Mardi Gras 2002 in Southwest Louisiana

(February 2002) Here's a tip: if you go to Mardi Gras in Acadiana, be sure to memorize the above lyrics before you leave. I guarantee that you will hear "La Chanson de Mardi Gras" performed multiple times each day and be asked to sing along.

My visits to Southwest Louisiana are always such a pleasure. From the variety of music to exploring the countryside and culture to meeting new and old friends,  days just go by in a flash. This visit, scheduled to coincide with the annual Mardi Gras festivities, was no exception. Here are some highlights from this trip, keeping in mind that I only was able to get to a very small percentage of the events that were scheduled during my visit:

Thursday:

After checking in my Lafayette motel room, I drove to Vermillionville where Donna Angelle was playing at a smoke-free event, organized by Marce Lacouture. Donna played to a small but enthusiastic crowd. Vermillionville has a terrific wooden dance floor and great atmosphere.

Friday:

To my surprise, there was ice on my windshield when I woke my first morning in Lafayette. A fellow guest improvised an ice scraper for me, which, when assisted by the car defroster and the warming air, soon let me go on my way. Overall , it was coldest Mardi Gras I'd yet attended, with temperatures dipping to the low 40s each evening and rising to the upper 50s to mid-60s during the days. Still, it was great dancing and sight-seeing weather.

After getting rolling, I started the day with a leisurely breakfast at Café des Amis and their famous Eggs Begnaud (biscuits with eggs covered by crawfish etouffee and a side of grits…YUM.) Then I drove to Iota to visit Larry Miller's workshop. I wanted to buy a "tee-fer" (little iron or Cajun triangle), and Larry makes these as well as rubboards and the accordions he is famous for in his shop. Many beautiful accordions are displayed in his studio, and Larry gave me a brief overview on how an accordion is put together, how the reeds work, etc. I also spent some time with his wife, Jackie, who makes traditional Mardi Gras masks and the high pointed conical hats or capuchons that are used in rural Acadiana festivities. On the way back to town I saw the most astonishing display of birds rising from the rice fields along the road. Wave after wave of hundreds of birds swooping in clouds so thick I had visions of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", as I was approaching them but fortunately the flock of birds parted as I got closer, and I made it through intact.

In the afternoon, I visited Flat Town Music in Ville Platte and visited the legendary Floyd Soileau, his wife Jin and son Chris.  Floyd began recording, producing and distributing Cajun French music, as well as zydeco and swamp pop music, in the Louisiana area in the 1950s.

From Flat Town, I headed back to Lafayette to stop by the Blue Moon Guest House and Saloon, where I had stayed on my prior visit, to catch up with proprietors Catherine and Mark, see the great changes they have made to the property (adding an outside building that serves as a saloon), and listen to Cherry Street Ramblers on their back porch. It was a charming, intimate place to listen to music. The band was unamplified but sang through megaphones to project their vocals.

Afterwards, some of us from Blue Moon headed to Pat's Seafood Restaurant in Henderson for dinner, prior to Zydeco Joe's gig at Pat's Atchafalaya Club, which is located behind the restaurant. Pat's club is a beautiful new venue that recently opened up in Henderson, at the very end of the road that stops at the levee on the way to Whisky River. A huge dance floor, lots of tables, and decent acoustics makes this an excellent place to dance and listen to music. Zydeco Joe was in fine form that night and it was great to see friends from across the country who had just arrived in town for the Mardi Gras festivities.

After several hours at Pat's it was time to move on because Keith Frank was playing at Hamilton's Club. The joint was jumping when we got there at midnight and it stayed crowded but not uncomfortably so when I finally left at 2am. Keith Frank sounded great and kept the crowd on its feet.

Saturday

In the morning I headed to the zydeco breakfast at Café des Amis. Thomas Fields jovially bantered with the audience and put on a crowd-pleasing performance for those dancing between the tables, or sitting to enjoy breakfast and the scene. Afterwards, I walked two blocks over to the Bayou Teche Bed and Breakfast, located in the oldest historical structure in the town of Breaux Bridge.  Its proprietor, Mary Lynn Chauffe, is from a family with deep roots in the Breaux Bridge area, and serves on the board of the Nature Conservancy. With her siblings and cousins, she inherited land at Lake Martin which used to be the Ruth Plantation and now is partially used as a hunting preserve. When she heard I had not yet been to the Lake, Mary hustled me into her truck to run some errands and then give me a tour. The errands included stopping at an oyster shucking plant and crawfish pond in the area to pick up provisions for the crawfish boil that she and her family were having that afternoon. Then we drove around the lake, where there were hundreds of egrets nesting. No gators, though… too cold for them, she thought. Driving to the other side of the lake, she told me about a privately built medieval tower, surrounded by an actual moat, which was built on the lake front, by a local eccentric who hated modern conveniences. Each floor was only one room, and all signed of modern technology (light switches, bathroom, kitchen) were hidden from view behind panels. It was a fascinating morning.

