Sept-october-fest

Last weekend wrapped up the Pawtucket Arts Festival which not only featured some great music but a load of arts and crafts for sale at reasonable prices in the peaceful setting of Slater Park. The soothing sounds of Jerimoth Hill could be heard on speakers set up throughout the area, creating a very relaxed shopping/browsing experience for those of us who shun malls! It put me in such a good mood I signed up to carve jack-o-lanterns for next month’s “Pumpkins in the Park”! But those are not the only festivities taking place in this old mill town which seems to be reinventing itself as a hub for the arts. Next weekend, (Sept 21-22) Sal's Productions brings us an early “Oktoberfest” weekend, with 2 nights of music at the German Club: Duke Robillard (Blues/Swing) on Friday night, and Stumbleweeds ("Hillbilly Boogie"), Jesse Lege (Cajun) and Curley Taylor (Zydeco) on Saturday,with German food and beer for sale. Next week (Sept 29) is the German Oktoberfest which will feature more traditional German music along with the bratwurst and beer. It must be the accordion connection – I think the Germans brought the accordion to America, where it found its way to Texas, and Louisiana, and became a part of Cajun and Creole music. So it only makes sense that one of the best places in New England to hear accordion based music from LA/TX sung in French is at events booked by an Italian-American at the German Club in Pawtucket, right?

In case anyone was wondering what is behind that curtain, here's a picture from last year's Octoberfest at the German club:

Sometimes festive living means family parties, like last weekend's sweet sixteen and a 50th birthday this weekend... too bad we can't live festively everywhere at once! There is a full schedule of festive events taking place in southern New England this fall as outlined in the Projo's fall guide and weekend articles. And next month festive living heads south...more later.

Louisiana music Lagniappe

Last weekend was Rhythm and Roots, which usually means the end of the Cajun/Zydeco festivals around here for the year, but this weekend we got a little lagniappe of Louisiana music at two local festivals. On Friday CJ Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana band played at the opening night gala for the Pawtucket Arts festival. A $10 admission included food samples from a couple dozen local restaurants and there was alot of publicity in the local paper so of course the place was mobbed! The food was amazingly diverse, and really good. I tried some bbq chicken from from LJ's Barbecue, a Portuguese plate from Galito's and some clam cakes and chowder from Tolos restaurant, but there was so much more. We met up with lots of friends from R&R, who are all longtime CJ fans, but I think the band gained a lot of new fans too, judging by the crowded dance floor and the way Clifford the rubboard player was selling CD's and playing rubboard at the same time... at the end he had to recruit someone to stand in for him (on rubboard that is). They played a good long time and it was very hot and steamy under that tent so it felt quite a bit like Louisiana. I didn't take any pictures but there are some on the website of the Pawtucket Arts Festival, which continues through next weekend.

On Sunday the Narrows Festival of the Arts was a much mellower but funkier scene with a mix of local and Louisiana/ Texas acts, and all kinds of art for sale right outside the Narrows center, on the Fall River waterfront. When I arrived, Slaid Cleaves (of Maine and Texas) was just getting started. He did not have his full band along, just another guitarist and bass, and they did most of his folkier tunes. (Lydia, Brokedown etc.) There was a pretty good variety of food for sale - Portuguese, seafood, etc.. and the table-and-chair set up with a dance area in front made for a nice relaxed atmosphere. Upstairs, Duncan Walters was playing some rocking country music upstairs with his band. I had never heard him before so that was a nice surprise - always something new at the Narrows. The other band I saw upstairs was Louie Leeman and Cheap Sneakers - I had only seen him do his solo act before, so it was nice to see the full band, which ran the gamut from reggae to rock'n' roll, a cajuny original and a cover of Lucinda Williams' Can't let Go.

Henry Butler took the stage around 3:3o, looking suave in a posh red striped suit with a puffy white shirt (kind of like Beethoven). He started off the set with his trademark solo New Orleans style piano, before being joined on stage by Leo Nocentelli and the rhythm section.

(Leo and Henry made up half of the New Orleans Social Club, the highlight of the NJ Crawfish fest earlier this year.)

