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