I have lost interest in going to Lafayette and jam. I also found it uninviting at the the festival as well. It is more of a performance and a judging contest on lets see how fast we can get bored with this guy or that.
Le Piquant

Hey Jerry, I thought you had boycotted the Fest. Acadiens ET CREOLE b/c of the creole part. Or am I just mistaken?

Yes you are mistaken, I voiced my opinion on changing the name, but I didn't mean to imply if I did that I was going to go to it.
Le Piquant

Oh, sorry Jerry. Must have been the CFMA thing I was thinkin of!

Yes that is the one. I just couldn't bring myself to going to the annual CAJUN MUSIC AWARDS and listening to zydeco music. Didn't make cents nor sense to me.
Le Piquant

Ahh, the psychology of music

"Musicians" are funny people; frequently a mix of
intense sensitivity, and driven by passion.

I'd wager that when first learning, one only need
rehearse for a month or so before you pass by the
fringe of audience comprehension ..
potentially spawning insecurity for the player.

Then, there's the "business" of music .. not pretty!

But, if you think about it too much, you'd likely
give up playing in disgust

So, my mantra for today: "Don't think, just play!"

--Biggy

I like that Big.
Le Piquant

I like that too.

Jam in Scott, La Maison de Begnaud

Physical Address:
110 Benoit Patin Rd.
Scott, LA 70583

across from the KOA
Jams Friday nights around 6

Bon Matin mez amis.

I said I wouldn't come back, but this particular discussion caught my attention when I did pop in to see what was going on. Why, because it shows that you and I can relate on something here Mr. Piquant.

I went last year to the Festival Acadians for the first time. Being from Kaplan and wanting to go and watch and actually talk with some of my fellow accordion players and fiddle players, I decided it might be a good thing. So off I went, with a would be student that came with me.

The first thing I noticed is that I had a very hard time finding "my people". It almost seemed that the majority of the persons there were foreign. Meaning, not born and raised below I-10 Louisiana. I saw all kinds of gawky clothes on people trying to be Cajun. Oh, and their dancing, my God! It wasn't what I was used to. It wasn't the way the old granpas and maw maws, uncles, aunts, friends, and myself tend to dance to Cajun music. It was something else, sort of clumsy and hippy like. And lets not even go into how they talked. That was a dead give away. I felt like an alien in my own land. It was actually troubling to me to feel that way. I knew most of the people weren't Cajun just by the way they looked, dressed, acted, and carried themselves. A lifetime of observing your own kind tends to make you aware of those that are not your own kind. I didn't feel sorry for them though. They were the majority. They ruled in a sense. Who I felt sorry for was my people and my true culture and watching before my very eyes how it was being "invaded" once again. Sort of like when those dam Anglicans came down here and force fed the English language to my Grandparents and my parents. Yeah, my mom actually got here hands beat with a dam stick any time she'd slip up and speak Cajun French in the classroom. That's a whole nother story.

So I turn my focus to finding the local musicians. Not hard to find them. They were all pinned up in some type of fenced in coral all wearing these little back stage badges that seemed to elevate their status above and beyond me and the common rabble that was there. Now I would have felt like a fool to call them over to the fence and talk to them that way, but the "apprentice" accordion player I was with was braver and did it anyway. We spoke to Cedric Watson, Steve Riley, D.L. Menard, and Mark Savoy. We spoke deeply and with meaning with Andre Michot, which lead to Andre doing some fixing and tuning on my accordion at a later date. It was thrilling to talk to them, but I felt like some kind of over zealous groupie. I felt like I was invading their time and space so to speak. They had become something else. Like superstars. All the while I'm thinking this, in the back of my head, I know I could sit and play good music with them at any given time. That I was every bit enough talented to do it and do it right. I wanted to spend time with them discovering and learning more. But they just seemed so inaccessable both at the Festival Acadians and in the every day world. I wonder how they feel about this.

As far as the Festival Acadians. I haven't gone back and don't feel the slightest sense of longing to go back. I don't feel like I'm missing out. This year, for the whole weekend, I spent time alone and with my sons playing the French music. I didn;t even turn on the radio to listen to the Festival live on 88.7 FM. Instead, we did it our way, slow and easy, and sometimes fast with a lot of stopping and learning and picking it apart in between. The only thing that was missing.....was other musicians like me to share the experience and lend a hand. Those guys are either all dead, or they were at the FEstival Acadian. LOL.

Oh, by the way, please don't accuse me of "trolling" again. I just have so much to get off my mind sometimes. Yes, I do listen to what others have to say, although I do ignore some comments on purpose.

