Bay to Bayou Round-Trip: Winter 2002-2003
(2-11-03) I sure don’t know where the time has gone to. It seems like I barely got back home to San Francisco, when it was time to drive back to Louisiana. There is so much to appreciate in both places.
One of the highlights when I was home was attending the California Friends of Louisiana French Music (CFLFM)’s Jam and Tribute to Danny Poullard at Goat Hall in San Francisco on January 12. CFLFM is a non-profit organization, which helps promote public understanding and appreciation of Cajun and Creole music and dance. The afternoon began with a short film by Tim Kness celebrating Danny and Eddie Lejeune which was shot at the Augusta Cajun & Creole Music Camp in West Virginia a few years ago, where both were regular teachers. Both Danny & Eddie have since passed away and there was hardly a dry eye in the house after watching this film. Then many of Danny’s students, friends and fans got on stage to play or on the dance floor to two-step and waltz to some fine music. Some of the musicians included Agi Banne, Richard Chon & Steve Tabac on fiddle, Billy Wilson, Dana Mandell, Frieda Fusilier, Blair Kilpatrick, Sabra Everett on accordion, & of course, David “ Killer’ Hymowitz on drums. Jack Gallant of CFLFM reported earlier that there were six fiddles, four guitarists, eight accordionists, two frottoir (rubboard) players, a drummer and two triangles playing that afternoon.

The weekend before New Year’s was another busy music weekend. I was able to attend two events which included Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie on Friday night at Eagle’s Hall , and then Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet the next evening at Ashkenaz. Geno put on a great show, as always, and it was good to see Beausoleil in such an intimate setting. They played a great rendition of “Pa Janvier”, one of my favorite Cajun waltzes.

For zydeco music, I was also able to see the Bay Area’s Zydeco All-Stars who got together to put on a fun set at Eagle’s Hall in early January. Billy Wilson, Marty Jara, Lloyd Meadows, Timm Walker & William Allum put on a great groove that night. From Louisiana, I saw Dikki Du (Roy Carrier's son) at Eagle's Hall. And over Thanksgiving I caught up on the traditional zydeco groove put down by Sacramento's Mark St. Mary at Eagle’s Hall. I also caught Cocodril’s show at Ashkenaz, a recently formed band featuring excellent Cajun twin fiddle tunes performed by Agi Banne & Richard Chon along with Billy Wilson on accordion and Robin Flowers on guitar.

And then, before I knew it, it was time to drive back to my Louisiana home. After spending a few days unpacking & settling in, it was time to go out and play. Here’s a taste of the things I did in the last 4 days:
Friday night I went to Wrangler’s in Carencro to see Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, and celebrate Patsy “The Patsy Report” Hebert’s birthday. The next morning, Geno played again at Cafe des Amis for the weekly zydeco breakfast - from 8:30 to 11:30 AM. It was Geno’s first appearance there and the place was packed. It was my first time back at the Café since they had closed for the fire and they did a very nice job restoring the place without changing its character. I got a kick when Geno would announce between songs “ Sally, party of 6, your table is ready” from the bandstand. Later that day I went to the monthly Art Walk on Jefferson Street and afterwards went to the Blue Moon Saloon to see a new band called the Lost Bayou Ramblers, which is a group of 5 20-something musicians playing very old style Cajun music. The Michot brothers, Louis and Andre, played fiddle and accordion respectively. In addition, Matt Doucet (Michael's son) switched between playing the fiddle and an upright bass. Lead singer Louis has one of those old style nasal Cajun singing voices that really fills up the room. The rest of the band consists of Chris Courville who plays an old style washboard (real washboard, not the zydeco model), triangle and bass drum and Cavan Carruth on guitar. It was awesome & totally rockin'. They were selling a homemade CD recording which contained excerpts from a radio interview. On it the emcee remarked that their young age was remarkable because the band “played like they had dentures! (in a good way)”.

Speaking of “old guys”, I went to see the Hackberry Ramblers on Sunday at McGee's Landing in Henderson on Sunday, which was being filmed for a NBC Today Show special slated to air mid-March. The Hackberry’s have been playing together since 1930 and come on stage wearing starched white shirts and bright red suspenders. Marcia Ball made a guest appearance with them this afternoon. McGee’s is located in a building built right over the Atchafalaya Basin, just down the levee from Whiskey River & the ambiance is really down home and special. I’ve heard McGee’s plans to start holding regular weekend dances there starting in March. Later that evening I went on to see the Lucky Playboys at Randol's in Lafayette (D’jama Garnier’s & Ward Lormand’s follow-on band to File, which has broken up) and Marcia Ball was there again. She danced a bit but didn’t get up to sing (darn). The Lucky Playboys new song set still contains a good dose of File material. Also in the band now, playing guitar and singing, is Kenneth Richard, who is Felix Richard’s song (Festival Acadiens was dedicated to the memory of Felix Richard last year. Kenneth performed with Bayou des Mysteres on the Main Stage’s festival finale and with the Traiteurs during that festival.

On Monday evening, I attended a private birthday party of a friend, and if I told you all the folks who were there playing, jamming and enjoying gumbo, you would have thought I had a front row seat in Cajun heaven that evening. And maybe I did!