Ben Bernstein: [00:00:00] This episode of Ramblin on the River is presented by BB River Boats. 

Sponsor Mesage: What does summertime in the Ohio River Valley mean to you? From the deck of a BB River Boat, it means a breeze on the water, lush views, and a historic cruise by the Queen City skyline. BB River Boats offers an experience as unforgettable as childhood summers.

This season, let our crew take care of yours as you cruise the mighty Ohio. BB Riverboats. The river is waiting.

Moderator: You're listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast presented by BB River Boats. The Bernstein family has been a predominant name in Cincinnati's hospitality landscape since the 1960s, and this podcast will be a collection of the stories, tales, and experiences from their entrepreneurial [00:01:00] endeavors in the restaurant and excursion boat business.

Join as they take you on a A journey through the family's history in their own unique style. Now, here are your hosts, Ben Terri and Alan Bernstein.

Ben Bernstein: Here are your hosts, Alan Terri and Ben Bernstein. You got it right for the first time. Hello everybody. Welcome back to Ramblin' on the River. We are happy you made it. I made it as well. Fresh from the three Oh five, Miami, Florida got off a plane and came right here just for you guys. 

Terri Bernstein: Wow. Just 

Ben Bernstein: for you guys.

For all of our endearing fans. I find that hard to believe. 

Terri Bernstein: Unbelievable. Ben, 

Ben Bernstein: It ended amazing. And then you two were such a hurry and then it took you 30 minutes [00:02:00] to. Walk down to my office. No, to the studio. We're not in an office. We're in a studio.

All right. Before we get started if you could please go to your favorite podcast platform, give us a like and subscribe. Check out our Instagram pages, our Facebook page, our website, Ramblin' on the River. com. How's that spelled? Dad? Ram Ram Ramin? No, we, it takes too much. Oh, okay. Ramblin on the river.

That's R-A-M-B-L-I-N, no g there on the n. Yes. It's not Lin. Yes, it's Lin, it's . And connect with us via email at podcast@bbriverbeds.com. We really appreciate. All of the emails that we get this week kind of rolling over. If you're listening to these in succession, kind of rolling over from how we ended our last episode with America's River [00:03:00] Routes coming up next year, next fall in October we're going to go back to the early years of where all that came from.

Yes. Tallstacks. Tallstacks began in 1988. Well, it was held in 1988. Correct. It started, what, 1985? 

Alan Bernstein: No, 1984 is when the Bicentennial Committee formed the River Operations Committee. And I was invited to be on it. Was it not your idea? Well, we formed a committee, or they formed a committee in 1985.

Of people that were on the river at the time Coney Island Vic Nolting Vic Nolting and Mary, Mary oh my God, she's going to make 

Ben Bernstein: you write some notes. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, they were involved The some of the restaurants at that time that were [00:04:00] there were involved and barge people and, and then there were citizens that could be on the committee.

But yeah. We had a meeting once a month. Yeah. And I believe we started in March. Yeah. March of 1984. And we were supposed to give a report to the commission, the Bicentennial Commission, at the end of the year. So we had to meet all year to come up with a signature event for the river.

It every committee had, you know, there were, I think, eight or so committees, only six events happened, you were brainstorming, everybody had their own committee, you know, fireworks was one committee. And, you know, they invited, if you remember, all the big stars that are from Cincinnati, who? The [00:05:00] Clooney's?

Yes, the Clooney's were, yeah, people like that, and they were, it was in a parade in downtown, I believe, on the 4th of July, I believe, or maybe it was called Famous Cincinnatians Parade or something, I don't know. A big river people met, and we didn't come up with an idea, nobody had a good idea, we were going to report back to the commission.

I don't know. That we could not come up with a signature of it. And so at the end of that meeting, we were going to get ready to write the report that we had no idea. I said to Rick Griewe and Jay Downey, I said guys, what if I called some of my friends and asked them to bring their boats here?

And it was dead silent. And they said, well, that's the greatest idea I've ever heard. And so I said, well I'll go call some and we'll see what we can get. And I did. And I got about four or five people to say, sure, we would come. 

Sponsor Mesage: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Of course then all the [00:06:00] negotiations happened and all that, but, and from that tall stacks was born and from that tall stacks was born, Rick Griewe went to tall ships up in Cleveland and he came back and said, I have a name.

We didn't call it tall stacks right away. It was, it was just Alan's friends of boats. Yeah, it was going to be right, right. Exactly. And then he came back and said, we should call it tall stacks. And I said, 

Ben Bernstein: And from that point gave us the inspiration for 

Alan Bernstein: I 

Ben Bernstein: will tell you Out of 100 percent certainty, because I know them that people drive around in their car, listening to our podcast And they voice that out loud.

Facts. I think I may here. Hold on one [00:07:00] second. 

Speaker 3: You just say

Ben Bernstein: who was that? That is Jeff Kaplan owner of eight, five, nine tap room and turning into one of our biggest and most talked about fans. Oh, but that is what people do actually running around town these days. We are hitting it big. Yeah. We're sorry. 

Alan Bernstein: We might be a cult class or international by what?

15 or 16 countries. 

We've been definitely growing. But it's all Ben's wife 

Terri Bernstein: going from country to country. 

Alan Bernstein: I don't have a wife. 

Terri Bernstein: Okay. Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: I, is she a fee fiance?

She a fiance. Is she a, well, I didn't know, did he ask her? Oh my 

Terri Bernstein: yes. When? When they were on the cruise. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, a, a year and a half ago. Oh, that's '

Alan Bernstein: cause I don't remember. 

Terri Bernstein: I wasn't there. She's got a nice rock on her hands. Oh, 

Ben Bernstein: she does. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Okay. [00:08:00] 17 countries. I'll have to look next time. 17 countries, 782 cities.

It would be 

Terri Bernstein: better that you got our name right first. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, let's, let's keep that, let's keep that rolling. That is too much pressure for me. Yeah. We know. Sorry. All right. Back to Tallstack. Okay. Back to Tallstack. 

