Old Town School – On The Road

Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.

Festivals Acadiens

Colleen’s report from the wonderful Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette. For a full line-up check www.festivalsacadiens.com and for some cell phone vid’s, check www.youtube.com/mikecolleenvideos

Big thanks to Sandy Wilson and Pamela Toler for their support of the Louisiana Music and Culture Exchange!

Thursday night- it’s a balmy 85 degrees as we head to Randol’s for dinner and a dance set by Huber Maitre. Afterwards it’s over to the Blue Moon Saloon, sort of Lafayette’s version of the Hideout, but with a great backyard and a rooming house too. All open air and yes it’s super sweaty on the tiny dance floor. We’re treated to a gorgeous trad set by Ray Abshire with guest Pine Leaf Boys Courtney Granger and Drew Simon. A great night, though we did note that $1.00 cans of Schlitz is still not worth it.

Friday – scored some comfy olive green chairs at Wal-Mart and headed over to the free Bach Lunch concert downtown. What a great series! A fun zydeco set by Coret Ledet with delish local lunches for sale. The 98 degree heat index did not stop folks from dancing. The best thing about Louisiana is that everyone dances, even the little school children. Later, Downtown Alive with Feufollet, Doug Kershaw, Jo-El Sonnier & Jimmy C. Newman was disappointingly cancelled due to storm warnings, so we decided to take a driving tour of some of the legendary restaurants and dance halls – Mulates, Prejeans, and the fantastic La Poussiere where Steve Riley was playing.

Saturday – chilly and damp today, accompanied by a muddy mushy festival site, but nobody cares. All the smart people are wearing stylin’ rubber boots. The Festival de Musique in Girard Park is very similar to our Folk & Roots Fest in terms of size and layout, but it is 100% Cajun & Creole music, crafts and food. A day of great music, with highlights including Balfa Toujours w/Horace Trahan, PLB, Geno, Les Amis Creole, LRD, Lil Nathan, Feufollet and a fantastic stripped down set by Randy Vidrine, Chris Segura and Peppy Carmello. [Side note: now I know why they call them fire ants.] Later it’s a monster double bill at the Blue Moon- Pine Leaf Boys and Lost Bayou Ramblers, dance floor packed like sardines.

Sunday – the Savoys start out with ominous clouds that quickly release an extended downpour. Fortunately it’s not windy so they keep playing and the astonishing mud dancing begins (see video). The smart rubber boot people are even smarter today. The site’s a cold messy mud swamp, but it’s such a great scene, nobody complains. More highlights today… the Redsticks with Hadley Castille, Bonsoir Catin, Cedric Watson, Kevin Naquin, Ray Abshire and of course the Lost Bayou Ramblers. We bestowed our chairs upon the people behind us, who also had olive green, now they have 4.

Monday – a surreal morning drive through the extremely foggy bayou back to NOLA airport. A picturesque way to end a fantastic trip!

Filed under: Domestic by Colleen | October 14, 2009 | Comments (0)

Musical Exchange in Ahmedabad

We trekked out of Rajasthan, a long two days of driving punctuated by stops at Mt Abu, the Indian honeymooners equivalent of Niagra Falls, this one in a high mountain retreat in the middle of a tiger preserve; Rani-Tki-Vav, an enormous eight or nine storey well, carved out of solid rock with every surface displaying images of the avatars of Vishnu, really overwhelming; and the Modhera Sun Temple, a lot like the step well only it rises from the earth rather than descending into it.  The state of Gujarat is a total contrast to Rajasthan’s desert — lush green farming country, lots of animal life.

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Filed under: India,Notes from Bau by Bau | October 12, 2009 | Comments (1)

A Wedding in Rajasthan

A few days ago we landed in Jaisalmer, a town in far western Rajasthan near the border with Pakistan. It is known as the “golden city” because all of the buildings and temples are made of yellow sandstone that positively glows in the desert sun. To our surprise and delight, our oud teacher and HR Assistant Ronnie Malley announced that he and his longtime girlfried Nicole, who is accompanying our delegation, had decided to get married! Pranita Jain took them shopping for rings and special wedding attire and arranged for a Hindu priest to officiate.

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Filed under: India,Notes from Bau by Bau | October 9, 2009 | Comments (2)

Arrival in India

The Old Town School India reconnaissance team has been here for a week and it is has been a pretty wild time. Reggio McLaughlin, Dan Fulkerson, Mary Peterson, Ronnie Malley, Pranita Jain and I (Bau Graves) have seen some rather awe-inspiring sights and some gut wrenching scenes as well. We’ve had several performances — all very positively received — and have been treated to extraordinarily generous hospitality by Indian musicians. A few impressions:

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Filed under: India,Notes from Bau by Bau | October 6, 2009 | Comments (1)