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