Florida
CajunZydeco.com
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Jesse LegĂŠ A Little Bit Country
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Update #79
Contents Cover image rendered from a photo of Jesse Legé by photographer David Simpson of Eunice, Louisiana
Fonts used this issue are Helvtetica Now for text and Baskerville for headings. See Typography Notes, page 34. This publication written, edited, designed and produced by Jim Hance, 813-465-8165, floridacajunzydeco@yahoo.com
August 2019
4 Tuesday Cajun Zydeco Dances in St. Pete
Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, 6-9:30 p.m. at Caddy’s on Central, St. Pete
Feature Story
6 Jesse Legé — A little bit country
“You could be blindfolded, but when you hear that voice you know damn well that’s Jesse Legé singing.”
Download a .pdf of this publication for easy navigation!
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Cajun Zydeco Community 27 Doug Kershaw and Jo-el Sonnier in Florida
Friday, Sept. 13 at Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa, FL Saturday, Sept. 14 at Orange Blossom Opry, Weirsdale, FL
28 Mystery Dance Venue for August
Another mystery dance venue for August; and the identity of the July mystery venue: Tipitina’s!
32 Mick Jagger takes in Beau Jocque at Rock’n Bowl
Music reviewer Ken Spera writes a delightful column on the Stones’ Steel Wheels concert in 1989, published July 10, 2019 by theadvocate.com. (Must be a 30-year thing.)
33 Cycle Zydeco 2020 in the planning stage
The event will be April 15–19, 2020.
34 Typographic Notes for this issue
The latest iteration of Helvetica is paired with Baskerville.
38 Louisiana Dance Clubs
Here are the best places to catch a Cajun or zydeco band.
42 Festival-O-Rama
From the FloridaCajunZydeco.com/festivals.html page.
46 Outside Florida and Louisiana
Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Diego and elsewhere.
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ST. P E T E R S B U R G , F L
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Cajun Zydeco
Dance at Caddy’s on Central 217 Central Ave., 33701
Tuesdays, Aug. 6 + Aug. 20 6 p.m. Cajun or zydeco dance lesson 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Open dancing to DJ Jim 6 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M. Twice monthly Cajun and zydeco dance at Caddy’s on Central in downtown St. Pete. 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.
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
d r i h T d n a t s r i F ! s y a d s Tue ! s u n i o J
Tuesday, Aug. 6 | Tuesday, Aug. 20
Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com Photo by David Simpson
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magine you’re squinting at this publication because you’re in a kerosene lamp-lit room. You’re in a noisy one-room house with your brothers and sisters. One of your brothers are playing with jacks on the floor beside you, another is building something with dominoes, and another is practicing guitar in the corner. There is no electricity to the house, so there are no electric lights, just a couple kerosene lamps to light the entire house. That’s the life my mother was raised in. When she was a teenager in high school, she earned enough money after school at the general store to have electric lights installed in her family’s home. She was the oldest child in her family of 11 children, and when her mother died she helped her dad raise her younger siblings. She was born in 1913, lived in a small rural town in North Dakota, and was the first to leave home and seek new opportunities in California. Veteran Cajun accordionist and Cajun Music Hall of Fame inductee Jesse Legé currently calls Austin, Texas, home, but he was born on November 6, 1951 in Gueydan, Louisiana. He grew up in a similar setting as my mom. His family didn’t have electricity until he was 14. He heard his native Cajun music on his brother’s transistor radio or from trips to his grandfather’s house where there was electricity. Jesse Legé spoke Cajun French at home, and learned music from relatives, neighbors and that battery-
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Photo by David Simpson
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com powered radio. Not a lot had changed in the first half of the twentieth century in parts of rural Louisiana. According to Legé, “I had one older brother who brought a transistor radio to our house. That’s how we heard music. My grandfather lived up the road and had electricity. We would go to his house to hear a lot of music. The main place for live music near our house, though, were the dance halls. We lived near one of the most popular ones in the country.” That was a time, before modern technology came to much of rural Louisiana, when people crowded local dance halls to hear live music for their entertainment. Jesse must have absorbed the dance hall music of his youth the way others drink water. If you were a musician born around the turn of the 20th century, this story wouldn’t be that unusual. Without radio, television or the internet, musicians made firsthand contact with one another, the music they played, and the neighbors they played for at dance parties at people’s homes and in neighborhood dance halls.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! They learned the traditions of the music directly from others who played it in their region of the world. “We grew up in the country,” Jesse Legé recalls, “and since we didn’t have the option of going to the soda shop or the baseball field, we entertained ourselves. Life wasn’t dull. No one had a problem with depression. We’d go ride the cows at night through the fields, make sling shots, bows, arrows, and spears for play, ultimately leading to the art of hunting when, finally, we were old enough and allowed to handle the guns and bring home food. That was certainly a day to anticipate.” Jesse’s family kept their perishables in his nearby grandfather’s refrigerator before the new house with all its modern features came to exist. “In the winters (colder back then),” Jesse remembers, “we did make use of the outside temperatures at night for some food stuff, protected from animals foraging for a free meal.” “About a week before we moved into the new house (with our own private room — even an indoor bathroom with a bathtub and all),” Jesse relates, “an electric line was run to the old house. Hung right smack in the center of that one-room house was a single light bulb. We had made it to the modern world! So much changed from that very night, but so much stayed the same and still is with me today.”
