So Easy A President Can Do It!

As you may know it's time for some of us, myself included, to update our Bon Temps membership.  I hate the thought of filling out paper forms, and heaven forbid licking one of those nasty little stamps and making a trip to the mailbox.   And I"m not alone in thinking so.  You spoke. We listened. A few months ago Jim Hance added the convenience of  Pay Pal subscriptions to the Bon Temps website.  I must admit there was a time long ago  I had no interest in using Pay Pal for anything.  I felt the mere premise was unsecured.  Well that couldn't be further from the truth.  Pay Pal is the safest method of making a transaction on the web.  Your financial information never goes outside the Pay Pal wire.   With a Pay Pal account even when you make a credit card transaction Pay Pal sends out a phony credit card number.  No one ever sees your actual credit card number.

I'll leave you with 2 thoughts

 1.  I just updated my membership and I was reminded again what a painless transaction Pay Pal can be.

 2. We can't stress enough how important each  membership is to the Bon Temps Social Club.  At the very least it takes money to continue to bring all the wonderful music and entertainment that we enjoy so much.  I remember when I first moved to San Diego how happy I was to find this club.  And since I travel so much I put off buying a membership. I was somebody that was just on the fringes and due to my work schedule I could only attend so many dances anyway.  But when I was able to attend, I realized how much fun it was and that Bon Temps needs my membership to thrive.  So whether I can make 4 dances or 10 dances a year, I feel my contribution goes towards the greater good.

So for those of you who have not paid this years dues, it's time to ante up.
For those who have never joined, I hope you will.   And yes you can still use snail mail if you so choose.
And if not, we love you anyway.
Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet
Al

Gator by The Bay 2010

I feel so lucky to have gotten back in town to catch this years Gator by The Bay Festival. It's hard to imagine that a festival this young could continue to produce such a quality experience year after year. And I do mean quality experience in every sense of the word. They bring us consistently good weather. I believe Maryanne Blinkhorn must be in charge of weather. She's really great at doing the impossible! We couldn't ask for a better location then beautiful San Diego with the harbor as the backdrop. And I'm sure many of you thought having such a convenient place to park your yacht is a nice touch as well. The music just blew me away. If you're a music lover and not even a dancer, you had to have been in awe of some of the fantastic musical performances. San Diego holds it's own when it comes to local talent. Blues, Zydeco, Cajun, Country, Latin, Swing, Steel Drums and even Andean music are just a few.

Newcomer to the festival, The Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band was off the hook. This guy plays Tipitinas Club in uptown New Orleans every Sunday evening to a packed house. One of the most talented musicians in Cajun music today, and we had him right here. What I like about this guy is he plays a no talk, all music solid hour of danceable songs one after another. 

Keith Frank put forth a couple of fantastic sets as usual. With all the carefully choreographed moves their starting to be the Temptations of Zydeco music. Keiths talent as both a musician and a skilled technician never fails to satisfy! 

And what can I say about Brian Jack? Personally I never tire of seeing this band. I think if he played 3 times on Saturday and 4 times on Sunday I'd be in line to see him each time. He's just that damm good as a artist and a performer. And that goes for the whole band. They give a performance that leaves the impression that they had a better time than you. There's always this interactive connection going on.

I won't try to make a complete review here as time is tight and the longer I go on my Gator bias becomes extremely evident. So just to show balance I will raise a small complaint. I personally thought the some of the food prices were a bit on the high side. I guess one could say you could either afford it or you can't, and there's some truth to that. But what I'm talking about is in over all value, and how that value contributes or detracts from the overall experience. The prices seem to be totally unregulated. As if vendors can set any price they wish. While that may be the thing to do in a perfect world it leaves festival goers unsure of what their budget needs are for a day long outing. Particularly tough on a family. Having been a food vendor myself, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, I can assure you as a vendor you could not price as such. You were allowed to sell a small and a large portion of whatever dish were selling and the cap for both was set by the festival. This affords festival goers a way to reasonably budget for their outing, which could easily be all weekend long. Ok, I'll stop my food rant. Overall the food was fantastic. And I stimulated the economy of more than a few select vendors.

Every year I take on this task of photographing the festival. And every year I agonize over taking on this assignment or just having fun like everybody else. But if you look at the festival through the lens of a camera you are blessed with this insider view that seems to be even more beautiful then seeing through your own eyes. Usually I put a huge emphasis on the bands and the entertainers. And they still got their share of attention. But this year my focus was "Happy People." And everywhere I turned there they were. It was like Gator had cast this magical spell over you once you entered the gates. There was no time for despair, it was one big happy time. It didn't matter your age, race, whether you were a dancer or a spectator, the place was filled with happy people. I saw so many smiling faces, I knew right away I couldn't capture them all. But with the time and energy I had, I tried to bring you as many as I could. 

Gator seems to be growing more in the direction of a adult festival with a huge family slant. I saw a lot more kids, and like the adults they were having a ball. It seems I saw a lot more mothers, not just present but engaged in the festivities. I saw mothers and daughters dancing together, and even 3 generations jamming together. There were  more Latinos and Hispanics, as well as the 42 African Americans I counted. Hey that's up from 37 I counted last year. Just joking of course. We're headed in the right direction. The festival is certainly starting to reflect Californias rich cultural heritage.
Music in all of it's goodness always seems to bring us all together, and that's a good thing. I would even swear that I saw some of some of those Conservatives dancing with those damm Liberals. And they look like they was passing a good time too. Imagine that. LOL!
That's it for now. You can view my photos by slideshow here
Remember to click the button in the upper rightmost corner of the slide show to view full screen.

