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Wow! What a busy twenty-eight fun-filled
hours for Sandy and me.
It started with our grandson’s baseball game
Saturday morning in Marshfield. Then we drove to Preston, Connecticut for the
Cajun/Zydeco Dance Festival. There were twelve bands.
Yes, Steve Riley was there and so was our
current favorite, The Pine Leaf Boys with Wilson Savoy. People come from
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland for this one. It is not as big as
Ninigret at Labor Day but it is still a lot of fun.
This time we mostly visited with friends and
listened, rather that danced. For the Pine Leaf Boys we sort of stood in front
and listened and watched and stared. Wilson did Jerry Lee's "Whole Lotta
Shakin" on his keyboard piano and totally rocked the place.
There was a long wait from the three o'clock
show until nine-thirty when Steve Riley was to play his second set. We thought
we wouldn't enjoy the unknowns playing in that space of time. Unknown only to
us. The food is not so great at this festival and one meal was enough, so we
thought we would leave early and get to our hotel near Mystic and then go to
Mystic Pizza of the 1988 movie fame. Think Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, a thin
Vincent D'Onofrio and even Matt Damon as Skipper.
At 5:15 Bonsoir Catin came
on at the amphitheater. They were five young women from Louisiana. They
actually formed in 2005. It was their first time playing in New England. One of
the guitar players I had been paying special attention to all day. She was a
looker, especially in that leopard tunic that she was wearing. She seemed to
know everyone behind the Rec. Stage, acknowledging band members with longs hugs
and big smiles. When Bonsoir Catin appeared on stage, there she was. That made
sense. I thought by the way she looked that she could have been an entertainer.
When the emcee introduced the band, he paid homage to the girl in the leopard
tunic.
In 1971 a Cajun fiddler came to the Newport
Jazz Festival. Friends from rural Louisiana begged him not to go North. They
feared that this country music would be a laughingstock to the Yankee audience.
Instead of that, school bus driver Dewey Balfa and his fiddle got a standing
ovation. He brought Cajun music to New England for the very first time and it
stuck. The striking girl in the band with the tunic turned out to be his
daughter, Christine Balfa.
A fun movie to watch is "The Big Easy”
-- 1986 with Dennis Quaid, John Goodman and Ellen Barkin. Robert Redford said
that this was the first movie SOLD at his Sundance Movie Festival. There is a
scene where there is a party with musicians on someone’s home porch. Dewey and
Christine are in the band on that porch. The movie is a little over the top,
but it does show the dancing and the Louisiana music and of course, New
Orleans. On their first date, Quaid takes Ellen to Tipitinas for food and
dancing. When we were there, it didn't look that good. We have been around
Cajun people and have never heard anyone call any one Cher. Watch the movie and
then call me. Don't e-mail me. Call me. But don't call me Cher.
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys play in
Robert Duval's "The Apostle." In "Passion Fish" Gino
Delefose's Dad, John, plays wicked good Zydeco in a dance hall/bar scene. The
main character in this movie, Mary McDonnell, played Kevin Costner’s love in
"Dances With Wolves." Sandy and I were just getting into this Zydeco/Cajun
stuff way back then.
So now the special guest comes on and it is
not Steve or Wilson. It is the all-girl Cajun band from here in the Northeast.
Never introduce your good-looking girlfriend to your good-looking boyfriend.
When C'est Bon came on, Sandy and I thought that they were even better than the
Louisiana girls. Possibly from the applause, so did the audience. Look out
Steve and Wilson. Cajun music might be changing. C’est Bon is their name. It
means it is good. Well, it was better than good, and so was Bonsoir Catin.
We did not expect what we heard from these
five young women. They rocked the place with fiddle and accordion and guitar.
They mentioned that they had a very special musical guest. I just knew that it
was Wilson Savoy or Steve Riley. The Northeast Cajun band was a wonderful
surprise. Why don't you Google them to see them in action.
After Bonsoir Catin, another band came on called
"The Revelers." We recognized most of the band members as members of
other Cajun bands – the Red Stick Ramblers, Balfa Toujours, Cedric Watson,
Bijou Creole. They think of themselves as a Louisiana super group. They were
red hot also. And tight! Chas Justus plays his 1958 Gibson guitar and he is in
love with it. I always smile when I hear him. I am buying the CD's from all
three of these bands. The Revelers will be at Ninigret in Labor Day weekend.
Chuck, please hire the two female bands.
We and GPS headed out from the Strawberry
Music Festival to our hotel room in Connecticut and eventually Mystic Pizza.
The hotel was five miles straight ahead. The bridge was out three miles
straight ahead. The restaurant at the detour was called Mystic Pizza ll. You
Can't MTSUP. The pizza was great. The menu had pictures in it from the movie.
The $10 salad could have easily fed four people. We got directions to the hotel,
which was on a hill near Route 95. I grew up on Route 8 in Adams and truck
traffic, especially with the windows open, lulls me to sleep.
Breakfast was included at the hotel. We ate
on a picnic bench outside, under an awning. The weather was finally warm. The
festival weather was absolutely perfect.
Sandy looks over my shoulder and says,
"Isn't that your Seabee friend?" It was. I met Tom McGuire a year or
so ago at the German Club in Pawtucket at a Lil Anne/Magnolia dance. He was
wearing a Seabee ballcap. He wasn't wearing it backwards. He is a real Seabee,
having done two tours in Vietnam. Tom's unit was so close to North Vietnam that
they could see their flags flying. We chatted about the festival and what is
happening to Louisiana Music. Tom loved the GIRL bands too.
Driving down, I had seen a sign at Exit 7
saying that this was the exit to see General Nathaniel Greene's house during
the Revolutionary War.
Some writers have said that Greene was George
Washington's favorite general. Some say it was Henry Knox of Fort Ticonderoga
cannon fame. I have read books on both generals. Maybe it was even Lafayette. Guess who Fort Knox is named after ?
Lafayette is buried in France but he is buried under Pennsylvania soil. Obviously it made a real impression on him. You know where to file this.
Greene certainly saved the troops with his supply efforts at Valley Forge in
Pennsylvania. We found his house in Coventry; it backed up to the Pawtuxet
River. The Greene family made ships chain and anchors.
The Pawtuxet is, of
course, the same river that flows behind Rhodes on the Pawtuxet where the Mardi
Gras Ball is held in Cranston every year. Many Cajun bands live in Lafayette,
Louisiana. More of STUFF that you can't make up. Tom Egan walked to the dances
held for the teenagers over 100 years ago.
 |
| Tom Egan |
Our final destination that weekend was
Federal Hill for lunch, but on the way we pulled into a antique car show filled
with dogs and tattooed people and cigarette smokers, along with some beautiful
cars.
 |
| Please don't touch my car. |
Anyone want a Del's or a Narragansett beer?
Founded in Cranston in 1890. "Hi Neighbor, Have a ‘Gansett.
Federal Hill had all the local goombahs
sitting around in their wife-beater tee shirts, talking while smoking big
cigars and checking out the young good-looking women while discussing futball. Not the Patriots.
It hit 91 degrees but we were comfortable
under our umbrella at Di Pasquale Square. Sarah & the Tall Boys has a great
tune about Providence that mentions Del's and the Biltmore Hotel, they built
downtown, Di Pasquale Square and even Narragansett Beer. Did we have dessert
you ask? We did, at Pastiche Fine Desserts & Cafe. They opened in 1983.
The temperature dropped as we drove home to
Marshfield, because of the cooler ocean water, to 76.
I just thought that you should know, in case
some one asks you if you knew what Bob & Sandy did this past weekend.