I actually had to go to wikipedia and look up "trolling". I was thinking it should have been spelled "trawling", which is what we do when we want to catch a lot of shrimp, crab, and fish in a trawling net every once and a while. You know...like attempting to get the fish, crab, and shrimp's undivided attention by capturing them by force into a great big net. Or maybe I'm still missing the point of "trolling." Oh well....c'est tout.

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this thread. I know the people in the inner circle of the jams. Most are not from here as you stated but their heart and love for the music is. They are more interested in the music than a lot of the people born and raised here. I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem with the control of the jams and how they favor an "insider" over all the people trying to play. I don't have a problem listening to some guy or gal doing the best they can, even if the music is full of mistakes. My problem is the eye contact and the dismisses attitude I see and feel. And this is exactly why we decided not to move back to the Lafayette area. I can play my accordion here at my house or at jams organized by my friends and not have "perform".
As for trolling didn't mean to be insulting or disrespecful. I just thought no matter how many times and ways to answered your question nothing seem to satisfy your inquiry.
You are more than welcome to come to Thibodaux and play at our "jam" session. It is a real jam and who ever comes to it will get to play all they want.
Le Piquant

Piquant, I see what you were saying in your post about jams favoring the "insider". My first experience with a jam session was at Marc Savoy's Music center. When I was going there about 20 years ago it was different. An old timer would get up and do the first set and play until he wanted to get up and let another old timer take his place. There was a lot of unspoken competition between those old timer/insiders. Sometimes I even sensed a little pride and good humored "hate" between them. LOL. New or beginner players would sit on the outside and play along quietly. When the prominant musicians would see that your fingers were either keeping up with the old timers fingers, or you were starting to do better than them with your sound and presentation, someone would ask if you wanted to play. Either that, or one of the old timers would have you go and sit along side of him and offer you a bridge of a song, or let you finish one and eventually let you lead a song. You had to perform though, if you wanted to be favored for the next time. Oh, and it also seemed that you had to look good doing it too. (Hard to explain). Needless to say, I'd go home feeling good about the jam, but I had to go and practice more songs so I could make a good show of it for the next jam if I got picked to play. Lots of pressure it was. I didn't like that part of it at all, but something kept driving me to keep seeking and performing. Now I am realizing that it was necessary it seems to hold back and let the old timers lead the show, even though I wanted to jump up there and do my stuff and get everyone's approval. The people that were there were there to see the old timers and get a sense of nostolgia I guess. They sure didn't go to Marc's to see me!

What I really wanted was for those (musicians) guys to slow down a little and maybe give some "inside" information to me and all of the other beginner accordion players. There were only 2 or 3 of us at the most. We were a rarity so to speak. It was before the big accordion craze took over. I wanted to hear why songs were played in this or that position on the accordion. I wanted to know what every last one of those old musicians knew in their heads, but didn't want to or couldn't take the time to speak up and tell me something that would save me hours of time and effort. I wanted to know what "set" of songs I needed to learn first that would help me in figuring out how to play all the other Cajun songs. I wanted to know, and know, and know! But something was holding back the flow of information from getting from the "insiders" to me. It didn't help any that I didn't know what questions to ask either. After a while I got frustrated with it and dropped the whole thing with the jams. Just gave up and went off into the dark on my own hoping to figure out a better way of learning and eventually presenting the music.

Now here's the catcher. I used to drive one of those "Old Timers" to and from Marc's jam sessions. I used to go to his house and cut his grass and do whatever he needed me to do within reason, in hopes of learning whatever he could show me on that accordion. I got to know him and his wife very well and it seemed that they started to count on me showing up to help them from time to time. We built a trust, and there was no reason why this certain "Old Timer/Insider" wouldn't start dropping his well kept accordion playing secrets on me.

Guess what...he never did. He couldn't explain anything...he could only show me what he was doing by playing a song in full speed. Even after a lifetime of playing accordion on stage and just about anywhere you could play accordion, he just couldn't explain it very well, or didn't want to waste the speeches.

It is only now that I'm starting to see why. Maybe one day, I'll write a book on the subject, and become as popular as Ann Savoy. Ann Savoy....remember, at one time, she was on the outside now wasn't she??!! Didn't have one ounce of Cajun Blood running through her body. Now, she is just about as "Inside" as you can get!! All because of her efforts and what the critics thought about those efforts. Critics like me, you and every other swinging @#$% that's trying to pin down this confounded Cajun music.

Hebert -

I think you just wrote the first three chapters of your book.

