The Call of the Calliope

[HostDave]

By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development

The heart of American river cruising is our dedicated staff and crew. In my blog in the months ahead, I‘ll be profiling some of the people that make the American Queen tick and who have become quick favorites with our guests. Our Riverlorians interact frequently with our guests, interpreting the sights and sounds of the river during the course of the voyage and holding court in the Chart Room each day to chat one-on-one with guests and answer their questions about river culture, steamboat history and life on the mighty Mississippi.

Travis C. Vasconcelos is one of our Riverlorians and it seems more than fitting that he ended up aboard the American Queen as he was drawn to the river by the boat’s calliope, the steam-powered organ whose tunes can be heard up and down the river when a master is at the keyboard.

His love of the river began at the young age of 3, when he first remembers hearing the unique pied piper of the river. "I remember asking, what is that sound and being told that it's the showboat calliope calling people to the show", says Travis. The showboat Majestic was playing her calliope at the riverfront of Jeffersonville, IN back in 1967 when he first heard the call of the river.

After his first trip on the Belle of Louisville, a day steamer in Kentucky, Travis came to know the captain and the crew of the vessel and visited often to hear and play the calliope. He would record the calliope and practice what he heard. This lead to opportunities to meet other calliope players and crew members on many other boats like the Delta Queen, Mississippi Queen and Julia Belle Swain. All the while, he was absorbing the stories of the rivers from the men and women who had gone before him.

"I was very fortunate to have come to the rivers when I did, for I got to know and work with some of the last of the steamboaters from the end of the fabled steamboat age," says Travis. He didn't know it at the time, but the calliope had called him to the river with purpose.

In 1981 he assumed the position of calliopist aboard the Belle of Louisville in its namesake port where he branched out into many other fields aboard the boat. He worked as a deck hand, narrator, souvenir seller and later even as the public spokesperson for the vessel during his 14-year career with the historic Belle.

After an eight year hiatus, Travis came back to the rivers in 2003 as Riverlorian of the majestic Mississippi Queen. He would serve aboard her, the legendary Delta Queen and the grand American Queen over the next six years. "When overnight steamboating came to an end, I was lost," he told me. Writing articles, making appearances to give talks about river history, performing on calliopes, and visiting on the rivers filled his time. Like many of our crew, dreaming about returning to the rivers on a full-time basis has been an obsession for him.

In 2012 he made his return to his beloved rivers as Riverlorian on the biggest, most elegant steamboat ever built, the American Queen. Along with seasoned fellow Riverlorians Jerry Hay and Mary Charlton, he shares the duties of educating our guests as well as entertaining them with facts, fiction, anecdotes, and the true fun of the rivers. Not to mention a little calliope playing when time permits...for he has once again answered the calliope's call.