Narrows Festival of the Arts

How cool is the Narrows Center for the Arts for bringing back Eric Lindell
to headline their annual Festival of the Arts last Sunday?

Making his Fall River debut in February, Eric gave one of the best performances I've seen at the Narrows this year. Last Sunday, he played his soulful R&B and reggae-tinged good-time blues to a sun-drenched crowd, and we were all grooving to his funky NOLA beats in the streets below the Narrows center. In addition to Eric on guitar, with a bassist and drummer, Sunday's band had a double sax horn section, including ex-Iguana Derek Huston, who also sometimes plays with the Grandsons. That set was the perfect ending to a beautiful day that started early afternoon with Carrie Rodriguez, whom I had only seen previously as a duo with Chip Taylor. What I saw of Carrie's performance with her own band was quite different and really rocked. I hope to catch her again some time. After her set, I followed a dragon parade over to the children's area, which took on a Chinese theme, probably in a nod to the Beijing Olympics. Parasol dancers, drummers, and a lion dance in front of the Azorean arch, in the shadow of the Braga bridge beneath clear blue skies made for a colorful display.

Also appearing on the outdoor stage, Jim Lauderdale Trio (guitar, dobro & mandolin) played bluegrass/ country/ Americana for our listening pleasure. Then the Holmes Brothers got people up out of their seats and clapping/ singing along with their gospel/blues/ R&B / pop songs. The two front men harmonize nicely, then every once in a while the drummer adds his high falsetto vocals to the mix.

When I went upstairs to check out the goings on inside the Narrows I found an exhibit of paintings by of Brian Fox. There were several celebrity portraits including one of Tom Brady, who looked much better in the painting than he did on the field that day. The season ending injury of #12 happened shortly after we arrived at the festival, which always seems to coincide with Patriots football opening day. This presents quite the dilemma for some, but luckily there are a couple of local watering holes nearby to keep up with the game.

The sunlight streaming through the huge windows highlighted recent renovations at the Narrows, including some new tables and chairs, and some much needed bathroom improvements. On the indoor stage, I saw Mark T. Small, a blues guitar player who does a lot with a little (just himself on an acoustic guitar) ...but he plays with much feeling. Also Jeremy Wallace trio, who played gruff-sounding old-time blues.

Back outside, there was some nice jewelry and artwork for sale, and some food vendors, like LePages seafood, and some chili and hotdogs. Plus Waterstreet Cafe, which is right there anyway, offered a menu of sandwiches and drinks. This was the 3rd year for the festival in its current location on the Taunton River near the Maritime Museum and Battleship Cove.

This one day festival given by the Narrows showcases what they do so well all year long and is a great end to the summer festival season, not to mention a cure for post-Rhythm and Roots blues. Packing up after Rhythm and Roots used to be more depressing, but now it's more like , "See you next week at the Narrows festival!" . This year's fest had a diverse lineup and was representative of the type of talent the Narrows brings in every week. The fall lineup is great! Some of the shows I'm looking forward to in the near future are Mose Allison, Justin Townes Earle, Los Straitjackets, the Iguanas, and the Subdudes and probably quite a few more. See you there!

Here's a link to the rest of my photos from the festival

Taste of Pawtucket / Arts Festival Gala

Last Friday night was the gala / kickoff for the Pawtucket Arts festival, with music by Slippery Sneakers and Buckwheat Zydeco. But the real attraction to this event is the Taste of Pawtucket Food Festival, where dozens of the city's restaurants set up booths and offered samples of their wares included in the price of admission, which was $10 in advance, $15 at the door. This year's food fest was set up in the street, apart from the music, so there was much more room to stroll among the food booths (unlike last year when everything was crowded together). I didn't know there were so many restaurants in Pawtucket! Actually there was such a variety, everything from chains such as McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts, to RI based Chelo's, Spumoni's and other well known and not so well known establishments were represented. I had never heard of the "To Kalon" club, which offered one of the more inventive dishes, a roast pork with amaretto /sun-dried tomato cream sauce. There were Steak tips from East Ave Cafe, Ruben sandwiches from Local Hero Deli, Shrimp Alinha from Galito's Portuguese restaurant, Vietnamese noodles and spring rolls from Pho Horn, clam cakes and chowder from Chelo's, breads from Seven Stars bakery - the list goes on and on, and those are just the ones I tried. Bacchini's bakery was there with their delicious desserts, and so was Lila's cafe with their house-made ice cream in flavors such as strawberry rhubarb, peanut-butter hemp, coffee, green tea with lime, mango sorbet and more, some of them vegan. After all that it was tough to get out there and dance, but we made the effort. Slippery Sneakers sounded good, with the full band on stage, not the pared down winter version. Because it was the 10th anniversary of the festival, there were fireworks between bands. Buckwheat started late and had to end on time so it was an abbreviated set. He was in more of a reggae / funk mode than zydeco, and played some B3, when he could get it to work - they had some sound problems, so it was not the best performance of Buckwheat, but we still had a fun time, on the banks of the Blackstone River, behind the old Slater mill.

Pictures here....


Taste o’ Pawtucket / Arts Fest Gala
The Pawtucket Arts Festival continues next weekend with art and concerts in Slater Park, including the Stone Soup Folk Festival

Driveway Macque Choux

When I finally got around to making the Macque Choux as demonstrated by Linzay Young at Rhythm and Roots, it was Monday after work. Whenever we grill outdoors for supper, I'm always indoors fixing the side dishes, then when I'm ready to go out and chill, all the fun part is done! So I decided to make the Macque Choux outdoors while Joe grilled some chicken on the Weber, and this made it so much better! I have made this dish before, indoors, with canned corn and tomatoes, with so-so results. The key to making this dish taste good, I think, is not too rush it, let it cook and enjoy the process... one way to do this is to cook it outdoors on the camp stove. Like grilling, its more fun to cook it outside on a beautiful late summer evening while enjoying a cold beverage, than to be standing over a hot stove indoors ....And using fresh corn helps too! (frozen is good too, not canned). I didn't take any pictures of Linzay's cooking demo at the festival, but I recreated the experience in my driveway....


Driveway Macque Choux & Chicken

the instructions are in the photo captions

Rhythm and Roots 2008

One of the things I always tout to potential newcomers about the location of Rhythm and Roots at Ninigret Park in Charlestown RI is how close it is to ocean beaches, so you can easily leave the festival to visit one of them. But once I get set up at the camp I seldom leave the site. No need to leave when everything you need is right there – music, food, fun, friends, even a pond to take a dip if the mood strikes you. But even though I never left to go to the beach, the seed was planted, and a few days later I’m finally enjoying some late season beach time, reflecting on this years festival. Rather than a blow by blow account, I thought I’d just share a few impressions.

The best way for me to enjoy the main stage music at Rhythm and Roots is to set up my chair on the right side, near the dance tent, so I can spring up on a whim without having to pick my way through the mostly seated crowd. This is where I enjoyed dancing to the Waybacks in the rain on Saturday.… especially the extended "St. Stephen" jam. I looked around and saw I wasn’t the only one having a Grateful moment. But the Waybacks are much more than a Dead revival band, so many catchy original tunes, like "Bright Place". They are a great band. It was also a good spot for dancing to Donna the Buffalo, and trying to keep up with a member of the herd several years my senior. I can only hope to stay that loose!

Marcia Ball and the guys Saturday night was the musical highlight of the whole festival. The air was misty and swampy, warm and wet and soupy, just like in Lousiana, which many of us had on our minds what with Hurricane Gustav threatening. Marcia helped to remind us with her heartfelt rendition of Louisiana 1927 and other songs about her adopted city, like Party Town, the Bobby Charles song from her latest CD “Peace Love and BBQ". She was joined by Johnny Nicholas and some of his band mates (who played a great set Friday night as well), Steve Riley, David Greely and others for a big jam ending with "All Night Long". Too bad it couldn’t have lasted all night long.

