Legendary In The Media

January 14-21, 2007
Live From The Caribbean
BluesWax Invades The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
By BluesWax Staff
 
Hello again from just off the coast of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We are about to make a journey onshore for some great music and, for a few, some shopping to clear the head. The last three days of music have been brilliant as we cruised through the Atlantic on our way to Blues Heaven. Once again a few cruisers and musicians, as well as our contributors Adam and Beardo, and our publisher Chip Eagle will share their experiences so far. We are all a bit cloudy with a magnificent sensory overload of Blues songs and images filling our heads, but one thing is certain...this is the ultimate Blues adventure. Enjoy and be sure to check out the great photos from Joe Rosen on the PHOTO PAGE. If you can't be here, go squint at Joe's photos and drink a pina colada, you just might be able to pretend you are here with us. But you won't be. And you should be.
 
The stories...

The Blues is a great tribe to belong to and the meetings are excellent. This just might be the coolest gathering of music fans anywhere. It's all about the music, the people, and being together. Some of us aren't quite as together as others. As I told some virgins (first-time cruisers) last night, if you don't see the wrong side of dawn at least once on the cruise you are not in the groove. And, yes, when you do you can find the music there. Some days it just never stops. Highlights of the last day: Another smoking Rockabilly, Country, Boogie-Woogie set from Commander Cody. He is not simply some burn out from the Sixties, he's a burnout from now, with a great band, a fistful of cleverly evil songs, and a whole lot of boogie soul.

The Phantom Blues Band followed him in the Vista Lounge. The boys brought out a friend to sing a little bit, the daughter of the great Johnny Taylor, Tasha Taylor. She's beautiful, sassy and talented. Watch for the Phantom's next disc and hope that Taylor is on it. Right now go get their new one so you can crank it up on the way to work and get about one tenth of what it was like to dig their fun show last night. The all-night jam was just that and I was true to my word and celebrated the dawn with tequila on the back deck and breakfast was being served when I finally headed to the cabin with a big smile on my face. When you hit the walls on the boat, just remember, it's the motion of the ocean. It's not you.
 
We are pulling into St. Thomas and it is truly gorgeous. Words escape my grasp to describe how truly beautiful is the vista that greets the Big Blue Boat. There are a couple of great parties onshore. Mitch Woods is going to be playing in St. Thomas and Joey Gilmore is playing over in St. John. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Then it's back on the ship for more Bluesin' on the high seas. You are missed. Join us. It doesn't suck.

Chip Eagle
Publisher
 

The Virgin Welcome Party...Time To Get Laid!
Photo by Joe Rosen | www.josepharosen.com

Monday's first realization was a broken promise to ease myself into the physical abuse until later in the week. Yeah, well...somebody has to do it. Stopping at the Big Room (the Vista Lounge in the bow of the ship) to hear "Artist Spotlight: Women Guitars" and the Blues of Sue Foley (who, while on the cruise, was awarded Canada's highest Blues honor, the Maple Blues Award for guitar player of the year, reinforcing her hold on more Maples than anyone. Ever.), Ruthie Foster, and living legend Beverly "Guitar" Watson was a treat as they each played a tune or two while sharing some background on themselves and then fielding questions from the audience.

Next was my first Watermelon Slim experience with his fabulous band The Workers. Joining the fun was temporary laborer Jimbo Mathus supplying the Mississippi funk factor. It was a great set that will be reviewed in these pages at a later date. Reigning International Blues Competition winner Joey Gilmore provided a soulful set with added support from Tommy Castro's horn section and spirited tambourine accented by flambé dance moves by cruise fixture, Shumat.
 
Later that night Rick Estrin and Kim Wilson gave an impromptu clinic on harmonica duets 101. That's pretty much all I remember.
 
Today Sue Foley and JW Jones tore it a new one on the pool deck, more later on that too. Tuesday is still young at this writing as it is only 9:00 p.m. I'm looking forward to interviews that were completed this afternoon with Sue Foley and Tommy Castro with more to come. Gotta go, Leon Blue is in the piano lounge, Commander Cody...yes, that Commander Cody, The Phantom Blues Band, and the late Jam hosted by Deanna Bogart. See, I told you the day is young.
 
Havin' a blast, er...um, I mean workin' real hard for you BluesWax subscribers...should have been here!
 
