Jam Cruise 8!!

Ahhh... It can't come soon enough. The salty smell of the Atlantic, wind in my hair and sun on my face as we depart Ft. Lauderdale for 5 days of complete ridiculousness on a cruise ship with 2900 of my favorite people and 30+ bands to keep the boat rocking regardless of the waves. They announced the lineup yesterday for next years cruise... AMAZING! Without further ado... Jam Cruise 8!!

Jam Cruise 8 sets sail January 3-8, 2010 on the beautiful Italian ship: MSC Poesia. We will leave from Ft Lauderdale’s Port Everglades and head to Ocho Rios, Jamaica & George Town, Cayman Islands.

We are HONORED to present our line-up:

STS9
The Word feat John Medeski, North Mississippi Allstars, Robert Randolph
Zappa plays Zappa
Galactic
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
Maceo Parker!!!!!!!!
Dark Star Orchestra
JJ Grey & Mofro
Railroad Earth
Steve Kimock's Crazy Engine
Lotus
Fantastic 4 feat. Robert Walter, Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno & Cheme Gastelum)
Toubab Krewe
Eric Krasno & Chapter 2
The Motet plays the Talking Heads
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Hot Buttered Rum
John Brown's Body
Kyle Hollingsworth & Friends
Mike Dillon's Go Go Jungle
The Mother Hips
Break Science feat. Adam Deitch
Dragon Smoke feat. Robert Mecurio, Ivan Neviile, Stanton Moore & Eric Lindell
Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes
George Porter Jr's Super Jam
DJ Logic
Pretty Lights (CO Represent!!)
Special Guests:
Col Bruce Hampton
Skerik
Will Bernard


SICK SICK SICK!!! Man oh man is this going to be another fun musical adventure. Last night at the Fox, people were talking... ran into a few cruzers that were ecstatic about the lineup. Talked to a couple guys from the motet that were playing, and they're stoked to be back on the boat this year! Haven't gotten my room finalized yet, but there's plenty of people looking to jump aboard, so all in due time I hope...

To get stoked about it, I decided to link you guys to my favorite set from last years cruise, filmed in HD with some killer angles in the glorious Covent Theater on the MSC Orchestra. Tracks 5 and 6 are a couple of my favorites, but this whole show RAGES! I honestly felt bad for all those who missed this set. Most who were there agreed this was the set of the week. For me, it was one of the best shows I have EVER witnessed. Man, Galactic with some killer horns and the classy Wolfman Washington never ceased to amaze me.

Enjoy the video, courtesy of iClips.

Galactic - iClips - Jan. 6, 2009 - Jam Cruise 7

Track 5 was my favorite 7:48 minutes on the boat (debatable, but believe me, this is pretty unreal playing). Watch Galactic bring the storm with two of the hottest brass players in New Orleans, Trombone Shorty and Big Sam. Their duel toward the end of the track had the theater rocking and the waves had us bumping into all our neighbors, but everyone was dancing so hard I don't think anyone noticed. We had a real nice spot in the middle left of the theater, dancing in the aisle which was uncrowded (another reason I love JC!)

At 3:40-5:23 in Track 6, you can really see Trombone Shorty's INSANE circular breathing skills where he doesn't let the note drop for nearly TWO MINUTES!! It was a blast having him on the ship. Super nice guy and amazing musician.

Check out track 16 too... Recognized it as a cover immediately, but none of us could place what it was. Ran into Shorty on the elevator later that night (or morning, or afternoon, who really knows?!?) and asked him... Herbie Hancock - Rocket.

Hope you like. Look forward to more Jam Cruise related posts for the next 7 months. Only 247 more days till we set sail!