Some of the bands have played the festival so often, and play several times throughout the weekend that I never get around to seeing them, thinking I will get to see them later…that’s what happened to me with the Red Stick Ramblers, who I missed for one reason or another. But I did get to see Linzay Young do his campfire cooking demonstration on Saturday in the workshop tent, where he made Macque Choux with one hand and roux for the next day’s gumbo with the other, all while explaining the recipe, fielding questions from the audience (who was gathered around nice and close), promoting the Black Pot festival, alternately sipping a beer and using it to flavor the dish. And unlike Emeril’s TV show, we DID have smell-o-vision, and not only that but taste-o-vision, too…yum!

We always "camp" at Rhythm and Roots, but our set-up is far from the austere images of roughing it that come to mind when one thinks of camping. Combining resources with a group of about 8-10 friends, it's more like extended tailgating, with a few hours rest in the wee hours. Because most people camp every year and set up in approximately the same spot year after year, it is has a neighborhood feel, and there are lots of musicians around our area. The campground jams were fun this year, though sometimes they grow so large it's hard to fit everyone in. Rhythm and Roots is the only festival where I get to play music in a jam setting that I really like to play. I mean , I can do bluegrass on accordion if I have to, but the jams at Rhythm and Roots are so much more eclectic. And here accordions are welcomed, almost revered. I especially enjoyed a daytime jazz & blues jam with our neighbors (that may have been one of the times I missed the Red Sticks). The Saturday night after-hours zydeco dance floor setup was also really fun. There were at least 3 accordions, bass, washtub bass, some fiddles, saxophone, drums, guitars, rubboards and a whole bunch of dancers in constant motion. Bob from Slippery Sneakers had set up a mike and small amp and we all took turns leading or soloing. Sunday night we had a nice mellow jam by the fire at our place with members of the Remnants, and others.

Rhythm and Roots is a yearly tradition, and I go every year regardless of who is playing. I love the Cajun and Zydeco bands the most, even though I’ve seen some of them countless times and hear the same songs over and over. There’s something about the spirit of that music that gets in your soul and keeps you coming back for more. But every year I do look forward to discovering someone new and exciting, or unexpected. Maybe I have been to too many festivals, but this year there was only one band that was completely new to me – Scythian. I only caught the latter half of their set because they played kind of early on Friday when we were finishing up our traditional opening night celebration supper. They played a mix of Celtic and klezmer influenced material, not my favorite…but the crowd seemed to like them, and they got everyone up on their feet. The other “new” band was Great American Taxi led by Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon, who has played at R'n'R and Grey Fox before. At times they reminded me of String Cheese Incident, also from Colorado, and Assembly of Dust, another band featuring rambling, open keyboard solos that I like a lot. I’ve already listened to the set a few times on MVY radio and I like it more each time.

I found David Bromberg on Sunday night to be a bit ho-hum for a prime night time slot… it may have been better if he had switched places with the Gourds, who played an upbeat, sun-splashed set on Sunday afternoon. This year, I missed the presence of a visual show band, like we’ve seen in years past with La Bottine Souriant, the Duhks or Los Straitjackets, the Asylum Street Spankers, or even Marty Stuart from last year. Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks come close, but don’t really fit the bill with their mellow lounge act vibe. I like to see bands with a lot of energy, especiallyh when it is presented on such a big stage at night.

I enjoyed Keb Mo’ on Saturday. With his band, they were more funky and less folky than when I’ve seen him in the past. Later on, I made my way back to the dance tent for some Pine Leaf Boys w/ Jesse Lege. They had to leave early due to the impendng storm, so they wanted to make the most of their last set. Corey Ledet, who had been playing drums with another band, joined in on accordion and kicked it up into the zydeco zone.

Robert Cray on Sunday night was as smooth as expected. Even though I had never seen him live before, I’ve heard his music before, so no surprises there. All his songs seem to be about cheating and sneaking around. At that point there were a lot of latecomers crowding into our space on the field so we went back to the dance tent, for one last Louisiana style jam.

The Sunday night jam with Steve Riley & friends, including most of Donna the Buffalo, some of the Red Stick Ramblers, and some guest rubboard players such as Hot Sauce and R’n’R’s own C.W. wound up the weekend's performances, with a driving Hot Tamale Baby. Wild and raucous, the last set in the dance tent is the essence of the festival.

I hope the Rhythm and Roots festival is able to remain in Ninigret Park - it would be shame to have it move elsewhere. It is so big and open, plenty of room for camping and bike riding, and you can catch a slight whiff of salt air - it is the perfect spot for this festival. On the way home I picked up a dozen ears of delicious sweet corn from a local farm… I have some tomatoes and peppers in my garden, and just happen to have some tasso in the freezer from my last trip to Lousiana, so I am going to whip up some of that Macque Choux when Hurricane Hannah hits this weekend, while listening to the Red Stick Ramblers:

Corn Macque Choux as made by Linzay Young at Rhythm and Roots (from memory, hopefully I got it in the right order)

1) Saute onions and green peppers in vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot.

2) Add diced tasso (highly seasoned smoked pork… if you don’t have it, you can use smoked sausage or some other kind of smoked meat).

3) Let it cook awhile, and when it starts to stick deglaze with beer (Linzay used Magic Hat #9)

4) Add fresh corn with the juice, and some chopped jalapeno without the seeds.

5) Season with Cajun/Creole spice mix (usually a mix of salt, cayenne, garlic powder, paprika, thyme and other seasonings) . Make sure you use enough seasoning, especially if you don’t have tasso! Also make sure it cooks at least 45 minutes on low to medium heat, stirring now and then and deglaze with beer to release the stuck on goodness at the bottom.

6)Towards the end of cooking, when everything is getting nice and caramelized, add some chopped fresh tomatoes and cook a little longer til the tomatoes reduce.

7)A little before serving, add chopped parsley and scallions for a finishing touch of flavor and color.

You can listen to the Redstick Ramblers while cooking this up, along with lots of other performances on http://www.mvyradio.com/music_info/rhythm_and_roots_festival_2008.php

more pictures here:


Rhythm and Roots 2008

NOLA in NYC - Lincoln Center Outdoors

Last weekend we went to New York for a free concert at Lincoln Center with all New Orleans lineup that was like a good day at Jazz Fest. The program was called "Roots of American Music", an outdoor concert series now in its 25th year. The Pinettes Brass Band, an all girl brass band, and the Hot 8 Brass band faced off on a small stage at one end, then paraded around to the larger stage in the band shell at Damrosch park outside of Lincoln Center. It was nice to see the Pinettes, whom I had never heard of before. Being somewhat of an amateur musician myself, I've often wondered why there aren't more women in brass bands. The only thing that bugs me is why does it always have to be an"all girl" band, making it seem like a novelty? But these girls could definitely could hold their own. The Hot 8 , with trumpet player Shamarr Allen, and the Pinettes each played a set on the large stage, then joined forces for a brass blowout including a rousing version of "when the Saints go marching in". which got a good number of folks second-lining around the plaza. Everyone wanted to be in that number!

Next up was Marc Stone's all-star soul review. Marc Stone is a DJ on WWOZ and plays guitar. Betty Harris, a soul singer from the 50's & 60's who had a hit with "Cry to Me" joined them for that and a few other songs. After that was my favorite set of the evening, the Campbell Brothers. They got us all to "Jump for Joy" with their fired up sacred steel music. They had 2 pedal steel guitars and some backup singers, and were joined by Kirk (Dirty Dozen) Joseph's Backyard Horns. They got everyone up on their feet to testify and sanctify, and we were festified. If my church was as lively as that, I'd probably go more often! And why else do people go to church? To be part of a community. Well at this little NYC festival there were at least forty others we knew from all our trips to New Orleans Jazzfest - Threadheads - fun-loving, fest-going internet-chatting folks whom we've become acquainted with over the years on the New Orleans jazzfest message board (which is how we found out about this Lincoln Center show in the first place). This online community has spawned a real community all over the world with the common thread being a love of life, music, food, and all things New Orleans. While most of us who were at the NY show are from the east coast, others came from as far away as Texas and California and North Carolina to get a little shot of New Orleans and catch up with some of our extended fest-family.

