2009 Blues Cruise - Report From The Lido Deck

 Whether you’re a casual blues fan, hardcore blues nut, musician or not, this is a pilgrimage that you all must make at some point in your life. Sure, you may have been to Telluride, Chicago, the New Orleans Jazz Fest, driven down Highway 61 just to get to Highway 49, or stumbled in and out of a smoky club or two on Beale Street; none of that can compare to seven straight days of seemingly continuous in yo’ face blues. From electric blues rock to the sweet country delta blues and our Cajun cousin, zydeco, it was all there in its purest, rawest form. Even when the band was packin’ tubas!

 I say purest and rawest form because the performances witnessed that week were not staged shows, there were no set lists, artists didn’t have any pat stage banter to get through before the next number, everybody was too busy having a good time. Every venue, (save the kitchen, and I’ll get to that in a little bit), had a full bar and a dance floor and there was no gilded rope between you and the artists when the music was playing. From some of the biggest names in the blues biz to a bunch of up and coming artists to watch for, every show had a feeling like it was just you and your crew in the local gin palace tearing it up!

 The week began with a pre-cruise party on a Friday night hosted by our brothers and sisters to the south, the South Florida Blues Society. The very first person I met at the host hotel for the festivities that night was their President, “Blues Bobby” Weinberg. He gave me the nickel tour and directed me out to the wine and cheese soiree out by the pool where “Pit Bull” Josh Rowand, and his father, Deny Rowand, were impressing everyone with their string work on nearly a dozen guitars and basses. Deny and Josh normally front the Outtadblues Band but the big show was to begin at 8PM.

 About show time, I work my way up front with my camera and I’m bumped in the back by some big guy trying to make it to the front of the stage.  I turn around and it’s Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin! Miami homeboy Albert Castiglia takes the stage and proceeds to show everyone what a Fender Strat can do. Some of its fast, some of its funky, but its all blues; and the intensity ratchets up when Bob Margolin pulls out a Telecaster for a slide duel! A couple of Muddy numbers ensue and Albert takes a bow.

 Up next in a fancy red suit and matching brim is Big Bill Morganfield. He plays a half a dozen of his songs when Bob comes back up on stage with his guitar, obviously surprising Big Bill! Ha! They have a friendly chat about “What do you want to play next?” A couple of Muddy numbers ensue once again, Bob retires for the night and Big Bill closes the show like it’s a steamy night in July on Wabash Street, instead of the breezy January evening it was in Lauderdale.

 This year’s Caribbean Blues Cruise is aboard the Holland America MS Eurodam, which was only commissioned in June, 2008. Everything on board from the silverware to the fixtures was brand new and as it turns out, this is the biggest ship the Blues Cruise has booked. It didn’t have that brand new smell but everything about the ship sure was purty!

 The week’s festivities kick off with gusto at 5PM with Michigan’s Larry McCray pumping the blues rock while the crew served up a BBQ dinner on the pool deck. Larry’s “Big Black Hole” off his latest cd has been in rotation on Sirius/XM and it was great hearing this live with the amps on 11.

 Dilemma! First of many this week! There’s four main venues and if a show begins on the hour on the pool deck, say at 5PM, the other venues start at 5:15, 5:30, and then 5:45. Most shows run up to 1½ hours and the rotation starts again at 7PM, 9PM, etc. Not counting the 11 individual artists on board as ‘special and surprise’ guests, there’s 23 different blues acts on board. A couple perform almost every day while some of the big names only played 3 or 4 times all week. The first few days of the cruise there was 11 hours of ‘scheduled’ music; by Thursday, there was 14 hours a day. And I say scheduled because the blues jams held every night ended whenever. Seven days of dilemmas. What’s a young boy to do?