Brett Thibodeaux

"It almost seemed that the majority of the persons there were foreign. Meaning, not born and raised below I-10 Louisiana."
YOU mean like Marc Savoy or Dewey Balfa.I got some bad news for you Herbet,The center of Cajun culture and music is above I-10 around Eunice Mamou,Ville Platte and that area,so much of the music came from there

Patrick,
When we speak of being south of I-10 we mean it figuratively. It does include all of the prarie but if we said south of Hwy 28 no one would know what we were talking about. So, for us I-10 has to do.
Le Piquant

So let's see: I practice my accordion in morning at 5:00 in a closet or the carport so I don't wake anybody, keep it in my truck so I can play at traffic lights, listen to Octa Clark all day on the CD player, start saving my money months beforehand so I can go to Festivals, try every week to get people together interested in Cajun dancing and music, spend my hard-earned money on cd's, instructional DVD's, and computer programs, pour over Cajun language books, memorize songs not in my language, drive 10 hours one way several times/year, all because I love the music, and then you say . . .

. . . you don't like my hippie dancing and my funny clothes and funny way of talking and carrying myself? Makes you want to rap my knuckles for not being "Cajun" enough, huh?

Yeah, I reckon you'd fit in pretty good with them knuckle-rappers; putting people down for being themselves just because they're not like you. Thank God most Cajun people aren't like that. Most I've met have been some of the friendliest and welcoming and easy-going and sharpest I've met this side of the Ozarks.

Why don't you just stay home and cry and complain with the other knuckle-rappers? Then the rest of us can enjoy each other with open arms, open hearts and open minds.

Jamey lol I heard thru the grape vine you were even wearing some funny looking glove shoes??? Is that true. I agree with you screw Hebert and JLM wear what you want dance how you like and enjoy the music. It all brings bucks to Lafayette so bring them all in we can use the change.

Whew, feel the love already! Got you talking though didn't it Jamey. Instead of criticizing me, or finding fault with me. Who knows, you might fall in love with me if you saw me play and didn't know who I was. Maybe ask me to come live at my house and work for me just so you can learn how to play the accordion like I do. LOL. I'd never allow that. I'm too humble of a person. Why don't you let loose with your frustrations. You know, what's holding you back from being one of the insiders? Why aren't the Louisiana Festival organizers ringing your phone off the hook to ask if you will perform? What's keeping other accordion players from watching "your playing style" with hopes of catching a few good licks to bring back home to practice. What is it that keeps you spending so much time and money and effort on it, only to feel like your not good enough yet or something is still missing? What is that?!!!!

By the way, playing accordion while driving is about the most dangerous thing you can do! It's prolly worse than texting. LMAO, I used to do it too, when I was just starting out. See, you're more like me and I like you than you think. Oh, and I was driving a "standard" at the time. I hated to cut the songs short to downshift or make those curves. Dam those Lousiana roads!

You can look at me both ways. As the guy that's keeping you down, and as the guy that's willing to help you get up and win. I am an insider, just aint shown the world yet that I am, and I probably never will. I don't want the attention and all the hoop-la that goes with it yet. Matter of fact, if I ever make a CD, I think I'll do it as a Ghost Writer would do it. No real names attached. Hey, I could make an accordion instruction video with a mask on like that guy on TV that gives away all the magician's tricks! Yeah, that would be great! Would you buy it Jamey?

Me, i wish the Louisiana Heritage folks would just make that damm jam tent another beer booth;

Kinda of a beer garden where you could sit in the shade at a table and listen to all three stages at once and have a conversation with your friends,
even the ones who are wearing funny clothes or weird shoes and even the ones who sometimes go over the top, even though you know they are really good people at heart.

I mean all your friends, from both sides of IH 10, which, when I look at the map, looks to me like it runs all the way from Florida to California, East & West, through Texas and Alabama, too. Me, I live about 3 miles South of it.

You could talk about the music with your friends, the ones who play real good now, and the ones who dream of playing real good one day.

Hope to see everyone, eventually. Friends are good. They're better than money.

JB

good one JB
Le Piquant

Don't worry, Hebert, you're not "keeping anyone down."

You're just another bitter old cud who'll end up sitting at home playing with himself all the time. And when that happens the rest of the world will go on just fine.

Well hail yeah I'd buy your video Hebert, if it didn't cost too much. I'm all about having me some resources, though I have so many now that it'll be a long time before I get to some of them, if ever.

Because really, you teach yourself. Some people can show you some things, especially to get you started, but mostly you teach yourself (there is one notable exception to this whom I won't mention). You listen. You play. You listen. Repeat ad infinitum.

I guess that's how it should be, so that everybody has their own sound. Kinda tricky when you don't live there and didn't grow up there, though - I probably do a lot of stuff, when left to my own devices, that just doesn't sound Cajun. When you're around the real thing all the time (and I don't mean CD's), it sure helps.

You're right for sure that I'm not where I wanna be yet, and there's something missing. The biggest something is TIME. Yeah, I wanna sound like Jesse and Marc and Pee Wee and Chris and Octa. But those guys played a LONG TIME. And they grew up down there. I've only been at it a couple years, and I live up in these beautiful Ozark Hills. But I dare anyone to love it as much as I do. Or I should say more than I do, because I reckon Jerry, Bryan, and Patrick, and many others, love it about the same.