Singer John Boutte was up next with his unique brand of vocalizing. He makes every song his own. His version of Neil Young's Southern Man gave me chills-I'd never heard it like that bef'ore. and of course there was Louisiana 1927 as well as plenty of originals, like "Door Poppin". And of course he had to sing "Saints" as well, prompting another spirited second line.

Irma Thomas was the final performer of the evening, and she sounded as strong as ever. She did a mix of soulful ballads, some from her grammy award winning CD, and hip shakin' old favorites, like "You Can Have my Husband (but please don't mess wtih my man)", "Iko-Iko", "Done got Over" (with the usual ad-lib second line bit). And yes, more second lining from the adoring crowd.

My pictures from the day's festivities are here on webshots.

The festival continued on Sunday, with performances by Pete Seeger, the Knitters, and Patti Smith, who was joined by Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. So it was quite a diverse lineup. I would have liked to see some of that too but it started late in the day. We had taken the train in from Stamford CT., where we found a deal at the Marriott. For the price of a tiny room in Manhattan, we got a nice room, round trip train tickets, ride to the station, parking, and breakfast, plus a chance to splash around in the outdoor pool before hitting the road to get home, cut the grass, and start to get ready for Rhythm and Roots next weekend. So many festivals, so little time!

2008 Newport Folk Festival

Fort Adams is a uniquely beautiful venue, and Sunday was picture perfect for the first ever appearance of Jimmy Buffett at the Newport Folk Fest. With the bright clear sunshine, gentle breezes coming off the water, boats in the harbor, and a relaxed vibe, it was a parrothead’s dream! The whole day was perfect. Willy Mason opened the main stage, complete with a saw player (!), something I actually witnessed twice in 4 days, having just seen the Asylum Street Spankers on Thursday. But Willy's material seemed too somber, so I went to see Ryan Fitzsimmons on the Waterside stage instead. Full of energy, he gave his all in the 20 minute set - too bad he wasn't on the main stage. Brandi Carlile was a new discovery for me. I had never heard of her before but enjoyed her singing and songwriting. She played acoustic guitar and sang mostly original material, accompanied by a rocking 3 piece band that included 2 twins. She belted out "Folsom Prison Blues", and ended with a soul-stirring encore version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Over the Rhine (from Cincinnati) and Calexico (from Arizona) played overlapping sets on two different stages, and although they featured different instrumentation, seemed to have a similar, cinematic sound. Perhaps not coincidentally, the singer from Over the Rhine told a story about how she and her keyboard playing husband had just returned from a trip to Santa Fe - maybe there's a southwest connection there somewhere. I like the dream-like sound of Calexico, a band which mixes Mariachi horns, pedal steel, and accordion with their guitars, sounding like something out of a spaghetti western at times.

Even with Jimmy Buffett as the featured act, it did not seem as crowded as other years. I think all the true parrot-heads were enjoying the show from their boats - from spartan kayaks to luxurious yachts and everything in between. Plus drinking in the state park is confined to a tent way out near the water.

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Without a title sponsor, the Newport Folk Festival seems to be searching for new ways to make money. This year they offered a VIP package for $500 a day ($850 for 2 days) that included food and drink served in a shaded lounge, a bag of goodies, and a reserved seating area. At least this year, the reserved seating was toward the back, so the seats, which remained empty for most of the day, were not taking up prime viewing space up front as they did last year. Who would want to sit in those little plastic chairs in the sun with no cooler, when you can bring your own chair or blanket and relax? That's so much more "folk-fest" than reserved seating - who ever heard of such a thing?

Last time I went to the folk fest in an election year, it seemed everyone had a political statement to make. This was noticeably missing from Sunday's performances. Except for a brief announcement from Clean Water Action, there wasn't a lot of political grandstanding from the main stage. Maybe that's not very "folk-fest" either but I didn't mind - it was a relief actually.

Back to the music, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings played a great set of Americana/ bluegrass music, highlighted by their fine harmony singing. She played some banjo too, and they did a version of "Jackson" by Johnny & June Carter Cash, saying everyone always requests it of them, so they decided to learn it. Something about the setting and the history of the Newport folk fest seems to inspire the performers, and they urged the boats to toot their horns if they could hear, and they did.

I caught some of Jake Shimabukuro, the young Hawaiian ukelele phenom who has been seen by millions on youtube. The small tent was packed, and he was marveling at his new-found fame, which he said he never imagined. I guess he has toured with Bela Fleck and had recently discovered bluegrass, so he treated us to an original composition based on Orange Blossom Special, plus his signature version of "While my Guitar gently Weeps."

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Levon Helm stole the show with his Americana revue, performing a mix of blues, country, bluegrass, and songs from the Band's catalog. There were so many musicians on stage - horns, including tuba, trombone, sax, trumpet - keyboards, harmonica (little Sammy Davis), accordion, banjo, fiddle. He played mandolin half the time, while daughter Amy got behind the drums, and also sang quite a bit. His voice sounded somewhat strained at times, but lent a familiar air to some of the bluegrass songs, ala Ralph Stanley. Their version of "Ashes of Love" had a kind of Cajun rhythm to it. There was always someone new stepping up to take a solo or sing, including Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. It kind of reminded me of Bruce Springsteen's Seeger sessions. I guess Levon figured, hey, I've been doing this type of music a lot longer than the boss so why not do it all the way? After that I would have been happy to call it a day, but wait, there's more (!)

Jimmy Buffett started out with a solo performance of "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw", but was soon joined by the full band, contrary to what some of the advance billing suggested. He seemed to revel in the opportunity to finally play at Newport after 40 years, and acknowledged the sailors in the extended audience out in Narragansett Bay. He's always good at throwing in local and timely references, like conjuring up a volcano on Block Island in the intro to "Volcano", and changing lyrics to songs like "Fruitcakes" ("the future will be here soon - we should be living like George Jetson, but we're getting screwed by oil tycoons"). In keeping with the festival format, the show included some special guests, like ukelele star Jake Shimabukuro playing backup on several songs. Jake also played part of his claim-to-fame version of "My Guitar Gently Weeps". The darlings of the day, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, joined him for a toe-tapping version of Gillian's "Elvis Presley Blues", on which Jimmy played a National steel guitar. And of course there was the full complement of songs and stories of drunken debauchery, island mischief, and good times on the high seas - or is that high times on good seas? I am not really a parrothead, having only seen him once before, when his local summer tour appearance did not coincide with Rhythm and Roots. But I enjoy a good show, and I don't think there could be a better setting in which to experience a Jimmy Buffett concert. Jimmy even ordered up a rainbow during Margaritaville, and a "pirate ship" fired its cannons for him. Does it get any better than this?

The one thing I dislike about the Newport festival is the difficulty in getting out of there - if you stay until the end it usually takes over an hour to get out of the parking lot. But we made our escape during the "encore" of One Particular Harbor and made it home in no time.

It was such a beautiful day I couldn't help but take lots of pictures... here's a sampling on webshots.

and we can relive some of the performances, which are available on NPR

2008 Lowell Folk Festival

Just returned from a trip to Lowell, MA this past weekend, where we savored the sights, sounds and smells that make this urban festival such a treat for the senses. It has been two years since I last visited Lowell for the Folk Festival, and I was amazed at all the activity emanating from new businesses that seem to spring up each year. Restaurants, bars and other businesses were all buzzing with activity, many hosting their own live music, augmenting the scheduled festival performances. The free festival takes place on several outdoor stages around the downtown area, which is centered around a National Historic Park showcasing the city's rich industrial history, with the textile mills and workers' housing that once hummed there now converted into parks, museums, condo's, gallery and office space.

