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The New York Knicks keep the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ stepping

On June 13, the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years. What’s the first thing the team did to celebrate the historic moment? The “Cupid Shuffle.” Still in uniform or donning their new NBA Champions T-shirts, Knicks players sang and danced the shuffle in the locker room A YouTube video of the celebration has more than 318,000 views. Most players were toddlers or in elementary school when the song and line dance broke out of Lafayette and became a worldwide phenomenon. But the Knicks’ celebration adds another step in the Shuffle’s storied history

Knocking on the door of 20 years since its debut, the Shuffle remains a cherished party song across the globe. It’s no exaggeration to say the song is played every day somewhere on the planet whether it’s a birthday party, sports event, festival, bar mitzvah, cruise, family reunion, prom, teen dance, corporate conference, movie or TV show Numbers back that up The first “Cupid Shuffle” video, which landed on YouTube 19 years ago, has 106 million views. Fan and instructional videos add another 100 million, although I don’t understand the need for how-to videos The “To the right, to the right ” directions are in the lyrics.

Families dance to the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ during the annual Algiers Holiday Bonfire & Concert in New Orleans in 2024.

YouTube even has a video of a family shufﬂing after a funeral and a patient bopping his head in a hospital bed. In 2007, a group of 17,000 participants gathered to perform the dance. It made the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest assembled line dance.

“The largest Cupid Shufﬂe dance involved 17,000 participants who performed the dance for 8 minutes at the Ebony Black Family Reunion Tour organised by the Coca Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia,” according to guinnessworldrecords.com

Tiger Stadium roared in 2022 when the LSU and Southern University bands had a historic halftime shuffle together when the football teams played for the first time. Add another 130 million Spotify streams, and it’s easy to see that the shuffle is firmly entrenched in pop culture. Cupid, aka Bryson Bernard of Lafayette, and DJ/producer Brandon Mr Phat” Neazy, first hoped their collaboration might get a few people on the dance floor at parties on the UL Lafayette campus.

But the tune spread to local clubs and radio stations before catching ﬁre across the South. Cupid signed with Atlantic Records, which brought the single to No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Billed as the “Line Dance King” two decades later, Cupid has follow-up dances and songs that include “Flex” (with 22

PROVIDED PHOTO BY USS KIDD VETERANS MUSEUM

ABOVE: Augusto Ferrer-Dalmu’s 2018 painting,‘La Marcha de Gálvez,’ depicts Bernardo de Gálvez and his ragtag army marching through Louisiana’s swamp areas from New Orleans to clear the British from Baton Rouge. RIGHT: The map,‘Plan of Point Ibberville’ is a 1760s finished, colored topographical copy by British Lt.T Pittman from William Brasier’s map. Fort Bute can be seen in the southernmost point on the map.

MARCH OF TIME

Nearly 250 years in the making, new Revolutionary War marker at the site of a British fort vanished in 3 days

TBY

ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

hree years of planning and fundraising to commemorate an obscure but major piece in America’s 250th celebration was wiped out in just three days. The story starts before the American Revolution. The British built Fort Bute at the conﬂuence of Bayou Manchac and the Mississippi River in 1766, exactly 10 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. Baton Rouge’s General Philemon Thomas chapters of the Sons and Daughters of American

Revolution spent three years researching and fundraising to install the historical marker near the site of the British’s Fort Bute in the southernmost corner of East Baton Rouge Parish.

The sign, erected on May 30, was set to stand just in time for America’s 250th celebration. And the timing was important because the 1779 battle that played out at Fort Bute was a pivotal point in the American Revolution.

Important British post

Fort Bute was an important strategic post for the British, not only for defense but shipping and trade, and with subsequent forts

PROVIDED PHOTO BY THE PHILEMON THOMAS CHAPTER OF THE SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The Philemon Thomas chapters of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution erected a Louisiana State Historical Marker commemorating Fort Bute along River Road near the East Baton Rouge-Iberville parish line in time for the America 250 celebration. A driver plowed into the sign a few days later The sign has since disappeared.

Meet the new Miss Louisiana, Shelby Bordelon Shelby Bordelon, 24, of Sunshine, takes her first walk as Miss Louisiana during the pageant in Monroe.

BY JUDY BERGERON Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER

Herman Fuselier

The beloved $100 basset hound we won’t ever forget

BY GUY C. WOOD

Contributing writer

Stump was a basset hound — the saddest, droopiest-eyed, longest-eared, shortest-legged dog in the animal kingdom. (The breed is also supposedly the dumbest breed in the dog family.)

