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COMMON GROUND - 6/4/2008
(by Anita Yarossi - OpEd Columnist - June 04, 2008)
It’s a family affair
My New York and New Jersey “Krewe” got together this weekend in the hills of Sussex County, to celebrate the Crawfish Fest. A three-day music festival for folks of all ages included camping and featured music from New Orleans. The Zydeco bands had all the dancers practicing there fancy footwork in the dance hall. I have been trying to learn the Cajun two-step – which is actually a three-step rhythm – for several years now, but was always afraid to get up on the floor with all the seasoned dancers. A brave gentleman showed me the steps and then led me for a spin around the floor in a Cajun Waltz – he even said I did just fine!
Friday night we drove up to see the Radiators play. This New Orleans rock ‘n roll band has been touring together for 30 years. And despite the fact that most of them have crossed over into their 50s, the music they make is full of original songs by keyboardist Ed Volker, that the lead guitars Dave Malone and Camile Baudoin set on fire. In addition, their wonderful New Orleans take on classics including “Sitting on Top of the World” and the Who’s “Magic Bus” left the crowd screaming for more. We drove back to Ringwood as the campers settled into their tents after filling their bellies with boiled crawfish and jambalaya.
Saturday’s threatening forecast kept a lot of the day-trippers away, so the fairgrounds were delightfully uncrowded and the food lines short. The setting up there is just beautiful and only an hour’s drive from here if you are thinking about something fun to do with the family that doesn’t eat into your gas budget. For the young set there was face painting and a kids stage where the Swing Set Mamas performed on both Saturday and Sunday. But what delighted me was watching the little ones dance to all of the other music, while the older siblings tossed Frisbees and played catch in the fields that surrounded the stages. There was even a hula hoop group keeping rhythm with the music.
For me the highlight of Saturday’s music was Mitch Woods and the Rocket 88’s at the Delta Pavilion. They played “jump blues” and “boogie woogie” with a big band sound that made everybody jump up and down. There is plenty of room in the pavilion and in the dance hall if the weather turns unfavorable. As a veteran of many JazzFests in New Orleans, I can really appreciate the close proximity of the music stages in the smaller setting of this event and the clean bathrooms as well.
Sunday was absolutely perfect weather after Saturday’s ride home through a wild thunderstorm. The crowds were out there for Bonerama, one of my favorite Brass Bands who played at full tilt with Mark Mullins making sounds on his trombone that were funk-infused fun. This is the second year in a row at the Crawfish Fest for this band, which consists of five trombones and a tuba. They play traditional brass music inspired with R&B, jazz and rock. No one can sit still for very long – brass bands make a big sound that fills you up with joy.
When one of the other Zydeco bands was a no-show, Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners kept the dancing crowd happy both at the main stage and the Dance Hall. This group played for hours without missing a beat. But the best of the day for me was the closing act Allen Toussaint, the piano legend that played with an eight-piece band. Toussaint is just a sublime performer whose collection of original music spans decades of popular hits. He is at once a composer, arranger and musician. It was a love fest out there for this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame deity. I was floating all the way home.
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