Everybody has their own information sources of where to find the latest Cajun/Zydeco festival info and I just wanted to review a few of the major sources and some possible new sources you may not know about...
a) www.iCajunZydeco.com "Festival-O-Rama"... Although it's a website from the San Diego C/Z community is has the "Festival-O-Rama", which does a great job of listing some of the big festivals around the country. When you go to the web site just scroll down on the left side to see the "Festival-O-Rama" listing... This is brought to you by Jim Hance who has done the clubs website/graphic design for many years among other related C/Z sites.
b) USA Schedule Map http://www.arnb.org/Usalinks.php This is a map done by Arn's website which does a great job of linking to local Cajun/Zydeco websites around the country. Just move your mouse over whatever state your interested in events and select the newsletter options. c) Arn's Website.. www.ZydecoSchedule.com or www.CajunSchedule.com Arn's website does a great job of searching and showing a ton
of Cajun/Zydeco info happening all around the world. Recently it did go
to a paid subscription type of service to see the locations of the events. You can post your own events for free!
d) Dick Brainard puts out a great info newsletter on some of the big festivals and it's a great way to keep up on changing band and other schedules of where people are staying.. roommate's needed etc... Click on the following link to shoot email to be added to his list... http://www.cascadezydeco.com/about.shtml
Floyd's Record Shop in Ville Platte Louisiana has been serving the Cajun/Zydeco music lovers needs for 56 years and while the online store is still open they closed the actual store.
Check out this interesting video clip interviewing "Floyd", from the local news channel on the store closing...
If you have never gotten their catalog before of their mail order business visit their website below and get on their mail list as the catalog is well put together and interesting to browse through.
Louisiana's Lt. Gov Jay Dardeen is paying touring bands who travel outside of Louisiana to give out Handkerchiefs, T-shirts and other promotional material for the state. The Louisiana Music Ambassador Project is giving selected artists $1000 to $2000 for their promotional marketing actions.
It's interesting researching the new bands coming out of Louisiana and Texas as well as the creative ways they name their bands. I just ran across the best name so far for 2013...
Here are a few runners up....
Jay-B and the Zydeco Posse Jabo & the Southside Playboys JJ and the Zydeco DogPound Lil Rob & the Zydeco Studs Weasel & da Zydecoclan
The winner so far in 2013 is...
"Tank and the Zydeco Codebreakers".
Tank's band sounded very good which goes to show you just how much talent runs along the i10 corridor all the way from Lafayette Louisiana to Houston Texas.
Click on the link below to check out Tank's video clip from the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans back in April of 2013.To see a list of all the Zydeco bands click on the following Link
Amede Ardoin is considered the father of today's Cajun and Zydeco music and back in the 40's he had a tragic end to his life. There has been an ongoing search for where he was buried and from this new article it appears the search will continue!
Thanks to the endless hours of road trips the younger generation is keeping Zydeco alive and taking the time to travel to festivals away from Louisiana and Texas to spread their talents. The video clip below is to the recent Long Beach Crawfish Festival which just happened the first week in August, 2013.
The video clip is Ruben Moreno and his band pumping out one of Brian Jacks famous tunes from a few years back. Ironically there are a few less dancers at some of the California festivals compared to 10 years ago but we actually have more festivals. We only had three main Southern California festivals in the past but the Long Beach Crawfish festival each year has been bringing out more and more high talented Zydeco bands from Louisiana and Texas. The exposure of Zydeco has seemed to have grown over the years.
Check out the drummer Steven... this guy is an incredible drummer... a step above many Zydeco drummers.
There are a ton of various Zydeco styles you will see on the dance floor in Louisiana and Texas. One common style will be the slides with lifts as shown below. It takes a bit to get comfortable with the movement where there is no rock step but once you have the slides down there are a ton of fun moves you can incorporate into the style which are a lot of fun. I will post a few in the future to the blog as well..
For an additional video clip showing this style please click on the following link..
I was recently on a road trip through the south and in New Orleans I purchased a few new Zydeco CD's that were recently released. One CD was from Moris Ledet and the Zydeco Ramblers and was very interesting. Many of the tunes hae this old school Zydeco sound to them that I loved.
One of the current trends seems to be mixing little RaB sound or rap in with Zydeco to help it appeal to the younger crowd and you don't get this feeling with Moris's new CD called "Swing That Thing". Morris's daughter Kassy also sings some tunes on the CD and she has some nice pipes!
