Cajun Festival at Laguna Park, Sebastopol,
August 31, 2002
by Rolf Olmstead

I awoke to a stiff back and the sound of Saturday morning cartoons after five hours sleep and had a breakfast of Motrin and Bobby's Barbeque hotlinks and sliced beef. The barbeque still tasted wonderful. I goofed all morning with my kids and discovered that they were booked for stuff in the afternoon and I could keep my promise to Willy Jordan to attend the Cajun Festival.

So after a lunch of hotlinks and sliced beef (still tasted wonderful) I headed across the mountains and the Plain to Sebastopol. Funding the Festival was a snap with the signs and the fine traffic directors who pointed me right to a space. And the Rotary organizers had hired the tractor trolley shuttles from the County Fair so I was zipped right to the site.

And the Rotary organizers have done a wonderful job of keeping the Festival small and tight enough. The booths are well set up for sales, close enough to the stage area, yet not underfoot. And what's being sold is on theme and good. Love that Crawfish and I bought my T-shirt. Thanks to Sebastopol Rotary.

I arrived to find Motordude Zydeco just on stage for their first set. They were sounding great and I could hear RC Carrier's vocal clearly. What a great baritone- smooth, manly, and humorous. And his rub board playing was hitting the spot.

And RC and Motordude were doing their 'chant' number where they play an eight bar dance figure and RC sings an item of real or imaginary soul food at the turnaround:

"Turkey Necks!"

What can I say, I was already sold on this band from the night before. Just a whole pile of rhythm with great soloists cutting loose often enough to keep the interest high. So danceable, a three year old cutie in rompers with beads in her pigtails was showing the rest of us in front how to do it. Wish I could dance that natural.

"Goat Butt!"

Billy Wilson on the diatonic Cajun accordion ("cadjin") was twisting his six and a half feet into pretzels as he played the squeezebox sideways and got the bellows to form 'S' shapes and snake around. He was amusing himself while simultaneously doing amazing things musically on a tough instrument. And he was swinging like mad!

"Pig foots!"

John Graham the guitar player was having trouble with the miking of his amp and mostly had to confine himself to rhythm. He got in a few low volume solos that sounded fine. His counter rhythms were responsible for a bunch of the danceability. You couldn't not move. Just walking around you'd put a little 'move' in your step.

"Collard Greens!"

Dennis Callaway was grinning as he pumped the bass parts out to us. Bumpin', bompin', pumpin'. I'm crazy about all those amphibian stickers on his Jazz Bass. Another three year old kept doing forward somersaults in perfect time to Dennis' bass.

"Ham Hocks!"

Willy was already in full drummer's sheen on this hot day, looking muscular and alive. He had the simple pounding look that had surprised me the night before at Eagles Hall. I'm used to his sophisticated funk and jazz look. He used way more tom and snare strokes and less cymbals. Some types of rhythm were RC's or John's job, not his. It reminded me of the divided rhythm responsibility in Bluegrass bands. Willy did all the heavy cues at the turnarounds.

"Turkey Legs!"

The crowd went nuts, dancing harder and harder. The dance area was full even though Motordude was first on the bill (double rotation) this day. Zydeco people were styling as they danced. People in the lawn chairs up the little knoll in back were moving their heads in time with the music. It looked like little waves as the heads moved in unison.

"Snake Hips!"

Song after song was infectious raising the dance to the point where everyone had that smooth shoulder rotation move as they danced. And it was still early. What a fantastic start to the festival!

"Red Beans and Rice!"

Next up were the Zydeco Flames. They are a well-liked band on the Bay Area and West Coast Zydeco scene. They have a pleasant smooth sound and they are fun to watch. Singer/rub board player Lloyd Meadows has a fun flashy projection with tons of big turquoise jewelry and a female attracting charisma. Personally, I find them a little pop oriented, but then I've always been kind of a tradition nut and I like my saddles rough side out (you get a better grip with your legs).

"Pig Snout!"

Being exhausted I went and lay down in the shade and nodded out for a while. When I woke up I bumped into Willy. A muscle in his right arm was cramping and he was losing water in the sun. He showed me a box of original funk 45s he'd bought as a kid and loaned to someone 14 years ago. He just got them back, they were a roll call of real original underground funk records from the early 70s. "Funky Nassau" and James Brown and Ohio Players, etc., etc. And also some blues greats like Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas, Baby". Hot stuff.

"Sugar Cane!"

I had to get some shopping done: I needed brake pads for my Toyota Pickup. I took the shuttle downtown to Sebastopol Auto Parts. The clerk behind the counter was Bill Heston from the Sonoma County Blues Society Wednesday Night Blues Jam.

"May I help you Sir?"

"Yeah, I'd like a '58 Stratocaster."

"You want a '57, the magnets are better. Rosewood or maple fretboard?"

We grinned at each other and he got my brakepads and springclips.

Bringing back some Gatorade for Willy from the liquor store next-door I was back to the festival grounds in time for Gator Beat.

"Gator Tail!"

Gator Beat is a great local favorite. They play Calistoga's Knight's Valley Volunteer Fire Dept.(Hi, guys) Mardi Gras Dance every year. They are the grand old man of Cajun/Zydeco bands in this area. They play more traditionally Cajun than Creole. I dig their sound and really love their songs. Buy their CDs.

"Crawdads!"

Motordude came on for their second set and knocked me out again. Billy Wilson is a hero of American music. How does an Okie from Bakersfield sound like he has swamp flood rings around his calves? I'm told he plays a bunch of instruments. Jeez. The band sent a shiver up my spine with a waltz. The crowd wasn't so much cheering them as pointing at them and nodding their heads and saying "Yeah, man!". The dance area 3was packed and the moves were really coming. And then the Zydeco regulars started line dancing and the amazing sight of a hundred people moving in unison knocked me out. Gotta learn how to do that dance. Motordude came off to big cheers.

"Biscuits and Gravy!"

The week was catching up to me and I was feeling beat. I needed to lie down, but if I went back over the mountains to home I'd never get up again, and there was another gig I wanted to go to that night. Willy surprised me by offering me a place in the shade at his house. Thanks.

"Turkey Lips!"