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Jesse LegĂŠ & Bayou Brew
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Personnel: Darren Wallace, Missy Roser, Jesse LegĂŠ, Keith Garovoy, Erica Weiss, and Evelyn Schneider at Festivals Acadiens et CrĂŠoles, Girard Park, Lafayette, Oct. 14, 2018.
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Making music Jesse Legé didn’t start out on accordion. He picked up guitar and harmonica first. Like many families in southern Louisiana, the Legés had frequent gatherings with home-cooked Cajun fare and home-cooked Cajun music. When a distant cousin of his father’s, Elson Mier, passed fourteen-year-old Jesse his guitar one night and taught him to play two chords, Jesse played the entire evening, accompanying Elson on accordion and a double first-cousin, Robert Paul Legé, on fiddle. It was Elson who loaned Jesse an old guitar and, a year or so later, a new accordion with the understanding that if, indeed, the music progressed and Jesse could afford a good, handmade accordion, the loaner would go back to Elson. In Legé’s own words, “My dad had a distant cousin who’d visit us on weekends. He played guitar, fiddle and accordion. He put his guitar down once when he was visiting and I picked it up and started playing some rhythm on it. He liked the way I kept beat so he taught me some chords. I played the G and C chords all night. We had an old guitar, so I learned to play guitar and harmonica. When my dad’s cousin would come on the weekend, I started picking up the accordion. I found it was a lot like the harmonica only you didn’t have to blow into it. When my cousin heard me playing it he said, ‘You need an accordion. I’m going to make you
a deal. I’ll give you this old accordion and if you learn to play, you buy a new one and give me this one back.’ I learned and bought a new one for $62. A year later we were playing house dances, with my younger brother, who picked up the guitar, and my first cousin, who played fiddle.” Jesse notes, “Not much in the way of tutoring was available for me. Seems Elson didn’t have the knack for instruction. Nor were there options for regular visits for lessons, either. All that I learned came from that black-and-white molded plastic radio and a musical soul full of yearning for this Cajun sound.” His greatest living idol has been Marc Savoy. Savoy is a reservoir of Cajun music and tradition, ideas, and has imparted to Jesse a simple philosophy of “I don’t need anything more than what I absolutely need.” And he makes handcrafted accordions. Marc Savoy, like Jesse’s paternal grandfather, Dema, was uncorrupted and uninspired by the hustle and bustle of a modern
13 Photo by David Simpson
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com world, yet not dragging behind in the dark ages either. Jesse has always loved the sound of old Cajun music, although he enjoys and respects a variety of progressive interpretations and styles of contemporary Cajun music as well. For Jesse Legé the music came to life in these neighbors’ house parties and local dance halls where both country and Cajun music was played. Pouring out of dancehalls in southwest Louisiana, the brash sounds of the Cajun accordion, the sweet drones of the fiddle and the piercing, eerie call of the Cajun singer are the hallmarks of this music. The lyrics, however, hint at the sadness behind the beats. When he picked up his first guitar and accordion, Jesse gravitated toward the music of Creole accordionist Amédé Ardoin, the first artist of the region to be recorded, and the earthy country of Hank Williams, one of the most popular country artists of Jesse’s youth. Cajun music is like country music; it’s the kind of music that has to be happy to help you keep from crying. As Cajuns migrated to Texas in the 1930s and 40s looking for work on Gulf Coast oil rigs, the Texas honky-tonk style of music became an influence to the traditional Cajun tunes they carried with them. Hank Williams’ mega-hit “Jambalaya” was based on the Cajun song “Grand Texas,” a sad ballad about leaving a loved one to go to Texas — a common story for folks in southwest Louisiana and eastern Texas. When asked about those dance halls that Jesse remembers
15 Photo by David Simpson
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Jesse LegĂŠ and friends at Liberty Theater, Eunice.
