pt at large

Jesse Lége and Bayou Brew Cajunize The Burren

The Burren
Back Room at The Burren
https://www.burren.com
247 Elm Street, Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144
February 7, 2019

You could be blindfolded but when you hear that voice you know damn well that’s Jesse Lége singing. He’s in rarified territory in the voice department. Deeply sonorous, freighted with emotion that channels the pains and joys of his Cajun forebears, Jesse projects his music like an old soul, all the way back to the enormously emotive Améde Ardoin.

His piercing singing register comes physically from his voice box and his diaphragm but psychically from DNA rooted in a rural upbringing, no electricity, in a one room house deep in the prairie. The week’s entertainment – tuning in the Grand Ole Opry or The Louisiana Hayride if the batteries for the family’s transistor radio had enough juice.

This is not a pretend act. He was born at home near Gueydan, LA, was suckled on the sounds of music heard on the porch on Saturday nights under skies so black you could see all the way to the Milky Way, back in the days when electricity hadn’t reached the prairies of Louisiana.

Tonight he’s playing with his trusty band mates The Bayou Brew who bring their own Cajun sensibilities to the stage. Jesse’s as much a story teller as a singer. He’s an ambassador to Cajun culture, especially in places far flung from Louisiana, where his audience knows such history.In an accent as thick as a good roux,he’s likely to introduce a song with an anecdote, background about the song, and who first sang it. A good one tonight was his explanation of the subjects of many Cajun songs. "The Rayne Bounce" - getting the title since Rayne, LA, is called the "Frog Capital of the World".

Usually, to hear music like this you have to be at the Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge, LA, or the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette. Not tonight.

What a gift.

Photo, videos  by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Band L to R

Darren Wallace, fiddle; Missy Roser, fiddle; Jesse Lége, Accordion; Erica Weiss, rhythm guitar; Evelyn Schneider, bass

Kudos to the manager of The Back Room, who cleared away enough tables for the roomful of dancers to whirl the night away while Jesse and Bayou Brew played from the stage.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22q1cHuboE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=P9YxiHNg1Ro

MORE VIDEOS COMING AFTER FEBRUARY 21

 

 

Yvette Landry and The Jukes Take Off At The Whirlybird: Videos, Photos, More...

August 18, 2018

Yvette Landry and The Jukes Take Off At The Whirlybird...a night of  music and dancing on Cloud 9.

The Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking is made up of onion, celery and bell pepper. There’s another Holy Trinity in southwest Louisiana: food, shelter, and music. The first two are self explanatory. Music - playing it, singing it, dancing to it, was the way the first French speaking settlers from the maritime provinces countered the trials of life living on the bayous in the early 1800s. If they couldn’t hunt it, trap it, fish for it, they went hungry. On Saturday nights, a family would put whatever furniture they owned outside, invite a fiddler or accordion player and their neighbors to sing and dance the night away. Amazing how working up a sweat doing waltzes and two steps could lift their spirits, remind them of their roots, and invigorate them for what lay ahead.

Yvette Landry doesn’t have to worry about her next meal but she's damn proud of the music that’s bound up with her Cajun roots. You better believe that Swamp Pop stole a place into her heart when she first heard it in dance halls and on the radio. A bunch of those songs are featured on her latest CD, Louisiana Lovin’.

When dancers hear the first eight beats of a Swamp Pop song, the same thing that happened when Swamp Pop was introduced sixty years ago happens tonight. Chair legs squeak as they’re pushed back and men and women look for a partner to hold in their arms for some good belly rubbin’ music.

Yvette and Roddie Romero sang most of the song's on Yvette's 2018 Louisiana Lovin' CD. Yvette got on a swamp pop roll with "My Last Date With You." The title alone gives you an idea of the Swamp Pop genre, just one of the kinds of music gifted to dear 'ol USA by the musicians and singers of southwest Louisiana.

Recording on an iPhone can't do justice to the performer's voices and the high caliber musicians around them but Karl Fontenot, the man in charge of tonight's sound at the one-of-a-kind music venue called The Whirlybird in a little town north of Lafayette, gave us a cloud of sound that combined vocals and instruments that put us in Juke Box Heaven.

And yes, that's 83 year old Warren Storm, the Godfather of Louisiana Swamp Pop, on stage with Yvette. The legend can still bring it.

Yvette and Warren team up for "I Need Somebody Bad Tonight, 'cuz I Just Lost Somebody Good." I mean, could you ever pick a title that represents Swamp Pop any better? And have the man who wrote it perform it with Yvette?

The sound is distorted since I was standing right next to a huge sound stage speaker. What's not distorted? The fervor these big time musicians from New Orleans and Lafayette are bringing to the stage with Yvette Landry and Mr. Swamp Pop.

Back in the mid 1950s, when teenagers around Lafayette tuned in to the radio, they heard singers who changed the course of popular music. Fats Domino, Elvis, Little Richard were knocking on the door. Like they were whipping up a good roux, those teenagers stirred up everything in their music cupboard  - Cajun, Creole, country, New Orleans, and rhythm 'n blues - and came up with a totally original sound. It’s not too far a stretch so see how they cranked up the emotion and slowed down the pace to invent Swamp Pop. To this day, it's one of the signature sounds of southwest Louisiana.

Warren Storm was one of those kids. Road trips to New Orleans as a teenager in the mid 1950s was a game changer for Storm (born Warren Schexnider in Abbeville, LA). He credits those visits to New Orleans's nightclubs to the formation of his drumming and singing style that at first sounded like this. Over time, he developed his distinct style and repertoire and never again had to look for work.

You could write a book about how tug-at-your heart Swamp Pop music and singers like Warren Storm have carried the emotionally tuned freight for three generations of men and women who grew up in Acadiana.

Storm stepped on stage and pretty much wrote chapter one tonight. Yvette was paying attention.

"Rainin' In My Heart" (number 17 on R&B chart in 1961) ... the energy on stage is pegging the needle on high...wailing sax, perfectly tuned fiddle riffs and guitar solos... a band on fire. A man enshrined in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame a Grammy nominated singer/songwriter on stage together...what else would you expect?

Swamp Pop artists past and present

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

• Roddie Romero – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
• Yvette Landry – vocals, acoustic guitar
• Eric Adcock – keyboard, Wurlitzer electric piano
• Chris French – upright bass
• Derek Huston – tenor sax, baritone sax
• Fiddle – Beau Thomas

Two Musicians Provide the Two-Steppin' at the Joie de Vivre

Friday night at the Joie de Vivre Café

August 17, 2018

A fiddle and an accordion are all you need for a night of entertainment around here. The people in the audience will partner with the musicians to fill the place with energy. Dancing, not required, certainly adds a layer of oomph, not unappreciated by tonight's duo, Forest Huval and Jonno Frishberg..

“The name of that song was ‘Reel de Coquin’, it means Dance of the Thieves,” Forest Huval says. It was the last dance of the evening at Joie de Vivre Café in Breaux Bridge, and he and Jonno Frishberg got into it.

“It was a tune originated back in the day by Dennis McGee (January 26, 1893 - October 3, 1989) and has been played by fiddlers ever since,'” says Forest. McGee was one of the first Cajun musicians to record music on 78 rpm disks. His influence is felt by every musician who wants to feel the span and breadth of Cajun music from the time it was recorded.

The first time i heard Forest play December 31, 2012, when he was playing accordion with the late great and dearly missed Al Berard at a house party in Breaux Bridge. Since then he's taken up the fiddle. Al would be impressed.

Link below to 2011 story and video

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2012/01/a-start-your-new-years-early-party-party-in-breaux-bridge-louisiana.html

VIDEO

Photos and video by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Stop The Clock Cowboy Jazz Band: Sets Alarm at Feed 'n Seed

Stop The Clock Cowboy Jazz Band
Feed ’n Seed
Lafayette, LA
February 11, 2018

 Text, photos. captions to follow!

Gary Newman, bass
John Buckelew, fiddle
Gary Granger, guitar
Paul Anastasio, fiddle
Charlene Howard, vocals
Sabra Guzman, guitar, vocals
Kurt Boudreaux, keyboard
Wayne Leblanc, drums

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayoPcPcHk4Q?rel=0

Revelers Revel At Joie de Vivre

Joie de Vivre Cafè, Breaux Bridge, LA

February 9, 2018

For a dancer, having The Revelers contained in a tiny place like the Joie de Vivre Café is somewhere along the lines of The Second Coming.

They just about dare you to sit down when they play their brew of Cajun two-steps and waltzes, honky tonk, swamp pop, a dash of country, and the occasional rock ‘n roll number. Every time I sat down to take a break, they cranked out another song that insisted, “I don’t think so, PT.” I was not alone in this regard.

You want a great sound mix? How about accordion, fiddles, guitar, bass, drums and saxophone that’s so resonant that some it is probably embedded under the quirky murals on the walls?

Some of the musicians have come from far from CajunLand but they all ‘get’ the music. They’ve made their bones around Lafayette, respect the roots of Cajun culture, and sing in French and English.

Accordionist Blake Miller is the engine of the band and the other Revelers throw in musical anthracite to keep it chugging full steam ahead. The best thing about the Revelers? They are kaleidoscopically fresh. Their pacing, range, and stylings pivot on a dime. Ho-hum is not in their lexicon.

“Can you feel the difference in the energy in different places you play in?” I ask saxophone player Chris Miller.

‘When we play for a seated audience it’s a different level but when we play to an audience of dancers who are really into it , we feel it. We love playing music with each other and that alone fires up our playing.”

Every one in the café adores their music. The fact that this is Mardi Gras week adds extra combustion to the atmosphere. There's a handful of out-of-towners present but most of the audience is men and women who were born and raised here or who have moved here because they were struck with what I call the magic of the Breaux Bridge Stick.

Make no mistake about it, this place is Brigadoon without the time constraints.

Chas Justus, guitar; Chris Miller, saxophone; Daniel Coolik, fiddle; Blake Miller, accordion; Trey "Boom Boom" Boudreaux, bass;  Glenn Fields, drums

Great organic fusion of music, musicians, dancers, listeners...a wrap around experience of rhythm, melody and harmony.

 Age? Everybody dances!

Picking up on their own energy...

the band is feelin' it.

And we feel it too when Chris Miller gets into a smokey swamp pop number
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Singing in French or English, Blake Miller leads the way.

with Trey "Boom Boom" Boudreaux, bass;  Glenn Fields, drums hitting every beat that keeps the train rolling

 Family friendly

Cafè, yes...and a fabulous music destination, check them out.

The smiles say it all...

there's genuine joy in the Joie de Vivre.

Larry Miller, Blake's grandfather and builder of world class acccordions, talks shop with his grandson.

Blake Miller's mom and  his nephew getting a head start on the accordion! 

 

 

 

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. 

The Great Grandmother Of All House Parties

Katy Richard and Chris Hinchliffe’s House Party
Lafayette, LA
December 30, 2017

Whoa, Baby, this was the great grandmother of all house parties, a lalapalooza!

As a generic term, a host invites friends over for convivial evening of food, hospitality, and socializing and everyone goes home. Then there are house parties around Lafayette, LA.

First there’s the matter of the guest list. Once the word is out, invitees tend to tell their friends, who tend to come along too. In other parts of the world, this might cause dyspepsia to the hosts. Maybe it’s a southern thing but here it's not only tolerated but taken for granted.

Houses have interior dimensions. There seems to be a law of proportionality that states that there will be enough room for everyone. And once inside will know how much space to take up. When my hosts asked if I could come with them, Katie Richard asked, "Is he skinny?" No matter what the answer, I would have been welcome. So there’s corollary number one. Everyone will manage to fit inside.

Hosts prepare food. Guests always bring food. Not stuff they bought at the store on the way to the party but dishes they’ve spent time preparing, bring utensils to consume them, and find a place to situate it on tables piled with entrees, appetizers, gumbo, soups, and desserts. People talk, eat, drink, and eat…for hours. Corollary number two: There will always be enough food.

An unimaginable pile of plates, glasses, cups, and serving bowls accumulates in the kitchen. Not to worry. Women (and a few good men) take it upon themselves to stand at the kitchen sink and wash them out for reuse. Corollary number three: guests pitch in to manage the gigantic flow of food.

This part of the world is like a petrie dish for music: Cajun, Creole, country, Americana, with sides of blues and rock n roll. Guests will bring a guitar, accordion, fiddle, stand up bass, the occasional flute and harmonica. Corollary number four: Music will break out after food has been consumed.

The musicians may not know each other or ever played together. No matter. The language of music appears to be some kind of universally understood Esperanto . They mumble things like E flat or C major and tap out the time with their feet and once they get going it sounds like they’ve been practicing in the cellar for a week. So there’s corollary number five. The music will be spontaneously fabulous.

People around here, unlike my hometown of Boston, will dance at the drop of a hat. If there’s a tiny spot between the chairs and tables, a couple will ease on up and fill it with their best dance moves. Corollary number six: there will be dancing.

Tonight’s event at Katy and Chris’s house is filled with guests from far and wide. musicians from Ottawa visiting Lafayette for New Year festivities, play side by side with men and women who play in local bands.

The evening is launched with a Cajun jam led by accordionist Ray Abshire . Ray's cousin Nathan Abshire played with the Dewey Balfa Band that single-handedly brought Cajun music from a regional to a nationally recognized genre. Close your eyes and listen to Ray's plaintiff. resonant voice and you're listening to a culture distilled by music.

Cajun music and dance, ballads, waltzes, two steps, have been a staple of southwest Louisiana since the mid 1700s. Anyone who’s brought an instrument joins in, from beginner strummer to advanced players.

Hang on, boys and girls. The next two hours are a mellifluous jamboree.

The Ottawa duo of Michael Ball and Jody Benjamin (Ball and Chain), pile on to a Louisiana Hayride with hosts Chris and Katy, guests Phil Kaelin (of the Has Beans), Gina Forsyth, Major Handy, and other pros. This is our own Lafayette floor show but no one is having more fun than the musicians. Forget candy stores. This is Big Rock Candy Mountain for them.

There’s a ton of music happening all over Lafayette tonight. It’s a safe bet that no one is having more fun than we are.

Guests have filled their plates with delicious appetizers and entrées, accordionist Ray Abshire leads a Cajun jam.

Axiomatic around here, music happens, dancing breaks out.

Katy and Chris make fine music; Major Handy leads "Stand By Me."

Everyone's into it; first hour or so, food piled high, conversation and consumption.

 

In the kitchen and outside; the temps are in the fifties but the fire pit and temporary tents keep guests dry and warm.

On this cold and damp night, a few guests socialized outside around the fire pit. Beverages and appetizers were close at hand.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

VIDEO PAGE http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/01/the-great-grandmother-of-all-house-parties-videos.html#comments 

 

 

Horace Trahan at La Poussiere, Breaux Bridge LA

Horace Trahan and The Ossun Express
La Poussiere Dance Hall
Breaux Bridge, LA
December 29, 2017

Horace Trahan and The Ossun Express is one tight band tonight. Horace is a big guy so when he stands tall with his band mates left and right, he’s the anchor on stage.

He may be known for playful songs like “That Butt Thing” published early in his career but more often than not, he’s singing not just to us but also about us. “Keep Walking” released in 2010 is all of that.

Horace’s music is often characterized by themes of human connection, bonds between people and what, on some occasions, might be called sermons set to music.

Don’t get me wrong. He’s making any dance crowd very happy with a range of zydeco, two steps, waltzes and what Herman Fusilier calls ‘belly rubbin’ music.” (Fabulous smoky blues) complete with riffs by saxophone player Doug Garb.

Horace Trahan is an old school accordion player. He stands at center stage, no wasted motions, sings one song after another, and keeps patter at a minimum.

So, when he gives an extended introduction to a song, you listen up. I couldn’t hear his words from the back of La Poussiere’s dance floor and made my way toward the stage. Here comes “Seven Spanish Angels,” written in 1984 and sung by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson on Ray Charles album titled “Friendship.”

Musically, the song, with its lovely Mexican accordion flourishes played by Horace, is unlike any other song in his catalog. But the theme – love, loyalty, redemption - is right up Horace’s alley. Horace arranges to have the whole band sing the lyrics together, a Zydeco choir in full voice.

The gauzy lyrics invite you to make up your own narrative about the man, the woman, their desperate situation, and those Seven Spanish Angels.

Contemplating end of life isn't one of my favorite topics but when it's time, it's a toss up between a brass band or those Seven Spanish Angels to take me home.

James Prejean, bass; Rodney Bernard, rub board; Shane Bernard, drums; Horace Trahan, accordion; Doug Garb, saxophone/flute; Gabriel Perrodin,Jr. (aka "Pandy"), guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhjrv1yC5o

Video taken with tiny Canon camera, quality and sound not great!

Photos and video by Paul A Tamburello, Jr.

The Nouveau String Band Infuses Joy into the Joie de Vivre Café

November 10, 2017

The Nouveau String Band Infuses Joy into the Joie de Vivre Café

There was explosion of joy in the Joie de Vivre Café in Breaux Bridge, LA. The Nouveau String Band hit the bandstand with melodic mischief in their hearts and red hot instruments in their hands. OK, the instruments might not have been that hot but the music…well, that’s another thing.
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These five middle-aged guys are old enough to have heard the rich cloud of music that floats around Lafayette and southwest Louisiana. We’re talking a stew of Cajun, honky tonk, pop, and blues and, wonder of wonders, jazz.

Most bands around here have range. Put the Nouveau String Band in the ICBM category. Don’t be surprised to hear them cover Hank Williams, Count Basie, Robert Johnson, Marvin Gaye, Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Martin, and a raft of others.  And every damn bit of it makes me want to find a woman and squeeze onto the dance floor.

What makes these guys special? In a small café like Joie de Vivre, their bandstand is a few feet from the tables that surround it and the slice of worn brown wood floor that fills up with dancers.  That’s where the nitro meets the glycerine. The energy rush of this band and the nearly involuntary response of the audience creates an atmosphere that can be measured by a seismograph under the old floor boards. And don’t think the guys in the band don’t feed off the energy. 

Any one of these musicians could hold an audience’s attention for an evening. Put John Buckelew (fiddle), Dave Trainer (fiddle, mandolin), Jimmie Duhon (bass), Lee Tedrow (guitar) and Danny Kimball (drums) together and you’ve got a killer band.

“I’ve heard these guys play dozens of times, “ says a regular from Lafayette, “tonight they were especially tight and full of energy.” I watched them smile at each other, nod in approval at each other’s solos and play the daylights out of every song.

In this part of Louisiana, you can find music live music performed in bars, restaurants, saloons, dance  halls and best of all, tiny places like this café where dancers navigate with the precision of self driving cars around tables, chairs and each other.

Around here music might be a form of therapy from a troubled world. I’ve met teachers, oil field riggers, hydrologists, FEMA workers, nurses, therapists, photographers, waitresses, farm workers, aviation mechanics in places like this. The only politics allowed in the door is party politics, and I mean Party.

The music is the conduit. Sit down where you please, I guarantee someone will ask, “Where you from?”and pretty soon you’ve met a cultural ambassador who makes you feel welcome. 

Which is why I’ve kept returning here since my first visit in 2009. There are dozens of places in and around Lafayette where this kind of vibe flourishes. As it turns out, “Laissez les bon temps roulez,” is the ritual that keeps us centered in a fragile world. 

Tables have been pushed back a few feet from the raised stage...

so dancers weave through any patch of floor they can find. Creativity is useful.

To quote one regular, " the band is on fire tonight!"

And by the way, this is a café, with a side of great music on a regular basis.

John Buckelew, Dave Trainer...

Jimmie Duhan, Lee Tedrow...

and Danny Kimball are rockin' out tonight.

 

Video courtesy of Bernard Ussher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e2AukSJRdU

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

"Arrabal" - Argentine History, Tango Style

“Arrabal”
Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge,MA
through June 18, 2017
Tickets: $25-$85, 617-547-8300
www.americanrepertorytheater.org

“Arrabal” is a theatrical Rubik’s cube in which music, movement, emotion, and story line are inseparably connected in order to portray a horrible stretch of Argentine history. If you like ballet, modern dance, and Cirque de Soleil, chances are you’ll love "Arrabal". Each form tells a story, more or less linear, that we kinda/sorta figure out. We’re ok filling in the blanks. When the language is Tango, the most dramatic dance form on the planet, who cares about the blanks. 

In 1976, Argentina became paralyzed by fear and governed with brutality after the violent overthrow of President Isabel Peron by a right-wing junta in 1976.  More than 30,000 objectors to the coup - activists, students, workers, teachers, amongst others - were seized, some with reason, others on whims known only to the police who carried out the dictator’s authoritarian policies. Many were tortured. Most were never seen again. They became known as the Desaparecidos, the Disappeared. An infant at the time, Arrabal never knew that her father became one of them.