The stage at Boarding House Park is the setting for most of the performances, with live broadcasts on Saturday afternoon on 89.7 WGBH. Over the three days of the festival, dozens of acts perform on that and several other stages, multiple times over the weekend. So if you miss someone at one day or time, you can usually catch them later. Or if you want to see the same performer two or three times, you can do that too. It's kind of like an outdoor First Night celebration without the cold (although the heat can be a challenge at times). The breadth and diversity of talent is always breathtaking. This year I saw the Lonesome River Bluegrass Band, Henry Gray and the Cats (boogie/blues piano player) , the Skatalites, (ska), Sister Marie Knight (gospel/spiritual), Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys (one of my favorite current Zydeco bands) , country music by Red Volkaert from Texas with Cindy Cashdollar, some French/Canadian and Irish fiddlers, a Croatian string band led by Jerry Grcevich and more. I don't know if it is possible to see and hear everything that is offered - I was there for part of all three days, and saw/ heard lots, but not everything (missed Mighty Sam McClain) but I enjoyed everything I did get to experience.

My favorite performance was probably by the Skatalites - Ska is a type of music I don't come across very often, and I liked all the horns, because they sounded jazzier than I would have thought - especially when they took turns soloing. The Creole Cowboys , who filled in for the previously scheduled Rosie Ledet, were excellent in the dance tent Friday night,with the ultra cool Classie Ballou on bass, but were more "subdued" for their NPR-broadcast set on the Boarding House stage on Saturday. It's always tough when you get a zydeco or cajun band to play to a mostly seated audience, but as usual there were several die-hard dancers forming a little dance-enclave off to one side, and here and there throughout the crowd.
A change this year from years past was the new location for the dance tent - instead of being conveniently located around the corner from Boarding House Park, it was several blocks away. Although it was more of a hike to get there, the new location allowed for a more open area surrounding it, more food booths, less crowding, and there was not problem with sound bleed between the two stages. However because I chose to spend most of my time between those two stages, I didn't bother to go over to JFK Plaza (the other big stage) because it seemed too far to travel between all three. And I missed the intimate "Market Mills" courtyard stage; that area was now being used to showcase visual arts.

Henry Gray was one of the featured artists this year (he's on the poster and T-shirt), and I was surprised not to have heard him before - although he has been around for a long time, out of Baton Rouge and Chicago. He plays rollicking boogie/ blues piano with a full band, including harmonica, and is a recent recipient of a NEA National Heritage Fellowship, this country’s highest recognition of traditional artists, plus some WC Handy and Grammy awards. That is what is great about this Lowell Folk festival - they always seem to find artists who may not always be household names, but are so good. Since I first discovered the Lowell festival around 1990 (?) I have seen so many great acts there over the years - from bona fide legends, to new discoveries and old favorites - Charles Brown, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Howard Armstrong, Peter Rowan, Beausoleil, Marcia Ball, Eddie Pennington, Doc Watson, Bill Kirchen, Shemekia Copeland, Donna the Buffalo, Treme Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band - the list goes on and on. And who can forget the "Tuvan throat singers" from a couple of years ago? Plus a host of great Polka bands, and everything else from Greek to Irish to Hmong to Puerto Rican music. It is a real melting pot of cultures, just like the city that hosts it, and this year was no exception.

One of the highlights of this great festival is sampling all the different ethnic foods, most of which are prepared and served by local community groups from various cultural and civic organizations.
They had a variety of Asian, Jamaican, Middle Eastern, Greek and other types of food for sale. This year I was in the mood for Asian, and enjoyed some Laotian noodles, spring rolls, teriyaki, and Thai curry. I was so tempted to try many of the others as well, but there's only so much one can eat! There's always next year.... and if you are reading this thinking, dang, how could I have missed this one? Do I really have to wait until next year? Well, there are a couple of options:

Although I have not been there yet, I am told there is a very similar festival that takes place in Bangor, Maine Aug 22-24, the American Folk Festival, . The Creole Cowboys will be there as well, along with a host of other ethnic and regional acts from across America. Like the Lowell festival, this one also started out a few years ago as the National Folk Festival . The National Folk Festival, produced by the National Council for Traditional arts and funded in part by NEA grants, moves to different cities every few years, showing the locals how to "do" a festival, then they move on - a worthy use of tax dollars, in my opinion! This year's National Folk Festival was held in Butte, Montana. The seeds planted in Lowell over two decades ago have not only sprouted but have taken root and grown into a strong vine, and have borne other fruits as well, which leads to the second alternative to waiting a whole year to hear some great music in Lowell. Besides the annual Folk festival, the city of Lowell hosts a summer music series - not free, but reasonably priced - in Boarding House park as well. Some of the acts scheduled for the remainder of this season year are: The Neville Brothers, Bruce Hornsby, John Hiatt, Keb Mo, Dan Hicks, Levon Helm, and more. The full schedule is at http://www.lowellsummermusic.org/page.php?page=root/home.htm

Click here for more of my pictures from this year's Lowell Folk Festival

2008 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival

Down from the Mountain

We returned from Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival a few days ago. More so than any other festival, for me a trip to Grey Fox requires a little more time to ease back into "reality". Where else can you walk around in a sarong all day, not worry about how your hair looks, and consider a cold shower a luxury? It’s all about enjoying the simple things of life - acquiring food, drink and shelter, enjoying time spent with friends and family, the beauty of your surroundings, and of course, the music. For me the Grey Fox experience is like living in a kind of Utopian society for a few days. This is why I like to volunteer at Grey Fox – it's more about being part of the festival then paying close attention to all of the musical performances, many of whom I have seen multiple times in the past. My job at the festival for the past 5 years has been in the information booth, where we try to provide answers to questions about the site and surrounding area, as well as take suggestions and raffle entries, and manage the Lost & Found, among other things. As a bonus, I get to meet and greet old friends and new as they pass by on their way to a stage, vendor or campsite.
Much of the main stage audience is rather sedentary (witness the mad dash to place chairs on every available inch of the main concert area as soon as most people arrive), but thankfully there is also a dance tent/ pavilion at Grey Fox where you can cut loose. Musically, I gravitate more towards the non-bluegrass acts, many of whom play in the dance tent – like Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys, the Red Stick Ramblers, and the Wilders. On the main stage, I enjoyed the less traditional bluegrass such as Sam Bush, the Steeldrivers, and Missy Raines. The new site on the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, NY had some improvements over the old site in Ancramdale - namely the vast, flat camping and vendor areas. I was able to ride my bike around the grounds and even off site a bit, and was not so tired from fighting gravity all weekend, as on the previous site. However, the size of the place was a bit daunting, and I missed being able to easily visit all my friends' campsites at night, not wanting to ride my bike in the dark (or while carrying instruments). At the previous site, we always knew where everyone would be camped, but now it is a whole new world. It took a while to figure out where everyone was – some were almost a half mile away, in the far corner near quiet camping. Also the position of the main stage at the top of a rather steep hill, away from most of the vendors, was a drawback, because you couldn't easily go get food or roam the vendor area from there. Tractor-shuttles were available, but were often full. Like taking the elevators at the Joe Val festival, sometimes you had to go down first to go up.

Lugging fest goers up the hill to the main stage

But aside from that, there was the same kind of familiar, friendly feeling at the festival (minus the drama of weather-related road closures and potential traffic mishaps on the hill) and it ran quite smoothly for the first year at a new place.

My first 24 hours felt a bit surreal. I arrived late Tuesday afternoon and set up in the staff camping area. After a quick staff meeting and some dinner, I passed by a friend’s campsite where they were watching a movie on their computer, “I’m Not There”, the rather bizarre Bob Dylan bio-pic that features several different actors playing various facets of Dylan. That was a trip. Then the next day, after moving into an adjacent site that had been occupied by a group of massage therapists, I took my bike out to explore the local area. I was going to ride to the store, but it was up a steep hill and it was over 90 degrees. So I stopped into a nearby café for an ice coffee and some air conditioning. The café inside was cool, dark and relaxing, with lots of wood, evoking a hobbit feel - but I wasn’t interested in the “spiritual nourishment” that was also being offered … I’ll leave it at that. Entering back into the festival, I rode around the grounds, and encountered a man riding a giant wooden rocking horse, kind of like a scene from the Bob Dylan movie of the night before. I climbed up for a ride and enjoyed the view, overlooking the mountains in the distance, rocking gently in the breeze. After working a few hours that evening, I ventured down to the far reaches of the campgrounds, where a group of friends from back home was set up, and I was amazed to find that they had arrived shortly after 9 am and had ended up so far away.