Alan Bernstein: So that's how the whole initial thing started. Rick came up with the name. I came up with the idea.

Yeah. And together we made Tulsa. All as a celebration for Cincinnati's 200th birthday. Bicentennial, yes. Yes. And that was 1988 when the event actually 

Ben Bernstein: happened. I remember 1988 we stayed at the Embassy Suites Yep. Yes, we did. Why are you, why are you shaking your head? We drove to school from. Yes. We. That was the one in 92.

No. 

Terri Bernstein: Yes. 

Ben Bernstein: No. In 88? I promise you. 

Terri Bernstein: I know we stayed there in 92. 

Ben Bernstein: I know we, we did stay there in 1992. Okay. 1988 it just. You were 6 years old. I was 7 years old. 7 

Terri Bernstein: years old. You know what. 

Ben Bernstein: I don't [00:09:00] remember who, but somebody drove us to school. We stayed every night. Probably 

Alan Bernstein: in 10. In Embassy Suites.

But wait a minute. We did stay one year or one time. I, maybe it was 90. Five. In Radisson. 

Ben Bernstein: In Radisson. That was nineteen ninety five. Ninety five. And I wasn't here, I was away at college. And then we stayed at the Marriott one year. That was, that was doing seventy four sightseeing cruises in five days. Stack Bar King.

Yeah. Yeah. I 

Terri Bernstein: didn't work at all. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, you were in school. I 

Terri Bernstein: was in college. 

 So it started in 1988. Mm hmm.

Terri Bernstein: It's a Bicentennial celebration. It was a three day festival. 

Alan Bernstein: That's correct. And there were 14 boats. 14 boats. That's right. 

Ben Bernstein: I remember. The showcase boat was the president from, that's correct. Where? St. Louis. St. Louis. St. Louis. I remember that boat coming in town 'cause it was a casino boat and they had to get all of the slot machines off.

And the ones that remained on the boat, they had to obviously. They put them in [00:10:00] the corner of the boat. It was, I remember going on the boat. 

Alan Bernstein: The thing that most people don't know about the President is we had very low water. We had a drought and the river was below pull stage. And on the lower river, they were restricting barges to six feet.

The lower rivers, the lower Mississippi, the lower Ohio, they came from St. Louis, came down, never heard 

Ben Bernstein: of any restrictions from the Ohio river on the Ohio 

Alan Bernstein: river, the lower Ohio river pretty 

Ben Bernstein: bad. 

Alan Bernstein: It was but we had a very serious drought and, you know, they had out drives in their paddle wheel shafts 

Ben Bernstein: So, did it used to be a paddle wheel?

Oh 

Alan Bernstein: yeah. Oh yeah. It was an Island Queen Sister. 

Ben Bernstein: Okay. 

Speaker 6: Oh, An Island 

Alan Bernstein: Queen Sister. So it was a side wheeler and they had. So they removed the side wheels and put out drives. And put out big, I mean huge out drives. I 

Ben Bernstein: wonder how that boat handled. [00:11:00] 

Alan Bernstein: Well, it handled pretty well because 

Ben Bernstein: you know, it's the same thing.

Well, no, no, no. Well, the side wheels, I don't know. Side wheel, I think, would handle way better than a, than a paddle wheel. Sure. Oh, absolutely. No, I 

Terri Bernstein: meant, I meant better than the side, the big out drives are better, better than the. Yeah. Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. 

Sponsor Mesage: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: But, but anyway, more consistent control. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: It almost didn't get here.

, the president was almost. I 

Ben Bernstein: remember there being some. It was a. Yeah. I, I, and, and that's what it was. That's what it was, was shallow. 

Alan Bernstein: It was, it, it almost So what 

Ben Bernstein: happened? , 

Alan Bernstein: it rained ? Oh, I don't know. they did get here 'cause it was here. I 

Ben Bernstein: let's go through and kind of recap each one of the Okay. Each one of the the festivals and then we'll. Then we'll kind of go into that. All right So, 88 was the first year, three day festival, very wildly successful.

Alan Bernstein: Just incredibly. Everybody ate it up. It was a spectacle. 

Ben Bernstein: It really was. It really was. It really was. Even for a seven year old, not a six year old, even a [00:12:00] seven year old thought it was pretty cool. 

Terri Bernstein: According to Wikipedia, there were 700, 000 people there. 

Alan Bernstein: And I believe that that is an underestimation, but I believe it's, I 

Ben Bernstein: bet you seven, if, If the, it's a lot of people in three days.

Oh, that's a good point. That's a good point. Very good point. Yeah. 14. But so then, so then I, let's see, 

Terri Bernstein: there were the Delta queen and the bell of level were there. Well, sure. Well, they had their rival and the president and 

Alan Bernstein: then we had the, they had the bell. No, no, no, no, no, no. That was, we had the bell, not St.

Louis. I was 92. We had the boat from West Virginia. It was the West Virginia belt. Were up there doing the Charleston to Huntington run. There's a lot of bells and Queens. Yes, there are. 

Ben Bernstein: The Mark Twain from Hannibal came in 1988. Okay. So, among some other boats. Among other boats. Maybe one day we'll find the whole one. Well, I haven't. So in 1988 was such a successful [00:13:00] event.

And the, I assume as soon as that finished, we said, the end, the end 

Alan Bernstein: event, they had choir from the Navy and they were singing like the United States 

Ben Bernstein: Navy. Oh yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Or like 80s Navy. No, no, no, no. The United States Navy was singing patriotic songs and, and they were singing God bless America and the fireworks were going off and there wasn't a 

Ben Bernstein: dry eye in the house.

It 

Alan Bernstein: was not. And everybody kept saying, Alan. We can't let this go. We got to do it again. And I went, Oh,

I do not remember sleeping one minute of the day. You 

Ben Bernstein: being awfully exhausted. 

Alan Bernstein: I 

Ben Bernstein: was very exhausted. 35 year old, but 

Alan Bernstein: anyway, they convinced me to do it in 1992. So 92 was the second one. And we did [00:14:00] have some great boats then, too. The Belle of St. Louis, which was enormous. Yes. Was that a two piece? It was a two piece.

