Crossover. The show was really great, not as much as the first one because well, you simply can’t top that one but after the show, I thanked her for playing Laid a highway (and not laid on a highway like I said once before) and she said she was sure that I would love this one. The most significant point is that Tift was wondering if I was going to go to brandi’s show or hers. Really ? Anyway, she was very flaterred and I knew I made the right decision. I candidly asked Tift : « Where’s is my drink ? (the drink she promised me in London in July ‘08)……well, she said with a big smile « okay, let’s go to a bar ! » oh my, I couldn’t believe that I would actually get that drink. We went at gatsby’s, the bar down below and we started talking and talking. It was so surreal to talk to her and Zeke, just like we were old friends. My roommate Fanny lost her way after the Brandi show and ended up at the same bar we were at ! And we all kept talking together until 1:30am. I need to say, I have to say, Tift is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. We could talk about everything we wanted to, about of course music, influences, but also food, Paris, medics, best concert memories, Brandi… I don’t really know what I did to deserve this but I just want to say I’m so grateful to know and admire such a remarkable person and artist. One funny moment was that Tift wanted to pay me the drink and we all took a glass of red wine but then as tricky as I am, I swapped the accreditation cards (that we used to pay everything on board) and I was the person paying for everyone else and Tift asked the bartender if she could pay but to no avail and she got mad at me and miming to hit me hahahahahha, good times. Aww, I love Tift, she’s so talented, so honest and kind. We finally decided that it was time for bed and I said I wasn’t done yet and told her to be ready for her last show. Before leaving, I was wondering how I was going to survive 2 days without a TM show, which made everyone laugh. If I had to choose one moment during the cruise, it would be that one because she gave us her big heart and spent an hour with us. Being French provides us some edge compared to the other fans but still, I rarely saw the other atists being so available.


Fanny and I at the bar with Tift and Zeke at gatsby's


The next day, we arrived in tortola in the british virgin islands. I got to touch for the first time a dolphin, which was an absolutely unique experience. Back on the boat, it was time to see Brandi at the main theatre, she was of course amazing. At the end of the show, Vienna Teng and her guitarist came on stage to sing a very nice version of Let It Be. In a metaphoric way, I’d say that even though we had good seats in the middle section, Brandi appeared very far away and we don’t get to meet the headliners because otherwise they wouldn’t have time to sleep after the shows so I repeat myself but brandi was kind of absent.


Girlyman


After that, I saw Girlyman, they totally blew me away again and they’re very nice too. Katie Herzig followed and I couldn’t help but love her more and more. I went to Dazzles (where Tift played her second show) to see Vienna Teng for the last show of the day. She is very very talented and many people came to see her. At the end, Brandi and her band joined Vienna to sing a Simon & Garfunkel song and Brandi called out Tift to come sing along too. I was really surprised and Tift sang her heart out in her typical fashion. Vienna and Brandi sang Let It Be again to end this amazing show.

Vienna Teng with guests


Vienna Teng with Alex Wong and Tift

The next day was a day at sea and we were a bit tired so I didn’t get out of the cabin until 1pm. I was really looking to see for the first time ever Patty Griffin and she didn’t dissapoint. Her song « love is a dud » particurarly was hilarious. Great songs, legendary artist. Before Patty, I saw Kathleen Edwards from Canada and Beth Wood. They’re both very very good. I talked a bit in French with Kathleen and she wrote some suggestions for my visit of Toronto.