On Thursday, Joe & a friend were supposed to arrive around 9 pm, and I didn’t have to work until 10 pm, so I had the whole day to enjoy the festival. I climbed the hill for the Dry Branch welcome set at 2 pm. It was moving to hear Ron Thomason reminisce about all the years everyone has gathered for this festival, and they played some of the same songs they had played at the first festival over 30 years ago when it was the Berkshire Mountain Bluegrass festival. (I started attending in 1992, when it was still known as Winterhawk). Even though it was a pain to climb the hill to hear the music, it was fitting that we could still say “on the hill” to describe part of the festival anyway.

View from near the main stage, overlooking the rest of the festival, with camping areas in back

The fiddle fever workshop in the Masters Tent was great – Linzay Young & Kevin Wimmer from the Red Stick Ramblers, Michael Cleveland, and Brian Wicklund from the Kids’ Academy – played together and separately, and took turns explaining how they got started playing, attempting to answer the usual technical questions with not-so-technical answers. ( what kind of bow do you use? I dunno, whatever I can find,..etc). Then the Steeldrivers workshop right after that blew everyone away, myself included. They have a bluesy / country kind of sound, with unique vocals and stellar songwriting. It was fun to hear the stories as well as the songs. Then, after listening to the Red Stick Ramblers doing their swing thing on the main stage, I went to the customary tie-dying session at the Family Stage, thrusting my hands into buckets of red, purple, orange and blue dyes along with all the little kids. Had to get properly colorized for the rest of the weekend! After dinner I went back up on the hill for some music by Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, and to try to contact the guys by cell phone, to no avail. So I rode my bike to the entrance to see if they had arrived, and voila, not only had they turned in their tickets, but had found my campsite! Everything was going according to plan. I worked the booth from 10 to close while they went to see the Steeldrivers. hopefully I'll be able to catch them again at the Podunk bluegrass festival coming up in Hartford in a few weeks.

The notable thing about Grey Fox this year was the heat – temps in the 90’s every day and high humidity made it a challenge to sit out on the hill and listen to music on the main stage, so I didn’t mind working the info booth most of the afternoon – it was shady after all! While I was there I kept hearing reports of a creek on the edge of the property where many of the fest-goers went to cool off, so I was looking forward to jumping in after my shift, which just so happened to coincide with an announcement from the main stage advising people not to swim there. We took a walk down there to check it out anyway, but after seeing the crowds in the shallow water in the hot sun, we opted for cool showers back at camp instead. As you can see in this video someone has posted on youtube, there was a pretty good size jam session going on down there!

Afterwards, the Wilders were really stirring things up in the dance tent with their raucous hootin’ and hollerin’ music, and they were great. So much energy! Then we took the tractor up the hill for some of David Grisman’s set, then walked back down for Big Sandy and the Flyrite boys, probably the furthest from bluegrass, but one of the highlights of my festival, musically. And the dance tent was a good place to be during the thunderstorm, which Sandy took advantage of to play a few extra songs – he didn’t want to go out in it either! Walked back up the hill to end the night with Tim O’Brien and the Infamous Stringdusters, a good combination - but there was nowhere to sit since all the chairs were soaked. Afterwards I took my little accordion out and went to visit my jamming buddies in the hinterlands of the campground, and got to bed after 3 am.

Saturday was a full day – after breakfast I decided to take advantage of one of the volunteer perks, to see Missy Raines & the New Hip from the front row seating area. They were great –more jazzy than bluegrass, she played a set of perky instrumental grooves, joined by guitar, (electric and acoustic) mandolin, dobro and drums. I stayed for some of Chatham County Line, notable for their use of the single microphone, which requires a lot of coordination, and the harmonica. Then I brought my guitar down to the Grassroots stage for a little group lesson. After all these years, I finally learned something about picking bluegrass guitar! (ie., alternating picking directions down/up). After that, I went to see Gravity playing in the dance tent - they were okay for a band from Sweden, but not really inspiring much movement except for a few kids, and of course Dancin’ Chuck. Sometimes the “dance” pavillion is just a nice place to get out of the sun or rain, and sit on a flat surface as opposed to a hill. We had a nice shady camp set up and listened to some of the main stage from there, on the festival radio station, but I wanted to go back up front to see the Gibson Brothers, one of my favorite contemporary bluegrass acts. Love those harmonies and heartfelt songs about country life, especially the one they wrote about Grey Fox festival, with the refrain, "Aint nothin' in the world like bluegrass music."

Cleaned up and went back to work from 6-10. From my vantage point in the info booth, I spotted an old friend walk by, whom I hadn’t seen in years, and was not expecting to see at Grey Fox. She had come down from Vermont with family and friends. It was her first time there and she immediately commented on the great “vibe” at the festival, how it reminded her of the Cajun festival where we used to both volunteer at Escoheag.

After work I made it to the dance tent for some of the Red Stick Ramblers – decidedly not bluegrass, but another of my favorite bands at the festival. They were in Cajun mode, with Jesse Lege on accordion and vocals, and Joel Savoy taking Kevin Wimmer’s place on fiddle. As usual, they had the crowd worked up into a frenzy - not a formal “dance” by any means, but a rocking good time. The Red Sticks were followed by Red Knuckles, who played to a packed dance tent, but I thought it was too hot and crowded there, so we went up to see Sam Bush, who started a bit late. He was good as usual and played a long set, well past 2 am, but I didn’t stay till the end, since I wanted to catch up with my Vermont friends. I brought my accordion down to where they were camped and we jammed and hung out 'til the morning light.

Sunday I was going to go to the Gospel set, but decided to first stick my head in the “town meeting” which was held in the Masters Tent, giving people a chance to meet with the organizers and talk about what went right/ wrong at the festival and the new site. I found it so interesting that I ended up staying for the whole thing. If only all town meetings could be so well run and civilized! There were comments on a number of issues, mostly on the layout of the festival, and the fact that the camping appeared to fill up so quickly. I am sure things will improve next year, as the organizers review the notes from that meeting, the suggestion box, and the surveys that will be filled out in the weeks to come. In the meeting, some people referred to Grey Fox as “their Christmas”, a feeling I can definitely relate to, not only about Grey Fox, but also Jazz Fest, Rhythm and Roots and others. These festivals are the gatherings I look forward to every year, more so than other holidays.

More photos from Grey Fox 2008

Great Connecticut Cajun and Zydeco Festival

For the second weekend in a row, eastern Connecticut became an extension of South Louisiana, with the Great CT Cajun Zydeco festival at the Sunrise Resort in Moodus, CT,. kind of a throwback to the fifties or sixties, reminiscent of the movie Dirty Dancing. After camping out at festivals the previous 2 weekends, we decided to make this one a day trip, attending Saturday only. The hot and humid weather lent an authentic atmosphere to the event, which featured some bands that we don't get to see so often in these parts, like Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers - WOW! Those guys can sure get a groove going.... His sound reminded me of a brighter, bouncier version of Beau Jocque, and also had some nice vocal harmonies. The day's entertainment started with local favorites River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, joined by a guest rubboard player from NY named Professor Jim, the Zydeco Messenger. They were followed by the Magnolia Sisters, then Brian Jack , and the afternoon ended up with the always fun and energetic Pine Leaf Boys, with fiddler Cedric Watson taking a turn on drums. Most of the action at this festival takes place under a huge tent, which was attended by a few hundred faithful fans of the music and dancing we have all grown to love. We spent the day visiting with friends and working up a sweat on the dance floor, but never made it to the swimming pool since (for the 3rd weekend in a row) thunderstorms threatened at the end of the afternoon set, when we left to go home... though the fest continued til around 1 am and then again on Sunday. Other bands who played there but we did not get to see were Dora and the Zydeco Bad Boys, another rarity in this area, and Corey Ledet. Missed the Basin Brothers, who were not there this year for the first time in I don't know how long. All in all, an enjoyable time at laid back and relaxed festival with a down-home feel. Kudos to the organizers for bringing us some of these not too familiar zydeco bands.

