August 2018 | No. 67
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
“A blind person’s worst enemies are the people who’ll baby you. You won’t learn to take care of yourself. You never learn to be nothing.” — LYNN AUGUST
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6 Lynn August — A Blind Man’s Life in Music
The passion in his voice and his musical longevity has solidified his persona as “the most powerful voice in the zydeco and blues nation!” — 2013 CD liner notes
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
No. 67 | August 2018 4 Cajun Zydeco Dances in St. Pete Aug. 7 & 21 (6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.) — Caddy’s on Central
Cajun Zydeco Community 20 Louisiana Seafood Fests
from LouisianaTravel.com
23 Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe
Troy Carrier returns to Tampa’s Skipper’s Smokehouse
24 BBC Now Back in Business
Venerable blues institution of Tallahassee re-opens to a packed house on July 20 after severe storm damage closed it in May.
30 Festival-O-Rama
Some listings from floridacajunzydeco.com/festivals
36 Outside Florida Type family featured in this issue is Rogliano. It’s a contemporary slab serif type family that almost has the feel of braille, yet sets compactly.
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com First and Third Tuesday in St. Pete, FL
Tuesday, Aug. 7
Theme: “Cajun Zydeco with Heart” Welcome Jim back to the DJ booth New video footage!
Tuesday, Aug. 21 6 P.M. TO 9: 30 P.M. Twice monthly Cajun and zydeco dance at Caddy’s on Central in downtown St. Pete on the first and third Tuesdays. Good mix of danceable music by Cajun and zydeco artists singing about death, divorce, drinking and dancing. No cover charge. Caddy’s is at 217 Central Ave., St. Pete 33701. Go to www.FloridaCajunZydeco.com for more information.
5 Photo by Jim Hance
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
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LYNN AUGUST
A Blind Man’s Life in Music
“I
want to say that my grandfather was a big, big inspiration to me because a blind person’s worst enemies are the people who’ll baby you. You won’t learn to take care of yourself. You never learn to be nothing. My grandfather would brag all over, ‘I got a grandson that’s blind but he can do anything he wants.’ And he started me on my attitude that I can do anything. I know how to build, and I did about seventy percent of the work on my house.” Lynn August was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1948. He attended the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge, and grew up listening to zydeco music, including that of his uncle Clarence Duffy, an accordion player. According to August, “Where I really got my influence for music was from my parents. Back in the fifties there was very little to offer
7 Photo by David Simpson
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com
Photo by David Simpson
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Lynn August at Blue Moon Saloon in 2015. “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal on guitar.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! for blind people as far as a livelihood. I've been blind since birth, and my mother heard of a blind musician who was actually earning a good living. He was going under the name of R.C. Robinson, and later he changed it to Ray Charles. He played in Lafayette in the early fifties, my parents went to see him, and right away they got me started. They bought me a phonograph and some records by Fats Domino, Chuck Willis, and Johnny Ace. They were always very supportive of me being a musician. “In the mid-fifties, the guitar got real popular because of Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. Just about every other kid on my block had a guitar. My cousins had a little neighborhood band with guitars, and I'd sit on one of those great big number three washtubs, turn it upside down and beat on it. I was their drummer. I finally graduated to get my own drum set at age eight, and by the time I was ten I was playing in a real band. Drums was my first instrument.” He had a keen interest in R&B music, as did Stanley "Buckwheat” Dural who was just a year older. They formed a band at ages 8 and 9 and began making the rounds of R&B clubs opening for Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Little Richard. Dural went on to join Sammy and the Untouchables and later Clifton Chenier on keyboards, and August played drums with a rock band until at the age of 11 when he joined rock ’n roll pioneer and legend Esquerita who encouraged August to learn keyboards. Lynn August impressed Esquerita so much with his musical talent that Esquerita made a personal visit to Lynn August’s
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Lynn August at Blue Moon Saloon in 2015, featuring Rodney Bernard on frottoir, Lee Alle
en Zeno on bass, Greg Gordon on drums, and “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal on guitar.
