ZYDECO Dennis Stroughmatt

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MCMLXIII Uncle Hargus ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

ZYD= Cajun/Zydeco Journey            

February 3, 2017       

Cajun Zydeco music 'splained  

Dance for your Tribe

This is what we gonna did. We gonna 'splain Cajun Zydeco dance to all you taxpayers out there. There's infinite music styles... performed by many different bands/ artists/ musicians... but there's nothing like, nothing better than rockin' good Cajun Zydeco music.

Cajun Zydeco music is to be danced to.  This is NOT a concert where musicians play and you listen in your seat to their talent.     

Concert musicians play great music... but often you can't dance to their rhythm. A lot of redneck goobers with no dance soul/ rhythm stand around at a concert, nod their head up and down with the beat while standing in one place tapping their toe... watching the few dancers and wishing they knew how to dance.  Real dancers get out ON the dance floor! 

When you have a Cajun Zydeco band that knows how to play to a beat... a beat to dance to... a drummers 4 count beat... ...or a 3 count Cajun Waltz... with the bass player setting the lead rhythm of the music/song... the drummer setting the beat tempo... you have music/ a song that can be danced to.

The bands have a bass player, drummer, a lead Cajun Zydeco accordion squeeze box player who is usually the lead singer, ...often singing the French Creole slang dialect which is riveting, amazingly good... rhythm guitar.... Fiddle for a Cajun band, ... the Cajun Waltz' are captivating, spoon rub-board for a Zydeco band that like to rock. Not rock-a billy... but Cajun zydeco rock that makes you just want to get up and dance.  Some musicians play a regular accordion squeezebox as their preference... maybe more range. It's an artist thing. 

That's my main man Dr Fred on the rubboard.

Cajun Zydeco music/ bands play music that you can't stand at the wayside... you have to get up and get onto the dance floor with a lady and dance; it is that powerful. The bands are really good, versatile and often will play some Cajun Blues or some rock favorites.

Tonight's dance features Dennis Stroughmatt & the Creole Stomp Band from- of all places- Southern Illinois. A lot of good cajun zydeco music from that that region... St Louis Blues, French speaking culture up around Vincennes. These guys really put on a good show and their dance music is a wonderful favorite of the Birmingham Cajun Zydeco dancers. Thanks guys for playing Birmingham, AL again. Come back often.

When you have the right Cajun ZYDeco band... and the music beat is just right... and you have a lady dance partner that knows how to follow your dance lead... and you're in sync with a dance partner... you know how to lead with the music, and your lady partner knows how to follow your lead... and you dance to the rhythm of the music with a favorite lady; it just don't git no better than this!  I Gar-ron-TEE!!! 

Also see:  https://sbtrof.blogspot.com/2017/02/friday-night-in-south-zydeco.html

... and the ZYDeco music is fantastic.... and you connect with your dance partner with the beat rhythm... it all comes together at a point... you move in sync with your dance partner... a very intimate connection/ language that is not spoken... dancing can make that happen. Cajun Zydeco music is a mix of cultures, just like the Creole culture; a mix of Native American Indian - some Seminole, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, some Spanish, French, African slave, riverboat gambler, throw in a few British and Confederate soldiers, some Acadians... all mixed to come out as one of Americas truly unique cultures.

I've told young students, if you want to understand a culture.... you learn their dance.   

During the Summer of '67 working in the shipyard drydocks of Mobile, Alabama I became an official coon-ass Cajun. Working hard putting on keel plates of ships... hanging around the Cajun guys in the shipyard... goin' out on the causeway and drinking draft beer with the Cajuns taught me one of the most important of life rules; you live in the moment. No one ever said those words, it was just a lifestyle to adapt to. You learn to enjoy life... the hardships and the Laissez les bons temps rouler!" is a Cajun expression meaning "Let the good times roll!" It strongly conveys the "joie de vivre" ("joy of living") attitude that pervades south Louisiana. It is mostly associated with New Orleans. (THE BEST CITY IN THE WORLD! according to Cajuns), but my preference is Mobile, ALabama. Cajun Zydeco music is most centered around Lafayette, Homa, Lake Charles, ect... Louisiana.

... but you can find it in Birmingham, ALabama on a Friday night in The South!

My main Cajun buddies adopted me into their Cajun culture and I was changed forever. 

Drinking draft beer in the juke joints with Willis and Somerville, on the Mobile causeway, Plateau, Telegraph road,... The Rocket Club... Chickisaw, Creola, Satsuma, Saraland, Pauls where you could buy a pound of pound jumbo shrimp for $1... steamed in beer... with a pint of cocktail sauce. Eat bayou seafood 'til you were stuffed. Draft beer, Cajun music.... Cajun women.... at 17 I thought I'd found heaven.  

The Cajuns all had family,... farms, cattle, shipyard workers... they all worked hard and when payday Friday night came... they knew how to live in the moment. Drinking 'till dawn, Cajun women... you haven't lived 'til you've dated a Cajun lady!   

We'd fight and fuck 'til dawn.... sleep a couple hours... get up... drink a couple of Jax beers for breakfast... and go out again on a new day and do it again all over.  I learned this lifestyle at 17. 

This was '67 and I knew I would be swept up into the Marines and into Viet Nam.

When I got to Parris Island I thought... I've lived in Prichard, Alabama... I can handle this.   

The Cajun Zydeco bands come up into The South pretty regular to play music festivals, city/town festivals, and individual dance bookings. A weekend circuit of Birmingham Friday night, Atlanta Saturday night, Huntsville Sunday night was a regular circuit by the bands when they came through Birmingham for the ACME = Association of Cajun Music Enthusiasts.  

Here at Tracks of the StoneBear one of the many interests of Uncle Hargus' study is archaeology and the many cultures, subcultures, and tribes. If you want to understand a culture of people; learn their dance. Learn how they dance, and why. ?Do they dance to get ready to go to war? ?Do they dance around the fire ring for a wedding? ?...or do they dance around the fire ring while they burn an enemy captive at the stake?

To dance for your Tribe is a great honor; for your Tribe, for yourself. 

My main man Alan on the blues harmonica.

Also see:  https://sbtrof.blogspot.com/2017/02/friday-night-in-south-zydeco.html 

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

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I don't do commercials or ads on this blog but occasionally we highlight and make note of exceptional artists, craftsmen, and unique people of character. No money or royalties are paid to this blog, or me. These photos and short clips of art, music, and craftsmanship are intended to be a gratis highlight of exceptional talent and a thank you to the artists.