Playing Catch Up

Three posts in one day!

Some of this is a bit of a game of catch up.

The first venue that the SAF's played was the Pickin Porch in Bristol, VA way back on Feb. 29. The site for the Pickin Porch has been updated today and included a small write up on the show. They also include some nice photos.

http://www.pickinporch.org/sussex-avenue-fiddlers.html

The "Harmonikids"

As some of you already know, Harry and Nancy Simon from Louisiana are the persons who started the idea of the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers going on this tour. They spent some time visiting NB and enjoyed getting to experience our music and culture and thought of how wonderful to bring that to their area and for us to learn of their culture. They couldn't have been more right!

During some of the group's Lousiana performances, Nancy (a music teacher) was able to join in with the SAF as an honorary member. Instead of the NB Tartan, she wore the Louisiana Tartan.

Here are a few pictures and captions that the Simons sent to us:

Cajun fiddlers Hadley J Castille and Nancy Simon are surrounded by Sussex Avenue Fiddlers - and don't seem to mind one bit. VFW Hall, Eunice LA, March 7, 2008.

(Hadley Castille is a well-known Cajun fiddler. He was invited the City of Carencro - Dieppe, NB's twin City - to appear with the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers. Just like in Dieppe, the city of Carencro has their own Mercredi Show.)

The Sussex Avenue Fiddler were able to spend some personal time with their Louisiana "coozans" while visiting Eunice. Here Amelie and Alison chat with violin teacher with a snazzy vest, Nancy Simon; were they talking about fiddling or about the piece of boudin in Nancy's hand?

Performance during the "Rendez-Vous des Cajuns" radio show at the Liberty Theater, Eunice LA, March 8, 2008. Fiddler with off-color vest between Alison and Alexander is Nancy Simon of Eunice LA, who enjoyed the hospitality of the group in allowing her to be part of the performance.

(That evening's performance went well and ended with a standing ovation from the audience and then an encore from the fiddlers. They shared the concert with Fleton LeJeune and the Cajun Cowboys with each doing a half of the show.)

The Music Never Stops

The music never stops and neither do the media articles. Here is a fresh batch of articles from the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette. They also include a nice 32 photo gallery from their performance at Randol's Restaurant et Salle de Danse. Check it out!

Article:

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803080311

Gallery:

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20080307&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=803070812&Ref=PH

Credit to Leslie Westbrook for taking all these great photos.

What a good looking bunch!

More from Lafayette

Sorry that the Blog went down yesterday but it's back up and running now.


The venue of the group's March 6th show was Prejean's Restaurant. After their set was over, everyone sat down to enjoy a traditional Cajun meal, followed by some mighty nice desserts. A local Cajun band played the rest of the evening and many of the SAF were on their feet dancing up a storm.

Prejean's has a webcam in their venue and I was able to snap a few shots while the group was there. Being a webcam, the pics are grainy but you can figure out who's who.

1. The 'calm before the storm'

2. The group takes to the stage

3. The houseband takes over and the SAF's up dancing. Yes Peter, we saw you.

Listen Live!

Some interesting news, although it's last minute. Vivian sent word today that their concert in Eunice, LA tonight (Sat. March 08) will be featured on radio station KEUN. This station allows folks from anywhere to listen in via the internet. I will post the links to the station below. Showtime is expected to be around 8pm our time here in New Brunswick. We think the show will be broadcast on their FM station but I'll include the link to their AM station to just to be safe.


KEUN -105.5 FM - http://www.keunworldwide.com/fmlisten.htm
and
KEUN AM - http://www.keunworldwide.com/amlisten.htm




More news from the group by Donna...
A couple of important highlights of the tour... We had a Police escort to our outdoor concert in Carenco. The hospitality given by the Mayor of Carenco was above and beyond. Last evening we performed at Prejean's Restaurant where the Mayor of Carenco caught up to us and presented Ivan and Vivian with "THE KEY TO THE CITY OF CARENCO". This is an honor given to Royalty, Regiments, and Heros.


We are on to Eunice today with a reception at City Hall and a concert at Randol's Cajun Restaurant. We are over the half way point of of tour...heading North. That is all for now. Donna

To add a bit to what Donna said...