  I’m jamming to one of my new fave artists, Mr. McCray, when I cave in and walk on down to the Main Stage at the front of the ship to check out someone else I had not seen live before, (excuse me here, smokin’ hottie) Ana Popovic. Like any convict recently released from solitary confinement, I was initially mesmerized but was soon distracted by the fact that this lady can really wail on both gee-tar and vox. Her slide work was particularly impressive. I’ve got one of her cd’s and it doesn’t do her live show justice. Not to mention that her bassist, Ron Jonker, is a real tight pants ham-bone gin-swillin’ hip-shakin’ heart-breakin’ showman in his own right.

 This was also the opportunity for memorable moment number one, the first of many. As I’m working down to the stage from the upper level, I have to walk down this flight of stairs next to the stage. Towards the bottom, there’s a young lady sitting there and when I got next to her, I realize its Debbie Davies. While she’s watching the show, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “It’s really nice seeing you again.” (The last time I had Debbie autograph a cd was at The Bank in Daytona some years back.) Without missing a beat in typical blues mama fashion she tells me, “I noticed you too,” tips her hat with her finger and winks at me. I tell you, this was my big 50th, it was going to be like this all week, I was loving life and you could not slap the smile off my face from that moment on.

 By the time I make it out to the pool deck to find out what’s happening with my big buddy Brian, someone had put a big banner up on the basketball court overlooking the pool deck: OUR SHIP KICKS ASS! I didn’t need no old root lady to have some chicken bones read for that forecast.

 The early show at 9PM, (did I say early?), on the pool deck is Trampled Under Foot.  The brothers and sister band out of Kansas City took the blues world by storm last year in 2008 and won the International Blues Challenge for Best New Blues Artist. Hokey smokes! Kansas City must be the shiznit, this band is great. The lead guitarist, Nick Schnebelen, won the Albert King Award at the IBC for his fretwork, (the work on the Resonator, a highlight); there’s brother Kris on drums; and their sister, Danielle, is also a blues shouter whose gut-bucket vocals really convey the heartbreak and joy in the blues. If that weren’t enough, they brought along Danielle’s husband, Brandon Hudspeth, (who fronts his own blues band called Levee Town). With Brandon on a trademark Gibson and Nick on his father’s Gibson Thunderbird, (upside down, no less), these boys light the place up. The band would go on to be the surprise hit of the cruise and every performance of theirs throughout the week was jammed.

 I didn’t know it then, but I wandered back down to the Main Stage for some rum. I had never seen Terrance Simien live before and this Cajun is hosting a party! I get down to the front of the stage with my camera and the beads are flyin’ and the parade is on! No sooner do I put down the camera, Terrance comes to the front of the stage and hands me a bottle of rum! (Insert memorable moment #2.) I took my hit and handed it back and he proceeded to work the crowd in the front of the stage with it. I can’t wander off now! Ha! The band is still playing when Terrance puts the bottle away, walks back to the drum kit to retrieve something, walks back to the mike and asks everyone, “Did everyone know I have one of these?”; then he holds up a Grammy! Jeez, just pour gasoline on a fire why don’t ‘cha Boudreau!

 At some point, I know I have to make it back to the bar, uh, my buddy Brian, out on the pool deck, so I pass through a couple of other venues on the way back to find Mitch Woods playin’ in the piano bar surrounded by the ladies. (I wish I was as smooth as that guy.) Down the hall from him pouring his heart out in the Queens Lounge is John Hammond. John’s the type of performer that for his craft, has just gotten increasingly significant. He is the real deal and his solo shows throughout the week were not to be missed.

 I make it out to the pool deck and the 11 o’clock show is the Fabulous Thunderbirds fronted by harp wizard Kim Wilson. I’ve had the good fortune to have a chance to talk to Kim numerous times; the most recent was his appearance in Orlando with Mark Hummel’s Harmonica Blowout. This was a particularly significant Blues Cruise for Kim; he was married to his lovely wife, Amanda, by the ship’s captain this week! A highlight for the rest of us was seeing Amanda poolside.