The first act, “1976”, depicts Arrabal’s father’s transition from playful to active resistance. A popular member of a tango club in Buenos Aires, Rodolpho, the father Arrabal never knew, joins the resistance in the streets, much to the anguish of his mother, who knows in her heart that he is doomed. From scenes of ardent, tormented tango in several sequences, we see him brazenly wearing his opposition T-shirt, then arrested, beaten, and eventually killed. 

The second act, “18 Years Later”, is the saga of the tango club owner who summons Arrabal, the naïf from the outskirts of Buenos Aires who has been raised by Rodolpho’s mother, to the club so he can tell her how and why her father died. The scenes in which women congregate with black and white images of their loved ones hanging around their necks are haunting, the eyes of the mother’s beseeching us… “Have you seen him?” “Have you seen her?”

Dramas before and after Shakespeare use a comic character to give us a chance to laugh to relieve tension. Mario Rizzo as El Duende, the messenger who connects Arrabal with the owner of the tango club, does a seriously quirky version of street dancing and tango that got generous applause every time he entered. Julio Zurita, spectacularly emotive as Rodolpho, choreographed the show brilliantly. Soledad Buss in the role of Nicole, jilted lover of the man who becomes Arrabal’s protector, is fire and ice to Arrabal’s ingénue innocence as she encounters urban tango culture.

Tango is a dance of maximums and minimums. Dominant, often acrobatic displays of breath-taking fluid sensuality one moment, then the arch of an eyebrow, the nearly imperceptible shift of a shoulder the next.  Every solo, pairing, or ensemble routine, whether or not it fills in the blanks of the sometimes elusive story line clearly, was met with cheers from the audience.

Sub plots abound - between flirtatious couples, men competing to seduce Arrabal, the man who protects her, and women competing for the attention of their men (and vice versa). All present a chance to stage a heady fusion of tango, ballet, modern dance, and earthy street dance that set the play squarely in Buenos Aires and light it on fire with the same Argentine passion that fueled the insurrection. 

This is the kinetic version of the bleak period in Argentine history that director Sergio Trujillo wanted to make as an homage to the resilience of his countrymen and women during the repressive regime. For the trio of Trujillo, composer Gustavo Santaolalla, and writer John Weidman, tango became the language of revolution. 

The A.R.T. is a world-class theater.  Like a chameleon, it changes size and configuration to suit each play it presents. For this production, you can choose to sit in one of the two dozen round top cocktail tables in what is called ‘The Sunken Cabaret Tables” section just below the footlights or in the regular orchestra seats.

The American Repertory Theater has it all going on. The sound system has the power of cannon fire. The five piece band Orquesta Bajofonderos acts as a muse, predicting or underscoring the drama unfolding on stage. Cleverly situated on an upper level on the left side of the stage it pounds out the most robust and searing rock infused tango music you’ll ever hear. The backlit set suggests the working class barrios of Buenos Aires. 

The stage is big enough to hold spectacular scenes of ensemble dancing that left me in awe of the athletic strength of the men and the silky grace of the women. Tall, short, thin, muscular, a bit zaftig, with a range of faces you’d see on a bus in Buenos Aires, they are perfectly cast to represent the people who rose up after 1976.

The cast of dancers and musicians is from Argentina. Many of them appear to be too young to have experienced the repression first hand but all of them must know someone whose family or friends were affected. The intensity with which they dance is a visceral expression to purge the pain of history and an exhilarating statement to declare “Mo Mas...Never again.” 

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Addendum: This link helped me understand the play even better - the musicians explaining the cultural stew that created tango and what they call ‘milonga’, a vibrant music/dance environment still evolving today. Give it a read before you go~
https://americanrepertorytheater.org/inside/blog/%5Btitle-raw%5D/25524

Photos courtesy of http://americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/arrabal

Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Gator By The Bay: Sunday May 14, 2017

Gator By The Bay
San Diego, CA
May 14, 2017

The festival has been going strong since Friday night. The Sunday lineup of bands begins on four stages at 11:00 AM and doesn't quit till Chubby Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band treats the full house of merrymakers with its hugely popular Mother's Day Tribute on the Festival Stage at 7:30 PM.

Geno Delafose and his French Rockin' Boogie put a charge in the day, opening to a full dance floor at 12:10 PM Sunday. Son of the late zydeco legend John Delafose, he began his career playing rub board with his father's band at age 8. His music is rooted in the  zydeco tradition of La La music all the way to originals penned by Geno. Geno's cover of Clifton Chenier's "I'm Comin' Home"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkXxHKaJVg
 

Loads of volunteers set up and take down stages and the infrastructure for the event. Kids on the dance floor with their father or mothers is a common sight in Louisiana, not so much here but this tyke is off to a good start.

The Gypsy Swing Cats, a touch of "Django" Reinhardt that rolls effervescently from peppy swing to jazzy Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOGAV68xKsk&t=35s;

Billy Lee and the Swamp Critters - anybody born in southeast Texas is bound to have grown up listening to a stew of Cajun, zydeco, blues made for foot tapping dance inducing music.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efoJ-n2qt24

Ass Pocket Whiskey Fellas? Whoaaaa, I thought I fell through a trap door and ended up in a Guinness soaked pub in Dublin. This band of fall-out-of-your-chair merry-makers delivers Irish Folk Rock with the kind of rowdy good-natured humor that invites, perhaps demands, that little kids and their parents click their heels and start pounding your feet on the dance floor. "We sing about wine, women, and whiskey!" then sing "Ode to Jimmy Butters." Case closed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR3AzRXH1as       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR3AzRXH1as
These guys kick ass as good as the Dropkick Murphy's from my hometown of Boston.

One of the draws at GBTB...a family can bring a blanket, sprawl on open areas of lush grass, find tents that offer hat making, face painting. Then there are the big girls singing their hearts out at the Mardi Gras stage. Missy Andersen, Mercedes Moore and Sharifah Muhammad with the guitar backing of Heine Andersen... part of a group called Six String Society Gospel Show.

Six String Society Gospel Show   has a revolving cast of singers and musician. They rocked the joint with a bunch of blues, gospel and a few slow drags somewhere between. Just another fabulous bunch of singers and musicians making music to send us to the stars.

Fairly impossible to mosey by the The Bill Magee Blues Band without taking a turn on the dance floor.

The Screamin' Primas, a tribute band to the late Louis Prima, who would love the unabashed stylings of its leader who covered hits like from his  'Jump, Jive and Wail' to classics like 'Buona Sera' that have the stamp of Prima's home town of New Orleans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lMFUJnWxQE&t=33s

Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys are a huge draw.

James Intveld grew up listening to the likes of Hank Williams, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley. You can hear him synthesize their styles all with his own. Throw in some of Elvis’s hip shakin’ and you get the idea.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...Chubby Carrier's hugely popular finale on this Mother's Day...he invites every mother in the house to join him on stage. I'm convinced that some women come to GBTB to strut their stuff with Chubby in his thoughtful rockin' tribute he's done each of the past four years I've been here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Al9SiddefE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IFqm_Q6Ayg

Sunday, 7:30 PM I'm walking to the exit, "How did you like the festival?" a man asks. "The best one I've ever been to," says I. "I set up the electricity for the whole event," he says. "See that small structure over there...that's one of several that power the whole festival." I'm talking to Glenn who's been doing this for about 12 years. "Impressive," says I. "I haven't heard a glitch all weekend...see you next year!" I wish I could remember the name of his company.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Gator By The Bay: Saturday May 13, 2017

Gator By The Bay Zydeco Blues and Crawfish Festival
Spanish Landing Park
Saturday, May 13, 2017

Is the weather ever crummy in San Diego? Locals bring camp chairs, out-of-towners sit on hay bales...

at the Festival Stage, one of two pavilions with portable wooden dance floors. Two smaller outdoor stages, The Fountain Stage and The Bourbon Stage are set between the Festival Stage and The Mardi Gras Stage pavilion.

 
Kevin Wimmer, Steve Riley, Brazos Huval, Sam Broussard - Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys

Contrary to popular opinion, size does not matter. Many of the most fun bands play at the smaller Fountain and Bourbon Stages.If you were to sit at the Fountain Stage all weekend long, you'd be treated to blues, country, Americana, rock, salsa, cumbia, alt gypsy, and swing performed by bands who play to audiences who give them love and get out and dance.

Lady Star Blue Band: It’s barely noon and Lady Star is having a come to Jesus moment, torching the blues with the voice of a woman steeped in the gospel tradition. Blonde tresses, tight red flowing pants suit, the Chicago native is a force assuring the first wave of festival goers they are in for a spectacular day of quality music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_YFTL5KG9w much to the delight of dancers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5diUQ-HCDoE

You can get a music version of whiplash walking from one stage to another, spicy blues belted out by Lady Star then a three minute walk away, here's The Palominos with a set of classics and originals with honky-tonk overtones that make two-steppers happy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c3HTECI0p0

The biggest problem at Gator By The Bay? How to defy Newton's Law of Physics and be in two places at the same time.

Alice Wallace, Americana with feeling. Like many of the artists, Wallace is an award winning musician.  Her set had the influences of the likes of EmmyLou Harris to Lucinda Williams to Patty Griffin.  The voice  however, all Alice.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAgwHKIUBwA  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIqCC_hcf0g 

Choices galore along the vendor tents lane.  Art, jewelry, men's and women's clothing, hats, boots right down to toe rings.

Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Orchestra  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdmn0TKDul8

Who, I ask you, wouldn’t want to hear a band named The Motel Swing Orchestra. This is one big time party band featuring Palmer, the Queen of Boogie Woogie. The big Mardi Gras Stage is filled elbow to elbow with her musicians and any number of guests the Queen invites to play along, including blues belters Deejah Marie Pope and her daughter Sharifah. The audiences for her shows are always particularly stoked for high energy swing with a bluesy bent and lindy hop.

Palmer, Deedjah, Sharifah and company - their energy on stage breaks over the audience like a foamy roller, carrying the dancers on its crest.


How does this one look?

Lots of things to do while the music wafts over the park...shop, listen to singers talk shop at the Bayou Grove, eat.

Kimba Light Afro-Cuban fusion with a big Havana beat. What a blast. Any band with two Cubans and two Californians  is gonna have lots of band width. Merigue, salsa, bachata and a touch of funk and you have a recipe that makes a dancer very happy. I was in heaven. So were the people around the Fountain Stage when they played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlrKipKoyqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsh5jkpSQBg

Relax in the park, shop at vendor tents selling quality merchandise. My only regret of the day - not buying one of the colorful print short sleeve shirts that would have been the bomb to wear at the Fountain Stage when listening to one of the Latin bands today.

Johnny Vernazza has played blues and slide guitar with the likes of Marshall Tucker and Elvin Bishop. He's a fixture on the San Diego music scene. The guy's been around and has the chops to prove it. Relax in the sun, feel the breeze off San Diego Bay, check out the perfume you just bought.

Plenty of time to socialize; sweet jerk chicken with collard greens and rice...awesome.

 

Mercedes Moore: she's always had the voice. In the past three years I've watched her perform here, she's more comfortable in her own skin on stage and that translates to a voice with range, depth and grit. Look out, San Diego...the next blues diva is on the verge.

Buskers perform on the path between the two main stages - open air entertainment, old tyme music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt71itEmSXg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihcgBn7yv-E

  

Relax where you can; and fix that hat you just made.

The 2017 poster being created right on the premises.

Combo Libertad This might be the closest you’ll get to The Bueno Vista Social Club without flying to Havana. This band relishes reviving Cuban classic songs with the instruments and vocals to match. Congas, timbales, trombone, trumpet, bass conjure mambo, rumba, and cha-chas that wow the crowd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-F8neVkWq0

Whitney Shay upshifts from swing to soul with pit stops for blues and jazz. When her reed/brass trio or her guitar or keyboard players take solos, hold on, you're in for a joyous ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLRf5-O_iTs

Listening to ballads sung by Padric Petrie and Jillian Calkins, I can hear echoes of the haunting songs sung by the first Acadian settlers to find their way to the bayous of south Louisiana. The intimate setting in the Bayou Grove is perfect for listening, getting a sense of the roots of the music being played on the four stages in the park.

Hold on to your hats, boys and girls...dancers love this guy Chino Swingside https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9a2I6cL_aI

Chino Swingslide revs up his Resophonic guitar to dive into Blues that gets from raucous and rowdy to downright stanky. In other venues you'd hear him dive into swing, jazz, tango (would love to hear him get going on that), and bolero. Did I mention that he hails from Barcelona? How the heck did the organizers find him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpCVOuokY-E    A razzmatazz version of "Billy Bailey Won't You Please Come Home"

Mercedes Moore's mom traveled all the way from Hilo to see her daughter perform. It was damn well worth it.

Big Jon Atkinson and Darrell Nulisch and Kid Ramos...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geHMMkrz9pU

I gravitated to the blues stages all day long. The down side is that I missed acts like Jarabe Mexicano/Latin, Sister Speak/Roots, The Paladins/Rockabilly, Billy Lee and The Swamp Critters/Cajun,Zydeco, Ginger Cowgirl/Indie,Country, The Farmers/Roots, Manny Cepeda Orchestra/Latin, The Naked I/Alt Rock and a whole bunch more.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Gator By The Bay 2017: Friday Videos

Gator By The Bay, Friday, May 12, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Gator By The Bay 2017: Cranking Up Friday May 12

Gator By The Bay "Zydeco, Blues,and Crawfish Festival"
Spanish Landing Park
San Diego, CA

Friday, May 12, 2017

Ben Rice Blues...What a start.  The first act I see is Ben Rice, a bluesman who blows the stage up with his vocals and visceral command of the guitars he plays. You aren’t gonna hear a white guy playing music layered with soul, delta blues and roots with such conviction. This young man has paid attention to the masters who’ve preceded  him and creates vocals and sounds all his own. The videos are shaky; nothing shaky about the performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWxEAKITpO4&t=41s

The Bourbon Stage dance floor, heck, all four dance areas, are usually packed, especially for Blues bands; Photo R: Nathan Rivera and Jessie Andra Smith - Jazzy folk gypsy blues with a smattering of klezmer sensibility. The organizers aren’t locked in to name brands. The organizers aren’t locked in to name brands. They present a fabulous mix of musicians and styles. What the bands have in common is their ability to play at a high level and connect with an audience.  The program is a version of musical tapas that introduces audiences to genres or styles that fly under the radar. 

Big Jon Atkinson, Darrell Nulisch, Kid Ramos:  Big Jon Atkinson, a young harmonica virtuoso, effortlessly pumps blues and soul into his solos with every breath he takes and every breath he exhales.Darrell Nulisch has been entertaining since 1978, has played his harmonica with Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters and sang vocals with Chicago bluesman James Cotton. Enough said.

Kid Ramos. Any musician who is an alumnus of  The Fabulous Thunderbirds is gonna have the chops to command attention. Listen to him let loose on a solo, you’ll get the idea.

Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys Steve Riley, yes, of Mamou, Louisiana, started this band with David Greeley in 1988. The members have changed from time to time. What hasn’t changed is the quality of musicians: Sam Broussard, guitar; Kevin Wimmer, fiddle; Kevin Dugas, drums; and Brazos Huval, bass. The group remains the gold standard of Cajun bands. Festival Stage packed with dancers

Fun on dance floor; Buzz Campbell and Hot Rod Lincoln.Fine example of the San Diego music scene, relishes playing rockabilly and takes his band Hot Rod Lincoln along for the ride. They weren’t well miked but his Roy Orbison covers were cool.

Dennis Jones Blues Band - Jones got his feet wet playing rock n roll as a kid, discovered the blues and his voice to convey it.  When Jones plays the blues, the postage stamp dance floor in front of the Bourbon Stage is packed, hell, any dance floor will fill up when Jones gets going with slide guitar and made-for-blues vocals.

Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band:

For 21 years and counting, Chubby Carrier has embraced the importance of connecting with his audience, whether in a parking lot somewhere in southwest Louisiana to the Montreaux Jazz Fest (really!) in Switzerland. He and The Bayou Swamp Band bring an infectious party atmosphere, the audience feels it and boomerangs that energy right back to those guys on the stage. The apple fell right under the tree. His father, Roy Carrier; his grandfather, Warren Carrier, and his cousins, Bebe and Calvin Carrier, are all Zydeco Hall of Fame musicians.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

VIDEOS NEXT!

Gator By The Bay 2017: Music, Dance, Food, Fun!

16th Annual Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues, and Crawfish Festival
May 12 – May 14, 2017
San Diego, CA
 
Fake news, bad news, scary news, the world is a pretty contentious place these days, but never fear.  Three days of peace, love, and understanding is a five-minute walk from my room on the 12th floor of the Sheraton Hotel and Marina in San Diego. They're not kidding when they bill this as "Music, Dance, Food, Fun."
 
After an hour inside the festival grounds, my entire body is downshifting. Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues, and Crawfish Festival is purging the drumbeat of discordant chatter on the airwaves. The only drumbeat that matters for now is coming from the stages around this sliver of land called Spanish Landing Park. I’m in an alternate universe. I shall marinate blissfully here for three days.
 
It feels like a giant crane has eased a protective bubble over the Park, capturing all the good stuff going on inside it and warding off the dispiriting news flashing across TV screens outside it. We aren’t missing a damn thing. It will still be there when we disperse on Sunday evening.
 
The crowd of thousands is a mix master of age, race, and social background.  They are feeding their souls with music that resonates with them so deeply that it erases for the moment all the angst-provoking headlines of a world in turmoil.

The age range is from college kids to men and women who've been eligible for an AARP card for a couple of president's administrations. Parents with toddlers and pre-teens sprawl on blankets on the grassy knolls throughout the park.  Pre-teens are getting an eyeful of what it looks like watching adults having a whale of a time on the dance floor.
 
Plain and simple, live music makes you feel good. With four stages and over fifty bands playing from late morning till dusk, I’m feelin’ it.
 
There’s no stereotype for a dance junkie. The Fred and Gingers look a lot like librarians, or a teachers, dentists, surgeons, flight attendants, secretaries, commercial loan officer, small business owners, retirees, maybe your local electrician.

No dance snobbery here. When the music speaks to you, you get up and dance. For every styling couple on the small portable dance floor, there are a few people boogying all by themselves. Everyone is smiling. This sliver of land on the shore of San Diego Bay is an oasis of let the good times roll, a small grain of sand in an ocean of turbulent times.
 
I have yet to witness an altercation of any kind, I’ve had conversations with loads of people either waiting in a food line or sitting on hay bales on the perimeter of stages, many centering on the ”Where are you from” opening and offering hosannas to the salutary effect of music on the psyche.
 
Thousands who pack the park every day have checked their political affiliations at the gate. You want to talk about what you’re loving about the music on the stages, tell someone where you’ve just tasted sweet African jerk chicken with collard greens and rice, or the Mariposa ice cream, or those two guys selling scrumptious home made apricot or pecan or apple cobbler, or that you’ve just had a to die for dance with a woman you’ve never met before, this is the place.
 
The sun is shining, the temps are in the high 60s, a cooling breeze keeps the banners gently waving.  San Diego is showing off.

The only places I’ve ever been to where people smile, mind their manners, and chat each other up with no agenda other than to connect for a few minutes are dance festivals like this.
 
Food from Louisiana, Africa, China, and local eateries do land office business. It’s the norm to see long lines snaking to the counters of the food tents along the narrow food concourse set smack between the two largest stages. In the outside world outside, this could lead to grumpy, impatient customers. Here,  amiable chats and an occasional philosophic rhapsody about the magic of music.
 
It's billed as a Zydeco, Blues, and Crawfish Festival. The big name Cajun and zydeco bands like Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys and Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band are probably the reason many people have come here. But I'm tellin' ya, some of the most fun shows are the diamonds in the rough playing at the smaller Fountain Stage and Bourbon Stage…think country, rockabilly, honky tonk, blues, gypsy, gospel, Latin, and Irish rock!
 
This is my fourth straight year at the Gator Festival.  Next May won’t be soon enough for my next fix.

View of San Diego from 12th floor of Sheraton Hotel and Marina. Note Coronado Bridge on R that leads to Coronado Island. If you look real close, that's the aircraft carrier USS Midway docked on shore to L of bridge.

 Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

2016 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival

Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival - 15th Annual
May 5-9, 2016
Spanish Landing Park (across from San Diego Airport)
San Diego, CA

Gator By The Bay never disappoints.

