Entertainment
Saturday, November 2:
9:00 am - 10:00 am
The French Immersion Kids of LeBlanc Elementary
Saturday, November 2:
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Amis du Teche
Amis du Teche is translated “Friends of the Teche”, simply named because its members are friends who grew up around the historic Bayou Teche in Breaux Bridge Louisiana. This young, lively Cajun Band is influenced by the traditional Cajun sounds and French language of long ago.
Saturday, November 2:
12:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Jimmy Breaux & Friends
Jimmy Breaux is acknowledged to be one of the best Cajun accordionists of the modern era. The accordion player for the Grammy Award-winning group Beausoleil, Breaux is another Louisiana performer who comes from a musical dynasty. Breaux is in the fourth generation of his family to play Cajun music.
Saturday, November 2:
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Creole String Beans
Creole String Beans is a swinging sextet playing New Orleans rock ’n roll from the glory days of J&M Studios when local R&B artists dominated the charts. They will unearth obscure instrumentals like Edgar Blanchard’s “Blues Cha Cha” then whip up the dancers with the crazy swamp-ska of an original like “Boom Boom”.
Rob Savoy (bass/vocals) and Rick Olivier (guitar/vocals) front the band with Brian Rini (keyboards/vocals) and Mike Sipos (drums/vocals) rounding out the rhythm section. The powerhouse “Terrytown Horns” add punch and brass with Travis Blotsky on tenor, and Derek Huston on baritone sax. The veteran outfit boasts well over a century of combined musical experience.
With Olivier and Savoy’s Acadiana roots the Creole String Beans dive deep into the world of “swamp pop”, the triplet-heavy sound popular across Southwest Louisiana. Cookie and the Cupcakes, Doug Sahm, and Tommy McLain songs pepper their dance-oriented set lists.
But the ‘Beans also have a knack for writing clever originals in the local idiom. Brian Rini’s “Sally Put A Spell On Me” is a funky tale of a voodoo beauty with other-worldly charms and his “Beautiful Thing” wouldn’t be out of place on a Stax soul ballad compilation. Olivier’s “St. Gabriel” is a swamp pop stomper about love and redemption and his “Funky Spillway” invents a new zydeco dance for the shrimp boot crowd. A high-water mark for the band was having Allen Toussaint join them onstage for their fiery rendering of Ernie K-Doe’s “Here Come The Girls”, a typical rocking choice for the group. Awards include Offbeat Magazine’s Roots Rock Album of the Year for their 2011 release “Shrimp Boots and Vintage Suits”.
Sunday, November 3:
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie
Geno Delafose (born February 6, 1971 in Eunice, Louisiana) is a zydeco accordionist and singer. He is one of the younger generations of the genre who has created the sound known as the nouveau zydeco. His sound is deeply rooted in traditional Creole music with strong influences from Cajun music and also country and western. His father is the famous zydeco accordion player John Delafose.
Delafose was born and raised in Eunice, Louisiana. At the age of eight, he joined his father’s band, the Eunice Playboys as a rubboard player and continued to play with the band until his father’s death in 1994. He also appeared on several of the bands recordings. He switched to the accordion in the early 1990s and started to play as an opening act for his father.
In 1994, he debuted with album French Rockin’ Boogie on Rounder Records. The name of this album also became the name of his band with whom he still plays with today. He released two more albums from the label, before signing with Time Square label to release Everybody’s Dancin’ in 2003. He has also appeared on the compilation album Creole Bred: A Tribute to Creole & Zydeco released in 2004 on Vanguard Records.
He has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the “Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album” category for his Le Cowboy Creole album (2007). He lives in Duralde, Louisiana near Eunice where he operates his Double D Ranch raising cattle and horses. He also holds fan appreciation parties annually.
Sunday, November 3:
1:30 pm - end of Celebration
Fa Tras Cajun Band
The Fas Tras are a local Abbeville Cajun band that has played at every Giant Omelette Celebration during the cooking of the Omelette.
