November 03, 2003
Galactic, Greyhounds invading Athens
I sat on my front porch in my Halloween costume Friday evening and had a conversation with Ben Ellman (fourth from left in photo), sax man for Galactic, and envied him for being in Austin, Texas – a fine town to spend the holiday.
Galactic is touring (with a stop this Thursday at the Georgia Theatre) behind their latest release, "Ruckus," one of the finest records to find its way into my collection this year. Ben was at Stubb’s BBQ and I’m not sure if he was in costume, but the dialogue went something like this:
David Eduardo: Typically you play the tenor sax – what were some of the other instruments or gadgets you got to manipulate on Ruckus?
Ben Ellman: I got to use an MPC 2000, an old school sequencer used to make a lot of hip-hop – we got to demo tunes and lay down blueprints for things before moving into the Galactic studio.
DE: New Orleans was essentially built with brass. What has been the highlight for you living in a town and getting to play with and share the stage with so many talented players? ...
BE: I’ve been in New Orleans for about 15 years and getting to know and play with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band has been the biggest thrill.
DE: When is Galactic set to rock Preservation Hall?
BE: (Laughing) Hopefully not for another 50 years.
DE: It’s Halloween and you’re in Austin – anything special up your sleeves for the show tonight?
BE: We’ve got a burlesque troupe from New Orleans, the Shim Sham Review – beautiful ladies…and we’ve got a few songs that they’ve choreographed routines to…very sexy.
DE: Nice. Do you have any fond memories of Athens, GA?
BE: Oh hell yeah! Back in ’91 or ’92 I was in a band called Lump and we slept on the couches at Jittery Joes that night. I’ve been playing Athens for years – it’s a fun place to play, there are tons of music lovers.
DE: JamCruise is coming up in a couple months (presented by local hero JOMO), have y’all ever played the high seas before?
BE: Nah, never have, but we’re looking forward to it.
DE: What do you think about The Greyhounds new record, “Liberty”?
BE: I think it’s killer – [band mates] Rob [Mercurio] and Stanton [Moore] did a good job. They had great songs to work with.
DE: What have you got going on, on the side?
BE: I play with the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars…and I’m about to put out a solo record in a month or two, DJ stuff, it’ll be at the shows and available online.
DE: Doesn’t matter where you get hungry as long as you go home to Galactic for dinner?
BE: (Laughing) We all support everything that each other does. The Galactic guys are all over my new record.
DE: I read somewhere that you used to work lights for Whitney Houston.
BE: Oh yeah, the, I’m Your Baby Tonight tour.
DE: Ever witness Whitney puffing a blunt or burning her lips on a crack pipe with Bobby Brown?
BE: No man, I have no dirt on Whitney. I think she had just started dating Bobby back then, and honestly she never said a word to me, but she truly is a bad-ass singer.
Get out to the theatre early y’all, The Greyhounds are something serious – it won’t be too long before they’re headlining gigs at the place.