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	The latest updates are always below.
	SF Bay Area information:   ALL calendar information should be sent to Ellen Papper ( epapper@sbcglobal.net) who maintains the Bay Area Calendar of Cajun-Zydeco Dances.  I have not maintained this information since I moved to Louisiana and will not respond to calendar requests.
	The Bay Area Information page covers lots more: dance instructors, directions to venues,  supporting Bay Area organizations , etc.   Follow this link to Bay Area Clubs.
	Original writing and photographs relating to Cajun, Creole and zydeco music and culture and Southwest Louisiana, mostly originating from the San Francisco Bay Area and Southwest Louisiana. The Journal index lists articles dating back to 1996.
	News and reviews about Cajun, Creole and zydeco culture, including CDs,  books, videos and films on the subject.
	Annotated Lists of Web Resources. A selected listing of the most informative Cajun-zydeco related websites I have found on the web, covering Louisiana, national and regional information, calendars, newsletters, etc.   Start at National Information and explore.

 

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Old-Time meets Cajun- The (Almost) Lost Recordings By Dennis McGee and Sady Courville by Jack Bond (Maryland) There is a happy ending to this saga.   These historic recordings have just been released on CD by The Field Recorders' Collective.  Website:  www.fieldrecorder.com Dennis McGee & Sadie Courville (From the collection of Jack Bond) $15 per disc.  Dennis McGee (1893-1989) and Sady Courville (1905-1988) formed the musical bedrock for Cajun fiddling. As Roger Weiss described their complex twin fiddling styles; "a less-beautiful form of musicﾉrawﾉimpassioned." Dennis and Sady recorded eight tunes for Vocalion in 1929. Afterwards, Dennis recorded additional songs with Ernest Frugè Amedè Ardoin, and Angelas Le Jeunne. In July 1972, after Dennis and Sady performed at the National Folk Festival, they traveled to Joe Bussardﾕs home to be recorded by Charles Faurot for the first time since 1929 for Richard Nevins' now rare Morning Star LP #16001. This CD includes the LP's twelve songs plus sixteen previously unreleased tunes from that recording session. - Jack Bond Also available by the collective are some early Dewey Balfa recordings: Dewey Balfa with Friends & Family (From the collection of the Brandwine Friends of Old Time Music) $15 per disc. Fiddler Dewey Balfa was born on March 20, 1927 near Mamou, Louisiana, one of nine children in a family of sharecroppers. He learned to play the fiddle from his father, taking early inspiration from the music of Leo Soileau, Harry Choates and Bob Wills. During World War II, he continued playing music, sitting in with a variety of western swing bands. By the late 1940s, Dewey returned home to Louisiana, where he teamed with his siblings Rodney, Will, Harry and Burkeman to play local parties and dances as The Musical Brothers. In 1964, Dewey led a group of Cajun musicians at the Newport Folk Festival, ending in a standing ovation from the 17,000-plus attendees, providing concrete proof that Cajun music could find a wide audience. With Rodney and Will, daughter Nelda and accordionist Hadley Fontenot, Dewey officially formed The Balfa Brothers band in 1965, and with them returned to Newport in 1967 to similar acclaim. Deweyﾕs worked closely with the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana to increase studies of the French language in state schools; he also campaigned successfully for a Cajun music festival. Tragedy struck in 1979, when Will and Rodney were both killed in an auto accident and in 1980, Deweyﾕs wife Hilda died as well. Dewey re-formed The Balfa Brothers with daughter Christine and nephew Tony. In 1982, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor given folk artists by the National Endowment of the Arts. After a long battle with cancer, Dewey Balfa died on June 17, 1992. - Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music