We’re talking San Diego in May. Sunny, 70s, low humidity, breeze blowing on shore from San Diego Bay. Beats Boston’s bone chilling March and beginning of April.

We’re talking about the promoters of this event who know how to sniff out talent from the big names to fabulous bands that no one outside San Diego has ever heard of. Thousands of people fork over $35 just to spend the day in camp chairs or on hay bales strategically placed around three of the four stages just to listen.

We’re talking about a Mother’s Day dance mecca so good that a legion of moms spend it right here. The hell with the flowers. Give them a good six or eight beat count and they will feel the love whether their spouses or kids are here or not.

We’re talking dancers who pencil in next year’s Gator By The Bay weekend the day after they return home from this one. Why? Swing, Rock 'n Roll, Rockabilly, Country, Zydeco, Cajun, Blues, Americana, New Orleans funk, Latin, and, I kid you not, Gypsy Alt that feels like you’ve just discovered a gypsy caravan at a roadside stand…that’s why.

We’re talking food. A hundred yard stretch in the middle of the park with the smoke and smell of Louisiana food that will fuel you up for hours of dancing. And sweet stuff, as in Funnel Cakes, pecan pie, and hot powdery beignets that remind you of Café du Monde. Judging by the lines, a huge contingent has come here to feast on po’boys, sweet potato fries, red beans and rice; jambalaya; seafood, chicken and gator gumbo, shrimp or crawfish étouffée, boudin and andouille sausage; fried catfish, hush puppies, corn on the cob and more.

We’re talking sprawling grassy areas sprinkled with young families with kids in tow, couples, jugglers, hula hoopers and picnickers lounging on blankets and beach chairs.

We’re talking about a Monet blue view of San Diego Marina dotted with sailboats moored and afloat.

We’re talking dance fiends who think nothing of getting on a plane or taking a half day’s drive or more to spend time with others for whom music and dancing are like meditation, yoga,  and flirty foreplay wrapped into one glorious grand ol’ time which fits the event slogan: “If you’re smiling, you’re doing it right.”

Fatigue sets in after six hours of dancing on Saturday. It’s 6:00 PM. Two hours to go. My legs say, “Pack it in, PT.” A band at one of the four stages launches a slinky blues song. A woman standing next to me extends her hand. An endorphin afterburner kicks in. The Gator By The Bay has swallowed me whole.

+++++++++ Photo section

Spanish Landing Park, a sliver of parkland between one of the marinas in San Diego Bay and the San Diego Airport right behind it. The Festival Stage pavilion and the Mardi Gras Stage pavilion. Two smaller stages, the Fountain Stage and the Bourbon Stage, each with a dance area, are between these two pavilions.

Impromptu dancing may break out anywhere.

Recreation, relaxation, and playtime for one and all.

 A walk from the east end to the west end of the park, shimmering water of the marina in sight the whole way.

   
Bayou Grove tent where musicians talk about their craft; the Festival Stage during a quiet moment.

 

Fill up your plate then find a cool place to sit down and enjoy it...walk along the row of vendor tents.
 
View of San Diego skyline, San Diego Bay, Coronado Island,  from 11th floor of the Sheraton Marina Hotel - note the USS Gerald R. Ford, the newest super-carrier in the US Navy fleet, docked at Coronado Island.

 Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

 

Greg Klyma: Americana Mondays To Cap 2 1/2 Year Run At PA's Lounge

Greg Klyma: Americana Mondays
PA’s Lounge, Somerville Avenue, Somerville, MA
March 14, 2016

Pay attention dancers, music lovers, dive bar connoisseurs.

The long running Americana Mondays hosted by the redoubtable Greg Klyma is about to end its quixotic 2 ½ year run at PA’s Lounge in Somerville.

The man is a high wire act with no need for a net. He’s funny, quick witted, delightfully goofy, and a deeply accomplished troubadour all in one.  

Americana Mondays is vintage Greg Klyma. He wanted to develop a local audience, found PA’s Lounge in Somerville (a town filled with live music venues), booked Monday nights and set up shop. Talented musicians sign up to play with him for what patrons fork over into the tip basket. They know the audience is really listening and that Klyma shares the stage generously. Over time, Americana Mondays has developed a loyal following. During the evening’s three sets they’re tapping their feet or twirling around the dance floor. And Klyma, to quote one of his original songs, is “Livin’ The Life.”

Tonight’s band configuration:
Greg Klyma, telecaster guitar, harmonica, vocals
Andy Santospago, resonator guitar, banjo, laptop steel, vocals
Rob Megna, drums
Paul Chase, standup bass
LaDawn Sheffield, vocals

Set lists? Forget it. Part of what makes his shows so damn appealing is that he wings it. And it works. He’s good at reading a room, connecting with an audience, and somehow manages week after week to string together set after set of satisfying music from honky-tonk to country swing, ballads, waltzes, and rock that can groove hard or slink slow.

A partial list of Greg Klyma’s Americana songbook ranges from Hank Williams (whose portrait Klyma will occasionally hang on the stage), to Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, Merle Haggard, Steve Earle, Neil Young, George Jones, Buck Owens, Jerry Reed, The Band, Bob Dylan, Webb Pierce, Charley Walker. (see titles below) Kylma originals are often sandwiched in between.

Klyma’s singing is supple, sort of Neil Young with a sense of humor and wider vocal range. I’ve heard him do spellbinding one-man shows but his musicianship is amped up when jamming with a group of equally talented musicians, especially if they don’t mind not having a clue what the next song is going to be. Klyma’s shows are certified organic and unfold with a canny sense of sequence of covers and original material.

Klyma brings it whether there’s an audience of a dozen or standing room only. Exhibit A: last Monday, a rainy, cold March night.

“Welcome to Americana Mondays at Somerville’s premier dive bar, PA’s Lounge!”  Klyma chirps to a sparse group of regulars.

“What shall we open with?” he asks the four men who make up his band tonight. Johnny Cash’s 1958 “Big River” gets chosen and off we go into another night in the weekly diamond-in-the-rough music travelogue.

There are a dozen people in the bar including the bartender/owner Stacy but you’d never know if from what’s being belted out on stage. No one in Boston is better than Klyma at stage patter connecting with his audience. “Good ol’ Johnny Cash… Johnny Cash Bar… Johnny Direct Deposit…and Johnny Paycheck…” he muses. “Johnny Dollar!” someone shouts from an audience always ready to join in the singer’s antics.

Next up is “On The Highway Tonight,” an obscure song from Citizen Slim, a favorite side project he founded with his pal Ryan Fitzsimmons. He’s all over it, a lilting swing beat, saucy swagger and the guys he’s playing with are loosening up.  You have to when you play with this man.

Every night is an unscripted piece of performance art. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he picks one of the hundreds of songs in his repertoire to sing next.

Tall, long limbed, sporting a tiny fedora atop his mop of black hair, Klyma can kick the bejesus out of finger picking solos or launch into chord thrashers with body language flourishes that underscore the song’s energy. The beauty of every Greg Klyma show is its utter lack of self-consciousness, it’s bodacious off the wall showmanship, and original music stylings.

Part of the fun is listening to the song’s intro. You get the title, the name of the composer or artist who covered it memorably, and usually a humorous back story... an Americana Seminar, Klyma style.

“Bastard Son,” penned by Klyma, is a full out country two-step, more patrons begin showing up, and the dance floor gets some traffic.

“You Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time,” A Lefty Frizzell song, we’re told, is another quick-step tempo that by now has dancers establishing travel lanes on the PA’s fine hardwood dance floor.

“Let’s do Whiskey River. Willie Nelson begins all his concerts with Whiskey River, I was in the audience during one of his shows,” Klyma says. In the midst of the bluesy cover, he reels off a riff of robust fingerpicking that would make Willie nod with appreciation.

“Speaking of whiskey, I’m not doing anything else before I have a taste of my Maker’s Mark,” he says for no reason in particular, citing the merits of bourbon as an elixir - then adds, “Be sure to tip Stacy at the bar.”

Classic Klyma. “St. Patrick’s Day is Thursday, you guys know ‘Dirty Old Town’ by the Pogues?”  Unfazed at the uncertain response from his bandmates, he gets into a musical Esperanto conversation that any good musician understands, tells them the key and tempo, does a little sample and damn, they go and play he daylights out of it.

“Eastbound and Down,” the rambunctious 1977 Jerry Reed song that was featured in the film Smoky and The Bandit, gives Klyma a chance to showboat his considerable Telecaster chops, slams an exclamation mark on the first set and gives dancers a rousing tempo to animate the mustang in every one of them.
 
The next two sets keep patrons tapping their feet as dancers from beginners to the Fred and Gingers flood the floor. I am too busy dancing to take notes.

There’s probably a teenager lurking in most of us, long dormant but capable of reconstitution with the right stimulus. Riding shotgun on an errand with his mother in Buffalo, NY, 13 year-old Greg Klyma pressed a button on the car radio and heard “Guitar Town” by Steve Earle. It wouldn’t be overstatement to say it changed his life.

He may not have known it but his career began the moment he began memorizing the lyrics and licks of that song and every other that he loved and imagined performing them on stage. He’s the most comfortable in his own skin musician I’ve ever heard...funny, quick on his feet, thriving on spontaneity, feeding off audience reaction.

Giddyup! You’ve got two more weeks to take in this fabulous slice of Americana Mondays.

POST SCRIPT
I’d be remiss not to note the duets Klyma sings with LaDawn Sheffield in the second set:
 “Killing The Blues” Lyrics sung sweetly by LaDawn Sheffield and Greg Klyma show Klyma’s ability to harmonize and feature Andy Santospago’s gorgeous  slinky solos on laptop steel. Blues dancers improvise with panache.

LaDawn Sheffield joins Greg Klyma to sing "Killing The Blues"...actually they set it on fire.

PARTIAL CATALOG OF AMERICANA MONDAYS SONGS FROM GREG
Fred Eaglesmith (Freight Train); Johnny Cash (Big River, Folsom Prison Blues); Hank Williams (many songs); Merle Haggard (Mama Tried, The Bottle Let Me Down, Working Man's Blues, The Fugitive); Ernest Tubb (Thanks a Lot, Two Glasses Joe); Flatt and Scruggs (Rollin’ Inn My Sweet Baby’s Arms); Waylon and Willie (Good Hearted Woman, Mammas/Babies/Cowboys); Willie Nelson (Whiskey River, Angel Flying too Close to the Ground, On the Road Again); Waylon Jennings (Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line, Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way); Steve Earle (Now She's Gone and others); Neil Young (Out on a Weekend); The Band (Up on Cripple Creek, Ophelia, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down); Bob Dylan (It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry; You Ain't Goin' Nowhere; others); The Jayhawks (I'd Run Away).

We play Jerry Reed's "East Bound and Down." We sometimes play "Streets of Baltimore." We've played "There Stands the Glass" by Webb Pierce, "Close Up the Honky Tonks" by Buck Owens and "You're Still on My Mind" by George Jones. Charlie Walker's "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" (written by Harlan Howard, as was "Streets of Baltimore" and others).

Lani Cromwell will join us sometime to sing "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline, "Passionate Kisses" by Lucinda Williams, "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks.

Ladawn Sheffield sings Lucinda's "Crescent City," "Price to Pay," and "The Night's Too Long." She does "Those Memories of You" by Trio, "Annabelle" by Gillian Welch, and a fabulous rendering of "Killing the Blues" written by Rowland Salley.

iPhone photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Photos and videos https://www.facebook.com/AmericanaMondays/

Mardi Gras 2016: The Tee Mamou Iota, Louisiana Mardi Gras

Tee Mamou Iota Mardi Gras
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Iota, LA

Drop the area of Iota’s downtown into your standard USA shopping mall and it will rattle around like a BB in a barrel. Throw in its 1483 inhabitants and that mall would swallow them up as easily as the whale gulped Jonah. On Mardi Gras day, however, the steam of three hundred years of Acadian/French culture makes the place explode like a kernel of corn.

This is Louisiana, of course there is music and food involved.  A big time Cajun or zydeco band plays on a raised dance stage set up smack in the middle of Duson Avenue, the main street that divides Iota in two. Dancers from near and far have highlighted this on their calendars and arrive at 10 AM (yes) to start their day. They’re more than happy to drive an hour from Lafayette to party (free) on the sturdy stage with the plywood floor that undulates gently under the rhythmic pounding of feet.  

The Tee Mamou Iota Mardi Gras is about much more than music and dancing. It’s the annual re-baptism of the little town into its history and culture. The rowdy courir de Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is a day of revelry that precedes Ash Wednesday and the next 40 days of restraints associated with Lent in the Roman Catholic calendar.

Centuries ago, French peasants would dress in colorful costumes, wear masks and conical hats (capuchons) to disguise themselves on this day, and roam (“courir”) to homes of landowners to beg for food, often entertaining them and playing pranks. A prize catch (literally) would be a chicken that would be used to make a communal gumbo for a feast at the end of the day.

Today, men have been at it since 7 AM. Instead of riding by horse, they scour the nearby countryside on trucks on a route planned in advance. Homeowners and farmers are ready for their visitors who might be offered a beer but have to work hard to corral a floppy flying chicken. By the time they return, men hoist chickens as prizes. Tomorrow they may hoist aspirin for a hangover.

Most people think the day is done when at 3 PM the trucks loaded with whooping and hollering costumed revelers roll into town on the special flatbeds made for just this purpose. Escorted by police cars with sirens blaring, this is a spectacle to behold. VIDEO1   VIDEO2   VIDEO3

Little boys and girls riding in pickup trucks throw candy into the crowd along a 300-yard stretch of the street. After off loading from the trucks, first the children then the adults take to the stage to sing the Mardi Gras song (in Cajun French), a perennial ritual that winds down Mardi Gras. No marching bands, no floats with beads being thrown to spectators, just history, straight up.

This is when the heartbeat of Iota takes over. Spectacle coalesces into community as the men and women leave the stage. The courir participants are greeted with hugs, appreciation, and admiration. They’ve participated in a ritual that binds them to their town, their families, their friends, their culture…and are proud of it.

As I wander through the crowd, it seems like everyone in Iota is connected to someone who’s done a courir. A couple of “May I take your photo?” requests bring me face to face with Iota’s past, present, and future.

That’s when I met Katy Comeaux and Shea Lantz and his mom and dad, all from Iota.

“I’ve done the courir since I was 15, now I’m 23. ” Katy says. “There is a woman’s courir on the Saturday before Mardi Gras every year. This year 88 of us went from house to house begging for food and chasing chickens for the community gumbo like the men did today. My family is really involved, some of the men are captains in the courir.”

“My mother made my hat and mask and clothes for this,” she says, “hand made costumes are a requirement.”

At least three generations take part in the ritual. “There’s a children’s courir every Sunday before Mardi Gras. They stay close to town, beg for food and chase chickens, just like the men and women.”

Shea Lantz, now 26, has been in the courir since he was 15 years old. “My dad has been running the courir for 40 years, more consecutive years than any one else. He and I are the only two allowed to sit on the roof of the wagon in the parade.” (photo under paragraph 5)  Troy Lantz is a town councilman and Iota's police commissioner. Shea, a former EMT,  just finished his internship and has his mortician's license.

Shea and Troy point out how they constructed their capuchins (conical hats) with crawfish trap mesh. “It doesn’t collapse like cardboard when it gets wet,” Shea’s dad Troy says. I marvel at the hand stitching of the inner headband. The mask's mouthpieces and eye openings are made from shaker screen, an extremely durable oil field mesh screen used to separate mud and small particles from fluids in the drilling process. The use of these screens is creativity with a distinct Louisiana twist.

Troy's mask fuses family history with Cajun customs. It was sewn by his late cousin 35 years ago. “Hand-sewing the hats and masks is 100% tradition,” Shea says with pride. Shea later tells me that until three years ago he and his dad wore Mardi Gras suits made by the same cousin 35 years ago. "The material became so brittle that we didn't want to ruin them."

“We welcome people who come here to watch us carry on our tradition,” Shea says. "It helps our little festival keep going."

"Where are you from?" they ask. And wonder why I come to this small place for this big holiday.

“Everything in this custom feels so authentic. I can see and feel the pride you have in re-enacting the courir and the way you’re passing it on to the next generations. It’s really unusual to see an entire town connect like this, it just doesn’t happen everywhere,” I say. "And the people, like you and your dad, are friendly."

The earliest arriving Cajuns endured great hardships. They survived by staying connected with their language and customs. They have a fierce determination to carry them on. Find out for yourself. Head for Iota next year on Mardi Gras day.

For most Americans, their heritage is a gauzy memory set in scrapbooks and family mementos. In Iota it’s a tradition that grows as vigorously as the rice fields in the nearby prairies.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Louisiana Mardi Gras 2016: Sabra and The Get Rights, Chas Justus and The Jury

Blue Moon Saloon
215 East Convent Street
Lafayette, LA
http://bluemoonpresents.com/web/

Artmosphere Bistro
902 Johnson Street
Lafayette, LA
http://www.artmosphere.co

Lafayette, Louisiana is the most prolific incubator of singers, songwriters, and musical inspiration west of the Mississippi. Most of the musicians have been raised in towns dotting the prairie. Some, like Sabra Guzman, have been drawn here by the creative energy of the music scene, a benign black hole drawing talented musicians from afar.

Groups form, add members, trade members, morph into new groups, honor Cajun and zydeco genres, bend them into new directions, listen to each other’s music and cross polinate to invent hybrids never heard before. From honky tonk, country, old fashioned Cajun and La La (zydeco) to rap or rock tinged songs, they revel in making music that’s made to inspire dancers to invent right along with them.

Sabra (Guzman) and the Get Rights are a perfect example. Tonight’s five piece band are crackerjack musicians familiar with the honky tonk and western swing catalog from the good ol’ days of Patsy Cline, Bob Wills, right down to Dolly Parton and a killer cover of Buck Owens “Cryin’ Time” by fiddler David Greeley.

Sabra was deep into the country music of Appalachia when she felt the tug of Lafayette. She fronts the band with an easy blend of folksiness and a robust voice to interpret the ballads and two step numbers. With influences like Louvin Brothers and Mother Maybelle Carter, you know she can croon and belt it out.

 "What do you guys want...fast or slow?" she asks at one point. The fasts win, Sabra turns to the band, picks a song and off they go, shaking it up on the Moon's living room-sized dance floor.

Tonight’s personnel is awesomely talented. Roger Cash, mandolin; Joel Savoy, guitar; Joe Vidrine, standup bass; Danny Devilliers, drums; David Greeley, fiddle; and Sabra Guzman, guitar and lead vocal.

Mardi Gras is in full swing in Lafayette, LA. The Blue Moon Saloon is a cool place in more ways than one. The back room opens to an outdoor patio. The band is playing with their coats on, many of the dancers are layered up too. Who cares? It’s Mardi Gras week. Lafayette is filling up with dancers from afar who genuflect at the various stages around town playing fabulous music.

After Sabra and The Get Rights finish their set, a bunch of dancers head for the Artmosphere Bistro. Just in case you haven't had your fill of country swing, Chas Justus and The Jury is holding court in this bar/dance hall/ social mecca a three minute walk away. In between the classic swing, they put down some great slow bluesy numbers, with Chris Miller’s wailing tenor sax encouraging intimate encounters on the dance floor. The dance floor is packed. No need to wear your coat inside here.

Chas Justus - Guitar & Vox; Paul Anastasio - Fiddle; Chris Miller - Tenor Sax & Clarinet; Daniel Coolik - Electric Mandolin & Fiddle; Eric Frey - Bass & Vox; Glenn Fields - Drums & Vox

Megan Brown, Kelli Jones Savoy, Cindy McDermott, lovely harmonies

Versatile and creative, every member of this band and the Get Rights plays with other groups around town. Playing different genres or the same genres with different musicians gives each a chance to groove in different ways. For listeners or dancers, this is a definition of heaven.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Mardi Gras Ball and Burlesque: A Tribute to Allen Toussaint

Magnificent Fantastic Mardi Gras Ball and Burlesque in memory of the legendary Allen Toussaint
ONCE Ballroom at Cuisine en Locale in Somerville
156 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA
Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 8:00 PM - Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 1:00 AM

The announcement read: “Saturday, January 30, 2016 A Mardi Gras Ball—and loving tribute to Allen Toussaint one of the great geniuses of recordings, arranging, composing, and producing--PLUS a benefit for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. Shaun Wolf Wortis & The Legendary Vudu Krewe large R&B band with special guests Jed Parish, Merrie Amsterberg, Carla Ryder, Chris Cote, and Boston BeauTease.
Everyone who walks through the door gets a Fan Admission pass to The Great Burlesque Exposition the following week!”

