New Years 2012 in Louisiana!

Every year a good number of dancers all flock to Louisiana to ring in the new year.  There are always a ton of Cajun/Zydeco bands to choose from and it's a great time to connect up with local and out of state dancers from all parts of the country.



Thanks to Dick from Oregon he does a wonderful job of sharing where the dancers are staying as well as what bands are playing where.  Last time I went he had a special hospitality room that he put up a map with locations of all the dance places etc... 

See the details listed below for this year and if you want to be added to his list for the future please send him email at the following... 

Details for this year are listed below for reference....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Be sure to read the new benefit provided by the Holiday Inn for our zydeco group guests. It replaces the little usedhospitality room of past years.

The New Year's Zydeco Trip to Louisiana is the best New Year's party in the country! If you haven't experienced it,you are missing a whole lot of fun. Fly into New Orleans on Thursday, Dec. 27 for the Rock 'n' Bowl zydeco dance (get a good hotel rate at www.hotwire.com for a 3-star hotel near the airport, or in downtown N.O.), then drive up to

the Holiday Inn in Lafayette on Friday, check in, and get ready for more fun than you might think possible for the

New Year's weekend! Leave for home on Jan. 2.

************************

THURSDAY, Dec. 27: Rock 'n' Bowl-New Orleans;

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie; 9 PM-Midnight. Non smoking venue.

*************************

NEW YEAR'S EXTRAVAGANZA in Lafayette, LA will be Dec. 28-Jan. 1.

Zydeco Group Room Rate at the Holiday Inn will be $60 + tax/night. To book your rooms at the Holiday Innon Evangeline Thruway in Lafayette, call the hotel direct at 337-233-6815. Be sure to identify what you are booking for--"New Year's Zydeco Group Rate," and the dates you want to stay. If you have any problemgetting the $60/night rate, ask to speak to Ashley DeRouen, or contact dickbrainard@gmail.com. They haveboth king bed rooms & two queen bed rooms. Now for the new benefit the hotel is offering! Each hotel registrant

in our zydeco group will receive a voucher at the time of registration good for a continental breakfast each morning in the Bistro. The voucher will be good for coffee, juice, Danish & muffin. Should you want the full buffet breakfast ($8.95),the value of the voucher ($4.95) will be applied to lower the cost of the full buffet breakfast to $4.00. What a great benefit!

And, don't forget to leave a gratiuity for your waitress. The Holiday Inn-Lafayette is once again pulling out all the stops for us.Please let them know we appreciate it.

***************************

Troy Carrier is again organizing the annual New Year's "Tribute to Roy Carrier." Due to logistical problems(toilets), this year it will be held at the Zydeco Hall of Fame (formerly Richard's Club) just outside Lawtell on Hwy. 190.There will food for sale--fried chicken, bbq, red beans & rice, gumbo, ummm! Cover charge will be $20/day--what a bargain! NON SMOKING VENUE.

FRIDAY, Dec. 28: Tribute to Roy Carrier; Zydeco Hall of Fame-Lawtell;

Live music from 3 PM until midnight, beginning with Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, followedby Corey "Lil' Pop" Ledet, followed by Lil' Pookie & the Zydeco Sensations, and ending with Lil' D& the Zydeco Allstars. Non smoking venue.

SATURDAY, Dec. 29: Café des Amis-Breaux Bridge;

Joe Hall & the Louisiana Cane Cutters; 8:30 AM -Noon. Non smoking venue.

SATURDAY, Dec. 29: Tribute to Roy Carrier; Zydeco Hall of Fame-Lawtell;

Live music from 2 PM until 10 PM, beginning with Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe, followed by Joe Hall& the Louisiana Cane Cutters, followed by "T" Broussard & the Zydeco Steppers, and ending withHorace Trahan & the Ossun Express. Non smoking venue.

SATURDAY, Dec. 29: La Poussiere-Breaux Bridge;

Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys; 7:00-10:00 PM. Non smoking venue.

SATURDAY, Dec. 29: 7th. Annual Mayor's New Year's Charity Gala-Opelousas Civic Center;

Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band will play around 9 PM. Dinner is included in the $30 cost.For further info & tickets, call 337-789-5048, or email pc70512@aol.com. Non smoking venue.

SUNDAY, Dec. 30: Whiskey River Landing-Henderson Levee;

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie; 4:30-8:00 PM. Smoking permitted.