the legendary Patty Griffin


On the final day of the cruise, because of bad weather conditions, we were redirectioned to Nassau, to the Bahamas ! Not bad … we saw paradise island that we can see in many movies so that was nice to see it with my own eyes. The long awaited show of Tift was finally here. We made sure to arrive one hour and a half before the time of the show to get our front row seats. At the same time, we were informed that there was a gathering of Brandi and her fans but i gave my word to Tift that I would be there and I preferred to see Tift’s soundcheck anyway. So we greeted Tift and she gave us a big hug. She notably rehearsed I live for you, which gave me the chills. Then Kathleen and Tift rehearsed Supposed to make you happy, then Darrell Scott came to sing also and then……Brandi Carlile. I was so shocked to see them on the same stage. My 2 favorite artists in front of me ! They rehearsed Still pretending. All of this was announcing quite a show ! Right before the show, I went to see katie Herzig who was about to start her own show.  I gave her some pictures I took from her previous concerts on the boat and she was very happy. But I was also sad to tell her that I couldn’t attend her last show because I wanted to see Tift but Katie is definitively someone I would like to see again in the future. Well, 6:30pm, time for the show ! Tift delivered once again. The duets were beautiful. It was interesting to see during the rehearsals the adjustements they made and translating into pieces of beauty for the actual show. She ended up her last show as a single woman with a no-mic version of Something to me, right in front of us. My friend and I met Tift after the show. She asked me right away if she liked the duet with Brandi. Of course I loved it, I was wondering if she did that for me but she just got on very well with Brandi so now I’m quite waiting for a double headliner tour of Brandi and Tift ! Let’s dream for a second….. I made a request for the London show in May, I told her that I wanted to hear Plainiest thing and she said she wanted to sing it that night but there was just too many people on stage during soundcheck that it was forgotten at the end. And finally, I showed the bottle of maker’s mark, i didn’t have that intention at the beginning of the cruise but I realized it really made sense to do that on this boat. So, here’s a new mack daddy ! (How do I get my t-shirt ??) We then hugged and said goodbye. See you in London hopefully. I don’t even know if I can go there yet but I’ll try hard to get the day off.
After that, we saw Beth Wood, Darrell Scott and Aslyn. They all performed masterfully, particularly Darrell who is a guitar magician. It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen anyone play like that.


Tift singing with Brandi Carlile


Tift singing with Kathleen Edwards


a new Mack Daddy on board



The cruise was at its end and it was such a blast to be part of that. It was every bit of what I expected it to be but honestly Tift stole the show and she made this cayamo cruise so special for me. Add to that that Tift and Brandi are good friends makes me really happy. It was also nice to hear and meet new artists like katie Herzig, Girlyman, David ryan Harris, Aslyn, Kathleen edwards, Ed Robertson, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin… I don’t have enough words to say how nice Tift was to me, she’s simply the sweetest person ever. Thank you Tift.
 

Here's another YouTube clip. This one features "Broken":

Hi, I'm back in Paris from my litttle odyssey that included the Cayamo cruise, the Northeastern American tour of Missy Higgins and a short visit of Canada and I can finally start working on pictures and audios and videos from the cruise during which our beloved Tift totally won over the entire boat.

so today, you can see and download the pictures and audio from Tift's first show that took place at the Spinnaker lounge (capacity : 400 people). I still have chills from that concert because I had rarely seen before such grace and kindness on stage, even with several TM shows under my belt. some highlights from this night : the Titanic-like noise that creeped her out and made her stop playing. someone giving her a bottle of Maker's Mark (which later gave me the idea of entering the TMSTFC...), Tift telling us that she really wants to go surfing (I reallly waaaaaant to goooooo...), Supposed to make you happy no-mic, bar with a tv on and of course meeting her after the show, I feel like we kept hugging during the 3 minutes we talked togethe and of course she was even more enthusiastic to meet me than I was to meet her. This was really an epic performance and I'm so grateful to have witnessed that special moment. In my concert lore, this one is all the way up there.

After the show I was already wondering if I was going to choose to see Brandi Carlile or Tift the next day as they were scheduled on the very same timeslot...

the pics

Tift Merritt - cayamo cruise first show March 2nd 2009

the audio
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9AZ7G1I7

enjoy !

on a side note, I think I overlooked before the cruise the fact that the boat would be moving as much as it did so it wasn't easy to keep balance when taking the pictures or even walk inside the ship, I mean I knew it would be rocky but it's only when you got experience it for real that you can actually know what it's like so  I can't even imagine how it was for the artists to perform in these unfamiliar conditions but they all did really well.

