pt at large

Festival Acadiens et Creole October 12, 2014: Photo and Video Gallery

Festival Acadiens et Creole
Girard Park, Lafayette, LA
Sunday, October 12, 2014

Sunday October 12, 2014 dawns sunny and hot, much like the bucket full of music that's been pouring from stages at the 40th Festival Acadiens et Creole in Lafayette, LA since Friday night.

Dancing in a Dust Bowl: an annual occurrence...by Sunday, the grass in front of the main stage (Scène Ma Louisiane) has been relentlessly pummeled into dust by hundreds of pairs of happy feet - raising clouds of dust so thick last year that dancers wore bandanas...at times, it looked like Jesse James rode into town. Not so bad this year - not that we didn't try. The solution - get out of the way when the 'hose man' appears then get right back to business.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6PJkisZRHs&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=27

 

Girard Park, 33 acres with places for kids to play and families to spread out.

Special stage, Scène Anniversaire, for 40th Anniversary acts to play: here Goldman Thibodeaux with Zydeco Joe Pilot and Courtney Fuller.http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/festival-acadiens-et-creole-goldman-thibodeaux.html

Over at the Scéne Mon Heritage the millenial generation of Cajun musicians, The Babineaux Sisters (15 and 13), sing exclusively in French, cover classic Cajun and tackle songs like "All Along The Watchtower"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=468WW_3_tA0&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgZILROa3dg&index=33&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxqd-Ku-wps&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=32

Walter Mouton, beloved Cajun accordionist, with crackerjack pedal steel, fiddle, bass, drums, still has it....as dancers can attest. The dance floor in pic is only mildly crowded.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lrzEppKCms&index=31&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

 

 Kevin Naquin plays right through as "the hose man" wets down the dust...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJe-UjKjcMY&index=28&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

 He'll even hose off your feet while Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys plays a sweet Swamp Pop tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVCb4lUIwP0&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=26

The two main stages, Scène Ma Louisiane, and Scène Mon Heritage, are surrounded by spectators and dancers; Richard LeBoeuf and TwoStep rock out under the tent as Salle de Danse. With its temporary wood floor, this is one very popular scene. If you're claustrophobic, don't even think about stepping onto the dance floor.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r85m4X8sGE&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=25

 

The Savoy Family Band -  a nuclear family that is the bomb when they perform together. Note for note, instrument to instrument, strings to bellows, it's the most talented family you'll ever find sharing a stage. Accordion building, photography, film making, record producing, keepers of the flame for southwest Louisiana Cajun music, and shining performers of music at its highest level. R photo: friends of the late Al Berard perform in his memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtrw5EsKZIg&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRhZjAIyHn4&index=23&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeuSsAbnGKE&index=21&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Bruce Daigrepont has had one instrument or another in his hands since he was listening to his family sing traditional Cajun songs as a boy. Now a master of the accordion, all he needs is his cohort Gina Forsyth on fiddle, a bass player and drums to create as full, compact, and authentic Cajun sound you'll hear on any stage. HIs singing voice is the proto-typical high-register plaintive "cri de coeur"  that's been heard from the bayous to the prairies of southwest Louisiana for over 200 years. pt with New Orleans native he met at the 6th Annual Gospel Choir Convention in New Orleans in September!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_notbkQzx50&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtoiFaNYBJc&index=17&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj7Bg1H9rus&index=16&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Yes, my friends, that's a parrot on my shoulder - hopped on as a friendly gesture after we all took a ride while dancing a waltz with its owner! "Reach into my bag for a kleenex, he just pooped on my shoulder," she said nonchalantly during said waltz. Gotta love the vibe in Lafayette!

As the sun lowers in the west, Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys close the festival. Many are in an eight-count daze after three days and nights of fabulous music and danxing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84quHP0B7D8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW-nF3tsGEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGWWNZ7hD2g&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Festival Acadiens et Creole October 12, 2014: Video Gallery

Festival Acadiens et Creole
Girard Park, Lafayette, LA
Sunday, October 12, 2014

Here we goooooo...a second full day chock full of more music than you can shake your booty at. You can't defy that pesky law of physics that states your booty can't be in two different places at the same time...even though hundreds of people tried today. Trying means you do a brisk march from one stage to  another to hear a band you love then hope that they don't hook you so bad that you can't pull yourself away to dance to another favorite band playing this very minute at another stage a few minutes away. Scroll down here, you'll see what i mean. Ahhh, the frustration. Ahhh, the joy.

Sunday Morning Dancing Festival Acadiens  et Creole MVI 5323
Caption: Lafayette Rhythm Devils performing Sunday morning services on stage.

The Babineaux Sisters1

Caption: The next generation takes on Cajun music. Gracie, 15, on fiddle, accordion and vocals, and Julie, 13, on guitar and vocals deliver an eclectic decidedly cajun take on all sorts of music, from this two-step rhythm song sung in French to other originals and covers. The next song was "All Along The Watchtower"!…in French of course.



The Babineaux Sisters2

Caption: Last year at this festival, they blew me away with an intense cover of, hold onto your hats, “All Along the Watchtower”… in French! Here they cover it again. Gracie, 15, on fiddle, accordion and vocals, and Julie, 13, on guitar and vocals, are paving their own trail into this region's music scene. Expect the unexpected from them. The conversation from a man to his young daughter at outset of the song is priceless.



The Babineaux Sisters4

Caption: Gracie, 15, on fiddle, accordion and vocals, sings this ballad and Julie, 13, on guitar and vocals, accompanies her along with bass and drum player. They've got the eclectic tastes of the teenagers they are. By singing in the French language they grew up with, they bundle heritage and music together with cajun inspired style. Their audience spans three generations. Lord knows how many young girls will aspire to sing after listening to "Les Soeurs". More audio in the background by the dad talking with his young daughter about the sounds of the music in front of us.

Walter Mouton

Caption: Cajun accordion icon Walter Mouton, semi-retired from performing, doesn't miss a chance to play at this Festival. Walter's accordion is the jewel in a setting of a tight band of laptop steel, fiddle, drums, and bass. Louisiana musicians  including Bruce Daigrepoint, Christine Balfa, Wayne Toups, and Steve Riley have grown up listening to Mouton and The Scott Playboys perform their tight sets of two step and waltzes.

Festival Acadiens et Creole Dance Stages 2014 MVI 5368

Caption: Stand in one place, check out views to three stages: Scène Louisiane (main stage), Scène Mon Heritage, and Scène Salle de Danse (with the only wooden dance floor, always full). 
http://www.lafayettetravel.com/groups...


THE SCOOP
 The park encompasses 33 rolling acres next to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Enjoy Girard Park’s recreational center, outdoor pool, 1.25 mile jogging trail, work-out station, covered pavilion with restrooms and grill, open play area, tennis courts, hitting wall,basketball courts, backstop baseball diamond,covered picnic areas, restrooms, handicapped restrooms, water fountain, children’s playground with baby equipment, 9-hole disc golf course, pond, natural wildlife, and historical or commemorative markers. Parc Independence, a handi-capable, ADA compliant playground is also available in the complex.