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com parents’ home and convinced them that Lynn’s musical talent would be further developed as a drummer in his band. Lynn August performed around New Orleans for about three years with Esquerita. “I started gigging at a place called the Peppermint Lounge, six nights a week, with a piano player named Olin Boudreaux. He went by the name of Rollin’ Dice. People often suggested that I should switch to keyboards but I kept playing drums for a while with a guy out of Lafayette named Jay Nelson. He had a record out called "Baby Please," a rhythm and blues type thing, and we’d work on shows with rhythm and blues guys like Ernie K-Doe, out of New Orleans. He had a big hit then with ‘Mother-In-Law.’ “Around 1963, I made the switch and decided to start my own band. I was practicing, learning the keyboards, and still playing drums in another little combo with Buckwheat playing organ. Buckwheat left so I took over on keyboards and hired someone else as the drummer. “At that time, the only person who really played a lot of zydeco was Clifton Chenier. It wasn't really that popular then. I got to know Clifton later, but I used to hear his music all the time because I grew up right across the street from a place where the jukebox would play Cliff and Fats Domino all day long. They had a loudspeaker that played it outside, too. I learned to sing ‘Paper in My Shoe,’ Cliff’s version, not the one by Boozoo Chavis. “In 1964, I switched to organ. That’s when the Hammond B-3 organ
13 Photo by David Simpson
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com came out. I dropped the band and started working as a solo organist, four nights a week, for three hundred dollars — big money back then. The club was over in St. Martinsville, twenty miles out of Lafayette, Beno’s Lounge. There are a bunch of zydeco clubs there now. I would mix up the music, do a lot of Stevie Wonder songs, some country music, some jazz. It was a white club. Eventually I hired a drummer and I called us the Lynn August Duo. We’d play four nights at Beno’s and we’d double up on Fridays and Saturdays, playing other gigs, and then I had another gig besides that on Sunday, starting at midnight and going ‘til 5 a.m. on Monday morning. There was no closing time to worry about back then.” As a pianist, Hammond organist and singer, August performed solo in clubs and restaurants, and recorded his first single, “Little Red Rooster,” for the local Tamm label in 1966. For two years, he led a band in local clubs, until a bar brawl led to him returning to solo work in clubs around 1970. He also led a church choir. In 1978, he was recruited to play organ in a zydeco band led by Marcel Dugas. Recognizing the growing popularity of zydeco music, and finally feeling he could truly master the accordion at age 40, he bought an accordion and formed his own band, the Hot August Knights. “I started thinking about forming my own zydeco band, but only if I could lead it and play the accordion. I’ve always been a bandleader. I guess that’s the Leo in me. I want to make all the decisions. But I was
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
getting into my thirties and I didn’t know if I wanted to learn a new instrument. I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I can’t do something right, then I’m not gonna mess with it.” In his band on rubboards was Rodney Bernard, who is credited with encouraging Lynn August to pick up the accordion. Bernard is still a
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com rubboard player in his son-in-law’s band, Horace Trahan and the New Ossun Express. “Then in 1988, I produced my first album, Party Time, for Floyd Soileau. It was a total mixture: lounge music, swamp pop, country, rhythm and blues, and a couple of zydeco songs that I played with an effect on my keyboard that sounded just like an accordion. Floyd called me and said, ‘I been getting more compliments for the zydeco songs than any others on the album, and the radio stations have been playing them. You can sing in French and you got a good blues voice. You really ought to try zydeco.’ “I purchased my accordion in June of 1989. I went out and checked with Marc Savoy in Eunice. I had no idea that them things sell for three thousand dollars. I thought I’d pick up a used accordion for a couple of hundred. But my wife said, ‘Buy the good one ‘cause if you spend that kind of money then I know you're going to learn to play it.’ I took it home and I practiced. I must have put in fourteen hours a day. One day my little boy said, ‘Hey, Dad’s getting good.’ I kept practicing. The keyboard side of the accordion was no problem ‘cause I already knew how to play keyboard. But it took a while to learn exactly where each button was on the other side. “With zydeco I can play for an audience, and still play something I like. When I was in the lounge business, I had to play songs I didn’t really care for, but that’s the songs that are selling. But really, I can’t