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Photo by David Simpson
from his youth, he replied, “They’ve mostly all disappeared. Now, we may play cafés, local bars or pizza places. I like the cafés and pubs because they bring back the old atmosphere of the dance halls and house dances. I like to play festivals to big crowds, but I still love to sit back in a corner of a pub with a three-piece band and just play.”
That voice Jesse Legé has been playing traditional Cajun music and singing Cajun French songs for about 50 years. He is a winner of numerous Cajun French Music Association awards (sometimes referred to as the Cajun Grammys), including Traditional Band of the Year, Accordion Player of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Band of the Year and Song of the Year. In 1998, he was inducted into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame. Today he is one of the most admired Cajun accordionists and vocalists in the Cajun world, known for his high, clear, “crying” vocals. His performances include Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, University of Chicago Folk
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, major festivals in California and Florida, the Bury England Cajun Festival, and recently played the Strawberry Park Cajun Festival in Connecticut, the Cajun festival in Wakefield Canada, the Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs New York, the Mardi Gras Ball in Rhodes-on-thePawtuxet Rhode Island, the Grey Fox Festival in New York, and the Newport Folk Festival in Newport Rhode Island. The first place Jesse Legé performed other than at house dances was Henry’s Café in Midland, Louisiana, about a half hour from his home. That was his first paying gig. Then he was picked up by various bands: The Moonlight Serenaders, The Cajun Kings, The Hicks Wagon Wheel Ramblers, The Orange Playboys where he took Joe Bonsal’s place when he was out sick for a year or two. When Jesse was working offshore on supply boats in the oil field industry, he also played with different bands. When he went back to work on land, he returned to performing full-time with The Jeff Davis Ramblers (formerly The Orange Playboys) with Jesse on accordion after Joe Bonsal’s retirement. From there he went to The Lake Charles Ramblers, which later became The Southern Ramblers, his long-standing Cajun band, playing dance halls in Louisiana and Texas for decades. Jesse sings in the traditional high pitched, emotional style reminiscent of the late Iry LeJeune, and plays the accordion with equal power and conviction. According Barry Ancelet,
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com organizer of the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, Cajun folklorist and professor at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, “[Jesse Legé’s] penetrating style and emotion-laden lyrics can make veteran festival producers such as this one weep backstage.” A member of the New England dance community, Paul Tamburello, Jr., wrote, “You could be blindfolded but when you hear that voice you know damn well that’s Jesse Legé singing. He’s in rarified territory in the voice department. Deeply sonorous, freighted with emotion that channels the pains and joys of his Cajun forebears, Jesse projects his music like an old soul, all the way back to the enormously emotive Amédé Ardoin. His piercing singing register comes physically from his voice box and his diaphragm, but psychically from DNA rooted in a rural upbringing. No electricity, in a one room house deep in the prairie. The week’s entertainment: tuning in the ‘Grand Ole Opry’ or ‘The Louisiana Hayride’ if the batteries for the family’s transistor radio had enough juice.” In New England, Jesse plays with several bands and heads Bayou Brew, whose fiddler is Darren Wallace, formerly of Filé. One need only listen for a minute to hear the Louisiana influences of the Brew. Their music is deeply rooted in traditional Cajun styles but with a rhythm and beat demanded by patrons in dance halls in Louisiana and Texas. He enjoys the opportunity of catching gigs with the likes of The Red Stick Ramblers and with
Photo by David Simpson
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Darren Wallace and Missy Roser artists left to play with.”
Joel Savoy, master fiddler and producer of Valcour Records. Jesse relishes “the chance to sit in with the score of great Cajun musicians who, being scattered from one side of the world to the other, hardly ever get to connect in such a way. So many great
Bayou Brew is composed of Jesse Legé on accordion of course, backed up by Darren Wallace and Missy Roser on fiddle, Erica Weiss on rhythm guitar, Evelyn Schneider on bass, and Kit Garovoy on drums. The challenges of his upbringing only instilled in Jesse an appreciation for the Cajun culture around him. According to Tamburello, “He’s an ambassador to Cajun culture, especially in places far flung from Louisiana where his audience knows such history. In an accent as thick as a good roux, he’s likely to introduce a song with an anecdote, background about the song, and who first sang it.”
