Robideaux Pro Temp

Lesile Turk reports for The Independent that Joel Robideaux became Louisiana's first Speaker pro tempore, as a registered independent. That's pretty amazing, especially in Louisiana. Robideaux was also featured last week's cover story for The Independent here. To be fair, I've known Joel most of my life, he's a good friend, and my CPA, so him doing something "historic" is pretty cool. I'm sure other friends of mine have done something historic as well, but nothing is coming to mind at the moment. One friend used to run a lot, not fast, but really, really far; another can whistle super loud and make cool farting noises with his hands.... both awesome but not "historic". I'll get back to you if I think of anything else.

Mais, Clean That Bayou!

Volunteers are needed to participate in a cleanup of the Bayou Teche between the Cecilia Bridge and Poche Bridge THIS SATURDAY! Trash bags and trash pickers are provided, volunteers with motor boats are needed and kayaks and canoes also welcomed. Gumbo provided. Let's clean up Bayou Teche!

WHEN: 9:00-2:00; Saturday, March 27

WHERE: 2085 Hwy 31, Arnaudville

WHO: Cajuns for Bayou Teche/ Shane Seneca Welding & Fabrication/ Keep St. Martin Beautiful/ St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Department + all volunteers welcomed

WHAT: Bayou Teche clean-up

A new section of Bayou Teche has been adopted by Shane Seneca Welding & Fabrication in the Keep St. Martin Beautiful program. This section from the bridge in Cecilia south toward Poche Bridge extends the adopted areas of the Kiwanis Club and Cajuns for Bayou Teche in the Keep St. Martin Beautiful program. Mr. Seneca is a neighbor to Blake Couvillion of Cajuns for Bayou Teche and was inspired by his efforts to clean up the Teche. Mr. Seneca, in conjunction with Cajuns for Bayou Teche, is coordinating a public clean-up on Saturday, March 27th with the launch point from his own back yard at 2085 Hwy 31, Arnaudville. Boats will be able to launch from his backyard. Due to the location of his adopted area, it was determined this is the optimum launch point. Gumbo will be provided to volunteers and those who attend to cheer them on.

Blake Couvillion says, "We are happy to have Mr. Shane Seneca join our efforts to restore Bayou Teche. He is a great welder and a valuable asset to our project. Mr. Seneca's area connects two other adopted stretches of bayou to form an unbroken chain of adopted waterway. We hope others will take interest in our project and volunteer to adopt an area as Mr. Sencea has done." Jacques Privat, director of Keep St. Martin Beautifu says, "St. Martin Parish Government and Keep St. Martin Beautiful applaud Mr. Shane Seneca for his dedication to our environment. We are encouraged and excited that he and so many more people are joining this fight to clean up our parish. Any person, family, neighborhood, business, club, church or other organization can adopt a remaining portion of the Bayou Teche, a road or other area in the parish by calling 442-1016."

Additional clean-up dates set by Cajuns for Bayou Teche include May 8th in Port Barre and September 25 in Breaux Bridge.

VOLUNTEERS WITH MOTOR BOATS ARE NEEDED. Kayaks and canoes are encouraged to come out, as well. Supporters who do not have a boat are also invited to join in a gumbo and to show their appreciation for the clean-up effort.

Cajuns for Bayou Teche will be out with their boat, the "St. Michael" and invites the community to join in the clean up effort or to enjoy some home-cooked gumbo and cheer on the volunteers!

This Never Gets Old

I could do without the "voice of terror" narration, but this is an excellent accounting of the day Lake Peigneur drained. Hard to believe it was caused by an accidental oil rig drilling. Big oil has been so good to our environment in the past. "Drill Baby Drill....oh wait, the lake is getting sucked to the bottom of the world! Un-drill baby Un-drill!"

Good Luck Coach

UL will announce today at noon that they have hired a new basketball head coach, Bob Marlin. Marlin most recently led the Sam Houston State Bearkats to an overall record of 225-131 over the 12 years that he was there. The Tupelo, MS native has also been named 'Coach of the Year' twice by the Southland Conference and graduated from Mississippi State in 1981. To learn more about the new coach, you can see his bio page on the Sam Houston website here, and Joshua Parrot with the Daily Advertiser has a full story here.

James is Out

Well...that was short-lived. Even though James managed to survive last week's Tribal Council with his leg in a cast, he just couldn't hang on, so Lafayette's Survivor is out. Poor James...didn't even make it to the merge this season. Ahhh well.....at least Russell, arguably the greatest Survivor strategist ever, is still in it. So my loyalties now lie with him....go Russell! :)
- jill

This week's People Magazine has a Q&A with James here.