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! think of a single thing I don’t like by Clifton Chenier. I just enjoy what I’m doing. and I take careful consideration in all the musicians I have with me. I sit everybody down and say, ‘Look, it’s not how many notes you play, because a lot of zydeco is basically pattern music. The same thing over and over again. Now, if you’re going out there to run the scales, play all the drum rudiments, and show off, then you’re on the wrong gig.’ Because when zydeco first came about, it was just the accordion and the scrub board, the frottoir. And even before that people used to just sing — the old juré singing when I grew up. My grandfather had grown up out in the country, and he’d sing some of the juré songs that he heard out there. I was practicing that juré one day, and my mama walked in, said, ‘My goodness, where’d you get that from? That reminds me of the old-time house dances.’” He played shows and festivals, and recorded his first zydeco album, Zydeco Groove, in 1988. He released albums on the Maison de Soul and Black Top labels in the early 1990s including Creole Cruiser (1992) and Sauce Piquante (1993). A feature of his performances and recordings has been the adoption of the Creole style of juré, with a cappella group singing, clapping and dancing as recorded by Alan Lomax on his field recordings in the 1930s. According to Michael Tisserand, author of The Kingdom of Zydeco, “Only one zydeco performer has been moved to rerecord juré material: Lynn August. His versions of the juré on the recommended discs Creole
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Zydeco Groove 1988
Creole Cruiser 1992
Sauce Piquante 1993
Cruiser and Sauce Piquant. The other songs reveal August to be one of the best singers and blues accordionists in zydeco.” Reviewing Creole Cruiser in 1992, Michael Tisserand wrote, “Lynn August is in the newest wave of Cajun and zydeco musicians, those who have looked to pop, rock, country and the blues — or greener musical pastures — or at least some green. But like prodigal sons, they are now returning to the old French repertoire of their ancestors. August has been playing music all of his life. He’s drummed for Esquerita; played organ for Marcel Dugas, and served his time as a Holiday Inn lounge lizard. Now he has a Black Top Records contract and the first release, Creole Cruiser, marks a transition in progress from Piano Man to Zydeco.” Rick Koster, author of Louisiana Music, from which most of Lynn August’s personal narration in this story comes, called Lynn August
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Creole People 1999
From Back in the Day 1992
Then and Now 2013
“a splendid singer whose involvement in church choirs is evident in the gospel touches he brings to his zydeco…. A wonderful and openly curious player, August’s Sauce Piquante album, which features a guest spot from New Orleans blues guitarist Snooks Eaglin, is a sparkling effort. Also recommended are Creole Cruiser and Creole People.” In the mid-nineties, August formed his own company, Touch Tech, designing and selling computers for visually impaired people. He had open heart surgery in 1998, but continued to perform and record thereafter, and was involved in the album Legends Making Memories with Willie-Tee Trahan and the band Cypress in 2012. “I have a lot of plans for what I’m going to be doing in the future. What I want to do is keep my zydeco plain and simple. And if I go back to some other style, I’m gonna put down my accordion, get back on a regular keyboard, and do it right.”
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Louisiana Seafood Fests
From LouisianaTravel.com
Delcambre Shrimp Festival — August 15–19, 2018 Shrimping has long been the lifeblood of the Louisiana community of Delcambre, and its people come together the third weekend in August each year to celebrate the beloved crustacean. Feast upon shrimp served up every way you can imagine, and see who wins the shrimp cook-off. As you climb aboard the carnival rides and boogie to the live music, keep an eye out for the lovely Shrimp Queen. Leroy Thomas and other bands. Website: shrimpfestival.net
Arts and Crabs Fest — August 18, 2018 Food is a way of life in Louisiana and this one day festival in Lake Charles in August celebrates the ties between Louisiana seafood and the state’s culture. Festival goers will dive into delicious crab dish tastings with local craft beer pairings from some of the area's most popular restaurants. Other highlights include live music, and an art market featuring local artists’ paintings, jewelry and more.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival — August 30 through September 3, 2018 Shrimp and petroleum may seem an unlikely pairing, but the industries are a mainstay of Morgan City's economy and this Labor Day weekend festival celebrates them both. The free event features downhome Cajun cooking, arts and crafts, live music, parades and a Blessing of the Fleet. Website: shrimpandpetroleum.org
