Margarita & Salsa Festival: Part 1
Category: Local... Music...
Posted Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 10:48 PM [GMT-6]

Last night was the inaugural Margarita and Salsa Festival in downtown Midland, an event which I hope will become a permanent fixture if this year's edition is the standard for future shows. This outdoor concert featured three legendary musicians, Leon Russell, Jonny Lang, and Delbert McClinton. It was an interesting mixture, considering that the first and last performers are old enough to be the middle one's grandfathers, but they all have tremendous musical talent, and I'm still impressed that someone in Midland had the mojo to get all of them on the same ticket.

One puzzling thing about the event was the conspicuous absence of, well, margaritas and salsa (and guacamole). We had understood that there would be a competition in those three categories, but if it occurred, it took place in an undisclosed location, and the identities of the prizewinners are a state secret. But that didn't detract from the quality of the music.

I'm going to break my report into three parts to make it more manageable (not only for me, but also for you, dear reader – I'm always thinking of you!). First up: Leon, who opened the show, and played a non-stop set of about fifty minutes. And when I say "non-stop," I'm not exaggerating. He said perhaps five sentences to the audience, and none until after a half dozen songs. His set was eclectic – as one would expect – with covers of "Jumping Jack Flash," "Great Balls of Fire," and "Georgia On My Mind," among many others. I've never been a huge fan of Russell's music, but his band is tight and they get the crowd rocking.

I toted my little DV cam to the concert, leaving the still camera at home, and while I did regret not getting some close-up stills, I also found that I captured some interesting video footage, and I want to share some of that (courtesy of those fine folks over at YouTube). The following clips are not intended to provide examples of Russell's music; instead, I've concentrated on some of the more, um, esoteric aspects of the concert.

For example, I was fascinated by the percussion instrument played by the lone female musician of the evening. Can anyone identify it (Kyle?)?

Update: According to a YouTube commenter, the instrument is a shekere, which in its original form was a dried gourd covered with beads or shells. Russell's variation appears to be a bit more high-tech, but the basic premise is probably the same.

Russell's lead guitarist has an interesting technique. As far as I could tell, he uses only his thumb, and doesn't use a pick. But that didn't stop him from slamming out some smokin' riffs:

[Update: YouTube has failed to render the video of Russell's drummer despite two separate uploads, so I've deleted it as well as the description of it in this post. Because of this, some of the comments may seem irrelevant.]

Here's a short clip of the band at work:

In closing, I ran into a friend at the concert told me that he was there to hear Delbert McClinton, but his wife was a big Leon Russell fan. He then said, "I saw Leon in concert in 1973 and he was old then!" How old is he? (Not as old as Delbert, which you might find surprising. And unspoken was our mutual understanding that neither of us are that much younger than Leon.) Watch this clip to the end in order to get a familiar cultural reference:

Next up: Jonny Lang, Nodak rocker extraordinaire (and nice guy, to boot!)