Human Condition

I had a crazy beagle once, but she still wasn’t as great-looking as Stump. We had to drive across Lake Pontchartrain to get him. He was the runt of the litter, and there was some problem with his American Kennel Club status, so the owners sold him for $100! This was still a lot of money to me, but I was told that if he had papers, his cost would have been more like $300. We brought an empty shoebox with us and Stump rode home in that, with my 10-year-old son holding the box the entire trip

Stump became housebroken pretty quickly, but he did have some trouble walking — he kept stepping on his ears! When my wife brought him to his ﬁrst doctor visit, the veterinarian said, “Well, we know who wins the ‘cute award’ for this week!”

As he got a little older, Stump’s

hormones kicked in and it was time for him “to get ﬁxed.”

My wife willingly took him to the vet while I stayed home with the kids. I still regret that decision. When he got out of the car, he gave me a sorrowful look that said, “Why did you let them do this to me?” I felt so sorry for the dog.

It was a “For Whom the Bell Tolls” moment for me. My wife saw nothing wrong with it, but then again, she had nothing to relate to.

Time passed, however, and he grew to be a large adult basset hound with a great nose. On walks, we’d have to stop while he sniffed the various patches of grass, usually leaving his mark

Stepping back without ending friendships

Dear Harriette: Do you think it’s possible to outgrow certain people and friendships? Recently, I’ve been feeling like I could move on from some childhood friendships. I moved away for college, and I can’t relate to some old friends who stayed in our small hometown. I’m growing at a rapid pace, living on my own in New York and navigating problems on my own; people from my hometown can’t even believe it. Some of the conversations I have with people I once felt so close to now lack nuance, leaving me uninterested in talking. It’s almost as if I’ve grown up while at college, and they’ve stayed in their same high school mindset I feel like it’ll be cruel if I completely stop talking to them, but I also have no desire to make an effort to reach out. Do you have any advice on how to navigate this? Evolution of Friendship Dear Evolution of Friendship: Not everybody stays close for life. It is natural that as you have new experiences and your world expands, your interests may change. That doesn’t mean you have to let your childhood friends go, but you will likely talk with them less The best thing you can do is accept them for who they are. Don’t judge them — or yourself. Just be with them when the moment calls for it. Listen to learn what they are interested in discussing, and be fully present in those conversations. When you are around others who want to explore other topics, engage them in that way Go with the ﬂow Dear Harriette: One of my closest friends is currently dealing with

BORDELON

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Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITY

so many family issues it’s hard to count. At the beginning of the semester her parents separated and filed for divorce due to her father having an affair that spanned her parents’ entire marriage. After finding out about the affair, her mother, a recovering alcoholic, relapsed and had to be hospitalized. My friend keeps blaming herself for everything going wrong in her family, and she won’t listen to her friends when we try to console her and let her know her family drama isn’t her fault. Recently, she’s begun to feel physically sick due to everything going on in her life and is sharing with us that she’s been struggling with getting up, eating and other simple, everyday things. I’m starting to get concerned for her and her wellbeing. Do you have any advice for me on how to let her know that I am here for her if she needs anything? — Friend in Need Dear Friend in Need: It probably seems like the world is crashing all around your friend, and it’s natural that it is difficult for her to manage. You can be a good friend to her in two ways: Make yourself as available as is comfortable for you by checking in on her regularly and spending time together when you can; and by strongly encouraging her to see a therapist. A mental health professional can help her navigate this challenging time and help her access the tools she needs to survive and perhaps even thrive.

Send questions to askharriette@harriettecole. com.

Claire’s Promise Inc. aims to raise awareness of the impact of impaired driving, advocate for victims and their families and support survivors, according to the nonproﬁt’s website.

on top before we started walking again. Since he was a hound, he also had this wonderful howl he used when we ignored him or when he wanted to go outside.

Stump was a great dog for the kids, and he would roughhouse with them without biting or hurting them. The kids grew up while Stump grew older

When he was 15 years old, the end was obviously near He was starting to go blind and his hind legs were giving out He could still go down the back steps to do his business, but couldn’t make the tall last step into the house. He could still lift his front legs but not his back ones. When he was at

the top step, I would pick him up by his butt and lift him the rest of the way He would always try to save face by giving a half-hearted growl, as if to say, “I’ll let you lift me up, but I don’t really need it.”