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Most Aprils, Jesse Legé is part of the staff at the Augusta Heritage Center (West Virginia) Dewey Balfa Week passing along the tradition he values as an instructor of Cajun accordion. The week is five days of workshops on all of the Cajun musical instruments as well as vocal techniques. If you’re a musician and want to get closer to the authentic Cajun performance, Balfa Week would be a good immersion for a week.
Two Cajuns and an oldtime stringband walk into a bar… For the past decade, Jesse Legé has been performing and occasionally recording with Joel Savoy, renowned Cajun fiddle player from the iconic Savoy family of musicians, son of Jesse’s lifelong idol Marc Savoy, and, as previously mentioned, owner of Valcour Records, producer of quality Cajun and roots recordings. Joel Savoy is a Grammy winner for his production work with The Band Courtbouillon, a nine-time Grammy nominee, as well as a two-time winner of the Cajun French Music Association’s Fiddler of the Year Award. Having grown up literally at the feet of the Cajun great he represents his culture with an authority that few people his age can and his playing leaves no doubt that Cajun music is still very much alive. He has worked and played with the best of the best in south Louisiana as well as folks like John
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Joel Savoy and Jesse LegĂŠ at Blackpot Festival, 2008. Fogerty, Linda Ronstadt, Steve Earle, and T-Bone Burnett. Under the name The Cajun Country Revival, Jesse LegĂŠ and Joel Savoy recorded The Right Combination in 2010 where they dig into the deep roots of Cajun music, looking not only for beautiful and rare songs, but also for a commonality between
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Photo from Foghorn Stringband website
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Reeb Willms, Caleb Klauder, Nadine Landry and Sammy Lind.
the rural dancehalls of Louisiana and the honky-tonks of East Texas. With Joel Savoy, Jesse Legé created a legacy on record, and through live performances of pure Cajun music, sometimes blended with country stylings, that propels his audience to the dance floor.
Completing the Revival are musicians from the Northwest: Caleb Klauder, Stephen “Sammy” Lind, Reeb Willms, and Nadine Landry. Collectively these musicians are renowned American Roots artists in their own right with eight album recordings under the name Foghorn Stringband. Performing music that spans generations, Cajun Country Revival is a veritable supergroup of American roots musicians, performing a blend of Cajun music and early country music that defies comparison. The Right Combination was reviewed by Roger Hahn for
23 Photo from Jesse Lege and Joel Savoy website
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Joel Savoy and Jesse Legé OffBeat Magazine. Hahn wrote, “Savoy also has been working with south Louisiana accordionist and singer Jesse Legé, a dyedin-the-wool Cajun music master…. Kicking off this concise, supercharged set in classic style, this perfectly blended outfit first dips into Legé’s vast repertoire of old-time tunes, borrowing a rocking, roadhouse two-step that’s embellished with live-wire electric guitar, then segues into a 1950s country waltz made popular by
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centrum.org
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“It’s all French music.”
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Webb Pierce that has Legé and Klauder alternating verses, first in French, then in English. A western swing/Cajun take on “Tippy Toeing,” borrowed from Loretta Lynn, features sweetly rendered vocals by Foghorn bassist Nadine Landry, while the wistful “Debut Dans La Porte” (Standing in Your Door) comes outfitted with sleek, sliding steel-guitar pinstriping. Meanwhile, the album’s title tune, a Porter Wagoner staple, bounces along joyfully along on a succession of delicately laced Cajun accordion runs, and the outing’s closer, a high-spirited, dance-ready version of the familiar folk tune “Corina” (also known as “Corinna, Corinna”) wholeheartedly seals the deal on this high-powered, happy-go-lucky, Cajun country excursion.” In 2014, Cajun Country Revival released their second album, Greetings from Louisiana. According to the publisher’s description, this time in the form of an acoustic quartet, Jesse Legé and Joel Savoy are joined by Sammy Lind and Nadine Landry. “Since their first release, the Cajun Country Revival brought their honky tonk sound around the world and this second album finds the group showcasing their new sound as an acoustic group with accordion, fiddle, guitar and upright bass. From intense Cajun two-steps to sweet country ballads in English and French, listeners can’t help but be whisked away to dingy, dark, honky-tonkier places.”