I think you may have made the wrong choice supertomate, Brandi Carlile rocked the night that she clashed with Tift, if you try to look at things objectively rather than subjectively you may have seen a good show but you missed out on a great show, Brandi probably gave the best performance of Cayamo 2009 that night, her incredible dynamic vocal range, her control and her stage presence - as endorsed by Tift during her final show, were second to none on that boat and all of them shone through during her 11pm performance.  

One point I should add is that Tift did do really well by managing to stay standing in those super high heels she was wearing - that was really impressive.

2nd show on the cayamo cruise

After Tift played her first set at the Spinnaker lounge, I didn't know what to do, see Brandi or Tift the night after at Dazzles ? then after a night of reflexion, I finally and logically chose to see Tift again. I think I did that because I saw Brandi so many times before (I think I had seen her 18 times before the cruise started) and therefore it was more important to prioritize Tift (is that correct english ??), secondly I knew that I could meet Tift after the show and that wouldn't be the case with Brandi, and finally I had in the back of my head that Tift "owed" me a drink since July '08 and as it was a late show (starting at 11pm) I thought it would be now or never... My decision may have caused some confusion among Brandi fans but I don't regret a single time what I did, I just wish everybody on this board could have enjoyed what Tift graciously granted me : friendship and happiness.

So, back to the show itself, as expected, there were many people anticipating Tift's show, I arrived 1 hour earlier and the room was already well filled, I took a comfortable seat on the left. Tift was doing soundcheck. Tift and the tech were trying to find the right setting for the keyboard (no grand piano this time), which took quite a while and Tift seemed to be a bit upset but they finally found something good. One thing annoyed me from the beginning and I knew I had to do something about it at some point is that the lights came from behind her, the result was that Tift was like a shadow and we could hardly see her face. My pictures at the beginning were so dark and I didn't want to use the flash. In the meantime Tift said before starting out "there's a lot of room here on the floor, you can also sit at the drums !" so a few people sat down almost at her feet.

Tift began with Something to me, then later followed with personal favorite (but not ultimate favorite ) My heart is free and Good-hearted man. Good-hearted man has always been special because everytime I heard this song, I try to be that good-hearted man, the song is so beautiful that it just makes you try to do things better than you would have otherwise without knowing this tune. well, I'm always far from it though but you just need to keep trying. She mentioned it was her 45th day on the tour and that she was "clinically insane". If you remember, she really wanted to go surfing but Tift and Zeke couldn't get to the location (we arrived in St Thomas, in the American Virgin Islands and we were greeted immediately by.......a shopping mall), first there was no car to rent and then when they asked a taxi, the guy told them "you don't want to go there !" fortunately they didn't get there because who knows what could have happened...

Someone in the audience shouted "Sunday morning", which prompted tift's answer : oh, there are so many words in this song, if it has been Sunday, I would have tried but it's just too early ! hahaha... The audience was very enthusiastic and yet very quiet and respectful, we just wanted to hear Tift's voice as much as we could. I don't know when but I took off of my seat and sat almost at Tift's feet because I couldn't take good pictures and she said "yes, come closer" which made everybody laugh. I just felt like leaving a front row seat to sit directly on the stage. that was really a weird night and it was quite over yet. Tift told us the story of Jerry and how she kept writing him letters to get a gig, which made me so happy because I would get to hear my very favorite song "Laid a highway" which was of course majestic.

She ended another amazing show with can you believe it ?....mille tendresses in front of an American audience, I was shocked.... and happy. She received a well-deserved standing ovation that made her come back on stage ! and she sang a very rare acoustic version of Crossover, as if she hadn't given us already enough.

after another standing ovation, many people wanted to meet Tift to congratulate her for the vintage performance. I waited to be one of the last people to meet her. She hugged me and asked if I liked the show. I answered that she was just amazing once again and I thanked her for singing Laid a highway, she said she knew it would make me very happy. I finally asked my silly request : "where's my drink ?" and then she just told me "let's go to the bar !", I secretly hoped for it but never really thought it would happen so that was another shocker for me. we went downstairs to Gatsby's where we talked together about everything from music, to France, to pharmacy stuff, Paris, my favorite songs, Brandi Carlile.... it was so dreamy and so surreal to be with your hero right next to you talking like old friends, she just made me feel like it and I think being French gives me a bit of edge because it was easy to see that she enjoyed talking nearly all the way through in French. At some point my roommate lost her way after the Brandi show at the big theatre and ended up at the bar and we kept talking and talking. I tried to talk a bit in English because I wanted Zeke to understand what we were talking about hahaha. so, all in all, that was an incredible night that exceeded any expectations I could have had before hand. For obvious personal reasons, this night will stay as the most important for me, Tift made me feel so special and I just understood why I have been so devoted to Tift and her music, she's the sweetest person I've ever met and I'm so grateful to know her. like the song says (I actually never heard that song I think but it says it all), to know her is to love her. thank you Tift.