Yeah. It 

Ben Bernstein: was like the Majestic. Yeah. Very similar. Right. I always get told, you need to explain some more things because everybody listening doesn't know what we're talking about. Okay. But there are some excursion boats built, or maybe not excursion boats even that are built.

That are in essence a barge and a tow boat kind of welded together. They're basically two pieces. They're not built to remove. I mean, I, most of them, I don't think are we talked about this in the last podcast? Well, that was, that was the Captain Ben, but that was truly a towboat and a boat.

And a bar. Yeah. But we talked about how it was made to look like one, yeah, it was made to look like it, like one, but the bell is St. Louis was, and the Majestic don't look like that. I think it would be very difficult to, I mean, you'd have to cut things to, to.

Remove the two from each other. Would you? Oh yeah. It was, it's more, crafted together. I don't know what [00:15:00] it looked like 

Alan Bernstein: one unit and it acted like one year, but it was in essence, two units. But if you remember the Majestic up in Pittsburgh also came down We'll have to call Terri Wirginis and ask him We've been trying well 

Terri Bernstein: I We would love to be on here 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah well we oughtta have him on 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah 

Alan Bernstein: Rob McMahon keeps, keeps screwing him Well 

Ben Bernstein: out of an episode 

Alan Bernstein: Well we're not having Rob McMahon on He's out He's out He's He's out He's If he refuses one invitation, he's out Yeah He's out So anyway we had a great lineup in 1992.

And apparently we remember 1992, there was no bridge. They had knocked the bridge down. Oh, they had the Taylor South gate bridge was demolished and then they were getting ready to build the new one. 

Ben Bernstein: It was actually probably a great thing for us. Yeah. And in 

Terri Bernstein: 1992, they had 800, 000 

Ben Bernstein: attendees and 

Terri Bernstein: that turned into the largest festival Cincinnati had ever seen.

Ben Bernstein: [00:16:00] Oh, 

Terri Bernstein: yeah, 

Ben Bernstein: it was a big one and then turned into such a big deal that in the next installment, they decided to get it off of an Olympic year because it turned into such a large draw that they were worried that sales would decline if they had to compete against the Olympics. 

Alan Bernstein: And that's why 92, 95, 99, 2003, 2006, you know they tried to avoid the elections and the Olympics.

Ben Bernstein: So it was a festival every three or four years. Yeah, just yeah ended on which one 95 it expanded to five days. Mm hmm. And I think was the largest Or at least time for the largest lineup with 19. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. 19 boats came. 

Ben Bernstein: They had a whole civil war reenactment. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, we did. And that damn cannon scared me every time they shot it.

I was never paying attention. [00:17:00] Probably 

Terri Bernstein: a sleep. And I don't know what it was that 

Alan Bernstein: damn cannon went off. And I went, Oh, and we had a a encampment back here. In Newport, along the Licking River, where they camped out and yeah, yeah, it was a reenactment of the barracks. 

Ben Bernstein: General James Taylor Park. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. And it was great.

they had a great event back there. It was just that damn cannon every time. 

Ben Bernstein: That grew to almost what, 850, 000 is what 

Terri Bernstein: you found? Yeah, it broke the year. 

Ben Bernstein: So then four years later, it actually declined. What happened in 99? 

Alan Bernstein: Well, 99, obviously it was the year of the change of the millennial. I don't know.

I, what was the estimated attendance? 

Ben Bernstein: 6, 6 60 is what she found. Yeah. Huh? So down from almost 200,000 people. Yeah. I don't, I wonder what they, that would, we would have to dive Well, 

Terri Bernstein: and that's why in 2003, they brought [00:18:00] in all the music. Added all the music. All the music and entertainment. 

Ben Bernstein: Mm-Hmm. . 

Terri Bernstein: That's when they brought in.

Ben Bernstein: So you think fatigue, is that in you think, you think people didn't. Find it as neat. No, I can't imagine that being the reason I mean, either just being not, I mean, we're both people, 

Alan Bernstein: every one of them was different. Every one of them you was unique and every one of them had something that didn't happen in the one before.

But it's just a spectacle that in 2025. Anybody who is interested or likes those kinds of boats, you need to be here because it is a picture that will live, you know, a long, long time. 

Ben Bernstein: And if you got to experience in the heyday of tall stacks, there were a lot of very famous boats that you'll never see.

Absolutely. Absolutely. You 

Alan Bernstein: may, we actually had a boat sink here in tall stacks. It was the boat from West Virginia. That [00:19:00] was a fair, was a , it sank right at the mouth of the Licking River, remember? At the end of the festival? Yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: Did it have people on it? 

Alan Bernstein: No. Oh, no, no, no. I think we remembered 

Ben Bernstein: that.

Alan Bernstein: No. Yeah, you would've remembered that of there. I would hope so. No, it was at, 

Ben Bernstein: at the dock. Well, like Terri said, so 99. Kind of regressed a little bit, but in 2003, it was decided that they would push not the whole focus, but a big emphasis on music, a big emphasis on music. And the music was amazing.

In fact, a lot of my friends who ask if tall stacks is going to come back. They talk about seeing Creedence Clearwater revival and Sean Colvin, the Jayhawks. I know old Crow medicine show is there. There were some great, great acts that was all free. You, you bought a ticket to get in.

You could go to every single show. And that was the beauty. I don't, I don't think America's river roots is going to be the same. [00:20:00] Every stage 

Terri Bernstein: is free other than the headliner stage. Yeah. So, out of whatever it is, eight stages, and 

Alan Bernstein: it's going to be four days of pre 

Terri Bernstein: admittance. You don't even have to pay to get in.

Yeah, there's no 

Alan Bernstein: admittance to the event. 

Terri Bernstein: It'll be big. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, I think, I don't think. The other thing 

Terri Bernstein: about 2003 is that's where the festival took on its first name. Most recent formal name, 

Alan Bernstein: festivals, 

Terri Bernstein: music, arts and heritage festivals.

