News - #18 OCTOBER, 1999

We're Back! At last we have a new newsletter up and running, at least on our web site. Since Peter Schwarz, our former bass player and manager extraordinaire, has moved on to higher education Steve and David have been busy learning the ropes of high tech communication. We sometimes get tangled up in the ropes, but we're learning and we appreciate your patience during this hiccup in news service. We have decided for the time being to tackle only what we can reasonably keep up with and we're going to drop the printed newsletters for a while. We will continue to publish our schedule with postcards and to have the news on the web. Kyle Hebert We are proud to announce to you our selection of the newest member of the Mamou Playboys, Kyle Hebert, from Breaux Freakin' Bridge La. He has already been a member of the Basin Brothers, 'Tit Mamou, and la Bande Feu Follet. We called a rehearsal to teach him our songs and he knew them already. He's also a superb fiddler and accordionist. Kyle will occupy the huge slot in our rhythm section left by Peter Schwarz when he went to bidness skool. Congres Mondial We ended the summer in full celebration of our culture and history. We spent most of August in LA so that we could entertain visitors for Congres Mondial des Acadiens, The worldwide reunion of Acadians. We welcomed people with the same French family names as ours from Canada, France and wherever Acadians have wandered. We were privileged to close Cri du Bayou, the closing celebration of the Congres, which took place on August 15, the Acadian national holiday. The thrill and resonance of looking over a crowd of 8,000 Acadians and Cajuns-cheering, waving Acadian and Cajun flags, dancing- reunited after 250 years is hard to describe. Acadie Not long after that we went to old Acadie- Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. We shared a crowd of nearly 1000 with our friends Blou and Suroit whom we had met at Cri du Bayou. As Cajuns we had been told all our lives about the beautiful place from which we'd been deported and it was great to finally see it. David was given the chance, thanks to our wonderful hosts, to visit Grand Pre where hundred of Acadians were expelled from their land and where his direct ancestors lived. We performed in French for audiences filled with Sonniers, Doucets, Robichauxs and Comeauxs. On Prince Edward Island we dined on lobster-one crawfish per pound. We went on down to Fredericton, N.B., stopping for lobster every chance we could, to play for the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. We played our first show in a "big-ass" tent while what was left of Hurricane Floyd sang along outside. After the show we plowed into a big blues jam with Joe Murphy, Steve and Roddie on accordions, David on sax, Kevin on drums, West African singers and dancers and Kyle Hebert watching. The next night was like a mini Cri du Bayou with a room full of Acadians singing along with our cajun tunes. Ils parlent Franá‡áais beaucoup bien- meme les enfants! Ninigret (Nicorette?) Chuck Wentworth's Rhythm & Roots Festival changed location this Labor Day to a lovely and handy site near the ocean in Ninigret (Nine egrets?) R.I.. Once again we were the host band (Can we get you anything?)and once again the line-up of talent was phenomenal. We had the great pleasure of meeting Corey Harris, Dr. John, Susan Tedeschi, Rosie Flores, Jonathan Edwards and of catching up with Big Sandy and the Fly-right Boys and Natalie McMaster. David even sat in with Dr. John on "Big Chief." We also had a rare chance to hang out and really mix it up with our old friends Dirk Powell, Kevin Wimmer, Courtney Granger, and Bois Sec Ardoin. The late night dances were made extra exciting by Roddie missing his flight and by Kevin Wimmer and David's saxofiddle section and by Dirk tearing it up on the blues piano. And when Roddie showed up it got really hot. Lotus Festival This was our first chance to perform at the Lotus World Music Festival in Bloomington IN (David's summer home). We shared the dance with Los Van Van, the big and large band from Cuba. It was a challenge in one day to see all the amazing talent that Lee Williams has gathered from the world over but what we did see was inspiring. Sometimes we forget that we're world music, too. La Ville de Quebec In October we visited one of the coolest towns on the planet, Quebec City, Quebec. We were invited to perform for the Festival International des Arts Traditionnels. La Ville de Quebec has all the charm and all the French of a European city without the jet lag and high ticket prices. The old part of town is built on a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence River and there's all the stone and architecture and great restaurants anyone could possibly want. It was a great chance to practice our French and to play for people whose hearts are in the same place in working to create and nourish a living French culture in North America. It's almost too much fun. We did shows with Josephine, a Quebecois Cajun & Zydeco group, Lynn August and the Hot August Knights (from LA) and Domino, a traditional group from Quebec as well as Jay and ? Cormier from right here in La.. Special thanks to Chantal, Nadine and Julie for being such great hosts. -Sincerely, The Mamou Playboys back to news