I didn’t click the link to The Great Burlesque Exposition but I signed up for the show in a heartbeat. Allen Toussaint is in my personal music Hall of Fame, cemented by a show at Scullers Jazz Club in 2009. He’s in much more elevated Halls of Fame - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1998, Louisiana Hall of Fame 2009, Blues Hall of Fame 2011 and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2013.

He died in November after performing a set in Spain, and at 77 he was still firing on all cylinders. The New Orleans City Council unanimously passed a resolution declaring Thursday, January 14 to be 'Allen Toussaint Day' on what would have been his 78th birthday.

Saturday night, listening and dancing to a big-assed R&B band doing homage to Mr. Toussaint was all I cared about.  


That changed when a lovely lass wearing a huge pair of feathered wings clipped to her arms and little else stepped up in front of the band stand and did a glorious sinewy strip tease act ending with her rear end peeking from beneath the feathers as she took a bow.


The Boston Academy of Burlesque Education sent a half dozen of its “students” from the Boston BeauTease Burlesque Troupe to practice the fine art of strip tease as an enticement to head to the Great Burlesque Exposition this weekend.

Exposition is the key word here. During several intervals, the lasses, to the accompaniment of the all too willing band, shimmied and shook their goods right down to their pasties and g strings…including one artist who got her tassels twirling in opposite directions….a stunning piece of mammary gymnastics.

In an age where hard core pornography is a click away, these women with saucy smiles, batting eyelashes, and sexy, playful  grinds were fabulous, making sex feel like good clean fun. They all seemed to be learning from the same playbook. Each act featured stylishly pulling off their elbow length gloves with their teeth, then fetchingly stripping down to the bare minimum before a grand finale, pastie pizzazz and arse flashing.

I was flabbergasted that I’d danced with two of them, one a gamine twenty something wearing a smashing off-the-shoulder ruby colored dress and a six foot tall, big boned woman with a stack of sleek black hair and demure black knee length dress with black stockings,  before I realized they were in the Beautease corps.

In daily life, I’ll bet they’re teachers, bank analysts, entrepreneurs, and IT techies. We’ve all probably got an exhibitionist streak. Bravo for these women for reviving a nearly lost art form. If I weren’t going to be celebrating Mardi Gras in Lafayette, LA, I’d find a front row seat to watch the Boston Beautease strut their stuff.

The Boston BeauTease troupe was a small but fitting part of the evening’s tribute to Mr. Toussaint. Some of New Orleans famous early musicians, including Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton got their starts playing in brothels.

The All-Star cast of The Legendary Vudu Krewe large R&B band rocked out with four hours of Toussaint songs mixed with good ol’ rock n roll and oldies. The dance floor was a playpen all night for all sorts and styles of dancing, just the kind you see in New Orleans.

Boston itself had a hotbed of strip joints back in the day in Scollay Square and in “The Combat Zone” on Washington Street. I’d say that Mr. Toussaint, born and raised in New Orleans, would chuckle about his music being paired with a burlesque show.

Let the good times roll, indeed.  Long Live Allen Toussaint. 

Photos courtesy of BostonBeautease http://www.bostonbeautease.com

6th Annual Roy Carrier Tribute Dance at Slim's Yi Ki Ki

December 29, 2015
6th Annual Roy Carrier Tribute Dance
Slim’s Yi Ki Ki Lounge
Route 182
Opelousas, LA

One of the most well-worn dance floors in southwest Louisiana is marinated in sweat and beer. A non-smoking dance hall now, years of cigarette smoking cling to every wall and corner right up to the ceiling of Slim's Yi Ki Ki in Opelousas, LA.

This is not a fancy place. In a picture dictionary, a picture of Slim’s would be beside the word “Roadhouse.” The heavy steel and plastic chairs and tables scattered around the dance floor are indestructible. I imagine that when love and jealousy collided on the dance floor the chairs have been used as truncheons and the tables have been used to hide under.

It’s fitting that the annual New Year Roy Carrier Tribute Dance takes place here, where zydeco has reigned supreme for decades. Roy, born in 1947, was a hard driving accordion player and offshore oil-rig worker. His Offshore Lounge in Lawtell, LA, was a smaller version of Slim’s, a place where Roy, who died in 2010, played for fun and was a mentor to a handful of musicians in the Zydeco universe today. Geno Delafose, the son of Roy's friend John Delafose, had his first paying gig at Roy's Offshore Lounge.

Roy purchased the Offshore Lounge in 1981. It was one of the places where traditional Creole La La music morphed into what's called zydeco today. There is no richer place on earth where so many cultures have produced so much traditional ethnic music that has become recognizable American music than southwest Louisiana.

His sons Troy and Chubby, who front Dikki Du and the Zydeco Crew and The Chubby Carrier Swamp Bayou Band, respectively, carry on the Carrier tradition. Several of their children and nephews are the next generation of Carriers that will honor their grandfather well into this century.

Since 2009, Troy Carrier of Opelousas and Dick Brainard of Portland, OR have teamed up to organize the dance, the proceeds being held to renovate Roy’s Offshore Lounge in Lawtell.

This year, Dexter Ardoin (3:00), Dikki Du (4:45), Leroy Thomas (6:15), & Jeffery Broussard (8:00) entertain. Each of them know that Roy Carrier paved the way for zydeco dancing.

Lafayette is ground zero for Zydeco dancers three times a year. Mardi Gras, the Festival Acadiens et Creole, and New Year festivities. “Where did you all come from?” Chubby asks from the stage. Responses ring out: New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia, Delaware, Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta, Harrisburg plus one woman from France and another from Ireland... and others I can't remember!

The crowd is a little more sparse this year than in past years but the energy level is high octane. The Carrier family sisters, wives, nieces and friends, cooked up a great Louisiana feed of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, fried chicken… the kind of stick-to-your-ribs food to keep dancers on the floor for hours.
 
Dikki Du and Chubby joined forces to sing, “Roy Left Lawtell, And He Ain’t Comin’ Back.” Old Roy’s spirit was never more alive and well.

Slim's Yi Ki Ki, Opelousas, LA; Dick Brainard welcomes one and all...

I missed Dexter Ardoin's set but Dikki Du, aka Troy Carrier, saluted his father Roy again and again in his set.  "One of my father’s sayings was, 'If you can't do right all the time, do right some of the time,' ” Troy says to introduce a song.

The dance floor was shakin' all day. VIDEO

A rare sighting: Troy and Chubby Carrier together on stage...Papa Roy woulda loved this! They joined forces to  sing,"He left Lawtell, and He Ain't Comin' Back". In the midst of this foot stomper, it felt like Roy was keeping time from above. A version by Chubby in 2013 "Found My Woman Doin' The Zydeco with Another Man"

Carrier nephew Mike Broussard on the accordion, Troy on the drums...is there any instrument the Carriers don't play?

 

Dancers from from all over the USA are here; this sample is from New Orleans, Lafayette, Atlanta, Harrisburg, Opelousas and ...?

Leroy Thomas rocked the house; Leroy told me his father Leo Thomas was recently honored at a Pioneers of Zydeco party, showed me a photo of 78 year-old Leo accepting the award in a brilliant ruby colored suit... that man knows how to dress!

Kensey Carrier, Elaine Carrier (Roy's daughter), Laura Carrier; Carrier family members with Marie Carrier, Roy's wife and Troy's step mother at right. The Carrier's cooked up a storm of jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice to fuel the grateful dance crowd.

Dick Brainard and friend; Dick and Troy Carrier have organized the event since 2009

Jeffery Broussard closes the set with as much energy as the afternoon began five hours ago. Cover of "Isn't She Wonderful" and Broussard's drummer belts out "Why You Gonna Make Me Cry"

NOTE: SLIM'S YI KI KI CLOSED AFTER THIS GIG, WHAT A GREAT WAY FOR THIS ICONIC BAR TO END ON. THE ROY CARRIER TRIBUTE WILL BE HELD AT THE FEED & SEED IN LAFAYETTE ON DECEMBER 27, 2016

One last look behind the bar at Slim's


Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Gal Holiday and The Honky Tonk Revue Corrals Johnny D's

Gal Holiday and The Honky Tonk Revue

Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Lounge

17 Holland Street, Somerville, MA

Friday, August 7

7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

First of all, you’re not going to forget her husky voice. Chances are one of her songs will lodge in your brain and you’ll be humming it for the next few days. And you’re not about to forget her face, expressive, animated, a classic beauty. Her tattooed arms and half shaved hairdo give her the air of a Goth chick in cowboy boots. Try putting all that together as you watch her playfully dance as un-selfconsciously as if she were in her kitchen while her lead guitar takes a brief solo.

That’s how Gal Holiday and The Honky Tonk Revue transformed Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Lounge into an old time saloon last night.

By 7:30, the packed house was locked and loaded, primed to hear one of the first performances in the Northeast by Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue. New Orleans is home to more genres of music than grains of rice in your jambalaya. Cajun and zydeco bands from Louisiana have been making their way to Boston fairly often but this is the first big-time country swing band from The Crescent City to hit town.

Gal Holiday, Vanessa Niemann, has a big voice that, like Patsy Cline's, can range effortlessly from country to swing, rock, and ballads. Nothing’s more country than hitting a split register note, as Niemann does in the midst of a ballad. She’s a workhorse on stage. Just enough patter to keep us connected then pow…  tight arrangements that are short on extended instrumental solos and long on stories of heartbreak, love, and loss in the best honky tonk tradition. Two steppers flooded onto the tiny dance floor in front of the stage for every song.  Soft and sweet, raucous and rowdy, who cared about the tempos. Honky tonk is perfect for dancing… and dance we did.

Gal Holiday and The Honky Tonk Revue began at 7:30 PM and hardly took a breath until 9 PM. Neither did we.

Band: Greg Good, rhythm guitar; Izzy Zaidman, lead guitar; Ashley Maccabee (Niemann's brother!) drums; Dave Brouillette, standup bass; Vanessa Niemann,vocals.

The Honky Tonk Revue’s playlist is reminiscent of nickel a play songs on a 1950s juke box. If you can’t get it across in less than four minutes, forget it.

Partial Set List - I know I missed at least 6 more. Many songs were from the group’s last two CDs, “Set Two” and “Last To Leave, ” that includes many of which are originals.

“Last To Leave”
“Broke Down and Broke”
“South of I-12”
“Broken Rings”
“Teach Me How To Two Step”
“Louisiana Waltz”
“Send Me Away”
“Don’t Think Twice”
“Lovesick Blues”
“Jackson”
“Love Is A Battlefield”
“Plastic Jesus”
“To Make Amends”

The dance floor at one of it's quieter moments.

Vanessa at play...
 
Dave Brouillette (original member and co-founder) and Greg Good. Photo opp with Vanessa.

Owner of Johnny D's Carla DeLellis with Phil Woodbury. Woodbury's been a fan of Gal Holiday since he heard her years ago while he was a volunteer carpenter/plumber jack of all trades at Common Ground Relief in New Orleans. The non-profit is still involved rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward after it had been demolished in 2005 by what locals refer to as "the storm" and the rest of us call Hurricane Katrina.

When Phil heard the band was heading to its first Northeast gig at Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA, he became a man on a mission. He was determined to get one of his favorite bands to Johnny Ds, a club renowned for the quality and variety of its acts. Phil picked up the phone, helped broker the gig, and learned a ton about the music business. For two months before the event, he promoted it like crazy, handing out flyers to every dancer and music lover he knew.Even helped get her a spot on a local radio station. Result: a huge crowd that made everyone happy.

Above and beyond: The Woodbury household hosted the five members of the band after the gig. Good ol' Northern Hospitality!

2015 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival: Sunday Musicians

Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
Spanish Landing Park
San Diego, CA
May 10, 2015

Thirty acts at four stages from 11 am till 7:30 pm plus six sessions at The Bayou Grove, a small patch of tree shaded park in which musicians talk about their craft and play samples to explain to listeners who sit on bales of hay a few feet away. Oh, and a Cooking Tent Demo Stage in which on Sunday chefs demonstrate how to make beignets, jambalaya, red beans and rice with smoked ham hocks, and sweet potato bread pudding.

SHARIFAH AND THE GOOD THING

R&B, rock n roll, soul - Sharifah Muhammad can croon or belt them out with range, velocity, and conviction. Anywhere she performs, she takes a crackerjack band of veterans along who get her style and place it in a setting like jewelers with a precious gem.

SHARIFAH AND THE GOOD THING VIDEO

Above right, Sharifah Muhammad, Mercedes Moore, Deejha Marie Pope (pink headband) head for the Mardi Gras Stage after Sharifah's show.

GAL HOLIDAY AND THE HONKY TONK REVUE

Well, Vanessa Niemann, aka, Gal Holiday, and this tight band can cover western swing, Americana, rockabilly, rock n roll, and a certain Louisiana bluesiness in their sets. There is nothing formulaic in their shows, just music that harkens back to its roots and waters it with a sweet voice that can croon, rock, vamp and and swing. Vanessa Niemann (vocals), David Brouillette (bass, rock steady, gets a really good workout on this song), Greg Good (acoustic guitar), Izzy Zaidman (electric guitar), Michael Sollars (drums)
http://www.galholiday.com/about

GAL HOLIDAY VIDEO 1 "I'm Comin' Home"

GAL HOLIDAY AND THE HONKY TONK REVUE VIDEO 2 "You Win Again"

Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue. Great country, standard honky-tonk, excellent musicianship, tight band... long legged, punk rock type hairdo, righteous colorful tattoo up and down her left arm and Lord knows where else, this woman can sing everything from Patsy Cline to Hank Williams' "You Win Again" which she describes as a swamp pop song, and does it Louisiana justice.

Hank's 1952 original of this song is the standard. Jerry Garcia, the master fuser of blues, country,folk and jazz cut this VERSION in 1972 and broke that mold.  Gal Holiday takes over from there with this deep, swinging, foxy version.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MISSY ANDERSEN

1:40 PM to 2:50 PM "The Gospel According to Missy Andersen".
There is no way my little digital camera can reproduce the sound from these women and the high octane band backing them. Missy Anderson, Mercedes Moore, Sharifah and Deejha Marie Pope transformed the Mardi Gras Stage into a Gospel Tent, testifying to the high heavens.

Right at home in smoky bluesy ballads, soul, rhythm n blues, with an occasional undertone of New Orleans  rhythms echoing way back to Professor Longhair, Missy Andersen covers a great swath of American music heritage, including gospel music she listened to in her childhood home.
Missy wouldn't have trouble bringing down the house all by herself. With Mercedes Moore, Sharifah, and Deejha Marie Pope at her side, she practically makes the Mardi Gras stage levitate. Missy's tight band is led by her husband guitarist Heine Andersen.

These four powerhouse belters have a loyal following of disciples who congregate at the foot of the stage and rain Hosannas to them before, during, and after every one of their gospel-tinged soul and blues repertoire. If Lazarus hadn’t already done it, he would surely have risen from the dead if these heavenly divas of gospel soul sang at his wake. They sing in tandem, in concert, and individually with the help of a celestial B3 player, drummer, bass and and guitarist Heine Andersen, who happens to be Missy’s Danish husband .

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MISSY ANDERSEN VIDEO 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWy1Hnc2wI

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MISSY ANDERSEN VIDEO 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWy1Hnc2wI

There is no way my little digital camera can reproduce the sound from these women and the high octane band backing them. Missy Anderson, Mercedes Moore, Sharifah and Deejha Marie Pope transformed the Mardi Gras Stage into a Gospel Tent, testifying to the high heavens.

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MISSY ANDERSEN VIDEO 3  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-n0_9DYG3Q (Lord Have Mercy When He Comes)

The other music on stages this weekend was sassy, classy, jump jiving, synchopated,harmonious, honky tonkious, and bluesified. This,however, was stirring, salvational, soul-satisfying testifying that nearly tore the roof off the Mardi Gras Stage. The videos just can’t capture this.

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MISSY ANDERSEN VIDEO 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlDr1ouRmSE (I've Been Walkin')

THEO AND THE ZYDECO PATROL

Theo Bellow and band send up a bluesy version of the classic zydeco song "Paper In My Shoe" supercharged with saxophone, guitar, frattoir, drums, and, of course, that diatonic button accordion in Theo's hands. Clifton Chenier was the godfather of this form of zydeco and Theo is carrying on in the same path. Theo Bellow was born in Lafayette, LA. Relocated to San Diego, he regularly plays Cajun and zydeco music to local crowds. http://www.zydecopatrol.com/http://www.zydecopatrol.com/backstage.asp

THEO AND THE ZYDECO PATROL VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHgA-3xqI_o

BUBBA MCCOY BAND

THE BUBBA MCCOY BAND VIDEO 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0aVrGch2UM

The last few seconds give you an idea of the hard driving take no prisoners style Bubba McCoy fires up on some songs, his mouth harp splitting rails all the way through sets that include Americana, Blues, and Soul.

THE BUBBA MCCOY BAND VIDEO 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YveUubOTuLc

Living in San Diego, a Latin influence is likely to inform a band's repertoire. This song with its infectious rumba beat shows that Bubba McCoy can cross from Americana to Blues to Soul to Jazz to Latin genres.

TODD DAY WAIT'S PIGPEN,  a folk, country, blues band, entertained at ground level along the main path from the Festival Stage to the Mardi Gras Stage. The live oak  behind them was a grand spot for kids to explore while their parents listened.

JOE FONTENOT CAJUN BAND

JOE FONTENOT CAJUN BAND VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXWmRp9S9qs

Joe Fontenot digs into a classic Cajun waltz, The Evangeline Waltz, at the Fountain Stage.

THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS

When you've done nine European tours and played at the Monterey Jazz and High Sierra Jazz Fests, you've already punched your ticket to high caliber status. Guitar and trumpeter Lech Wierzynski and his pal drummer Ben Melamet began as buskers around Oakland's BART station. Wierzynski was born in Warsaw, Poland, learned his chops by listening to records by Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, he put it all together at Oberlin College then by playing the Oakland transit system! A very distinct New Orleans flavor informs their music.

THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8yUZfU3_Ko

THREE CHORD JUSTICE

"These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" Purely country with a streak of honky-tonk and rockabilly, this band covers Emmylou Harris, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Patsy Cline and with some of their own songs. The guys on the telecaster, pedal steel and bass lay the tracks for vocalist Liz Grace. The guy on the drums holds rock steady time and happens to be Liz's husband.

THREE CHORD JUSTICE VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N6z9XxwU7I

BRIAN JACK AND THE ZYDECO GAMBLERS

A pretty little waltz covering "There She Goes, Walking Away". Brian Jack, like so many other Louisiana born musicians, has music in his blood. At 13, he took guitar lessons from his uncle in LeBeau, LA. He bought his first accordion at age 15, began playing with his uncle's band in Texas. Ten years later, here he is anchoring the Sunday show at Gator By The Bay. http://www.brianjack.net/biography.html

BRIAN JACK AND THE ZYDECO GAMBLERS VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsqRSgVEDhE

 The Bon Ton Club of San Diego is the organizing force behind this fabulous festival. A serious shaker and mover in the local dance world, it puts on zydeco/cajun dances during the year, many of them at scenic Balboa Park every month. About 60 bands played this weekend, many of them local, all of them great, spanning genres from swing to cajun, zydeco, blues, all kinds of Latin, country, rockabilly, rock 'n roll, gospel and honky tonk. For listeners or dancers, this was a weekend of pure musical cake.

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

2015 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival: Dancers Delight

Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
Spanish Landing Park
San Diego, CA
May 7.8.9.109, 2015

Some of the music was recorded way too close to big-assed speakers is distorted but nothing distorted about the style of these dancers at this fabulous music festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

2015 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival: Food, People, "Merch"

Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
Spanish Landing Park
San Diego, CA
May 7.8.9.10, 2015

By mid afternoon Saturday, the narrow food concourse is packed.  Aromas of chicken, beef, pork, sausage, burgers, boudin, and hot dogs being cooked on grills, smokers, and propane stoves drifts thickly through the corridor, adding to the difficulty or making menu choices. The array of food in such a short corridor is staggering… home made ice cream, beignets and pecan pies, boiled crawfish, jambalaya and shrimp etouffée, snow cones were all popular.

 

My gold star goes to Flavors of East Africa http://www.flavorsofeastafrica.com that served jerk chicken, sweet or spicy, with collard greens and dirty rice covered with lentils in coconut sauce for $8.00.

The lovely water installation topped with statues of a carefree family cast in black bronze captivates everyone who passes by.