Michael Seider and Anya Bust Some Moves at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5369

Caption: Michael Seider has been dancing and teaching zydeco and cajun style dancing since 1996. Little patch of grass on the perimeter of the main stage (Scène Ma Louisiane)? Good place for Michael and wife Anya to bust some moves.   http://www.zydecoach.com/michael.htm

Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5375

Caption: Kevin and band just getting warmed up with this uptempo cajun song...Kevin learned his first songs from Don Montoucet who played at the first festival in 1974! His family tree includes Edius Naquin and Hadley Fontenot, whose footsteps Kevin follows while composing new songs for others to follow.

Dancing in the dust1 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5376

Caption: After three days of being pounded by hundreds of pairs of dancing feet, the grass in front of the main stage (Scène Ma Louisiane) has been pulverized into dust, fine particles rising in the afternoon sun, threatening to choke the stompers. No problem. Spray it down!



Dancing in the dust2 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5383

Caption: After three days of being pounded by hundreds of pairs of dancing feet, the grass in front of the main stage (Scène Ma Louisiane) has been pulverized into dust, fine particles rising in the afternoon sun, threatening to choke the stompers. No problem. Spray it down! Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys keep on playing a pretty swamp pop song.

Richard LeBoeuf and Two-Step1 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5386

Caption: Every band that played had a good time on stage. Having a tent full of happy dancers helps. Richard LeBoeuf is a dynamo on stage, has a crackerjack band that ranges voraciously through a repertoire of cajun, zydeco, swamp pop and don't be surprised if he busts out some country or rock n roll. Here he just gets going with "Allons Danser".



Richard LeBoeuf and Two-Step2 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5387

Caption: Richard LeBoeuf is a dynamo on stage. His guitar player takes the lead on this kick-ass swamp pop song…listen to Richard make his accordion sing at the 1:15 minute mark.

The Savoy Family Band1 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5391

Caption: Wilson Savoy belts out this swinging honky-tonky number, tickles the ivories with some classic riffs, Joel responds with his fiddle solos that hover near Texas country swing, responding to his brother's creativity and Marc pitches in with an understated wallop of his own at the 1:30 minute mark. This family can rock…and gives you the idea that they can stretch Cajun music a long long way.
"What do you think of these boys…enough to make a parent  proud!" Ann Savoy quips at the song's end. And her husband Marc squoze that accordion of his pretty damn well, too.
If anyone knows the name of the song, give me a holler.

The Savoy Family Band2 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5392

Caption: Ann Savoy introduces the Kush-Kush Song


Savoy Family Cajun Band3 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5397

Caption: Mark Savoy and his wife Ann Allen Savoy sing a lovely duet of the Kush-Kush Song and all of them, Mark, Ann, Joel, and Wilson play on accordion, guitar, fiddle and piano. For a cajun waltz, I swear this song has a little tinge of country in it - listen to  Wilson's sneaky little honky tonk riff no his piano at the very end of the song. This has to be the most fun family band in Louisiana (L'Angelus would be in this list when the whole family plays together).

The Savoy Family Cajun Band4 Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5398

Caption: Ann Allen Savoy takes the lead on " 'Tite Mamou" This is one fabulously accomplished musical family. Once again, to my ears, Wilson's playful riffs to answer Joel's fiddle have a sneaky trace of honky tonk. This song that salutes Mamou, Louisiana pulses with high energy. Marc Savoy is widely known as a master accordion maker.http://www.savoymusiccenter.com

The Traiteurs pay tribute to the late Al Berard, Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014MVI 5399

Caption: Bittersweet set of music as bands The Traiteurs, Sweet Cecilia and Roddie Romero and special guests pay tribute to the late, well-loved Al Berard. Here they play D. L. Menard's  La Porte D'en Arriere, considered by many to be the Cajun national anthem.


Bruce Daigrepont, Gina Forsyth, Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5423

Caption: Gina playfully fiddles this sprightly cajun waltz as Bruce skillfully fills in with traditional accordion. Gina has been playing with Bruce for over twenty years. They clearly enjoy playing together. Their repertoire is good ol' fashioned cajun two-steps and waltzes. Professor John Markaway on bass, Sue Daigrepont on t-fer. Mike Barras, drums.  Bruce sings exclusively in French, learned songs from childhood, has been playing them since he was 5 years old. He and his band have played an old fashioned Fais Do Do at Tipitina's in New Orleans since 1986.
http://www.brucedaigrepont.com/

Bruce Daigrepont2 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5424

Caption: Marksville Two Step - Bruce Daigrepont and his band have been a fixture at a Sunday night Fais Do Do at Tipitina's in New Orleans since 1986. Gina Forsyth on fiddle and Professor John Markaway on bass have been with him for most of that time. Their repertoire is good ol' fashioned cajun two-steps and waltzes.

Bruce Daigrepont3 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5425

Caption: Bruce sings exclusively in French, learned songs from childhood, has been playing them since he was 5 years old. He and his band have played an old fashioned Fais Do Do at Tipitina's in New Orleans since 1986. http://www.brucedaigrepont.com/

Bruce Daigrepont4 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5428

Caption: Bruce introduces Gina Forsyth and the band…can you translate? Bruce sings exclusively in French, has been singing since he was 5 years old. http://brucedaigrepont.homestead.com
 
Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys1 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5430

Caption: Ok, boys and girls - we're in the home stretch. This is the last act, last set, last call at the main stage, Scène Ma Louisiane for this year's Festival Acadiens et Creole.

Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys2 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5440

Caption:  "Allons Dansez" a Cajun classic, a few hundred people in the chorus!


Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys3, Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5442

Caption: "The Kush-Kush Song" - Most of the audience sings along. Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys are the most widely known cajun band outside southwest Louisiana. Hundreds have come to Lafayette to join in the three day festival. There's been dancing every night at popular bars and saloons all over town and in nearby Breaux Bridge. More than enough to wear down your boots and wear out your booty.

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014: Goldman Thibodeaux

Festival Acadiens et Creole
Girard Park, Lafayette, LA
Sunday, October 12, 2014

Scène Anniversaire

Goodman Thibodeaux: one of the very last living links to the legendary singer Amedie Ardoin and the tradition of house parties and La La music in rural Louisiana. His uncles were Bebe and Eraste Carriere of Lawtell, two of the pioneers of early Creole music. Listening to him tell stories in his thick Louisiana Creole accent is an education and a portal to a rural culture that has all but disappeared.  Goldman Thibodeaux's resonant, high-pitched voice comes at you with the force of a history lesson wrapped in song.

Goldman Thibodeaux, Zydeco Joe Citizen, Courtney Fuller1 Festival Acadiens et Creole MVI 5324

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQpxU_LowBE&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Caption: Goldman Thibodeaux (accordion), Joe Pilot (frattoir) Courtney Fuller (guitar) play an old La La style waltz.

