Galactic with Macy Gray
Waterfront Blues Festival
Portland, OR.
July 3, 2015

I'm not going to be able to record as much this year. I'll try to get all the major acts and some favorites I've had over the years. Again, KBOO FM is broadcasting the show live. KBOO is an all volunteer station. All proceeds from the festival go to the Oregon Food Bank so please donate if you can. They also have a live stream on the internet. It's an MP3 stream. My set up is an old Technics Quartz Tuner> H2 Zoom> SD card> computer> TLH.

It seems incredible that GALACTIC had not made a carnival album, but now it�s finally here. To make CARNIVALE ELECTRICOS, the members of GALACTIC (Ben Ellman, harps and horns; Robert Mercurio, bass; Stanton Moore, drums and percussion; Jeff Raines, guitar; Rich Vogel, keyboards) draw on the skills, stamina, and funk they deploy in the all-night party of their annual Lundi Gras show that goes �til sunrise and leads sleeplessly into Mardi Gras day.

Formed 18 years ago in New Orleans, GALACTIC cut their teeth playing the biggest party in America: Mardi Gras, when the Crescent City shuts down entirely to celebrate. CARNIVALE ELECTRICOS evokes the electric atmosphere of a whole city � make that, whole cities � vibrating together all on the same day, from New Orleans down to the mighty mega-carnivals of Brazil. Armed with a slew of carnival-ready guests from high-school students to 72-year-old Al �Carnival Time� Johnson (who remakes his all-time hit), GALACTIC whisks the listener around the neighborhoods to feel the Mardi Gras moment in all its variety of flavors.

CARNIVALE ELECTRICOS begins on a spiritual note, the way Mardi Gras does in the black community of New Orleans. On that morning, the most exciting experience you can have is to be present when the small groups of black men called Mardi Gras Indians perform their sacred street theater. Nobody embodies the spiritual side of Mardi Gras better than the Indians, whose tambourines and chants provide the fundament of New Orleans carnival music. These �gangs,� as they call them, organize around and protect the figure of their chief. The album�s keynote singer, War Chief Juan Pardo, is, says Robert Mercurio, �one of the younger Chiefs out there, and he�s become one of the best voices of the new Chiefs.�

On �Karate,� says Ellman, the band was aiming to �capture the power� of one of the fundamental musical experiences of Mardi Gras: �a marching band passing by you.� The 40-piece KIPP RENAISSANCE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND�s director arranged up GALACTIC�s demo, then the band rehearsed it until they had it all memorized. The kids poured their hearts into a solid performance, and, says Mercurio, �I think they were surprised� to hear how good they sounded on the playback.

Set List: (please help)
01 Instrumental
02 Instrumental
03
04 5:16
05 6:01
06 Stones
07 Instrumental
08 Right On
09 6:53
10 6:46
11 8:03
12 Announcer
13 3:26
14 4:36