Yeah. Move from one. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: And in 2003 is when they started all the theme cruises. 

Ben Bernstein: If you can hear Terri's voice, there might be a little bit of feelings. Such as wine tasting, zoo 

Terri Bernstein: cruises, and many more. Good 

Ben Bernstein: graders ice cream. When you're the operations person. , those are yours to figure out.

I, 

Terri Bernstein: between back to back sold out cruises here, we're having a martini tasting. I remember Terri with 

five 

Ben Bernstein: minutes in between cruises to 

Terri Bernstein: and the beer tasting with 32 different beers that [00:21:00] you don't already have on your boat. Go 

Alan Bernstein: figure it out. Switch everything out. I remember Terri Bernstein come up to me and said, dad, how are you gonna keep greater ice cream from melting?

I said, we're gonna serve it before it melts. Yeah. I don't know how you're gonna do it. Grater's Ice 

Terri Bernstein: Cream is the best theme cruise. Cause they do it very well. It comes dry ice, it's already pre scooped, like you just hand it out. I'll do Grater's Ice Cream theme cruises all day long. 

Ben Bernstein: Me too. I believe 2003 was the, was that the largest?

Or was 2006? I know you don't. 2003 was larger than 2006. That's what I thought. 2003 officially I think around 900, Most people say it was closer to a million. But I would have to imagine that still the largest event the city's ever 

Alan Bernstein: done. The reason that 2006 was down is I will remind everybody, we had a high water on Thursday night, Friday [00:22:00] morning, which caused an absolute panic with the organizers.

 I 

Alan Bernstein: remember the call. I remember the call. I 

Ben Bernstein: was here at 3. It was 3 AM to 3 PM. So, I It was all chaos in the middle of the night when I 

Alan Bernstein: was, when I was running the boat around. He called me on my cell phone, which he didn't normally do, but he, normally it'd be the radio call or whatever.

Rest in peace. And he called, yeah, I mean, rest in peace. What a great guy. 

Sponsor Mesage: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Nelson called me and he said, Alan, you need to get here right now. And I said, where are you, Nelson? And I said, yeah, He says, I'm in a trailer with the core and the Coast Guard and some people from Tulsa Stack, and you need to get here right now.

I said, okay, I'm on my way. Was 

Ben Bernstein: this a covert operation? 

Alan Bernstein: Well, no, he, he needed help because they wanted to cancel. The whole thing was, it was a, I said [00:23:00] when I got there I had to go over in a golf cart. I had to go over the Taylor Southgate Bridge, the new one. over the bridge and down to the trailer in Newport.

And I walk in, and I remember everybody having this really sober face. And they said Nelson said, Alan, they want to cancel the event. I said, well, who wants to cancel the event? He said, all the people in this room, except for me. And And I, I looked at everybody in the room and I said, no, we're not going to cancel the event because we have a few feet of water.

We're not going to do that. So they said, well, we need to tell everybody what's going on. So they convened a meeting on the General Jackson and everybody came and we were in the back room in their private room and they announced that they were going to cancel tall sharks. And so I got up in the [00:24:00] room to everybody that that's the operators all that.

Yeah, everybody in the room. And I got up and I said, I do not believe we can cancel the event. And this was on what day? What? This was on Friday morning, Friday morning 

Ben Bernstein: to cancel it just before the weekend. That's right. And 

Alan Bernstein: so Terri got up my daughter, Terri, right here. You're looking at her. She got up and she said, ladies and gentlemen, we are not going to cancel our cruises.

Our boats are going out because this is not high water. And 

Ben Bernstein: we are going to cruise 32 

Alan Bernstein: feet, 32, 33 feet. It was 

Terri Bernstein: stage in Cincinnati. 

Alan Bernstein: So it went over the serpentine wall, which was a big deal. Because the wall itself, the logistics were extremely difficult, that's right. [00:25:00] So Terri got up and announced that we were going to continue to cruise and it would look really stupid that you canceled the event and our boats are out there running up and down the river.

Because our boats weren't in the event. Or at least one was and two weren't. 

Ben Bernstein: Right. So our other two boats were, 

Alan Bernstein: were 

Ben Bernstein: going 

Alan Bernstein: up and down. And she said, you're going to see boats going up and down the river and you're going to 

Terri Bernstein: look like fools. Yeah! 

Alan Bernstein: Yep. While you're both sitting there tied up and so I got up after Terri and I said, folks, why don't you Give me a few hours.

What is it with you 

Ben Bernstein: every 

Alan Bernstein: I had a hiccup, but it's every week Well, maybe cuz he sucks air. It's Go 

Terri Bernstein: on Every single week I got always I'm sorry 

Ben Bernstein: Better than when he 

Terri Bernstein: always crunches don't know he 

Ben Bernstein: does this 

Terri Bernstein: you always hear that

Alan Bernstein: You can't do anything so I said give me Two [00:26:00] hours. It was a meeting about nine in the morning. We were getting ready to, it was 10 and I said at noon, we will come back and I will give you a plan to keep this running. Terri comes up to me and whispers, what plan do you have? And I said, shut up.

I don't have a plan, but we're going to have one in two hours. So I called Troy Manthing. I called Kevin Mullen. 

Terri Bernstein: I was with joy, man. The, and we were working on the little boat, 

Alan Bernstein: Kevin Mullen Troy and Nelson and one other captain. I can't remember. 

We met on the first deck of the Bella Cincinnati, right?

And we said, what can we do? We said, well, if we move these boats around and these boats around, Nelson came and he said, well, we can put barges this way and we, and I, can we, can we do it? So yes, we can. So they said we have like two or three spots we can't do. We'll have to have revolving boats.[00:27:00] 

So we all go back to the General Jackson and the big meeting was there and everybody was hustling and butts. Oh, what are they going to come up? And then I got up with Terri and I said, everybody, I need your attention. This is going to require a lot of cooperation from a lot of people. We have already lost the lunch cruise.

