[Dixielandjazz] Well wishers

[Jim Kashishian]

Thanks to all those that sent private messages to me wishing me a Happy
Birthday!  My 70th celebrations started with a 12 day cruise with my wife &
2 friends from Dubai, sailing to India & back.  
 
On our return to Dubai, we had High Tea (including champagne) at the Burj al
arab hotel (the one that looks like a sail).  High Tea, for those that are
not aware, includes a tower of sandwiches, followed by more cakes than you
can eat, followed by scones with jam & clotted cream, followed by chocolate
sweets!  Ours, of course, included a special birthday cake.  All of this
suspended in a tube like restaurante daintly attached to the 27th floor of
the hotel overlooking the Palm Island and the sea.  All in all, we were
"tea-ing" for 3,5 hours!
 
Dubai is a modern treat, and an arquitects dream.  A 12 lane highway goes
through the middle of the city...a main street with traffic flowing at 120
kilometers per hour!  The observation deck on the Burj Khalif sits on floor
124, but it goes further up to 160 floors!  The tallest building in the
world.
 
Oman (Muscat) is an amazing place, also.  We visited the Great Mosque with
more marble flooring than I've ever seen in my life.  Bargaining in the
local market was, let's say, interesting!
 
India (we visited Mumbai & Kochi) is "Incredible" (as their tourist slogan
goes), but I will have to spend some time thinking about our visit before
explaining my feelings well about the place.  We visited a local market
where spice was one of the main products being sold.  The odors were
overwhelming, but generally pleasing.  We couldn't dock in Goa as there was
a fishing boat strike blocking the port.  Shame, as it is the one touristy
sort of place on the west coast of India.  In Mumbai, cows are now tethered
by their owners outside of holy places, and worshippers feed both the cows &
their owners.  They wandered freely in Kochi (Cochin).  The slums were,
well, slums, although I spotted the occassional satellite dish on a few
roofs!  Traffic is chaotic.  Horns are used continuously, and motor bikes
are often shoved by taxi cabs.  I saw that happen!
 
Musically speaking, we heard a bit of local music, but mainly just what they
lay on for the ship's docking!  We did have a special show on board the ship
with young Indian dancers, singers & percussion the nite we stayed over in
Mumbai.
 
The ship's entertainment was fantastic.  This was a Royal Caribbean ship,
and this company, along with Princess Cruises gets my vote for the best for
live musicians (vs. one or two people on stage & a full orquestra coming out
of a computer!).  There were over 30 musicians in the different groups, and
the main showroom featured a 9 piece band led by British trombonist David
Bently.
Excellent players from all over the world.  A number of the shows featured
jazz & jazz singing.
 
Birthday celebrations have continued back home with a dinner with a group of
friends last nite (which was really my birth date!), and next weekend 3 of
my 5 kids (along with spouses) are joining us for a weekend trip up to the
wine country (La Rioja) for some tours of wineries.  
 
In between all of that I've got gigs every night, so who could ask for
anything more?
 
Cheers, Jim