Hats, whether the whimsical paper bag types created by kids of all ages were evident everywhere

 

Hat vendors did a brisk  business ...

 

  
as did vendors of clothing, jewelry, and crafts. Women's clothing vendors were busy most of the weekend, offering fabulous outfits for dancing, lounging, relaxing and beaching.

 

2015 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival: Saturday Musicians Groove

2015 Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
Spanish Landing Park
San Diego, CA
May 7.8.9.10, 2015

The Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival is no one-trick-pony of a festival. It’s more like a piñata filled with dance candy from all over the world. We’re talking Cajun, zydeco, swing, honk tonk, Texas two-step, cha-cha, smoky blues, salsa, cumbia,and waltzes served up by mostly San Diego area bands that can shoot the lights out at every stage on which they perform. San Diegans I chatted with said every weekend is filled with dance venues where you can hear many of these bands plus other gems every weekend.

Spanish Landing Park, nestled between the shores of the West Basin of San Diego Bay and San Diego International Airport, is one of the most picture perfect festival venues on the map. The long grassy sliver on other days is sought out for romantic picnics, family outings, Frisbee flying, sun bathing, dog walking, or lollygagging. It’s a pretty busy place on weekends. This particular weekend, the organizers erect two huge pavilions and lay temporary dance floors underneath.

The largely volunteer group erects two smaller stages strategically placed in the middle of the park, each with a bouncy temporary dance floor. Sound from one stage never interferes with sound from another, quite a feat considering. And the sound systems are big bold steamer trunk sized boxes that pump far enough out into the crowd to get everybody tapping their feet. Stand next to one and you’re grateful you’re wearing ear protection. Bales of hay are set around the two big stages and the smaller Fountain Stage for weary dancers and casual listeners.

Approximately 36 acts at four stages perform today, Saturday May 9, from 11 am till 8 pm plus eight sessions at The Bayou Grove, a small patch of tree shaded park in which musicians talk about their craft and play samples to explain to listeners who sit on bales of hay a few feet away. Oh and a Cooking Tent Demo Stage  in which on Saturday chefs demonstrate everything from how to make beignets to pralines, barbie shrimp, and build a muffaletta.

Fountain Stage: Casey Hensley 12:20 PM to 1:20 PM, blues/soul, a real gritty belter. "Who are your inspirations" I ask after the show. "Etta James, Robert Plant, Janis Joplin, Howlin' Wolf, Big Mama Thornton, Aretha Franklin, to name a few," she replies. This girl is big-time, big voice get down and dirty smoky blues, she lets it all hang out, fabulous dance opportunities.

Not yet 20 years old, this  Oceanside, CA singer songwriter pours it on, songs range from R & B to soul to funky hip hoppy stylings, and rock roll. Time will tell how she takes her act on the road and grows her act in CA

CASEY HENSLEY VIDEO

Bourbon stage I:30 PM to 2:30 PM Robin Henkel with Billy Watson and Whitney Shay. Horns and harmonica swing, slinky and bumptious, gritty blues. Band leader says all the guys in the group play separately, on their own, or with other bands, this is one talented bunch of musicians. Didn't catch it on video but when Henkel unleashes a slide guitar lick, watch out,momma! San Diego is loaded with musicians like this, time and again I hear what a musical hotbed San Diego is on every weekend.  Don't have it on video but when Robin (red cap) rips into a slide guitar riff, you are reminded of great bottleneck players of the past from Hendrix right on down.

ROBIN HENKEL BAND VIDEO 1

ROBIN HENKEL BAND VIDEO 2

ROBIN HENKEL VIDEO "I'M A WOMAN" SIZZLES

Agua Dulce - Fountain Stage 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM. Agua Dulce. salsa, cha-cha, merengue, propulsive get up and dance music. Latin, cumbia,  funk,  with vocals percussion, bass, trumpet, guitar,Afro Cuban latin poppy swingy happy with a bright sort of mariachi sound that brings out the sun in your soul and the sass in your ass.

Music that makes you want to shake what your maker gave you whether you know how to dance or not. Check out the dance floor and you see what I mean. The bandleader is a multi-instrument threat: the, trumpet, cowbell, the works. Everybody plays with gusto guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and this pretty much goes for every damn band on the program this year. The group plays tight arrangements just the right length for dancers. A big plus as far as I'm concerned. Unless for some really good reason, more than four minutes is just too damn long.
http://aguadulcemusic.com/about/

AGUA DULCE VIDEO

Gal Holiday and The Honky Tonk Revue.  Happy marriage between country and honky tonk and rockabilly with Gal Holiday, née Vanessa Niemann, who unleashed her husky contralto into songs stamped with styling and delivery reminiscent of Patsy Cline and a few other iconic women who sing from the heart and not for the chart. For dancers, Gal Holiday delivers music that satisfies every urge to waltz swing or two step. We are listening to a non formulaic set list of heart breaky love or country blues, classic and the delivery is pure and musically solid and tight, down to the bone renditions that don’t clog the set with unnecessary solos, just enough of them to show that this crack band knows how deliver crisp incisive licks then give the song back to Niemann to send it right to your heart.

Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue. Great country, standard honky-tonk, excellent musicianship tight band, a long legged, punk rock type hairdo, righteous colorful tattoo up and down her left arm and Lord knows where else, this woman can see everything from Patsy Cline to Hank Williams' "You Win Again" which she describes as a swamp pop song, does it Louisiana justice. Plays honky-tonk, swing, two step, waltzes and for the hell of it ads in a cover of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," my goodness.
http://galholiday.com/

GAL HOLIDAY VIDEO 1

GAL HOLIDAY VIDEO 2 LOVESICK BLUES

Goma plays music based on Chicha music of Peru influenced by cumbia, surf rock and Andean folk music. This is is one of the best things about Gator By The Bay, a festival not afraid to mine the genres played in  San Diego that echo the river of cultures that flow through its music and social scene. https://www.reverbnation.com/goma9

GOMA VIDEO

Bourbon Stage 4:10 PM to 5:10 PM. Stoney B Blues, "raw blues" and that's the truth.
The man sings a 10 minute version of BB Kings "I'm a man" that pulls out every stop in the blues kingdom. His bandmates having a say all the way along and keyboard player taking two solos halfway to heaven. This is so damn mesmerizing a performance that many stand in awe, forgetting to dance just to take in the serious visceral experience of this man's cover of a legend and a legendary song. http://www.stoneybbluesmusician.com

STONEY B BLUES VIDEO 1    BIG TIME cover  of Muddy Waters' "I'm A Man"

STONEY B BLUES VIDEO 2 "Chantilly Lace"

2:50 PM to 3:50 PM, Bourbon Stage, San Diego Cajun Playboys, French Cajun music.

5 PM to 6 PM, The Fountain Stage. The Stilettos, 50s jump blues and rockabilly. This group is in Canada, you'd never know it from there style and energy. Very high-voltage rockabilly, and take no prisoners style that raucously charges through one instrumentally powerful song after another. Four of them make one hell of a joyful noise. Tina Star, the young sassy drummer wearing black sleeveless top tank top that shows off her the tattoo on her upper left shoulder, short hair, red lipstick, dark eyebrows, stands as she plays her drum set and adds vocals, well. Then there is Tommy Price, the big bicep tattooed guitar player wearing sleeveless vest festoons with buttons and pins. Bass player, an Asian guy, tattooed forearms and great hands that beat on the standup bass and twirling around like it was a slinky partner on the dance floor. For sheer energy, this group takes today's prize. http://tommypriceandthestilettos.com/about.html

THE STILETTOS VIDEO 1 cover of "These Boots Were Made for Walkin'"

THE STILETTOS VIDEO 2 cover of Buddy Holly's "Oh, Boy" 

6:10 PM to 7:10 PM fountain stage, Blue Largo, 40s and 50s swing. Another Latin influenced dance band that is lights out for dancers  to swing, cha-cha, salsa, rumba, all done to a sunny Latin beat, from high-voltage to high-intensity slow drags and blues. Blue Largo has a big San Diego following since 1999 when guitar player Eric Liebermann and singer Alicia Aragon formed the band.  They do great covers of Ruth Brown, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole. http://www.bluelargoblues.com/

BLUE LARGO VIDEO 1

BLUE LARGO VIDEO 2

At the Bourbon Street Stage, May 9, 2015 Kenny Rankins' first influences were gospel music which were his launch pad into the world of the Blues. Rankins relocated to San Diego in the 1990s where he now has a loyal following. When you’ve played with or opened for Etta James, B.B. King, Etta James, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown you’ve got credibility. The man is a born showman, could carry his act on his showmanship alone. He is a virtuoso as his fingers dance up and down the frets of his guitar which he can play sideways, upside down, and lord knows how many other ways (including with his teeth!). A Grammy award winner, his goofy showmanship can undercut the sheer virtuosity of his talent if you're not paying attention. http://fuzzyrankinsblues.com/

FUZZY RANKINS FABULOUSLY SHOWBOATS MVI 9565

FUZZY RANKINS Delights, Vamps, Bluesifies MVI 9571

8 PM Festival stage Sue Palmer, Queen of Boogie-Woogie, a huge (almost) all-female entourage that absolutely wrings out every last bit of energy that a huge crowd of dancers has left in the tank. They do not call this woman the queen of boogie-woogie for nothing. She puts her stamp on high-energy swing and boogie Woogie plus splendid stop the clock examples of slow drag and get close and personal dances that cause a a man and a woman to test their DNA by pressing their bodies together in dance. http://www.suepalmer.com/index.html

Regrettably no video!

About 15,000 people will roam through the park this weekend. Advance sale 3-day tickets online cost $95 for early birds, jump substantially after February opening sales. "Day of" tickets May 8, $35; May 9, $40; May 10, $40.

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

Warren Storm: Godfather of Swamp Pop

Bal du Dimanche: Warren Storm and Willie "Tee" and Cypress
Vermilionville Performance Center
Lafayette, LA
January 15, 2015

Every Sunday afternoon, the Vermilionville Performance Center in Lafayette, LA, holds a Bal du Dimanche (A Sunday Ball) from 1 PM-4 PM. For many, this is an extension of - or replacement for - religious services that may be scheduled in the morning.

Bands and performers of Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop persuasions light up the stage and there’s lots of action on the dance floor. This week’s performers – Warren Storm and Willie “Tee” and his band Cypress. Warren Storm is the godfather of Swamp Pop. Willie “Tee” Trahan has been along for most of the ride, performing with Storm for years.

Swamp pop was born in southwest Louisiana in the 1950s and 60s. Cajun teenagers and Creole kids heard rock 'n roll and began combining traditional French Louisiana Cajun and zydeco songs with country and western music filtering over from Beaumont, Texas and rhythm 'n  blues creeping in from New Orleans.

“I know it when I see it,” Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said of pornography in 1964. Well, just change the word ‘see’ to ‘hear’ and that’s the story with Swamp Pop. There’s no sound quite like it. It’s just as much a staple of popular music in Louisiana today as filé gumbo.

Most bands in Louisiana have at least a handful of Swamp Pop covers in their repertoire. Warren Storm and Willie Tee have a lifetime repertoire, Warren singing it and Willie wailing on his saxophone playing it. Both of these guys are in their seventies!

Whether on the dance floor or taking a break, dancers know how to have fun.

After the first few bars, you know damn well if you’re listening to Swamp Pop. Lyrics decrying spurned love, unabashedly emotional singing, often with bluesy, ultra-danceable or you-know-what-able grooves are backed with a gyrating saxophone. VIDEO

If you’re of a certain age, you remember making out in the car’s back seat to Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love,”Jimmy Clanton’s “Just A Dream,” Joe Barry’s “I’m A Fool To Care”, Warren Storm’s ‘Prisoner’s Song,” and Cookie and the Cupcakes iconic barn-burner “Mathilda". Swamp Pop songs like Lloyd Price's "Just Because," and Little Richard's "Send Me Some Lovin'," made it to Billboard's Hot 100.

This is music for the eternal teenager that lurks in our hearts and loins.

When I heard songs like “Sea of Love” at the Boys’ Club Friday dances, I died a slow death - too shy to cross to the other side of the floor where the girls were standing, to hold a girl in my arms, to inhale the scent of the shampoo in her hair, and feel the warmth of her body pressed against mine. Some day, I vowed, I would cross that floor. I would lead with confidence, style, and grace.  

I’ve learned to dance my dream. Warren Storm and Willie “Tee” just gave me the chance cross that floor once again.

Photos and video by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
 

Gerry Spanger's King Cake Party: 13 Years and counting

Gerry Spanger’s 13th Annual King Cake Party
Saturday Noon to 4 PM, February 14, 2015
321 Baldwin Avenue
Breaux Bridge, LA

It’s probably a southern thing but southwest Louisiana house parties are as common as roadside gasoline stations that sell everything from fuel to boudain, sandwiches, wine, candy, and an entire aisle of chips, pretzels, popcorn and Fritos to wash down the 20 varieties of cold beer stacked in a case that lines one entire side of the store.

House parties vary in size. During Mardi Gras they multiply like the fishes and loaves in the bible story. Gerry Spanger’s annual King Cake party in tiny Breaux Bridge nine miles from Lafayette is certainly one of the most inclusive.

Gerry came down this way as a visitor years ago, got smitten by the dance culture and the people doing it. Southwest Louisiana has a tendency to raise its eyebrows and give visitors a “Come Hither” smile and before you know it, you’re booking a reservation to return. Gerry not only returned but also bought a house in Breaux Bridge. Backstory here...

One year he and his friends invited a bunch of dancers who’d been working up a sweat at the Saturday morning (yes, morning) dance at the nearby Café des Amis to come by for socializing. Pretty soon a bunch of them started dancing in the yard. One thing led to another. Gerry’s been hosting a huge King Cake party on Mardi Gras weekend for the past 13 years.

Oh, in a covered patio he and his pal Don Walker built expressly for dancing. Gerry hires one of the best bands in the land, Geno Delafose and His French Rockin’ Boogie, to play from noon to 4 PM. The man’s fearless. Advertises the dance on a popular web site.  A couple hundred people show up toting food and camp chairs, pour themselves into that dance patio with a smooth concrete floor and carry on.

Some of them have come up the street from a morning’s dancing at the Café des Amis, some start here and finish the night on a dance floor in Lafayette or one of the surrounding towns. For some, Mardi Gras week is not complete unless they’ve met and mixed at Gerry’s famous King Cake party.
VIDEO1 The big picture

VIDEO2  Dancers in motion until the camera battery went poof.

VIDEO3 Dancers in motion again

VIDEO4 Zydeco dancing pair with big energy on the same wave length

VIDEO5 When Geno and his band put it into overdrive, so do the dancers

The "dance floor" was jammed from noon till 3 PM...after that it was only crowded.

Always time for photo opps...

Dick Brainard thanks host Gerry Spanger...and the dance goes on.

A guest "frottoir" player stands in with Geno Delafose and His French Rockin' Boogie; by 5 PM, Don Walker (brown t-shirt), Gerry's friend who led the first group over to the house years ago, and a small crew break camp. You'd never guess 200 people were packed into the yard a couple of hours ago.

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr

 

Krewe de Canaille Kicks Off Mardi Gras Week

The Krewe de Canaille 28th Annual Mardi Gras Ball
La Poussier Dance Hall
Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
February 13, 2015

Customs and traditions run deep and southwest Louisiana, none more revered than the ones associated with Mardi Gras. Small to large, they range from house parties to parades that rule the main streets for an afternoon or early evening to formal balls held by Mardi Gras Krewes. Krewes in New Orleans may have hundreds of members, stage elaborate balls and enter huge floats in Mardi Gras parades. Elsewhere in Louisiana, krewes are smaller, less formal, but no less energetic and dedicated to carrying on tradition.

The Krewe de Canaille in Lafayette has been celebrating a Mardi Gras Ball since 1987.

Let’s pause here for definitions:  a ‘Krewe’ to the rest of us is a crew, but, having its origin in New Orleans history, the spelling is an affectation. The main purpose of a Krewe is to organize Mardi Gras parades and balls. Many have private parties or dances during the year. Being Louisiana, it doesn’t take much prompting to throw parties at any time of the year for just about any reason.

“Canaille”? The group’s preferred definition is “rabble rousers” or “scoundrels.” Gives them plenty of latitude.

Although a handful of its members have been along for the whole ride, some, like this year’s special inductees, came as visitors six years ago, were enthralled with the music and dance culture, the pace of life and foremost, the friendly and engaging people who live here.

The annual ball is held at La Poussiere, a premier dance hall in Breaux Bridge that can comfortably hold 200 or so people and boasts one of the smoothest dance floors in Louisiana.

Cajun dancing is the focus of this krewe, founded in 1986 by Lafayette native Janine Dugas. Their general theme is to pass a good time on the dance floor and they manage that several times a year.

The 28th Annual Mardi Gras Ball gets underway at 7:00 PM. By 7:30 the band steps off the stage and tradition steps in. Rosa Henry, a Queen in 2011, commands all spectators to stand at the sides of the dance floor heralds the annual ritual of introducing the King and Queen.

Court Jesters playfully frolic ahead of the King and Queen, who ceremoniously and to general whooping and hollering, promenade toward the stage from the end of the dance floor.

2015 King and Queen Dwayne "Neggy" Trahan and his wife Linda Trahan. The identify of the "Duke" and "Duchess" for 2015, next year's King and Queen, is a secret till tonight.  The honor is given to Doug and Kathleen McLeod, who were passing by Lafayette six years ago, were swallowed up by Cajun ways, and never left!

Past Kings and Queens, in fabulously glittering attire, are announced and promenade to the stage.

A royal photo shoot precedes a jovial champagne toast. (The girls in their finery get a taste of tradition.) The King and Queen take to the burnished hardwood floor for the Royal Waltz, joined by the former royals and their court.

Formality goes out the window after the ceremonial dance when the whole court opens festive parasols and second lines (parades) around the dance floor with much un-royal joviality.

The lights dim. Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys kick it up a notch and the whole crowd, locals and dancers from all over the country, kick up a storm with Cajun ballads, waltzes and the occasional swamp pop slow drag for the next several hours.

In the midst of this, a purple, green, and gold - the colors of Mardi Gras - layer cake the size of a small carpet is served.

The Krewe and many of the partiers are decked out in Mardi Gras paraphernalia. What others might call costumes are actually representations of colorful attire donned by celebrants from medieval times in Europe. Krewe members take pride in their outfits and the connection they feel with a tradition that is part of the Acadian culture that pervades the parishes of southwest Louisiana.

Combining royalty and mischief, The Krewe de Canaille continues a tradition handed down through centuries of Mardi Gras celebrations.

Photo gallery: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. photos.

Assorted former Kings, Queens, and Jesters and one party crasher. Janine Dugas and Chris Trahan (photo at left), both former "Royals", are two of the four original members still active in the Krewe.

 

Janine Dugas, founder of the Krewe de Canaille. Janine has updated this banner every year since 1986!

Clear the way...the King and Queen command the dance floor for their waltz.

Rabble rowsers at play...

 
See you next year...

 

Chubby Carrier Pre-Mardi Gras Blast at Feed and Seed

Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band
The Feed And Seed
106 N Grant St, Lafayette, LA 70501
February 12, 2015

To say that southwest Louisiana takes Mardi Gras seriously is gross understatement. From tonight right through Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day on February 17, there are over 200 (no typo) dances planned within a 50 mile radius of Lafayette.

Let's see... Lafayette, Eunice, Crowley, Carencro, Thibodeaux, Mamou, Ville Platte, New Iberia, Scott, Opelousas, Breaux Bridge, Iota, Basile, Egan, Erath...for starters. And I haven't even mentioned parades that each of these cities and towns proudly produces.

Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band can get the party going any place from a former granary supply building to a big dance stage at Gator By The Bay in San Diego.

There are plenty of great musicians around here - accordion, fiddle, guitar, vocalists - whose music can turn you inside out with sheer glee. Chubby does all that with stage presence that connects with his audience and always invokes the spirit of his late father, Roy Carrier, one of the great old time zydeco players of the late 1900s, during his sets.

Feed and Seed has been sprouting music and dancing since it was purchased and re-purposed in 2005. Sheet metal roof, barn siding, sturdy wood rafters and a dance floor that can take as good a pounding as a couple hundred dedicated dancers can hammer down with boots and hard heels.

 

All dancers need is the propulsion provided by any one of scores of bands around here. Lafayette's no one-trick pony when it comes to music: cajun and zydeco may be big draws but they share the stage with  honky-tonk, country and western, western swing, rhythm & blues, swamp pop, and I might have missed one or two genres. 

