The lineup for Jam Cruise was announced first thing this morning here on the West Coast, and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve already taken the plunge and pre-booked a cabin for the 10th anniversary of the floating festival that everybody has been raving about for years. This will be my first year on the boat, so I’ll be seeing plenty of unbelievably great music all while sailing the seas and partying with my fellow like-minded fans. Can’t wait.
One of the bigger reveals of the lineup has been the port destinations that the cruise is choosing, and this time the festival is setting sail a full week after New Year’s Eve with a January 9th departure n Ft. Lauderdale to make stops in Labadee, Haiti and then onto Falmouth, Jamaica. The whole thing winds back down on January 14th, 2012. Umphrey’s McGee, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Galactic, The New Deal, Shpongle, New Mastersounds, EOTO, and Orgone are just some of the artists I’m excited to get a crack at seeing this year, and there’s tons more talent rounding out the lineup this year.
As hedonistic as the whole vacation is, I’m actually proud that the organizers thought to bring a stop by Haiti into the equation. More about those efforts were detailed in today’s press release…
Positive Legacy is excited to announce the selection of Labadee, Haiti as one of the Jam Cruise 10 port stops. Leveraging the power of the music community to do good for others is the focal point of our non-profit organization and for the first time, are one of our ports was selected based on a service project rather than the other way around. The beautiful private paradise of Labadee is a safe and remote area owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line approximately 90 miles from Port-Au-Prince where lush rolling hills meet the sea. Labadee provides a platform for us to have a conscious beach party with music and fun while being able to give back to the people of Haiti at a time where the need is greater than ever. Long before the devastating earthquake shook Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010 the Caribbean nation of 10 million struggled to feed and shelter it’s expanding population. More than a million families relied daily on International Food Aid. Since the earthquake the numbers of Haitians needing aid has more than doubled. 90% of Haiti’s population lives below the poverty level, making Haiti the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere – but it’s culture and history are undeniably rich. Positive Legacy is building strategic alliances with several major organizations and capitalizing on the space we have on the ship to bring goods and services to benefit the people of this beautiful island nation.
Join us in expressing the communal spirit of Jam Cruise by supporting the relief efforts and contributing to our most significant outreach to date to benefit those who are suffering from the repercussions of the earthquake. Stay tuned for big announcements about musicians, partners, and others who will be involved as this project develops…
The “conscious beach party” part is in bold, so let’s hope it’s stressed equally in person as it is in text. Hopefully we have room in our costume suitcases to help bring some supplies, donations and other items that can assist a nation broken and working on rebuilding where it can. And I’m sure I’ll have no qualms about going back to my hedonism once I hop back on the boat, something that will surely provide some weird internal existential crisis for like a minute until I realize that I’m missing some rad DJ set somewhere on the boat. It’ll be weird, sure, but I’m sure I’ll find a boat full of people that are find just going with the flow anyway. I’ll follow their lead.
Jam Cruise 10 Lineup
Umphrey’s McGee
Galactic
Keller & The Keels
Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers
Toots & the Maytals
Soulive
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
Railroad Earth
Ozomatli
The New Deal
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
EOTO
7 Walkers
The New Mastersounds
Shpongle (DJ Set)
Perpetual Groove
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Toubab Krewe
Break Science with Chali 2Na
George Porter & the Runnin’ Pardners
Orgone
Dr. Klaw
Surprise Me Mr. Davis
Dead Kenny G’s
The Heavy Pets
A Set of Sly and the Family Stone (with Ivan Nevill, Eric Krasno, Jan Neville, Adam Deitch, Nick Daniels & Nigel Hall)
Tony Hall Superjam
The Everyone Orchestra
Paper Diamond
DJ Logic
DJ Kraz
Special guests:
Steve Kimock
Anders Osborne
Col. Bruce Hampton
Big Sam
Kyle Hollingsworth
Chali 2na
Jessica Lurie