Blast from the Bayou at Strawberry Park

With temperatures in the 90's and high humidity, last weekend began our first heatwave of the season. So it was as much to escape the heat and enjoy the wooded setting and resort-like amenities offered at Strawberry Park that we headed to the 12th annual Blast from the Bayou. The four day festival began on Thursday and featured an extensive lineup of well known Cajun and Zydeco acts, plus the Radiators to add a little variety. We arrived on Saturday around 2 pm, and purchased a 2-day ticket w/ an overnight option. Because Strawberry Park is a full service campground/ RV Park, they don' t require festival goers to purchase a full weekend pass to camp just one night. We set up our chairs in the shady amphitheater, just as Chris Ardoin was finishing up his set. One thing about Strawberry Park is they have continued to make improvements over the years, adding 2 dance floors - one right in front of the stage, and one off to side surrounded by trees, giving the effect of being in a large treehouse.

The festival has 2 stages, one in the wooded amphitheater, and another under a tent adjacent to the main pavilion which houses a snack bar and rec center, with lots of picnic tables from which to watch the music, so you don't have to carry your chair over (although you may). Beyond the rec center is a pool complex with 3 swimming pools and 2 hot tubs, so this is where we headed between bands, which alternate from one stage to the next. There is usually only a 15-20 minute break , but you can hear the music from the pool. I just kept my bathing suit on with a sarong or sun-dress on for the whole festival. The water was freezing cold (the air temperature had been in the 50's during the week, only warming up on Saturday) but provided a much needed refresher once I finally got in. However the sounds of Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys coming from rec center lured me back out. It is hard to see the band unless you are dancing on the large wooden dance floor under the tent, which was no problem.

The lineup I printed out a couple weeks in advance had the Radiators slated for two 1-hour sets, one at noon (!), and one at 6 pm following a scheduled one-hour dinner break (when they traditionally allow evening only attendees to come in for a lower price). But they wisely shifted around the schedule to allow the Rads one 2-hour set from 5-7 with no dinner break. From the pool area, we could hear them starting up, so we made our way back over to the amphitheater.

All these years of following New Orleans music, I have not seen the Radiators as much as you might think, only about a half-dozen times or so, including last weekend's Crawfish Fest, last year's midweek party during Jazzfest and a couple times at Rhythm and Roots and maybe one or two other festivals. In other words, it has always been at an event where there is a lot going on, or lots of people to talk to. This set at Strawberry Park was the first time I was able to focus on the music and get pretty close. I had thought they would be like a fish out of water at this festival, which was attended by more zydeco dancers than Fish Heads. But the dancers, who never stopped, seemed to enjoy the different style and kept grooving throughout the set. Looking around at the crowd, and the Radiators themselves, the song "Never Let your Fire Go Out" was an apt anthem.

The Pine Leaf Boys played after them under the Rec Center tent, with guest accordionist Jesse Lege on a few songs. Then, everyone who must have been hanging out at their campsites or at the pool emerged and packed the dance floor for the last set of the night, by the ever popular Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie.

Sunday brunch at the Strawberry Grill snack bar featured a "Cajun Omelet" filled with shrimp & sausage in a tomato based creole sauce. Well, it was Italian sausage but isn't that the Cajun way? Use what's available! It was pretty good, especially accompanied by BYO Bloody Mary's. Then right back on the dance floor for Jesse Lege & Bayou Brew, followed by Corey Ledet in the amphitheater. It was still really hot, so more pool time was in order before watching
Beausoleil, who played a beautiful set featuring more waltzes and instrumental numbers, (including one of my old favorites, Dimanche Apres Midi) instead of non stop raucous dance music. Not to say they there wasn't dancing, just at a more relaxed pace, and most dancers tried to stay in the shade.

Chris Ardoin ended up the day with his style of R&B tinged zydeco, ending just as a perfectly timed thunder storm rolled in, bringing relief to the heat.

More pictures from Strawberry Park

Crawfish Fest in NJ

What comes to mind when you think of New Jersey? Jersey Turnpike, Jersey Shore, Jersey Girls, Springsteen, the Sopranos, Atlantic City, blueberry farms? Last weekend it was more like jambalaya, crawfish and gumbo. Add in some accordions and rubboards, hot Texas blues, a band of trombones playing funk, jazz and rock, including a Led Zeppelin cover, and you have Michael Arnone’s 19^th Annual Crawfish Fest, where we experienced all that and more. The 3-day festival in Northwest New Jersey made us feel like we were right back in Southwest Louisiana.

We arrived at the Sussex County fairgrounds a little after 2 pm and set up our camp, which consists of a conversion van , a folding table and chairs, a tent to store gear, and something for shade. We relaxed and visited with friends for awhile, then made our way over into the festival grounds, where I’d heard they were serving free jambalaya for campers only - one of the many perks offered to entice people to camp for the weekend rather than just go for a day. Expecting a small sample, I could barely finish the mountain of delicious jambalaya from Daddy Arnone’s giant pot, which resembled an industrial size washing machine tub. And as if that wasn’t enough, we were served a boatload of spicy boiled crawfish, too, which we devoured while listening to Donna the Buffalo. A shot of ice cold Jaeger purchased from the local firemen was a nice touch, helping to cool down our throats after all that spice. Afterwards we grooved to a nice long set by the Radiators. The Friday night music was for campers only, and it took place inside a pavilion with bleacher seats on the side, and a cement floor. That is one unique feature of the festival site - all the permanent structures that are part of the fairgrounds, which is used for equine and agricultural shows and an annual county fair, provide shelter in case of heat or bad weather. And the bathrooms are completely civilized! Instead of the usual porta-potties and makeshift showers (if your lucky) they have real indoor plumbing, plenty of stalls with an attendant (!) handing out paper towels and sundries, and free hot showers. It makes a huge difference to the "camping" experience, which is really not so much like camping as it is like an extended tailgate party.

We returned to our spot in Threadhead Village, home to dozens of friends we’ve met at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage fest over the years, to find a pile of mints for our pillows, which had been left for us by Melissa the Crawfish Camping Fairy. We are used to camping at fests and have our own set up, so we chose not to join in on the food commune that some of the other folks had organized. Plus, I wanted to try more of the food from the vendors, over the weekend. We appreciated the campfire though and it was nice to be near everyone, and relatively close to the music too. I did bring my accordion and was looking for people to jam with, but didn’t really find any. That is the one thing I found lacking, compared to the other music/camping festivals I go to. Well, my hubby and my girlfriend did their best to accompany me with a rubboard and a wooden frog, but I would have loved to see more musicians in the campgrounds. If any of my jamming buddies from Rhythm and Roots or Grey Fox are reading this, consider checking out this festival next year.

Saturday the sun woke us up at 5 am (because we didn’t put up the big tarp) but clouds rolled in and after breakfast, it started raining. Actually, according to the weather forecasts, we were expecting a washout that day and wore our yellow slickers into the festival. Of course, because of that, it stopped raining by the time we arrived at the main stage, and Roddie Romero and the Hub City All Stars took the stage, playing a lively set of Cajun and swamp pop music to dance to. Soon it was too hot to wear the rain gear, and it eventually turned out to be a beautiful day! We saw Little Freddy King, Leroy Thomas, Tab Benoit. Lunch was a scrumptious fried oyster po’boy and some turkey/quail/andouille gumbo. We watched a little of piano player Mitch Woods but after waking up so early we were tired and retreated back to camp for a nap during Donna the Buffalo, who we see quite often. We could hear them pretty well from the van though, and they sounded really good. I was eagerly anticipating the Funky Meters set, and it was great to see Art Neville, George Porter, and Russell Batiste. They started off slow and seemed to take a while to get going. In my opinion, it wasn’t the most inspired set I’ve heard from those guys, but I liked when they played Hey Pocky Way and some other New Orleans classics.

