Untitled Document

review: Heidi Knochenhauer
photo ©Benton Seal

comments: mail

Jason Ricci & New Blood - kicked some serious butt! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING musicians. Jason's harmonica playing heightened my level of appreciation of the harmonica. Jason uses a unique variety of distorted effects for the harmonica. I haven't a clue as to what all the effects are but the sounds are mind blowing.

He's truly a gifted song writer too. He's a beautiful person with such positive energy for the life he leads. Jason's definitely got some serious blues and taking the music to a new level. I've never seen anything like this show before. Stunning performance and all band members are easy on the eyes too! ;-)

The bass player "Buck Weed" brought his sousaphone on the boat and played in the piano bar a few nights in a bass duo with Scott Ambush - AWESOME AWESOME experience for all of us.

The entire Neal Family - Kenny, Syreeta, Darlene, Charline, Frederick, Tyree, Kenny Jr, Darnell and Bryan Morris - INCREDIBLE!!!!! Most amazing musical family dynamics I had EVER seen!! This family is AAAAAWWWWESOME!~ All very talented on all instruments. Tyree is Kenny's nephew who is multi-talented w/ all instruments at the age of 25 and singing and playing like his grandfather. He's very gifted. The best times in the piano bar was- Frederick on keyboards - Darnell on bass - Kenny Jr on drums along with Bryan and Tyree sitting in where ever playing and singing. Awesome times! I hope to see this stellar musical family on next years cruise! This family has great genes, amazing temperament types and very musically inclined!!! Love all of um!!

Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks - Always my local favorite here in the south - good to see them on the boat playing real nice, even if the bass player was slightly green while playing at the pool deck the second day at sea, but Heather quickly recovered for later performances. "Shoot that thing" will always live on..

Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band - Awesome, as always. Especially Mike Finnigan on keyboards. Seeing only the Phantom Blues Band play was a beautiful thing too. (Mike's really funny too.) But his singing..his voice..his playing... truly in-f'ing-credible!!! Absolutely LOOOVE HIM!!! But I can say, I really missed the tuba players this year.. especially Howard Johnson.. Maybe they'll be back next year!! TUBA TUBA TUBA!!!

Joe Louis Walker- Rocked the blues very well. Especially on the beach on Half Moon Cay. As well as in the pro jams after midnight. He's amazing as well as his entire band - Kevin Burton, Linwood Taylor jr, Henry Oden and Jeffrey Minnieweather.

Tab Benoit & The Swamp Band Jam - HOLY MOTHER OF GOD..... saw all three performances and man do these boys get you to dance! I think this is where my ear drums were blown by dancing waaaaay to close to a few amps on the pool deck stage.... but loved every minute of it, even without damage control. Chief Monk Boudreaux wearing the indian head gear w/ the feathers horizontal from the 20 knot winds (ore more) was awesome. The music played to the speed of the wind... REAL FAST and fabulous!! :-D Jumping Johnny Sansone on harmonica and accordian was a beautiful thing. Johnny wore his flip flops and wobbled w/ the sway of the boat w/out missing anything. Good times!!! Cyril Neville on the percussion was awesome and his singing was soooo beautiful, smooth and soulful. Love him! Mike Zito, who had never heard before, was a real treat and nice surprise. Excellent voice and guitar playing. He fits well with the swamp band. Corey Deplechin on bass guitar and Douglas Gay on Drums were AMAAZZZING. The beat was quick, fast, keeps you dancing even in your sleep!! All in all this was truly a very Tabalicious experience!!!