Easing Type A Personalities into a Type B Culture: The 2007 Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week (April 24, 2007) This year I attended the first half of Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, and had a fabulous time.   The weather was perfect, the mosquito population was barely noticeable, and the music, dances, workshops, jams and classes were inspiring.   If you are looking for a way to immerse yourself into Cajun and Creole culture for a week, I can't think of a better way to do this. Under the direction of its recently appointed Executive Director, Todd Mouton, this year Balfa camp had a new philosophy: introducing spontaneity and fluidity into what had previously been a more tightly defined program (and registration process).  Even though the camp had sold out and was at full capacity, I felt fortunate that at the last minute I was able to sign up for less than a full week of classes to fit my schedule, and I met other campers who were only attending morning sessions. This year's program was rich in its variety. Here's a partial list of what was going on:   various levels of music instruction in fiddle (Jonno Frishberg, Hadley Castille, Courtney Granger, Al Berard, and Jeffrey Broussard), accordion (Dirk Powell, Kristi Guillary, Ray Abshire, Corey 'Lil Pop' Ledet) and guitar (Christine Balfa, Sam Broussard & Gina Forsyth);  cooking lessons with Chef Pat Mould and local notables; language and vocals with Jan Boney, Jane Vidrine, Ann Savoy; Band Lab, organized by Instructor Coordinater, Peter Schwarz;  and  Master Presentations by D.L. Menard, Jimmy Breaux, Nolton Simian, Michael Doucet & Mitch Reed, and the Savoy family.  Private music lessons were also available and during my day-and-a-half of camp attendance, I was fortunate to get time in with Sam Broussard, Courtney Granger & Christine Balfa.   If you'd been to Balfa camp before, the morning schedule (intensive classes in the instrument of your choice, followed by either Band Lab, vocals, cooking lesson or a cultural event), then lunch and a Masters Presentation remained basically the same, but the afternoon Lapniappe sessions were partially planned and partially determined by the instructors, campers and the 'professional' musicians who were also in attendance.   A lot of Balfa camp had this ad-lib quality to it, to the point that Todd joked that that one of the objectives of the camp was to teach Louisiana's Type B attitude to the many Type A folks in attendance.   The key to each afternoon was to keep an eye on the white board that listed that day's events, as they evolved.  Evenings at camp included nightly dances (with Balfa Toujours, the Creole Cowboys,  Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, the Pine Leaf Boys, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas, & Ray Abshire, to name a few), followed by late night jam sessions, either at the large group camp or as improvised by fellow campers. For the last several years, Balfa camp has been held at a gorgeous location in Lake Chicot state park.  This year the park had completed construction on beautiful new cabins literally sitting on piers over the lake (with cathedral ceilings, a full kitchen and fireplaces) and we had some lovely jams sitting in their screened in porches.  I had a great time and learned a lot at Balfa camp and highly recommend the experience to anyone interested in immersing themselves in the Cajun-Creole culture.   Here's a link to my Balfa camp photo album

The 1st Annual Blackpot Festival This festival was created by members of the Lafayette roots music community as an unprecedented gathering of south Louisiana’s hottest roots bands. From Cajun & Zydeco, to Creole, Swing, Hot Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Americana, Irish & Old-Time, this festival had something for everyone including an old-fashioned blackpot cookoff, an accordion contest, square dancing, music workshops, and activities for children. It was all held in beautiful Acadian Village, which was lit up at night for the holidays. Held on November 10 & 11th, the bands included Jay Unger & Molly Mason, the Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Feufollet, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Racines, the Pine Leaf Boys, Corey Ledet, Bonsoir Catin, The Figgs, Louisiana Purchase Bluegrass Band, Ann Savoy & Her Sleepless Knights, Red Stick Ramblers, Preston Frank and Drew Landry. Here's a link to my photo album from the festival.

California Friends of Louisiana French Music: The End of an Era CFLFM is being dissolved on 12/31/06.  I have fond memories of this organization....[more]

Will Play for Cheese...A Visit to The SF Bay Area - May 2006 My first visit back to the Bay Area in 18 months. [link to photos from my trip]

Richard's Club in Lawtell, LA has closed its doors... http://www.dailyworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006605100310 As an 'outsider' who moved to Lafayette a few years ago from San Francisco, in large part for the uniqueness of its music and culture,   there were certain special things that had me and many of my friends around the country returning to SW LA regularly and compulsively;   to name a few:   Hamilton's Club (gone),  Richards Club (almost gone),  Slims Y Ki-Ki (hangin on'),  Festival Acadians,  Grant Street (closed),  Vermillionville (attendance way down after the hurricanes),   El Sidos (hangin' on),  La Poussiere,  Whiskey River,  Mulate's,  Liberty Theatre,  Plaisance Zydeco Festival, jams at the Savoy Music Shop and Louisiana Heritage & Gifts., the Blue Moon.    These cultural places and events are special and need to be supported and preserved before it is too late.    Hamilton's Club closed last year and Richard's Club closed in May.  The Archives for Cajun & Creole Folklore is in trouble in part because its state funding was redirected to hurricane relief. (see below how you can help the Archives).  A note to the Louisiana Office of Tourism might help focus attention on saving these old wooden dancehalls and supporting those other historical and cultural landmarks and events.