Goldman Thibodeaux 2 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5325

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKFePsSYEB0&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Caption: In the Scène Anniversaire with Zydeco Joe Citizen and Courtney Fuller - sings old time "La-la Music," the kind played at rural homes for weekend house parties. Home owners would carry furniture outside so guests could gather inside to socialize and dance. At about the 4 minute mark, Goldman tells story of listening to Amedie Ardoin when he was 9 years old and another story about how Iry LeJeune, one of the first Cajun singers to be recorded, admired Ardoin's music. Both men's careers were cut short, Ardoin violently and LeJeune by auto accident.

Goldman Thibodeaux 3 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5342

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbCaLTXVH6c&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA&index=36

Caption: October 12, 2014. Goldman Thibodeaux, Zydeco Joe Citizen (frattoir), Courtney Fuller(guitar) at the Scène Anniversaire. "Waltz de Mes Amis." Goldman has fixed ideas about Creole and Lala music and who can sing it authentically - "…to sing Creole music it's got to be in your DNA, in your blood, you're not going to learn it in school…" The man is proud of his heritage, is the last of his generation of musicians who began singing La-la music at Saturday house parties after WWI. Toward the end of the video,he greets Herman Fusilier, host of "Zydeco Stomp," a terrific program of zydeco, cajun, swamp pop, and blues every Saturday 12PM-2PM Central Time, streaming from www.KRVS.org

Goldman Thibodeaux 4 at Festival Acadiens et Creole 2014 MVI 5345

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R97GCql_ohU

Caption: Goldman Thibodeaux (accordion), Zydeco Joe Citizen (frattoir), Courtney Fuller (guitar) play at the Scène Anniversaire tent. His stories between songs were a combination of history lessons and the man's philosophy. "You've got to love what you're doing. If your doing it for the money,no, give the people what they deserve." Then he tells a story that is 86 year old first cousin told him a long time ago -"Don't go around and bad mouth other musicians…all musicians got their music…that's how powerful the good lord is, all musicians got their own music, you can't take it away from him and don't bad mouth it." He goes on to say "There's a big pie enough pie for everyone, support each other…" Applause.

Next, Goldman gives a sermon about jealousy. "No doctor can cure it..."

Joe Pilot interjects, says "Most of y'all don't know this but Goldman is the only and oldest man playing  La La music that's still left. Amedie Ardoin is the first one who began this, Bois Sec Ardoin continued it and after Bois Sec died Goldman is the only one who can sing in French, play in French and talk in French like it's supposed to be."

Listen carefully. Next Goldman tells a stories about Amedie Ardoin, a fun loving man, was affected by the jealously of others. I regret i couldn't video the last song of the set. If you ever visit southwest Louisiana, make it a point to find Goldman Thibodeaux.

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Festival Acadiens et Creole Saturday October 11, 2014: Photo Gallery

Festival Acadiens et Creole http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/music/
Girard Park, Lafayette, LA
Saturday, October 11, 2014

All kinds of activities at the festival, the area i didn't visit this year was the jewelry/crafts/clothing section, sorry, will report on it next year:

the Culture Sur La Table tent featured demonstrations by local chefs for two days in a row...

The Scène Atelier featured up close and personal sessions with multi-generational musical families and other musicians talking and demonstrating their craft.

SEE videos at http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/-festival-acadiens-et-creole-october-12-2014-video-gallery-.html

 

The Riley and Balfa families perform...

with 5 year-old Burke Riley on the drums.

PHOTO R to L Christine Balfa, her daughters Amelia and Sophie Powell, and their friends Maddy and Ayden. pt and Christine (photobombed for fun).

Amelia, with noticeable pride, tells me her dad is Dirk Powell. "He plays several instruments and  he’s currently on tour with Joan Baez. Music is a huge part of our culture and of our life and I’m proud to represent our Balfa family. At first I wasn’t interested in music but that changed," she says with a smile.

With 33 acres of rolling greens, easy to find a spot far from the madding crowd.

 

Music and dance for eight hours at a stretch at the main stage and the Salle de Danse

The Mercy Brothers transformed the Salle de Danse into a pretty good impression of a revival tent for an hour.

 
Terry Huval's Jambalaya Cajun Band with D. L. Menard and Gary Newman - classic Cajun with a dollop of swamo pop.

Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. at Scène Ma Louisiane -explosive Zydeco;  The Babineaux Sisters at Scène Mon Heritage - legends in the making.

The Revelers - a dancers pot of gold; Warren Storm with Willie Tee and Cypress - swamp pop legends who are aging like fine wines and pack the jolt to go with it.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Festival Acadiens et Creole October 11, 2014: Video Gallery

Saturday, October 11, 2014 Festival Acadiens et Creole VIDEO Gallery

Lafayette, Louisiana


 
Two big stages (Scène Ma Louisiane, Scène Mon Heritage), one covered pavilion with wooden dance floor (Salle de Danse), two small stages (Scène Atelier, Scène D’Anniversaire) and one Jam Tent -  performances going on simultaneously from 10:30 AM - 8 PM (dark)…no matter where I go I ‘m going to miss something good.  The whole day feels like I’m performing entertainment triage but one of the best problems I’ve had all year. Below is a small sample of the day's music... a guy has to take time out to dance and eat.

VIDEO BALFA AND RILEY FAMILIES
"One generation at a Time: Families That Play Together" at the Scène Atelier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zacYHC4kTY&index=61&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Christine Balfa and daughters Amelia (12) and Sophie Powell (10); Steve Riley and sons Burke (5) drums and Dolsy (2) Riley on T-fer. I was astonished to see a five-year-old boy play the drums with such dexterity and sense of fun. Check the look on the kid's face as he crashes the cymbal for the song's final note.

Probably nowhere else in America is such a range of music passed down from generation to generation. Christine Balfa's fathers, uncles and grandparents were musicians. Riley's mentors were Dewey Balfa, Belton Richard, and Walter Mouton. Every cajun or zydeco band member I've talked with has family members who are musicians or play instruments for their own pleasure. Leroy Thomas, Geno Delafose, Jeffery Broussard, Maegen Berard, Rockin' Dopsie Jr., Wilson and Joel Savoy, Chis Segura, Chris Stafford…the list goes on.

VIDEO T-SALÉ BAND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhL62qx7qws
All in the family – the T-Salé front men Jean Jacques and Louie Aucoin are grandsons of the legendary Cajun songwriter Cyp Landreneau.
http://cajun-fest.com/tsalebio.html


VIDEOS THE MERCY BROTHERS
The Mercy Brothers http://www.mercybrothers.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HSisc4h7Dk
Gospel rock…these guys can pour it on, a denomination of Holy Rock ‘n Rollers. They've got to feel right at home playing under a tent here at the Salle de Danse at the Festival Acadiens et Creole. This is the wildest bunch of ambiguously revival-inspired musicians on the planet.
If there's a honky-tonk station in heaven, these guys would be in heavy rotation with their impassioned blend of gospel, rock, country, Cajun, zydeco, blues, and funk with songs that usually get around to mentioning Jesus. The question here is not "What would Jesus do?" - it's "What would Jesus sing?"
The Old Testament's Joseph had his coat of many colors. The Mercy Brothers has a repertoire of just every musical influence that ever broke bread in Lafayette, Louisiana.

