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Summer Arrives….
(6/21/04) Guess what? It’s HOT in Louisiana. And it rains… a lot. We’ve had sudden storms with tremendous shows of lightning and thunder that just amaze me. A few weeks ago, we had over 20 inches of rain in less than 2 weeks! I bought muck shoes just for walking around. After living for 20 plus years in San Francisco, a city with one and a half seasons, and barely a need to check the weather report, the weather in Southwest Louisiana constantly fascinates me. And the plants that grow here, in their dazzling displays of spring and summer color… I look at all this unfamiliar vegetation in awe. My every day environment certainly has changed.
I’ve been a full time resident of Louisiana for about five months now. In March I gave up my California driver’s license and registered my car in Louisiana. That took me all of 35 minutes (with no appointment) including the time it took me to drive to the Department of Motor Vehicles. And I bought a lovely house 5 minutes from downtown Lafayette that is being remodeled right now. It’s got a large screened in porch with a ceiling fan and great acoustics. It’s going to be a great place for jams and parties. I’m hoping to move into it before the end of July.
What I love most about living here is how easy it is to fit music (dancing, and playing in Cajun/Creole jams) into my everyday life. Three or four days a week I’m able to play guitar at jams: at the Blue Moon, Louisiana Heritage & Gifts, Louisiana Folks Roots, Savoy Music Center or friends homes. Weekends there’s also too many places to choose from to go dancing…. From the Lafayette clubs - Hamilton’s, Grant Street, El Sido’s, Blue Moon, to Breaux Bridge – Café des Amis zydeco breakfast, La Pouissiere, to Slim’s (back in action again) and the new casino in Opelousas and Richard’s in Lawtell. There are also side trips to New Orleans, (although these are mostly motivated by a visit to Whole Foods… I bring a cooler and stock up (a new Whole Foods will be opening in Baton Rouge by year end. - yippee!! …although I have discovered the local farmers market.) There’s also some kind of festival going on just about every weekend… no matter what the theme of the festival, there’s always good food and live music to be had.
The Spring festival season has come and gone: Lafayette’s Festival International (which unfortunately got rained out mid afternoon on the weekend}, Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest (where tragically a New Orleans CZ dancer was murdered by some young teenagers who accosted him for money as he was leaving the festival), and a trip to Fort Lauderdale for what was the final Cajun Zydeco festival put on by the city of Fort Lauderdale (a real tragedy – let’s hope the volunteer staff will be able to find the funding to continue on this tradition with new sponsors). It goes without saying that there was great music at all these places. It was equally great seeing friends from all over the country.
Most recently, on the local scene, the big crowds showed up at the Blue Moon last week to see what Horace Trahan was up to in his first public gig since finding religion and giving up music just as his novelty song, "That Butt Thing" became a huge regional hit. Performing with his cousin, Kenneth Richard, Horace came on stage looking like a young Bob Dylan during his Woody Guthrie stage. And then he sang original ‘folk’ songs accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. He was smoking and drinking and preaching a homegrown religion philosophy between songs, and in his songs. His remarks were peppered with comments about how ‘no one on earth can judge another man’. Several songs were about legalizing marijuana (he may have topped Kermit Ruffins on the number of pot references in a single set) The crowd, which wanted to dance, seemed not sure what to make of Horace’s latest incarnation. Message aside, I thought Horace has really honed his songwriting skills… his songs had some intricate lyrics full of internal rhymes and complexity… all set to very catchy tunes. Eventually Horace strapped on his accordion and played both zydeco AND Cajun songs. And Kenneth played some screaming guitar rock and roll. It was a very interesting evening.
8 Days in August
(8-9-04) Rumor has it that things slow down in Louisiana during the summer time, but here is how I spent my last 8 days in Lafayette:
Tonight I just got home from a 2 hour lecture on the history of Creole and zydeco music presented by Ann Savoy which included some of the source material she collected while writing her encyclopedic and authoritative book on the history of Cajun and Creole Music entitled: Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People. A week ago, I attended the 1st lecture in the series, which was on Cajun music. The series was sponsored by Louisiana Folk Roots with funding by the Acadiana Arts Council. In slides and homemade research videos, Ann illustrated the history of Louisiana French music, taught us to sing several traditional songs, and showed us pictures and tapes of some of the legendary musicians that created and passed down this unique music..., including: fiddler extraordinaire Dennis McGee, the charismatic Canray Fontenot, and Bebe Carriere (playing Bluerunner, with roosters crowing in the background). It was interesting to listen the lecture in a room mostly filled with local residents. Some of these folks had personal stories to add about the musicians Ann was talking about.
This formal lecture was a contrast to my activities from Monday night, when I attending a house party and jam. Refreshments included gumbo, cornbread and homemade fig wine (it was excellent!). Among the attendees was Ray Abshire (who played with the Balfa Brothers) and Dennis McGee's son. It was a great house warming for the host couple who had just moved to Lafayette from Santa Fe a few months ago. I'd say over 30 people attended on a Monday night... Lafayette is a very easy place to make friends and feel welcome.
Last Saturday, just another typical day in paradise, I attended the afternoon session of Creole Day sponsored by Louisiana Folk Roots. There was a Creole fiddle presentation (with Morris Ardoin - Bois Sec's son, Edward Poullard (Danny's younger brother), Jeffrey Broussard (of Zydeco Force), D'Jalma Garnier (formerly with File), Mitch Reed (of Charivari), Cedric Watson, a very talented young Creole fiddler from Texas who is creating a sensation here, and James Allen & Blake Castille on guitar. After the demonstration was a rip-roaring jam session, and afterwards, I attended another house party in Lawtell with great food. The guests included most of the above musicians.
Last Wednesday and Thursday were jam sessions at the Blue Moon Saloon and the Louisiana Folk Roots office, respectively. I also found time to have dinner with friends visiting from San Francisco and Portland, and fit in some unpacking and getting settled into my new house (still a partial construction zone, but at least I finally moved in the last week of July). Plus there were at least a half dozen other dance things I wanted to do, but didn't have the time or energy for: Curley Taylor at Hamilton's Club, Lil Pop Ledet at the Blue Moon, Chris Ardoin at Wrangers, Leroy Thomas at both the zydeco breakfast at Cafe des Amis, and El-Sido's.
This is life in Lafayette in August, when you would think everything would be shut down. The closest concession to a summer slowdown is that the some select restaurants are participating the Tourist Office's 20 for 20 Promotion: 20 of the best restaurants in town have 3 course dinner specials for $20 during the month of August.... so I've been got a nice list of places to return to or check out as guests come into town this month: Zea's Rotisserie and Grill, Cafe des Amis, Prejean's, Cafe Vermillionville, & Don's Seafood Hut, among them. Allons a Lafayette!!