St. Tammany Crab Festival — September 15-16, 2018 The St. Tammany Crab Festival celebrates the cantankerous crustacean with a huge two-day party in Slidell’s Heritage Park. This crab festival features non-stop live music, Battle of the Bands, a classic car show, boat rides, kids games and activities and, of course, the star of the show, crabs! Website: sttammanycrabfestival.com
World Championship Gumbo Cookoff — October 13–14, 2018 Every year on the second weekend in October, almost 100 teams gather in New Iberia, Louisiana for this ultimate battle to crown the best roux! Live music and Louisiana cuisine are the highlights of the weekend festivities, but Sunday the gumbo takes center stage. Want a flavor teaser? Make this award-winning seafood Gumbo recipe from the cookoff. Website: iberiachamber.org/gumbo-cookoff
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Louisiana Gumbo Festival of Chackbay October 12–14, 2018 For more than 40 years, the people of LaFourche Parish have been celebrating gumbo in October! It's a family celebration complete with live music, carnival rides and a 5k run. Website: lagumbofest.com
23 Photo taken at Ace’s Live by Jim Hance
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Friday, Aug. 3, 2018 @ Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe 8 P. M. Dikki Du (Troy Carrier) was born in 1969 in Church Point, Louisiana and discovered his love for zydeco music at the tender age of nine. After school he would get together with his brother Chubby, sister Elaine and father Roy to play zydeco music. Troy played the washboard for Roy Carrier, his father, on local gigs; he then joined forces with the great C.J. Chenier for two years. Then Troy picked up the accordion and the Zydeco Krewe was born. The Krewe captures an audience with one of the best sets around. Hard driving and relentless is the theme all night. It’s just funky as can be. Tickets available at skipperssmokehouse.com.
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The Blues Restored at BBC After Oak Tree Crashes Through Roof During Storm Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee is now back in business hosting the Selwyn Birchwood Band on July 20th for its grand re-opening. The venerable blues music venue on the outskirts of Tallahassee was badly damaged on May 29th when the first subtropical storm of the season, Alberto, deposited a 250-year-old oak tree into the roof of the club. The tree, which was located next to the cinder block dance hall near the historic marker designating the club as part of the Mississippi-to-Florida Blues Trail, smashed through the roof and took out the stage. No one was hurt, but the club was shuttered for almost two months. A fundraiser for the club collected over $10,000 towards repairs. “I can’t believe the volunteers who have called. It’s touching,”
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys at the BBC in 2015.
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com said club owner Gary Anton, adding that there were “a lot of wounded hearts” in Tallahassee. Over the years, such musical acts as blind singer Clarence Carter, blues wizard Johnny Winter, the late Col. Bruce Hampton and many others have included BBC on their tours. Tampa Bay dancers have journeyed to the club for Louisiana bands such as Roy Carrier and the Night Rockers, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, JJ Caillier and the Zydeco Knockouts, CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, Corey Ledet, Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Road Runners, and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys. Dave Claytor ran the club as Dave’s C.C. Club from 1992 to 2002. It was named after the mixed-race C.C. Saints baseball team that used to play in the open field not far from the front door. When the Claytors moved north to the Carolinas, Gary and Kim Anton stepped up to keep the Tallahassee institution — and the blues — alive. It was rechristened as the Bradfordville Blues Club, or the BBC. It no longer serves barbecue as in the old days, but you can buy a plate of Miss Ernestine’s fried catfish and hush puppies at her fry shack out by the bonfire in the yard. Her full, prophetic name is Ernestine Fryson. One artist that has loved playing BBC is Grammy Award-winner Bobby Rush. “That place is like home to me,” Rush said years ago. “I just do what I want to do when I get there because I feel at home there.” New Orleans Suspects bass player Ray Scanlan also sang the BBC’s
