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Gator by the Bay: Homage to All things New Orleans
Gator by the Bay, San Diego’s annual homage to all things New Orleans, is set for its 23rd installment May 7-10 at Spanish Landing Park down on the harbor front. Rich Sherman, a San Diego State alumnus, is in his third year of producing the festival after taking it over at the request of the founding producers.
But he was quick to point out that the founding producers are still involved.
“Peter Oliver pretty much had his hand in the music all those years. And still today, we talk about bands all the time. He usually makes a short list of the Cajun and zydeco and New Orleans artists.”
Sherman’s own background is more in blues and jazz than Louisiana francophone music, having founded and run the Doheny Blues Festival in Newport Beach for 20 years as well as the blues-heavy Russian River Festival. His Orange County-based Omega Events also produced the Newport Beach Jazz Festival and the eclectic Hyatt Concert Series, both of which ended during the pandemic.
When asked what drew him to assuming the Gator by the Bay duties, Sherman explained that the founders “had wanted to take a step back from producing Gator.
“I was familiar with Gator by the Bay. Our Doheny festival was in May, and they were in May, so we were always keeping an eye on them.”
Sherman recalled that when he was approached three years ago, “It wasn’t a hard sales job!”
Peter Oliver leads the parade at Gator. Photo by Ken Seals.
“It’s an event that has a lot of love in the San Diego music community, and there’s a huge volunteer base that lifts the event as well.”
When it was pointed out that Gator by the Bay has much of the same vibe as the early years of San Diego Street Scene, which Rob Hagey had openly modeled on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (presenting a pretty wide range of roots music), Sherman said one of his first jobs in music production was working on Street Scene shortly after he graduated from San Diego State in the 1980s.
“Honestly, it’s all I’ve ever done. I went to SDSU, I was booking bands in Pacific Beach, I worked on some of the Street Scenes. I got my start in San Diego. A colleague of mine was doing a big promotion at Lake Havasu. I started working on that. From there, somebody asked us to do the first blues festival in Dana Point. That was 30 years ago, and I’ve never had a resume!”
And while Gator by the Bay’s thematic focus is firmly on Louisiana culture (Sherman pointed out that Crawfish Corner restaurant in Opelousas, La., drives out every year with 10,000 lbs. of crawfish for Gator by the Bay, and that there is a waiting list of food vendors who want to work the festival), San Diego’s own music artists are given prominent slots alongside their counterparts from Louisiana and other locales.
“It features 40 to 50 of San Diego’s best artists every year, too—which is a blessing, because San Diego is such a great music scene. Everybody’s played it—and played it for the hometown discount, too. It’s not like we have a great budget.”
Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.
When pressed if there was anyone on this year’s bill who he hasn’t seen perform in person that he’s looking forward to, Sherman thought for a second, then said, “I haven’t seen Jon Cleary live, so that’s probably a mistake on my part! I’m looking forward to seeing Jon Cleary.”
There will more than 100 acts spread over seven stages and three days (four if you count the Thursday evening kickoff). Here are some notable ones:
Pine Leaf Boys (4:30pm Thursday, Sheraton Lanai Lawn) is a top-notch Cajun outfit from Lafayette, La. that has issued five well-regarded albums over the last 20 years. They don’t tour a whole lot on the West Coast, so fans of traditional Cajun music will want to catch one of their four slots at Gator by the Bay (they’re also playing at 8:50pm Friday and noon both Saturday and Sunday).
Gator By the Bay kicks fully into gear Friday afternoon, with the first acts hitting four separate stages at 4:30pm.
A real don’t miss show Friday will be that of San Diego’s own R&B legends Lady Dottie and the Diamonds at 5:40 on the Bourbon Street Stage. No longer as active as they were 18 years ago when they started a streak of San Diego Music Awards in the blues category, this remains one of the premiere soul outfits in town. The band is fronted by the larger-than-life presence of Dorothy Mae “Lady Dottie” Whitsett, whose powerhouse singing voice can only really be compared to that of the late blues legend Koko Taylor. And the Diamonds are as tight a band as anything out of Memphis or Philly.
Chubby Carrier
Zydeco accordionist Chubby Carrier (7:20pm Friday, Festival Stage) is the first of the Gator by the Bay headliners. The product of Church Point, La., he has become one of the standard bearers nationally for zydeco—that postwar dance-ready melding of creole, Cajun, and R&B that has come, along with modern Cajun, to in many ways define the public perception of contemporary Louisiana music. With nearly two dozen albums out, Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band are a well-oiled machine that that represent some of the best zydeco being played.
Lending Gator some of that Street Scene vibe in terms of presenting a variety of roots music is Friday’s final show, rockabilly singer and guitarist Deke Dickerson. He’s got a huge following, but for those not familiar with him he’s in a similar vein to fellow rockabilly revivalists The Blasters or the Stray Cats, playing original songs with a late ’50s / early ’60s vibe.
Saturday and Sunday both kick off at 11am.
John Németh
John Németh (3:30pm Saturday, Mardi Gras Stage) is a tremendous blues harmonica player and vocalist, following in the footsteps of Charlie Musselwhite and Kim Wilson. His R&B-steeped singing is braced by an old-school blues approach on harp, giving him a distinctive sound that can’t really be compared to anyone else.
Geno Delafose (5:20pm Saturday, Festival Stage), son of the legendary zydeco pioneer John Delafose and an accomplished accordion player (both piano and diatonic models), was one of the rising stars in the zydeco renaissance in the early 1990s. He recorded a series of albums for Rounder Records both with and then in lieu of his father and today is a respected veteran of the Louisiana music scene.
Kid Ramos
The 44s with Kid Ramos (6pm Saturday, Bourbon Street Stage) are one of the more intriguing acts on this year’s bill. Pitched as a SoCal blues outfit, but featuring the brilliant yet enigmatic Kid Ramos on lead guitar, this could end up being one of the more memorable sets. Ramos issued an album of guitar-based contemporary gospel last year, Strange Things Happening that was abolutely brilliant—but most of his career has been spent in the blues, including stints the James Harman Band, Roomfull of Blues, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Jon Cleary (6:50pm Saturday, Mardi Gras Stage) should draw a huge crowd beyond show producer Rich Sherman. Born and raised in England, he grew up fascinated by American R&B and jazz—particularly the music of the Crescent City—and moved to New Orleans at age 18. Playing piano and singing in the R&B tradition of Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, Cleary is so respected and beloved in his adopted city that he was even included in the definitive compilation, The Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans.
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats
Rick Estrin and the Nightcats (3:50pm Sunday, Mardi Gras Stage) are big stars that exist in the blues world these days. Originally Little Charlie and the Nightcats until co-founder Charlie Baty tired of life on the road, his fellow co-founder, vocalist, and harmonica player Rick Estrin, took the reins and the band is still going strong a half century after its founding. The band has issued 15 albums for Alligator Records over the past 39 years and remains a swinging exponent of West Coast blues.
