Brave Mark Sponer and his wife, Jan, have managed to make quite a few trips to Louisiana this year. Mark sent the photo below last month and writes:

Hey Joan,

We just got back from a trip to Lake Charles. We attended the CFMA Lake Charles Fest on Sat and Sun. We had a blast, lots of good music, met a couple of our Braves. Got to meet Chris Miller, super nice guy and gifted musician. Here below is a pic of me and him together. I just got finished with my playing at the amature accordion contest, did not win, but had a lot of fun playing, now I can say to my grandchildren, Oh yeah.....I played in Lake Charles.

Later
Mark

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Hey Mark...I can see ya giving that accordion a BIG bear hug!!..if the mic was any higher you'd be playing it on your left shoulder!!..THAT I'd like to see!

..and, Chris, all credit to you for allowing Mark up on stage with Bayou Roots... but I don't think he can get clearance to go on tour with you ..he's got babysitting duties right now with a brand new grandaughter just arrived.

BTW Mark..do you kneel down and play that sax while trying to play the box at the same time??...great party trick!!LOL

Great to see the photo mate...we'll get together a.s.a.p for that jam session.

Darryl, Australia

Hey Mark,

Lookin' good on stage there! What song did you play?

Nick B

Hey Nick! and Darryl!,
The other song I played was Diggy Liggy Lo, which Chris done a good job on singing. The picture was taking at a festival in Natchitoches,LA. They had 3 stages of music going on at the same time. I had to leave the sax alone, it took all I had to get use to playing standing up with a strap. When I play at home I usually sit down or stand up and prop my knee on something and rest the box on my knee to play, that is my prefer way.
I enjoyed the playing and Chris and his band were great. I will have a another chance to see Chris and his band play again in Bossier City, LA next month, that is only 4 hours from my house.
Hey Nick have you got your new box yet?
Later gaters
Mark S

Hey Mark, Do you live in Arkansas? I'm dying to know other Cajun/Zydeco afficianados in ARK., ESPECIALLY anyone that plays the Cajun accordion. I live in Fayetteville, have for 30 years, but I'm originally from Stuttgart.

My # is 479-502-2893. THat's my work cell, and the easiest one to reach me on.

Thanks, Jamey Hall

We sure had a blast! Mark played Bayou Pon Pon and I tried imitating the organ part that was made famous in the Clint West version back in the late 70s. Yep, that is a keyboard I am playing, not a steel. Would love to learn steel, but so far, I haven't ventured there. Mark also played another song, but I don't remember what it was. Mark did a great job, but was a bit uncomfortable playing standing up! That was something new. He also is playing with the accordion strap on his left shoulder...I STILL can't do that!

You can also clearly see Tim Broussard in the forum picture. Tim is a great accordion player besides being a top-notch bassist who has played on the road with Mark Chestnutt and Wayne Toups. (Luckily, he never got hit by any cars! Played on the road....cars ....hit... ) Ahem...Anyway... ...Fiddler Clint Ward (behind sign), drummer Dale Dougay (behind me) and guitarist Steve Dougay (behind dancers) are obscured in the photo