The last time he tried to go down the steps to the backyard, he actually fell down all four of them. God bless him, he still tried, but the poor thing just couldn’t do it anymore. When he grew cancerous tumors on his body we knew sadly that his time had come.

On his ﬁnal day, my wife and I put him into our van without any argument from him. I wonder now if he knew where he was going or if he thought he was just going for a ride. Like all dogs, he loved to stick his head out of the window, and in his case, those long ears would really ﬂap in the wind. But on this trip, he could only lie down on the back seat.

The veterinarian’s place had stables on-site, as she took care of horses as well as the other animals. After discussing his situation, the vet agreed that his quality of life had sunk to a level that made him miserable. My wife and I cried like babies when we gave the OK to put him to sleep. She took him from us, leash and all,

and told us to go home. She would take care of him. With tears in our eyes, we left Stump smelling all the great scents from the horses. His nose was as good as ever and he was so engrossed in the smells that he didn’t even notice us leave. By this time, he was almost completely blind. A few days later, we received several things from the vet. She ﬁrst sent a note assuring us that Stump didn’t feel any pain. She gave him the injection as he was snifﬁng up a storm and he eventually just laid down and passed away Besides his collar and leash, she sent his ashes in a container and a plaster of paris mold of one of his huge paws. We still have those more than 20 years later He was the best dog we ever had, and I still miss him. — Wood lives in Jefferson.

Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to The Human Condition at features@theadvocate.com or The Advocate, Features, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. There is no payment, and stories will be edited. Authors should include their city of residence.

FORT BUTE

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along the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge and Natchez, they were well entrenched.

That is, until Spain’s colonial governor for the Louisiana territory Bernardo de Gálvez, and his mixed ethnic collection of 1,400 Spanish, Acadian and German troops marched from New Orleans to stage an attack on Sept. 7, 1779, and sent the British army running to Baton Rouge.

Today, most drivers along River Road would never know that a fort filled with red-coated British soldiers once stood at the East Baton Rouge-Iberville parish line. Which is why the local chapters of Sons and Daughters of the Revolution spent three years raising more than $4,000 for the historical marker’s creation and installation.

The sign not only concisely told the story of what happened at the site but also included the “America 250” logo.

PROVIDED IMAGE FROM THE LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM ‘Bernardo de Gálvez’ by an unidentified artist ca. 1900, based on an earlier painting by José de Alfaro

with the state, the marker will be replaced,” Bledsoe said.

Importance remains

fulﬁllment of a dream. It is the beginning of a mission.”

With the title comes a $15,000 scholarship. Bordelon is pursuing a master’s degree in strategic communication and received the $1,000 Women in Mass Communication scholarship at the pageant. Before being crowned winner Bordelon won the health and ﬁtness and evening-wear preliminaries.

Bordelon founded Claire’s Promise in honor of her lifelong friend, Claire Zeller, who died in 2024 after getting into a car with an impaired driver Zeller was 24

‘SHUFFLE’

Continued from page 1G

million YouTube views), “Cornbread and Greens” and “Love Slide.” Upcoming gigs stretch from Opelousas to Oslo, Norway Cupid hosts an all-white attire, Rock the Boat cruise aboard the Creole Queen on July 3 during Essence Fest in New Orleans.

“It was born out of unimaginable heartbreak,” Bordelon explained in a social media post. “I promised myself that if I was ever given this opportunity, I would use it to serve with my whole heart, and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

Bordelon will vie for the title of Miss America 2027 on Sept. 6 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Other Miss Louisiana finalists were Katherine McCullars, ﬁrst runner-up; Lauryn Vernon, second runner-up; De’Ahmya Whaley, third runner-up and Anna Claire Lemoine, fourth runner-up.

“Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick, now walk it by yourself.” Shufﬂe on, Cupid.

Herman Fuselier is executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His “Zydeco Stomp” show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.

“Between May 30 and June 2, a careless driver plowed straight into the marker and destroyed it,” said Paul Bledsoe, secretary for the Sons of the American Revolution chapter

The marker has since disappeared. Bledsoe said the two chapters aren’t offering a reward for its return.

“Right now, we’re working on getting the driver’s insurance company to compensate the cost of the sign,” he said. “And we’re working with the state and the City of St George on getting it replaced.”

The chapters received the sign last September, but there was some confusion as to who would be responsible for installing it the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development or the City of St. George.