Because it's noon and no boat went out at noon. So they had canceled one cruise, the one cruise, one cruise block, one cruise block, and we actually didn't cancel it. We moved. All of those people on to other boats and other cruisers, right? So which you can do with one cruise. Oh yeah. Once you start all of those.

So I said, here's what we're going to do. And we only have, I don't, do you remember how many boats we had in 2006, 2000 14 

Terri Bernstein: or 15, 17, 17, but those included the big boats. The overnight ones. So I don't know how many, oh, [00:28:00] well here, I'm looking at 

Alan Bernstein: the picture. I think it's 14 or 15 excursion. Bugs 

Ben Bernstein: logistically, the large boats were on the lower end of the public landing that went in diagonally. That really weren't very affected by Iowa a little bit. I mean, being 

Terri Bernstein: We had to share space, though. Sure. Oh, yeah. That was our biggest problem. Boats had 

Ben Bernstein: to pull in, pull out, and pull in. But on the upper end at Serpentine Wall, 

Terri Bernstein: They're all double stacked.

Right. They're double, 

Ben Bernstein: in some cases, triple stacked. Triple. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. So we got the mooring arrangement and everything was And then we decided that the boats on the lower end would go down river and the boats on the upper end would go up river so that we didn't have to confuse and have any mix mash of, of boats going in and out.

Now in the meantime, the volunteers were the real heroes because we had to take down [00:29:00] gate numbers. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: So there were gate numbers, but they weren't the right gate numbers and they actually had to move. It had to have been three or four thousand people a day to different gates. They were told, go to gate five and you'll get on your boat.

Well, they got to gate five and then the volunteers said, stand in this line for gate five and this line for gate six. And then they actually, like Mother Duck and all the little ducklings, Went down to the boat where it was so that they could get on. And I don't believe there were more than three or four people.

That's individual people missed a boat because they didn't know it because they didn't know where to go or what to do. And we did refund their money. But that was really the only massive refund that we had. Mainly because these volunteers and they really were the unsung hero. If we [00:30:00] couldn't have moved all those people and, oh my God, everybody was exhausted.

Ben Bernstein: It takes an army. It does. It takes an army. It did. You're so dependent on volunteers who really don't have anything invested in it to do, other than, their, the kindness of them to come and 

Alan Bernstein: work. One of the very amusing things was Kevin Mullen from the Belle of Louisville said he will go along with the plan, but we had moved him to a point he didn't have a stern look.

And he said, I need, I really, Alan, I've got to have a stern line. And I said, well, you know, tell me how we're going to make a stern line. He said, well, can you get a garbage truck? And I said, a garbage truck? Yeah. A compactor garbage truck. I said, well, sure. I can, I can get one, but what do you want with it?

He says, we're going to drive it right down this road in the water. and we're gonna [00:31:00] use it for our stern line. And so I called the guy that came down from the sanitation. 

Ben Bernstein: I 

Alan Bernstein: guess they've done that 

Ben Bernstein: before. No, I don't know. I would think, you know, a swift breeze would, even would pull that thing into the water.

Sponsor Mesage: Not 

Ben Bernstein: a chance. 

Alan Bernstein: No. Not a chance. I don't know. Not a chance, okay, and it worked all weekend long worked all weekend And it was funny. We had a garbage truck. There's pictures of it. There are pictures of the garbage truck right in the middle of the whole thing in the water So that was the amusing part. So those are 

Ben Bernstein: all the installments of tall stack.

Yes, but Sprinkled into all those what six years Six festivals. Yeah. Six vets. Yes. Were some pretty good stories. Yes. That was one of them. The 

Alan Bernstein: garbage 

Ben Bernstein: truck. Well, yeah. No, absolutely. What, what's this about? A mutiny? Oh yeah, that was the first, that's the very first one. Yeah.

Well, I, I assume 1980 washing on the admiral. You mean the president? It was the president. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. [00:32:00] That makes, that's where I was, I was doing everything from Very good. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. I did the notes, nobody else did. It's 

Ben Bernstein: about time you contribute to this show. Oh my god, 

Terri Bernstein: this is like the 3rd or 4th one I've done.

Thank goodness. We've only done like 8 or 10. 

Alan Bernstein: 12, jeez, congratulations. Well, anyway, this story is This is your brother. This is a classic. Your brother. Now, my brother had watched me Organize these events and we've had meeting after meeting after meeting and and we've gone over things And then we went over them again to make sure that things are right And he said alan you are killing everybody with these meetings and I said jim they're important.

So he's criticizing me about all these meetings And he was given, when it came time to giving out assignments in 1988, since we didn't know really what we were doing we gave Jimmy the president. [00:33:00] That was his boat and he had to manage it.

Because a big boat, a three 3500 passenger boat. 

Terri Bernstein: Did we do their food? 

Alan Bernstein: Some of it, most most of it. Remember the big gala? 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: That was done by the guy at the Cincinnati, not the Cincinnati club, the 

Terri Bernstein: museum center. Metropolitan club. No. No. 

Alan Bernstein: No, it was the, oh, Cincinnati Club. The Cincinnati, the place right, right next to the Cincinnati Club.

He was a famous, he came in Cincinnati and made a big deal. But anyway, so Jimmy, great story. Well, I'm sorry I can't rem . I, I just can't remember names I like, I, 

Ben Bernstein: I understand. 

Alan Bernstein: So Jimmy was given the President and on this particular night, it was a big Saturday night cruise to Coney Island. And everybody wanted this cruise to really be special.

So it [00:34:00] was a prime rib extra special dinner. And we had a seating for 1200, I think. So. Jimmy went out and went to the. Cincinnati State, I don't know what it was called back then, but it was a culinary program there, and he was friends with the instructor, and he got all of the people in that program to come and carve prime rib, because we didn't have enough people to do it.

So he recruited about 80 people to work. So, on the way up the river, everything went great. , they carved the mead and they got it all out and everybody got to Coney and they all went up to Coney to Moonlight Gardens. That was the dance and all that. That's where I had my prom. Was it? Yeah.