 Unable to leave the pool deck by this point, (thanks to the evil rum!), Jimmy Thackery is host to the week’s first pro-jam. In what would become a standard, at any given point, members from each of the acts on board would appear for the jams for a chance to play with their peers. From day one to day seven, the jams will have anywhere from five to ten or more band members tearing through the blues classics. By my count, I only heard three “I’m A Man’s” and two “Mustang Sally’s” all week. Ha! I know what I don’t remember, getting back to the room that night. Day One: 50 years done; 2,100 of my closest friends; 23 acts; 7 days; 3 islands; (wait, there’s islands to visit?); and sadly, only 1 liver to sacrifice.

 Bright and early at the crack of 10:30 Sunday morning is the returnee and virgin blues cruisers parties, each featuring different acts. We get lei’d at the virgin party and discuss the possibility of pacing ourselves for the rest of the week over a couple of Bloody Mary’s while Trampled Under Foot tries to play quietly for those suffering the effects of that evil rum.

 After a nice brunch, these boys need some church up in here so it’s down to the main stage for the Gospel Brunch hosted by the Holmes Brothers with special guest, Catherine Russell. Absolved of our guilt to this point, the day is celebrated on the pool deck all afternoon with Bluesaritas and the Kinsey Report; followed by Scrapomatic (whose witty and eclectic lyrics had us cracking up the whole time); followed by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi and the Soul Stew Revival. Oh yeah, all that was followed by one hell of a sunburn too but we wouldn’t know that until the next morning thanks to switching to Bushwackers.

 A few clouds prompt the Derek and Susan show to take a 20 minute break and we can’t have 20 minutes without music this week so it’s down to the main stage where Malaco recording artist Floyd Taylor is serving it up Memphis style. Floyd brought a full band and a horn section and everyone is dressed and has the moves.

 About this time, by big buddy falls out but I hang on and after dinner, the next headliner is Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson. Talk about old school, there should be high schools named after this cat, a veteran sideman to both Muddy Waters and Magic Sam dating back to the 60’s. And what don’t beat all, for 70 years old, he really surprised me this week. I saw shows by Guitar Junior three days in a row. He played completely different sets each time. No, I don’t just mean different songs, each show was a different style of blues. The first show was a lot of delta blues and shuffles. The next night, he’s playing popular blues numbers from the 60’s and mixing in doo-wop and early rock and roll numbers. The next day this cat is worked up and the band tears through a variety of blues rockers and he’s shoutin’ now! By the end of the week the crowd loved it when he would come up on stage for the late-night jams. Go Luther!

   Other highlights Day Two: John Hammond is setting up on the pool deck late in the afternoon so I went down and asked him if I could take a picture of just him and his guitar. He not only agreed, we would go on to have a nice chat for a while. This would underscore a nice aspect of this cruise, it was a real chance to get to know each and every one of the artists if you were so inclined. Some were a little more reclusive than others, but there were plenty of opportunities to share a drink and a few laughs with everybody. Besides Mr. Hammond, there were a lot of other fine folks I genuinely felt I spent some time with.  This included both Kofi Burbridge and Yonrico Scott from the Derek Trucks Band, Larry McCray, Sherman Holmes, Rico McFarland from Sugar Blue’s Band, Floyd Taylor, Nick Schnebelen and Brandon Hudspeth, Jon Cleary, E.G. Kight, and the ever engaging George “Commander Cody” Frayne.

 The final moments of Day Two have me stumblin’ back to my room and I have to cut through the main dining area on the Lido deck to get there. Even the kitchen wasn’t safe. Sitting at a table in the main hall playing a few acoustic numbers with whoever happened to be passing by was Guy Davis. Some fella walks up, pulls out a harmonica, and instead of just passing by, people start sitting down at the surrounding tables and booths! That guy with the harmonica handy turned out to be Deak Harp. Deak was onboard this week as a guest of Big City Rhythm & Blues magazine, one of the Blues Cruise sponsors. Deak was another guy I must have spent half an hour chatting with when I stopped by the BCR&B booth.

