Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
San Diego, CA
MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS on the links that follow this story...
Where
Spanish Landing Park on the shores of San Diego Bay across from the Lindberg Field at San Diego International Airport on North Harbor Drive
When
Friday May 9: 4 PM - 10:30 PM
Saturday May 10: 11 AM - 8 PM
Sunday May 11: 11 AM – 7 PM
Hold onto your party hats, boys and girls, Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival is the best dance party festival on the planet (or at least until I hit one that exceeds this one).
This is like swinging at a big bulging piñata and getting showered with a wild confetti of musicians, bands, and singers. Advertised to “bring the heart and soul of the Louisiana bayou to San Diego over Mother’s Day weekend,” I expected big helpings of Cajun and zydeco, music descended from French speaking peoples of southwest Louisiana. And judging by its title, anticipated some blues to boot.
But hey, cumbia, salsa, and jalapeño rock, I don’t think so. And oh, rockabilly, 40’s and 50s jump blues, rumba, samba, gypsy, merengue, bachata, country, edgy rock, and something called “zyde-groovable". Then there was Chicago blues with a Louisiana accent, a diva singing down 'n dirty Blues, spicy cha chas, mambos, and something called gypsy/folk/kickstomp (I’m not kidding), bluegrass, obscure country classics, Tijuana blues, rockin’ boogie … I have to catch my breath. Holy Moley, this is a recreational, eclectically oriented music lover’s paradise.
A few of the weekend's acts, some not so household names who can really rock in whatever genre they play: Billy Lee and The Swamp Critters, Alas de Mosca, Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, Combo Liberdad, Sarah Petite, Todo Mondo, Ladies Shoes Blues Review. Many of them are local. San Diego must have one helluva music scene. Then there are bands playing here that dancers will hop on the next plane to party with: Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band, Horace Trahan and The New Ossun Express, and Balfa Toujours.
On a beautiful weekend like this, temps in the low 70s, bright sunshine, low humidity, it felt like paradise, too. The don’t call it Gator By The Bay capriciously. The west basin of San Diego Bay, with hundreds of sailboats docked in the azure waters of the marinas, is the backdrop for Spanish Landing Park.
I expected to see dancers from all quarters of the country and did. The stated occupancy limit to park events is 1000 but I doubt anyone was counting. Legions of San Diegans showed up to enjoy the smorgasbord of music, watch the dancers, and eat tons, literally, of Louisiana food. It had the feel of a citywide block party.
It’s family friendly. I saw way more strollers and kids under twelve years old than at other festivals. The Make Your Own Hat booth was jamming every day. Kids from one to at least forty-one got in on the fun. The Face Painting booth was busy all day. Families, often multigenerational, sprawled on blankets and camp chairs all over Spanish Landing Park. Located in an incongruous place between the airport and the east basin of San Diego Bay, it’s long serpentine configuration is perfect for setting stages far enough apart to keep the music from colliding.
The Gator By The Bay has been hailed as one of the greatest Cajun/Zydeco festivals in the country. In my book, it’s the finest music festival in the country, period.
Here’s the Gator’s “no fault” dance policy: “If you’re smiling’, you’re doin’ it right.”
I witness this all day long at the Fountain Stage when a ton of ‘world music’ acts performed. This kind of music rivals zydeco in it’s insistence that you start by wiggling your butt in your seat then next thing you know you’re on your feet wiggling a little more then a guy like me asks you to dance, you say you don’t know how, I smile, offer my hand again and we dance. By the end of the dance, she’s smiling. And once in a while, asks if we can do it again.
The Fountain Stage is the best example of an ‘all age” stage, spectators/dancers range from three to eighty three. What a hoot. I see college kids and people their parents’ age boogieing on the floor whether they know what they're doing or not. When you see this, you know you've got a special festival going on.
French Quarter Food Court
Ten thousand pounds of live crawfish were trucked in from Opelousas, LA and served up with fresh Louisiana corn and potatoes. A hundred yard gauntlet of vendors sold boudain, fried catfish, crawfish etoufée, beignets, seafood gumbo, jambalaya, poboys, and homemade ice cream. The lines through this corridor were prodigious. People around here don’t have the luxury of eating this much good Louisiana foods all in one place. Judging by the lines, they took full advantage of the opportunity.
Merchandise, Crafts
Gator By The Bay is an all-purpose, all-ages, festival. The merchandise corridor is loaded with tempting goods: hand made jewelry, bright dancing dresses, candles, mosaics, hats, dancing shoes and cowboy boots, art prints, and woodwork. It boasts one of the best sculpture vendors I’ve ever seen.
According to several San Diegans who chatted with me, their city is a hotbed of blues and jazz. I’d add Latin, rock n roll, honky tonk, country and a whole lot more to the list according to the music I'm hearing..
The organizers, The Bon Temps Social Club, must have a serious vetting procedure. Many of the bands are local award-winning acts. Every band I hear, whether it’s my cup of tea or not, is musically potent. My guess is that if you have Gator By The Bay on your resumé, doors open for you.
I know where I'll be on Mother's Day weekend in 2015, in San Diego, where I'll take a big chomp of the 17th Gator By The Bay.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello,Jr.
Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin Receives Harvard Degree
May 29, 2014
A friend of mine on the Harvard faculty was sitting on the the huge stage on which Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, delivered this rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the Commencement Exercises in the outdoor Tercentenary Theatre, Harvard University. She sent me this video (courtesy of Harvard University)...you've got to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kC59qNwt3A#t=11
I've heard the National Anthem sung a thousand times but not a single one of them this indelibly wrought. Ten seconds after Aretha began, her piano riffs transformed the feel of the celebration from a huge outdoor event celebrating the 2014 Harvard University Commencement to that of a small white-framed Baptist church on a Sunday morning. She got it all... the cadences, intonations and rhythms of her singing, the chords hammered home by her piano stylings right out of music that's been heard in the gospel tradition for well over a century.
Aretha Franklin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree today. This was her dissertation. Accepted unanimously.
++++++++++
The conferring of honorary degrees at Harvard's 363rd Commencement on May 29, 2014 at Tercentenary Theatre.VIDEO
This year's recipients include: Michael Bloomberg, Isabel Allende, President George H.W. Bush, Aretha Franklin, Patricia King, Peter H. Raven, Seymour Slive, and Joseph E. Stiglitz.
Past honorary degrees conferred http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees
May 29, 2014 in Commentaries, Music | Permalink | Comments (7)
Tags: Aretha Franklin