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Jesse Legé Discography
Greetings from Louisiana2, 3 The Cajun Country Revival
The Right Combination2, 3 The Cajun Country Revival
Memoires du Passé1, 3 The Lake Charles Ramblers
Live!1, 3 Jesse Legé and Edward Poullard
The Best of Valcour Records3 Various Artists
Jesse Legé1, 2 Jesse Legé, Joel Savoy and Linzay Young
Memoires du Passé1 The Southern Ramblers
Memoires du Passé1, 2 The Southern Ramblers
Live at Glen Echo1, 2 Jesse Legé and Joel Savoy
1. Available at jesselege.org
2. Available at jesseandjoel.com
3. Available on i-Tunes
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! _____________________ |
OR AN G E BLOS S OM OPRY
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Photos by David Simpson
KERSHAW & SONNIER IN FLORIDA
Doug Kershaw
Jo-el Sonnier
Saturday, September 14, 2019 7:30 p.m. at Orange Blossom Opry, 16439 SE 138th Terrace, Weirsdale, FL 32195. Cost: $48-$52-$56. Opening act: The Orange Blossom Opry Band. Website: obopry.com
Kershaw and Sonnier also appearing in Tampa Friday, Sept. 13, 8 p.m. at Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa Opening act: Cadillac Cowboys. Website: skipperssmokehouse.com
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______________________ |
MYSTERY DANCE VENUE
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Rosie Ledet played here
This white slat-sided venue with green trim is open to the outside on two sides. Rosie Ledet has played this venue on one of her Florida tours. Across the street is an immense kapok tree with its roots exposed well over six feet up its trunk. I would speculate that there are more bicycles in this town than permanent residents. It’s crowded. If you wanted to dance, you might be restricted to the sidewalk. 90 miles from Cuba. Have you been there?
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! MYSTERY DANCE VENUE
| _______________________ Photograph by Michael P. Smith, hnoc.org
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Tipitina’s opened in New Orleans in 1977. This photo taken in 1978.
July Mystery Dance Venue revealed For about two decades, Tipitina’s regular Sunday house band was Cajun artist Bruce Daigrepont. In June, Bruce played his old haunt again, and then got on a plan and flew up to Connecticutt for his next gig at the Strawberry Park Cajun Zydeco Festival. The momentum for Tipitina’s existence started to gather years before its opening. In 1971 piano master
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Professor Longhair, a.k.a. “Fess,” reignited his career after several memorable performances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, a resurgence that coincided with a wave of renewed interest in Louisiana roots music. In the coming years, a group of music lovers, many of whom would later found Tipitina’s, built a reputation for throwing rowdy parties and dances, where their favorite local fixtures like Fess would perform. Among these parties were Alligator Balls, which the group threw each year during large celebrations like Mardi Gras and New Year’s Eve. Some of these events were held in the back room of a venue called the 501 Club, a cramped longshoremen’s hangout located at the corner of Napoleon and Tchoupitoulas. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group of revelers bounced around different venues, from basements to public parks, and the 501 Club was the only venue they were allowed to host a party more than once. In 1976, the 501 Club was ready to leave the space, and over the course of a few months, 14 investors came together to incorporate, sign a lease for the space, and prepare to open a new club, which they would name Tipitina’s after Fess’s enigmatic song.
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The world-renowned music club Tipitina’s is located at 501 Napoleon Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115. Website: tipitinas.com
By January 1, 1977, the “Fabulous Fo'teen,” as they were known, acquired the space with $14,000 that they used to turn the two-room ground floor into a larger, open music venue. “And we couldn’t even afford to feature Professor Longhair,” said one of the organizers. “Our first big event was the ‘Get Da Piano Dance’ with the Meters on January 29 to raise money for a piano.”