“The stretch of the River Road from Gardere Lane to the Iberville Parish line, which is about 21/2 miles, changed from state ownership to ownership by the City of St. George,” Bledsoe said.

But the chapters’ initial agreement for the installation process was made with the state, which eventually placed the marker

“I believe that through working

Still, the sign’s absence devalues neither the organizations’ effort commemorating the site nor the story of what happened there.

Bledsoe said people have been talking about putting a marker there for years.

“But until recently, the evidence that is necessary to prove the fort’s location wasn’t easily available,” he said.

Rose Meyers’ 1976 book, “A History of Baton Rouge, 1699-1812,” is an often cited source for the Fort Bute story Meyers was the head librarian for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s Downtown Branch, now called the River Center Branch. Her book was published by LSU Press for the Baton Rouge Bicentennial Corp. and includes chapters chronicling Louisiana’s capital city under both British and Spanish rule, beginning with King George III’s proclamation of Great Britain’s 1763 takeover of West Florida following the French and Indian War.

Meyers writes that the British anchored their frigates there until they could build a “strong new fort in West Florida.”

Fort Bute also became important in Britain’s defensive strategy

“Engineer Archibald Robertson supervised the planning and construction of Fort Bute, which consisted of a ‘blockhouse with a small stockaded fort,’” Meyers writes. “It housed 50 men and one ofﬁcer, but, in an emergency, it could be made to accommodate 200.” Named for British earl

The fort was named for John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who served as prime minister of Great Britain under King George III from 176263, and while the British were establishing trade dominance, the Americans tried but failed to persuade West Florida to join their cause.

The British sent more troops to Fort Bute and their other fortiﬁed posts at Baton Rouge and Natchez, establishing a blockade on the river In 1779, Meyers points out, though Gálvez was young, he proved to be a competent governor for Spain, having anticipated impending war and striking ﬁrst by marching his troops from New Orleans up the Mississippi River in August, with relentless sun, thick humidity and merciless insects.

French artist Augusto FerrerDalmau offers what is considered one of the most realistic depictions of Galvez and his troops tromping through a swamp in his 2018 painting, “La Marcha de Gálvez.” Closer to home, late Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hayden created a more impressionistic view of the same scene in his bronze “Marcha de Gálvez,” fountain in Gálvez Plaza at North Boulevard Town Square.

Both artworks tell the story of the troops who arrived at Fort Bute on Sept. 6, then attacked at dawn on Sept 7, forcing the British’s retreat to Baton Rouge The British surrendered to Gálvez on Sept. 21, 1779, at the Baton Rouge fort. The marker stood for three days. The site of Fort Bute is unmarked again.

To contact the General Philemon Thomas Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution with any information about the missing marker, visit lassar.org/generalphilemon-thomas/ or email info@ gbrsar.org.

Email Robin Miller at romiller@ theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Late Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hayden’s fountain, ‘Marcha de Gálvez,’ in Galvez Plaza, commemorates Bernardo de Gálvez’s march from New Orleans to Baton Rouge to expel the British.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

FAR LEFT: The Billeaud Sugar Factory in the late 1960s; ABOVE: The iconic gears in front of the Billeaud Companies Office in Broussard; LEFT: Martial F Billeaud Sr immigrated to the Broussard area with his parents when he was 3 in 1840.

SWEET HISTORY

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Today Broussard is the bustling crossroad of Lafayette Parish, transporting people and goods along the U.S. 90 corridor amid waves of neighborhoods, shops, industrial sites and farm land

But 100 years ago, it was all sugar cane.

Martial Billeaud planted his ﬁrst crop in 1866, 25 years after his family immigrated to Louisiana from France. He worked as a blacksmith before enlisting in the Louisiana 26th Infantry during the Civil War and turned his attention to agricultural concerns after the war — beginning with cotton and corn before transitioning to sugar cane and building a sugar mill. The enterprise proved proﬁtable, helped by the arrival of the railroad, and by 1893, Billeaud Sugar Factory had grown to a large, modern concern that would shape the area for generations to come.

“We’re all sixth generation,” said Paul Eason, who serves as chairman of the board of directors for Billeaud Companies. “We knew it, we remember it. We went to the sugar factory as kids, seeing it operating, and I hope our next generation can enjoy our stories about it. That’s why we chose to do a book, because it has

changed around here.”

