First ragin' Cajun Crawl promises to melt winter's grip

January 31, 2008
Bill Iddings
Chronicle Staff Writer

Rich Houtteman raging with cabin fever is a good thing.

"I just get bored," the 34-year-old local promoter said of his past 10 years of booking music concerts, primarily in the White Lake area. Plus, "I have kids now, and it gets harder and harder to go out to a Grand Rapids, or wherever, to go to a show. It's a little easier just to bring it here."

Which is why Houtteman is bringing The Big Easy to Whitehall. On Saturday, his Cajun Crawl will lay slices of New Orleans and its Mardi Gras bacchanal on a characteristically frigid February in West Michigan.

The event, which Houtteman hopes will become an annual thing, will be centered at the Local Pub. It will begin with a jambalaya (Creole stew with rice, shrimp, oysters, crabs, ham, chicken, spices and vegetables) dinner at 5 p.m., and conclude with a 9:30 p.m. performance by the band, Jeez Louise.

Jeez Louise, a Muskegon quintet that specializes in '80s cover and current Top 40 hits, has seasoned its repertoire with some Cajun Crawl theme music. Don Long, the band's front man, said Jeez Louise will cover Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou."

Sandwiched between the dinner and Jeez Louise will be a performance a few blocks away at Howmet Playhouse, by the jump-blues band, Doug Deming & the Jewel Tones. Although that show is not technically part of Cajun Crawl, Houtteman is encouraging patrons to catch it.

"Then, if they're still in the mood to party, they can walk back to the Local Pub and wrap up the night there," said Houtteman, a business development specialist with Muskegon Area First.

"The blues or something similar this time of year is great, because it kind of helps melt the cold weather a little, and maybe gets you looking forward to spring. We're just trying to create something in a slow time of the year, that's a nice diversion from the cold weather."

There will be plenty going on in West Michigan Saturday. In downtown Muskegon, two annual events -- the Muskegon Film Festival and the Snowfest of the Greater Muskegon Jaycees -- both are running through Saturday night. Sunday, of course, will be locked down with the international telecast of the National Football League championship -- the Super Bowl -- between the New York Giants and the undefeated New England Patriots.

Whether the Muskegon events will affect attendance in Whitehall is something that Houtteman said Cajun Crawl and Howmet Playhouse will have to live with.

"You always come up against something," Houtteman said. "There's not much you can do about it. I don't worry about it too much. And it's always hard to know where your audience comes from. ... We'll see what the community says."

The Cajun Crawl will have some of the accouterments of Mardi Gras, without that party's more sordid aspects.

Purple, green and gold make up the main color palate of Mardi Gras. Cajun Crawl will be festooned in those colors, with balloons, masks, beads, whatever Cajun Crawlers can find. The plan is to have such stuff decorating not only the Local Pub but also the lobby of Howmet Playhouse.

"It's more or less just the atmosphere," Houtteman said of Cajun Crawl. "But I really have no idea what to expect. We're just trying to have some fun. It's hard to know if people will even get down with the idea."

Cajun Crawl has received support -- financial and otherwise -- not only from the Local Pub and Mayberry BBQ, but also Ambient Productions and Windberg Construction.

Cathy Russell, owner of the four-room White Swan Bed & Breakfast, 303 S. Mears directly across the street from Howmet Playhouse, said she is offering a 15 percent discount Friday through Sunday.

Could this be the start of something big?

"These take a lot of planning," Houtteman said, "and I just get a kick out of it. I don't make any money on these things, that's for sure.

"But if we can keep it pretty simple, I think we could do it every year. The Saturday night before the Super Bowl is kind of slow."