September 23rd, 2007
Monterey Notebook: Getting Dirty
Sunday, 1:20 p.m. – Garden Stage
“Okay, put down your beers and hold up your munchers!” says a man identifying himself as Doug Dirt. Several dozen members of the Garden Stage audience comply, raising their arms and working their fingers like snapping jaws. “Great,” the man yells encouragingly. “And you guys over here? You’re sunbeams!” Huh? What’s going on here?
The colorful Mr. Dirt (nee Greenfield) is part of the Banana Slug String Band, and he’s getting his audience primed to help out in a song about decomposition – that’s right, rot. Or more to the point, the process by which dirt is made. Soon the entire audience is hidden by a waving, snapping mess of arms – their movements a rhythmic simulation of organic decay – as the funky Slugs clomp through lyrics about bugs, bacteria and chemical breakdown.
This is what the Slugs do, promoting environmental education through jazz, blues and rock-based ditties aimed primarily at kids. Plenty of tykes are on hand, but more than a few adults have joined the party too. Elsewhere, the first of many high school student ensembles are beginning their sets and a sober panel discussion of festival co-founder Ralph Gleason’s many contributions is getting underway. But with the sun shining brightly on a gorgeous Northern California day and rain just a bad memory, it’s hard to leave the silly Banana Slugs, even if they are singing about rot.
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