Transitioning Back to the Bay Area

(July 12,2003) I’ve been back in the SF Bay Area for little over a month now, after spending the winter in Lafayette, LA and while, it’s true, I can’t go out EVERY night of the week to listen and dance to Cajun or zydeco music here, there have been so many great bands traveling through over the last few weekends, that I haven’t had that much opportunity to be too homesick, at least musically speaking, for my life in Louisiana. In fact, in three consecutive weeks in June , a few of the top of the heap zydeco AND Cajun bands have performed here: Brian Jack, Steve Riley & Nathan as well as some lesser known, but still heartfelt performers: Creole fiddler Edward Poullard, and Cajun accordionists: Jesse Lege and Jude Moreau.  And over July 4th weekend, T-Broussard & the Zydeco Steppers, which included Classie Ballou Jr (Boozoo's great bass player) played several dances at Eagle's Hall as well as entertained at a fabulous block party put on by Ellen Papper.  And as an added bonus,  Michael Seider & Patsy Hebert from the Lafayette area taught dance lessons at the Eagles' Hall Fourth of July weekend dance and parade marathon.  Everything from the back porch sounds of Jesse Lege, Jude Moreau & Edward Poullard, to the traditional zydeco styling of Sacramento’s Mark St. Mary to the big piano accordion sound of Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas to Houston’s rising zydeco star of Brian Jack & the Zydeco Outlaws to the bravura zydeco of T-Broussard to  Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboy’s distinctive approach to Cajun music which blends the traditional Cajun sounds with Creole fiddling, rock & roll, swamp pop and zydeco,  was represented.

It’s been a pleasure to dance in the smoke-free Bay Area clubs again. Eagle’s Hall in Alameda has been host to many of these dances, but Ashkenaz has had its share as well. . I’ve had fun attending some of the weekly Cajun jam sessions at Blair & Steve’s in Berkeley. I also attended the big Isleton Crawdad festival this year… and once again, the traffic jam getting into town was one for the record books. I heard reports of 3 hour + delays if you tried to get into town any time after 11 am on the main road from the south. I arrived in the area by 10:00AM on Saturday and it still took me 30 minutes to go the last mile. My advise: Plan to go early or use the back roads. Also, you should know that, while Isleton books a lot of out-of –town, and local Cajun & Zydeco music, and this year’s event even had a raised dance floor at one stage, this festival is still more of a food, drink, party-hearty, biker and state fair booth kind of event and not a pure music festival like many CZ festival-goers might be expecting. Don’t misunderstand me. There is LOTS of music there, but of the 100,000 or so folks that attend each day, most of the crowd, unlike Jazzfest or Simi Valley for example, is not there to dance or for the music – more to enjoy the scene.

Brian Jack & the Zydeco Gamblers played two dances at Eagles Hall in June and both days his sets included original songs, plus a repertoire mined from the Boozoo Chavis and Beau Jocque songbooks, with touches of some Cajun and Houston, TX zydeco tunes. The band has ready smiles, relates well to the audience, puts on a dynamic stage show, features strong vocals, and just looks like they are having too much fun. – which is infectious to watch. Only time will tell, but Brian Jack & his band seem to have the combination of musical talent, variety, personality and songwriting ability to have the potential to be this generation’s king pin of zydeco. When Brian Jack started into "Step Back Give Me Some Room’, nobody in the house was sitting down.

On the Cajun side, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys have been at the helm of contemporary Cajun revivalism for many years now. The band has been featured on PBS documentaries and last year’s national 4^th of July TV broadcasts. Although they have made some missteps on the way, arguably straying too far at times from the Cajun legacy that is the source of their uniqueness, in the last few years, they have worked their way back to their roots, and their current sets feature some exhilarating material: some drawn from creative arrangements of traditional tunes, such as Carlton Frank’s Oh Mon, a twin-fiddle Dennis McGee medley, and a Lawrence Walker tune; and some original material contributed by both David Greely and Sam Broussard. Their Eagle’s Hall set was very Cajun and their Isleton set laid on a mix that included more Swamp Pop and their more rock/zydeco influenced tunes…better suited for the rowdier festival crowd. Fiddler Greely and front man Riley both celebrated birthdays while they were in the Bay Area. One thing I found very strange, however, was at Eagle’s Hall gig: the band returned to the stage and was ready to start playing after the break, but instead of fading out the Latin music and letting SRMP start their second set, Eagles Hall management remained oblivious to the fact that the band and folks paying to hear SRMP were waiting impatiently, and instead let the audience and musicians stand around for almost 5 minutes while the canned music continued to play. Considering the band unfortunately started late due to some major flight delays, those wasted musical moments were particularly irksome and I heard quite a bit of grumbling about it.

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas also made a rare appearance in the Bay Area following their gigs at the Simi Valley Cajun/Zydeco Festival. Nathan’s music reflects the influence of the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, and he mixes a lot of shuffles and bluesy numbers into his sets. A prolific song-writer, he performed many of his popular originals, including "Let’s Go", "Follow Me Chicken", & "Everything on the Hog is Good". It was a fine evening for lover’s of the piano accordion sound.

But perhaps the best time of the month was had at Ellen's street party in Menlo Park.  Using her own house, plus taking over several neighbor's yards, Ellen set up the band to play outside, arranged to have CFLFM's wooden dance floor installed for the afternoon, borrowed a tent to cover the food area and invited all her neighbors plus the sheriff's department to stop by  and enjoy the music and  refreshments.   And so  we were all literally dancing in the street on an absolutely beautiful Sunday afternoon.  T-Broussard and his band, which included former Bay Area resident June Barfield on guitar, and the legendary Classie Ballou, Jr on bass guitar, put on their best set of the weekend.   This band plays some high energy, catchy original tunes, plus also includes some crowd-pleasers from the standard zydeco repertoire handed down from Boozoo Chavis and Beau Jocque. During the afternoon, they played an extended Motown infused shuffle, and  Classie sang a medley which included Chubby Checker's hit "Let's Twist Again" followed by the King's "Don't Be Cruel".  It was all very entertaining and  relaxing.  Additionally,  the acoustics outside were terrific.  It was just great to be dancing outside and passing time with friends and good music.  A mellow crowd, great food, fabulous weather and a fine band -  It just doesn't get much better than this!

All in all, an excellent time to be in the Bay Area, and away from the sweltering Louisiana summer.