LET THE SUN SHINE : This Year’s Cajun Fest Will See Several Return Acts, but Organizers Hope Rain Isn’t One of Them

Opening day of last year’s annual Southern California Cajun & Zydeco Festival made the history books. But if festival promoter Franklin Zawacki has his way when the festival revs up in Long Beach this weekend, there won’t be anything remotely close to a repeat performance.

“We set a record,” Zawacki recalled recently by phone from his office in San Francisco. “One hundred years of recorded history, in the whole month of June, the most rainfall Long Beach (ever) had was one-twentieth of an inch. We got 1 1/2 inches that first day.”

The freak rainstorm put a damper on the festival’s balance sheet--Zawacki said the event wound up about $40,000 in the red.

This year’s show, however, will have a more palatable first: Accordionist Walter Mouton and his band, the Scott Playboys, will be making their Southland debut. While regarded in Cajun music as among the best accordionists living, Mouton is little known outside the region.

Besides rarely traveling away from his home--Zawacki said it’s taken him six years of persuading to get Mouton out for this year’s festival--the accordionist reportedly has made only one studio recording, and that was a 45-rpm single. This despite the fact he’s been popular on the Louisiana dance-hall circuit for more than 40 years.

His band also is one of the few to visit the West Coast that incorporates the Cajun-country music hybrid that developed in the wake of Louisiana’s oil boom of the 1930s. Once oil was discovered, thousands of workers flooded in from neighboring states and brought with them new instruments and styles of music that found their way into the basic Cajun band lineup of accordion, fiddle and guitar.

Making return appearances to the festival are singer-songwriter D.L. Menard, accordionist-fiddler Steve Riley and his band, the Mamou Playboys, and Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas. All will play both days of the fest, which takes place at Rainbow Lagoon across from Shoreline Village.

The Poullard Brothers Band--with accordionist Edward and guitarist Danny--will open Saturday, while Louisiana transplant Joe Simien, a veteran accordionist now living in Los Angeles, teams with Southland fiddler Lisa Haley to open Sunday’s show. Gates open both days at 11, and the music begins at noon and runs until 7 p.m.

Along with the music, dance lessons and music and cultural workshops, the festival features food booths offering such Louisiana-style dishes as jambalaya, gumbo and boiled crawfish.

Additionally, this year the festival will hold its first evening dance on Saturday in the Long Beach Convention Center, next to the Rainbow Lagoon. Mouton and Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas will play. The dance will have a separate admission charge of $8 in advance, or $10 at the door.

What: The eighth annual Southern California Cajun & Zydeco Festival.

When: Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5, noon to 7 p.m.

Where: Rainbow Lagoon, Shoreline Drive at Linden Avenue, Long Beach.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway north to the Long Beach (710) Freeway south, exit at Shoreline Drive and follow the signs to convention center parking areas.

Wherewithal: Per day: $15 in advance, $17.50 at the door; $30 for a two-day pass. Children under 10 get in free.

Where to call: (310) 427-3713.

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