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| Booker T and Leon Russell performing "Green Onions" |
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The Simi Valley Cajun &
Blues Music Festival is an annual event, featuring some great blues and zydeco
artists, and plenty of food and drink. Sunday, the second day, really couldn’t
have been a much better day. The weather was perfect – not too hot or anything.
The people were cool and relaxed. There was a good crowd, but still plenty of
room to move around. And of course the music was fantastic. There were two
stages, something I’m generally not all that fond of, because it means
inevitably that I’m going to miss something that I want to see. Yesterday it meant
missing Chubby Carrier and Doug Kershaw. I also missed Kelly’s Lot, but that’s
because I was exhausted and didn’t wake up in time. My own fault there. They
went on just after noon. The festival took place at the Rancho Santo Susana
Community Park, and at one end was the Cajun and zydeco stage; at the other was
the blues stage.
I arrived in time to see Alvon
Johnson at the blues stage. I wasn’t all that familiar with him, but got into his set immediately. Alvon had a good rapport with the crowd,
particularly when dedicating a song to those who are with a special someone who
isn’t worth a damn. The song ended up being a fun, groovy rendition of “Hey
Joe.” Alvon changed the line to “I’m
going down to Simi Valley,” which of course got a cheer. He then stepped
off the stage to play just in front of the audience.
I stayed at the blues stage
because Booker T was up next. He opened his set with “Boot-Leg,” a cool
instrumental tune, and, after band introductions, followed it with “Hang ‘Em
High.” And then he did “Born Under A Bad Sign.” Yes, for those who didn’t know,
Booker T sings. He switched to guitar for a really good rendition of “Respect,”
singing “Give it to me, give it to me,
give it to me, give it to me,” and then “Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me.” Oh
yes! He then went back to organ for “Green Onions.” Leon Russell joined him on
organ partway through, drawing a huge response from the crowd, and after a moment
Booker T went to the guitar, leaving Leon by himself on keys. Yes, it was
pretty awesome. Booker T stayed on guitar for “Mannish Boy.” And then,
interestingly, he did “Hey Joe.” It was a very different version from what
Alvon Johnson played. This was a slower, heavier rendition, somewhat closer to
the Jimi Hendrix version. Booker began it solo, and then soon the band came in.
Booker T returned to the organ for “Hip Hug-Her,” another of those great
instrumentals that Booker T. & The M.G.s are known for. And then Booker T
did a sweet, delicate, respectful rendition of “Purple Rain.” For this, it was
just Booker and his son on vocals and guitar, and it was a surprising highlight.
Booker T introduced “Soul Limbo” by saying it’s a song that was played at
cricket matches, and then wasn’t surprised when there wasn’t much of a reaction to
the cricket reference. This version featured a good drum solo. He
concluded his set with “Everything Is Everything” and “Time Is Tight,” the latter being an
excellent tune that always makes me happy.
I was told by several people
that I shouldn’t miss Doug Kershaw’s set over at the Cajun stage. But Leon Russell was going on at the
same time, and so I made my choice. Was it the right one? There is really no
way of knowing, but I was very happy with my choice. Leon Russell put on a good
set, sometimes moving quickly from one song to the next, and sometimes telling
amusing anecdotes between songs, like about a conversation he had with Elvis Presley. And before
“One More Love Song,” he joked about his wife telling him that his fans wouldn’t
like him as much if they knew him like she did. He did kind of a fast rendition
of Sam Cooke’s “Good Times” (which is often listed as “Let The Good Times Roll”),
and probably the happiest version of “Wild Horses” I’ve ever heard. He followed
that with a really nice version of “Georgia On My Mind,” and then a fast and
fun rendition of The Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen A Face.” Of course he did “Tightrope,”
which led straight into “Delta Lady.” And then the band left the stage, and
Leon Russell performed a few songs solo (just vocals and keys), including “The
Ballad Of Mad Dogs And Englishmen,” “His Eye Is On The Sparrow,” “Magic Mirror”
and “A Song For You.” The band returned to the stage for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,”
which led right into “Papa Was A Rolling
Stone” and a brief instrumental version of “Paint It Black” and then into “Kansas
City.” Leon Russell then ended the set with Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven.”
Like I said, it was a really
good set, and everything was great over at the blues stage, but the real party
was at the Cajun stage when Dwayne Dopsie took over. By the time I made it over
there after Leon Russell’s set, Dwayne and his group were already in full
swing. I got there just before he started a really cool version of “Jambalaya,”
which led straight into “Iko Iko,” during which Dwayne went into the crowd. The
band was seriously cooking, and “Iko Iko” led back into “Jambalaya.” Dwayne and
Paul Lefleur (on washboard) later went into the crowd to play on a table at one
point. Their set was just fun, fun, fun, and with a ton of energy. A washboard
solo? Why the hell not? And who knew an accordion could sound so soulful? I do
have to wonder if the bands booked for this gig got together beforehand,
because Dwayne Dopsie also did “Hey Joe.” Was this something the bands had
decided on collectively? This was the third “Hey Joe” of the day (that I was
aware of anyway; there could have been more). And it was the second “Hey Joe”
of the day to include the line “I’m going
down to Simi Valley.” But this was the only “Hey Joe” I heard to feature an
accordion solo. Before that song, Dwayne borrowed a hat from an audience
member. Their whole set had a party atmosphere, where the audience was
just as involved as the band, and Dwayne even invited several people up on stage
to dance toward the end, and also had several people sing with him, including some children. And that was how he ended his set. And
that was how the festival ended. I had to walk back past the blues stage on the
way to my car, but the folks had already long cleared out of that area.
Here are a few photos from the
day:
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