The set ended abruptly right on time, with a severe weather scare – possible tornadoes and hail! We rushed back to button things up at camp then sat in the van to wait it out, but luckily it wasn’t too bad, and didn't last long. After dinner we were treated to an awesome set by Tab Benoit’s band with guests Mitch Woods, Leroy Thomas, and Ruben the Rubboard player, who was going absolutely nuts on that thing. That set was definitely the high point of Saturday, maybe the whole weekend. There weren't too many people at Leroy's set in the dance hall earlier that afternoon, so it was so great to see the reception he and Ruben got during the night set. We get to see Leroy quite often, but it’s usually at a dance where that kind of showmanship is not fully appreciated. The crowd at the Crawfish Fest nighttime set – again, only available to campers – lapped it right up. Again it rained a bit, but the performance was under the pavilion, so it did not matter. By the time it finished around 10 pm the rain had ended too and we returned to Threadhead Village to hang with our friends.

Sunday morning started with the Lee Boys, who were great – they play that Robert Randolph kind of Sacred Steel. Then Rosie Ledet decided not to show up for some unknown reason, so Leroy Thomas was tapped to fill in. Alright! Another smoking zydeco set by Leroy and the Zydeco Roadrunners, especially that wildman Ruben on the rubboard. They had a chance to shine in front of a bigger audience than they would have had in the dance tent, and there were lots more people there Sunday because the weather was perfect. Dancers were not relegated to a side area - there were lots of people dancing, right in front of the stage, just like in Louisiana.

I loved hearing Bonerama on Sunday - I thought they were even better than last year. Railroad Earth sounded OK but I wasn't in the mood for them right after Bonerama. We had to get going anyway, though, so we said our goodbyes during RRE and hit the road. I probably would have stayed to hear some of Allen Toussaint if he had been on right after Bonerama. At this festival, I like hearing the New Orleans style music more. Even Donna the Buffalo, who I really like, I could have done without, since we see them at so many other festivals around here. At Crawfish Fest, I would love to see more brass bands, jazz bands, the kind of stuff we don't get so much of up here... of course that's why I go to New Orleans Jazzfest, which is the ultimate.... but this Crawfish fest to me is sort of like an extension of Jazzfest, in a more relaxed setting. In fact, I think what I like most about it is the relaxed atmosphere – no one is jockeying for position, or hogging space. Rather than fighting for a spot up front, many people stake their claim in the back, where they set up shade canopies. People go up front to see the band up close and dance in front of the stage, then retreat to the back when they want to chill out and talk.

There were times it felt just like being at jazzfest, looking around and seeing so many smiling familiar faces, with the bonus of actually having time to socialize at the fest and in the camp, without all the running around.

Many thanks to Michael, Chuck, Melissa, and the rest of the Crawfish Krewe for making this festival such a fun and relaxing event. We hope to return next year for the 20th annual.

Here is a link to the rest of my pictures from Crawfish Fest 2008 http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563673932qRCtHk

Additional photos by Swag, proprieter of swagland.com, a great resource for all things Fest.

http://swag.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?ap=&a=67b0de21b34674eee48f&pg=1

Bayou'n'Boogie Fest II

Memorial Day weekend kicked off a month long run of Lousiana-themed music festivals in the Northeast with the return of Bayou'nBoogie Fest, a joint venture of Sal's and Lagniappe Productions. Last time, it was a one day event in Foster, RI over 4th of July weekend a few years ago, with CJ Chenier headlining. This year it was held at the Elk's club in Smithfield, RI, on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The 2 day festival featured several Cajun and Zydeco bands and one blues act, but we only attended one day, since we sometimes have to take a break from all this festive living to tend to other tasks, like getting the garden started. So we headed out there on Sunday, when Curley Taylor and Leroy Thomas were the featured Louisiana acts, augmented by local favorites Lil Anne & Hot Cayenne, River City Slim and the Zydeco hogs, and Midwest based Dennis Stroughmatt & Creole Stomp. The setting was on a lake in a semi-rural area, with a covered wooden dance floor outdoors. The Elk's hall served as a place for accordion and dance workshops. A few hundred people were there, mostly a core group of dancers from the local area. It was a nice laid back and relaxed event, and may become an annual event.

Here's link to some of my photos from Bayou'n'Boogie Fest II

Jazzfest 2008 - First Weekend (and a few more days)

No place embodies the spirit of festive living as much as the city of New Orleans, so when we go for Jazzfest, it is not for just a music festival, but an entire sensory experience of music, food, and hanging out with friends from all over the country. It is the kind of vacation where you have to spend a few days resting afterwards.... in other words, the good kind! Here's how we spent our 6 days there for Jazzfest 2008:

Thursday

We arrived in the French Quarter around 12:30, had some lunch at Napoleon House, then eased into fest mode by checking out some in-store performances at Louisiana Music Factory, and a couple of $2 Abita drafts at Ol'Toones saloon across the street. Checked into our hotel on Royal Street, then went back out to see the Rebirth Brass Band outside of La Belle Gallerie on Chartres.


This happened to be right across the street from Bacco restaurant, which was having a half-price wine happy hour; they had a table available, so we decided to have dinner there, and indulged in a decadent plate of lobster ravioli in champagne cream sauce. Not exactly New Orleans-style cuisine but delicious just the same. Met up with some friends at the hotel, and joined some of them at the Howling Wolf... for a so-called "brass band blowout", but we arrived during a very long set break and only ended up seeing one band, the Hot 8.

Friday
was the perfect opening day - started out with beautiful clear blue skies and sun, not too hot- and was our fullest day at Jazz Fest, which is like a big family reunion. We hit Liuzza's first, our favorite pre /post fest gathering spot, to have a couple of the most festive Bloody Marys in town while catching up with old friends, some we hadn't seen since last year's jazzfest. After a brief stop in the Gospel tent to get energized (and apply sunscreen) we went for a festival breakfast of Oyster Patty for me and Cochon de Lait for Joe, then headed over to Fais Do Do to catch the Figs, a new all-girl band out of Lafayette, playing country/ western swing. They had good harmonies and interesting material, plus colorful retro outfits.

They were followed by Joe Hall & the Louisiana Cane cutters, a traditional sounding Creole accordion player with 2 fiddle players in the band. After that we headed to the blues tent to see J. Monque D' a blues harmonica player/ singer , who is always entertaining. On the way in to the fest we had run into an old friend who is always raving about a Latin band called "Paky Saavedra's bandido", so we decided to check them out. We heard a few songs like "la Bamba", "Guantanamero", etc. then went to meet up with some friends. After that, we went to the blues tent to see CC Adcock & Doyle Bramhall - straight ahead blues/ rock, then over to Acura for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss- wow! I liked this more than I thought I would. It sounded better live than on the CD. T-bone Burnett and Buddy Miller accompanied them. They sounded good together, and I liked Plant's rendition of Allen Toussaint's "Fortune Teller". Hearing Black Dog with banjo was cool and they sounded good together on some of Alison's tunes too. However after spending over 30 minutes standing, shoulder to shoulder, packed in the thick crowd, barely able to move, craning my neck to see, I had to move on, and headed over to Congo Square for Leo Nocentelli's Rare Funk gathering. At least you could move around there, and dance, though it seemed to end a little early. Next was Ozomatli on the Gentilly stage, a kind of world music mix, with lots of percussion and horns and dance moves. Then in true Jazzfest fashion we switched gears again and went back to fais-do-do for Bruce Daigrepont, where we got some good Cajun dancing in. Ai-eee!

