Mardi Gras 2003 in Acadiana
(3/10/03) Everything is relative. I've been visiting
Acadiana every year for Mardi Gras festivities since 1996
and now that I live in Lafayette, the number of events I've
attended during the long weekend (Friday thru Fat Tuesday)
looks positively laid back when compared to prior years. I
had a great time, what with lots of friends in town, all
those dance floor reunions, but nonetheless this year I
took it much easier than in the past.
Here are some highlights from the festivities:
Friday night: Keith Frank at Hamilton's Club. There was a
great dance crowd at Hamilton's and Keith put on a terrific
show - down to business right away with no excessive
fiddling with the sound system. He looked and sounded great
- in fact, he appears to have lost a lot of weight lately.
Check out his just-released CD, called "The Zydeco Icon",
which can be purchased at keithfrank.com.
Saturday was a busy day. It started at the jam-packed
Zydeco breakfast at Cafe des Amis, with Thomas Fields
playing on the Cafe's expanded dance area, which greatly
reduced the hazardous conditions for the waiters/waitresses
trying to serve breakfast amid the commotion. Afterwards, a
new tradition may have begun at Gerry Spangler's Mardi Gras
King Cake party, located at his home, now dubbed the
"Breaux Bridge International Hilton" and located about a
mile or so down the road from the Cafe. A laid back crowd
enjoyed light refreshments, dancing under Gerry's shaded
carport, and the opportunity to visit with friends outside
of the clubs. From Gerry's I continued on to a Crab feast
at a friend's home in Opelousas - cracked crab, sausage,
boiled corn & potatoes, yams, more King Cake... yum!
For my evening's outing, I decided to go to Sonny
Landreth's CD Release Party held at Grant Street. Sonny is
an awesome slide guitar player and when he plays, crowds
gather in front of the stage and just stare open-mouthed at
his wizardry. This night was no different. I also met the
owner of Grant Street this evening and got to go back stage
for the 1st time. (there's an entry room with a fridge,
tables and lots of musical memorabilia on the walls, and
then a larger room behind that with sofas and armchairs.)
In the near future, Grant Street will be opening up a music
store in a space located near their front entrance, to sell
local CDs and advanced tickets for their shows. After
Raccoon Records closed a few months ago, there has
amazingly been nowhere to find an extensive selection of
local music in the Lafayette area - unbelievable for a town
that has such a wealth of musical talent.
On Sunday I had breakfast with friends at Dwyer's and then
had a lazy morning. Around 4pm we went over to Whiskey
River for their annual Mardi Gras Party with Balfa Toujours
followed by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys. All I can
say is what a zoo! I have never seen that place so packed.
Ray Abshire filled in for Dirk Powell during Balfa's set,
which was a really crowd pleaser. A large percent of the
crowd were in Mardi Gras costumes and every time the Mardi
Gras song was played, folks got even more charged up. Kevin
Wimmer & Courtney Granger brought the house down
playing a killer version of "Blue Runner". Later Kevin
joined the Mamou Playboys to add some of his high spirits
and excellent fiddling to their show. The Mamou Playboys
repertoire has been shifting away from swamp pop and rock
and back to their interpretations of traditional Cajun
material, examples being a fine Dennis McGee medley and "Pa
Janvier", and some songs the band has written that expands
upon these traditions without shattering it, such as David
Greely's as-yet unnamed Cajun swing tune & Sam
Broussard's Vini Jilie.
On Lundi Gras (Monday), I made up for having a relatively
slow paced Sunday. I started with a visit to What Bayou
Trading Company to attend their "Artists on the Patio"
Celebration. Many local artists and craftspeople, including
Trish Ransom ('debris' art and jewelry), Barbara Roberds
(photography) and Don Brasseaux (furniture) and Dennis Ward
(clay masks) had their works on display. We were all very
disappointing to learn that What Bayou will be closing its
storefront in the next month, although there are currently
plans for the shop to maintain its web presence. From What
Bayou, many of us continued on to Eunice and the St. Landry
Council on Aging's Annual Mardi Gras Dance, featuring
Zydeco Force. Once again the 4 year old Broussard boy stole
the show, displaying amazing talent for so young a child.
After taking an afternoon break, some of us headed over to
La Poussiere in Breaux Bridge to attend the annual CFMA
Mardi Gras Ball. The costumes were fantastic, the dance
floor is one of the best there is and Walter Mouton keeps
the crowds moving on it. The next stop was Step Rideau at
El Sido's and then, if that wasn't enough, I ended the
evening at Grant Street to see Steve Riley & the Mamou
Playboys again. Perhaps the funniest thing I saw all Mardi
Gras, was at this Grant Street show. At one point during
the set, from the passion of the moment and music, no
doubt, Jimmy Breaux (BeauSoleil's accordion player) jumped
on top of Kyle Hebert's shoulders (Kyle play bass with
several local Cajun bands) and the duo went running back
and forth on stage as Jimmy flailed his arms excitedly.
Watching the band's faces as they one by one became aware
of what was going on was just hilarious.
Mardi Gras day was spend in rural Acadiana - at T-Mamou,
Iota's family-oriented celebration, highlighted by the
children's Mardi Gras performance, interesting homespun
crafts booths and music by various bands including Rosie
Ledet. From Iota, many of us traveled on to Eunice to see
the Mardi Gras riders come in, and later dance to Paul
Daigle and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys at the stage
located down the street from the Liberty Theater. This is
one not-to-be missed event. Over 600 Mardi Gras riders,
dressed in traditional costumes, on horseback, drinking
beer, with captured chickens for the evening's gumbo
dangling from their horses, coming down the narrow streets,
occasionally interrupted by wagons holding either Cajun
bands or port-a-potties.