“Ride Devil Ride” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvym5pxae4
Holy Rollin' Gospel Rock n Roll, The Mercy Brothers pour it on in the Salle de Danse tent.

“Jesus He’s My Man” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_r0JPYKUzI


Electrifying, jubilating, exhilarating gospel rock by The Mercy Brothers, lead singer Kevin Sekhani in this version of "Jesus, He's My Man". I'll bet none of the disciples could riff honky-tonk piano like Garland Theriot. I'd consider going to church on Sundays if the choir sounded like this. There's an all out sense of intensity in this band's music not much different than what I heard in New Orleans at the 6th Annual Choir Festival in the Tremé.

“Get Right With God”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAGu7--7u1w
"Get Right With God," while you're at it, get right on the dance floor and work up a sweat, easy to do in the 85 degree Louisiana afternoon, especially with The Brothers pounding out this Saturday afternoon sermon. They played plenty of smoky swamp pop and revival rock n roll but I was too busy sinning on the dance floor to record more videos.

VIDEO JAMBALALA,  GARY NEWMAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTWobQ3zg04

Gary Newman sings "Cry, Cry, Darling " a hit song written by his late father Jimmy Newman (August 29, 1927 – June 21, 2014). Many in the audience can be heard singing the chorus!
Gary Newman performed with Terry Huval's band Jambalaya. D.L.Menard had just finished singing his classic "La Porte D'en Arrierer" as I arrived. Many consider that song to be the French National Anthem. Gary is the leader of Stop The Clock Western Swing Cowboy Jazz Band that plays the first Sunday each month at Feed n Seed in Lafayette, LA.  http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/03/stop-the-clock-cowboy-jazz-band.html

FOOD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bNs6E4aRY

CAJUN JAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvxSCLUumMg
One accordion and one T-fer (metal triangle used to keep time) at a time and a whole raft of fiddles, guitars make a joyful equal opportunity sing/play along. World class fiddler Mitch Reed right along with 9 or 69 year old beginners get into the spirit. Musicians bring their instruments with them to house parties that often end up with an informal jam session. D. L. Menard's "La Porte D'en Arriere" is being played at the end of this video. Some have called the song the French National Anthem.

VIDEO COURTBOULLION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd30LkPTtvU

Just made it to the Scène Mon Heritage for the last minute of this fun band's show. Believe me, Wilson Savoy (left), Wayne Toups (center) and Steve Riley (right) can pour it on way thicker than gravy on biscuits. Google them to find clips of their singing - or read this http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/04/courtbouillon-a-musical-stew-at-the-festival-international-de-louisiane.html OR THIS
http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/10/courtbouillon-holds-court-at-the-blue-moon-saloon.html


VIDEO ROCKIN’ DOPSIE , JR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Eg3SkM07g
Rockin' Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters…hardest workin' man in the Zydeco business…son of legendary Rockin' Dopsie -  If aluminum had a lower melting temperature, it would have pooled onto the stage floor after this man got through drigging and dragging his metal thimbles over his frattoir.

Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. reprises a bluesy Clifton Chenier ballad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrwWp-ZkqhU
Rockin' Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters…hardest workin' man in the Zydeco business…son of legendary Rockin' Dopsie - October 11, 2014 In this introduction, he pays homage to Clifton Chenier, " a blues man," he calls him for the way he melded blues, rock n roll, traditional zydeco into a style all his own. Rockin' Dopsie Jr does a fine rendition of this Clifton Chenier song and his accordion player rips into a Clifton groove, followed by smoky solos by saxophone and guitar. Zydeco bands in particular usually have several bluesy 'belly rubbin'" songs in their repertoire. "If you borrow somebody, be sure to give her back…." he says. Fair warning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNZv__EhyQA
Here we go on another tear…the dust was flying by the time he finished this song. We're dancing on what used to be a thin patch of grass in front of the stage - with days of sunshine, it's now dirt pounded into dust. Later in the day, a maintenance man hoses it down to keep us from choking…gotta love it. This band's repertoire and instrumentation gives you a pretty good idea of the range of zydeco music.

VIDEOS BONSOIR CATIN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-bOk5Dc468
"Allons Danser" Anya Burgess on the lead vocal. These ladies (and one lucky guy)  have been making Cajun music since 2005, gained a loyal following. Anya Burgess (fiddle,vocals), Maegan Berard (electric guitar, vocals), Danny Devillier (drums), Kristi Guillory (accordion, vocals), Yvette Landry (bass, vocals), Christine Balfa (rhythm guitar, vocals). There's no doubt that they're having fun up there - so are we on the other side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yeUXZaxqDg
Christine Balfa belts this one out and the band is in hot pursuit. These ladies (and one lucky guy) have been making a wide range of Cajun music, sung mostly in French, since 2005, and gained a loyal following. Anya Burgess (fiddle,vocals), Maegan Berard (electric guitar, vocals), Danny Devillier (drums), Kristi Guillory (accordion, vocals), Yvette Landry (bass, vocals), Christine Balfa (rhythm guitar, vocals)

VIDEO THE REVELERS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPKXT30eyA
The Revelers can do it all - rock, ballads, cajun waltzes, two steps, swing, and here a sassy swamp pop tune.

VIDEOS WARREN STORM, WILLIE TEE AND CYPRESS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7PHL2xCgXY
Warren Storm, the Godfather of Swamp Pop and Willie Tee on sax with his band Cypress. Warren and Willie are in their 70s and show no sign of slowing down. Their following is legion and spans several generations. Swamp pop originated in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, combines rhythm and blues, country and western, and music being created in places like Cosimo Metassa's studio in New Orleans. Swamp pop got real traction in southwest Louisiana and East Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=iKnnY2MM7rA&video_referrer=watch
Warren and the band bang out a cover of “Lucille” These guys can go from 0 to 60 in seconds…swamp pop, rock n roll, you name it, they got it!

VIDEO RODDIE ROMERO AND THE HUB CITY ALL-STARS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwT0yt-GcMg
This band is another perennial favorite around Lafayette. A Grammy nominated Louisiana band, they've been performing worldwide for over 20 years. Here's an upbeat oldie with a rock roots beat that gets a bunch of dancers going. Listen to how Romero make the accordion rock at the 40 second mark. Check Roddie and Hub City out at http://roddieromero.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VXlI4vlUEU
A Grammy nominated Louisiana band, they've been performing worldwide for over 20 years. Of course, Swamp Pop is in their repertoire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T25mN1pZW04
Swamp pop originated in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, combines rhythm and blues, country and western, and music being created in places like Cosimo Metassa's studio in New Orleans. Swamp pop got real traction in southwest Louisiana and East Texas. A bluesy accordion, sinuously played saxophone and electric piano vamps put the swamp in this pop.