In order to preserve their history members of the Billeaud family who sit on the board of directors commissioned a book that spans over a century of the company, including a major shift in 1979. Stockholders (members of the growing Billeaud clan) voted to close the factory and go into commercial real estate, seeing an opportunity to move out of the struggling agricultural sector

and into land development. Lafayette writer and editor Lana Henry documented the story of how Billeaud Sugar Factory became Billeaud Companies in “From Sweetening the Table to Sweetening the Deal: A History of Billeaud Companies,” released by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press this year

The book is a fascinating read for Lafayette Parish residents who interact daily with places like

Martial F. Billeaud Sr Elementary School, shop at businesses in developments like Sweetland Centre in Broussard, or handle business at the Pinhook Ofﬁce Courts — among other developments that Billeaud Companies has handled over the decades.

“Chuck Billeaud (former board chairman) was my right-hand man,” said Henry “He was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the industry, this company, the family, the community and introduced me to so many people who all had some sort of lived experience with the company It gave me such a depth and richness, and that’s what I’m most interested in. I love oral history and being able to write about something that has several generations to it.”

Billeaud Companies held a book signing at their Broussard

headquarters last month, in the historic home at 106 St. Nazaire Road that has housed generations of family members and workers at the company, as the community around it grew and changed.

District Attorney Don Landry attended the signing, both to show support for a homegrown business and for a more personal reason — getting to see the house where he grew up.

“I have many memories here,” he said, pointing out where his bedroom was.

Landry’s father managed the surrounding sugar cane operations — a sea of ﬁelds that are now home to acres of commerce. The Walmart and Home Depot across the street from Billeaud Companies on St. Nazaire Road were built on Billeaud land, pointing the way for population growth in south Lafayette Parish. The topic of legacy is a frequent one at board meetings, Eason said.

“At our meeting, we were just saying how much we all treasure this,” he said. “We hope the next generation thinks as much of it as we do. We’re sure trying to instill it in them. We’ve been blessed.”

Learn more about “From Sweetening the Table to Sweetening the Deal: A History of the Billeaud Companies” on the UL Press website.

Visit to Jackson’s Lemuria Books ‘a sweet devouring’

In a column a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my recent road trip to Jackson, Mississippi, where I visited the home of the late novelist and short story writer Eudora Welty, which is now open as a museum. There are books everywhere in Welty’s house, a testament to her passion for reading.

Jackson offers visitors another monument to Welty’s reading life at Banner Hall, a shopping venue that includes a huge sign bearing Welty’s love letter to the written word. It’s a quote from “One Writer’s Beginnings,” the Welty memoir in which she celebrates reading as a feast for the senses

Here’s what Welty said about her passion for books: “I cannot remember a time when I was not I love with them — with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their

siasm for books as physical objects.

Danny Heitman

smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself.”

The sign hangs outside Lemuria Books, which just marked its 50th anniversary as an independent bookstore in Jackson.

“We at Lemuria believe in the value of the physical book,” the management proclaims on its website. “With ﬂoor-to-ceiling shelves, that quintessential book smell, and a little bit of Southern hospitality, you’ll feel right at home.”

An extensive collection of ﬁrst-edition collectible volumes underscores Lemuria’s enthu-

New books are part of the mix, too, with an emphasis on regional authors. Portraits of Southern writers hang among the shelves, a reminder that authors such as Roy Blount, Lewis Grizzard and Rick Bragg have made Lemuria a destination. Louisiana is represented well in the inventory, which includes a range of titles about New Orleans history and a variety of photography books by C.C. Lockwood.

I bought a copy of “The Complete Stories of Truman Capote,” a masterwork by the gadﬂy author who was born in New Orleans. Last year, to ﬁll a gap in my reading life, I’d picked up Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” at Baton Rouge’s TBR Books & Tea. I’d somehow never gotten around to tackling that popular novel, and thanks to the good folks at TBR, it’s

now off my to-be-read list.

Reconnecting with Capote through the short stories I took home from Lemuria has been a highlight of my summer reading so far I’d made a head start on that reading project while sitting on a sofa at Lemuria, where ample seating encourages customers to stay a while, indulging books as an immersive pleasure. Lemuria takes its name from a mythical lost continent where, as the story goes, the locals gave birth to books as a way to connect with each other At their best, summer books are their own continent, a separate world where we can get lost for a spell.

Welty called it a form of possession, and in this, as in so many other things, she was surely right.

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.