He Ain't Got The Queen Yet

There's no story here. Just a cautionary tale of woman, a car and a swarm of bees. The moral? When the cameras are rolling (and they are always rolling....everywhere) gather your wits about you and avoid saying things like "he ain't got the queen yet". Who do you think is having a worse day, the "victim" or the beekeeper doing his job in front of a live audience?

What's That Song?

Alex Chilton passed away last week. You may have seen/heard the many tributes on various news outlets. Most of those reports focused on his work with Big Star, and The Box Tops. I encountered him in the 90's when we opened a handful of shows for him. He seemed like a reluctant legend, sort of a cool, curmudgeony English professor. We all worshiped the ground he walked on. His status was cemented for me during a show we played together in Denver. The audience brought him back for several encores, the last couple of which he performed entirely in Italian. No one could understand a word he was singing, but we loved him all the more for it.

This song isn't his best, or most famous, but I always loved it because it' shows his wicked humor and power with double sided words. And, check out the guitar solo. Straight out of the Tax Man handbook, this is what a solo should be in a pop song. Never in my worst nightmare would I have dreamed we would lose both Bobby Charles and Alex Chilton in the same year, and with so much music left in them. Bummer.

TDM is Cool!

Check out this week's Independent Weekly for a really fun list of things they think make living in Lafayette cool. We were surprised and excited to see that they included The Daily Meaux in the same company of so many way cool things. Yep.....listed right under Poo Poo Broussard and before Old Gold there we are. Yea! :)

Les Blank Tonight

The Acadiana Center For the Arts is hosting acclaimed film maker Les Blank tonight as he presents three of his documentaries on Cajun Music and culture. Blank will present three of his films J'ai Été Au Bal/I Went to the Dance, Hot Pepper and Yum, Yum, Yum! in the Main Gallery of the AcA March 24 and 25 beginning at 7 p.m.

When I first saw these films I was taken by the raw power of the musical performances by all the artists, but I was under the impression that the future held promise to equal and build upon their work. That was naive of me. It's obvious now, that Blank captured the "golden age" of Cajun music and Zydeco. No artists have come close to matching the accomplishments of Dewy Balfa, Clifton Chenier, Canray Fontenot...etc. Seriously, check out Hot Pepper and tell me if the music of Clifton Chenier bears any resemblance to what passes for Zydeco today. These were the giants of our culture, and Blank presented them brilliantly. This was our music before tourism, before commercialism, before cliche'.

Now, get off my lawn!

Festival International in Your Pocket

How cool is this.....Festival International has an iPhone / iPod Touch app that has everything you could possibly want to know all in one handy, and best of all, FREE app. Stage maps, band bios, create your own schedules and more! Click here to check it out. Sadly, no Android app.....yet?

March Film at the Center

Remember that really fun James Tancill / Preservation Hall Jazz Band video we featured last October? (To refresh your memory, click here)...well it turns out that the powers that be at the Acadiana Center for the Arts must be Daily Meaux readers (well...maybe they are, or maybe they just know good talent...) but either way, they will be featuring a viewing of that video prior to their next movie screening this Sunday. Here's the info on the event.

March 21, 2010, 2 p.m. at the AcA
American Creole (2006)
60 min. No Rating
Louisiana filmmakers Glen Pitre and Michelle Benoit present this film on New Orleans jazz man Don Vappie. His sidemen are scattered by Hurricane Katrina, his flooded-out mom is sleeping on his couch, and his 8-year-old grandson is clamoring to join the band. Tour the front lines of a devastated city's cultural rebirth: offstage, where race is infinitely more nuanced than black or white; backstage, where which instrument you play can be a political statement; and joyously onstage, where the only thing that matters is music.

Prior to the showing of American Creole, Film @ the Center will be debuting a brand new, locally produced animated music video "St. James Infirmary," presented by Preservation Hall Recordings. Directed by Lafayette-based teacher and animator James Tancill, the music video for the Preservation Hall / King Britt remix of "St. James Infirmary," by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is an animated romp in the style of Max Fleischer (Betty Boop, etc.) that plays out like a storybook caper set against a backdrop of beloved New Orleans characters and institutions both old and new.

For more information on Film @ the Center call 233.7060.

New Music!

Mark is in Austin today getting ready for his show tomorrow at the Continental Club so if you are in the area, print the eflyer off his Facebook page so you can get free entry to the club plus FREE crawfish and beer! He plays at 2pm so don't be late.

If you can't make it to Austin, here's a sample of what you'll miss.... All songs are FREE downloads, so feel free to save them and email them to all your friends. :)
jill

ps - you can also sign up for the Sam Rey email list on the player below, and that would be really neat if you did...thanks!

pps - "Everything" is a brand new song so check out that one first. Special, special thanks to Ivan Klisanin, Michael Juan Nunez, Chad Willis and Jeff LeBlanc - you guys did an awesome job!