Wayne Toups and ZydeCajun finished the day on the Scène Ma Louisiane. I left to charge my battries and head for La Poussiere in nearby Breaux Bridge to hear Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band  play until 11:30 PM. Lord have mercy…

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Festival Acadiens et Creole: Friday October 10, 2014 Opening Night

Festival Acadiens et Creole

Friday, October 10, 2014

Girard Park, Lafayette, LA

This three-day festival is hands down the biggest, bestest, cajun and zydeco festival on earth. From 10:30 AM till 8:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday, bands play simultaneously on three main stages...cajun, zydeco, swamp pop from the best in the business.  Small groupings, including jams and intimate sessions under smaller tents with the weekend's musicians, are held Saturday and Sunday. LINK

Oh, and the festival is FREE. Families, often intergenerational groupings,spread out over the park's 33 acres of gently rolling landscape.  Dancers from every region in America are here. The common frustration on Saturday and Sunday: how to manage time when three of their favorite bands are playing at the same time at three different stages. The schedule is insanely fabulous.

Even if you're tone deaf, you'd want to mosey on over to taste foods and sweet stuff from the local emporiums who've set up vending booths. Interested in arts, crafts, jewelry, clothing from hats to cowboy boots? A whole chunk of real estate with dozens of vendor tents tempts you to spend whatever you saved with no entry charges.

5:15 PM So here I am, music wafting from the main stage, the smell of boudain and fried shrimp in the air, the warm glow of late afternoon sun blessing the scene with a golden embrace, hundreds of spectators and dancers crowding around to witness the 40th anniversary of the festival and anticipation of a weekend of more music than I can shake a leg at.

Balfa Toujours, featuring Christine Balfa kick off the festival with a set of Cajun songs. Christine's father Dewey Balfa was the force behind organizing the first festival in 1974. Christine founded Balfa Toujours in 1993, the year her father Dewey Balfa died.

 

The first song is introduced by Barry Ancelet, PhD musicologist at University of Louisiana Lafayette and one of the organizers, at 22 years old, of the first Tribute to Cajun music in 1974.

"Pay attention to the words of the first two songs," Ancelet says. "The first one is in honor of this festival and the second one Dewey composed in honor of that Newport festival in 1974 that so influenced and impressed him that he came back and worked for ten years to make this one happen."

VIDEO "Two-Step des Acadiens" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Ywb_eAbVs&index=63&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Second song "The Newport Waltz"

VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ih0FLb6-wg&index=62&li

Courtney Granger takes the lead on this Cajun waltz, "The Newport Waltz" composed by Dewey Balfa after returning from the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival at which the Balfa band received a standing ovation. Balfa vowed to "bring the echoes of those cheers back to Louisiana," says folklorist and historian Barry Ancelet of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and ten years after, 1974, was instrumental in creating a festival to celebrate cajun music and show his fellow Cajuns how respected their music was outside southwest Louisiana.

3 Balfa Toujours

VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2KZcHTlYWk&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

4 Balfa Toujours

VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCI2nf4oQHM&index=65&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

Accordionist Ray Abshire joins Balfa Toujours for this classic Cajun ballad with its keening vocals and resounding fiddles. Friday October 10, 2014

I missed most of Corey Ledet's set when I headed to the food tents for dinner and met Richard and Ramona Conques of Carencro, whom I met here last year and again in Carencro later last year. Louisiana hospitality at its best!

The other main event of the night: Corey Ledet, wearing a crown a la Clifton Chenier, on accordion backed by saxophone, frattoir, bass and drums make a joyful noise. C.J. Chenier, the late Clifton Chenier's son, later joined the group to play his accordion. Filming at night with my little digital camera next to over a hundred people dancing in the dark made the video bumpy but you get the idea...Corey Ledet can light zydeco on fire.

VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IjaeP6G9_c&index=64&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA

 Videos and photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

"From Field To Stage:The Songs of the Lomax Collection Concert" - 2014 Festival Acadiens et Creole

October 9, 2014: 7 PM - 10 PM

"From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Connection" Concert
Angelle Hall, University of Louisiana Lafayette, hosted by Dr. Barry Ancelet of the University of Louisiana Lafayette.

Program: An evening of music capping today's symposium highlighting festival history from 1934 to 2014, featuring Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, Jeffery Broussard & Family, Feufollet with special guests Kristi Guillory, Megan Brown, Joel Savoy, Josh Caffery and Ashely Hayes presenting songs from the Library of Congress recorded by John and Alan Lomax.

 
Angelle Hall, University of Louisiana Lafayette

BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet; Josh Caffery, Megan Brown

 

BeauSoliel VIDEO1   Michael Doucet and Beau Soliel, Twin-fiddle duets are a staple of Cajun music, as Doucet and Mitchell Reed demonstrate with the band in full pursuit. 

BeauSoliel VIDEO2
Michael Doucet and BeauSoliel, This upbeat Cajun song with an improbably pounding Caribbean beat is actually a funny song about a man who loses his pants on his way home - I'd love to know the title…and how the heck this seemingly Latin arrangement was created! It looks like Doucet has a ton of fun singing and fiddling this song…what a robust voice!

“I learned my first Cajun music listening to recordings of songs transcribed by Irene  Whitfield Holmes," Michael Doucet says. The first song BeauSoliei played was titled “Belle." Doucet  comments on the 3/ 4 and 2/4 and 5/4 beats of some of the “crooked” old songs. "Early on, people made songs up, no copyrights, passed them on, but when Alan and John Lomax recorded the songs in the field, they made sure to include names of the singers or writers.The double fiddle songs are the joyful other side of Cajun music,” Doucet says.

Steve Riley,Chris Stafford, Chris Segura: Cajun fiddles and guitar (no photos, only video below)

VIDEO "From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Collection" Concert Stafford,Riley,Segura1 MVI 5108

Caption: Steve Riley with Chris Segura and Chris Stafford (both members of Feufollet) jam it up.

VIDEO "From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Collection" Concert Stafford, Riley, Segura2 MVI 5109
Caption: Steve Riley with Chris Segura and Chris Stafford (both members of Feufollet) jam it up.

Jeffery Broussard' and his sisters demonstrate traditional African Juré singing (often call and response) and dancing.

 

Sandra Davis, Jeffery Broussard’s sister says “My grandfather was French, my grandmother Creole. Back then, families visited each other at different homes on weekends. They had no money so they used their hands, feet, buckets, washboards, and spoons to make music, what we called Juré music. It came from Africa and the Caribbean.”
In the first 24 second video, I see the seeds of the spirit of zydeco dancing pounded out by her feet. Wow.

