Groove
Cruise set to sail new musical waters
By Daniel Linck Savino
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
It seems every time you turn around, there’s some event trying to bill
itself as the “show of the year.” Well, the real winner of that title
is coming to Long Beach, and it should be the best $600 you’ve ever spent.
If that starting price seems steep, consider that you’ll get three days
and three nights of music. Is $200 a day still a bit much for you?
Put it on an all-inclusive (yes, food is free) cruise ship floating to Ensenada
from Long Beach Oct. 14, and you’ve got the Xingolati Groove Cruise.
The creation of Mark McLarry and Neal Turley, founders of Guy Graham Productions,
the event is intended to be a synthesis of diverse styles.
“
What we’re trying to create is this blending of worlds, this ultimate
experience,” McLarry said.
A look at the roster of featured performers quickly shows his goal is being realized
in grand style.
Headlined by the Flaming Lips, the cruise will be far more than
a floating Warped Tour. Less outre groups include Slightly Stoopid, Tea Leaf
Green and Long Beach locals Delta Nove.
But the flip side to this nearly normal list is the real treat. The yoga teachers/fire
dancers that are Indra Yoga are not your standard concert act. Neither is Mystic
Family Circus, billed as a “nomadic magic healing arts circus that travels
the globe, to sacred and troubled lands.”
And Dakini Divine, described
as a “newly awakened form of vaudeville glamour and circus shenanigans” gives
further proof of the non-standard direction of the cruise.
McLarry envisioned a type of event where a Burning Man fan would feel at home.
He also wanted to avoid the over-crowded mega-venue shows that are becoming the
norm.
“
I personally find crowds harder and harder every year,” he said. “On
the cruise ship, it’s a very intimate setting.”
The largest of the four main venues hold 1,500 people, while the smallest has
a limited capacity of 150.
Bands such as Delta Nove are perfectly suited for such settings. Frequently found
at the Blue's Cafe (playing next Oct. 13), the quintet is a self-described afro-samba-world
funk band. Trumpeter John Harrington likened their sound to Ozomatli.
“
Ozo’s a good representation,” he said, but Delta Nove has a more
unified sound.
“
They play a salsa song, a cumbia song, a merengue song, a funk song,” Harrington
said. “We’re trying to blend those a little bit more together.”
Given the goals of McLarry and Turley, what got them on the cruise is more than
just their sound.
“
We’re definitely fusing music together in an interesting way for people
to have fun,” Harrington said, “because they’re coming
to dance.”
If you want to get onboard, you’ll have to move fast. According to McLarry,
roughly 75 percent of the tickets have been sold. But there’s still time
to rustle up a few friends and get in on a cabin.
There are occasional call-in specials, available by request. A recent discount
dropped $500 off the total price of a four-person cabin, roughly equivalent to
a “buy three,” get one free deal.
Full list of bands:
The Flaming Lips, G. Love and Special Sauce, Banyan, Medeski Martin & Wood,
Slightly Stoopid , Particle, Everyone Orchestra, DJ Logic, Tea Leaf Green, R.E.D,
DJ Greyboy, The Mutaytor, Lorin (Bassnectar), DJ Laird, Rob Cantrell (from NBC’s
Last Comic Standing), Perpetual Groove, Delta Nove, Al Howard and the K23 Orchestra,
Motion Potion, That 1 Guy, Lowpro Lounge, Chris Cutz, Fresh One, Hamsa Lila,
Yard Dog’s Traveling Road Show, The Ritual, Vau de Vire Society, Mystic
Family Circus, The Portal All Stars, Indra Yoga, Marco Landin, lucent dossier,
Dakini Divine, Rubber Repertory
Tickets are available through In Ticketing at 415-256-8499. More information
on the cruise is available at www.xingolati.com.
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