the pictures

Tift Merritt Cayamo cruise 2nd show

the audios

the show
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NC5TCEJ0

the encore (crossover !)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EUJ9BULA


 

Friday March 6th 2009

On the last day of the cruise, we were rerouted to the Bahamas because of bad weather conditions, which was really not bad at all...




at 5pm we went to the Spinnaker lounge to see Tift doing soundcheck and take our good front row seats too. We greeted and hugged Tift and she went to work. I had chills while listening to tift rehearsing "I live for you" and then a bit later Kathleen Edwards came to prepare the duet she was going to do on Supposed to make you happy. Then Darrell came on stage too and finally ... Brandi Carlile made her appearance, I couldn't believe it, my 2 favorite singers ever in front of me ! that was really the sign of a great show to come. Right after brandi was done rehearsing, I went to Gatsby's (whereTift and I talked after her second show) to quickly see Katie Herzig, her show was on the same timeslot as Tift so I couldn't see hers but I saw her 3 times during the cruise so that was okay. I thanked Katie Herzig for her wonderful shows and I really appreciated her kindness. I gave her some pics i took during her previous shows, which pleased her a lot. I went back to the spinnaker and Tift's show was about to begin.


 

Tift started things out with Keep you happy. she commented that it was her last show as a single woman. It felt like the first show, beautiful settings and songs, the only difference is that I knew what was coming haha. I was still struck by Tift's gentle personality though. TShe followed with passionate versions of My heart is free and Broken before entering the heart of her show, which features the much anticipated duets. she first invited her friend Brandi Carlile. Brandi said she found tift's voice really beautiful, which made Tift respond : aww, I'm blushing !





The special two collaborated for an awesome rendition of Still Pretending with Tift on the piano and Brandi standing next to her. The combination of sweetness of Tift's voice and the raspy edge of Brandi's was spectacular. I still have that strange feeling of something unique had just happened but it just meant more to me because I'm a huge of both artists. This was the thing with the cruise, nay artist could pop out and join someone for a song and fortunately Brandi was very prolific with duets (Vienna Teng, Indigo girls, Tift Merritt, Katie Herzig). Once the song was finished, they warmly hugged.


 

Tift wanted to have some male presence to keep the balance so she called on duty Darrell Scott for a very poignant Dark end of the street. I didn't know him before the cruise but i think he's absolutely amazing, be it on the guitar or on the piano, my favorite song of his is Colorado. the two a song i don't really anything about, "the dark end of the street" if i'm not mistaken (just listen to the show)


Tift said that Zeke was having a lot of fun on this cruise because he kept telling Tift things like : you have only 5 more days to split ! or... you can't go anywhere right now......and Tift added right after that : he's the person I'm marrying, which was followed by huge laughs hahahaha. Well, more seriously, she was very happy but she still felt some "shortness of breath" because it's just very important. After Stray Paper and Good Hearted man, Kathleen Edwards joined Tift for Supposed to make you happy. Kathleen whistled back really good at Tift's harmonica solo during the middle part of the song.






