Weekend folk festival has tough act to follow

In the world of professional sports the conventional wisdom is that only a dope would eagerly look forward to replacing an aging superstar legend when the time comes to put the old boy out to pasture. Far better to be the replacement for the replacement who fails to measure up to the impossible task.

A notable exception to that convention is Winterport’s favorite major leaguer, Mike Bordick, now playing baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays. The Hampden Academy graduate and former University of Maine Black Bear and Baltimore Oriole took over at Baltimore for future Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken a few years back and went on to set a major league fielding record. So much for the pitfalls of following a tough act.

Now, however, comes the three-day 65th annual National Folk Festival (More Performers, More Food, More Porta-Potties) which got cranked up last night at Bangor’s gem of a revitalized riverfront, and it would seem that festival organizers have a legitimate tough-act-to-follow situation on their hands.

To my way of thinking, the performers will be hard-pressed to top last year’s bill of fare, which set the bar rather high with the likes of BeauSoleil, the world-renowned fiddling and accordion-jamming Cajun outfit from Louisiana; a band of fearless Aztec Indians in full regalia conducting a centuries-old religious ritual atop an 80-foot pole; bluegrass and country music to die for; and, best of all, the absolutely awesome “La Bottine Souriante,” nine of the most gifted Quebecois musicians you’ll ever hope to see gathered under one tent in this lifetime.

Fiddle, harmonica, guitar and mandolin combined with saxophone, trombone, trumpet, drums, piano, accordion and one good old boy tapping his feet in accompaniment had the crowd so worked up it’s a wonder the Bangor Fire Department wasn’t called in to hose down the joint. Traditional Acadian-French songs flavored with Celtic, Latin salsa and New Orleans-style swing jazz provoked some unforgettable impromptu boot-scootin’ performances amongst the clientele lounging on the grassy expanse fronting the main stage. If ever I’ve seen a love-fest between audience and performers, this was it.

And so it was that earlier this week I hunted down someone in authority upon whom to test my theory, which, simply stated, is this: La Bottine Souriante and the other groups that worked last year’s festival were so flat-out great there’s just no way any act can hope to top them here this weekend.

By answering the phone at festival headquarters, Meredith Cass-O’Reilly, associate coordinator of the lashup, drew the short straw. Her message was succinct: Don’t go betting the farm on the soundness of your little old theory, Big Guy.

“Last year, we brought some of the best performers from traditions that folks in the Bangor area may have been familiar with, and they were fantastic, no doubt about it,” Cass-O’Reilly said. “This year, we have brought in the best performers from new traditions and they are going to be every bit as fantastic, if not more so. You just wait. You’ll see. …”

And judging by last night’s lineup, the lady may have a point. From the honky-tonk, foot-stomping vintage country of the opening act, Dale Watson and his LoneStars, on through Acadian, western, Mexican mariachi, Irish and Colombian music to the evening-closing blues of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown the program was guaranteed to knock your socks off, musically speaking. Only a certified party pooper could have failed to feel the urge to don a lampshade and kick up his heels with abandon.

Much more is in store today and tomorrow, beginning at noon on what the weather guys have promised will be a sun-saturated weekend for the 100,000 people expected to attend. If you build it, and it’s free, they will come.

Granted, the Aztec Indians won’t be around to dazzle and dangle headlong from long ropes while unwinding from their 80-foot ceremonial pole (speaking of tough acts to follow). But there will be the “visual spectacle,” as Cass-O’Reilly puts it, of the Connecticut-based Forbes Flyers performing their high-energy jump-rope act in a special children’s area. Even the whirling Aztecs would be impressed, she implied. Demonstrations, crafts and games will entertain the hordes, as well.

Since How To Avoid Stepping In A Pile Of Dog-Doo While Listening To La Bande Feufollet is not one of the scheduled demonstrations, festival organizers hope area dogs will stay away, in droves. No offense to the dog contingent, but nothing ruins a great Cajun fiddling performance quite like the visual spectacle of an accidental canine deposit stuck to the souls of a guy’s gum rubbers. I hate when that happens.

NEWS columnist Kent Ward lives in Winterport. His e-mail address is olddawg@bangordailynews.net.