praises: “There is no way you can have a bad gig in here; it’s just one of those places. And if everybody else went to the same trouble to find it, you know that they know good music when they hear it.” Mid-July, BBC posted to Facebook: “Ceiling drywall going up Thursday. Next is installing the new sound system, clean up and some painting on Friday. Then.....we start moving back in Saturday! We're having a work party Saturday morning starting around 10 to do some cleanup and move portraits, tables and other items back into the club. We need some strong arms and backs to put the construction debris in the dumpster and a few folks handy with chainsaws to cut some logs and firewood. Lunch, snacks and beverages provided for all the sweating souls. It'll all come together Friday night, July 20th with the Selwyn Birchwood Band.” On July 19, the Tallahassee Democrat published a story on Selwyn Birchwood appearing at BBC the following evening with this quote from Birchwood: “There is no other place quite like it. It is such a treasure that we have up there,” Birchwood said. “The first time I went there I remember
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com thinking to myself, ‘I didn’t know places like this still existed. Let alone in the state of Florida.’ And I grew up and was born and raised in Florida. It’s such a unique place down to the dirt road on the pothole-filled road to getting there. Bonfires outside there in the wintertime. The fried catfish. You go inside to the stage and you always hear good music there. You have the table tops of all the legends who has played through there. All the history of the club. It’s such a unique experience.” On July 20, Gary Anton posted: “Juke Joint Revival 2018 at the Bradfordville Blues Club grand reopening! We’re baaaack! Yowza! Yowza! Yowza!!” A blues patron posted: “Grand Re-Opening of the BBC! at Bradfordville Blues Club. BBC IS BBBACK!!! The BLUES are back home here at the Bradfordville Blues Club, south of the wire grass and north of the saw grass. FULL house of wonderful musicians and us regular people!” Congratulations to owner Greg Anton, and all of the blues fans in Tallahassee who support the BBC and volunteered their time to make the Grand Re-Opening possible.
29 Photo from BBC Facebook Page
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Selwyn Birchwood Band, back at the friendly confines of the BBC
Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com
Photo by David Simpson
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F E S T I VAL - O - R A M A AUGUST 2018 August 2-5, 2018 — Sailieu Cajun and Zydeco Nights Festival (France)
Email: bayouprod@aol.com. Website: http://www.burgundy-tourism. com/discover/must-see/festivals-and-events/INCONBOU000V503M24/ detail/saulieu/cajun-and-zydeco-nights-festival-at-saulieu
August 3–5, 2018 — Buffalo By the Bayou (West Virginia)
Cabins for couples and women sold out. Camping $150 per person. $50 per person admission without camping. All payments by check. Email promoters to make reservations. Nearest motel accommodations 30 min. drive. Capon Bridge, West Virginia. Information: buffalobythebayou@gmail.com Website: http://www. dancingbythebayou.com/
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! August 17–19, 2018 — 7th Annual Baja Blues Fest featuring Chubby Carrier (Rosarito Beach, Baja, Mexico)
Two zydeco bands: Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, and the Bayou Brothers. Not to be missed: Michele Lundeen, Anthony Gomes, and Gregg Wright. On the beach at Rosarito Beach Hotel & Resort. Info: http://www.bajabluesfest.org/
August 18–19, 2018 — Cotati Accordion Festival (Cotati, CA)
The Zydeco Flames, Motordude Special and Mark St. Mary Band will perform on Saturday and Sunday, and there will be a Cajun Zydeco dance party both Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. starting off with a dance lesson at noon with Kevin & Ann Hutchinson. Many other genres of music incorporating accordion are featured. Cotati Accordion Festival in Cotati, California. Festival location is north of San Francisco. http://www.cotatifest.com
Aug. 31–Sept. 2, 2018 — Ninigret Rhythm & Roots Festival (Rhode Island)
CZ bands include Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Cedryl Ballou and The Zydeco Trendsetters, Feufollet, CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, David Greeley, Ed Poullard and Preston Frank, Magnolia Cajun Band and Donna The Buffalo. Rhythm & Roots Festival at Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island. http://www. rhythmandroots.com/ws/pages/home.php
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Photo by Arielle D’Ornellas
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Donna The Buffalo will be performing at Suwannee Roots Revival 2018.
