The most fun I have had in a long time at a music venue happened today!
We set out early for the tiny town of Mamou, LA. We went into Fred’s Lounge, a 70+ year old institution. Why were we going into a bar at 9:00 am on a Saturday morning? Because Fred’s has a Cajun band that cannot be beat, and they broadcast a live radio show from here each Saturday morning!
The place was packed, with beer drinking Cajuns and 50 or so Airstreamers. (I know – sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference…) It is a tiny space, with barely room for a bar and the band and a few booths and tables. Mostly it was standing room only…
At 9:05 the radio announcer came on and introduced the show. The band started playing and there was not a stationary person in the place… Most Cajun bands are relatively quiet, with little or no percussion. Not here! It was LOUD, with booming bass and pounding drums. It was fabulous!
The announcer waiting for his cue to start the show…
I finally realized that it was better to stand BEHIND the speakers than in front of them…
Note the shelf, about 7′ above the floor, to set your beer down whilst you are dancing…
It was fabulous! We stayed as long as we could, but we had another item on the day’s agenda… We sadly left Fred’s and Mamou and headed back towards Eunice…
Our next stop was Savoy Music Store. It is a regular music store, except that on Saturdays anyone who wants to jam and play or listen to Cajun music can drop in…
Frankly, it was a real snooze. After Fred’s it was a big let-down. Just ordinary Cajun music…
We returned to the Villa…
We hung around a bit, then at 2:00 we visited the Verizon store to try to get my Jet-pack hot spot fixed. Failure.
We went into downtown Eunice, visited the Railroad museum, had an ice cream cone, and visited another Acadian Cultural Center.
This is a statue of Eunice…!
The best part of the cultural center was the cooking demonstration. They made Red Beans and Rice. We all got to taste samples…!
The town of Eunice is past its prime…
Back at the Villa we walked around the park. It is quite nice:
At about 5:00 I called Verizon Tech Support. They ran diagnostics and decided my device needed a new sin card. So back to the Verizon store we went… They put in the card, and it worked fine in the store, but the signal began to fade about 1/2 mile away. Back at the campground there was no signal at all. I will call again tomorrow…
At 9:00 we went to the barn dance! The campground has a barn they use as a music venue. The band playing was One Trick Pony. They were nice and loud, with a good beat, but everything they played sounded the same…
Most of the Airstreamers were there, but we left relatively early and retired to the Villa…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 