'Ru-ga-la-tor' (OC Rugalatore) (1985)
1: a rattle usually made from a coconut - a percussion instrument: highly decorative.
2: Challmation folk Art.
3: Gluteus.

"What is a Rugalator?" Broken down to its most basic form, a Rugalator is nothing more than a hollowed out coconut with bb's inside. This might be considered a simple percussion instrument, but a Rugalator is much more than that. It transcends the percussion thing and becomes something that seems to grab the attention, imagination and proclamation of anyone that lays eyes and ears on it.

Ray Lambert (Rugalator Ray) is the artist who created the Rugalator. Now I say artist because, for it to be a Rugalator, it has to be painted in a style known as "Chalmatian Folk Art" that only Rugalator Ray can do. It has to have wild vivid colors and designs that might be considered VooDoo-influenced art. Each Rugalator is tailor made specifically for the individual Ray has in mi 'nd to shake it, so there are no two alike. This makes each one special. It has the vibe of that person even before they receive it.

Now Ray started his indoctrination into the N.O. music scene as a snare drummer/percussionist/concussionist in a sort of infamous street band called "The Pair-A-Dice-Tumblers Marching Music Therapist featuring the Poodles", which started on Mardi Gras Day, 1979, as a result of the police strike that threatened to shut down Carnival. This is another long story that is worth hearing, but not here. Out of the Tumblers came the "Storyville Stompers" of which Ray is the snare drummer.

The Rugalator, as we know it now, sort of evolved into what it is. It started with humble intentions and transformed into decadent works of art and music that only "Rugalator Ray" Lambert could do.

Rugalator Ray says, "Early in the 1990's the Storyville Stompers were playing at the Krewe of Louisianians' annual Mardi Gras Ball in Washington, DC, something we have been doing every year for the last 20 or so. Some of the horn players found a music store that was going out of business and bought a bunch of those "egg shakers" and used them the following days while we were in D.C. playing. I thought they were a kick, but I had the idea that there should have been different size shakers in order to achieve a broader balance of sound and pitch. The idea stuck with me. When I got back home I started searching for a container to make a deeper pitched sound. I first thought of the old Panty Hose "Egg" containers, but they were long gone from the market. I continued to think about the idea. Maracas were made from some sort of gourd. This was the direction I needed to go in.

One day while making groceries I saw the coconuts in the produce section. I bought a few and started on them when I got home. I realized I had to find a way to get the milk and meat out of it with out breaking them open. But how? With out giving the process, I did it. Now to find the right material to make it work. I decided on B.B.'s.

Next, I needed to "dress them up" so out came my acrylic paints. Stripes will do, I thought. Then a coat of polyurethane. My prototypes went to the members of the Storyville Stompers for field trials. None came back broken, so I figured I had the process nailed down, except I grew tired of the stripes. I remembered seeing some inquiring rudimentary art work at a Botanica owned by my friend Sally Glassman. I made some inquires as to the art work and learned that they were VooDoo veves. I figured they would look good, so I tried out a few and sure enough they did. That became my new look.

The name Rugalator came to me while I was painting one and listening to a Jimmy Smith record. It was his version of "Got My Mojo Workin'." In the song he substitutes the word Rugalator for Mojo. I thought, what the hell is a Rugalator? Then I realized I was holding and painting a Rugalator. It was some sort of immaculate concoction thing that just happened. The point of Rugalation had appeared to me and the "Shakers" became "Rugalators" at that instant. Rugalators are runnin zg amok in the New Orleans area. I gave them to friends for Christmas presents. Some to musician friends of mine who's work I've long admired. And there is even a ceremonial award model given to the Meshuganah of the Year, elected by the Wild Meshuganahs, a Jewish Mardi Gras Indian Gang. Now there's even a song written about them. Those of you with a Ruglator, GO AND SHAKE IT. Those with out one just shake your ass."

Rugalator Ray

Rugalators, another fine product of the W'YAT WHISTLE WORKS W'Yat Whislte works, providing the Ninth Wards needs for superfluous Chalmation Folk Art for over 20 years.