Au Secours!: Help Save the Archives Once again, the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore is asking for help from Cajun & Creole music fans, scholars and everyone invested in preserving Louisiana's rich cultural heritage.....  [continued]

Help Save Louisiana Heritage and Gifts Update: 1/8/07: LA Heritage & Gifts will be closing permanently after Mardi Gras 2007. Louisiana Heritage & Gifts is the 'glue' that keeps the traditional Cajun and Creole music community together in contemporary Acadiana.  Along with the Blue Moon Saloon and Louisiana Folk Roots, it represents a key component at the living breathing center of music related activities in Southwest Louisiana. Mitch Reed & Steve Riley hold regular music lessons there and every Saturday there are Cajun jams with visitors from all over the world joining the locals. You never know who will turn up to play music or just hang out on a Saturday. It is also the best place around Lafayette to find Cajun, Creole, zydeco and swamp pop CDs.  I encourage you to help support the cause in any way you can and help keep the culture alive.  For those of you from out of town, the Pine Leaf Boys' website has a Paypal link where you can make a donation to Louisiana Heritage & Gifts.  Visit http://www.pineleafboys.com/savethemusic.html  for more info. Read the article online from the Times of Acadiana at http://timesofacadiana.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/NEWS0102/603080301/1051

Mardi Gras 2006 link to more photos It was a great party as usual.  I went to two rural towns (Mermentau and Hathaway) where we were the only out-of-towners watching traditional celebrations,  urban parades in Lafayette, small town parades in Church Point,  celebrations in T-Mamou (Iota) and house parties in Eunice and Breaux Bridge.  Plus jamming on the swamp tour boat and at Mitch & Lisa Reed's store,  house parties with Curley Taylor, dances featuring Balfa Toujours, the Pine Leaf Boys,  Red Stick Ramblers, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and Rosie Ledet, amoung others, and great meals with crawfish, boiled shrimp and gumbo.  It was exhausting and fabulous and filled with lots of local friends and visitors from out of town.   Here's a link to my photos.  Hurricane Katrina - Update from Lafayette -including information on how to help

9/15/05 New York Times article about Lafayette, LA:  Where Musical Refugees Can Thicken the Gumbo 9/14/05 Where to Begin:  Some Personal Impressions of Hurricane Katrina from Lafayette, LA 9/13/05 A Place of One's Own - Baton Rouge:  PRI Radio show on how the estimated 200,000 residents of Baton Rouge, effectively doubling its size, may affect that city  9/12/05 Article in the Los Angeles Times: "Not Bourbon St., but it'll do " Creative types who were forced to flee New Orleans are regrouping and reconnecting in laid-back Lafayette, La. By Reed Johnson and Steven Barrie-Anthony Times Staff Writers LAFAYETTE, La.:  Like those of so many artists and musicians, Peter Nu's life was scattered to the four winds when Hurricane Katrina ripped up the Gulf Coast two weeks ago. He's still not sure when he'll be able to go home to New Orleans, and what sort of job prospects may greet him once he gets there.     The complete article can be viewed here   9/5/05 NPR - Weekend Edition recorded a program from Zydeco Breakfast at Cafe des Amis this morning (recorded yesterday).  NPR : Troubles Ease a Bit at the Zydeco Cafe There was another story of local interest about Baton Rouge, which is about 60 miles away from Lafayette: NPR : Baton Rouge, a Hurricane Boom Town The headlines in today's paper quotes the mayor as saying evacuees could add 40,000 to Lafayette's population (currently about 100,000).  Mayor Durel also announced that Festivals Acadians is still on for Sept. 15:  "We still need our festivals to offer these people some relief and entertainment". 9/3/05 Info from Geno Delafose's Email Newsletter, including a story by Michael Tisserand about evacuating from New Orleans