  
Dancers don't care whether it's in a parking lot, outdoor city park, former farmer's exchange or an honest to goodness dance hall.  Lafayette, Louisiana, has them all covered.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

2014 Annual Tribute to Roy Carrier: Opelousas, LA

2014 Annual Tribute to Roy Carrier, December 29, 2014
Slim's Yi Ki Ki Lounge, Opelousas, LA
The advertisement below was from Dick Brainard, one of the organizers of the event: Feel free to send contributions to this worthy cause any time of year!

"Annual New Year Tribute to Roy Carrier

2:00 to 11:00 PM with five great bands!

Chubby Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band
Dikku Du and the Zydeco Crew
Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys
Corey Ledet and his Zydeco Band
Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie

$20 for the entire day, with come and go privileges; Great food by the Carrier Family Ladies for sale
 
Donations to help defray costs are needed. If you donate $60, or more, both you and a  partner get in free.
Plus you will be listed as a donor participant of this great tribute to Roy Carrier.
Please send your contribution check to Dick Brainard, 2910 SW Texas St,
Portland, OR 97219.
This annual event is organized/sponsored by Troy Carrier & Yours Truly, Dick Brainard.
All contributions greatly appreciated."

Music is a family tradition in southwest Louisiana. Scores of bands are filled with fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, sons, nephews, god-children and the occasional  neighbor. Bands playing today are no exception. The late Roy Carrier's sons Chubby and Dikki Du both front their own bands and played with their father. Roy Carrier's Offshore Lounge was the place many of today's band leaders learned their craft by playing with Roy or watching bands that played in his OffShore Lounge in Lawtell, LA.

When Roy died in 2010, it marked the passing of the last of the big-time first tier zydeco musicians, including Clifton Chenier, Boozoo Chavis, Rockin’ Dopsie, John Delafose, Delton Broussard, and Marcel Dugas. By then, Roy's OffShore Lounge had fallen into disrepair by the time he died.

It's Dikku Du Carrier's ambition to reopen his father's place. The annual New Year dance is a fund raiser. Thanks to previous New Year fund raisers, dancers from around the country have contributed more than $10,000 to help pay off the mortgage. Money donated this year will help underwrite a new septic system. The bands playing today either play at cut rate or for free to keep the Carrier family's dream of keeping Roy's music house alive.

The floor of Slim's Yi Ki Ki in Opelousas, another iconic dance hall, was literally rockin' with the pounding of hundreds of pairs of feet today. Dancers from all over the USA were more than happy to contribute to 'the dream". With these five big time bands, they could rock till they dropped. And did.

Two of the organizers of the Roy Carrier Tribute: Dikki Du Carrier and Dick Brainard. Does it look like they're having fun yet?

Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band; pt after delivering a present of bacon flavored toothpicks to Jeffery Broussard (with his wife Millie) from my hosts in Lafayette, Bernard Ussher and his wife Rubia Solis.

Dikku Du and His Zydeco Crew; Guyland Ledet, a 17 year-old accordion player from California. Jeffery Broussard is his uncle. As I said, music is passed along generation to generation around here.

Dancers busting out moves all night long.

 

Jeffery Broussard is a talented musician. He put down his accordion, played a terrific run on a fiddle, then moved back and played bass!

Roy Carrier and his dream...

 

Corey Ledet and his Zydeco Band; Photo Right - that's  Legendary L'll Buck Sinegal on the guitar playing with Corey's band tonight. The place practically stopped in its dance tracks when L'll Buck tore off a searing solo on one of Corey's bluesy songs.

Chubby's sister Elaine and cousin Keysuana Carrier stir the scrumptious gumbo - all 40 gallons of it; Geno Delafose and His French Rockin' Boogie.



Local farmer Raymond Parjean, his daughter Dolores and child. They set up a table to sell praline cookies Raymond made himself. Raymond has a 32-acre farm outside Opelousas, raises cows,  hogs, and invited me to visit.

Photos 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 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.

 

Carmen de Lavallade: "As I Remember It," Six Decades in 60 Minutes

"As I Remember It"
Created and performed by Carnen de Lavallade
Dramaturg/Co-writer Talvin Wilks
Director Joe Grifasi
Jacob's Pillow
Friday June 20 2014 to Sunday June 22 2014
Doris Duke Theatre
358 George Carter Road
Becket MA 01223
Approximate running time 1 hour

Friday, June 20, 2014

"You are the first audience in the world to witness this performance of 'As I Remember It," says Ella Baff, Executive and Artistic Director, in the hushed moments before the show begins.

First of all, this show was a love fest. Carmen de Lavallade could have sat and hummed for an hour and been accorded a standing ovation. Watching the woman walk from one side of the stage to the other is a piece of performance art. Every one of her vertebrae seem to be trained in a willowy ballerina mode, erect, self aware, conscious of how they control every millimeter of the rest of her body. The rest of us just don’t, maybe can’t, walk like that. I would probably pay to see a video of her shopping for vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity comes in many forms. “As I Remember It” captures a perfect blend of the ones necessary to mount a terrific piece of dance theater.

Carmen de Lavallade had the idea of presenting a show and reached out to her network several years ago. The idea began to perk. Joe Grifasi, whom Carmen has known since her stint teaching at Yale in the 1970s, agreed to direct. Carmen needed a playwright-conscious person to whom she could relate the stories that surfaced after decades of performing, someone who could condense, shape and sequence what would be spoken onstage. Enter Talvin Wilks, veteran dramaturg, who condensed hours of interviews and conversations into tonight's narrative.

The production values are spectacular. Chief among them is Set Designer Mimi Lien’s contribution. Rather than show video and still photos on a giant flat screen, they’re projected onto Lein’s ingeniously devised armature of translucent streamers (see above photo) that form the backdrop of the show. The streamers undulate as de Lavallade brushes by them or walks through them.

When she moves behind them, her shape is visible in silhouette. The streamers upon which images and videos are projected become an integral part of the play as de Lavallade interacts with them in a creative pas de deux. “They breathe, it gives it a whole ethereal, otherworldly feeling to everything,” de Lavallade says in a post performance talk after Saturday evening’s show. Brilliant.



Add Lighting Designer James P. Ingalls, Video Designer Maya Ciarrocchi, Sound Designer Christopher J. Bailey, Costume Designer Esther Arroyo, and Associate Lighting Designer Seth Reiser and you have a breakthrough structure for story telling.

The only two other things on stage are a small bench and a wooden chair which the actress might transform into a dining room table in her childhood home or to pause to tell another story.

Then there is grace. Movement is her vocabulary. She even uses dance lingo to describe the gestures as she sinuously extends her arms, flicks her wrists, rolls her hips, bows and swoops while telling a story. The gestures become a leitmotif, the constant lodestar that grounds her, links the stories together with elegant grace ingrained from a lifetime of dancing.

Carmen de Lavallade was born in 1931, brought up in Los Angeles in a Creole household from New Orleans, began her career at 17 as lead dancer with the Lester Horton Dance Theater, discovered and later danced with Alvin Ailey, married choreographer/dancer Geoffrey Holder in 1955 (still married!), danced as prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera, appeared in films, choreographed for operas at The Met, taught and became a full professor at Yale 1970-80, appeared with the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in NYC in 1993, in 2003 was part of a rotating cast of the show “Wit and Wisdom,” and was part of the cast of Tennessee Williams “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 2012. When I googled her, l stopped counting after 10 pages. Think about that.

Carmen isn’t the only one heading down memory lane. I saw her perform at Jacob’s Pillow in 1964 and haven’t been back there since. Friday evening in rural Becket, inhaling the musky earth, the fresh scent of foliage, flowers, and turf vaulted me back to the days I haunted places like Jacob’s Pillow and the other cultural delights in the Berkshires. I couldn’t help comparing my physical self 50 years ago and now, something Carmen would do a few hours later.  A hazy sensory scrapbook, I relive my youth as I walk  past the weathered wood buildings that dot the verdant grounds. I look at the younger versions of myself wandering around the grounds, picturing myself in my youth. I wonder if any of them will return in 50 years. But I am here. Carmen is here. And we both have memories to savor.

This show is subtitled “A Memoir in Movement.” At 83, she commands the stage from her entry to her exit 60 minutes later. Liquid poetry comes to mind. Carmen de Lavallade's life story.

After...theater goers examine the armature and streamers

 
After After...an impromptu reception, friends come backstage to connect with the legend.

     

After After After...guests have departed, time for the principals and crew to pop a cork and take a deep cleansing breath.

Dramaturg/Co-writer Talvin Wilks (gray shirt, big smile, photo left) and Director Joe Grifasi (yellow shirt, photo right) celebrate with the crew and Carmen after Friday's premier, a bewitching performance by a woman who has climbed many mountains and opened doors for countless other black women after her.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

Carmen de Lavallade: Dancer Extraordinaire, from 18 to 83...and counting

Carmen de Lavallade... dancer, choreographer, professor and actress. Her name rolls off your tongue as water gliding over smooth stones. I saw her dance at Jacob's Pillow in 1962 or 1964, can't remember which, never forgot her elegant dance lines, lithe technique, towering physical presence.

When I read that she is returning to Jacob's Pillow in Becket, MA, at age 83, to perform "As I Remember It," the die was cast. I'm returning to this renowned center opened by Ted Shawn in 1930 and the rich culture pit of the Berkshires, as I remember it, from my summers of venturing to dance, theater, music - to see many  of talented names of the day perform. I have to thank my mother Elena, an inveterate supporter of the arts, for fostering my interest in places like Jacob's Pillow, Tanglewood, summer stock theater in Stockbridge, MA and the Music Inn in Lenox, MA. When she died at 92, she still harbored an interest in the arts.

So thanks, mom, I'll be thinking of you when I read the program guide for this world premier event tomorrow night.

Carmen reminisces in 2010

Carmen de Lavallade: Dealing with Race in My Career

Carmen de Lavallade: My Advice to Young People

Carmen de Lavallade: The Politics of Dance

Carmen tells the Creation Story...gives you an idea of her range and vitality

TEDxEast - Carmen DeLavallade The Creation: Plus 40

 

Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios Rock the House at Johnny D's

Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios
Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club
17 Holland Street
Somerville, MA
June 12, 2014
http://johnnyds.com
Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios

Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios are one damn fine all purpose party band. With their deep repertoire, they suss out the mood of the room, whether filled with auditorium seats or dancers itchy-ready to move, and give it to them with both barrels.

They drew a huge crowd to Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club last week. Nobody left disappointed.

You want a band with flash?  Look elsewhere.

You want a band that spirits syncopated sunshine, sly humor, and the occasional dark ballad? Tune in to The Hoolios.

The band’s sound is steeped in the unmistakable flavors of a New Orleans po’ boy, the Gulf Coast, and southwest Louisiana. Once you think you have the band’s style figured out, they slip in a virile Rock n Roll, alt-country, or rootsy Americana number. For the dance crowd, this is nirvana. Their playful music mystically strides over genres. More than once, I saw couples dancing two-steps, rumba and cha cha - to the same song!

Jim Carpenter and The Hoolios have a killer dance groove and a great repertoire to back it up. Their characteristic sound has a distinct aura located between New Orleans and Little Havana. Whether you’re listening to one of their CDs while washing the dishes or you're on the dance floor, you're probably smiling. By the time they finish "Who Stole The Wheels From Bennie's Cadillac" (see playlist), I’m thinking these guys are a cross between the playful winking of Jimmy Buffett, the lyricism of Van Morrison and a personality all their own.

The five piece band tearing up the joint is Jim Carpenter - vocals, guitars; Michael Derry - vocals, electric piano, accordion; Sandy Allen - harmony vocals, mandolin, guitar; Mike Palazzolo - harmony vocals, bass; Ronnie Lewis - vocals, drums. “The Sandman” appears never to have picked up an instrument he doesn’t want to play - tonight it is guitar, mandolin and tambourine.

What a crew. Put a suit on Carpenter, Derry, or Lewis and they could sell you insurance, real estate, or advertising. Allen, in his picaresque floppy had, faded jeans, outlandish snow white beard, appears to have grown up in Haight Ashbury and never left in spirit and wardrobe. Mike Palazzolo, black ponytail, rugged build, dark unreadable eyes, is the kind of guy you’d want to be sitting next to in friendly conversation if a fracas broke out in the bar.

On stage, they are as understated to the point of self-effacement. No frills, no bombastic solos, only solos that last just long enough to put you on notice that if they wanted to show off their talents, they could bury you with them. Then there’s the music they make: sunny, deep, original, creative, non-conformist, self stamped.

Some bands play a variation on a theme all night long. Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios playlist tonight is filled with original songs. Yes they’re connected with a delivery system that is fueled on high-test musicianship but there’s no sense of repetition throughout the night. Most songs three/four minute range, no fluff, just real dance material that helps your feet glide over the floor (which was packed).

 Jim Carpenter, Mike Derry

Carpenter is short on patter. At best, he’ll laconically tell you the name of the next song. So we listened intently when he spent a few minutes talking about his upbringing in an area so rural that he never tasted warm meat till he moved away from Chincoteague Island. With no refrigeration or gas stoves, meat was smoked or dried. It took him a while to become accustomed to eating warm meat. For the life of me, I can’t remember what song he used this story to introduce.

“This is the go-to band,” Bobby Perry says during the break. Bobby has forgotten more about music history and provenance, from the arcane to the iconic, than my total knowledge of it. This, my friends, is an endorsement a band should cherish.

Sandy Allen; Ronnie Lewis (drums), Mike Palazzolo, bass

Partial Playlist

"Freedom Never Was the Prize for Jack" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzvQN1k4DqY
Sung by drummer Ronnie Lewis, a saucy little upbeat zydeco/two-step/Rumba, take your pick.

“In The Heart of the Night”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGFlauoSDc
Jim Carpenter sings this haunting rumba-ish tempo ballad. The Latin tempo is unmistakable.

"He Walks in Vain" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLbmBZCo7C4
Upbeat ballad. It has registered by now that we are we are being presented with one tight band, a work pail bunch of guys who happen to be packing gourmet delights without the slightest hint of arrogance, bluster, stage antics or, for that matter, showmanship. Unless of course you don't count the fact that every song we're going to hear tonight is delivered with pure songwriting and instrumental luster. These songs have narrative drive you can savor from your chair or, if you concentrate, on the dance floor.

“Little Victory” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKSbOu5529Q
Carpenter sings this bittersweet ballad, listen for Sandy' mandolin.

“Sweet Mystery” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7lTEyn3V34
A ballad, with that sweet New Orleans undertone of rolling rumba is the bomb, I see people doing rumba, two-step and zydeco all to the same song. Carpenter digs in to this poignant and poetic ballad, his guitar riffs matched by Derry’s exquisite squeezebox trills. I can’t help feeling that Carpenter sings this from personal experienc

“Roll Me Like Thunder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmHSgbAdV6Y
Mike Derry has great pipes to go with his mastery of accordion and electric piano. The two or three times he really let go wasn’t recorded by me because I can’t dance and record video at the same time (yet).

“Who Stole The Wheels Off Bennie’s Cadillac?”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wXWumwP1GM
A hilarious alt-country/zydeco rocker and a cover of The Iguanas song. The Sandman joyous clickety clacks his washboard, drummer Ronnie Lewis sings main vocals, the rest of the crew sings harmonies. This song is a hoot.

“Did You Say Something”
‘This is a song with no words,” Carpenter says and for a couple of minutes is exactly that then seems to segue into lyrics.

“One Night Stan” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YujNzIMWuJw
Yet another all purpose dance number, about a gigolo, no less, Derry’s playful accordion peals, foot stomping vocals, Carpenter’s bursts of guitar slicker, and the whole band havin’ a grand ‘ol time and damn, so are we!

This is a good time band with dance grooves to die for. How they manage to crank out one song after another with such varied rhythms, grooves, and emotional tones is a miracle you need to witness yourself.

 “We were going to do more of an acoustic set, maybe pull out some our darker material but when the dancers filled the floor from the first song, we changed the set list on the fly,” Carpenter says during the break. A band that pays attention…another feather in The Hoolios cap.

Second Set (by this time my notes are thin, I’m having way too much fun to take notes.)

“I’m Down With Love” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfRP8aKRBFA
Sunny unny little opener with a distinct Latin rhythm - Mike Derry’s vocals and accordion hitting the high notes, the band pops the cork for the second set.

“Jolene, Jolene” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYzZgxRZzDc
I could only take 38 seconds of listening to Jim Carpenter and band crank out this high-energy rocker then had to dance. Geez, Louise…er, Jolene!
Relentless rhythm and bass lines from Ronnie Lewis and Mike Palazzolo. Lewis is one of those locomotive drummers whose pounding pulse keeps the songs on the rails no matter how many turns the music makes.  


“Silver Triangle”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc1oMVVV530
One of the few waltzes, probably one of the songs they would have played an acoustic set, a little bittersweet song of love and loss, close harmonies, original lyrics, heartfelt, great counterpoint to the energy of the rest of the set. Jim might have lived this one, he certainly sang it with conviction.

“Hole In My Heart” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVSVbcCzfNE
Jim Carpenter with another wowzer, a rollicking rumba number (or swing, or cha-cha, all of them being done on the floor. Carpenter gets across the whole spectrum of aches, pain, loss, regret, to an impossibly upbeat tempo, a real gem.

Encore "Jambalaya" Ward Hayden of Guns n Roses joins the fun. My camera maxxed out, i found this video taken by another patron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE0pmxz7UX4

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

The Hoolios: All Purpose Party Band

The Hoolios
Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant and Bar
17 Holland Street, Somerville, MA
"Locally owned since 1969"
June 12, 2014

Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios are one damn fine all purpose party band. With their deep repertoire, they suss out the mood of the room, whether filled with auditorium seats or dancers itchy-ready to move, and give it to them with both barrels.

Story, playlist and videos to follow...probably by June 16 so come back to check

 

   

Ward Hayden of Girls Guns and Glory joins the Hoolios for the last song (which I couldnt record since my camera card got maxxed).But thanks to the internet, here's the song - "Jambalaya" ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE0pmxz7UX4

Photos and videos (except for Jambalaya, above link) by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Gator By The Bay 2014: Photo Gallery

Gator By The Bay, Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
San Diego, CA

Where
Spanish Landing Park  on the shores of  San Diego Bay  across from the Lindberg Field at San Diego International Airport  on North Harbor Drive
When
Friday May 9:         4 PM - 10:30 PM
Saturday May 10:     11 AM - 8 PM
Sunday May 11:     11 AM – 7 PM 

Whether they came to dance or not, loads of people ended up on smaller dance floors at the Fountain Stage and the Bourbon Stage or the tented Mardi Gras Stage of Festival stages at the east and west ends of Spanish Landing Park.

Fountain and Bourbon Stages top; Mardi Gras Stage below

The demographic...

 

A pretty eclectic range in age, race, and lord knows what all....

Some of the cool bands...
 

Bandolero, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums, Todd Day Wait Duo

Chubby Carrier and The Swamp Bayou Band, Chase Walker Blues Band, Horace Trahan and the New Ossun Express

 

Combo Liberdad with Jimmy Woodward, Billy Lee and The Swamp Critters, Balfa Toujours

Madame LeRoux and Krewe, Todo Mundo, Ladies Shoes Blues Review

Three Chord Justice, Billy Magee Blues Band,Sara Petite

Bayou Brothers, Chet and The Committee, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums with Sue Palmer on the keys

pt sightings

With Horace Trahan and his New Ossun Express; the manager of Todo Mundo; and her friend who loves to dance.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gator By The Bay 2014: Video Gallery

Gator By The Bay, Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
San Diego, CA

This is the best damn dance festival I've ever witnessed! The music and dancing was to die for, incredible variety and depth of talent.You might get the idea from watching some of these videos. There were over 50 acts. I missed videoing some of the best music 'cause i was busy dancing to it!

Where
Spanish Landing Park  on the shores of  San Diego Bay  across from the Lindberg Field at San Diego International Airport  on North Harbor Drive
When
Friday May 9:         4 PM - 10:30 PM
Saturday May 10:     11 AM - 8 PM
Sunday May 11:     11 AM – 7 PM 

Whether they came to dance or not, loads of people ended up on smaller dance floors at the Fountain Stage and the Bourbon Stage or the tented Mardi Gras Stage of Festival stages at the east and west ends of Spanish Landing Park.

