A Disney Full Circle Moment

Last week we had the pleasure of performing at Epcot’s Garden Rocks Concert Series on the American Gardens Stage during the Flower & Garden Festival. This may not mean much to most of you but for a nerdy Disney adult like myself, it was a big career moment.

I used to work for the Mouse back in 2006-08 and was very good “friends” with “Princess Belle” and “Drizella”, one of Cinderella’s silly step sisters. Unfortunately, I never got to sing at the parks even though I constantly auditioned for their shows. As the story goes, I ended up auditioning for Universal Studios Japan the fall of 2007 and they cast me in the role of “Elphaba”. This of course changed the entire trajectory of my life and I’m forever grateful for it BUT I did hold some bitterness towards Walt Disney World for never using me as a singer in their parks. However, I have continued to be a big fan of the company and the parks (annual passholder, here!) although never dreamed that I would actually get a second chance to perform there much less as myself and that’s exactly what happened last week!

Back in May of 2023, we auditioned for Disney under Noire Productions in hopes that they might consider us for some gigs at Disney Springs, Disney Weddings or maybe even some private events. 7 months later, we found out that they wanted to put us in the line up for their Garden Rocks Series in the Spring which is basically the top spot for a local musician to play when it comes to Disney gigs. We were in shock and very nervous as we’d have to play with a band behind us (provided by Noire Productions) but we took the offer and took a leap into unknown territory.

I had a few actual breakdown crying moments before the big day, but we pulled it off and had three super fun days performing on that iconic stage. The band was excellent and fit right in with our vibe. Luckily we had lots of great feedback from new fans, Disney management and even some of the ushers that work the venue which means even more to us because they literally hear/see all the acts who perform there.

It would be amazing to be invited back someday but even if that never happens, I finally got to perform at Walt Disney World and at my absolute favorite park as well!

~ Charity

Our Group Cruise Experiment

In July 2017 we set off on our very first cruise contract for 6 months aboard the Celebrity Eclipse. It was a completely new territory for us in so many ways. In truth it was the first time we’d get compensated for playing as a duo. 

Before that, we were living and working in Osaka, Japan as separate performers at Universal Studios Japan. We had some lovely friends that encouraged us to play at a local Osaka bar in order to build our repertoire and gain some confidence as a music duo. Eventually we got up the courage to apply for cruise contracts and amazingly Celebrity took a chance on this brand new duo with a silly name “Gilly & the Girl”. 

Fun fact: we had to fib a bit and say that we had at least 150 songs in our repertoire when we probably had only 50. Needless to say, we worked extremely hard and learned several new songs each week while on the ship until we made that number. By our last contract in Fall of 2019, we had over 450 songs. 

We ended up renewing our contract over the years and in total we finished 5 contracts ranging from 6 weeks to 6 months. During that time we created dozens of different themed sets, got to collaborate and perform with amazing talent onboard and we developed a full guest artist stage show that we performed dozens of times on different Celebrity ships. 

In early March of 2020, things got weird as we all know. We closed on our very first home together, a condo in Central Florida but a week later all of our work was gone. Inevitably, we lost our next contract with Celebrity for that following Summer. 

We were scheduled to perform at Margaritaville Resort on St. Patrick’s Day 2020. This was of course cancelled so we decided to just live stream on Facebook that evening. It went so well that we decided to just keep doing livestreams a few times a week. We were able to connect with our true blue fans and even gain new ones throughout the year. We are still incredibly grateful for all of the support we received during such a strange time. 

We eventually found ourselves working regularly and often declining opportunities to perform because we were and are still very busy. It’s amazing and we couldn’t be more thankful for it and for all of you!

Many people started asking us when we are going to head back to the ships. We have never been able to give a solid answer. Of course we had a great time working and traveling those few years but we were nomads back then without a home. Now that we have settled into our new place, adopted a cat and are slammed with land gigs we don’t foresee going back to ships in the same way that we used to perform on them.

HOWEVER we got a wild hair in the Summer of 2021 to look into group cruises. It turns out that it’s not too difficult to organize. With the help of my long time friend, Tim Elrod and his travel agency (https://www.travelmation.net) we decided to put together a special Gilly & the Girl Group Cruise. 

We realized that this was a huge undertaking but we were very excited to just travel and sing again with people that we have made relationships and connections with these past 8ish years of Gilly & the Girl.

Next month, we depart out of Ft Lauderdale on this crazy 9 day group cruise experiment. Once it’s all said and done we’ll assess and decide if it’s worth another go round so make sure you are following us either here or on our other social media platforms for more info!

There's No Place Like Home

March 11, 2020, the official start of the Covid 19 Pandemic, we closed on our very first home together. A week later we lost all of our gigs. We were officially in lock down and livestreaming twice a week on Facebook from our Uncle Scott & Aunt Val’s home where we were staying. We were waiting patiently to find out if our summetime three month contract on board the Celebrity Silhouette was going to happen or not. Of course, it did not happen but thanks to so many amazing family, friends and fans we were able to continue performing for the entirety of 2020. I was secretly trying to decide what random, normal job I could do on the side but luckily it never had to come to that.

Here we are a year later living in our adorable Winter Garden apartment with Granny Pants, an 8 year old black and white cat whom we adopted in August of last year. We are consistently busy working at places like Sea World, Margaritaville and Universal, performing at weddings and private events and of course singing to the Villagers who truly appreciate our taste in classic music. We aren’t sure what the future holds for us regarding cruise ships but we are so thankful to know that we can make a living at home closer to our friends and family.