 

After the classic Another Country, I was happy to hear "do something good".... If nothing else, do something goooooood. there was a strange moment during the next song, I know what I'm looking for now, Tift got simply interrupted by the Public Announcement in the middle of her song but Tift just joked about it. To end her show, she went unplugged and no mic with Something to me, I think you can still clearly hear it as she was singing very close to where we were. She got another standing ovation and that was probably the last show before I can see tift again before long. Right after that, I went to the duty free shop to retrieve my bottle of Maker's Mark and I ran back through half of the ship as fast as I could. I quickly scrapped the TMSTFC sign on a paper and stuck it on the bottle and I went on to meet Tift and Zeke. Tift asked me right away if I liked the duet with Brandi ! Of course i loved it and I asked her if she did it for me. she said she just got along really well with Brandi but I still suspect her to have done that with something in the back of her head.... well, forget that, I'm just speculating hahaha. She was very very happy to receive too some pics from her first show on board, she found them beautiful, yay for me ! My friend fanny didn't own any of Tift's Cds so while I took the bottle I bought at the same time Another Country and then got it signed for her. It's not finished yet, I gave Tift a little turtle bought in Tortola and it was very funny to see Tift toughing the head of the turtle and make it move haha. Last but not least, I presented  her the Maker's Mark and took a picture with her to certify my Mack-Daddy-ness ! I thanked her for the wonderful moments I could witness, that was honestly better than I could ever imagine. You can be prepared as much as you want, once Tift starts playing, her music and her beautiful soul transcend everything.


 

I hope you all enjoyed my reviews, I tried to cheer for Tift as well as I could. I think it was even more special for me because I come from "another country", I didn't want to have my "hopes too high" before the cruise and I'm "still pretending" that I "know what i'm looking for now" (it should be past tense but anyway...),Tift just said to me "mille tendresses" on the ship and I can say there's nothing like Tift's Music to "keep you happy". That was just amazing and I'm so grateful.

the audio of the show is here

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O8RIBA1S

Enjoy !

Haruo, that by far is "THE BEST" review I have "EVER" read on any forum of any artist. I felt like I was with you the whole time. Thank you so much for taking the considerable amount of time it took you to post it. You are a true asset to Tift as a fan and I know she knows it also. Great to "Finally" have you as a Mack Daddy too.

Thanks Paul for the nice comment. I appreciate it a lot. Maybe it is just me and the way I do things but I just like to put a lot of myself into supporting the bands I listen to. Because well....you see, you don't travel up to I don't know..... 4000 miles maybe from Paris to Miami and then through the Carribean just to waste your time. And with Tift or Brandi or Missy, you can only feel grateful and lucky to see them perform on stage and then always take the time to meet the fans, even though they're tired or busy travelling from city to city. I had a lot of pictures taken with the artists but I really made a point to meet them after the shows and not bother them in their off time because this is basically their vacation. The drink with Tift was the exception but it was an opportunity i couldn't pass on to ask. my life is pretty much complete now

Tift just showed me the same enthusiasm on the cruise as the first day we met in London in May '08. She's obviously very happy career-wise and she has earned every bit of success she's enjoyed. I'm pretty sure that if I could have met Tift when she was sending letters to Jerry back in the day to obtain a gig, I would have been totally won over by her (= being literally hit by a train of honesty and genuine love for music). In an interesting speculation, even if most of you have known Tift's music for a longer than I have, I think i'd still be surprised by the dedication you put on to support her at the shows. All in all, I'm just happy to contribute to this forum.

I'm not really sure about doing the cayamo again in the future, there are so many intangibles that must fall into places that I don't even want to start making plans for anything too far in time... but I'm not against a....tour of lakes of Minnesota with Tift hahaha. I think there's a lot of lakes where to fish... well, okay this is randumb, sorry.

So, unfortunately, it looks like there won't be a London show for me in May but i've seen her so many times over the past year that I can't complain. I'd like to see Tift in her homestate and in MN someday, I just don't know if or when it's going to happen. But you know me, i'll work hard on it.

Other fans captured some of Tift's performances as well.

"Keep You Happy"

"Another Country"

"Mille Tendresses" (with a clever video opening sequence)

A different "Another Country" (with some dude blocking the camera every few seconds)

I dug out the video of Tift being interrupted by the public announcement during her last show on cayamo, i completely forgot that I had taped this moment. Sorry for the blurriness but my camera has issues staying focused for some reason. It's just one of those moments that only happen in unsual places for shows.

It brings back so many awesome memories. Four months later, it's still vivid in my memory