Well, 18 folks paid to get in to the Louisiana Dance Party on November 19 at the Pittsfield Grange, so I covered the hall rent, although it didn’t fully cover the cost of refreshments. Quel dommage! It seems most folks had fun dancing, though.
Dancers at the Louisiana Dance Party, November 19
Cyndy Cleveland was kind enough to drop by and give some basic Cajun two-step and waltz dance lessons, and we even had special guests Chuck and Lorraine (formerly of Chuck’s on the Boulevard) drop by to say hi. Even better, and unexpectedly, Chuck and Lorraine brought a pot of jambalaya to share with everyone! Lagniappe!
Lorraine plays the frottoir
Chuck, at home in the Grange's kitchen
I had promised cake in celebration of 10 years of Maison Bleue being together as a band, and it was a very nice marble cake from Heritage Bakery of Livonia, MI. We also had ice cream, and had a toast of 10 years down, and many more to come. Oh, yeah, did I mention Chuck and Lorraine’s delicious jambalaya? I should probably plug their excellent cookbook, n’est-pas!?
Maison Bleue's 10th anniversary cake
After the intermission, we let Jeff Boerger’s “other” band, Cracklin’, take over on stage. Jeff plays guitar and fiddle in Maison Bleue, he also plays those and accordion in Cracklin’.
Cracklin' plays at the Pittsfield Grange
Of course. with Cracklin’ playing the music, some members of Maison Bleue (and Cyndy) were able to “get down” with playing Maison Bleue’s extra “noise-maker” instruments.
Kip, Cyndy, Bill, and Nina make some noise
All in all, it was a fun time. Although it is a lot of work putting on a dance at the Grange, it was nice to see several faces of folks who used to come to the Louisiana Dance Parties when we held them monthly in the early 2000s. A few of those folks admitted they missed the regular dances, so I said I will try to have them annually, perhaps every November.
(All pictures by Patricia F. Anderson. See all her pix from the Louisiana Dance Party.)
Tags: Cajun, Chuck, Cracklin', Lorraine, Maison Bleue, Pittsfield Grange, zydeco