CALLIOPE COMMANDS ATTENTION; PIANIST FINDS LIFE PLEASING ON RIVER

Steve Spracklen is a man who commands attention. He needs only to fire up the calliope on the sun deck of the Delta Queen steamboat.

He was doing just that Tuesday on the Cape Girardeau riverfront, where the river royalty was making its last scheduled stop of 1991.

"Anybody who plays keyboards can play (the calliope)," says Spracklen, a native of Joplin. "The difference is the 32-note keyboard instead of the regular 88 keys."

The keyboard controls solenoids that open valves allowing steam to blow into each musical whistle.

Though he plays the calliope, Spracklen's main chore is that of steamboating director, a position similar to that of a cruise director on a ship.

"I make sure that the passengers are having a good time all day," Spracklen said. "I schedule and participate in the activities on board."

How did he get where he is?

"I studied piano for several years, and played the bassoon in grade school and through college at Missouri Southern State at Joplin," Spracklen said. "I found that it's not easy to make a living by playing the bassoon.

"So I went back to piano and got a job as a pianist on board the Mississippi Queen. Since then I have worked a variety of jobs there, and now I'm happy to be here on the Delta Queen."

Spracklen works eight weeks at a time on the boat and then gets two or three weeks off.

Since the Delta Queen has many outside cabins, its touring season generally stops during the winter months. That's when the riverboat undergoes major maintenance.

"Even in New Orleans, it can be quite a chilling experience to come out of your cabin and go down to dinner if the wind is blowing cold," Spracklen said.

"The Mississippi Queen's season, in contrast, will run into a New Year's cruise and the next season will begin at the end of January."

The calliope is played for every departure made between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and also when the boat is traveling through river locks on the upper Mississippi River and the Ohio River.

"It's sort of a tradition," he said. "Lots of people come out to watch the boat go through, so we give them a little entertainment on the calliope while they're watching.

"Occasionally we'll have a concert, and we also have a `Calliope Walk' where passengers walk 11 times around the sun deck while we play the calliope. That adds up to a mile.

"One other time during the cruise we let passengers play it, and we give them a certificate."

Spracklen gets to meet well-known people who ride on the Delta Queen.

"This year, so far, we've had B.B. King and Alex Haley," Spracklen recalled. "On this cruise we have Bill Pogue, a former astronaut who spent a record 84 days in space and took the longest space walk."