THE LEGENDARY RHYTHM & BLUES CRUISE JANUARY 23-30 @ Caribbean website
	review: Heidi Knochenhauer photo ©Benton Seal comments: mail
CONCERT REVIEW
After a blues cruise I think...nothing can top this experience.... then the following years blues cruise blows mind, again! The musical experience is well worth every penny spent. The blues cruisin' family is beautiful thing too! Always love to meet new bluesers along the way!!! After the passing of one of my amazing blues buddies this past October, Dennis Brooks, my motto became WWDD - What Would Dennis Do? Well, I do know for a fact that Dennis would stay up allllll night long and never miss ANY of the music happening where ever he was in the world. My mission on the boat was.. HEAR AS MUCH MUSIC AS I CAN....DANCE ------>DANCE---> and continue to DANCE....AND STAY UP ALL NIGHT LONG! ---->Mission accomplished. I danced at least 18 hours a day for 7 days!!! Seriously, you can sleep when you get home or when you're dead! ha! The highlights of my blues cruise musical experience were the jam sessions after midnight on the pool deck stage, then down to the piano bar 'til the weeee hours or until sunrise. Recap of my fav's and others from Blues Cruise 2010:
website my space music samples video CD review	Jason Ricci & New Blood - kicked some serious butt! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING musicians. Jason's harmonica playing heightened my level of appreciation of the harmonica. Jason uses a unique variety of distorted effects for the harmonica. I haven't a clue as to what all the effects are but the sounds are mind blowing. He's truly a gifted song writer too. He's a beautiful person with such positive energy for the life he leads. Jason's definitely got some serious blues and taking the music to a new level. I've never seen anything like this show before. Stunning performance and all band members are easy on the eyes too! ;-) The bass player "Buck Weed" brought his sousaphone on the boat and played in the piano bar a few nights in a bass duo with Scott Ambush - AWESOME AWESOME experience for all of us.
website video CD review	Guy Davis - always a favorite for his delta blues playing.
Curtis Salgado Big Band - and boy is this one big band..I think there were a total of 10 band members. Amazing experience. Saw all three shows on the boat and loved every minute. (Curtis' jokes are funny too.) Curtis' voice is strong, stunning and sexy. Amazing singing by LaRhonda Steele and Margaret Linn - beautiful women singing it loud and clear. Of course, the horns are always my favorite. Josh Fulero on guitar was incredible - Amazing playing and grooving - stellar performance. The best part of two band members on the boat was Dave Fleschner and Curtis in the piano bar one late night playing and singing. Realllly beautiful and good times for all! And of course to hold it together, Tracy Arrington on bass guitar and Russell Kleiner - f'ing incredible!!! This band big band was my favorite on the cruise - but of course I always love and appreciate Taj & the Phantom Blues band...so it's a tie. Johnny Winter- Is still alive - barely. - interesting experience - not much to say here.
JP Soars & The Red Hots - Winner of the 2009 IBC Band - they are HOT HOT HOT !!! What more can I say?? JP's voice is a deep delta smooth like sound...and his guitar playing is stellar. Fantastic band! Loved them playing at the King Biscuit Blues Festival (ABHF) too and hope to see them again real soon!		website my space music samples video CD review
Keb' Mo Band - oh my oh my oh my -deep sigh shiver- I saw all three shows and Keb' turned me into buttah. He's sooooooooooo smoooth. I prefer hearing/seeing him with a band rather than solo. The keyboard player Jeff Paris was INCREDIBLE and GIFTED! Jeff's singing and playing was beautiful. Jeff played the last night in the piano bar and what an experience! ALLL amazing musicians!!! I think I was hypnotized at each of Keb's performances. "I just want to dance" and "Shave Yo' Legs" are my new fav songs!!! Keb "dotted" my arm when I went to get his autograph. Dot soon to be permanent.
website my space CD review	The entire Neal Family - Kenny, Syreeta, Darlene, Charline, Frederick, Tyree, Kenny Jr, Darnell and Bryan Morris - INCREDIBLE!!!!! Most amazing musical family dynamics I had EVER seen!! This family is AAAAAWWWWESOME!~ All very talented on all instruments. Tyree is Kenny's nephew who is multi-talented w/ all instruments at the age of 25 and singing and playing like his grandfather. He's very gifted. The best times in the piano bar was- Frederick on keyboards - Darnell on bass - Kenny Jr on drums along with Bryan and Tyree sitting in where ever playing and singing. Awesome times! I hope to see this stellar musical family on next years cruise! This family has great genes, amazing temperament types and very musically inclined!!! Love all of um!!
	Tommy Castro Band - always a great staple for the cruise. Always dancing when they're playing. Ruthie Foster - Beautiful beautiful and even more beautiful. Ruthie, Tanya Richardson and Samantha bands are amaaaaazing! Loved grooving and dancing to these lovely beautiful women. Good times!
website my space music samples video CD review	Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks - Always my local favorite here in the south - good to see them on the boat playing real nice, even if the bass player was slightly green while playing at the pool deck the second day at sea, but Heather quickly recovered for later performances. "Shoot that thing" will always live on..	website my space video CD review


website my space CD review	Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band - Awesome, as always. Especially Mike Finnigan on keyboards. Seeing only the Phantom Blues Band play was a beautiful thing too. (Mike's really funny too.) But his singing..his voice..his playing... truly in-f'ing-credible!!! Absolutely LOOOVE HIM!!! But I can say, I really missed the tuba players this year.. especially Howard Johnson.. Maybe they'll be back next year!! TUBA TUBA TUBA!!! Joe Louis Walker- Rocked the blues very well. Especially on the beach on Half Moon Cay. As well as in the pro jams after midnight. He's amazing as well as his entire band - Kevin Burton, Linwood Taylor jr, Henry Oden and Jeffrey Minnieweather.	website my space music samples video CD review