Please click on the following link to check out the CD and if wanted you can also purchase it through the flattownmusic.com web site.
Here is a list of upcoming 2013 Zydeco Festivals to check out. Thanks to Dick Brainard for sharing the list with a few additions by myself.
Festival
International Breaux Bridge Crawfish Fest: Lafayette,
LA, April 24th weekend. For those of you asking--I do not reserve a block of rooms for these
festivals as the hotels in the Lafayette area ask premium rates for rooms during
this time. Sorry--you are on your own.
Gator
By The Bay:
San Diego--May
10-11-12.
Zydeco Line up
includes Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Andre Thierry & Zydeco
Magic, Lil’ Wayne & Same Ol’ 2-Step, & Lafayette Rhythm Devils. Be sure
to book your room soon at the Sheraton next to the festival to get the $109 +
tax/night rate. Go to www.sandiegofestival.com
for all details. Long Beach Bayou Festival, June 22-23rd Line up includes Pine Leaf Boys, Brian Jack, Jo Jo Reed, Sunpie Web Site www.LongBeachFestival.com Simi Valley Cajun Blues Festival, May 25th, 26thJPaul & Zydeco Newbreeds, Steve Riley, Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic, Leroy Thomas & Zydeco Roadrunners Web Site www.simicajun.org
Strawberry
Park Cajun Zydeco Festival: Preston,
CT--June 6-7-8-9. Line up includes
Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie,
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, The Pine Leaf Boys, Lil’ Wayne & Same
Ol’ 2-Step, Savoy Family Band, Jesse Lege, Jimmy Jo, & Planet Zydeco. Go to
www.strawberrypark.net/festivals/cajun-zydecofestival
for details.
Waterfront
Blues Fest: Portland,
OR--July 4-5-6-7.
Major Blues
Acts include Robert
Plant & Sensational Space Shifters, John Hiatt, Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples,
Eric Burdon & the Animals, Robert Randolph, plus fifty more blues bands on
three stages! Go to www.waterfrontbluesfest.com for
details.
Zydeco Stage (w/
dance floor): Friday
6:45-11:00 PM--Lil' Wayne & Same Ol' 2-Step, TooLoose Cajun Band, Chubby
Carrier & Bayou Swamp Band; Saturday Noon-11:00 PM--Pineleaf Boys, Lil'
Wayne & Same Ol' 2-Step, Chubby Carrier, Horace Trahan & Ossun Express;
Sunday 11:30-4:30 PM--Atomic Gumbo, Horace Trahan, Pineleaf Boys. Plus swing
blues dancing other times.
The fest is in
Waterfront Park in downtown Portland--over 20,000 attendees each day. If flying
in, best to avoid a rental car & parking fees in downtown. Light rail from
PDX to downtown every 15 minutes. Options for rooms
include;
www.hotwire.com for a 3-star
hotel ($68) at the airport (with shuttle from terminal) & within walking
distance to Cascade light rail station & drops you 4 short blocks from the
fest.
www.uplacehotel.com University
Place Hotel ($113/night including tax & breakfast) ten blocks from the fest.
www.pdx.edu/conferences/stay-us (then click on
“individual stay contract” for details) in PSU campus dorm rooms w/ bath &
amenities; 12 blocks from the fest. $56 to $66/night for two.
Hotels across
the street from the fest include the Marriott and Hotel 50. Both are over
$150/night. The Hilton Hotel (6 blocks) may be willing to bargain if you arrive
without reservations & they have empty rooms.
Rhythm
& Roots Fest: Ninigret State
Park, RI--Aug. 30,31, Sep. 1.
Just a post to announce a big Cajun band added to the Gator By The Bay festival for the 2013 festival in May, the Lafayette Rhythm Devils!
Straight from Louisiana this is the first time the Lafayette Rhythm Devils have played in southern California and it looks like they will be adding a lot to the festival party!
The other big headliners for the Cajun/Zydeco lineup are Geno Delafose, Andre Thierry and Lil Wayne with Same Two Step.
The festival is always the 2nd weekend in May and check the festvial web site for other details at www.gatorbythebay.com
Traditionally the Zydeco dance has not had a lot of overhead type turns but that has changed over the years. Typically swing, jitterbug, salsa and other dances have a great number of turns but over head turns do seem to be increasing in Zydeco.
The video clip below with a couple of great dancers, Arthur and Kim, is a good example of how turn are integrated into Zydeco.