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Music reviewer Ken Spera’s story in The Advocate on July 10 starts out with a confession that he used a fake I.D. he made himself from CD packaging to get into the Stone’s “Steel Wheels” concert in 1989. But the rest of his article is about what happened when Mick Jagger’s entourage dropped by the Rock’n Bowl in New Orleans to catch the Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi Rollers show. An excerpt: After the show, Blancher said to Beau Jocque, “Can you believe Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts came to see you play?” Blancher still remembers Jocque’s unfazed, unimpressed response: “Yeah, I saw them,” he growled. “That’s why I turned my back — so they wouldn’t steal my licks.”
theadvocate.com
Fake I.D. gets this writer into Stones concert, and what happened when Mick Jagger dropped by the Rock’n Bowl
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Make your plans for Cycle Zydeco 2020 Cycle Zydeco is a four-day casual touring ride in South Louisiana. The ride takes place every year the week after Easter and includes great food, live music, and the finest flat roads Louisiana has to offer. Cycle Zydeco is a festival on wheels. Enjoy Cajun cuisine and live performances by the best bands in Louisiana. The ride includes tours of many attractions and options for camping or staying in hotels. Immerse yourself in Acadiana: the birthplace of zydeco, and home to Cajuns and CrĂŠoles alike. cyclezydeco.com
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TYPOGRAPHY NOTES
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Helvetica Now
All of the text copy in this publication has been set in Helvetica Now, similar but “improved” to the familiar Helvetica that comes on all of our computers. “Helvetica is like water,” says a recent video about the most popular typeface in the world. The 62-year-old font family, with its sans-serif shapes and clean corners, is ubiquitous. It is used on the signage in New York’s subway system. It is the brand identity of American Airlines, as well as American Apparel. It is on those unfortunate T-shirts that say things like “John & Paul & Ringo & George.” “When something is constructed as well as Helvetica, it should last for a couple of hundred years, just like great architecture,” designer Danny van den Dungen told The New York Times in 2007, when the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective in honor of the typeface. But the typeface has had its share of critics, and one of them is Charles Nix, director of Monotype, the world’s largest type company, which currently owns the licensing
My Fonts.com
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! rights to Helvetica. He doesn’t like that the letters scrunch together at small sizes, that the kerning isn’t even across the board. Designers have gotten used to all sorts of magic tricks to make Helvetica look more legible, like changing the size of punctuation marks to balance the letters. “We jokingly referred to it as Helvetica Stockholm Syndrome,” said Nix. So Monotype went to work to re-design Helvetica. In April 2019, Helvetica Now was released with 16 fonts in each of three distinct optical sizes: Micro, Text and Display (a total of 48 fonts). Most of my work will be with Helvetica Now Text, which gives me just 16 different fonts. In the future, more fonts will likely be released to expand the Helvetica Now type family with condensed, compressed and expanded fonts, so in the meantime we're going to continue to rely on older versions of Helvetica for those typestyles. Currently Helvetica Now is the 5th best selling type family at MyFonts.com, but the Neue Helvetica family that includes 160 different fonts is selling even better.
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TYPOGRAPHY NOTES
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Baskerville Bold Headlines in this publication are set in Baskerville Bold. Baskerville is a serif typeface designed in the 1750s by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, intended as a refinement of what are now called old-style typefaces of the period, especially those of his most eminent contemporary, William Caslon. Compared to earlier designs popular in Britain, Baskerville increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper and more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position. These changes created a greater consistency in size and form. Baskerville’s typefaces remain very popular in book design and there are many modern revivals that often add features such as bold type which did not exist in Baskerville’s time. One interesting note: Benjamin Franklin wrote John Baskerville a letter praising his work on the Baskerville typeface. This Baskerville text set 25/32.
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This text is set in Libre Baskerville, a Google Font designed by Pablo Impallari designed to read well on web browsers, but usable in print as well. It is free to download. It is based on American Type Founder’s Baskerville versions from 1941, but it has a taller x-height, wider counters and a little less contrast to allow it to work well for reading on-screen. This font is actually set in a smaller point size than the Baskerville on the opposite page, but appears to be much larger. This Baskerville text set 22/32.