Hamilton's Place holds its Last Dance On Sunday, June 19,  Hamilton's Place in Lafayette, LA  more commonly known as The Hamilton Club held its last dance and closed its doors for good. Mr. William Hamilton (photo left by Philip Gould) cited personal health problems and dwindling crowds as the reasons for closing.   Hamilton's, open since 1956, is/was one of the last remaining roadhouse zydeco clubs,  a raised building with wooden floors that literally shook,  bounced and vibrated when the dancing and music got good and loud. Dwindling crowds were not a problem on closing night, when Geno Delafose and Keith Frank played their final shows there.  The doors opened at 6pm and by 9 that evening over 800 people had paid admission (200 over the club limit but, as I heard someone say, what were the local authorities going to do at that point, close them down?).  There are no definite plans for the club right now, except however that Mr. Hamilton would like to sell the building and have it moved from the family property on Verot School Road.   I've heard there is a group in Northern Louisiana that would like to move it there and turn it into a zydeco music.  Another idea,  that has been supported by an editorial in  the local newspaper, is to have the club moved to either Vermillionville or Acadian Village to sit with examples of other traditional Southwest Louisiana architecture in these living history museums.

Lafayette Update: Secret Handshakes and the End of an Era - June 2005 Springtime Beckons - March 2005 Bonne Année, Y'all - December 2004 Autumn Reflections - October 2004 Eight Days in August - 2004 Summer Arrives, June 2004

Notes From Acadiana - Early Spring 2004 Article about Acadiana Jam Sessions (with a quote from ME!!) in the Baton Rouge Advocate 4/16/04

Two Hearts Are Better Than One:  A Valentine to the SF Bay Area and Acadiana

Louisiana Folk Roots' Fall 2003 Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Week - a wonderful cultural immersion program Steve Riley & Jeffery Broussard demonstrating Cajun and zydeco accordion styles Information on the Spring 2004 weekend now available!! A great article on Fall camp by Rob Krumm: Cajun/Creole ‘Band Camp’ for a Noisy Gator

Festivals Acadiens, 2003 This year's festival was dedicated to Adam Hebert (left)

The End of Summer Sean Ardoin put on a great show of traditional and modern zydeco.....         I hung around to see the Lost Bayou Ramblers make their Bay Area debut at The Pizza Company.       And I stopped at the Cadillac Ranch off old Route 66 on the drive back back to Louisiana....

Old-Time meets Cajun- The (Almost) Lost Recordings By Dennis McGee and Sady Courville by Jack Bond (Maryland) I found this article on Gary Hayman's Zyd-e-zine so interesting, I asked Jack for permission to republish it

The Savoy-Doucet Band at Ashkenaz, Aug 2003   Some photos from a wonderful evening of traditional Cajun songs performed from the heart by three amazing musicians.

Summer in the City       LaFleur et Basile Band, July 03

Transitioning Back to the Bay Area- Summer 2003 (July 12,2003) I’ve been back in the SF Bay Area for little over a month now, after spending the winter in Lafayette, LA and while, it’s true, I can’t go out EVERY night of the week to listen and dance to Cajun or zydeco music here, there have been so many great bands traveling through over the last few weekends, that I haven’t had that much opportunity to be too homesick, at least musically speaking, for my life in Louisiana. ......

For more articles, go to the Bay Area Journal page.

CDs Previous music reviews are located at Music Reviews and Recommended Recordings

Here's a list of some recent releases worth seeking out.   Please consider ordering them from privately owned Louisiana music stores:  Louisiana Heritage & Gifts in Lafayette,  Floyd's Record Store in Ville Platte, or the Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans, all of whom are struggling for business right now, with the drop in tourism after the hurricanes.

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet - Live in Louisiana Nouveau Stringband with Marce Lacouture  Cedric Watson & Corey Ledet - Goin' Down to Louisiana Mello Joy Boys -  Un Tasse Cafe' Pine Leaf Boys - La Musique Charivari - A Trip to the Holiday Lounge Marc Savoy Plays Cajun Accordion - Back to the Basics Savoy Style Magnolia Sisters - Lapin Lapin - Cajun Creole Songs for Children Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys - Dominos

C/Z books .

Zydeco! Photographs by Rick Olivier; text by Ben Sandmel (University Press of Mississippi) Click here for a review   or here to order from from Amazon.com

The Kingdom of Zydeco by Michael Tisserand This is a must read book for any zydeco fan. It will open your eyes, keep you up at night and have you running to the CD store for the soundtrack to put on as background music as you read the first person accounts in this absorbing history. Click here for a review or here to order from Amazon.com.

Let the Good Times Roll, A Guide to Cajun and Zydeco Music by Pat Nyhan, Brian Rollins and David Babb. Click here for review or click here to order (from Amazon.com)

For more books and book reviews, go to the Book page