LOL about the driving! You did it with a standard?! Must have been out on the open road. My automatic offers me plenty of opportunity to play in town, and I do. I worry a little about what people think I'm doing though, since the accordion is in my lap where they can't see it. They only know I squeezin SOMETHING pretty dam enthusiastically . . .
It's not nearly as dangerous as texting though; I don't have to look at the accordion while I'm playing.

Hebert, I hadn't never thought of you or anybody else as "keeping me down". But you raised my hackles when you were putting me down. Actually, that's not really true either - I been married twice, it's hard to hurt my feelings - it's when you put down the "outsiders". There's plenty of them on this board I know and love, and I brought a couple of "hippies" with me to the Fest that are as kind-hearted and true as anyone you could ever meet. When you put them down, expect to hear from me.

Because the "Insiders" I really care about are the ones that got what it takes on the Inside, who cares how good they play or if they play. That's why the bands I go see first are the ones I have friends in. I'd rather hear Charlie Begnaud in my front seat than Steve Riley on my CD player any day.

Hebert did you steal my book "How to P*ss People Off?"
Le Piquant

When I bought my first accordion and I would go ask one of the old timers if they would teach me how to play it they all said the same thing, "you can't teach that, you got to have that in your head."
Le Piquant

The more it goes, the more I agree with them.

Jerry,
It's good jamming(IMO) in Scott at the Begnaud House.
No competition at all.
Just making music and fun.

Yeah, they are really good about that at the Begnaud house. Hope I get to make it there tonight!!

I played at the first jam at Begnaud House and I have played there a few other times, it is a good jam, Marc's is also a good jam. So I will be there when the time allows to play a few songs and smile.
Le Piquant

It is enlightening that at least some of you are beginning to recognize that there is a hierarchy
in Cajun music that begins with self proclaimed "insiders" and slides down hill to those who are "foreigners".

Have you ever examined the words inclusive and exclusive? Insider and outsider..the use of the terms is disgusting.

I have been around here for a long time.. and it is my opinion that in all the music discussion forums (fora) in which I participate, this one is by far the most exclusive and biased and bigotted of them all. Add to that closed minded and down right mean.
And absolutely blind to facts and revel in ignorance as a charging banner.

Just my opinion, which does not diminish my interest in Cajun music and culture and specifically the accordeon.`

Thanks for your wonderful insight on this Jeff. Will someone please elaborate.
Le Piquant

Sounds like he likes the music enough to tolerate the people who make it.

What has saved this forum is meeting each other.I have made many great friends,and truly like everyone I've met.My only regret is not having enough time to spend with everyone.There are folks I only got to see for a minute this weekend.The truth is everyone I saw at Festival Acaidian was having a great time dancing,smiling,eating,playing and enjoying the company of others.I only wish it lasted longer
P.S.I wonder if Herbet and Jeff are the same person

They may not be the same person, but to me it seems they have a lot of the same attitudes. In person, eye to eye, they are probably both good men.

Remember folks, this forum is just like a radio.

If you don't like the song being played, you can always just turn it off or change stations.

Grandpa always said "You're just wasting your time and your breath arguin' with a fence post."

Jerry, send me a copy of that book.

JB

There's a difference between being called an outsider and calling yourself an outsider, which I did. And it's true:
I don't live in, or come from LA, don't play in a Cajun band, don't tune my own accordion, I don't eat boudin etc. etc. but I just like (to play) this music.
There are worse things than being an "outsider". People from all over the world are welcome on this hangout, and I'm glad to be one of them. I've been on lots of forums, but I keep coming back to this one, for it's always informative, and/or fun.
OK, maybe people from Cajun origin may have a bit of a special position here, but I don't mind. After all, it's their music and their heritage.
But "hierarchy"? ... come on. If I had felt it that way, i'd be gone long ago

Not necccesarily a hierarchy but a pecking order.
Le Piquant

Ok Peer ,I can handle you not being from Louisiana and not playing in a Cajun Band,and not tuning your on accordion,but not eating boudin!Holy cow!I take back what I said about your Enterre Moi Pas being the best I ever heard
You got to start eating boudin man

non merci.

every thing is good on a pig cept the eyes.
Le Piquant

I've seen the eyes go in frommage de tete.

Here's looking at you.
Le Piquant

I'm sure the boudin Peer would have eaten in Europe isn't the same as what we get at Don's or the Best Stop. I think Boudin Noir is more prevalent there. OT a little, sorry

Right !!
To be honest, I had never boudin in my life.
But we do have "bloedworst" here (blood sausage)- and "Black Pudding" in Ireland, and I hate that!