In a perfect world, we would become part time Guest Entertainers aboard cruise ships which would only put us out at sea for small increments of time as opposed to months and months away but we shall see what the future holds. We certainly DO miss traveling and hope to get back to that asap.

Strange Days

The world has certainly changed a lot in the last 4 months. We were scheduled to be on the Celebrity Silhouette this Summer for three months but those plans were completely squashed due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.

The music industry has certainly suffered during this time. We have many artist friends who have had to take on new jobs or have had to adapt to this new normal. We have been very fortunate to have fans across the globe tune into our live Facebook events. With their financial help, we’ve been able to sustain our work as musicans and continue to learn new material.

As of now, we are averaging about 2-3 gigs out in the public per week. During normal times we had a pretty busy schedule with working sometimes 6 days a week. We are still continuing to live stream via Facebook at least once a week.

Currently, we have no idea what the cruise industry will do at this point but we are ready to get back to traveling and singing on the high seas when the time comes. Until then we are eternally grateful for the support we’ve been show both financially and mentally. We have some pretty amazing fans!

We’ve also recently moved into our new condo in Winter Garden, Florida and we are loving this time to “nest”. For about 6 years, we have been traveling the world. This pandemic stopped us in our tracks but sometimes a good long pause in life helps you to appreciate simpler things. Like the “new” record player from the 1950s that my Grandmother gave to us. We are thoroughly enjoying playing with that and all the records that we are acquiring.

Home Sweet Home

We are just settling back into the coolish winter of Central Florida after being in hot sticky Central America for a month on board the Celebrity Infinity. We also spent a month in the Mediterranean before that but the heat wasn’t as harsh.

We have a pretty busy holiday season ahead of us complete with restaurant and bar gigs, a private Christmas party and even an anniversary celebration in Chicago! We’ll definitely have to dig up some warm clothes for that trip.

Our next ship assignment hasn’t yet been given to us but it will most likely be starting in May or June of next year as we are taking the first 4-5 months to buy our very first home in Central Florida. We are both excited and scared of this huge task as we are more creative minded. Business minded folks would be less intimidated, I’m sure. Luckily we have a great realtor and friend, Rob Stack, helping us out.

Needless to say, next year should be one for the books!

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes!

After a few days at home, we've finally gotten the chance to process this past contract and the future of our duo. 

First of all, we can't thank our fans, friends and family enough for the love and support that we've received over these past couple of years. Together we've been to over 30 countries and met so many amazing people, crew and guest combined. 

Many times we've been asked what our end goal was in all of this and we've been pretty honest that we just wanted to see the world and play music together. 

We've also been working towards creating a "Guest Entertainer" show that we feel would not only be successful on ships but that it would also be true to us and our personalities. This past contract on board the Solstice, we were able to create just that and perform it many times on board to really great responses from guests. 

In the meantime, we were trying to find an agency that would take us on and find us work as guest entertainers. Luckily we've had some great friends that have really helped us along the way and we are so excited to share with you all that we've been signed to the Don Casino Agency. This means that we will eventually be performing on cruise ships as a headliner act. 

We do have a couple of short contracts as lounge musicians (what we currently do) for this year if you'd like to catch us on board: 

The Celebrity Edge: June 5 - July 13

The Celebrity Infinity: Sept 29 - Nov 24

After these two contracts, we are not sure where we will be sailing / performing but the sky is the limit. 

In the meantime, if you'd like to see us perform on a cruise that you've already booked, let the cruise line know that you want to see Gilly & the Girl perform as "Guest Entertainers" during your cruise. Who knows? They may just seek us out and book us if enough guests request us. 

A New Year

Happy New Year to everyone near and far who continue to support us! We feel super excited about 2019 and the possibilities that lie ahead.

Our next contract starts on January 17th aboard the Celebrity Solstice. We’ll be exploring countries like New Zealand, Australia and more. Very exciting times! Our contract finishes on May 24th and then we’ll be back in Florida for a wedding performance in early June.

Have a wonderful new year and keep in touch!

Much love,

G&TG

Our new home parked next to the Sydney Opera House

La Vie En Rose

Currently, we are sitting in a cafe in La Havre, France waiting for our train to Paris. After almost two weeks we have a day off and are using it to the best of our abilities by visiting the "City of Lights". Our 2nd cruise started two days ago with a whole new ship of passengers. Our first cruise was a really great "welcome back" for us.

We actually ended up booking yet another Celebrity contract starting in late January 2019 that will take us to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Alaska. All places that we both have on our bucket lists. If you are interested in checking out the ship and itinerary you can click here. 

In some rather upsetting news, we lost a hero of ours: Anthony Bourdain. He's been inspirational to so many lovers of travel and cuisine through the years. Crazy that he passed right here in France. It really hit both of us hard. On our last cruise contract, we lost Tom Petty & Glen Campbell. 

Parisian life

Into the Mystic

We are gearing up to hit the high seas again on another 6 month contract aboard the Celebrity Eclipse. From May 28th until November 23rd we will be sailing all around Europe from Iceland to Croatia and everywhere in between. We are very excited to be hitting some countries that we've never explored before! Check out our itinerary!

Where we spend a lot of our time performing on board