2014 -25th Anniversary Crawfish Fest www.CrawfishFest.com  May 30th-June 1st: New Orleans music, food, crafts, all very children friendly, Sussex County Fairgrounds Augusta, NJ.

Michael Arnone’s twenty-fifth annual Crawfish Fest was held at its regular Sussex County Fairgrounds spot in Augusta, NJ.  This year’s edition featured another robust lineup of (mostly) Louisiana musicians featuring:  Terrance Simien, Marcia Ball, Raw Oyster Cult, The Funky Meters, Jeffrey Broussard, The High & Mighty Brass Band, Royal Southern Brotherhood, JJ Grey & Mofro, Bonerama, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, The Lee Boys, Jonathan Boogie Long, Dumpstaphunk, Carolyn Wonderland, and a whole lot more.

The Friday and Saturday night proceedings were for the campers and specially purchased tickets, Saturday and Sunday daytime shows were for regular paying supporters. Saturday highlights included the trombone based jam-band Bonerama who were on fire throughout their ninety minute set. Raw Oyster Cult is a relatively new super group consisting of members from the Radiators, Papa Grows Funk and Johnny Sketch’s band; they were pretty jammy too and unearthed several Radiator classics.  Speaking of jamming The Funky Meters powered non-stop for nearly two hours. The Funky Meters are two founding members from the original Meters (keyboardist Art Neville and the superb bassist George Porter Jr.) with drummer Russell Batiste and guitarist Brian Stoltz. The always popular Marcia Ball was also on her game with Mighty Mike Schermer’s tasty guitar playing and a fine new sax-player.  It was also sweet to see Terrance Simien & his Zydeco Experience was doing what he  enjoys best with melding Zydeco music with old time funk and soul.  But my absolute favorite of the day was the legendary Walter “Wolfman” Washington and his Roadmasters, Walter hasn’t lost a step and just oozed Crescent City soul, funk and blues throughout his ninety minute performance.

Michael Arnone is a Louisiana native, and is the founder and producer of the Crawfish Fest. Arnone’s Jambalaya Mix can be ordered in the Crawfish Fest Online Store and is the next best thing to Arnone’s (made-from-scratch) jambalaya served at the Crawfish Fest. As Arnone annually opines, now that this year’s Crawfish Fest is behind us, the main thing he looks forward to is planning next year’s Fest. Keep checking their site at www.CrawfishFishfest.com  for updates. So there you have it, happy twenty-fifth and another fine year for Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Fest, great music, good food, and a happy crowd always makes a fine and hearty roux mix that all spells; yeah you right. Until Arnone’s next year’s twenty-sixth keep checking www.CrawfishFest.com  for updates. For fifteen years Bob Putignano has been pivotal at WFDU with his Sounds of Blue radio show: www.SoundsofBlue.com   – Previously a senior contributing editor at Blues Revue, Blueswax, and Goldmine magazines, and Music Editor for the Westchester Guardian. Putignano can be contacted at:  bob8003@yahoo.com Bob Putignano:  www.SoundsofBlue.com Weekly Music Editor at:  https://www.WestchesterGuardian.com – NYC area Newspaper Now celebrating 15 + years on the air at WFDU https://wfdu.fm