That's [00:35:00] good. They won't have a prom there anymore. Nope. 

Terri Bernstein: Nope. No 

Alan Bernstein: more proms. No more proms. It was part of a 

Terri Bernstein: music festival. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, as the, the the people got off, so did the cooks. They all got off the boat and took a cab back to Cincinnati. Well, Jimmy, Jimmy's going, what, what, what can, what are we going to do?

So he calls me on the phone, Alan, I had a mutiny. 

Terri Bernstein: I thought it was because they didn't want to wash all the dishes. Well, 

Alan Bernstein: they didn't. That's true. They were working on washing the dishes. But they had worked enough that they had thought that they would work the night. Right. And of course, that was only half the night.

And they didn't want to wash dishes, and they didn't want to do So they all got off and went home. In the meantime there were like 10 BB, or Mike Fink and BB employees there, and that was it. 

Terri Bernstein: And your brother. 

Alan Bernstein: And my brother. 

Terri Bernstein: With dishes stacked to the [00:36:00] ceiling. 

Alan Bernstein: So, 

Ben Bernstein: he said, I can't imagine Jimmy's washed many dishes.

Well he did that night. 

Alan Bernstein: He did that night. , he said, Alan, you need to get Schultz and you need to get all these good workers up there to help him. He had a mutiny and they had to get these dishes done because the next morning we had another big brunch cruise. Oh no, there is no mercy. No, no mercy.

So, we had to get people and they had to work all night long so we had a meeting after the event was over and I got up and I said ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank everybody for working so hard and having a great time And I think everything went really smooth.

What, who? Who in this room had a major problem? Jimmy had to raise his hand. He was the only one. He was the only one. And I said, Jimmy, [00:37:00] what, what, what are you doing? What happened? He goes, well, I guess I didn't understand what was, I said, well, if you'd have gone to any meetings, you would have understood. He 

Ben Bernstein: had a, 

Alan Bernstein: he had a new outlook on the number.

Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Very quickly. Very quickly. You know, they call that karma. Oh, do they? Well, I don't, I don't know, but it was really a very, very funny experience because Jimmy was absolutely dumbfounded. He had no, he had no idea what to do. None. And we, we nicknamed Jimmy, my brother, this is my older brother.

And we nicknamed him too light for heavy work and too heavy for light work. Yeah. So 

Ben Bernstein: that's certainly one story. Yes. We're going to get to one more, but we're going to turn this into a two parter because the clock is rolling and as is normal, it takes us.

You know, 20, 25 minutes to introduce [00:38:00] us. But Terri. We had a big cruise with some Red Hat ladies. Oh, yes. That was 

Terri Bernstein: the last Tallstack. Yes. 2006. When we were It was, Down at the lower end. Yep. Because we were, the Bell of Cincinnati was sharing the same dock space as the Bell of Louisville. Yep.

And so, we were late coming in. Yeah. We couldn't, we couldn't get in. We had 800, 

Alan Bernstein: I'm singling the boat to get in. 

Terri Bernstein: You know, Troy is, Troy is on the, Troy's up 

Ben Bernstein: at the bridge and I'm, Well, and dad was the river operations director. Yeah, that's correct. Or you were the big boat director or the small one.

Something like that. Well, we split it up. So you were the air traffic controller for all the boats. Yeah. So the boat's coming in. 

Terri Bernstein: The boat's coming in and we are already behind. Okay. And we have had, 

Ben Bernstein: we 

Terri Bernstein: have had 800 red hat ladies for lunch. I mean, the boat is chaos. I mean, it's a [00:39:00] Saturday. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, the reason it was chaos is you didn't know that the red hat ladies were in little groups that didn't like each other.

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. Anyway. So we're coming in and dad is on the shore screaming at me. 

Speaker 8: Are you ready to board? 

Alan Bernstein: Get ready to 

Terri Bernstein: board. He's got a line full of customers behind him. And his idea is with 800 people on board, we're going to board the people as the other ones are coming off our ramp at the same time. Great 

Alan Bernstein: idea.

Yeah. Great idea. I'm sure 

Terri Bernstein: the boat was about as clean as it could be. 800 

Alan Bernstein: people. It was not 

Ben Bernstein: a problem. 

Terri Bernstein: Are you ready to board? I'm like. Are you effing kidding me? So this 

Ben Bernstein: doesn't just happen, it's all stuff. No, this is every day. Any big day. No, it's not every day, day. Any, every single holiday. No. Every single holiday.

You, you guys don't know 

Alan Bernstein: how to handle stress . [00:40:00] 

Ben Bernstein: We also don't 

Alan Bernstein: create 

Ben Bernstein: the stress. 

Terri Bernstein: I just remember Josh mailing's face and we were just like, I, well do whatever you wanna do at this. I mean, at that point, what do you do? Like, yeah. What do you, just let him on whatever. I mean. The boat is true. Are you ready to board?

No, no, we're not. Dad's like, put the stage down. Troy's like, don't you dare put the stage down. Cause he was still maneuvering the boat, but dad was ready to get them off and get them on. I mean, the boat's still maneuvering. Dan's like, put the stage down. The captain is screaming.

You're yelling at the boat. The captain's 

Ben Bernstein: yelling at you. Yeah. Terri's looking around 

Terri Bernstein: like, he's on the radio. Don't you dare put that ramp down or I am 

Alan Bernstein: Troy was so 

Terri Bernstein: we were all, we all loved 

Speaker 8: you. Al, we, we just couldn't wait to see your 

Alan Bernstein: golf cart pull up, but you know, that is a good lesson is you have to do what you have [00:41:00] to do.

It takes an army. Oh man, I'm telling you. We didn't have a big enough army is what our problem was 

Ben Bernstein: well, I feel like everybody being in a tall tax episode needs to listen to them. Okay.

Such a majestic whistle. They don't get any better than that. No, they don't. Pretty amazing. That's the bell of Louisville's steam whistle. 

