Creedence Clearwater Revival and Tina Turner would be proud of Galen Huckins, skipper of The Channel Princess, a plucky little river boat that Galen dredged off the bottom of the Willamette River way up in Portland and piloted all the way down the Mississippi River to the Industrial Canal in New Orleans where it, and Galen, now reside.

Galen discovered the easy way that the song is right, “People on the river are happy to give.” People gave Galen interviews and free concerts which he and his co-pilots turned into a, nautical, fictionalized podcast. A kind of Huck Finn musical tribute to Studs Terkel with a dash of the podcast Serial thrown in.

Leanna Firstarai has a vaguely nautical lineage – her grandfather sailed here from Japan with the first ever shipment of silk to hit the US. If it ever existed, the vast fortune to be made in Japanese silk importing didn’t trickle down to the current generation, to such a sad degree that Leanna has been forced to work as a producer and presenter in public radio. Which is just as well as Grant managed to lose his glasses before this show and Leanna takes over like a pro.

Tarriona Ball aka Tank from Tank and the Bangas is one of New Orleans’ favorite live performers and one of Happy Hour’s happiest return guests. Today Tank brings along her drummer, Joshua Johnson, to whom she is not married and reportedly not even dating, but after a couple of drinks it’s uncertain which way is up.

Joshua is far and away the most erudite drummer ever to appear on Happy Hour and perhaps to play drums. Listen for his description of playing animal skins and listen even more carefully to his reference to, “As is the local custom.”

Andrew Duhon is on the road so Galen Huckins entertains with a selection from the musical Oliver, while contemplating slipping into a slinky black dress.

Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon.