speaking of co-opting, is this the other side?

go to a zydeco dance anywhere outside LA
[or TX], and the crowd is
white and over 45, almost exclusively..

doesn;t matter what the band is
keith frank
rosie ledet
steve riley
beausoleil

why is that?

i know in atlanta, i would expect there
to be a bunch of creoles here, it;s a very
large city not that far from LA.

but where are they?

i;ve never found them

maybe they have their own secret french
dances and don;t want to be around that
many 'anglos'.

i dunno

but is this the other side of 'co-opting'?

i assume they make more money touring
and playing outside their home lands

so who is co-opting who?

it;s like blues back in the 60s

those guys had to go to europe
to make a decent living

at some point though, it kind of came back
and all the white rock bands were like
'yeah, we;ve been into the blues all along'.

hmm..

what would really be interesting is for
travis and co to travel outside LA, and
see what they can drum up.

it must be in his plans for the future..


wle.

Travis is planning to tour -- I've been giving him some venue suggestions here in DFW, so I know a tour is impending. Whether it's a tour of the lower 48 or just the Ark-la-tex, I've not heard.

The long and short of this discussion really boils down to opinions, really. My opinion is, Travis' style is a unique approach to zydeco, and he's created his own thing with it, as well as his own audience complete with its unique demographics.

Zydeco music has experienced more revolutions in the past 20 years than any other Louisiana genre. If you compare Clifton to J. Paul, it's hard to imagine the label "zydeco" applies to both equally. It's quite amazing to see the contrast. Moreover, if you look at the tools used, the Cajun box, now, is the preferred method to the piano accordion, with the 3-row as a close second. That dynamic alone has served as a sweeping change to the zydeco sound. Of course, Boozoo had been doing this all along!

So you have to wonder about guys like Travis (and Jamie Bergeron)... are they changing the taste of Cajun music or are they spinning zydeco yet another turn? Only time will tell.

One thing is certain. Pick up any Chris Ardoin and/or J.Paul Jr. disc to unveil the course of zydeco's future. They leave everyone in the genre catching up to them.

R!CK

wle,
you make some good points.

1. If you are interested in seeing a creole/black audience. Go to a "church dance". Most of the white folks are too intimidated to go to them.

2. Most of the LA artists will not travel outside of the LA/TX area unless they have to. After a while it will happen.

Even Keith Frank is not filling the local clubs like he used to and is travelling.

I think of Travis' current music as "pop" Zydeco. It's catchy, party music. Even he will probably get tired of it and probably start composing more "interesting" stuff after a while.

DP