 I don’t know if it was the effects of all the blues partyin’ going on or the fact that we were anchored off of the small town of Samana, Dominican Republic the next day, but there weren’t a lot of people around Monday. My own self, I got no interest in going anywhere but to the next show so I spent the day with my time-tested sunburn treatment, frosty fruity pail drinks out by the pool. The week was really starting to get weird too. The theme for the day was “Wig Night,” so when the music started up again in the early evening and everyone was back on ship, all manner of amusing and frightful looking things were on people’s heads.

 This night begins with checking out someone I didn’t know much about before the cruise, a U.K. guy by the name of James Hunter. With a full band and a horn section, this guy can put on a show! He also obviously grew up on doo-wop and early 50’s blues records, not to mention he’s got the kind of voice that had the range of, and was clearly inspired by Ray Charles. Impressive.

 The U.K. wasn’t the only country represented this week. There were folks from all over Europe and as far away as New Zealand and Australia on the cruise. Which leads to one of the more memorable moments of this week. I was just hanging out one night when this guy walks up to me and asks me, “Are you an indigenous person?” Frankly, I thought I was the only one on board when he tells me, “So am I. My tribe is called the Te Rarawa and I’m from New Zealand.” It’s always nice to be recognized by my own kind and I made a new friend that week. You shouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s a blues musician and has his own band and website! Check out Beau Tahana on-line and support the brothers! Ooh-ah!

 I would also be amiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Gabriela from Lucerne, Switzerland. This charming lady put up with Big Brian and me by the pool most of the week and proved a willing dance partner when the music started. Her roommate, who was assigned to her cabin just prior to the cruise, Linda, from New York City, was a regular blues cruiser and I swear, knew half of the other cruisers on board and most of the band members. Linda’s wacky trademark was throwing these little green rubber frogs at everybody all week. I brought home three. Ha!

 Other than all that, there were two performances this date that really stuck out for me. The first was going to a room called the Crow’s Nest, which was set up like somebody’s living room, to see Ana Popovic slide through some more numbers. She capped her show with one of my all-time fave Stevie Ray songs, “Riviera Paradise.” When she finished this 10 minute number the room exploded with applause and cheers. She nailed it.

 But this night belonged to one of the legends, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas. I had seen Irma’s first performance of the cruise the night before and was impressed enough to go to the second show the next night. Irma’s one of those artists who took the time to tell little stories behind the songs and genuinely related to the audience. After a couple of folks had shouted out some requests, Irma stops them to say, “Look, I’ll be hanging out all week. If you have a song you want to hear, let me know and I’ll try and get it in the next show.”

 Jon Cleary worked with Irma on her latest release, Simply Grand, this past year, and she brought Jon along to play with her on this cruise. She tells the audience though, that instead of just using Jon as a sideman, he was too talented for that, she’s going to give him a couple of numbers to do and let him play whatever he wants. This Brit ex-pat caught something down in Nawlin’s 20 years ago so it was appropriate when he broke into an Earl King boogie woogie number that had the whole house get up and dance.

 Irma’s in control and when she gets back to the front of the stage, the house is treated to the original songs she wrote back in the 60’s that were featured in two recent movies, Life Of Bees and Benjamin Button. She also starts getting to those requests she mentioned the night before. She said one woman came to her with this song that she just had to hear but Irma said the band didn’t know it, (the music, that is). In order to do the song, she would do it a cappella so she tells the band to take five and breaks into “She’ll Never Be Your Wife.” Sung this way, the power behind the song of a woman who refuses to divorce her husband so he can remarry is exposed. Soul Queen, indeed.

 Is it only Day Four? We’re at port in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The scenery is nice but this is a small town. Big Bri and I take in the local color, buy some t-shirts for my kids, and head back to the ship to continue our sunburn and hang-over therapy. It’s a little weirder than the day before too, tonight’s theme is Pirates of the Caribbean with predictable results. It leads me to swear off rum for the rest of the week.

