Dry docked and landlocked' cruises available virtually
December 2020 Page 5 By Kathy Rankin This is about the cruise that wasnt. The theme will be dry docked and landlocked! But it is happening now virtually where you can go, sit back and enjoy the cruise at home. Follow the advice of Mitch Woods, who hosts the nightly piano bar jams Mitch Woods & Club 88, where there are dueling pianos, and many legendary artists that show up in the wee wee hours to play music. Woods' advice is take a journey in your mind and imagine you are on a ship in the middle of the Caribbean sea, pour a cool drink and imagine you are on the cruise! Woods Will entertain you performing such songs as Solid Gold Cadillac or songs by the great Professor Longhair. Other piano bar hosts include the great Reverend Willy C. Wirths, who also hosts the Driftin' and Drifitin' videos that you can still watch on Facebook or You- Tube, Cant Stop the Blues series. He interviews the many artists on this cruise in this special addition Making everything more up close and person- al. Wirths resides in Florida and is a comedian encouraging audience par- ticipation and is a hoot! If you need to laugh, he is the go to musician on the ship. He is highly recommended! This writer has very fond memories of an excursion with Mitch Woods in Dominica, where this writer was literally freaking out because there they drive on the wrong side of the road and their steering wheel is on the right side. He said: "You must not be very well trav- elled." That actually was this writer's irst experience and am sure it won't be the last! It will just take some getting used to. Woods records stuffwhen he travels and he has his videos on YouTube travelling all over the world. https://mitchwoods.com/ Woods also hosts a virtual Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in the video's below from his own living room! The 2020 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise planned for October 24-31, 2020 Southern Caribbean Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise has been rescheduled to Oct. 24-31, 2021 (Same ship and same Itinerary. Sailing roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale to Aruba, Curacao and Half Moon Cay aboard Holland Americas ms. Eurodam). And also the January 2021 Eastern Caribbean Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise sas been rescheduled to Jan. 29~Feb. 5, 2022 aboard Holland Americas NEW SHIP the Ms. Ryndam. (Same Itinerary: Sailing roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale to Tortola, St. Thomas and Turks & Caicos.) The Krew at LRBC put together high- lights of the cruise per day (from inter- views, clips from the artist performances at home, older clips from previous perfor- mances on the LRBC and other venues to showcase their talent! The cruise that wasn't leaves many cruisers bro- ken-hearted, sitting at home just wishing they could be back on board; but they will be at home celebrating past cruises and saying I remember! The LRBC Krewe put together some amazing clips into a weekly presentation for about two hours from 3 to 5 pm on YouTube enti- tled "Dry Docked And Landlocked" and on Facebooks Cant Stop the Blues where people would watch it live at those times and of course, replayed af- terwards; so the videos are still archived and you can watch anytime! The show will be at the same time that the cruise wouldve happened. So each day, it will be the day that was planned for the cruisers, including the attire they wore, because each day there is some- thing different planned. The costumed dress-ups are something everyone looks forward to and of course, just being to- gether and celebrating the music. Each video link to performances and inter- views will be included with a highlight of the day and then, when you finish read- ing this article, you can go and see for yourself. There are seven total links for each day and about 15 hours of video. So sit back, pour a cold drink and enjoy the cruise that wasnt! The blues is the truth and you have a backstage pass! There are the following parties: The Sail Away Party, The Vir- gin's Party, (first time cruisers ONLY), The Returnee Party, Give Me Back My Wig, Carnival, Day Four Pirates Day, Legendary Gear Day (where everyone wears their legendary LRBC clothing, etc) and Lobster Night! The last day of the cruise, Day 7 was Halloween and it is spooky! There is time in the video for you to make yourself a drink with their spe- cial drink recipe! The recipe is called the Monster Mash. It is hard sometimes to recognize your friends when they are dressed in costume, so be sure to watch closely in the videos as you may see someone you know! This writer must add that while on the cruise, there are also autograph signings where you can get your LRBC merchan- dise, CDs from the artists, and other memorabilia signed by all the artists. They have you line up and walk through the aisles, meet and greet with the artists and in the photo is this writer with an autographed blanket signed by Coco Montoya. In addition, the cruises also feature artist workshops, songwriters workshops, live auctions, fundraisers, photography workshops and many more events. There is so much to do, but there is also a warning: Do not try to do everything or be everywhere, there is such a thing as sleep! Yeah, we all know sleep IS overrated on this cruise, you can always sleep when you get home! Ask the President of the Wash- ington Blues Society, as he is a regular cruiser and is seen toasting Randy Oxford in the photo. He takes the Blue Letters onboard to keep the blues in Washington alive. Great job, Tony! Cruisers are also encouraged to decorate their door. When this writer went on the cruise, they even had door contests for the best door decorations. Plus, it is an advantage to decorate your door, as one cruise says you will know for sure which cabin is yours when you stumble back in the wee wee hours of the morning to your cabin! In addition to all of this, there is more! Yes, when this writer went on the cruise, the excursions became a highlight, where many were offered with the artists! In the video links below, there were even culinary classes on the ship with Terrence Simien. Be sure to check it out and write down the recipe for the best gumbo. He says