Sat., Sept. 1, 2018 — Cane River Zydeco Festival (Natchitoches, LA)
Bands include 1:30 p.m. On Point Band; 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Jeremy Fruge and Zydeco Hot Boys;, and 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Marcus Ardoin & Da Zydeco Legends. All musical events are held on the downtown stage in the historic district, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
October 4-7, 2018 — Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance (N. Carolina) This listing will be updated with bands as they are announced. https://shakorihillsgrassroots.org/
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! October 11-14, 2018 — Festivals Acadiens et Creoles (Lafayette)
This listing will be updated with dates and bands as they are announced. Festivals Acadiens et Creoles in Lafayette, LA. Celebrate the rhythm of Cajun and Creole life at Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Dance to a traditional waltz. Two-step to the upbeat rhythms of accordions, fiddles and ti fers (triangles). Step back in time as traditional crafters demonstrate their artistry. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles pays tribute to the Cajun and Creole cultures with a combination of FREE festivals. Held the second weekend in October! http://www.festivalsacadiens.com
October 11-14, 2018 — Suwannee Roots Revival (Live Oak, FL) Keller Williams' PettyGrass Featuring The HillBenders, Donna the Buffalo, The Seldom Scene, Samantha Fish, Peter Rowan Free Mexican Airforce, Jim Lauderdale, Verlon Thompson, Rev. Jeff Mosier. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is pleased to announce the 3rd Annual Suwannee Roots Revival featuring some of the finest in Americana, Bluegrass, Newgrass, Zydeco, Blues, and more! The event takes place Thursday, October 11 - Sunday, October 14 at the magical Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park (SOSMP) in Live Oak, FL. With multiple stages (Amphitheater Stage, Porch Stage, Dance Tent, Music Hall, and Music Farmer’s Stage) Suwannee Roots Revival is jam-packed with stellar music and dance! A handful of bands will perform multiple sets and some artists will be participating in workshops throughout the weekend. This family-friendly festival includes four days of music, camping, yoga, a Kids Tent, as well as campground pickin’ sessions hosted by Sloppy Joe at Slopryland and
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com Quartermoon at Bill Monroe Shrine as well as throughout SOSMP! Set in the midst of 800 acres of Spanish moss-draped oak and cypress trees along the Suwannee River, the venue is a playground for endless activities such as swimming, canoeing, kayaking, disc golf, and biking. Tickets: www.suwanneerootsrevival.com/tickets/
October 27-28, 2018 — South Louisiana Blackpot Festival and Cookoff (Lafayette, LA)
South Louisiana Blackpot Festival and Cookoff in Acadian Village, Lafayette, LA. The South Louisiana Black Pot Festival & Cookoff is one of the most unique festivals in Louisiana. Held annually at Lafayette’s Acadian Village, the festival celebrates its 5th year this October with two days of great music, dancing, food, camping & jamming. The festival is a cooperative of south Louisiana musicians, artists and southern culture enthusiasts, creating an unprecedented gathering of south Louisiana’s hottest roots bands, as well as a number of groups from all over the country. Live performances range from Cajun & Zydeco, to Creole, Swing, Hot Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Americana, Irish & Old-Time.Confirm the dates and location at http://blackpotfestival. com
Yes! You want to plan your trips to out-of-state festivals farther in advance. This is just a sampling. Many more festivals listed through end of 2018 at FloridaCajunZydeco.com/festivals.html
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
November 16-18, 2018 — Suncoast Jazz Festival (Clearwater Beach, FL)
featuring Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Cajun band from San Francisco. Tom Rigney frequently performs in fiddle duets with Michael Doucet on the west coast. The Friday Night Swing Dance usually features Tom Rigney and other swing-danceable bands. More info on the Friday Night Swing Dance to come. https://www. suncoastjazzfestival.com/
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Outside Florida Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association Dance Sat., August 5, 2018 Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boys
Terry Domingue was raised singing traditional and original zydeco songs in both English and Creole French. Watching the band perform makes you smile! They bring to the stage a joyful rhythm and a love of music, culture, and dance. 7 to 8 p.m. Dance lesson (free with admission to dance) 8 to 11 p.m. Dance — $18 Non-members Dorothy Benson Center, 6500 Vernon Woods Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30328. Phone: 404-613-4900. Check website for dance events in Atlanta area at http://aczadance.org/
NYC Cajun Zydeco Events http://www.letszydeco.com/
Philadelphia Cajun Zydeco Events http://www.allonsdanser.org
Houston Cajun Zydeco Events
http://www.zydecoevents.com/texaszydecoevents.html
Southern California Events http://www.icajunzydeco.com
Portland Events
http://www.cascadezydeco.com/
Seattle Events
http://gatorboyproductions.com/
Terry Domingue