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LOUISIANA DANCE CLUBS
Lafayette Area
Artmosphere 902 Johnston St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-233-3331. Web: artmosphere.vpweb.com Bayou Teche Brewery 1094 Bushville Hwy., Arnaudville, LA 70512. Ph: 337-754-5122. Blue Moon Saloon 215 E. Convent St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 877-766-2583. Web: bluemoonpresents.com Buck and Johnny’s 100 Berard St., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-442-6630. Web: buckandjohnnys.com Cajun Country Bar 9708 Church Point Hwy., Church Point, LA 70525. Ph: 337-684-9101. Cowboy’s 207 N. Ambassador Caffery Pkwy., Scott, Louisiana 70583. Ph: 337232-3232. Web: cowboyslafayettela.com Dat Dog 201 Jefferson St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-366-6794. Web: datdog.com El Sid O’s Zydeco & Blues Club 1523 N. Saint Antoine St., Lafayette, Louisiana 70501. Ph: 337-237-1959.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Feed & Seed 106 N. Grant St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-330-4860. Web: feednseedlafayette.com Fred’s Lounge 420 6th St., Mamou, Louisiana 70554. Ph: 337-468-5411. Web: facebook.com/Freds-Lounge-111528505553446/ Holiday Lounge 1212 Brud Ln., Mamou, LA 70554. Ph: 337-468-7177. Web: facebook. com/pages/Holiday-Lounge/1679752672260354 La Poussiere 1301 Grand Point Ave., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-332-1721. Web: lapoussiere.com Liberty Theatre — Rendez-Vous Des Cajuns 200 W. Park Ave., Eunice, LA 70535. Ph: 337-457-7389; Web: eunice-la. com/liberty-theater My Place Bar & Grill 811 Foreman Dr., Lafayette, LA 70506. Ph: 337-484-1182. O’Darby’s 827 Hector Connoly Rd., Carencro, LA 70520. Ph: 337-896-0166. Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant 1008 Henderson Levee Rd., Henderson, LA 70517. Ph: 337-228-7512. Web: patsfishermanswharf.com
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Pont Breaux Cajun Restaurant 325 W. Mills Ave., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-332-4648. Poppa Joe’s Hole in the Wall 503-L Provost Rd., Scott, LA 70583. Ph: 337-408-8040. Randol’s 2320 Kaliste Saloom Rd., Lafayette, LA 70508. Ph: 337-981-7080 Web: randols.com Rock’n Bowl de Lafayette 905 Jefferson St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-534-8880. Web: rocknbowl.com Route 92 2600 E. Milton, Youngsville, LA 70592. Ph: 337-857-5025. Web: route92livemusic.com Smiley’s Bayou Club 2206 Veterans Memorial Dr., Erath, LA 70533. Ph: 337-937-4591. Web: facebook.com/Smileys-Bayou-Club-882989335049200/ Tante Marie’s (formerly Joie de Vivre) 107 N. Main St., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-442-6354. Web: jamsandbiscuits.com Toby’s Lounge 132 Tobys Ln., Opelousas, Louisiana 70570. Ph: 337-948-3800.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Vermilionville 300 Fisher Rd., Lafayette, Louisiana 70508. Ph: 337-233-4077. Web: vermilionville.org
Need a place to stay in the Lafayette area?
Former Floridia dancer Trish Gowl provides modestly priced “AirBnB” accommodations for visitors to Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole communities. She can advise you on who is playing where. You can view her accommodations at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/21433064, or shoot her an email at pgowl92@gmail.com.
New Orleans Area
Maple Leaf Bar 8316 Oak St., New Orleans, LA 70118. Ph: 504-866-9359 Mulate’s 201 Julia St., New Orleans LA 70130. Ph: 504-522-1492. Website: mulates.com Rock’n Bowl 3016 S. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, LA 70118. Ph: 504-861-1700. Website: rocknbowl.com Tipitina’s 501 Napoleon Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115. Ph: 504-895-8477. Website: tipitinas.com
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FESTIVAL-O-RAMA AUGUST 2019 August 8–11, 2019 — Buffalo By The Bayou Cajun & Zydeco Music & Dance (West Virginia)
Bands include Andre Thierry, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Mo’ Mojo, Blake Miller & The Old Fashioned Aces. Registration opens May 28, 2019. To request more information or request to be on the mailing list, send an email to: BuffalobytheBayou@ gmail.com. Please include your name. Thursday–Sunday: Cabin (Shared) bed with meals $350. Camping with meals $250. Offsite with meals $200. More info on facilities at buffalogapretreat.com Nearest motel accommodations 30 min. drive. Capon Bridge, West Virginia. Information: buffalobythebayou@gmail.com Website: http://www.dancingbythebayou.com/
August 9–11, 2019 — 8th Annual Baja Blues Fest
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, Mercedes Moore Band, Backwater Blues Band, “The Fallbrook Kid” Anthony Cullins. On the beach at Rosarito Beach Hotel & Resort. Info: http://www.bajabluesfest.org/
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Rhythm & Roots Festival in Rhode Island features Steve Riley, Chubby Carrier and The Mavericks Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, 2019.