Juré VIDEO1
Juré VIDEO2
Juré VIDEO3
Juré VIDEO4

Caption: Hands, feet, voices from his sisters, Jeffery using an amplifier stand as percussion...all that's needed for a vigorous example of Juré music.

As far as I can tell, over time Juré music evolved into Creole La La music- two-step dances and waltzes, also a feature of entertainment at rural Creole homes on weekends. By around 1930, use of the accordion, introduced by German immigrants in the late 1800s, had become prevalent. Amadée Ardoin, taught to  play accordion by Canray Fontenot’s father, was the earliest and most popular of Creole style accordion playing and singing. His influence all the way back to 1930 is still felt today – as is the pain felt when you learn of his cruel fate.

Any time you begin to research roots music of southwest Louisiana, the name Amadie Ardoin pops up. Amadie Ardoin: Lomax youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyIbUD5_7Ko
Goldman Thibodeaux told stories about Ardoin on Sunday October 12, 2014 - pt’s video Goldman talks about his memories of Amadéw Ardoin and Iry LeJeune, two seminal singers in southwest Louisiana music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKFePsSYEB0&list=UUpO59RlFb0TWCXQLKYfisdA
Mother jones link http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/03/amede-ardoin-cajun-zydeco-mardi-gras

Kristi Guillory, Megan Brown, Kelli Jones Savoy

"From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Collection" Concert Guillory,Brown,Savoy MVI 5122

Caption: Old time Cajun music with roots through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island all the way back to France. Kristi Guillory, Megan Brown, Kelli Jones Savoy

The band Feufollet

"From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Collection" Concert Feufollet1 MVI 5123

The band Feufollet re-interprets old Cajun songs and writes originals in the same spirit of older ones, making music about the ordinary themes of everyday life.

Caption: The band Feufollet takes traditional cajun music into 21st century sensibilities without losing the cultural roots of the music and the spirit of people who sang it before them. Singing their entire repertoire in French helps.

"From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Collection" Concert Feufollet2 IMG 1792

Caption: Listen to that robust electric bass guitar with classic riffs not far removed from rock n roll and sung in French. Wow.

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

2014 Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, Dewey Balfa at Newport, and Alan Lomax in Louisiana

 Notes from each session to follow soon...

Anniversaries 40 - 50 - 80:

2014 "
Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, Dewey Balfa at Newport, and Alan Lomax in Louisiana"
Symposium open to all and free!

Thursday, October 9, 2014


UL Lafayette
, Hamilton Hall Auditorium, 611 McKinley Street, Lafayette, LA

9:00 - 9:45 am

"Themes of Cultural Conservation, Creolization and Modernization in the Work of Alan Lomax and Ralph Rinzler
Nick Spitzer, keynote

10:00 - 11:30 am

"Academic and Journalistic Perspectives on Festivals Acadiens et Creoles"
Mark DeWitt (moderator), University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Panel: below left photo

Barry Ancelet, PhD, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
; author Ben Sandmel; folklorist 
Nick Spitzer, PhD,Tulane University; Nathan Salsburg, Association for Cultural Equity; Josh Caffery,PhD, Indiana University


Dr. Mark DeWitt and panel; Dr. Josh Caffery discussing his book, Traditional Music in Coastal Louisiana: The 1934 Lomax Recordings

11:30 - 1:30 pm - Lunch on your own

3 blocks away!

1:30 - 2:15 pm

"The History of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles"
Barry Ancelet, keynote
With personal observations by Keith Cravey

2:30 - 4:00 pm

"Musicians and Family Members Reflect on the Festival"
Pat Mould, moderator

L to R Current Festival Acadiens et Creole Director Pat Mould, Ann Savoy, Michael Doucet,
 Jeffery Broussard, Christine Balfa
, Gary Newman

pt gets a chance to tell Nick Spitzer how much he enjoys listening to Spitzer's weekly radio show "American Routes" on WWNO distributed by PRX; pt talking about Juré music with Jeffery Broussard. who, with his sisters, will present a demontration of it at tonight's program.

Angelle Hall, ULL

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

2014 Festival Acadiens et Creole Anniversary Celebrations

Fast Facts

Anniversaries: 40th, 50th, 80th: Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, Dewey Balfa at Newport, and Alan Lomax in Louisiana

Celebrated from October 9 - October 12, 2014

1974: First Tribute to Cajun music held in Lafayette in 1974
1964: Dewey Balfa performs at the Newport Jazz Festival, receives standing ovation
1934: John and Alan (father, son) record French Cajun and Creole songs in southwest Louisiana, now online at http://www.lomax1934.com

HIstory of the Festival: http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/info/

October 9, 2014: 9 AM-4 PM - Symposium highlighting festival history from 1934 to 2014
Hamilton Hall  Auditorium, University of Louisiana Lafayette

October 9, 2014: 7 PM - 10 PM - "From Field to Stage: The Songs of the Lomax Connection" Concert
Angelle Hall, University of Louisiana Lafayette

October 10, 11, 12, 2015: Entire schedule of performances at Girard Park
http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/music/

Sponsorship of the festival has come a long way since the days it was underwrited by the sale of beer, says University of Louisiana Lafayette professor and folklorist Dr. Barry Ancelet.

Grant enables University to promote festival anniversary

http://www.louisiana.edu/news-events/news/20140714/grant-enables-university-promote-festival-anniversary

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, set for Oct. 10–12 in Girard Park, adjacent to campus. The event features music on multiple stages throughout the park, food and crafts.

UL Lafayette has received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to create an art exhibit, educational conference and commemorative music CD in conjunction with Festivals. The exhibit and conference will be free and open to the public.

The Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at the University of Louisiana Lafayette offers information and archives. Here are two pages to start you off:
http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism-cultural.html
http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism-eco.html

 

"On My Teacher's Shoulders" - Book Tour Hits The Road Part2

"On My Teacher’s Shoulders" by Jeff Kelly Lowenstein: Book Tour Hits The Road
Bay Path University
Longmeadow, MA
October 23, 2014

“Hey, you two need to get to the book table, there’s a line of people with books in their hands!” organizer Briana Sitler says to us.

This, my friends, was a moment. I don’t know about you but I never thought I’d ever be on the other side of the table asking people I’d never met, “How do you spell your name?” before scrawling my name and a comment inside the book’s cover.

And here I am, with goofy grin, signing books at the rear of the Mills Theater at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, MA, basking in the glow of the first presentation on the road of “On My Teacher’s Shoulders,” written by former fourth grade student Jeff Kelly Lowenstein.

All of us have had at least one teacher who stands out in our memories. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime gift, if you’re a very lucky teacher, that a former student writes a book that features you as a prominent character.

Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, professor, journalist, former teacher and newspaper reporter, is a very accomplished man – and I’ve written plenty of posts elaborating on that.  We had just finished our one-hour program in which Jeff described three major intersections in his life that involve me – and I got to add a few minutes giving my perspective about each intersection.

