NJ Crawfish Fest

Our first visit to Crawfish fest was such a blast, thank you to everyone that put it on, and all the awesome people we passed a good time with. Cisco & his family had a great canopy area set up towards the back where we all were able to relax and visit, thanks for that! We loved meeting all the new-to-us threadheads (Michelino, Nola, Steeleye, Linza, ScoopJohn) and catching up with our all of our old friends too. Even though Jazzfest was just a few weeks ago, this was more relaxed, less running around. First thing we did Sat when we got there was get us some crawfish, to get in the spirit, and that was really good, as was the jambalaya we tried later on. Oh yeah, and the music didn’t suck either! Especially the Saturday afternoon combination of Bonerama/ New Orleans Social Club. It was an amazing feeling grooving to that set, surrounded by so many blissful people; it felt kind of like the patry because there were so many threadheads dancing so close to the stage, all grinning from ear to ear. I picked up that recording on Sunday too for the ride home. My favorite set on Sunday was Jon Cleary - it was the same kind of thing, with so many people enjoying the music and the vibe. Cowboy Mouth was a lot of fun too, I have only seen them in a huge crowd at jazzfest , so it was nice to be able to get closer in a smaller crowd to see the maniacal Fred. Superchief Trio, who opened up the Delta stage on Sunday was a pleasant surprise. Even though they are from RI I hadn’t seen them before - they do a lot of New Orleans material and older jazz and blues, like Fats Waller, Bessie Smith etc. Just Piano, Trombone and Drums, and the only female trombone player I’ve seen outside of a marching band, she is a good singer too. Happily, the only thing Crawfish Fest was lacking was R - - -. And it differs from most other camping fests I go to in that it ends a lot earlier, and there’s not as much after hours jamming in the campgrounds (though I heard it was livelier on Friday night). The combination of music, food, spirit, and this year’s heat & humidity made Crawfish Fest feel the most like a Louisiana festival than others in the northeast that I have been to – the perfect antidote for post-Jazzfest blues…. or, if you couldn’t make Jazzfest, not a bad substitute. I’ll be back again, thanks everyone!

- added to Festive Living Blog 12/11/07 ; Originally posted 6/4/2007 at http://www.nojazzfest.com/chat/showthread.php?t=2506

NE Summer Music Fests

With Jazzfest behind us, our New England festival season rolls in - beginning next month there are festivals almost every weekend! This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are some of my favorites:

• June 7,8,9,10 Strawberry Park Blast from the Bayou Preston, CT. A nicely appointed campground resort, family atmosphere, 2 stages.Geno, Steve Riley, Chris Ardoin, Pine Leaf Boys, Iguanas, Travis Matte( first NE appearance?), Donna the Buffalo, & more
• June 15-17 Cajun /Zydeco fest Sunrise Resort, Moodus CT cool, laid back, old style resort, camping available. Emphasis on Zydeco, very dance orientedKeith Frank, Brian Jack, Step Rideau, Big Red & the Zydeco Playmakers, Dora & the zydeco BadBoyz,Basin Brothers and more.
• July 6-8 New Bedford Summerfest New Bedford ,MA Nice folk festival by the waterfront
• July 19-22 GreyFox Bluegrass festival, Ancramdale NY Progressive bluegrass festival in an idyllic settingSam Bush, Nickel Creek Mountain heart, Peter Rowan and much more.
• July 27-29 Lowell Folk Festival, Lowell MA Free folk festival w/ diverse international music and food.
• Aug 4-5 Newport Folk Festival, Newport RI Allman Bros, NMAS, John Butler, Grace Potter, Dirty Dozen Assembly of Dust Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Alejandro Escovedo, Cheryl Wheeler & more
• Aug 9 - 12 Fall River Celebrates AmericaFall River, MA Sammy Kershaw,Dave Mason, Los Lobos, the IGUANAS, Duke Robillard and MY LONGTIME FAVORITE
• Aug 31 - Sep 2 (Labor DayWeekend) RHYTHM AND ROOTS Charlestown RI Riley, Red Stick Ramblers, Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeens,Donna the Buffalo,Los Straitjackets w/ Big Sandy & much much more multiple stages (mainstage, 2 covered dance floors, smaller workshop stage, family stage)
• Sun Sep 09 Narrows Festival of the Arts Fall River, MA *Free*Buckwheat Zydeco, Henry Butler w/ Leo Nocentelli, Slaid Cleaves & more

Quite a run of live music I've enjoyed this past week

Last night was my first time seeing Ruthie Foster, at the Narrows center for the Arts in Fall River, MA -but hopefully won't be the last. She is small in stature but not in voice or stage presence, very strong vocals and songwriting, and funny too, told some good stories. She does folk, blues, gospel, even a little reggae, and can really belt it out. plus having Pat Boyack (ex- Marcia Ball guitarist) along with her on electric guitar rounded out the sound with some really nice bluesy solos. He still makes all those faces too so is fun to watch on stage, he really gets into it.


On Thursday night, we went to see Elton John, my first time seeing him live, and he did not disappoint! He played around 2 1/2 hours, and performed lots of older, not so well known material that they don't do very often (B-sides, says Joe) plus of course plenty of more familiar stuff (Honky Cat, , and at least one new song, "the bridge" or something. The Providence concert was in preparation for this big 60th birthday extravaganza happening tonight at MSG in NY (to be shown live on MSN) so he started off with "60 years on", and ended with "Your Song". he may not hit all the high notes like he used to (like on Rocket man) , but is still quite a performer, one of those artists with so much material, it could have gone on for 4-5 hours easily.

And the light show was really spectacular, from our seats we could watch the lighting director who seemed to be having a blast "directing" the stage show.



Wednesday we went to the "Last of the Breed" show with Willie Nelson/ Merle Haggard/ Asleep at the Wheel and Ray Price. Asleep at the Wheel was the backup band, and Ray Price opened . He was a little too mellow for my tastes, like being on the grand ole opry - though at 81 the guy still sounds really good! Then after an intermission, Asleep at the Wheel did a few songs, then Merle joined the band, then Willie (and he had his harmonica player with him to give him the right sound on certain songs.....) Merle was cool and Willie was great, and they all shared some verses of the songs. I just love Willie Nelson. but I wish Ray Benson & the boys had been able to play more, though I'm not used to seeing them in such a large venue where you can't really dance too much (10,000 seat arena at Mohegan Sun)



Last Saturday was the great "Blues Harp Blowout" with Mark Hummel, Kim Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite. Each did a set, backed by a band with guitar, bass, drums, keyboard..., and then everyone came out for one big wailing jam, joined by Magic Dick from J Geils and also Doug James, sax player who has played with roomful of blues, Duke Robillard, etc as well as his own band. That was a smokin show and a night at the Narrows not soon to be forgotten. So today I'm taking a rest and hoping to catch Galactic w/ Papa Mali this Tuesday, Duke Robillard on Friday and Elana James & the Continental 2 on Saturday. We'll see how the week goes!

- added to Festive Living blog 12/11/2007; originally posted on: http://www.nojazzfest.com/chat/showthread.php?t=1179