Jam Cruise 8 Recaps:Day 2

On Day 2 I woke up the earliest I would ever wake up on the boat – 10am. I was very ambitious and went to Yoga in the Disco room. I had good intentions of doing yoga every day of Jam Cruise, but the morning yoga session on Day 2 would be the only one I would attend.

On my way back from yoga I saw JT and TR sitting on the pool deck by the middle bar- they were playing through had frozen drinks in hand. They told me about their hijinks of staying up all night. On one hand I felt like I had missed out, but on the other hand I was happy that I felt rested and ready to rage on Day 2.

One of my new best friends on Jam Cruise had organized jerseys for the large crew of Colorado people on the boat. It was cool to all get together and take a picture.

At 2pm I got in line for the artist poster signing. The wait for the artist signing was long and as per usual I chatted up my fellow Jam Cruisers in line. I was wearing the crown that day, and I hear from behind me someone say “I think we have found royalty on the Boat. Sir, are you the King of Jam Cruise?” I turned around and there was a cute girl with a mic in my face and a camera man.

“IM THE KING OF THE WORLD!!! IM THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!” I exclaimed with the most enthusiasm I could muster. I was interviewed by Jam Cruise TV about my time on the Boat. Others told me that the interview played on the JCTV channel on the boat the day later- I never got to see it but maybe one day that interview will surface somehow.

When I emerged from the poster signing Railroad Earth was tearing it up on the pool deck- normally I think Railroad Earth is meh but that show was hot. I stuck around for most of Railroad Earth’s set and focused on the fiddle player. I was impressed.

Around 5:30pm I headed down to check out the “game show” of Lotus vs Toubab Crewe in Theater. They were playing the board game Cranium. I found the break from the music nice and the answers mildly amusing. At this point in the afternoon I had thrown on my Dharma jumpsuit. I sat down with a few friends from Madison House, the production company who works with many of the artists on the Boat.

I was developing a reputation as the LOST sticker guy on the Boat and it didn’t surprise me when a friend of mine let me know the person sitting behind me wanted a LOST/Jam Cruise sticker. I got one out of my pocket and stood up. “Do you have anything to trade?” I asked.

There were about 15 people sitting with us in the back of the Theater, all of them instantly started cracking up at my question. The man who was asking for a sticker looked tongue tied and blushed.

“What? Whats so funny? I mean, do you have anything to trade at all? A joke?”

Murph from STS9 was sitting behind the person who wanted a sticker and intervened.

“Listen dude, just give this guy a fucking sticker. If I were you I'd shut up and I'll tell you all the jokes you want.”

I handed off the sticker and sat down with Murph for a few minutes and listened to him tell me dirty jokes. I found out later the person who wanted a sticker was Mark Brown- the man responsible for starting Jam Cruise. I was shaking down the Jam Cruise Godfather and didn’t know it.

Luckily I didn’t get thrown off the boat.

After a quick bite to eat I found myself back up on the Pool deck for The Motet playing The Talking Heads. I don’t know what it is about these songs and the Motet lineup, but it never gets old. It was an all out dance party and I had a personal special moment during Naïve Melody. Never have the lyrics rang more true for me and I will never forget enjoying that song in the ocean with my friends.

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The sun was down and it seemed the Jam Cruisers were beginning to get dressed for the first theme night – Superheroes and Villains. I spotted two costumed girls – One dressed head to toe in a chicken outfit and the other in some sort of a hand outfit.

“So are you a Super Chicken?”
“Yeah”
“Whats your super power?”
“I lay psychedelic eggs. Do you want one?”
“Of course!”The Super Chicken made clucking noises and squatted. She produced an invisible psychedelic egg for my enjoyment.
“You can eat that two ways…scrambled or fried. The way you eat it determines your trip.”

“So, hand, what are you?”
“Im not a hand – im a Super Shocker!” (I then noticed she had her ring finger curled down)
“So what is your super power?”
“My super power is that im a SUPER SHOCKER, MOTHERFUCKER!”

With that, I decided it was time for a costume change and took a break to change into my Fidel Castro costume.

I had prepared 150 copies of my Fidel Castro Jam Cruise Revolution Manifesto to be distributed on the Boat. I walked around the dining areas – I figured people could read while they were eating dinner.

I used a bad accent and shouted “Revolution! Wake Up And Rage!” with a fake cigar in my mouth. Im fairly certain I made a few people uncomfortable on the elevator as I posted the manifesto, and my beard was so big several people I knew didn’t recognize me. Not sure how the Castro manifesto went over- some people seemed to love it, some thought it was stupid…others just didn’t care or couldn’t read. But I was into it.

I gave out all 150 copies or posted them somewhere on the Boat. We were going right by Cuba at the time and I told people I hopped on at Havana and was ready to party.

My Fidel Casro costume really doesnt even scratch the surface of how cool it was to see all the costumes on the boat that night. Jam Cruisers love to dress up, and I have never seen so many tights and capes in one place. Check out the photo galleries if you havent already:
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Next up musically for me was OHMphrey on the Pool Deck. I am not a huge Umphrey’s McGee fan but was very impressed with this project. I called it heavy metal groove music. You should check out Scotty B’s review for a better description and listen to the download when it emerges.


Two of my favorite costumes of the evening was our buddy Rich in a tailored Sgt Peppers outfit and Ritzer in a Boba Fett costume. Ritzer, Laurie, Rich and I hung out a lot that night along with the best married couple ever Ethan and Cheryl at STS9 on the Pool Deck. While most of the rest of the Boat was watching The Word tear it up in the Theater we were hanging out on the Pool Deck waiting for STS9 to start. It was actually kind of nice to chill out for a moment and get ready for a throwdown.

We secured dance space in front by Murph. The small feel of the show felt like 2003. While I didn’t get the ROYGBIV>Monkey Music I had requested earlier in the afternoon at the Theater during my Murph encounter, they played a beautiful Breathe In for Annabel who rocked out next to me in her Wonder Woman costume. During Shock Doctrine a Jam Cruiser would stand in the center of the crowd, offer up 100 glowsticks to the gods and throw them over us, then scavenge them all back again and repeat the process. As a tip of the hat to the old school fans in the audience we got a Gobnugget encore.

My group all loved the STS9 show. There was something special about it to us. Definitely a top 5 all time STS9 show for me. Murph, if you are out there – good job, buddy.

It seemed like the night flew by and suddenly I found myself in the Jam Room at 4am.
John Medeski, Zach Deputy and Josh Phillips were throwing down. Ethan and I finished off the night by going to Rob & Michelle’s cabin where they attempted to light a hookah and Rob tested my Phish knowledge.

Eventually I made it back to my cabin and passed out at 5:30am. Even though there were still people up - sleep is important to me on Jam Cruise.

Stay tuned for the Day 3 recap...