From the outset, Jeff’s had the idea that the story would resonate with an audience of teachers, student teachers, and students majoring in education.  Heck, he’s even thought about Oprah. He spent years shaping the book, often rising at 5:00 AM to write and revise drafts, all while keeping a heavy work load as an investigative reporter. And here we are on stage, spotlights trained upon us and an audience in front of us.

Tonight, he is living a dream and bringing me along for the ride. The Bay Path University theme this year is “Own Your Story.” Jeff not only owns the story, he’s written a book about it.

Jeff is introduced by Virginia "Ginna" Freed, emeritus professor of English.

Having fun telling stories; watching video of Boston TV Channel 5 story of Jeff running 1999 Boston Marathon in my honor.

Jeff introducing me to sing the "Captain Hook" song; signing books at the end of the program!

Photos courtesy of Paul Bloomfield

VIDEO COURTESY OF BAY PATH UNIVERSITY!

"On My Teacher's Shoulders" Hits The Road

"On My Teacher’s Shoulders" by Jeff Kelly Lowenstein: Book Tour Hits The Road
Bay Path University
Longmeadow, MA
October 23, 2014

Bay Path University, an innovative, career-focused institution founded in 1897, invited Jeff Kelly Lowenstein and me to be the lead-off program for their 2014 “Kaleidoscope Series: Perspectives On Culture, Life, and Learning”. It was a great fit since the Longmeadow, MA school has a robust undergraduate and graduate program in Education.

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
To enlarge the scope of the program, Dr. Karen DeAngelis, Chair of the Education Department, invited Jeff, my former fourth grade student, author of "On My Teacher's Shoulders" and a journalism professor at Columbia College in Chicago, to moderate a panel titled "Top Three Tips for Beginning Teachers."

6:00 - 6:30 PM
Networking session and light hors d'oeuvres

Panelists included:
·  Leah Cook, '13, BPU Alumnae, Special Education Teacher, Ludlow High School, MA
·  Dr. Neil Gile, Principal, Wolf Swamp Elementary School, Longmeadow, MA
·  Melissa Tharau, '12, BPU Alumnae, Kindergarten Teacher, Harwinton Consolidated Elementary School, Harwinton, CT
·  Dr. Joanne Welch, Director of Special Education, East Longmeadow, MA
• Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, moderator, Columbia College, Chicago, IL

The panelists were terrific. Leah Cook and Melissa Tharau offered practical, do-able advice specifically aimed at young teachers like themselves but applicable to veterans as well. Dr. Gile spoke about the importance of creating a sense of culture and community within a school and how he does it.  Dr. Joanne Welch offered advice from her unique point of view from thirty years of experience as teacher and administrator.

I’ve been out of the education business for ten years. Considering the sea changes in education, I wondered whether my own take on the subject would be antiquated. Boy, was I surprised. Pedagogy has changed over the years but the tips from these panelists would have met with nods from the veterans I taught with in my first year at The  Pierce School in Brookline, MA in 1970.

The Breck Suite in Wright Hall was filled with the perfect audience: undergraduate education majors, student teachers, Bay Path graduates now in their first years of teaching and several members of the Bay Path staff.

Jeff's style of moderating was impressive: listening, summarizing, making insightful segues from one speaker to the next, then asking thoughtful follow-up questions that built on what panel members contributed. It gave me a first-hand view of how he teaches at Columbia College, using insight, perceptive listening, and levity to keep the topics deep and focused.

I've got to tell you, I've seen Jeff use those people skills since he was nine years old!

7:00 PM Kaliedoscope Series Program organized by Director of Special Programs Briana Sitler

Mills Theater in Carr Hall on the Bay Path University campus for our first presentation of “On  My Teacher’s Shoulders” on the road since our premier presentation in Brookline,MA.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

On My Teacher's Shoulders: Book Tour Begins~

What a rich story...Yours truly and Jeff Kelly Lowenstein: 40 years of connection from teacher to mentor to friend, chronicled in book form by my former fourth grade student Jeff Kelly Lowenstein.

As a teacher and a man, I feel totally honored by Jeff's writing. Every man or woman who's ever taught has made an impact on students. Few of them are lucky enough to have it wrapped in a former student's biography.

Todays Book Tour: begins at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, MA

Backstories:

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/05/jeff-kelly-lowenstein-my-walking-talking-lifetime-achievement-award.html

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/11/on-my-teachers-shoulders-from-teacher-to-mentor-to-friend.html

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/11/on-my-teachers-shoulders-a-magical-evening.html

Updates to follow!

 

 

Westport Friends (Quaker) 53rd Used Book Fair: Loads of Pulp Fiction, Non-Fiction

Published October 16, 2014

Westport Friends (Quaker) 53rd Annual Used Book Fair
938 Main Road, Westport, MA
July 12, 2014
11 AM - Sunset and for the next two weeks...

The Westport Friends Meeting (Quaker) calls their annual book fair its signature fundraiser of the year. That signature is as bold as John Hancock’s on the Declaration of Independence. Early in the morning of the second Saturday of July every year, Meeting members and volunteers lay out 20,000 used hard and soft cover books under two venerable yellow and white striped tents in front of the Friends Meeting House. 

Like bees to pollen, hundreds of book lovers assemble around the tents waiting for the opening whistle. At precisely 11 AM, they surge into the tents, a swarm of acquisitive shoppers with bags at the ready. Everybody wins here. Bibliophiles load up on a year’s worth of reading material. Cashiers take in money that will cover the annual costs of maintaining the historic Westport Meeting House (built in 1816) and their Macomber Community Hall next door.



For the first hour, you’d never guess by listening that several hundred men, women and children surround you and the 70 sturdy wooden folding tables under the tents. Like bees, shoppers are not noisy. But they do possess a bee-like GPS that leads them to the categories of books they’ll feed on for the next year. History, science fiction, philosophy, photography, cooking, mystery, biography, religion, travel, humor, romance, coffee table books - this is Amazon, Barnes and Noble and flea market all in one - at about 10% of the original retail price.

Shoulder to shoulder, they use a boarding house reach to pluck titles from the piles on each table. It’s decidedly polite, even shoppers are “Friends” today. The sun filtering through the yellow and white tents casts a golden glow over shoppers and books – perfectly heavenly, and the smell of old books is the accompanying incense.

Strategies abound, from the book dealers who grab an armload of books at a time to those with eagle eyes fixed on specific titles. Some bring lists. All bring an appetite for a good deal. The arm loaders exit the tent, rifle through their piles, take what they want and return the rest to the tables. Savvy searchers like Providence, RI bookseller Althea Grady go back for a second round after the first hour.

“The dealers don’t necessarily return books to the category tables they hauled them from so I look everywhere,” she says, with a knowing grin.



