Songs of the
sea
Web
Posted: 07/25/2004 12:00 AM CDT
ABOARD
THE CELEBRATION — Something spooky started a few lyrics into
"Seasick," Larry Joe Taylor's first song of the evening. The nightclub
— the whole dang thing — began swaying to the beat.
Or
did it?
An
experiment proved Taylor's message was more than subliminal.
I
placed my margarita on the table. The lime-green liquid tipped from side to
side, almost spilling over the salty rim.
|
|
||
|
The nightclub was
moving, and the tongue-in-cheek tune ("Oh, I got seasick/ It happened so
quick") helped transform a sell-out crowd of 220 virtual strangers into
fast friends on a five-day, music-themed party package aboard Carnival Cruise
Line's Celebration as it began its journey from Galveston to Mexico's Cozumel
and Calica.
Outside,
there were no pickups, no asphalt parking lot, just a dome of glittering stars,
a sweet sea breeze and gentle swells that rolled to the adventures waiting
beyond the dark horizon. Inside, The Island in the Sky Lounge was devoid of the
trademark of Taylor's usual venues — sawdust on a honky-tonk dance floor.
There was a hint of neon light, but that was for accent, not a glaring ad for
beer.
Taylor
billed it as his "Fourth Annual Coastin' & Cruisin'" outing.
But
that's too modest a title for an excursion featuring six of the top singers and
songwriters on the Texas and Nashville scenes swapping songs, telling jokes and
enjoying themselves just as much as the fans who came from across Texas and as
far away as Illinois and Virginia.
"It's
the most fun thing we do every year," Taylor said. "We play three of
the five days, and nobody who gets drunk has to drive home."
Theme
cruises featuring authors or chefs and package discounts are nothing new. Music
cruises with rock, gospel, soul and Grand Ole Opry members have been sailing for
a couple of decades.
"They
offer a cruise with much more value to the fans, as well as the artists,"
said Cherie Weinstein, Carnival's Miami-based vice president of groups.
"It's a great opportunity for artists and fans to have an up-close and
personal feeling, and it makes the cruise experience that much more
enjoyable."
The
new twist to music voyages is the number of Texas artists jumping aboard in the
wake of cruise lines sailing from the Port of Galveston.
Taylor,
one of more than a dozen Texans who have conducted music cruises, may be the
most qualified to lead a sand and sun adventure.
A
Beach Boys fan growing up, he turned to country music for fun and profit as an
adult. "One day, I thought, Texas doesn't have any beach music,"
Taylor said. "So I wrote a couple of songs as a novelty. Then I wanted a
couple more and started spending a lot of time at the coast doing research. I
fell in love with it, and what started out as a lark became a fanatical
passion."
About
a decade later, Taylor's songs fill five albums, ranging from the whimsical fun
of "Queen of the Redneck Riviera" and the honky-tonk dance tune
"Two Steppin' on the Beach" to a serious study of those who make their
living at sea with "Shrimpin' and Skrimpin'."
Along
the way, he single-handedly created a genre of music that he dubbed
"coastal and Western." When people tell him he's "the Jimmy
Buffet of Texas," he usually responds that he's "just the Don Ho of
Port Aransas."
Indeed,
he's a regular at such Port A hangouts as The Back Porch, Shorty's and the Third
Coast Theater, and is planning his seventh annual Island Time Festival on Labor
Day weekend.
Adding
a cruise to the mix was a natural.
"I
try to limit it to no more than 250 people so we can hang out with
everybody," Taylor said. "That way we can all fit in the lounge and
get to know each other — plus we have about one entertainer for every 50
people."
Taylor
has two rules for picking artists for the cruises — they have to be good, and
they have to be good friends.
As
the ship plied the Gulf of Mexico on this trip, for example, relentless ribbing
followed Richard Leigh's introduction of each of his songs, which he invariably
related as a hit for Reba McEntire, Crystal Gayle or the Dixie Chicks. That's
because his songs include McEntire's "The Only Man (I Never Knew,)"
Gayle's "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue" and the Chicks'
"Cold Day in July," among other tunes for Martina McBride, Tammy
Wynette, Conway Twitty, Don Williams and scores more.
Joining
the gibing was Keith Sykes, who once played lead guitar in Jimmy Buffett's band
and wrote for the likes of Buffett, The Judds, John Prine, Roseanne Cash, Jerry
Jeff Walker and Rodney Crowell.
Texas
legend Steven Fromholz, who established himself on the outlaw country scene in
the 1970s as one of the most respected songwriters around, told stories, cracked
jokes and showed he's rocketing down the road to recovery from a stroke last
year.
Others
on the boat were Mike McClure, former lead singer for the Oklahoma band The
Great Divide who struck out on his own last year with his country rock-tinged
songs and acclaimed lyrics; and Davin James, a Mississippi-bred, Houston-based
singer/songwriter steeped in country, blues and Southern rock.
Fans
setting sail with them ranged from twentysomethings to grandpas; from college
students to airline pilots; and from a systems analyst for the Department of
Defense to aging hippies. Attire was just as eclectic — cowboy hats, Hawaiian
shirts, Bermuda shorts, boots and sandals.
Many
are loyal fans who have been on every one of Taylor's four Coastin' and Cruisin'
trips. Some barely knew of him, such as Christine Saalbach, who works at the
personnel center at Randolph AFB.
"Making
friends is a lot easier," Saalbach said of the cruise. She brought her
daughter, Maggie Martin, 23, a technician at Animal Health Associates. "On
the other cruises, the only time you were with the same people was at dinner.
But when you're all in the same room, you all know you like the same music. And
seeing people later, there's no lack of a launching point for a
conversation."
Thomas
Cochran, 25, a college student from Fort Worth, got to play guitar and sing with
the artists in one of their rooms after a show. "I've been on other cruises
before, and this is more fun than any other — and it's the shortest,"
Cochran said. "It's the music, the people you meet, the camaraderie.
Artists
also found rewards.
"I've
never had people be so quiet and attentive before," said Leigh, who was
making his first cruise. "Must be something about Texans and their love of
music."
McClure
appreciated the fact that he could mingle with fans over several days on and off
the ship instead of playing one night and hitting the highway. "They are
super nice and go out of their way to be nice to you," McClure said.
"I only had to work a little bit, if you call it that — drinking beer and
singing three or four songs a night. It's like being on vacation with a couple
hundred friends."
And
the destination stops at ports such as Cozumel appealed to the artists as much
as the passengers. McClure went snorkeling with his wife, Scotie.
Taylor
liked the simplicity of a beach with no electricity and just a scattering of
people at the palapa bars.
"Sometimes
it feels like my whole life is a vacation," Taylor said. "And as long
as that's the case, I'll be happy."
jgoodspeed@express-news.net