 Our evening gets under way pulling out of Tortola with another BBQ on the pool deck and a show by Floyd Taylor. Floyd’s been complaining about the ship rocking all week but as we hit open water, this brother can’t take it no more and tells the lead guitarist he has to go and abruptly walks off. This was halfway through Floyd’s scheduled show so the guitarist leads the band through a brief number and then stops the show. He explains to everyone what just happened and says they want to bring up an artist who they’ve been watching that they were impressed with on the cruise, and then he asks Rico McFarland to take the stage.

 Rico is a particularly gifted player and after seeing him with Sugar Blue earlier in the week, I spent some time talking to him about his influences. I told him I thought his work had a somewhat jazzy texture to it but he said he started playing soul and funk before getting into the blues. That became apparent when he took the stage and proceeded to lead Floyd Taylor’s band and horn section through 30 minutes of stuff that was funky as a hamper! A lot of people had been up and dancing to the R&B numbers Floyd was performing but the whole house got up to shake their moneymakers when Rico got up to throw down.

 Other notable performances tonight: the Holmes Brothers drop any of that gospel pretense and do a set of old R&B and blues numbers straight out of Detroit and Memphis. Susan Tedeschi with Kofi Burbridge on flute, doing a Joni Mitchell song. Then when the Soul Stew Revival is closing out their show, they start with the AB’s classic, “Dreams I’ll Never See,” do the Beatles’ “I Got A Feeling,” and end with a killer version of Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain!” Woo! Aaahh.

 Day Five, we’re where? Roseau, Dominica. Looks like a nice place from the pool deck. Highlights today: Larry McCray mistreating his Gibson up close and personal in the Crow’s Nest. Tommy Castro and his full band with his best buddy Keith Crossan set the mood early with a show on the pool deck. This is followed by the zydeco madness that is a Terrance Simien show followed by Taj Mahal and the Tuba Band. One might question an artist touring with a tuba band, but this is just another night considering the breadth and width of a career like Taj Mahal’s and actually, they pull it off. This was a great show.

 The night ended by attending the late night jam hosted by the Kinsey Report out on the pool deck. It looked more like a George Clinton Parliament/Funkadelic show with so many players on stage. I looked at my watch at 3AM and noted that there were 10 people on stage. Drums, bass, two keyboard players, a bunch of guitarists and some singers. My head promptly exploded.

 Clearly though, the best part of Day Five was the autograph party. (There are two during the week and you get to go to one.) All the performers hold off signing anything until the autograph party so as you might expect, these are somewhat of a mob scene at first but after all the lines form at the tables where each of the artists are seated, it moves pretty well. Prior to the cruise, I hit my blues cd collection and pulled all the jackets of the releases I had by the performers on the cruise. When I got home, in addition to the three cd’s I bought on board, I had nearly 20 newly autographed cd’s. Happy Birthday to me! Ha!

 Day Six starts at 11AM, (who the hell’s idea was that?!), with a Boogie Woogie Pianorama. Pounding the ivory is Jon Cleary, Taryn Donath, Mitch Woods, and Commander Cody. At noon, Ana Popovic is getting everyone ready for the long day out on the pool deck. Big Bri and I use the afternoon to finally catch a full set by the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, the band comprised of Ryan (age 16), brother Kyle (age 14), and baby sister Taya (age 10). In 2007 these kids placed second at the IBC and they’re how old?! Besides their young age, they’ve also garnered a lot of attention for the guitar and bass that Ryan and Kyle use. Their father, a musician and craftsman, fashioned them both out of car mufflers!

 The evening’s performance though, had to be Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers, who are touring and playing in conjunction with the Cate Brothers, Ernie and Earl. Make no mistake, this was the rock show that covered artists like Hendrix and Trower. This whole outfit is also touring with Reba Russell and things settled down a bit when she came out, but this show was loud!

 Tommy Castro hosted the late night jam and he ran the stage like a general. Everything seemed to come off very smoothly as a result and this was one of the better jam sessions all week.

 The theme for tonight was Mardi Gras and as it turns out, the stuff about the wigs and pirate outfits from the days before was rather tame considering what was walking around this night! Ack! Terrance Simien’s band played during the Mardi Gras parade and if you didn’t have at least 10 strings of beads around your neck, you looked naked compared to everyone else (and a couple of people who nearly were).