he also takes this culinary experience on the road around the country. If you have ever been on this LRBC cruise, these events are simply fabulous and you never know what to expect but it makes for interesting photos. If you have been on the cruise, be sure to see if you can find yourself in the videos at the end of this article and be sure to check out the icial photographer Joseph Rosen's photos and while you are at it, be sure to purchase his book called Blues Hands, which features many of the artists seen on the cruise! www.josephrosen.com. The cruise is about a special con- nection with each other, the music, the food, the sights like no other, visiting islands and great music. The artists love that connection with their friends, fellow musicians and audience. They are on the ship for the entire cruise and many amazing jams have occurred on the Lido deck that you cannot see anywhere else. But now, you can! Be sure to visit all six links to take a virtual cruise and feel like you went. The six links are below. As the cruisers all say, Our ship kicks ass and it is great to be us! Here are some of the quotes from the artists that played on the ship and their favorite memories. There are hundreds of artists that have played on this cruise in the three decades they have been doing this. Danielle Nicole: She says her favor- ite memory is When Victor Wainwright and I sang the Etta James song Id Rather Go Blind. The emotions ran deep and it was felt by the entire audi- ence; their voices carried throughout the theater and time stood still. It was that good. Nicolle goes on to say that her other favorite memory was performing Wang Dang Doodle with the Women in Blues Revue at the Re- turnee Party (as pictured in the photo above). L to R:: DeAnna Bogart, Sa- mantha Fish, Susan Tedeschi, Ruthie Foster, Sista Monica Parker, Danielle Nicole, and Ana Popavic. I love the blues cruise and everyone, because where else can you have all these amazing artists on one stage at the same time? I cant wait to sail again! One of the other great memories this writer has is Elvin Bishop and Mickey Thomas performing Fooled Around and Fell In Love. (The photo is above). It was a moment this writer had to say was a true pinch-me moment. Thomas still can reach the high notes and Bish- op sounds as great as ever.Tthe cruis- ers really enjoyed this performance and it was a highlight of the cruise. Elvin Bishop says, The cruisers and the people that run the cruise are really cool, they are fun to be around. It is fun for us artists because we get to spend time with the musicians we admire and, besides that, you can have dessert at 3 am and not gain any weight as long as you use the stairs! You won't gain weight but you will actually lose weight if you stay up late for the late-night jams on the Lido Deck with Tommy Castro and the Painkillers. That is, you won't feel no pain! He hosts this jam as he did on Sunday nights in his hometown of San Jose at the Legendary JJ's Blues Club. However, on this cruise it is even more legendary since all the artists that play on the ship will come to the stage where the late night jams and line up to play so you just never know who will be there! It is an amazing thing that you can see legendary artists on a cruise like this all week long, so they are not go- ing anywhere! It is the rare opportunity to see artists play with other artists that you normally would never get the chance to see. This writer attended many late night jams on the Lido Deck, unless it got too windy and it was brought inside. Other memorable jams are at the Crows Nest, where Randy Oxford hosted his jam sessions and people loved to gather around waiting for those jams to begin, since again, you never really knew who would show up. This writer's favorite memory of the jams was when there were 15 horn players and eight guitar players on the Lido Deck all at the same time; it was amazing. It makes it hard to sleep with all that adrenalin pumping! Tab Benoit shared many never-forgotten moments on the ship, playing guitar on all the stages, with his band and jamming with other artists, such as Chubby Carrier. Their Louisiana swamp brought every- one into a big sweat! This writer doesn't remember dancing as much as that night. Do you remember that? Tab Ben- oit also even hosted a "Bingo Night" where you could win big! Johnny Rawls is featured in the vid- eo links below performing from his own backyard in Mississippi. Because of the pandemic, some of the artists are sharing their music via personal record- ings, besides video clips from other places and the blues cruise. Here is what Rawls has to say about the Leg- endary Rhythm & Blues Cruise: It is cool, the best food, music, weather and you can mingle with blues artists from all over the world; so be sure to sign up next time, because I love to see all of my fans, musician friends all come together from all over the world. Rawls performs Stormy Monday, I am in Love, Start All Over Again; You cant help but be in love with his voice as he sings these blues songs. You will feel better after hearing him.Be sure to check him out in the video links below! Shemakia Copeland belted out her original song We Aint Got Time for Hate. Her video was provided from her own home with Ronnie Baker Brooks (also in photo above) accompanying her on vocals and guitar. Emotions ran deep on this song for both of them, as they teared up. The other song she sang was Clotida (a heartfelt song about slavery, still living with a ghost in the lyrics. This song is powerfully moving. (The schooner Clotilda was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring cap- tives from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay, in autumn 1859 or July 9, 1860, with 110-160 slaves). It is part of a very sad history and the video is included in the links below. Copeland says, I miss you all, playing music and I cant wait to be with you all again. I want to give you all a big hug! Another very moving performance was Marquis Knox performing I know the Blues. It was filmed in Europe in front of a live audience and he sings about slavery and the and makes a powerful message to the European audience (with sweat on his brow). After the Continued on Page 6
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