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Somebody once said, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and this saying was clever for a minute or two. Now it’s overused in commercial and movies, because the point has been made, but the truth is, sometimes things go on in tourist destinations that are best left at the destination. If you don’t, there might be trouble. We presented successful music festivals at sea for twenty years, and these festivals were tourist destinations. One thing that made our events so successful was the musicians were always eager to take part. It gave them a week or two on a luxurious ship, the work schedule was modest, the pay was good and they could bring someone to share their stateroom. As often as not it was a wife or husband. Sometimes it was a relative or child. In some instances we asked no questions and the passenger lists were never released to the general public. In December 1996 we put together a terrific lineup for the annual sailing of canada pharmacy review. Ten great acts, headlined by Koko Taylor, Gatemouth Brown and Son Seals, were onboard. Everyone performed up to the standards expected and Son Seals was even better than that. I had his CDs but had never heard him live and he didn’t disappoint. On December 18th we’d called at St. Marteen, had a good day and Son was scheduled to perform that night in the North Cape Lounge, his final performance of the week. I was there for the 10:45 set, took a few photographs, and when it was over, Son packed up his guitar and I walked him back to his stateroom. Instead of walking through the inside hallways, we decided to avoid the crowds and walk outside on Oslo Deck. At one point I asked him to slow down and I took a photograph of him with his guitar case. I ducked inside and went back to another venue; he went to his cabin. I don’t remember if he was with anyone on board, but I later learned that the next day Son took the tender into St. Thomas, visited a jewelry store, bought a piece of jewelry that he later presented to someone who was not his wife, and had the misfortune of having the receipt discovered by someone who was. His wife was not pleased when she found the receipt, asked no questions, and simply shot Son in the face with a small caliber handgun at close range. Not once, but twice. Miraculously, Son survived. It took some while for him to recover, a recovery that was not helped by advancing diabetes. Nonetheless, he was back onboard for The Blues Cruise in December 1998. His beard was somewhat fuller than two years earlier, perhaps to hide the scars from the bullets. He was just as good as ever, maybe even better because now he could sing “My Wife Caught Me Messin’ Around and Shot Me in the Face But I Love Her Just the Same Blues.” My guess is, however, he stayed out of the jewelry stores in St. Thomas. |
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Son Seals, The Blues Cruise, At Sea Aboard the S/S Norway, December 17, 1996