SMOOTH - Charles Belhumeur

Smooth

Charles Belhumeur ('CB: One-man Band')

Single from my 'CRUISE COVERS' collection: 48 Cover-Songs recorded at sea, onboard various Cruise-Ships in exotic locations around the world. Find details at https://cbmusic.net/cruise-covers

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Smooth 4:50
Smooth
by Charles Belhumeur ('CB: One-man Band')
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THE STORY

This song was recorded at sea, onboard the CARNIVAL Cruise-Ship ‘PARADISE’ while anchored off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico: A place where the original Artist (Santana) is from (Mexico). I've been a fan of Carlos Santana for many years, have always enjoyed performing this song, and like the bit of trivia which has him & I sharing the same first name ('Carlos' is ‘Charles’ in Spanish).

Our itinerary had us returning to Ensenada twice each week (every Wednesday & Saturday) for six (6) months, while doing an entire season (October through March) of 3-day & 4-day ‘Booze-Cruises’ (YIKES!) from the port of Long Beach, California. As a result, Mexico is a place where I seriously enjoyed far too much Tequila!

Thank goodness I made good friends with other Musicians on that ship (Lantz, Andrew, Paul & James from the ship's band 'REVOLVER', plus Kenton & Curvel from the duo ‘SUPER NOVA’: Photos below)) who were always available for causing some mischief & sharing a laugh with me for long enough to keep me sane (or at least keep me out of trouble) for what turned out to be the most difficult of all contracts (6 months) which I've ever done at sea. Thank you boys!

One of our regular adventures took us to a local ‘watering hole’ called ‘Tequilas’ in Ensenada (photo below). Well; you'd think that the name alone would have been enough fore-shadowing to have curbed our enthusiasm, however that was not the case. Coupled with the fact that Wednesdays were USUALLY my only scheduled day off each week, I often took full advantage of that day to fill my quota of Mexico's favourite blue agave drink before returning back to the ship. "Responsible Drinking?": Now THAT's an oxymoron!

This recording of my live performance (one-take, with NO overdubs …as with all songs in my ‘CRUISE COVERS’ collection) captures my complete exhaustion from a very long (6 months) & difficult contract at sea. My exhaustion is evident in each of the scenes where my live performance has been cross-faded in & out, first appearing at 00:29 of the video. I hope that you might be able to just accept it for what it is & enjoy.

NOTE: This song is part of my 'CRUISE COVERS' Collection: 48 Cover-Songs recorded at sea, while I was performing on various Cruise-Ships around the world. To see more details (including which ships & parts of the world where each song was recorded), please visit https://cbmusic.net/cruise-covers

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