August 17–18, 2019 — Cotati Accordion Festival (CA)
Bands include Andre Thierry, Mark St. Mary Louisiana Band, MotorDude Zydeco, and a variety of accordion bands representing different genres of music. Cotati Accordion Festival in Cotati, California. Festival location is north of San Francisco. http://www. cotatifest.com
Aug. 30 – Sept. 1, 2019 — Ninigret Rhythm & Roots Festival (Rhode Island)
Bands include Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, The Pine Leaf Boys, Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Roddy Romero and the
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Hub City All Stars, The Mavericks, Marcia Ball, Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, Travelin' McCourys, Los Texmaniacs, and Tampa Bay’s Victor Wainwright and The Train. Rhythm & Roots Festival at Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island. http://www. rhythmandroots.com/ws/pages/home.php
Aug. 30 & 31, 2019 — 20th Annual Cane River Zydeco Festival (Natchitoches, LA)
Lineup includes T Broussard & the Zydeco Steppers (Saturday). Admission is free. All musical events are held on the downtown stage in the historic district, Natchitoches, Louisiana. https:// www.natchitoches.com/event/20th-annual-cane-river-zydecofestival.
Oct. 3-6, 2019 — Fall Shaker Hills Grassroots Festival of Music & Dance (Hadley, North Carolina) Lineup includes Preston Frank, Donna the Buffalo, Galactic, Swamp Kids, Roosevelt Collier Band, Ryan Montbleau Band, Harley Jane, and others. https://shakorihillsgrassroots.org
October 10-13, 2019 — Festivals Acadiens et Créoles (Lafayette)
Lineup of artists to be announced early August. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles 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
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Under the Cajun dance tent at Festivals Acadien et CrĂŠoles, Girard Park, Lafayette. Festival runs October 10-13, 2019. crafters demonstrate their artistry. Festivals Acadiens et CrĂŠoles pays tribute to the Cajun and Creole cultures with a combination of FREE festivals. Held the second weekend in October! http:// www.festivalsacadiens.com
Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com dubera.com
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Suwannee Roots Revival will be held Oct. 10–13, 2019 at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL.
October 10-13, 2019 — Suwannee Roots Revival (Live Oak, FL)
Lineup includes Donna the Buffalo, The Traveling McCoury Band, Sam Bush Band, Verlon Thompson, The Grass is Dead, and Samantha Fish. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Suwannee Roots Revival
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
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featuring some of the finest in Americana, Bluegrass, Newgrass, Zydeco, Blues, and more! 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 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/
Oct. 24 through Nov. 9, 2019 — American Cajun, Blues and Zydeco Festival (Germany)
Bands include Dwight 'Black Cat' Carrier, Joe Hall and the Canecutters, and Michael Juan Nunez. Since 2001 the festival is on the road and it will tour throughout Germany to bring authentic music from Louisiana to the fans and friends of Cajun, Blues and Zydeco. The festival honors these particular genres from Louisiana with artists from USA and Europe. Contact info@magnetic-music. com. Website: http://www.americancajunfestival.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 2019 at FloridaCajunZydeco.com/festivals.html
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Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association Dances Fri., Aug. 9 — Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band 8:30 – 10:30 p.m., Vista Room, 2836 La Vista Rd., Atlanta, GA
Fri., Sept. 13 — Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble
8:30 – 10:30 p.m., Vista Room, 2836 La Vista Rd., Atlanta, GA
Dorothy Benson Center, 6500 Vernon Woods Drive in Sandy Springs Concert and Dance from 8-10 pm. Free dance lesson from 7-8 pm with admission. $20 / $5 Students / $14 ACZA members & active duty military NOTE: ACZA uses for than one venue for their dances. Confirm location and time.
Philadelphia Cajun Zydeco Dances Sat., Aug. 3 — Dikki Du & The Zydeco Krewe at T.K. Club Sat., Sept. 7 — C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band Website for additional information: allonsdanser.org
San Diego Cajun Zydeco Dances Sat., Aug. 10 — Bayou Brothers Sat., Sept. 14 — Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole
These dance events are held at Balboa Park War Memorial Building. Website: icajunzydeco.com
NYC Cajun Zydeco Events letszydeco.com
Houston Cajun Zydeco Events zydecoevents.com/texaszydecoevents.html