Mardi Gras 2002 in Southwest Louisiana
"Capitaine, Capitaine, voyage ton flag. / Allons se mettre
dessus le chemin. / Capitaine, Capitaine, voyage ton flag.
/ Allons aller chez l'autre voisin." ("Captain, Captain,
wave your flag. / Let's take to the road. / Captain,
Captain, wave your flag. / Let's go to the other
neighbors.") - Lyrics to La Chanson de Mardi Gras.
(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.