Legendary In The Media

FEELIN' BLUES
MARY HUHN ventures into the world of theme cruises
February 21, 2006

SHOW me something!" shouted Scrap Iron, the grand marshal of the Mardi Gras parade, to a female passenger. A modest show of flesh was awarded with a string of lobster-shaped plastic beads flung with an exuberance befitting Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

This parade, however, was on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise aboard the five-star Holland America Line's Westerdam, which sailed from Fort Lauderdale to the Western Caribbean last month.

Scrap Iron, sporting a red boa, big afro wig and velvet rainbow shirt, was the manager for the late Little Milton, to whom the cruise was dedicated after his death last year. The dining-room parade featured musicians including Taj Mahal's tuba players and horn players from Cajun bandleader Buckwheat Zydeco's group, who led the bedecked and beaded guests in "When the Saints Go Marching In." After midnight, following a costume contest, Buckwheat Zydeco fired up a Cajun-flavored dance party.

That was just one night.

The week-long cruise, with 20 artists onboard, featured more than 70 shows, both scheduled and spontaneous. They began afternoons around 4 p.m. on the deck and sometimes went until 8 a.m. (Mitch Woods' nightly piano-bar jam didn't begin until 2 a.m.). There's nothing like catching a Caribbean sunrise set with Taj Mahal.

During the day, passengers did the usual: lounged by the pool, shopped, hung out in the spa and casino, and went ashore. Stops included the Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Mexico and Belize - but for most, the ports were secondary. Here, music was the thing.

The cruise seemed to be as much fun for the musicians as it was for the passengers. Roger Naber, former owner of the famous Grand Emporium Blues Club in Kansas City and founder of the cruise five years ago, makes sure the performers are crowd-friendly and like to hang out.

More than 1,800 passengers were onboard, with nearly half of them returning blues-cruisers. Many decorated their stateroom doors with photos of their blues idols, inflatable guitars, garlands and beads. They also packed for the theme nights, which included Pirates of the Caribbean, Chitlin Soul Circuit and Come as Your Favorite Musician.

"Once you take the blues cruises, all other types of cruises are ruined for you," was a common refrain.

The blues on board was a wide range of music, including the solo acoustic stylings of John Hammond, Pinetop Perkins (who's 92 and once was Muddy Waters' piano player) and crooner Bobby "Blue" Bland. Then there were the lesser-knowns (except in blues circles), such as Ana Popovich, a Serbian electric blues guitarist and singer.

For some passengers, the cruise was like musical fantasy league, with professional/amateur jams where music-playing guests and performers mixed it up on stage. Others attended autograph parties and musician workshops.

In fact, the cruise was like any other blues festival - except there was room service, good wine and no mud (although there were some cloudy skies and rough seas). And it was pretty cool to cruise by Cuba (its coast in sight) and smoke an authentic Cuban cigar picked up in Jamaica while enjoying the music.

Some shows sprang up spontaneously. Leon Bloom, who used to play with Ike and Tina Turner, led the guests in the piano bar, and 21-year-old Slick Ballinger, the talk of the ship, announced his concerts by posting flyers by elevator doors.

Be warned, passengers can easily be led into an excess of cruising, boozing and bluesin'. If you want to catch up on your sleep, this cruise isn't for you - there's too much excitement in the air. But if you want to try your hands at some blues licks or run into your favorite guitarist at breakfast, get onboard.

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