They were just picking up steam with the New Orleans grooves, when Leo broke a string, prompting a very long unplanned drum and bass solo in the middle of Cissy Strut. But then they got back into it, and pulled out all the New Orleans classics, like Fiyo on the Biyo, Pocky way, Tipitina, etc and I was having a Jazzfest moment. Piano heaven! It always seems to take a while for the Fall River crowd to get up out of their seats and start dancing, but when they do, it's "so hard to stop", as Buckwheat says.... So when Buckwheat Zydeco came out the audience was primed... (or maybe it was the Big Nazo Creatures of Fall River that started it...)

Anyway, everyone was ready to zydeco once Buckwheat started - "Hey Fellas! do you know what TIME it is?" - and the rubboard player kept us going.... After a while, Buckwheat called all the kids up on stage for a singalong to "Jeleron", which was sweet. Towards the end he even did a little funky B-3 organ number. Always a good time with Buckwheat, and thanks to the Narrows for putting on another great festival.

More of my pictures of the day's festivities can be seen here.

Narrows Festival 2007

Rhythm & Roots 2007

Joe and I go to many festivals during the year, but Rhythm and Roots is special to us being our “home” festival , and the one that brought us together in a roundabout way. Rhythm and Roots, as well as its former incarnation as the Cajun Bluegrass Festival at Stepping Stone Ranch in Escoheag RI, has introduced us to so much great music, and to all of the other festivals, including New Orleans Jazzfest. This year’s festival was the 10th year of Rhythm and Roots and the 21st consecutive Labor Day weekend festival for me, and it was a spectacular weekend.

We arrived early Friday morning and set up camp in our usual spot, with the same great group of friends we have been festing with for years. After we got the van all tarped up and unloaded, I took a nap then rode my bike over to the pond for a swim to cool off and wake up, then returned to camp for our traditional pre-fest feast, where everyone brings something delicious and we raise a glass in anticipation of another weekend of great music and fun shared with friends.

As usual, it always takes longer than you think to make your way from the camp to the festival, so I missed Ray Bonneville’s opening set at 5 pm but arrived in time for the second act – the Buddhahood, the best Funk/ Reggae/ Blues/ Latin/ band out of Rochester NY that I’d never heard of. I get to see a lot of live music, but Chuck always manages to introduce us to something new at Rhythm and Roots, and the funky grooves and lively percussion jams of the Buddhahood were a fun way to start the weekend - a perfect lead in for Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeans, one of my favorite New Orleans bands that’s not from New Orleans….they got that semi-secondline funky beat going on. After that we were treated to a soulful set by Racines, a kind of Cajun supergroup with Steve Riley , Kevin Wimmer and other members of Red Stick Ramblers and Feufollet. They said it was their first gig away from Lafayette. I loved their bluesy sound, and they were my pick for the best set of the night. Natalie Macmaster closed out the night – she’s still got it, even after taking several months off to have a baby. Her new band was still working out the kinks but they all took solos, even the bagpiper! I’ve never been a fan of bagpipes, but maybe that’s because I never heard a really good one, like the one that played with Natalie.

Afterwards I took the accordion out for a spin around the campgrounds, ending up at the zydeco jam at Eric’s juke joint - that’s always a great place to let your hair down, and crank it up.

Saturday was a beautiful hot and sunny day. After a little morning jam at camp, I went to the Blues workshop in the Rounder workshop tent with three guitarists - Bob Halperin (of Li’l Anne and Hot Cayenne), Johnny Nicholas, Ray Bonneville, and Joel Guzman on accordion, all taking turns playing songs and sometimes playing together. With such a contingent of talented musicians assembled, there was more music, less talk than some workshops, which made it flow really smoothly. I was glad to get the chance to see Ray Bonneville, and apparently so was Paul Cebar, who was in the audience, and invited Ray up as a guest during his own set on the main stage later that afternoon. It was so pleasant in the shady tent we decided to stick around for the next workshop, with the Red Stick Ramblers, though I took a break to get some food and check out the Hot Tamale Brass Band.

The set of the day – maybe the weekend - had to be Los Straitjackets with Big Sandy. With the masks and the Spanish and the surf-rock and the synchronized dance moves they were so much fun! They got mostly everyone up off the chairs and dancing and kept yelling out, "applausio, por favor!". It was a great combination with Big Sandy, who looked so dapper in his black suit, sunglasses and short pants! They did some familiar rock’n’roll songs like “You Really Got Me” etc… in Spanish - Rock en Espanol!