MONDAY, Dec. 31: Vermilionville-Lafayette;

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie; 9:00-Midnight. The website is now up for ordering tickets. Go to www.bayouvermilion.org/index.cfm?load=event&event=331 to order advance tickets,or buy tickets at the door if still available. Non smoking venue.

TUESDAY, Jan. 1; St. Peter Catholic Church Hall-Carencro;

Conversations are in progress with L'Angelus Family Cajun Band to play their annual New Year's Day Brunch Dance. 10:30 AM-1:30 PM. Gumbo & homemade goodies will be served. Go north on I-49 to Carencroexit (5 miles), left to Romero St. (which becomes Church St.), left 2-blocks to church hall. Non smoking venue.

Stay tuned for confirmation.

TUESDAY, Jan. 1: Tribute to Roy Carrier; Zydeco Hall of Fame-Lawtell;
Live music from 2 PM until 10 PM,beginning with Snuggles & the Show Stoppers, followed by Dwight Carrier & the Zydeco Ro Dogs, followed byJeffrey Broussard & the Creole Cowboys, and ending with Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws. Non smoking venue.

************************************

Future notices will be sent as new zydeco information is received.

For all things Cajun, go to www.arnb.org

************************************

Chubby Carrier's newest cd "Rockin' With Roy" is just out. It is a tribute to his father Roy Carrier.

Go to www.chubbycarrier.com to purchase it.

************************************

Gator By The Bay 2013 Lineup Rumors..

Just talked to one of the people who hire the bands for Gator By The Bay and this year there is a very good chance on the Zydeco side of Geno Delafose, Andre Thierry and Same Ol' Two Step.  Quite an amazing combination and I can see I need to get myself in shape to survive the Gator Weekend!! 

Will update with details on the Cajun bands they get when this information is available..  

Hat's off to those decision makers to keep the festival getting better and better :)

The Girls of Zydeco

Zydeco fans are very fortunate to have the wide variety of artists to dance to.  Of all of these artists there are very few female accordion players...   One of the most popular is Rosie Ledet.  She has greatly improved over the years and can really put down some great Zydeco dance rythums as noted in the following video clip.

Rusty Metoyer Zydeco Growing at it's Fineest!

 

Here is one of the young Zydeco players/bands coming up in the ranks.. Rusty Metoyer and Zydeco Krush.  We saw him a couple years ago out here in San Diego and keeps getting better.  What is great is when the bands play a ton of the great  "cover" tunes that the dancers love dancing to.

Many bands that have been playing for a while start thinking all they need to do is create new tunes and play a few of the old tunes.  What they don't realize is the dancers LOVE many of the old tunes.  You know the feeling of when you buy a CD and you only like one or two tracks.  So bands need to remember that dancers Love the cover tunes which is what Rusty played a lot of so the dancers loved him and the band. 

I put in a request for this years Gator By The Bay festvial in San Diego to have Andre, Cedryl and Rusty for major Zydeco bands...  would be a great lineup imo...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63A7zATjaIE

Cedryl Ballou's a Big Hit at Crawfish Festival

Cedryl Ballou and the Zydeco Trendsetters first west coast gig was a Big Hit at the recent Crawfish festival in Long Beach.

Cedryl Ballou was asked back for two oncore requests on Saturday night after he played.  He invited a few kids on stage to join him as well which just added to the energy and experience. 

Video Clip of Cedryl at the festival:
http://youtu.be/2eJ5RlrSCvo



There is a long list of great artists who play on a regular basis in Louisiana and Texas but don't get to play outside their area. We also had the wonderful opportunity to see J Paul and the Zydeco New Breeds earlier this summer at the Long Beach Bayou Festival and it was his first time to California.

Hope to see Cedryl out to the west coast again as he is definintly up there with the top Zydeco bands we see coming out of Louisiana and Texas.

Cedryl's Web Site: www.zydecotrendsetters.com
http://youtu.be/2eJ5RlrSCvo

Zydeco Workshop - (next to) Portland Zydeco & Blues Music Festival

Zydeco Workshop Saturday - July 7th next to Portland's Blues & Zydeco Festival

Saturday morning before the Blues festival there will be a free Zydeco dance workshop covering Intermediate moves and advanced Louisiana style slides. These moves are often seen at the bars and festivals in Louisiana & Texas.