The weather in Louisiana has so far been colder than normal and lots of rain. At least one of their venues had to be moved indoors yesterday due to heavy rains. Still they had a great time and the crowds loved them.

Speaking of rain, they also visited that day the city of Rayne - Frog Capitol of the World and Official Louisiana City of Murals. The murals are featured throughout the city, depicting the history of Rayne and of course starring it's claim to fame, frogs. I don't think anyone in the group has yet been brave enough to order up a serving of frog legs.

More info in the next post. There is some sort of error in the Blog program that is not allowing me to display the rest of the info in this post.

In The News

In the News

The group’s schedule is so packed that it leaves little time for members to sit and write blog entries. So in the meantime I’ve put together an entry based on info I’ve gathered from phone calls I’ve received in the office.

So far everyone has been having a wonderful time, although feeling a little worn by the end of the day. However, after a good night’s sleep they’re ready and roaring to go the next morning.

Their experience at Nashville’s RCA Studio B (Home of 1,000 hits) was certainly something to remember. Not many people can say they’ve recorded where Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, the Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton and so many other music greats did. There’s a Maritime connection to this studio! Hank Snow recorded his classic “I’ve Been Everywhere” at Studio B.
The sound guys at the studio were very impressed with our group. They commented on how professional and easy to work with they were. When given the cue to record, the fiddlers were poised and ready to get the job done.

That evening they took in Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theatre’s “The Best of Country Music Show”. Before the show though, the management had agreed to let the fiddlers get up and do their thing for a short pre-dinner performance. As usual, their music resulted in very favorable comments from the management and patrons.

Monday, March 3, their adventures brought them to Memphis, TN and the home of “The King”, Graceland. I’m told that “it rained like you wouldn’t believe”, but thankfully the bulk of the tour was inside. They also had the opportunity to play at Graceland’s visitor’s centre. The sales manager was so impressed that they took a number of publicity photos and they may be used later on the Graceland website.

The next day they made it to “The Big Easy”, New Orleans. The weather was in the 50’s but it was forecasted to get warmer. They were expected to go out on a Mississippi Dinner Cruise in the evening so hopefully things did warm up.

That’s all the news from the road I have at the moment. If anyone is interested, I’ve dug up some links for newspaper articles from the US on the group and included them below.

Cheryl

http://artsmagazine.info/calendar.php?view=detail&id=200802192114211928

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/entertainment.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-02-22-0016.html

http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2008/0228/canadafiddlers.php3

http://www.pickinporch.org/

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/NEWS01/803030320/1082/COMMUNITY02

http://www.cityofcarencro.org/news_events.html

Tour Update - March 2

Sorry for the delay but we finally have some more news from the road courtesy of Donna Rainey.

So here is what has happened in the last five days in a nut-shell... As you know we left in a blinding snow storm and it didn't warm up until we arrived in Virginia. All the passengers on the bus appreciated the kind and supportive words of all the Mayor's who arrived early to wish us well and safe journey. The first couple of days were spent travelling.

Our first concert was at the Pickin' Porch in Bristol, VA. Tim White and his wife, Penny were our hosts. Tim is the Chairman of the ACMA (Appalachian Cultural Music Associatiion). The kids, Alexander and Allison Landry and Amelie D'Arcos are certainly popular entertainers. The audiences love them.

Day 4 we were Nashville bound... Lunch at the Wild Horse Saloon and a performance by our group at the Wild Horse Saloon.
A great concert at the Ryman Auditorium with Ricky Skaggs, Bill Anderson, Terri Clark, Marty Stuart, Little Jimmy Dixons and many others making their debut.

Day 5 ...We are still in Nashville and awaiting our recording session at the RCA Studio B. Elvis recorded in the same room for 14 years! It was a great experience for all concerned.
The City of Nashville has 800 churches and 16 universities or colleges. Printing and publishing is the main source of employment in Nashville. We toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. In the evening we entertained for 8 minutes at the Night Life Dinner Theatre.

We are on to Memphis tomorrow and Graceland.

Donna