Almost before we got off the ship, I had one of those “How are we doing” questionnaires from Cunard. One of the questions they asked was did they create a “sense of occasion” on the crossing? That’s an unqualified “yes”
The whole crossing gave me a sense of occasion. I enjoyed the lectures on espionage from a former British Intelligence agent; they were on a par with Holland America. But where Cunard really excelled was in entertainment.
Holland America is known for its music walk with Classical, Rock, Pop, and Blues but the variety of music on this Cunard crossing was more to my lining. The crossing featured two Irish folk singers, Aileen and Sticks, who led Irish sing alongs (they called them “sing songs”). It’s somehow gratifying to see all these English passengers diving into Irish folk songs with gusto. They also held 1960s Greenwich Village sessions singing songs by Baez, Dylan, Paxton, Seeger, Guthrie and the Mayor of McDougal Street, Dave Van Ronk. There were sessions featuring songs by British Folk icons. All of these sessions grew good crowds with lots of participation. HAL might do well to look at folk and Irish. It appeals to their core demographic.
There was also a duo, Amathyst, featuring a 22 string guitar. The player had it made to his design by the Luthier for Jethro Tull. It has three sets of six strings. On two of those sets he has added two extra base strings. He plays folk music but also used an electric instrument and played some rock. One of his most memorable sessions was “famous guitar riffs.” It included the usual ones; Satisfaction, Smoke on the Water and the Chuck Berry Riff that opens so many of his hits. But he also showed how Stairway to Heaven evolved from a 16th century lute riff and ran through JS Bach before coming out of Jimmy Page’s instrument.
For me, the most interesting was Les Paul’s on “How High the Moon,” He invented multitracking and used 22 tracks to create the record. He was lso a pioneer in developing the solid body electric guitar, convincing Gibson to build it. On how high the moon he recorded a track and played back at double speed to make it look like impossibly fast picking. Les Paul lived and had a studio in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where I grew up. Seeing it and hearing him as a kid it affected the rest of my life.
I love jazz. QE2 has a jazz club that includes the Vlad Zincenko Trio and four piece combos assembled from the Queen’s Room dance band. Between folk and jazz, I was in heaven. There was the Brevis String Trio that played “classical” music. I didn’t think the music was all that interesting. How many times can you listen to Pachelbel’s Canon or a string arrangement of the Beatles? There was also a harpist, piano, dances and production shows, an occasion for every occasion.
At one event the Captain had the Staff Captain lead the festivities. He confessed that he was nervous when he spoke with his young daughter before the event. She said “Don’t worry dad, they will applaud.” We laughed.
High tea was certainly an occasion on QM2. After we were seated the waiters marched in to live music and rhythmic clapping. Then came the traditional finger sandwiches, scones and finally sweets. We enjoyed tea twice on this crossing.
But for us drama was the highlight. We had a radio play performed on stage, a history of Cunard. We also saw a production of “Shellshocked” by Philip Stokes. The play debuted at Edinburgh Fringe and then played the Adelaide Fringe. We missed it when we were there so we were glad to see it. In the days after the performance there were three workshop sessions with the Producer, Richard Jordan, the playwright and the cast. In one of the sessions the director showed how to direct subtext and demonstrated, with the actors, how the same words on a page can create different meanings on the stage. My only wish was that after the workshops they would have presented the play again. It would have been a different experience.