website CD review	Tab Benoit & The Swamp Band Jam - HOLY MOTHER OF GOD..... saw all three performances and man do these boys get you to dance! I think this is where my ear drums were blown by dancing waaaaay to close to a few amps on the pool deck stage.... but loved every minute of it, even without damage control. Chief Monk Boudreaux wearing the indian head gear w/ the feathers horizontal from the 20 knot winds (ore more) was awesome. The music played to the speed of the wind... REAL FAST and fabulous!! :-D Jumping Johnny Sansone on harmonica and accordian was a beautiful thing. Johnny wore his flip flops and wobbled w/ the sway of the boat w/out missing anything. Good times!!! Cyril Neville on the percussion was awesome and his singing was soooo beautiful, smooth and soulful. Love him! Mike Zito, who had never heard before, was a real treat and nice surprise. Excellent voice and guitar playing. He fits well with the swamp band. Corey Deplechin on bass guitar and Douglas Gay on Drums were AMAAZZZING. The beat was quick, fast, keeps you dancing even in your sleep!! All in all this was truly a very Tabalicious experience!!!
Theodis Ealey - WOW! Good times for dancing and laughing w/ the humor of song lyrics - Makes you blush at times. Trampled Under Foot - Always a pleasure to see and hear. Great family and happy to see other band members from the boat step up to play bass after Danielle was airlifted off the boat for surgery. Amazing family dynamics- and Samantha Fish - HOLY COW - She played guitar and sang w/ the best of 'um. Not sure who she is, yet, but played amazingly well and blew me off the boat with her soulful singing. She's hot hot hot!!!		website my space CD review
Special Guests on Boat: Todd Sharpville - stunning voice - beautiful guitar playing - such great energy and played well in the piano bar late into the evening too. Billy Gibson - always a local favorite of mine and good to see him back on the boat. Excellent entertainer and such good vibes!!
website my space music samples video CD review	Dave Fields - Such a sweet musician - great guitar playing at all times and meshed well in the pro jams with others. Nick Moss- WOW - WOW- HOLY COW - truly amazing musician - Loved it when Jason Ricci and Nick played at the pool deck pro jam together. Both played amazingly well together. Good times for all!!!	website my space music samples video CD review
Piano bar fav's: Eden Brent - WOW WOW WOW.. she gives all women more energy and spirit - and such a sassy lovely woman! A very powerful highly spirited women. Eden's piano bar experience was mind blowing. Beautiful woman singing and telling it like it is! Good times for all!!! Scottie "Bones" Miller - Amazing time. excellent and love his singing!! Jeff Paris - WOW - as I stated his talents above - Jeff is amazing- I was able to hear Jeff play on a piano on the third flour of the ship with just himself and what a beautiful serene experience. Stunning voice..and absolutely LOVE his hair!!! Dave Fleschner - AWESOME, happy, great energy in the piano bar and on stage playing. Dave and Frederick were keeping it alive all through the night until sunrise in the piano bar. Very lively and keeps you dancing through the weeee hours for sunrise and breakfast. Very good times! He's quite a character too! Frederick Neal - FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!! His happy nature is such a wonderful Neal family trait. Frederick took the piano bar to a whole NEW level. MIND BLOWING. Darnell on bass and Frederick on piano singing and playing was an experience like no other. The Neal Family is, as I said before, truly gifted and talented more than any musical family i've experienced. I'm speechless after hearing/seeing them....well sorta. As always, I signed up for next year's blues cruise before departing the ship. I'm addicted!! Nevertheless, THE best part of the blues cruise is hanging, dancing, grooving, laughing hysterically out of control, taking the stairs (except if it's passed 3 am it's elevator time) and having an amazing time w/ my Pixies - Janet, Ellen and Jeannine -The best cabin roomies and friends, EVER!!!! Ellen, as always, entertains us w/ her beautiful voice, guitar and harmonica playing on the lanai/cabin. There's NEVER a dull moment with Heidi Ho and The Pixies. The band lives on!! And, my cheekbones hurt from laughing and smiling soo much.. And Wig night will always be my favorite!!!! HA! Everyone should experience the blues cruise at least once in their lifetime - and I betcha you too will be addicted and come year after year!!! It'll blow your mind. All good times!!! "And if you do sign up on the blues cruise, use my name as a referral. I'll buy you a drink on the cruise!" -Heidi Knochenhauer ; Memphis, Tn - and...