The Meeting House, filled with books priced at 25 cents apiece and 6 for a dollar, opens at 10 AM, sort of a way to prime the pump. Loaded with hundreds of children’s books, it’s a gold mine for kids and parents. What isn’t sold today will be moved to the tents at the end of the day. The weekly Friends Meeting is held at 10 AM the next morning, no need to be distracted by “Good Night Moon” during the spiritually reflective hour-long meeting.
 


The sale continues for the next two weeks. As the books dwindle in number they are consolidated until all but a few tables of books remain. The cash business uses the honor system – a coffee can in which you calculate what you owe from the price written inside the cover and pay up.  Sort of like a Dollar Store without a cashier.

Thousands of books have been donated, left in a specially designated shed on the grounds of the Meeting House, and are sorted, priced, and organized into categories in a year long process. After a brief breather, committees begin the process again shortly after this year’s fair has concluded. Book sort VIDEO1 VIDEO2

"This is my wife's favorite day of the entire year," says Shane Sher of Fairhaven. “She started a lending library in a laundromat near our home. After she’s done with the books they get shuffled off to the laundromat.” Following a book’s history can be similar to a Where’s Waldo illustration. Lord knows where these books have lived before being donated to the book fair.

Many of them will be re-donated and find new homes next year, and a new address will be added to their Where’s Waldo portfolio.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Companion posts

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/07/westport-friends-quaker-53rd-used-book-fair-photo-gallery.html

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/07/westport-friends-quaker-53rd-used-book-fair-video-gallery.html

 

Kristi Guillory and Anya Burgess CD release party at the Blue Moon Saloon

A big week in Lafayette: 80 years since John and Alan Lomax made field recordings of SW Louisiana music, 50 years since Dewey Balfa and his band from Lafayette got a standing ovation from the crowd at the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival and 40 years since Dewey Balfa pioneered the first Festival Acadien in Lafayette. More stories about this to follow.

Tonight is a perfectly timed CD release party, "Kristi Guillory and Anya Burgess", with the duo performing some of the oldest known and seldom heard cajun songs.

Kristi Guillory and Anya Burgess

Blue Moon Saloon
215 East Convent Street
Lafayette, LA
October 8, 2014

It’s one thing to play an instrument well, quite another to become an authority on the genre of that music. Kristi Guillory (accordion) and Anya Burgess (fiddle) are both. Well-known as members of Bonsoir Catin, the popular Lafayette, Louisiana band formed in 2005, they’ve teamed up to dig into the Cajun music catalogue.

Their new record, “ Kristi Guillory and Anya Burgess,” is a collection of seldom heard songs, some of the oldest recorded Cajun songs of the 1920s and 1930s they’ve culled from their research.

Kristi majored in Francophone Studies, completed a Master’s degree in Folklore Studies at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, where she teaches accordion, vocals, and Cajun and Creole music history. The first archivist at the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Kristi has access to original materials.

Anya perfected her fiddle playing in Cape Breton, an area steeped in French language and sensibilities, when she learned from Otis Tomas, a highly respected fiddle maker. After learning to make violins at Indiana University, she operates her own violin/fiddle shop. Many of the area’s fiddlers trust her to maintain their instruments.

Here and with Bonsoir Catin, they sing in Cajun French, the predominant language in rural southwest Louisiana until the mid 1900s.

Cajun music is sung in a particularly haunting, baleful, wailing style, perhaps a reflection on the rural subsistence life in the bayous of southwest Louisiana where the first Acadians settled after being expelled from Canada by the British in the mid 1700s. The set list ranges between lively, sad and occasionally humorous Cajun two-step songs and waltzes. Guillory and Burgess introduce each song with a brief description the song’s content. With composer’s names like Bixy Guidry, Slim Doucet, Adam and Cyprien Landreneau, and Leo Soileau, you can tell you’re in Cajun country.

At first, the crowd at the Blue Moon Saloon listens attentively. This is Lafayette, however. Before long the living room-sized dance floor is crowded with dancers. But many in the crowd listen for most of the night, curious to hear such a collection of new music. Guillory and Burgess clearly love playing together, make plenty of eye contact and often appear absorbed with channeling the sense of time and place in which the music was created.

Lafayette has a multi-generational audience ready to connect with its musical heritage. I doubt that any part of the country holds so tightly and proudly to its music traditions.  Whether playing faithful renditions of old songs or playing them in new ways, there will always be an audience.

NOTE: Audio is with digital camera, not known for high fidelity!

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When they get going, everyone wants to get into the act.

 
Lots of media attention, which Anya, Kristi, and Megan Brown get a chuckle from.

Singing and playing from the heart...

Unless buckled into seat belts, Lafayette audiences will find a way to dance. There's a band in there somewhere.

SET LIST (Thank you, Anya!)
Grosse Mama - Leo Soileau
Belle of Pointe - Artelus Mistric
Valse de Pointe Noire - Angelas Lejeune
Two Step de Platin - Abrose Thibodeaux
High Ball - Octa Clark
Longue Pointe Two-Step
Casse Pas Ma Tete
Soileau Two-Step
La Valse Soliel Couche - Octa Clark
Lacassine Special
La Valse des Pins - Lawrence Walker
Midnight On The Water
Hack a  Moreau - Edius Naquin
 
Quelqu'un Est Jalous - Delin T. Guillory
Les Pinieres - Adam and Cyp Landreneau
French Jig
Bayou Pom Pom
Reve de Saoulard
Acadian Two-Step
Ossun Two-Step
Waxia Special - Slim Doucet
Un Matin dans Mai - Didier Hebert
Valse A Pop
Contredanse Français - Cheese Reed
Je Vais Jouer Cela Pour Toi - Bixy Guidry and Percy Hab

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Annual Post Spin Spin: Myke and pt hit the road for Provincetown

Founders Myke Farricker and Paul Tamburello have teamed up since 2003 to make ceremonial bike rides after the Ride To Defeat ALS , formerly known as 'A Positive Spin for ALS', has taken place.

 

Since 2007, our ride has been a short haul from The Outer Reach Resort in Truro to the Pilgrim First Landing Park at the very end of Route 6A. Averaging a little over 14 mph for 7.5 miles the ride goes by in a flash, especially with Myke cracking jokes as he drafts me. We get serious when we reach the park and jetty and recount the cause and the people we ride for. Myke's brother Pete, my dear friend Janet Speers and hundreds of others, are just two of the "honorary riders," we've taken with us over the years.

 

One finger, four fingers...2014!

Two rituals at every post spin spin: ceremony at on the jetty and a photo opp.

We acknowledge the men and women who've succumbed to or are living with the disease and the vow to keep on trucking till a cure is found. Myke honors his brother Pete, who was always on a list of "honorary riders," names of ALS patients I carried with me every year sent me by friends and families and read aloud on the jetty after each ride.

 Photo opp! Myke and Paul at the paving stone they commissioned in the Landing Park in 2007.

Photos by Marie Christine, a tourist from Austria who was on a ten day tour of northeast Canada and America with her husband Teodore!