24-30SEP13 - Houma, LA (the stork has landed)

Tuesday, 24SEP, was the BIG day! Our daughter Rebecca & husband Raymond had headed to the hospital for delivery of their second child (aka our second grandchild) at midnight. A little after noon time, & with a little encouragement, Mason Ryan Pitre was born. Soon after his arrival Corrie (aka Oma) & big brother Jaxson headed to the hospital. At about 5PM everyone else (Opa, Uncle Joe, & Tasha) gathered at the hospital to be introduced to Mason.

Tuesday & Wednesday we (Oma & Opa) babysat the first grandchild, Jaxson, while mom & dad stayed at the hospital. Jaxson was aware that his parents were not at home but the babysitting went very well. During the day on Wednesday Dan & Joe (mostly Joe) finished the roofing shingles & installing a ridge vent on Joe’s new shop/shed. Early that evening Raymond, Rebecca & Mason came home from the hospital.

Thursday, 26SEP, Joe & Dan, along with Joe’s friend Ben, got the “house wrap” installed on the shed/shop sheathing; along with painting most of trim & installing it. Friday Joe, Dan & Tasha continued painting trim & installing it around the doors. After that they started to install cement board siding & got 1/4 of it done. It was then decided to take Saturday & Sunday off from construction & enjoy the weekend!

Saturday, 28SEP, we head downtown for the second annual Best of the Bayou Festival. This festival is funded by BP oil company as a result of their major oil spill two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico. This is one of several “payments” to the affected local communities they have agreed to; to rebuild tourism after the oil spill response was completed. Since this is the last year that BP will underwrite the costs, the organizers are hoping that future Best of the Bayou Festivals will be self-supporting. Dan is not to sure that will happen.

Why? Because the festival has some pretty impressive musical talent (ie pricey) & depends on food & drink sales to break even. This is the model successfully used by the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans we attended in APR08 (see our BLOG links below about that festival). But there is a big difference to us in having tens of thousands of tourists already in New Orleans to draw on (not to mention the locals), & expecting people to drive an hour from the New Orleans or Lafayette area to some unknown festival in Houma. In addition, many of the locals are still bringing their own food & drink even though there are large signs not to!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/04-13apr08-houma-new-orleans-la-french.html

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/11-13apr08-new-orleans-la-more-french.html

Anyway we headed to the festival & found a shady spot to listen to the musicians Dan had read about in the local entertainment magazine called the Gumbo Entertainment Guide. Although most are not known outside of Louisiana or Texas; many have played with world renowned artists; have been nominated for Grammys; or are very popular in Europe & Asia. Corrie lasted for three hours, Dan went to the end of the night.

http://www.bestofthebayou.org/Default.aspx

Here is a quick synopsis of the musicians we saw on Saturday & Sunday:

-Blue Eyed Soul Revue – southern Louisiana favorite for many years, playing rev’ed up soul & blues like James Brown or the Blues Brothers.

-Kermit Ruffins – outstanding jazz/blues trumpeter with a voice similar to Satchmo, recognized around the world as one of the best.

-Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue – original & excellent country western singer in the style of Patsy Cline.

-Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys – probably the best zydeco & cajun musical group in Louisiana.

-Marcia Ball – very good R&B/blues singer.

 -Honey Island Swamp Band – has been around for many years & many line-up changes, but still plays some great “swamp rock”.

But the musician Dan really wanted to see & thought was best, was Susan Cowsill; who he first saw at the French Quarter Festival in 2008. As we noted back then - For those that remember 60s/70s rock groups, Susan was a family member of The Cowsills. Susan joined her mother and four brothers as an eight year old. The Cowsills had many hits, “Hair”, “The Rain, The Park & Other Things”, “Indian Lake”, etc. In fact, the Cowsills were the model for the TV show The Partridge Family. Anyway, after the Cowsills Susan continued as a musical artist in other groups, as a soloist, and most recently as a song writer/performer. She has lived in NOLA for twenty years and lost everything, including her brother Barry, to Katrina. And even worse was that her oldest brother, Bill, died on the day of Barry’s memorial service! But like many others, she refuses to leave and works endlessly to revive the New Orlean’s music scene. Susan wrote a beautiful song about a very rare Xmas snowfall in NOLA back in 2004, entitled “Crescent City Snow”. The song became the unofficial anthem for New Orleans post Katrina.

It was a great two days at the festival, with excellent music, food, gator races, & even Mickey & Minnie. Hopefully it will continue & thrive even without BP monies!

 

Also on Sunday, 29SEP, Joe, Tasha, Jaxson & Dan made a Lowes run for more material for Joe’s shed/shop. That evening Corrie made excellent chicken wings for dinner (look out Buffalo & WOW!).

 

Monday, 30SEP, Joe & Dan tried to get most of the shed/shop siding installed before Joe headed offshore for another two weeks. Unfortunately heavy rain hit after lunch & only one more side got completed.