The difference with Zydeco is the whole dance is based on 8 count patterns opposed to jitterbug with 6 count patterns. For Zydeco dancers who dance swing or other types of dancing it's a little odd to drag out the turns another two beats but it also gives you the opportunity to do a little more with the extra time.
I wanted to share a few video clips and images from the Lafayette Louisiana area over the weekend before Mardi Gras.
The shear number of dance events to possibly attend is mind boggling so typically you have to pick two or three to try to pack in per day...
The first video clip below is from Gerry Spanger's Mardi Gras party he throws for all of the
dancers. This year he had Geno Delafose play so it was a very full
dance floor. My favorite quote from the event was while dancing with
one person I mentioned how hot it was with the packed dance floor and
she informed me that I should have seen what it was like before they
turned on the AC... Typically dancers will bring multiple shirts with
them as they soon get soaked with the Louisiana humidity levels.
The next video clip below is from Vermillionville with Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boy's. It's
amazing the amount of talent many of the artists have who rarely play
some of the bigger festivals around the country but clearly have the
talent for it!! My favorite comment from a lady dancer at
Vermillionville was her apologizing for "the Houston" coming out in
her. She was referring to a style of close dance position with her
gyrating hips that some of the advanced ladies can do...what can I say..
YeaURite!
This video clip below was from the
highlight event of my weekend with Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco
Band. Keith
didn't stop for one break all night with his 3+ hour set... quite
amazing when you consider most other "out of Louisiana" Cajun or Zydeco
bands take a break half way through their set. He played a ton of his older hits mixed in with the new. The low end bass power
of Keith's sound system is just plain amazing. Keith also just released
a new CD... see www.KeithFrank.com for more details.
This image to the right was from Grant Street Dance Hall where I had the opportunity to do a little Intermediate and advanced Zydeco dance workshop.
Check out the following link for some of the advanced stuff we covered at medium pace and there are always Zydeco DVD's for sale which slow down these moves further covering this stuff at www.LearnZydeco.com
Zydeco Dance Workshop - Saturday Feb 9th - Grant Street Dance Hall, Lafayette
What: Intermediate & Advanced Zydeco dance workshop covering a few intermediate and a few advanced Zydeco moves. We will also cover the hardest move in Zydeco, "The Reverse 360". If the group wants to learn a easy Zydeco line dance we can also cover this as well.
Online Lesson 1 (with video clip link below) As they say practice makes perfect and while we will be covering several intermediate moves if you want to brush up on the basics of some of the advanced footwork please click on the following YouTube link. No partner is really needed to practice this footwork before coming to class if wanted..
Online Lesson 2 Before coming to class if you want to do a little more practice click on the following link ....
We won't be covering any beginning Zydeco so check with your local instructors for this or go to www.ZydecoLesson.com for a free online lesson.
When: Saturday, Feb 9th, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Location: Grant Street Dance Hall, 113 W. Grant St. Lafayette, LA 70501 web: grantstdancehall.com
Cost: Free
(Just in town for a little fun weekend and thought it would be fun to throw in a short little workshop)
No RSVP needed nor do you need a partner.. we will provide. Any questions call 619-857-8409.
I have seen a lot of the Cajun/Creole type documentaries that have been released over the years but I have never seen this Creole Music and Culture in Rural Louisiana video which was very interesting.
Folklorist Nicholas Spitzer did a great job of capturing the interesting perspectives of the artists and Creole community from it's evolving roots not that long ago. It is so interesting to see John Delafose many years ago in his prime and Geno his son playing the washboard and drums at some of the dances with his daddy. Geno Delafose is playing this year at the Gator By The Bay festival in San Diego for the first time!
Click on the following link below to view the documentary and for more information on the film.
The last place on earth I would have ever expected Zydeco to show up is in Japan but thanks to the Zydeco Kicks they are helping to feed the frenzie.
What is amazing is the talents of the accordion player in being able to learn and play the Zydeco tunes as it's not like he can go down the street to get lessons!
The Zydeco Kicks is lead by Yoshitake who has made several trips to Louisiana as they have been playing for seveal years in Japan. It is also intersting to note that they love the music but nobody knows how to dance Zydeco so they just party on with their freestyle dancing.
Zydeco Kicks has a web site at the link below and of course he has his CD available as well as t-shirts. I think I will need to get one of those shirts for 1500 Yen.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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...