News flash! (12 hours later)  still Tuesday:
 
Michael Burks hurt me sooo bad with the first two incendiary tunes I needed to take a break at the intimate Queens Lounge for semi-a capella Earl Thomas (just a quiet guitar backing) for a mostly unplugged and I mean microphone-free version of "I'd Rather Go Blind" as he strolled around the room. Properly calmed down and full of the spirit I ventured back to Michael Burks on the pool deck for two very long tunes with Ronnie Baker Brooks just cuttin' heads in a very gentlemanly manner. As their time was over, the emcee Scrap Iron politely asked them both to continue tomorrow. Brooks just shook his head and kept playing till a BIG, BIG finish that left everybody drained and smilin'. My personal photo archivist, and an excellent guitarist in his own right, Alan "Strat Devil" Howe said later that he thought it was impossible to get that Albert Collins sound without a capo, but Brooks did it effortlessly. We then asked Burks if he had lost about ten pounds during the two (torrid)- hour set. He replied, "I could stand it."
 
With dreams of meeting Howe for the late jam at 2:00 a.m. I made a fatal mistake...I closed my eyes for a minute...next thing I knew there were a pile of these on the floor next to the bed Wednesday morning...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
Beardo The Pirate
Senior Contributing Editor
 

Phantom Blues Band
Photo by Joe Rosen | www.josepharosen.com
 
Blues Cruise is a floating house party! Cruise on and pass the antiseptic!
Jimbo Mathus
Clarksdale, Mississippi
 
"I'm having a ball. You can't make this stuff up!"
Joe Rosen
Contributing Photographer and Official LRBC Photographer
 
 
We've reached the point on the cruise, somewhat before halfway, when the buzz begins to build and the artists become attractions of the "gotta see them" variety.
 
It seems that everyone so far has brought their "A" game to the pool deck stage. When Sue Foley and JW Jones played the Vista lounge on Monday they seemed to be still finding their groove. By the time this afternoon's set on the pool deck rolled around both seemed to draw energy from the hypnotically warm breeze and delivered dynamite performances.
 
One of the biggest buzz-builders came when Mitch Woods brought his Big Easy Boogie bunch to the Vista Lounge for their classic New Orleans style boogie-woogie revue. Backed by a band of long-time Fats Domino sidemen who have long prospected that Big Easy groove, Woods can leave no dance floor unpacked. It will be a special treat to catch them on land later in the week.
 
On shore today at Grand Turks, Lil' Ed and his Blues Imperials brought Chicago to Margaritaville bar, proving the Blues can still knock you out in the middle of scorching broad daylight. Ronnie Baker Brooks made his first appearance onstage, performing a couple of shuffles with Lil' Ed. A lot of people are looking for Brooks to step up at tonight's pro-jam hosted by his tour-mate on the upcoming Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue tour, Deanna Bogart.
 
Adam Harris
Contributing Editor
 
 
"Never been on a boat 1/10th this size before this time. This cruise is great. I am tickled so pink I'm almost purple. We're feeling the crowds deeply. I've two standing room only rooms with encores. How much better can it get than coming to the Caribbean on a seven day cruise and getting paid for what you love to do!"
Watermelon Slim
Oklahoma
 

Taj Mahal Teaches The Cruisers How To Cook
Photo by Joe Rosen | www.josepharosen.com
 
"I think I'm tired, but I can't sleep til we get to port."
Cruiser Jerry T.
Northern California
 
 
Been a lot of fun. Did the Delbert McClinton cruise just last week so we're back on the same boat!
 
The first night here we got to host the jam, I can't remember who all was there though. Michael Burks and his drummer Popcorn, JW Jones came out to play. I ended up jamming til about three in the morning, it started to rain then when some other bass players, Pookie from Lil'Ed's band came and it was raining so my relief players were a little bit late. But it's been goin'great. The next couple weeks we're touring with the Blues Revue with Deanna, Magic Dick, and Ronnie Baker Brooks, something we're looking forward to. I haven't been on any road gigs since I played with James Solberg, the four or five months I played with him in 2003.
 
"We'll get Monday and Tuesday off and the tour starts Wednesday in Tampa after the cruise. I'll get back to Des Moines [Sutherland's home] on February 4. Then it's back to business as usual, hosting the jams at Blues on Grand."
Scot Sutherland
Bass player with Tommy Castro
 
"The jams are what this cruise is all about. I won't miss any of them!"
Cruiser Mary P.
Minnesota
 
"This is a good one, everyone is enjoying themselves. Buckwheat was great. It's good for the crew and everyone is enjoying it. By the time we finish we're going to have to put in a new piano."
Captain Peter Harris
Hometown, the White Cliffs of Dover in England
 
 
Just a few long days left of the greatest musical adventure on Earth. If you are debating on whether to take the plunge and purchase your tickets for 2008, do it now. There is a reason this cruise is sold out so quickly; it is simply the greatest Blues experience on Earth, period. See you next week, it's time for a margarita on the beach...we'll all raise our glasses to you and look forward to seeing you on the boat next year.