After a day of hitting some of the local Hollywood touristy stops and eating a monster lunch at Langer’s Deli (order the #19) it was on to pre-party #2 at the Avalon Friday night. Doors opened pretty early and the show kicked off with local favorites Mycah hitting the stage followed up by a terrific performance by Tyketto that garnered new fans from our group. The main attraction of the evening was a reunion performance by Rough Cutt who have rarely played together over the past 30 years. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed their early releases until hearing the songs again. Another great night and we haven’t even boarded the ship yet. A stop at Mel’s on Sunset for a late night meal and it was off to bed.
Day 4 for us already and it is time to finally set sail. One of the more frustrating parts of these cruise vacations is the boarding process. It is just painfully slow. You arrive at the cruise port all amped up and ready to rock and then you have to stand in line for what feels like hours and hours before you can get your cruise cards and everything else you need to legitimize yourself. Monsterwood is the first of the Monsters of Rock cruises to leave out of Los Angeles, with the other five previously leaving from ports in Florida. The L.A. port in San Pedro was much smaller and easier to navigate through so the wait time to board was only about 90 minutes. It was definitely worth the wait for 4 days and nights of rock and roll on the high seas. Upon boarding, the Iron Maidens were already playing in the ship’s atrium. Nothing more rock and roll than boarding a ship with “Two Minutes to Midnight” blasting in the background.
With 3,000 people on board, the NCL Pearl was ready to set sail, with one exception – we were still waiting for the Stowaways. Who are the Stowaways? This was advertised as a special guest unannounced band that was going to be the kick-off band for the Sail Away party as the ship was leaving the port. For a few days prior to sailing, rumors had been circulating who this band might be and after an hour delay, a reformed Ratt hit the pool deck stage to rock the ship into the sunset. Eddie Trunk introduced the band as “I think you will recognize these guys” since they are not legally allowed to use the name Ratt due to legal battles going on with drummer Bobby Blotzer. The band included Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini, Juan Croucier and Carlos Cavazo with Jimmy Degrasso filling in on drums. Never been a huge Ratt fan myself; But, Stephen’s voice was in great shape and it was a pretty solid performance. Due to the Stowaway’s being on board, the ship left the pier about four hours late as everyone except Jimmy DeGrasso had to disembark before we sailed off into the night.
Nice