Back at camp, we listened to Steve Riley on the on-site radio broadcast, and returned for Donna the Buffalo, another band that gets everyone up and dancing. It’s hard to stop the herd! Susan Tedeschi closed out the main stage. She was good to listen to , but for me, after a while, I was more in the mood for the wild spirit of the fais-do-do stage with the Red Stick Ramblers & friends. With Jesse Lege on accordion, they were pulling out all the old Cajun classics. Then Steve Riley joined them and it turned into almost another Racines set. Aaiee!




Sunday brought clear blue skies and sun again, a little cooler than Saturday – just perfect!





Started out with another new-to-me band, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams. Progressive rock and roll with yodeling, accordion and flute, they looked a like a band of gypsies, and they fit right in! My favorite set of the afternoon was from James McMurtry a kind of rebel outlaw songwriter from Texas, with alot to say. Some of his songs paint grim pictures, but they got everyone up & dancing, front and center.

After that I watched the Cajun Kids’ academy perform on the main stage at 6 pm, a rather incongruous follow-up to James McMurty. This is similar to the bluegrass academy for kids they have at Greyfox, only it’s led by members of the Magnolia – who taught the kids a few Cajun songs, cultivating future musicians. Sunday night, Marty Stuart was very entertaining - I thought he was a better fit at R&R with his electric band, than he was at Greyfox with the bluegrass band. He’s a good showman, something people seem to appreciate more at Rhythm and Roots. The bluegrass version of Stayin’ Alive was a big hit, then he really impressed me by joining Bela Fleck on stage, improvising to "Sex in a Pan". There wasn’t really any other bluegrass at R&R so he really had a chance to shine there. The Flecktones were stunning as always but again, I was more in the mood for the Cajun joie de vivre at the fais do-do, this time led by Steve Riley & the Mamou playboys and friends, including Wilson Savoy on piano. To me, that dance tent at the end of night embodies the spirit of the festival. Another amazing all star jam and poof! At the stroke of midnight, that part of the festival was over for another year.

But that doesn’t mean things are over for the night, not at all. Hearing all those accordions throughout the day puts me in the mood to play at night, and there are always some after hours jams. There are musicians all over the campgrounds, some of whom have formed their own bands who play professionally, while others are roaming free agents like me. Our camping crew includes members of the Remnants, who usually draw in a few others once they start singing and playing by the fire. The bluegrass/ jug band contingent from Foster is nearby with Paul and the whole "slow jam" crew from GreyFox. (Except many of the jams at R&R are anything but slow!) Some of those guys play in bands such as Rocky Hollow, Fourth Street String Band, and Loose Roots, just to name a few. A couple from Canada who performs as Ball and Chain had a jam going on at their camp, as did Jesse Lege. Members of Magnolia, Lil Anne & Hot Cayenne, Slippery Sneakers and Girl Howdy are all around. There are lots of folks I love playing music with every year - guitars, banjos, rubboards, fiddles, saxophones, accordions, harmonicas and flutes - anything goes at Rhythm and Roots. It doesn’t really matter what everyone does in “real life”, at the fest we are all the same.

Monday morning we usually take our time with breakfast, since no one really wants to go to work and break everything down but sooner or later it must be done. As we pack up, others roll out of the camp one by one, tooting their horns and saying see you next year! And pretty soon the park starts to look just as it did when we found it, a big open space waiting for another festival, next year. Bon Reve, Rhythm and Roots, til we meet again.

Many of the festival performances are on mvyradio.com and the rest of my pictures can be seen here.

Rhythm and Roots 2007 - fest

After Rhythm and Roots – A double shot of Zydeco!

CJ Chenier in Pawtucket Sep 7 + Buckwheat Zydeco at Narrows Fest Sep 9
After Summerfest Providence, I was checking out the web to see where Santa Mamba was going to be appearing next, and one of those places would be the Pawtucket Arts Festival. And it seems CJ Chenier will be performing at the Gala at Slater Mill on Friday Night (Sep 7)! That same weekend, Buckwheat Zydeco will be headlining the Narrows Festival of the Arts on Sunday the 9th. It used to be that Labor Day weekend was the main opportunity to see zydeco bands from Lousiana, but now we are lucky to get them on a semi-regular basis.