  Day Seven: The marathon is nearly over and I’ve got a killer tan. I could trade my liver in for spackling compound about now but I look like George Hamilton! The music starts at 11A again and it’s a Chicago style celebration hosted by Bob Margolin with The Kinsey Report, Sugar Blue and Rico McFarland, Kim Wilson, David Maxwell, and Luther Johnson.

 By noon, we’re back out on the pool deck to sit through a full set of Sugar Blue and his band. Sugar’s last release was Code Blue in 2007 but that contains a song called “NOLA,” that is so emotionally charged you want to bash FEMA and the Bush Administration all over again! And there was also another special treat for the crowd, Sugar talked about some of the artists he’s played with over the years and some of the big songs in which he’s been a part of. With that, he broke into the Rolling Stone’s classic, “Miss You,” and played his famous lead he recorded for the Some Girls album.

 We gotta get out of the sun so it’s up to the Queen’s Lounge for a set by the Homemade Jamz Blues Band. Hey, Dad’s sitting in on harmonica this time! When these kids are finished, it’s back out to the pool deck to check out the last show from Susan Tedeschi and just her band. I went just to see what kind of shoes she was wearing. After dinner it was some more of James Hunter before we headed to the Main Stage where we stayed the rest of the night. We finished there by sitting through another set with Larry McCray and then the Derek Trucks Band.

 All this time I’ve been sitting here going over my week and I didn’t mention the Silent Auction of one of a kind blues memorabilia and various donations from the bands and artists on board; the art gallery featuring Commander Cody’s paintings (awesome!); the liquor samplings; the Blues Cruise store and a separate Bluesin’ Bazaar; the girl who broke my heart and then broke her leg; all the wacky Blues Cruise give-away’s you’d find in your room every afternoon (Wednesday, ‘hump’ day, featured Blues Cruise condoms, for example); the music and blues business seminars that were held; my big buddy Bri’s ‘next ex-wife,’ who was one of the hostesses on staff that talked to us like she was our wife, treated us like her unruly kids, and that we couldn’t get off the cruise without a hug from; the Blues Cruise awards (like best costume, highest bar tab, least amount of sleep, etc.); and in true Blues Cruise fashion, some things I can’t talk about now that the cruise is over; you know, like my bar tab. Yikes!

 Things I completely missed in seven days: Dion! Dion, yes, that Dion, was on board, performed at a couple of shows, got up for one of the late night jams, and was at the autograph party. Never saw the guy until a friend showed us a picture they had taken with him that week. I’m sure he’s a nice fellow. I also missed the slide guitar showcase hosted by Bob Margolin that included both Derek Trucks and Ana Popovic. One of the biggest must-do shows all week and I wasn’t there? I’m blaming the evil rum for that one, I guess. And I knew Kim Wilson was getting married this week, but I didn’t know when, and ended up seeing some pics from the event afterwards.

 And finally, this week would not have so many sweet memories, party-hearty good times and lasting smiles if it weren’t for my good fortune the first day at sea to meet Gary and Bev from Deland. That’s how we latched onto them actually, Big Bri was talking to them and Gary mentioned they were from Deland (which is 20 minutes from me in Lake Mary). In some subtle and not so subtle ways, Gary took me under his wing and showed how even a virgin Blues Cruiser can fit in among 2,000 of their closest friends. Before the week was out, I could not thank this good-natured soul enough. It’s Friday, five days later when we finally get around to talking about where we’re from. Turns out, Gary grew up in the little town in the Finger Lakes of New York that my father retired to. My father had a nice house on a mountain overlooking Conesus Lake and while I was hanging out there in the summertime when I was a kid, Gary was right down the road, much like how he continues to be to this day.

 On so many levels, I was meant to be on this cruise and so are you! I pre-booked for next year and whole-heartedly invite all of you to come with me! You will not regret it.