And you can view one by one here

You can look for the work of Electric Rick and Jerry Jones and others real soon.
Also you don't want to miss the photographs by Otis Alexander. This guy is a fantastic photographer and I can't wait to see his work. I don't have links for these yet, but I'm sure their coming soon.
I invite you to click the follow link up top to follow this blog and keep up with The Bon Temps Social Club and other happenings in southern California.

By the way, who was your favorite?  What did you really enjoy at Gator this year?
Feel free to add your voice to the discussion.  Drop a comment.

In the meantime. Le Bon Temps Roule

Chateau Orleans by Jan M

A small group of us checked out Chateau Orleans last night to hear Mike DeClouet and the Louisiana Mojo Dawg Band and we had a great time! It was balmy, we sat right in front of the band in a flower-filled patio, there was a little room for dancing and the staff and proprietor were very hospitable. We danced and ate and drank watermelon wine! The band is booked again for next Wednesday, playing from 7-9:30 or so and there is no cover charge.
Another interesting thing is that they have a Jazz Brunch scheduled for every Sunday, 11am-3pm, for only $15 and this includes your first drink AND a $10 off coupon for any Wednesday night dinner (with the Louisiana Mojo Dawg Band)! You can't beat that, can you? (and there's live music --this Sunday the band plays some "Cajun," etc.)
This could be our new hangout.... This group that attended the show were mostly members of Bon Temps Social Club of San Diego.
To find out more about the Bon Temps Social Club, or how you might join:
Call: 858-496-6655 or visit Bon Temps Social Club of San Diego

The Skinny On Gator By The Bay

Gator By the Bay Finds It's Flavor.......And It's a Gumbo

Gator By The Bay once again proved to be a huge success. I can’t put into words just how fantastic and special this festival is. I could go as far as to say that It’s the Best Louisiana Music festival I’ve ever been to outside of Louisiana. But we won’t dwell on that, as the purpose of this piece is not to put down or take away from any other Festival. Besides, you could easily argue that Gator is evolving into a Music Festival of all genres that just happens to have a Louisiana theme. I was delighted with all the different groups. They all seemed to enhance the flavor of Gator’s musical gumbo.

You can find pictures here… Gator_2009

And here Otis Alexander Photography

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  Gator always seems to raise the bar from the previous year. The way I judge a music festival is really simple.
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  Did it provide value for the money I spent? YES
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  Did it meet or exceed my expectations in regards to entertainment? YES and then some
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  Did it draw the kind of crowd I love to dance and mingle with? (People who love and appreciate the music) YES
• Did it live up to it’s theme? YES
• Add a couple of peripheral factors and you have the best festival in Southern California. (sorry …couldn’t resist)
  
• 
  
  
  
  

Those factors would be food, location, and weather. Being located directly across the street from the airport could easily make Gator the best destination festival in the country. Let’s not forget onsite accommodations. by way of the Sheraton hotel. As well as other reasonably priced hotels nearby. I don’t know of any festival in the country so conveniently located. Being situated on the water with those constant cool breezes doesn’t hurt either.

I really enjoyed the 2 country groups we had this year. Emerald River and the Danielle Tucker Band. That was quiet a treat to have two female front men as well. Although I don’t think a woman would be called a “front man)?

This was absolutely special!

One really interesting situation at the “Bourbon Street Stage” was Michelle Lundeen and her fabulous group. Did anybody else notice they attracted more kids and families then any other group. And yes she did provide instruments for the kids to play with. I still found it quite interesting that they attracted so many families. Good for Gator!

Look at that crowd!

Theo and the Zydeco Patrol put together a jam session on the Bourbon Street Stage that was in a class all by itself.

They ended up with Curley Taylor on drums, and Curley’s drummer on accordion. Believe me, that was nothing short of special.

2 more excellent female performers! Lot’s of females out front this year! WAY TO GO!

Bill Lee and his Swamp Critters really turned it up a notch!

I won’t even get into the excellent and spirited performances by Brian Jack and Curley Taylor. Just fabulous!

Peter Oliver and The Bayou Brothers performing the original Gator By The bay song form Gator 2008.

I have to cut this off long before I pay tribute to everybody. But I’m running out of time . Feel free to leave a comment. Let me know about your Gator 2009 experience! Tell us what you loved about this years Gator By The Bay?

In case you're wondering why my blog is called Life in Sudden California I'll explain. I had no plans of moving to California or anywhere else for that matter. I lived my whole life in my beautiful New Orleans. See my pictures of New Orleans here. Then my life was once again changed by the scorn of a woman. Hurricane "Katrina' as we call her, facilitated my "Sudden" move to California. Thus the name of my blog. Please subscribe below to keep up with my blog!

On this blog and my future blogs I will end with a little known fact. or factoid. Or just a betcha didn’t know that?

Here we go….bet cha didn’t know that Charles Manson and Hitler were both vegetarians. hmmmmm?

In a minute,

AL