The Pawtucket Arts festival is in its Ninth Year and actually starts this week with a concert by Counting Crows, Live and Collective Soul at McCoy Stadium, and ends with a free festival in Slater Park the weekend of Sept 15, including the Stone Soup folk festival. Check it out at PawtucketArtsFestival.org The Narrows Festival is celebrating its 6th annual, and will be held outside the Narrows center in Fall River. See the Narrows website for more info.

Summerfest Providence

This past weekend was the first Summerfest Providence. Held at the Port of Providence, at Conley Dock, it featured live music, food, arts, children’s activities and a Pro Volleyball tour. This industrial area, which is in the shadow of the construction site for the new “I-way” bridge linking Interstates 95 and 195, may not be as picturesque as the signature Waterplace Park downtown, but is also not as congested. The festival was in the gravel parking lot where you catch the ferry to Newport, and was organized by the same people who put on a series of music and other festivals at the Newport Yachting center across Narragansett Bay. Perhaps it was conceived as an extension of that scene, which featured acts such as Little Feat, Robert Cray and Joan Osborne earlier this year.

The Providence festival had two days of music, with a diverse lineup of Bluegrass, Cajun, Reggae, Latin, Blues, Country, Rock and Pop, but we only caught the last 2 acts on Saturday evening. We arrived shortly after 6 pm to the groove of Santa Mamba, a 6-piece Latin band with a rock’n’roll attitude. They were very entertaining to watch, especially the bass player with the Mohawk haircut jumping around on stage. During the break we went to check out the food vendors, which in addition to the ubuiqitous sausage and pepper sandwiches, also offered such RI treats as Saugy hot dogs, Clam Cakes and other seafood dishes from Johnny Angels of Newport, Brazilian barbeque from Casa Brasil in East Providence, and Jamaican fare from Tina’s in Providence. Wine and beer were for sale (for $4 and $5 respectively), with Corona as the main sponsor displaying two a giant inflatable bottles (in keeping with the Beach Volleyball them, I guess) . Soda and water were also available for $2. In the Volleyball Competition, there were men and women playing in bathing suits, on a sand court, but for “some reason” the women’s side attracted a larger group of spectators… go figure!

Then at 8pm the Fabulous Thunderbirds played an energetic 90+ minute set of rockin' boogie blues to an appreciative audience, which had finally grown to a respectable size. The Thunderbirds, fronted by Kim Wilson (the only original member) on vocals and harmonica rocked the house. They did some of their signature tunes such as Tuff Enuff, and Wrap it Up, Why Get Up, and plenty of other danceable songs, as evidenced by the dust cloud in front of the stage. RI sure loves the blues ..maybe some were reliving past shows at Lupo’s. Kim was not even phased by being hit by a beachball a few times, just coolly batted it back out into the audience. We did not return Sunday, opting instead for a bike ride – during which we stumbled across more live music, a local Blues/Classic Rock cover band called Shot in the Dark playing for free in a local park. Sometimes you have to work to find the music, and sometimes it finds you!

I can see the Providence Summerfest growing over the next few years. Since I wasn’t there for the whole thing I can’t give my impressions of the rest of the weekend’s festivities, but there is a more complete account in the Providence Journal.

Have music, will travel!

Music Festivals are a great excuse to travel and see other parts of the country that you otherwise might not get to. Take Cincinnati for example – it doesn’t exactly spring to most people’s mind as a vacation destination, and I probably never would have thought to go there on vacation, but we went last year for the Tall Stacks festival. It’s a confluence of steam boats from all over the United States – kind of like the “Tall Ships” events on the East Coast. Because of the logistics involved, it only happens every few years. The last few times, they have expanded it to include a top notch roots music festival, and last year it was 5 days, with such diverse bands as Beausoleil, Del McCoury, Wilco, Old Crow Medicine Show, Blind Boys of Alabama, Sonny Landreth, Tea Leaf Green, Over the Rhine, Roseanne Cash, Mountain Heart, Sonny Landreth, Big Sandy and the FlyRite Boys, Tim O’Brien, Marcia Ball, Buddy Guy and many more. We found out about it on the Petdekat and Jazzfest message boards. The festival was in a city park on the banks of the Ohio. Between festing, we learned about the region, saw some Civil war demonstrations, rode on a steamboat, walked to Kentucky several times for food and fun, and passed a good time with friends from Ohio and Canada. There are a lot of Germans in that area so the food is of the meat and potato variety, but they also had an authentic Hofbrau house. They eat chili on top of spaghetti and have some of the best ice cream in the world. ….who knew?

