by Tom Dempsey and Carol Taylor (now Carol Dempsey, 8/10/97), November 1995
Recipe for a Dancing Vacation:
Start in the heart of Cajun and Creole Country.
Add a pair of eager dancers.
Spice with local zydeco bands and
a dash of Tabasco sauce from Avery Island.
Bake at Louisiana temperatures. Enjoy hot or cold!
On November 4, 1995, we flew from Seattle to New Orleans, got our rental car, and drove straight to a hotel in Lafayette, Louisiana. Despite having colds, we were eager to spend the week in search of zydeco, and we found it!
Picture a long, low-ceilinged building in the open fields just east of Lawtell, Louisiana, with a small sign above the door saying "Richard's." Once we were seated in Richard's Club, a tall man in a black cowboy hat gently placed a photo on our table. The photo showed a man holding his accordion, and the inscription read, "The Original Corn Bread Man and Get Down." At first we thought he was Keith Frank, who was to play later that evening. Instead, the man in the hat and the photo was Willis Prudhomme, who delivered some of the best zydeco music of our trip. I recommend his album, The Zydeco Express.
Keith Frank's band played next. Keith began picking up his father's accordion at age 6. By tenth grade he had started his own band. At 23, he stood before us at Richard's Club carefully checking his band's sound and calling out fine adjustments. Keith's large frame made his accordion look like a child's toy, and his handsome looks caused the young women at a neighboring table to giggle and blush. By the time he had completed sound checks for the band, the audience had doubled in size. His accordion playing drove the dancers to such a frenzy that our table beside the dance floor bounced up and down, rocking our empty soda cans. Keith pumps out some potent zydeco!
In Seattle, we are used to remaining on the dance floor for the next song. As each song ended at Richard's, however, dancers cleared the floor. In fact, throughout Southwest Louisiana, dancers quickly clear the floor right after the music stops.
During midweek, Acadiana usually has little zydeco dancing, but offers Cajun dancing every night. During the day, we entertained ourselves by visiting local sights as we waited for the dance clubs to reopen. We enjoyed visiting the Tabasco Factory and Jungle Gardens on Avery Island (which is not an island but a salt dome). While in Eunice, we took cover from a heavy rain shower by visiting the informative Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, where Cajun musicians jammed for us. On pleasant sunny days, we explored the Zoo of Acadiana just south of Lafayette and the intriguing cypress swamps of Chicot State Park near Ville Platte. We searched for mouth-watering, fresh-boiled crawfish, but they were not in season during our trip. (Live crawfish season is December to mid-June.)
We left Acadiana to visit the bustle of New Orleans, where we walked two blocks from our hotel room to the Mid City Bowling Lanes. The "Rock 'N Bowl," as locals call it, offers zydeco every Wednesday and Thursday nights. We had seen the name "Step Rideau" on a zydeco club marquee near Lafayette, but knew nothing else to recommend him for dancing that night. We discovered that Step Rideau plays hot zydeco. Seek him out!
As they say in Louisiana, "Y'all have a great day, now!"