Speaker 6: Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: We will come back. We'll, next episode. Oh yeah. We have some. Great, we'll pick up. We will try to be better keeping these close to an hour. Mom doesn't like it when they're too long. Your mother says we go too long. And so we'll try to keep it. But we will move right along to 

Moderator: Now it is time for Ramblin on the [00:42:00] Rivers.

Word of the Day. 

Speaker 6: The word of the day is Funny daddy Funny daddy. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, I want to spell that for everybody It's F.

Oh F u here we go. D D 

Ben Bernstein: IEY fuddy surprised you didn't go with the triple. Triple D's . Triple D is what 

Speaker 6: I

Alan Bernstein: And f fuddy ddy would be D-O-U-D-D-D-Y. No, I'm 

Ben Bernstein: just making 

Alan Bernstein: shit up. Yeah. Oh, okay. Fuddy duddy. I use fuddy duddy ever quite a way. How do you use 

Ben Bernstein: it? What context do you use it in? 

Speaker 8: Not that we can say it on the podcast. We do talk about some people that are fuddy duddys. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. [00:43:00] And I'm one of those when she's mad at me.

I'm a 

Ben Bernstein: fuddy duddy. on the outline, it says, Dad is a fuddy duddy. Yeah. Yeah. Dad is a fuddy duddy. 

Terri Bernstein: What does fuddy duddy mean? 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. You're a stick in the mud. That is not, that's not it. You use it however you want.

Terri Bernstein: I think that's kind of, I mean, I 

Alan Bernstein: mean, fuddy duddy means that you're sort of being difficult. You're being. 

Terri Bernstein: That has been every 

Alan Bernstein: day, every day when I call him. 

Terri Bernstein: The only difference, he's not old fashioned, but he is definitely fussy and irritable. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, you're right. Old fashioned is somebody that's elderly or older and they're being difficult.

So that, that certainly could be a, Me you're pointing to me. I'm a good definition of a fuddy duddy. Okay Well, thank you. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah [00:44:00] 

Alan Bernstein: It is that it? Why are we off of 

Ben Bernstein: the word of the day well, this is my favorite. What's the origin of this?

This is my favorite. You 

Sponsor Mesage: got to 

Alan Bernstein: show him the word. I would say it's German. Well, it 

Ben Bernstein: could be. It's my, whatever the first one was. He just looked at it. He looked at the word. He said, well, that's probably. I don't even remember what, what nationality it was. That's Dutch. Just cause it looked like her. That's rusty French.

Terri Bernstein: The term first appeared in print in the late 1800s, but its origin is unknown. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, we have an unknown nor origin. All right. 

Ben Bernstein: Let's move on. 

Speaker 9: Welcome to as the paddle wheel turns our look at pertinent [00:45:00] current events happening right now in the world.

Ben Bernstein: So not really a current events. We're going to play a new kind of game. Oh, maybe we can do this over the course of a few. Episodes and maybe if everybody likes it so much, maybe we can get our own new little production piece recorded for it, but Terri has a grooming teenager who's going to be 16 years old in three weeks.

I have a new 12 year old from a couple of days ago. And we all know they have their own language. 

Sponsor Mesage: Oh, their 

Ben Bernstein: own language. The kids these days have their own terms. So I thought it would be fun and appropriate if we just asked Al what These terms mean [00:46:00] what he would have to say as an answer. And if he were to get it correct, you would hear a, and if he does not get it correct, you would hear a.

Okay. So, do you understand the game? I do. Bob, put five minutes on the clock. Whatever. Oh, just kidding. Alright. 

Speaker 8: We both turn and look for the clock. What 

Alan Bernstein: is Bob 

Ben Bernstein: doing here? I pointed over to my wall and they both look over my shoulder. 

Terri Bernstein: Like there's a big clock on the wall. It's like, 

Ben Bernstein: hey, Gullible's written on the wall over there.

Alan Bernstein: Oh, really? When did you put that in? All right. So how many words am I going to have to do? Well, we'll probably do, we'll, we'll 

Ben Bernstein: see how long, maybe we'll do five or so. We will start you off with a very easy one. Okay. What does bestie mean?

Alan Bernstein: [00:47:00] I would say my bestie is a friend, a best, a good friend, or a, there you go. Your BF, F. Your BF, F, your best. B, FF. Your best friend. Forever 

Ben Bernstein: friend. Okay, there you go. Although 

Terri Bernstein: everybody is a bestie now. They are. Yeah. Pretty much your friend. You're a bestie. Oh, 

Ben Bernstein: pretty much. 

Terri Bernstein: Yep. 

Ben Bernstein: All right. Question number two.

Terri Bernstein: What is an op? 

Ben Bernstein: What 

Terri Bernstein: an op? 

Ben Bernstein: Is that, is that your question? Yeah. An op. I don't, I don't have any idea what an op is. This should be good. What is an op? 

Alan Bernstein: Well, if you don't know how in the hell do you expect me to know? You're my daughter 

Terri Bernstein: uses that word all the time. They're my, I have a good 

Alan Bernstein: idea of what it is.

You have went a better op. 

Terri Bernstein: No. 

Alan Bernstein: What, what, what is, what is her context that she use op? 

Terri Bernstein: They're my biggest op. 

Alan Bernstein: Opponent. 

Terri Bernstein: Opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Opposition. We are 

Alan Bernstein: off to a flaming start. 

Ben Bernstein: A 

Alan Bernstein: flaming 

Terri Bernstein: start. 

Ben Bernstein: [00:48:00] Oh man. 

Terri Bernstein: Can I give you a little hint? 

Ben Bernstein: A 

Terri Bernstein: lot of these words are just 

Ben Bernstein: shortened 

Terri Bernstein: versions of 

Ben Bernstein: a word. 

Terri Bernstein: Like a real word.

But we're 

Ben Bernstein: not going to be that easy. No. Okay. Question number three. Number three. Drip.

Alan Bernstein: Now, you're talking to a senior citizen. It is not sexually 

Ben Bernstein: based. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, no. No, he's talking about peeing. This is about, yeah. Overactive 

Ben Bernstein: bladder.