In 2002 we went to Lafayette for Festivals Acadiens, then drove to Austin for the first ever Austin City Limits festival. Being fans of Cajun and Zydeco music, we love Lafayette and had visited it a few times, but had never been to Texas. Austin is a great music city and when we went for that first ACL fest (which we also found out about on the Petdekat board), we arrived on a Monday and spent a few days visiting and touring Austin, San Antonio (the Alamo, Riverwalk), Fredericksburg and other areas. By the time our other friends from RI arrived on Thursday we knew the area pretty well. People at the visitors’ center were surprised that we had come all the way from RI for it – I think they had no idea it would catch on the way it has.

New Orleans Jazzfest is the “reason” for our trip to New Orleans every spring, although that one is so much more than a music festival, and over the years we’ve met so many friends there that it is almost like a reunion or convention more than a music festival. New Orleans is such a unique and wonderful place to visit any time, and they seem to have a festival for one reason or another almost every weekend. But during Jazzfest, there is so much going on at the fairgrounds and in the city, it makes your head spin. Fear of Missing Something (or FOMS, as it is called in the Jazzfest forums) is contagious. There is the food, the clubs, arts and crafts, Mardi Gras Indians, parades and secondlines, in-store performaces, meeting up with friends, and other “daze between” happenings that make the week just fly by so fast you need a vacation from the vacation when you get home!

While we have many excellent festivals in the Northeast all summer long, and one of the best(Rhythm and Roots) is yet to come, I find myself wanting to plan another festival trip, which can help alleviate the melancholy feeling that comes every Labor Day when you pack up and say goodbye to Rhythm and Roots for another year.

These are some of the ones I'm considering:
Festivals Acadiens, Lafayette and/or Voice of the Wetlands Oct 13-14.
We love Lafayette/ Acadiana, but haven't been there since 2002; and just saw Tab last night so after looking on his website today, I see VOW is the same weekend as Lafayette. Maybe one day of each and a little travelling around.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass San Francisco Oct 6-7 . The lineup is not posted but pollstar lists alot of great acts and its free, and San Francisco is a very cool place to visit.

Blues Cruise out of San Diego Oct 6-13. We have never been on a cruise before, but this is the type of cruise I'd go on, if not now, maybe another year.

IBMA World of Bluegrass / Fan Fest Nashville Oct 5-7 - an indoor bluegrass festival with an unbelievable lineup. Haven't been to Nashville in a while, but that is also a good city to visit, lots of good music there anyway. There's also some kind of Americana conference in Nashville, later in the month, that looks intriguing.

Arkansas Blues and Heritage (aka King Biscuit) Oct 4-7. I have heard so many great things about this one, but don’t’ know much about the area… although I guess its not far from Memphis, and Memphis is pretty cool.

Magnolia fest, Florida Oct 26-29 – a camping festival at Suwannee music park in Northern Florida. We went once in 2000 , and passed a good time with some of the PetdeKat Krewe.

Fred Eaglesmith Roots Music Train from Albuquerque New Mexico - to Durango Colorado. A rail cruise! I came across this while browsing the web, but that is already sold out. Maybe another year.


and perhaps some other candidates will emerge....too bad Tallstacks isn't every year, that was a great time in Cincinnati last year!

New Fest in Providence

The inaugural event is scheduled for this weekend, Aug 18-19. Saturday's lineup looks pretty good - bands include Magnolia Cajun band, Santa Mamba, the fabulous Thunderbirds...and more . Only $10 at Providence Piers (where the ferry to Newport docks)

http://summerfestprovidence.com/