VIDEOS with my tiny hand held Canon digital camera or my iPhone5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9R_p2gnfvQ Three Chord Justice "country with twang"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl8EEct64wI Three Chord Justice "country with twang"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=620yhiLEaNE Three Chord Justice "country with twang"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKIu8dkCOeI Bill Magee Blues Band

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqfTbFwqiyU Todo Mundo: Salsa/Latin/World Beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U229-sM5bHA Sara Petite Roots Americana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rYT4QFlkKE Balfa Toujours,Cajun fiddle duet,Christine Balfa sings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twTlTM3pQQA Balfa Toujours, Traditional Cajun waltz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehQ8bmo_icE Chase Walker, Blues,Rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1cOxa7nKY Rockin Blues w Ladies Shoes Blues Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQmPyWYma4 Bayou Brothers,Zydeco blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkxyFkGI1Jw Todo Mundo: Salsa/Latin/World Beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDQENpjDcBc Todo Mundo: Salsa/Latin/World Beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6OBdkUOf0 Todo Mundo: Salsa/Latin/World Beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1he1mODjCVw Sara Petite, Roots Americana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_XiLju7YjM Euphoria Brass Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1cOxa7nKY Ladies Shoes Blues Review, Boogie Woogie Blues Extravaganza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQmPyWYma4 Bayou Brothers, Zydeco Gumbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZBWoOOxecY Chet and The Committee, Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dRNa_3Teis Chet and The Committee, Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h853gv6DgOg  Balfa Toujours, Traditional Cajun, Kevin Wimmer belts out "Bernadette"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PpVh-5sxBQ  Hola Soy Lola, Tijuana Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BlmpalfErw Todd Day Troubadours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iow0wC9kcu4 Madame LeRoux and Krewe, New Orleans style

yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CheZ4qnjdSs Sue Palmer, boogie woogie perennial fave of San Diego

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DhYrKwGrng Bandolero, Salsa/Latin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ued-7dbVA Bandolero, Salsa/Latin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbakBD4QIXM Hola Soy Lola, Tijuana Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H8niDinUro Combo Liberdad with Jimmy Woodward, Traditional Cuban!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hkGk_-kbVE Balfa Toujours, Traditional Cajun, Kevin Wimmer and Courtney Granger in a fiddle throw down, hoe down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wTMelQaFbE Fuzzy Rankins, Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yTBKc0ECQ Madame LeRoux and Krewe, New Orleans style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18hDHLuv1S8 Todd Day Wait troubadours, great entertainers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hrtrO7pPI Alas de Mosca, Latin/Cumbia/Reggae/Funk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0FEFYXTrOs Billy Lee and The Swamp Critters, Cajun/Zydeco/Boogie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gc6vr5pWPQ Janiva Magness, Roots/Rock/Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFu-XQ5mjW0 FABULOUS dancers to the music of Blue Largo, Traditional Blues and Swing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Sx20KhMa4 Beautiful dancer teaches young girl to dance to the music of Blue Largo, love it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yphGz6WeXQk  The Palominos, Country Swing, and how!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOW33y9U1Qg Linzzi Zaorski, Indie Jazz from New Orleans

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U Steve Lucky, Boogie Woogie piano, jump swing

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Gator By The Bay: Music, Dancing, Food, Crafts...The Works

Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival
San Diego, CA

MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS on the links that follow this story...

Where
Spanish Landing Park  on the shores of  San Diego Bay  across from the Lindberg Field at San Diego International Airport  on North Harbor Drive
When
Friday May 9:         4 PM - 10:30 PM
Saturday May 10:     11 AM - 8 PM
Sunday May 11:     11 AM – 7 PM

Hold onto your party hats, boys and girls, Gator By The Bay Zydeco, Blues and Crawfish Festival is the best dance party festival on the planet (or at least until I hit one that exceeds this one).

This is like swinging at a big bulging piñata and getting showered with a wild confetti of musicians, bands, and singers. Advertised to  “bring the heart and soul of the Louisiana bayou to San Diego over Mother’s Day weekend,” I expected big helpings of Cajun and zydeco, music descended from French speaking peoples of southwest Louisiana. And judging by its title, anticipated some blues to boot.

But hey, cumbia, salsa, and jalapeño rock, I don’t think so. And oh, rockabilly, 40’s and 50s jump blues, rumba, samba, gypsy, merengue, bachata, country, edgy rock, and something called “zyde-groovable". Then there was Chicago blues with a Louisiana accent, a diva singing down 'n dirty Blues, spicy cha chas, mambos, and something called gypsy/folk/kickstomp (I’m not kidding), bluegrass, obscure country classics, Tijuana blues, rockin’ boogie … I have to catch my breath. Holy Moley, this is a recreational, eclectically oriented music lover’s paradise.

A few of the weekend's acts, some not so household names who can really rock in whatever genre they play: Billy Lee and The Swamp Critters, Alas de Mosca, Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, Combo Liberdad, Sarah Petite, Todo Mondo, Ladies Shoes Blues Review. Many of them are local. San Diego must have one helluva music scene. Then there are bands playing here that dancers will hop on the next plane to party with: Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band, Horace Trahan and The New Ossun Express, and Balfa Toujours.

On a beautiful weekend like this, temps in the low 70s, bright sunshine, low humidity, it felt like paradise, too. The don’t call it Gator By The Bay capriciously. The west basin of San Diego Bay, with hundreds of sailboats docked in the azure waters of the marinas, is the backdrop for Spanish Landing Park.

I expected to see dancers from all quarters of the country and did. The stated occupancy limit to park events is 1000 but I doubt anyone was counting. Legions of San Diegans showed up to enjoy the smorgasbord of music, watch the dancers, and eat tons, literally, of Louisiana food.  It had the feel of a citywide block party.

It’s family friendly. I saw way more strollers and kids under twelve years old than at other festivals. The Make Your Own Hat booth was jamming every day. Kids from one to at least forty-one got in on the fun. The Face Painting booth was busy all day. Families, often multigenerational, sprawled on blankets and camp chairs all over Spanish Landing Park. Located in an incongruous place between the airport and the east basin of San Diego Bay, it’s long serpentine configuration is perfect for setting stages far enough apart to keep the music from colliding.

The Gator By The Bay has been hailed as one of the greatest Cajun/Zydeco festivals in the country. In my book, it’s the finest music festival in the country, period.

Here’s the Gator’s “no fault” dance policy: “If you’re smiling’, you’re doin’ it right.”

I witness this all day long at the Fountain Stage when a ton of ‘world music’ acts performed. This kind of music rivals zydeco in it’s insistence that you start by wiggling your butt in your seat then next thing you know you’re on your feet wiggling a little more then a guy like me asks you to dance, you say you don’t know how, I smile, offer my hand again and we dance. By the end of the dance, she’s smiling. And once in a while, asks if we can do it again.

The Fountain Stage is the best example of an ‘all age” stage, spectators/dancers range from three to eighty three. What a hoot. I see college kids and people their parents’ age boogieing on the floor whether they know what they're doing or not. When you see this, you know you've got a special festival going on.

French Quarter Food Court
Ten thousand pounds of live crawfish were trucked in from Opelousas, LA and served up with fresh Louisiana corn and potatoes. A hundred yard gauntlet of vendors sold boudain, fried catfish, crawfish etoufée, beignets, seafood gumbo, jambalaya, poboys, and homemade ice cream. The lines through this corridor were prodigious. People around here don’t have the luxury of eating this much good Louisiana foods all in one place. Judging by the lines, they took full advantage of the opportunity.

Merchandise, Crafts
Gator By The Bay is an all-purpose, all-ages, festival. The merchandise corridor is loaded with tempting goods: hand made jewelry, bright dancing dresses, candles, mosaics, hats, dancing shoes and cowboy boots, art prints, and woodwork. It boasts one of the best sculpture vendors I’ve ever seen.

According to several San Diegans who chatted with me,  their city is a hotbed of blues and jazz. I’d add Latin, rock n roll, honky tonk, country and a whole lot more to the list according to the music I'm hearing..

The organizers, The Bon Temps Social Club, must have a serious vetting procedure. Many of the bands are local award-winning acts. Every band I hear, whether it’s my cup of tea or not, is musically potent. My guess  is that if you  have Gator By The Bay on your resumé, doors open for you.

I know where I'll be on Mother's Day weekend in 2015, in San Diego, where I'll take a big chomp of the 17th Gator By The Bay.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello,Jr.

 

Gator By The Bay: Music by the Ton

Gator By The Bay
May 9, 2014
San Diego, CA

Gator By The Bay  just might be the great granddaddy of all music/dance festivals. Three days of dancing to the most eclectic assembly of vocalists and bands spread across stages in Spanish Landing Park within sight of San Diego Bay. Five stages featuring Zydeco, Blues, Cajun, Rockabilly, Jazz, East/West Coast Swing, Western Swing, Country, even a bit of Salsa.



Bands I’ve never heard of pump out fabulous music on the three stages open on Friday from 4 PM to 10 PM. How about Fanny and the Attaboys/Rockabilly and Palomino/country swing at the Fountain Stage. They're all fabulously danceable.

And Linnzi Zaorski/Indie jazz and swing from New Orleans; Janiva Magness (female Blues artist of the year)/Roots, Rock and Soul; and Blue Largo/traditional blues and swing at the Bourbon Stage.

And Lance Dieckman with Annette da Bombe/Blues,Harp and Soul; and the ultimate zydeco showman, Grammy winner Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band at the Festival Stage.

Those are but seven of the twelve acts that played Friday from 4 pm to 10 pm. The Mardi Gras Stage and the Bayou Grove Stages open today.

Nearly 40 acts. Lord have mercy.

The Mardi Gras Miracle of 2014

March 4, 2014
Lafayette, Louisiana

The Mardi Gras Miracle of 2014
It may not rival the miracle of five loaves and two fish chronicled in the New Testament but it certainly fed the needs of hundreds of dance pilgrims in need of an exclamation mark to cap Mardi Gras 2014.

PART 1 The Unthinkable

The unheard-of descended upon southwest Louisiana this morning. Freezing rain and ice gripped the region on, of all days in the year, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day.

Residents feel like they have woken up in one of Ernest Shackleton's expedition camps in the Antarctic. People down this way rarely see snow let alone black ice and icicles. Warm rains? There have been plenty of Mardi Gras parades in the rain. But ice? The most people down here know about ice is that they fill beer coolers with it.

Tree limbs glisten with translucent layers of ice. People slip on steps as they exit their houses. They have no idea how to scrape ice from windshields. One man describes attempting it with a credit card. You have to give him credit for ingenuity. Interstate I – 10 is closed, ice making traffic over dozens of overpass bridges impossible.

The Tee Mamou Mardi Gras Festival in Iota is canceled. When the proud, tough, independent people of Iota cancel their heralded Tee Mamou Mardi Gras day, you know something catastrophic is occurring.

Street dances and fairs across the region are cancelled. Parades go on in Lafayette and surrounding towns, but floats move more rapidly than usual, bead throwers and krewe members layer up with every article of outerwear they own.

A street cam capturing the parade route in downtown Lafayette shows Mardi Gras floats lumbering with all due speed through town with only the hardiest of partiers watching from behind the barriers set up along the parade route.

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, is a huge event in southwest Louisiana, probably bigger than Christmas – sorry Jesus. Mother Nature has slipped the region a Mickey. Cancellation of Mardi Gras celebrations? Never heard of. But it happens today.

Hundreds of out-of-town dancers from red and blue states across America peer disconsolately out of their Lafayette hotel rooms and pray for a miracle to deliver them a dance they can drive to without fear of ending up in a ditch.

Today is the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae known as Mardi Gras week. They have been gearing up to dance to this final blast of joyful Cajun and zydeco music since they arrived last week. For some unfathomable reason they do not push the panic button. This is Mardi Gras. Nothing short of the second coming of the aforementioned Jesus shall deny dance destiny… surely someone will organize something.

PART 2 The Miracle

Somewhere around 10 AM a giant cyclotron begins to whir mightily. What transpires in the next 20 minutes shall be known henceforth as "The Mardi Gras Miracle of 2014".

The play-by-play goes like this…

10:09 AM
Bernard Ussher, an Irishman via Boston and Dublin, now a Lafayette shaker and mover of the first order, calls the proprietor of Randol's Restaurant and Dance Hall in Lafayette. Perhaps she would rent the dance hall, Bernard and others could bring a stack of CDs and party on.  Ussher calls Gerry Spanger.
10:12 AM
Gerry Spanger, host of a huge Mardi Gras week party in Breaux Bridge, calls the owner of La Poussiere in Breaux Bridge.
10:14 AM
 Gerry Spanger confirms La Poussiere is available to rent for the afternoon. Ussher and Spanger call Dick Brainard.
10:18 AM
 Dick Brainard, organizer of serious music events in Portland, WA, and supporter of the annual Carrier Family Tribute to the late Roy Carrier, contacts Chubby Carrier, who says his gig in Franklin, Louisiana, has been canceled because of the ice on Interstate 10.
10:21 AM
Dick informs Bernard and Gerry that Chubby Carrier is available to play and they book La Poussiere from 2 PM to 5 PM on Freezing Fat Tuesday
10:29 AM
Bernard cancels effort to secure Randols Restaurant and Dance Hall.

Ussher to Spanger to Brainard, a modern day version of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, the Chicago Cubs infield trio renowned for their lightning-smooth, well-executed teamwork back in the day and memorialized by Franklin Pierce Adams's poem in 1910.

10:42 AM Dick Brainard announces the dance to the crowd at the Ramada Inn and the first broadcast email via acadiana@googlegroups announces the dance followed by a Facebook blast.

2:00 PM
Grammy Award winning musician Chubby Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band sets up to play at what some consider the best dance floor in southwest Louisiana, La Poussiere.

3:00 PM VIDEO
Nearly 200 dancers are sweating in La Poussiere and the dance floor is bouncing like a Louisiana Hay Ride.

And thanks to a Facebook plea issued by Bernard Ussher, everybody brings food!

“Enough money was taken in to cover the hall rent plus a good payday for the band. Everyone was so happy, as exhibited by the great smiles all round. The event saved the day for all those who had flown in for Mardi Gras, ” Dick Brainard reports.

“Considered one of the best turnouts at La Poussiere ...certainly for one of a few hours notice ...” Bernard Ussher says.

And, by any dancers account, a Mardi Gras Miracle.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dancers braved the slick roadways, the parking lot and nearby streets filled with cars by 2:00 PM. The dance floor sprang to life when Grammy Award-winning Chubby Carrier and His Bayou Swamp Band lit into their first song and stayed that way for hours.

Chubby Carrier, an A-List performer, played drums with his father Roy's band when he was 12, began playing accordion and toured the world with Terence Siemien when he was 15, started his own band at the tender age of 22. He's got great patter going on with every audience. Chubby reads his audience well, mixes zydeco of different paces with pretty waltzes, and swampy belly-rubbin' blues. Chubby's been called "The World's Premier Zydeco Showman." No one would disagree this afternoon.

and a good time is had by all...

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

 

"Stop The Clock Western Swing Cowboy Jazz Band" Swings 'n Sways

Stop The Clock Western Swing Cowboy Jazz Band
Feed and Seed
106 North Grant Street
Lafayette, Louisiana
March 2, 2014
6:00-9:00 PM

A 9 Piece All-Star band with 2 female vocalists
Charlene Howard (vocals), Kelly Feehan (vocals), Kurt Boudreaux (behind Kelly, keyboard), Kenny Menard (fiddle), Lee Tedrow (guitar), Buck Buckelew (fiddle), Wayne Le Blanc (drums), David Greely (fiddle), Gary Newman (upright bass), Ted Broussard (guitar), Joe Rogers (steel guitar)
The two regular guitar players are Sam Broussard and Gary Granger.

Yet another reason to head to Lafayette, Louisiana...a cowboy jazz band playing classic Western Swing tunes from Bob Wills, Cindy Walker, Spade Cooley, Fats Waller, Hank Thompson, Ray Price, and Patsy Cline, among others. A collection of musicians and vocalists got together a few months ago to play this fabulous music the first Sunday every month. Whoooeeee, are they fun!

Stop The Clock indeed. They stop you in your tracks with infectious, playful, dance your boots off tunes from the golden age of western swing, which, in a music-crazy city like Lafayette, will never feel dated.

I doubt that they play together any more than this one Sunday a month but muscians of this caliber figure out how to play together - and with pizazz - in a hurry. They take their solos, adding onto whatever the guy before just played, and add their own touch, often making the others chuckle and grin. If you're a dancer, this band holds up to the best cajun, zydeco, or honky tonk bands in town (heck, some of the musicians on stage play with those bands).

Let me tell you. This band swings big time and it’s been duly noted around here. Only six months since inception, they’ve been asked to open this year’s Festival International de Louisiane, a premier festival drawing bands from all over the world. Impressive.

 

Gary Newman, the man who wound up Stop The Clock Cowboy Jazz Band

“I came up with the name because I wanted something to indicate that there is timeless music out there that needs to be played and enjoyed. Fortunately, we live in Lafayette, where the people really appreciate and know how to enjoy good music. And we enjoy playing it too! It seems like it's catching on, as each gig draws more and more people,” chief clock winder Gary Newman says.

Newman’s inspirations for STC are Asleep At The Wheel, who’s been at it for a long time and The Time Jumpers. “They’re the best band out there, top of the line Nashville musicians and friends of mine,” Newman says.

"...People who come to the Feed and Seed to listen and dance to our music help to create a magical, wonderful scene from the past. Kind of like we stopped the clock somewhere around 1949."

These guys have pedigrees. They’re members of Mamou Playboys, Nouveau String Band, Traiteurs, Louisiana Purchase Bluegrass, The Gary Granger Project/ODYSSSEY, The Twangsters Union, among others. Western Swing wouldn't have the same twang without a steel guitar, Joe Rogers makes the most of his solos.

Buck Buckelew (fiddle) does most of the song introductions. They play for a solid three hours with one 20-minute break.  A free bowl of jambalaya comes with a $10 admission charge. C’mon, what a deal.

Tonight is the biggest crowd in the bands history since September, pretty amazing considering this is Mardi Gras week and there are a ton of other places people could be going tonight. Great energy.

Vocalist Kelly Feehan, the daughter of Kenny Menard (guitar/vocals), has never sung on stage before last September. “I never sang before except in church. My dad asked if I wanted to join the band. He thought a younger crowd would like the music and having a younger singer would be a drawing card,” Kelly says.

My guess is that after STC hits the stage at the Festival International de Louisiane the younger dance crowd will find them. Kelly can belt or croon - she's a great addition to the band. Good idea, Kenny!

Holy smoke, I just realize that Charlene Howard is singing with Kelly. I'd heard she sings with TK Hulin and had been looking to find them play. She has great pipes, can cover everything from R&B to Soul to Country to Swing. It would have been great had I captured a video of "Sweet Memories" she sang with Kelly and Kenny, sweet harmonies.

Stop The Clock can raise the roof when they get crankin' it up. I  believe the  Feed and Seed building was a former granary and suppy depot - a perfect venue for a Western Swing Band! That's David Greely taking a solo. Greely, Sam Broussard, Kurt Boudreaux, and Charlene Howard are established single acts.

Ted Broussard takes a solo; Kenny Menard and Buck Buckelew sing. Lafayette is a music-loving town, people here know good music when they hear it, whether it's Cajun, or zydeco, or now, Western swing.


Wayne Le Blanc (drums) and Kurt Boudreaux (keyboard) out of view behind the front line, add two powerful elements to the sound. Gary Newman anchors the beat on his stand-up bass.

Kurt has a fan club. “Kurt Boudreaux is the best keyboard player in the world,” a fellow standing behind me says as I shoot video. A minute after that, Kurt calls out a rumba for the second to last song of the night. I put down my camera, find a fabulous partner, and bust all the rumba moves I learned in my sessions at my local Fred Astaire Dance Studio. People applaud after we finish. Kurt’s playful rendition kept me right on the beat.

Not only does this band make fabulous music, but they have fun doing it... just look at 'em.

VIDEOS (Recorded on litle digital camera, don't do justice to the band's or singer's fine sound)
Shame On You
Honeysuckle Rose
There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Blues For Dixie 
Waltz Across Texas 

PARTIAL SET LIST (not in order)
Sugar moon
Outskirts of town
Honeysuckle Rose
Route 66
Milk Cow Blues
Shame On You
Right or wrong
Blues for Dixie
Smile - Charlie Chaplin
Sweet Memories
Crazy
Waltz across Texas
Bottle Baby Boogie
There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Crazy
Autumn Leaves
My Blue Heaven

 Photos and Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Forever Tango: Primal and Complex, Music and Dance, Men and Women

Forever Tango
Cutler Majestic Theatre
Director: Luis Bravo
Orchestra director, Victor Lavallén., Costumes, Argemira Affonso., Lights, Luis Bravo., Sound, Rolando Obregón., Choreography, the dancers.