Terri Bernstein: Elam's got some cool drip. 

Alan Bernstein: Can you give me a context? Elam's got some cool drip. Elam has a good drip. Yeah, sure. Elam has 

Terri Bernstein: some cool drip. 

Ben Bernstein: Hmm. 

Alan Bernstein: Hairdo. Drip. No. Hmm. 

Ben Bernstein: He has good drip. He refers to a really cool [00:49:00] outfits item of clothing.

So like great shoes or a nice shirt. 

Alan Bernstein: Hmm. Hmm. His grandmother bought him really nice shoes that do not fit him. They're way too small. And he kept them so he could wear them one day at the school. And then he was going to, I guess, discard them. 

Ben Bernstein: I don't think, I think Terri bought those shoes. Oh, maybe, maybe the Jordans.

They don't fit them anymore, but he kept them in very good. He would put them back in the box and everything. It's the only thing he's ever owned that he, I think he wore him about four times. He threw the first pitch out in the Redskins. All right. Number four. Number four. Finna.

Alan Bernstein: Finna. 

Terri Bernstein: Dad's going to start talking this way. 

Alan Bernstein: Like the next podcast, folks, you better get up on your trip. You better.[00:50:00] 

Speaker 6: He's my new lab. He's got too much drip. 

Alan Bernstein: What do you 

Ben Bernstein: said? Finan Finna Finna Finna F I N N a. 

Alan Bernstein: Mm. Fin he likes fish. A fish fin. 

Ben Bernstein: So, you know, your daughter went to Western Kentucky University. Oh yes. And what, what terms did she use when she came home from Western? Yeah, there were several. One of them was like fixing, fixing two.

Yes. Yes. I'm fixing two. Yeah. Yeah. That's basically, that's a contraction of Oh, fixing two. Okay. So I'm fixing to go to the mall. Well, you don't go to the mall anymore. I'm fixing to go to the Beachwood game. Okay. Or I'm, so you would finish, you Finn go to the, finna go to the beach with, but 

Terri Bernstein: you're intending to.

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. Hmm. Okay. This [00:51:00] will be the last one. Hey, you're sitting at 50 percent right now. I was gonna say, 

Alan Bernstein: I think I'm gonna, no, 

Ben Bernstein: I got three right, I think. No, you got two. Oh, two. Two out of four. Oh, okay. I'm pretty impressed you even got the easy one. Question number five. Number five. Whip. Well,

Alan Bernstein: Hey Skyler, come check out my new whip. Ooh. I wasn't thinking it in that context but I'll get, I'll get over there. This is, I thought it might be G rated 

Sponsor Mesage: out. 

Ben Bernstein: This is not what's, what's that chick, what is it called? It's not Grey's Anatomy. What's, what's the, what's the. The whips and chains movie called 

Terri Bernstein: 50 shades of 

Alan Bernstein: gray.

Yes. That's where I was. Not that. No, not that. Okay. These are teenagers. 

Terri Bernstein: Hopefully not experiencing. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Who knows some crazy shit. Yeah, I know. I [00:52:00] know. So this is a whip. Yeah. A whip. And Can we context that? Do I have a good whip or a bad whip or 

Ben Bernstein: it's more, it's probably more, well, you're not going to have a, well, I guess you could have a bad whip, but it's more a whip.

It's more used to be like, Hey, check this out. Like in a positive way. Not like this. Check out my whip. Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Check out my whip. Okay. And what well, 

Terri Bernstein: I'm not even sure I know, I think it's, can I, can I try to answer? 

Alan Bernstein: Sure. 

Terri Bernstein: Is it like your, your mode of transportation? Like your 

Ben Bernstein: It 

Alan Bernstein: is, 

Terri Bernstein: oh, 

Alan Bernstein: it's a car. Oh, 

Terri Bernstein: look at my cool car.

Look 

Alan Bernstein: at my cool whip. Yeah. And it's a car. Yeah. I didn't 

Terri Bernstein: know it was a car. I thought, you know, like if you had a scooter or something, it was, well, I mean, I 

Ben Bernstein: guess you could use like your mode of transportation. I mean, you know, in my days if you rode around on a Vespa, that was not cool. [00:53:00] You would have not said, Hey, check out my new whip.

Well, although these days people are riding around on scooters, everywhere and 

Terri Bernstein: motorized bikes and motorized bills. Bike goes faster than my car 

Alan Bernstein: from, from, 

Terri Bernstein: from home to the gym. He beats me every day. 

Alan Bernstein: Well Emma. Is from her grandparents getting a very nice birthday gift. She will probably have my whip.

I'm going to tell her we got her a whip for her birthday. 

Terri Bernstein: I think we need to have the kids call in and ask you some questions. Well, 

Ben Bernstein: I, that's what my plan was, but Elam wanted to go play games. I did take him right out. And that's hanging out with, 

Terri Bernstein: You know, boys. 

Ben Bernstein: So that is it for part one.

We will pick this up next week with part two. We'll get into some more of the great and wonderful stories that was tall stacks [00:54:00] but anyways, thanks for listening to us. We will see you next week.

Moderator: Thank you to the Ramblin on the River podcast, presented by BB River Boats. Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like, subscribe and follow us on all your favorite podcast platforms.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB Riverboats. 

Speaker 10: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day. Watching high school sweethearts tie the knot, or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful years together. A group of old friends reuniting for one more adventure, or young minds embarking on their first.

At BB River Boats, we believe a cruise on the mighty Ohio is where [00:55:00] lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at bbriverboats. com. Journey aboard.

Moderator: Thank you for listening to the Ramblin' on the River podcast presented by BB River Boats. Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like subscribe and follow us. On all your favorite podcast platforms.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB Riverboats. 

Speaker 10: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day. Watching high school sweethearts tie the knot, or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful years together. A group [00:56:00] of old friends reuniting for one more adventure, or young minds embarking on their first.

At BB Riverboats, we believe a cruise on the mighty Ohio is where lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at BBRiverboats. com. Journey Aboard.