Time: 10:30am-11:30am

Location:
Hotel Fifty (across the street from the festival)
50 Southwest Morrison Street
Columbia Conference Room, 2nd Floor

Cost: Free
Questions: call 619-857-8409

Video Practice Link:  If you would like to practice the basics of the slides before class please click on the following link.. 
http://youtu.be/NtTk0utd1vk

Zydeco Trial Ride

 

What I truley love about Zydeco is the spirit & attitude it brings out.  Here is a clip from the Bill Picket Trial Ride in Beaumont Texas...  I have had many Zydeco adventures over the years but I have not done a trial ride.."yet"..

Keith Frank New CD - Follow the Leader/Boot Up

Keith Frank put out a new double CD called Follow the Leader/Boot Up.  13 tunes on the Boot Up CD and 17 on the Follow the Leader. 

From the shear vast number of tracks you are guaranteed to find several to meet your Zydeco addiction.. 

A few of the favorite tracks I heard ... 

Oh Mamacita -
Zydeco 2-Step with a Mexican music style to it which is great.  He sings a bit of the tune Spanish and then English which works really well.

Lessons from the Master Boozoo Chavis -
This is a great vocal track of Boozoo-isums.  The late great Boozoo Chavis has a unique perspective which he often shared I often wish there was a little book of these so leave it up to Keith Frank to realize how special his words were and shared an actual audio clip of Boozoo sharing a few words of wisdom.

Don't Start No Sh** -
A great little duet of him and another singer with a huge low end bass playing that will shake any room it is played in... 

Still Zydeco for Me -
A happy Zydeco tune reflecting on keeping with the traditional sound of Zydeco in comparison to other newer Zydeco which has rap style influences.

Link to sample/listen to the tunes on the CD...
http://www.floydsrecordshop.com/Keith-Frank-Follow-the-Leader-2-CD-P2550.aspxhttp://www.floydsrecordshop.com/Keith-Frank-Follow-the-Leader-2-CD-P2550.aspx

Long Beach Bayou Festival

This year's Long Beach Bayou Festival has an incredible line up of Zydeco and Cajun artists.  I am consistently impressed each year with the artists they are able to book and this year they blew my Zydeco dance stomping mind!!.

Chris Ardoin, Geno Delafose, Joel Savoy, Jesse Lege, Lil Wayne, Kevin Naquin, J Paul Jr. just to name a few....



From this line up I can already see that I will be lucky if I can walk back to my car after dancing all weekend ;)..

Check out their web site at www.longbeachfestival.com and hope to see you on the dance floor! 

Zydeco Body Moves DVD by Erin Brandt

A new DVD was put out by Erin Brandt with Zydeco Body Moves. 

After reviewing it she does a great job of breaking down the ladies movements.  This is the only female specific DVD in the world that deals specifically with female movements in Zydeco.

Erin Brandt is a massage therapist so she really knows her stuff and how and what muscles are used to make your Body Move!

Give her a call at 619-520-1373 for price info and to get a copy.

www.erintherapy.com

Zydeco Cha Cha Line Dance Lesson

Here is lesson as well as a quick demo of the the Zydeco Cha Cha Line dance.

This dance is at Zydeco events often and the Cha Cha style tune is much slower than the typical Zydeco tempo's or waltz which are often played.

Here are a a few other video clips showing dancers at events dancing to the Zydeco Cha Cha line dance.

Gator By The Bay 2012 Lineup Announced...

The big head liners to keep your Cajun/Zydeco feet stomping has been announced for this years 2012 Gator By The Bay festival in San Diego.

Keith Frank
Steve Riley
Chubby Carrier
Bonsoir Catin

Of course there a many other bands that always make the party great but I just wanted to share the information on the big names coming out this year.

Rooms are booking up a little faster than in previous years so make sure and visit the web site for all the travel plans.

Gator By The Bay Web Site:
www.gatorbythebay.com

What does it take to make Zydeco mainstream?

Check out this quite an amazing and very professional music video from Cupid of the "Cupid Shuffle"... music is from Lil Nate & the Zydeco Big Timers.

You can hear a faint accordion in the background and there are short clips inside the video of a couple zydeco dancing...   

Quite an amazing video that not only shows line dancers dancing... but couple dancing...    

It is music like this that will help Zydeco become more mainstream and while some more traditionalists may say it's not "Zydeco"...  it's got Zydeco in there for sure...