It's been a while since I've witnessed the watermelon sacrifice at Jazzfest, that bizarre ritual that takes place before the last act on the Fais do-do stage. It's tough to describe in words but I took some video:


After that was grammy award winning Terrence Simien, who always puts on a good show. There was a good crowd there.


Then we drifted back to Congo Square for the mellow reggae of Burning Spear, who seemed to be making up songs on the spot, and on the way out, stopped in Economy Hall to hear jazz chanteuse Banu Gibson. ...We saw about a dozen different acts that day, not counting the Second line parades and Mardi Gras Indians. It was a great first day at the fest!



Dinner that night was at Deanie's seafood - char broiled oysters, fried oysters and shrimp, stuffed crab. Yum!


Saturday

We started out in Economy Hall, where we heard Connie Jones' Crescent City jazz Band. After so much running around the day before it was nice to have a seat in this tent, listening to the traditional dixieland Jazz band. After that it was over to Fais Do Do to see Hadley J. Castille, a Cajun band with a country/ string band style. The next act I wanted to see was Turbinton's House - tribute to Willie Tee and Earl Turbinton, two brothers on the New Orleans music scene, who had both passed away within the last year. Those tributes can be good, since you never know who might show up. The first part of the set was the jazz portion, with members of Astral Project, and David Torkanowsky on piano; the second half was more of an R&B set. A few minutes into this tribute set, it started pouring rain outside, and became very crowded in the tent, so we stayed for the rest of the day, and this was how I heard the most jazz ever in one day at Jazz fest. Ever since the schedule came out, I was looking forward to seeing Billy Joel that day, and maybe some of the Ponderosa Stomp revue in the neighboring Blues tent, but we decided to stay put since we had pretty good seats in the jazz tent, and it was not a bad thing. Astral Project was up next, and they were very good. I had heard of them for years, but never seen them before. Then we were treated to a tight performance by the 17-piece Count Basie Orchestra, led by the dapper and dignified looking John Hughes.

That's how it goes at jazzfest- usually whatever you see is bound to be something good, even if it is not something you planned on. Later that night we headed out to Rock'n'Bowl, where we saw Jon Cleary, then Sonny Landreth.

Sunday started off sunny, though the grounds were still muddy from the day before. After an extravagant breakfast at Brennan's, we arrived at the fairgrounds a little later that day, starting off in the Gospel tent with Shades of Praise, then a little hoo-na-tee-na-nay, with the Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians. We watched a bit of Shamarr Allen, then made our way over to the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars at Acura. If you could only see one set at jazzfest, that was a good one to pick, since it included Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone. As they sang "Don't let the water - wash us away" I looked up at the darkening skies and echoed the song's plea. The next song was "Louisiana Sunshine" but it didn't do much to stop the deluge.


After about a half-dozen more songs, including a touching Johnny Sansone ballad for everyone trying to return home to New Orleans, the skies opened up and sent us running for cover under a food tent. When it let up a little bit we made our way over to the Gospel tent for a while, and I convinced Joe to stay by taking shelter in the Grandstands - it just couldn't rain all day! As we approached the sheltered Lagniappe stage inside the paddock area, we heard a familiar twang - the schedule said "Del McCoury Interview" but there was no interview, just Del and The Boys, picking away! I guess the interviewer didn't want to compete with the sound of the raindrops. No strangers to rainy festivals, the conditions didn't seem to bother them, and they let loose with their trademark hard-driving bluegrass, studded with humor. The announcer said they would be on the Fais-do-do stage later, and Del quipped, we'll be "dosey-do-ing". It was funny, they were one band I had not planned on trying to see that day, because I usually get to see them at other bluegrass festivals. But the venue provided a welcome refuge, and the music was uplifting anyway. Since it was still coming down pretty good we decided to stay put, and I slurped down a dozen oysters while listening to the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. As soon as the sky started to brighten, we went back out, and I headed down to the jazz tent to see Nicholas Payton. The sun was back out, and I met up with Joe afterwards near Fais-do-do, where Del and the boys were playing to a mud-stomping crowd that included a couple of hula-hoopers. Not your average bluegrass festival.


For the last set of the day, I found a peaceful, relatively dry spot to watch Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint from across a moat full of with turtles. From that vantage point, I could hear and see the video screen pretty well and it was right near the Mango Freeze booth --- ah, nirvana! a nice way to end the day at the faigrounds, though we left a little earlier than usual, in search of dry socks and hot food. Even though it was a little wet, it was still a good jazzfest.

Here are the rest of my pictures from the first weekend.



Monday was a nice relaxing day, full of surprises. We had breakfast at Mena's, then wandered down to the French Market for some shopping, and rode the streetcar back and went to LMF to get some CD's. A little later we headed over to our friends' house in Gentilly for the raffle drawing / party, which I wrote about several weeks ago. There was some delicious food, including our hosts' famous homemade crawfish bread and crawfish cheesecake, and dozens of Threadheads hanging out in the backyard. Paul Sanchez, (ex-guitarist from Cowboy mouth, singer, songwriter, and just one of New Orleans uniquely talented musicians) was there, and silly me, I thought he was just there as an invited guest, and just "happened" to have his guitar with him. But he was there to perform, and he entertained us with a beautiful set of originals and covers, as only he can do it. Some were funny, like Manana, and Hurricane Party, and some were sad. When he sang Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" there was not a dry eye, but he soon lifted us back up with "At the Foot of Canal Street". While all this was going on, the raffle prizes were being drawn inside, so at the end of the performance, some people were matched up with their winnings. I won a bunch of CD's and DVD's, mostly live recordings - can't wait to hear them all! Later on we went to Gumbo Shop for dinner, then on the advice of a couple of friends we just met, to Kerry Irish pub to see Kim Carson, and there was a whole crew of threadheads there too! Kim said something about Jazzfest being the best time in New Orleans, when all the real music lovers descend upon the city, and I must agree, it is wonderful to be in the company of so many like-minded individuals. We love it!

Tuesday was the fourth annual Threadhead party, aka "the patry", an excellent ending to the week that made up for some of the less than ideal conditions at the fairgrounds over the weekend. Organized by a group of threadheads from all over North America, what started as a simple backyard gathering in 2005 has turned into a somewhat larger event with a fundraising component, which benefits New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC) and Silence is Violence (SIV) [see previous posts in this blog, or visit threadheads.org for more info.] This year over $20k was donated to the 2 charities, mostly from the raffle. The party itself was almost like a mini version of Jazzfest, but without all the running around. It started around noon, with Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, followed by the Hot 8 Brass band, who were joined by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and some Mardi Gras Indians.




Paul Sanchez entertained us again, this time with his "Rolling Road show" revue, which included John and Lillian Boutte, Craig Klein from Bonerama, Susan Cowsill, and more.

To eat, there was plenty of boiled crawfish, jamabalaya, shrimp pasta, salad, and awesome desserts - plus plenty of beer, soft drinks, and spiked ice tea from the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. One of the highlights of the day was the performance by the kids from the SIV sponsored music clinic, supported through the Fest4kidz initiative. What a jam! From where I was standing it was hard to get good pictures; here is a link to a short video on youtube. After that, Big Sam's Funky Nation got everybody grooving, then Shamarr Allen closed out the night with his band. The bass player, Will, had won a grammy for his work with Terrence Simien, and he brought the grammy out for all of us to behold. The night ended with a everyone second-lining and singing along to his "Meet me on Frenchmen Street", around 10pm.


A ten-hour party sounds like a long time, but it just flies by when in the company of good friends, great music and food, like a fest within the fest.

More pictures from Monday's raffle party and Tuesday's Threadhead patry

Inevitably, we had to leave New Orleans the next day, but we will return next year for Jazzfest, if not before. We consoled ourselves the following weekend by watching and listening to live internet broadcasts 2nd weekend... some year I hope to be able to make it for both weekends, but I don't think I would ever want to trade first weekend for second... there's just something about being there for the opening day that is so special.