October 29-November 2, 2013

Tango is the brooding crown prince of dance. Any doubts about that would have been erased after watching Louis Bravo’s “Forever Tango” at the Cutler Majestic Theater last week. Dark, sultry, sensual, primal, this dance has an urgency that puts it in its own universe.

The Cutler Majestic Theater, a lovely jewel box of plush ruby red curtains and seats and ornate gold architecture is a perfect fit for Forever Tango. When the house lights darken, the only illumination is spotlights on the dancers and small orchestra on the stage - we are disconnected from our own reality, plunged into another world.

The men are built like stevedores and can glide like sylphs. The women in sequins and dark eye shadow have the body control of ballerinas who’ve been trained in a brothel. The men in black are suave, imperial, coolly detached and controlling…but unwitting puppets to their woman’s finesse and guile. These are dances of fiercely competing emotions, bold resistance, heated attractions, mute dialogues embedded in the Tango, born in the swirling caldron of cultures that bubbled up in the Buenos Aires of the late 1800s.

Each of the dance duets feel like artistic foreplay, each ends with a dramatic moment, a satisfying climax to exquisite storylines we imagine taking place between the dancers, who in the brief courtship may argue, resist, part, then reunite as destiny and their DNA has preordained. This is high drama set to music buried in the cultural stew of Argentina, with strains of music from European emigrées, gypsies, African slaves, and Brazilian country styles in the mix.

Performed in two acts, it is impossible to separate the music and the dancing. Each dance is followed by a musical interlude that all but sets you on the streets of an Argentine city. Mournful, wistful, seductive, it hovers like a drone targeting wherever you’ve buried that part of your dark, tormented, romantic soul. The orchestra, seated on tiers behind the dancers, contains all that is necessary. Cello (composer and creator Louis Bravo), violas, standup bass, piano and three bandoneons, the accordion-like signature instrument of the tango.

Soledad Buss and César Peral in “Forever Tango.”

Louis Bravo has described the tango as “a story you can tell in three minutes.” The brief plot in each routine lasts four or five minutes but are welded permanently into your visual cortex.

The men and women betray no emotion on their faces but communicate primal desire, fierce longing counterpoised with reticence, detachment and expressive body language. Their visages may be poker faces but the eyes are those of harlot or angel, womanizer or soul mate. Part of the draw to watching is that we can add our own story to the steamy ones we are witnessing.

The choreography, created by the dancers, includes complicated footwork, muscular lifts by the men, demanding extensions for the women, and exacting timing accomplished with exquisite athletic skill. Men's hands reach toward a woman's face. What's to come - a slap or a caress?  Even more beguiling is a sense that the woman would accept either as long as it ended in a passionate coupling.

Each half of Forever Tango includes a smouldering torch song. The singer, her zoftig body squeezed into her low slung sequined dress, is all black tresses, ruby lips, and white teeth pouring out the power and fragility of romantic love.

Imagine an Argentinian soap opera set to music and sung to the rafters. No translation from Spanish is offered, none is necessary. The diva seeming to make eye contact with you in the orchestra, is singing your song, your history, resonating with every romantic memory you've had since you were a teenager. You are ready to die for love as she finishes, black hair flying, arms outstretched, your heart having burst like a Roman candle illuminating the pain and pleasure of every love you have ever known.

By the final number that, like the very first, involves all twelve dancers, we’ve witnessed an evening of intense emotional tension without a word being said by the main characters. Their gestures have spoken for themselves.

Photo courtesy Forever Tango

2013 Festival Acadiens et Creole: Sunday, October 13

Festival Acadiens et Creole
Lafayette, LA
Sunday, October 13, 2013

Thousands of people flock to Girard Park, an expansive, grassy, island of greenery with rolling hills and abundant flat land smack in the middle of Lafayette. Some come to relax and eat – if the wind is right, the smell of frying food hits your nostrils as you enter the park. A serious concentration of the entire range of Louisiana cooking – shrimp, rice, catfish, crawfish, red beans and rice, jambalaya, gumbo – and sweet stuff like beignets, snowballs, and gateau frit is staked out on one side of the park. On the other is an equally serious concentration of arts and crafts native to Louisiana. Young families mix it all together, bringing their kids to the playground, to picnic on the hillsides, to wander through the arts and crafts vendor tents, and listen to Louisiana music. 

Ahhh, music. The Festival Acadiens et Creole dance stages are scattered throughout Girard ParkYou can hear it from one stage or another strategically located in the 33 acre park.

 
Walter Mouton and The Scott Playboys in the Salle de Danse. Born in 1938, Walter's a legend, played weekends at La Poussiere in Breaux Bridge for over 35 years, began playing when he was 13. These days, he takes it easy, only plays a a few festivals a year -  which is one reason the tent is so jammed. The other reason is he's so damn much fun to dance to. Several years ago, Walter said, " I  consider myself a dance band as opposed to an authentic Cajun band." C'mon, Walter, singing all those two steps and waltzes in Cajun French, let's compromise - you're an authentic Cajun dance band.

The "Salle de Danse", the only covered dance floor in the festival, is situated in a dell, one of the lowest areas in the park. It rained heavily last night. There is an inch of water the size of a ping pong table on the temporary wooden floor.

Look carefully at the photo above left. See that patch of wood in the lower left corner? That's the dance floor.

The temperature is in the 80s. It's humid. Under the Salle de Danse tent, it feels like we are in a hydroponic garden. How hot is it? When couples from the densely packed floor walk past me as a dance ends, their sweaty bodies give off so much heat it feels like a passing warm front. Men and women towel off after a  dance. This is not a genteel environment. We are soaked. Holding a woman close in the sauna that is a SW Louisiana afternoon, slippery skin, garments clinging to flesh, this is my idea of heaven.

Saturday's rain left patches of muddy earth all over the park. Water saturated the lowest area of the park, which, is exactly where the dance stage is located, which explains why there is a slippery puddle covering the makeshift wood flooring. Some happily wade through it, others perform some precise tight maneuvering in order to avoid it.

 

Ray Abshire and Friends - the rock solid present of traditional Cajun music -  and The Babineaux Sisters, traditional Cajun meets the new millenium.

Ray Abshire is a fourth generation accordion player, his sons on bass and guitar working on generation five. Ray played accordion with the legendary "Balfa Brothers Band" in the 60s and 70s. Dewey Balfa played  in the band that introduced America to Cajun music at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1964. Ray has performed at the Kennedy Center in NYC and dance halls over the country. He sings and plays straight ahead Cajun traditional music he learned from  masters like the Balfa brothers. No fuss, no frills. Pure Acadiana.

His mentor, fiddle player Dewey Balfa (1927-1992), believed that "a culture is preserved one generation at a time," but he realized it wasn't set in stone.  "A culture is like a whole tree. You have to water the roots to keep the tree alive,but at the same time, you can't go cutting off the branches every time it tries to grow."

Dewey would get a kick out of The Babineaux Sisters.They're like a box of cracker jacks with the prize in each handful. I am on my way to another stage when I pass by the Ma Scène Louisiane stage and hear this reggae sounding song with an irresistable beat coming from a Cajun music stage. I stop in my tracks. I grab a woman for a fine and sultry dance and head away again. Whaaat? They're playing a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "The Watchtower" - in French!  When's the last time anyone ever heard this at a Cajun festival?

! Iook up at the stage and see these two girls, two teenagers (barely), Gracie Babineaux, 15, on fiddle and Julie Babineaux,13, on rhythm guitar, fronting the band. Next they play a ballad. I missed the title but not the feeling that I need to see them perform again soon, a new band definitely out on their own Cajun limb.

Unpack your camp chair and sit down for a day of Louisiana music. Want to listen to a different band? Drag your chair to one of the other two outdoor stages. Or bring your entire living room to the park!

Girard Park, a bucolic, grassy oasis in the middle of Lafayette, a block from the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus. Who cares about music when there's a big muddy puddle where you can  try out your new boots.

 

 
Food at the vendor tents is a cash business. But - water and soft drinks are mostly donated - tickets to purchase them sold in $5.00 increments. Water or soda- two tickets. That's one way the festival makes some dough. This festival is free, an extraordinary value. The income from the drink concessions is one way the festival is subsidized.

And buy a festival pin for $10.00 to keep this three day Louisiana music extravaganza festival FREE.

Friends from Lafayette dancing on the turf.


pt with Jackie Simien, KBMT  Beaumont, TX news anchor, whom he met at the Festival last year. Jackie has written a lovely children's book, Bon Jour, Tee Belle and was here at the La Place des Petites to read and sign copies. Wayne Toups and Zydecajun finishes the weekend of music as dusk and dew descend upon Girard Park.

Photos © by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Photo of pt and Jackie Simien by Carrington Simien

 

 

2013 Festival Acadiens et Creole: Videos

Festival Acadiens et Creole
Girard Park, Lafayette, Louisiana
Friday October 11, Sunday October 13, 2013

 

 

5:15 PM Friday, October 11, 2013 Scène Ma Louisiane

A few women get inspired to line dance while the rest of the crowd is dancing two step or zydeco or some variation of the two while Geno Delafose and His French Rockin' Boogie with special guest Joel Sonnier sing from the stage. I decide to walk through the dancers, which would be impossible by 6:45 when Geno's set ends and this uneven patch of grass turning to mud will be packed solid. The Official Cutting of the Boudin kicked off the 39th annual event at 5:00.

Another band will follow from 7-8:45. Saturday and Sunday music and dancing will roll on from 10:30 AM until 7:15 PM. If the park had stadium lighting, there is no telling when the music and dancing would end.

PS the grey haired gent at the 1:42 mark is a 90 year young fella from Denver, he and his wife have been dancing for 20 years. Now I have another role model.

 

Sunday, October 13, 2013 12 PM The festival has been open an hour, will continue till 7:15, not very crowded yet.

A walk from the street down toward the Scène Ma Louisiane, the main stage (there are two other stages, one outdoors, Scène Mon Heritage) like this one, another (Salle de Danse) in a tent where the temperature could melt probably melt glass. I pass by one section of food tents, there are fifteen more nearby selling anything fried, baked, boiled or roasted, not to mention a few dedicated to your sweet tooth. Cooking demonstrations go on all day long at the Culture de la Table seen at the 0:38 mark. Three rows of Arts and Crafts vendors are in a nearby section of the park.

 

2013 Festival Acadiens et Creole: Friday October 11

2013 Festival Acadiens et Creole

Friday night, October 11, 2013

How do you explain an event like Festival Acadiens et Creole? To people who live in and around Lafayette, Louisiana it’s just another chance to listen to music, and, if they feel like it, to dance. Music and dance, oxygen and carbon dioxide, inseparable paired combinations.

What separates Lafayette from other cities is the volume of outdoor music. Let’s see. In Lafayette there are the Bach Lunches at noon on Friday, the four day Festival International de Louisiane in April, and the three day Festival Acadiens et Creole in October. Mardi Gras is celebrated here and in every little town within fifty miles of Lafayette.

There are over 400 (no typo) festivals celebrated a year in Louisiana.These people are imaginative. They find ways to celebrate everything that grows or lives here.

Rice? There’s the International Rice Festival in Crowley. Strawberries? The Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula. Tomatoes? The Tomato Festival in Chalmette. Catfish? Actually two of them - Franklin Parish Catfish Festival in Winnsboro and the Catfish Festival in Washington, LA. Pride in Cajun heritage? The Giant Omelette Festival in Abbeville. Crawfish? The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. You get the idea.
http://www.louisianatravel.com/festivals

Festival Acadiens et Creole is a genuflection to the two biggest stars in the southwest galaxy of music: Cajun and Creole music.

“This festival is special. It’s one of the most important festivals because it shines a light on our culture. It’s not just Cajun music, it’s Louisiana music,” says Steve Riley, leader of  Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys. His band travels has been traveling the world, spreading the gospel of Louisiana music for 25 years.

There is no other festival on earth that spawns such eclectic, authentic, rootsy, music that honors it's past but is not anchored to it. Just look at the names of the musicians on the program.

“Go to to dance halls and you see 20-year-olds dancing with 70-year-olds,” Riley says. “Look in the crowd, it's happening right here, right now. You can go to the Blue Moon Saloon on a Wednesday night an hear a jam session put on by a bunch of 21-year-old kids just learning how to perform. The music is alive, keeps reinventing itself. We’ve been playing together for 25 years, heck some marriages don't last that long."(probably true of the members of the band on stage, too).

I've lost track of the times I've fallen in love during an especially fine dance. A friend of mine calls them "four minute affairs." Judging by the smiles on the dancer's faces, there are plenty of affairs going on right now.

Dance floor? Heck, no. These people are dancing on what unti this morning was an uneven pach of grass. It's turning a little muddy thanks to last night' s rain. Last year, some dancers wore bandanas over their faces to keep from inhaling dust kicked up by hundreds of pairs of feet. A little mud? No one complains.

 

Parents, sometimes grandparents, take kids around the dance floor in their arms, on their shoulders, even have kids stand on their shoes and move to the beat with them. Are they enjoying themselves? Check the smile on the little girl. Some day, they'll do the same thing with their own kids. In southwest Louiisiana, dancing is a birthright.

Friday afternoon 5:30 PM there is Geno and His French Rockin' Boogie on the main stage at Girard Park kicking off the 39th year of Festival Acadiens et Creole. The sky is blue, the sun is lazing its way toward the horizon, the temperature is in the low 80s, the humidity is low, and spirits are high.

Right now there a couple hundred people happily shaking their booty on the uneven, clumpy, grass-beaten-down-about-to-be-mud-or-dust surface in front of the stage, with another 300 sprawled about in camp chairs or blankets listening to Geno's popular music. Geno has been playing steadily for the past 19 years. It's no wonder most of them can lip-synch or sing-along with his upbeat two steps or lazy waltzes.

Geno and His French Rockin' Boogie have been a huge draw for any dance since 1994. They play zydeco and a smattering of country/western and bluesy styles. Geno's the kickstarter for this year's festival. An honest to goodness Creole cowboy, when he's not performing he's raising horses on his Double D ranch in Duralde, LA.

Photos © by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. 

 

Bonsoir Catin at ARTmosphere

Bonsoir Catin
ARTmosphere
902 Johnson Street
Lafayette, LA

October 11, 2013

No doubt about it. These gals rock. Tonight they played some new material, a few covers, and lots of their own catalog. Hard to pin this down. Tonight is high enegry cajun roots rock mixed with some sweet waltzes and sultry ballads. Sweaty dancers love these - a chance to slow down and hold an equally sweaty dancer in your arms.Yes. If you're fussy about your clothing becoming soaked or being in close quarters with a partner who looks like he/she just finished a hundred yard dash in the blazing sun, you probably want to listen to music at home and dance in your kitchen - which actually is fun whether you do it spontaneously while the bacon is frying or with a guest of similar persuasion. But I digress.

Artmosphere hosts some of the best bands in Lafayette. That's saying something because Lafayette has become a petrie dish incubating the next generation of cajun and roots rockers in Louisiana. Like its neighbor The Blue  Moon, they give fledgling singer songwriters and bands a chance to reach for the stars - or at least a niche audience.

Bonsoir Catin used to be one of those fledgling bands. No more. They have a huge following, love and respect the traditions from which it springs, and can play the  bejesus out of their guitars, fiddles, accordion and drums, which are manned by the one Y chromosome in the band.

   

 

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Ray Abshire and Friends: The Blue Moon Saloon

The Blue Moon Saloon
215 East Convent Street

Lafayette, Louisiana 7050
October 10, 2013
9 PM till ?

The Blue Moon Saloon salutes Louisiana talent across the board. Roots music, Cajun,  funk, a little zydeco, rock n roll, Texas two-step, blues – you’ll hear it all here from young up-and-comers and Grammy nominated (and winning) musicians like Steve Riley, Wayne Toups, Cedric Watson and bands like young Feufollet and The Pine Leaf Boys and The Red Stick Ramblers. The place isn’t afraid to book new talent with bands I’ve never heard of – The Drunken Catfish Ramblers, The Iguanas, The Creole String Beans.

And when it’s Mardi Gras or Festival International de Louisiane or Festival Acadiens et Creole, the Blue Moon Saloon is the first stop for dancers who flock to Lafayette like bees to buttercups. I have no idea what the fire code is for this establishment but I would bet a bucket of boudain it stretches the limit. If you are at all claustrophobic, this would be your nightmare.

Imagine the density of a crowd in a subway car at rush hour. Then imagine some really peppy music and everyone decides to dance. That's what happens at the Blue Moon Saloon on a night like this. The only uniformity is that this dancing bunch of sardines moves to the same beat, not necessarily in the same direction at the same time. Soft collisions are frequent, smiles are offered. Sweaty slippery bodies move along in what looks like slow motion mitosis under the microscope you used in high school biology class. The one cool thing about this is that it is a terrific excuse to dance in close embrace with your partner. Slow, steady, and smile.

Waltzes and two step are done with economy of style. Small steps, often keeping time while barely moving. Lots of hip action, like dancing on a manhole cover. Encourages your inner free spirit.

Tonight it’s Ray Abshire accordion, highly-regarded fiddlers Courtney Granger and Kevin Wimmer, Ray’s two sons on guitar and bass and Ray's friend Lisa Cormier keeping time on the drums.

"Ray Abshire's sons are Brent and Travis and their traditional style is due to Abshire's diligent commitment to our root rhythms and syncopation," says music-lover Abigail Ransonet, born and bred in Acadiana, who was one of the sweetest dancers in the crush.

Ray has played with many of the legendary Cajun musicians including the Balfa Brothers. Today, he's a link to the past, present, and future. Sharing the vocals with Courtney Granger, these guys are a hell of a lot of fun to dance to.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

October 11, 2013 in Dance, Louisiana | Permalink

Mercredi Show in Carecro: Outdoor Dancing SW Louisiana Style

 The Mercredi Show

110 Softball Drive at the Pelican Park Concert Stage behind a huge softball diamond
Carencro, LA ( The Softball Capitol of the World)
October 9, 2013
6:00 - 8:30 PM (non-stop, I might add)

This week: Swamp Pop Extravaganza featuring the godfathers of Swamp Pop: Warren Storm and Willie Tee and Cypress

Southwest Louisiana takes two things seriously: music and dancing. Well, there's also food, fishing, friendships, family ties, and farming, but let's stick with the music and dancing, the most inseparable pair of the bunch. They're not particular about where to combine the two. If you've never danced in a parking lot, in a muddy field, in front of a donut shop, at a county fair, in a city park...well, my friend, you've never been to the parishes in the heart of southwest Louisiana.

The "Mercredi" ("Wednesday" en Francais) Show is into its 8th year, with a series in the Spring and the Fall.

MORE DETAILS and a VIDEO when I return home

"We've got a special guest in the audience tonight. There's a fella who came all the way from Boston to dance to Warren Storm and Willie Tee... Paul, where are you?" says the MC. I wave to the crowd. Murray Conque, MC and well-known Cajun comdien, is the cousin of Richard Conques (see below), who told me about the Mercredi Show schedule this year. When i found them on the hillside, they had a camp chair set up for me and introduced me to their friends. That's typical SW Louisiana hospitality.

 

Richard and Ramona Conques, who I met at the Festival Acadiens et Creole last October; pt and Ramona on the dance floor.

Gotta love this: the beer and soft drink concession is operated by the local funeral home!

Two of the godfathers of Swamp Pop: Warren Storm and Willie Tee

Ramona and Richard Conques with pt; Richard's cousin, Comedian and popular MC Murray Conque, Warren Storm, pt

Owner of KBON FM in Eunice, LA, popular DJ Paul Marx with pt

http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2010/12/kbon-louisiana-proud-the-voice-of-the-prairie.html

 

Chubby Carrier at The Rock 'n' Bowl

Rock 'n' Bowl
3000 S Carrollton Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
September 12, 2013

With Roy Carrier (father), Warren Carrier (grandfather), and cousins Bebe and Calvin Carrier in his bloodline, men who are presently considered legends in zydeco history, Chubby Carrier is a supreme showman and musician. Whether he's playing in a parking lot in Opelousas or the stage of the Rock 'n' Bowl in New Orleans, he's gonna make you feel like he's singing for your own personal dancing pleasure.You might hear songs by his father Roy or D. L. Menard or Clifton Chenier but Chubby makes them all his own.

And where else can you hear Louisiana music from a stage with a great dance floor and look across the room and see college kids bowling on twenty state-of-the-art ten pin alleys?

Photos by Paul A.Tamburello, Jr.