Music Takes Center Stage At This Seaside Lagoon Event
It was all about the music.
The Ragin Cajun Blues Festival, put on by the restaurant of the same name, held at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach, CA, had Cajun food but the real spice of this inaugural event was the music.
It started with Reverend Tall Tree and for many, reached a peak with Eric Dardinas & Big Motor. That was a big draw for many of the 500 or so people at the event, and he played in the afternoon on a warm, sunny and cloudless Santa Ana winds day on Saturday, Oct. 31.
But for me, it was Davy Knowles, the final musician, who really rocked the joint. He was more of what I think of New Orleans-style music being and – having just returned from the Big Easy – I was easily be able to mentally place myself there. Knowles jammed and brought back memories of being at JazzFest.
He had an old guitar, one with scuff marks and a lot of wear and tear from having a long life on the road, and he played that thing like it was a part of his soul.
He came on the heels of Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, which was a perfect warmup; Castro can really play the guitar, too.
As far as the event itself, the setup was different than the other festivals in Seaside Lagoon, which have become more prevalent this year with even more to come next year. Rajun Cajun, in fact, had a banner up above the stage announcing it will be holding a crab & crawfish festival here on April 5-7.
It had seating set up behind the walkway on the sand and people sitting picnic style on the small lawn, indicating they were there mostly for the music. Seaside Lagoon events generally more for South Bay socializing in which people spend as much time at the beer tents talking with others as they do listening to the bands.
Speaking of the beer tents, the brews were expensive – $9 in fact, with only about three choices by South Bay-dominant event bands A-B InBev (Bud Light, Stella & Goose Island). There was also wine (no hard liquor) and it, too, was $9, poured into a plastic beer cup.
The best deal was the $6 lemonade served in a unique Bourbon Street-style plastic container with an alligator’s head as the top. But, of course, it was just lemonade not, say, a Hand Grenade.
The food – from Rajun Cajun, obviously – was no doubt good but it, too, was pricy, $17 for most items. I heard reports of people waiting an hour for their food.
There was another option; a couple next to me had a delicious-looking pile of seafood on top of french fries, which they got from a food truck located next to Ruby’s Diner.
Overall, it was a good beginning to what could turn out to be a top South Bay music event.
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