After relaxing the rest of the afternoon, having a nice catfish dinner at Don's Seafood Hut, and visiting with some friends in the area, I headed over in the evening to see Horace Trajan at Hamilton's. Horace keeps getting better and better, playing in the more traditional zydeco style.  He also has a knack with coming up with catchy novelty songs... I heard folks singing  "That Butt Thing"  all over the place this trip.

Sunday

Sunday was a day to sleep late, have a leisurely breakfast at Dwyer's in downtown Lafayette, and then drive down to Eunice to dance outside to Horace Trahan. It was a lovely and mellow afternoon, with many local residents in attendance as well as a nice turn-out of out-of-town dancers. Mellow was not the word I would use my next and final stop of the day: Whiskey River in Henderson to see Balfa Toujours and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. As expected, the club was jam packed with partygoers, and in case you didn’t know it was Mardi Gras, Balfa Toujours made sure to play the Mardi Gras song once every half hour or so, which just served to rev the crowd up.  BT sounded terrific, and while the dancing was tight, it was still possible to get around the dance floor (although the club was so crowded, it was hard to find people. For example I learned the next day that about a half dozen friends showed whom I never saw!) Following Balfa's 3 hour set, came SRMP, who sound better and better each time I hear them. High energy, great vocals, fab musicianship. Their version of the Mardi Gras song, also played several times during the evening, seemed to my ears to add rock 'n roll power chords a la Peter Townsend to the mix, bringing the song to a higher level. Next year my goal is to memorize those "Chanson" lyrics!

Lundi Gras

Another leisurely breakfast at Dwyer's, followed by a drive to Opelousas to What Bayou Trading Company, where many of the gallery's artists were set up in the courtyard with their creations for the afternoon. From there, it was off to the Council on Aging's Mardi Gras celebration in Eunice with music provided by Zydeco Force. This is one of the most charming events of the week. There is a dance contest only open to couples over 60 years old and at the end of the event, a Queen and King are crowned. Late afternoon was spent at the Blue Moon Saloon, where members of the Red Stick Ramblers and Austin's Weary Boys jammed on the back porch, with excellent gumbo and crawfish served up for visitors. Blue Moon is located a half block from the Lafayette Mardi Gras parade route, so after the jam, a bunch of us wandered over to beg for beads and watch the parade go by (conflicting bead catching strategies… should you stand close to the barriers and floats, or try further back for the long throws… at the end of the day we had no clear winner, although the guy next to us with a fishing net which he thrust at the floats going by seemed to do much better than okay.) From the parade, we headed over to La Pouissiere to see Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys and dance on one of the great dance floors in Acadiana. The Krewe de Canaille was decked out in Mardi Gras costume and jambalaya (spicy or mild) was included in the admission charge. The next stop for the evening was the most difficult to make: J Paul Jr. was at Hamilton's, Step Rideau AND Keith Frank were at El Sido's, Le Band FeuFollet, Red Stick Ramblers and Steve Riley were at Grant Street, Horace Trahan was at Cowboys, Sean Ardoin was at Slims and Rosie Ledet was playing a street dance in Crowley. I ran into some folks who stopped by El Sido's and said it was so crowded they couldn’t get in, so I passed and drove over to Hamilton's to catch J Paul. However only 7 cars were in the parking lot when I arrived, so instead I wound up at Grant Street where I caught the end of Feufollet's excellent set, then thoroughly enjoyed the Red Stick Ramblers, a Cajun/Western Swing band that is currently the talk of SW LA.  After seeing their exciting performance, I could see why they were generating so much buzz. The evening was capped by another stellar set by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys.

Mardi Gras

Woke up relatively early and set out for the Tee-Mamou Folklife Festival in Iota. This is a family centered Mardi Gras celebration with local crafts booths, lots of tasty food, two music stages, including one set up exclusively for dancers. I saw and danced to Jesse Lege and Jo Jo Reed, and thoroughly enjoyed the children's Mardi Gras parade and chanting of the Mardi Gras song. Next stop was Eunice, where over 1000 costumed Mardi Gras riders descend on horseback into town. On the main music stage, Paul Daigle played a wonderful set, followed by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys' traditional close of this Mardi Gras party. I love this event because besides  the great music, the excitement of the parade coming into town, and the great food and interesting crafts booths, most everyone I know ends up here at the end of the week, even while we all seem to be scattered at different venues at other times. It was a  joyful afternoon. Then, after dinner, my last music stop for the week was to see Zydeco Force at El Sido's. Many die-hard dancers were still there, and so we danced our last steps and said our final farewells to this wonderful Mardi Gras season.