Florida
CajunZydeco.com #1O8 JANUARY 2O22
Bringin’ the HEAT to Florida
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com Cover: Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers will raise the temperature in Florida this month with appearances at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa on Jan. 28, and at Charlotte Harbor Chili, Beer and Blues Fest Jan. 29. Photo from dwaynedopsie.com
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! is mostly written, edited, designed and produced by Jim Hance, floridacajunzydeco@yahoo.com. Visit floridacajunzydeco.com for information on Cajun and zydeco dance events in Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere, as well as back issues of this publication.
No. 1O8 | January 2O22
3 Cajun Zydeco Dance at Sauced on January 7, 2022
Open dancing 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., beginner dance lesson at 8 p.m.
4 Dwayne Dopsie’s Live Zydeco Show Comes to Tampa
Friday, January 28, 8 p.m. Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers at Skipper’s Smokehouse. Tickets will be $10/$15. skipperssmokehouse.com
36 Festival News
Suannee Spring Reunion, Festivals Acadiens, Gator by the Bay, and more!
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44 In-Person Dances in the Tampa Bay area
Zydeco, swing, and more.
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JOIN US FOR A CAJUN ZYDECO DANCE ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 7 7 p.m. to 9:3O p.m. at SAUCED, 125O Seminole Blvd., Largo 3377O
NO COVER! JIM HANCE will be playing recorded Cajun and zydeco dance music by your favorite artists including Roy Carrier, Boozoo Chavis, Willis Prudhomme, Chubby Carrier, Keith Frank and Steve Riley, and dozens of similar artists. At least every tenth tune is a waltz. Try a CRAFT PIZZA. Brief beginner dance lesson at 8 p.m. with instructor JERRY CARRIER.
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
DWAYNE DOPSIE’S LIVE ZYDECO SHOW COMES TO TAMPA BAY JAN 28 Photos by David Simpson, Eunice, Louisiana Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers has been one of the few Louisiana bands to cross the Florida state line over the past couple of years. In 2021, the band had several visits to various towns in Florida, and a March 2022 appearance in Daytona Beach has been on the floridacajunzydeco.com calendar for months. On January 28, 2022, the band is booked at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa.
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LIFE FOR DWAYNE DOPSIE IS ‘THE SHOW’ “I wanted to be the main taco,” Dwayne Dopsie said with a laugh in an interview with Geraldine Wychkoff for OffBeat Magazine a couple of years ago. Very early in life Dwayne had the desire to lead his own band as his father, the late Alton “Rockin’ Dopsie” Rubin did, taking the mantle of “King of Zydeco” after Clifton Chenier passed away. “I always loved how people gave him so much attention — watching him playing, watching his fingers. So I wanted to follow in his footsteps.” In 2013, Dwayne Dopsie was named Best Accordion Player by New Orleans-based Offbeat Magazine, a veritable bellwether of the best of The Big Easy. Dopsie chuckled. “I totally forgot I was nominated!” he laughed. “I was in the grocery store buying shrimp to make
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! etouffee and Lucy (Dopsie’s manager) called and said I won. I was so honored but I couldn’t go to the awards ceremony because I had a show.” And in 2017, Dwayne Dopsie’s album, Top of the Mountain, was nominated for a GRAMMY. But referring to his 2021 album release, Set Me Free, Dopsie asserted, “If any one of my records deserves it, it’s this one.” For Dopsie, life is the show. It is about standing in front of an audience and giving it all he has. “We put our heart and soul into every performance,” Dopsie said,
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com citing his band, The Zydeco Hellraisers, who deftly combine zydeco with R&B, funk and soul to create an amalgam of sound like no other band. Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers are ranked #29 at www. louisianatravel.com’s 100 Reasons to Visit New Orleans. As resident musicians in New Orleans, Dopsie and his band felt it was their obligation and duty to make his New Orleans audiences happy. “I think we achieved that ranking because we play unique instruments in very unique ways.” he explains. “Our enjoyment comes from watching people react to the instrumentation. Joy is a reciprocal thing. You give it
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! to the audience and they give it back to you.” Dwayne’s stylistic approach is rooted in the old school style of zydeco perfected by his father and Clifton Chenier. In the tunes he has written and recorded, Dopsie incorporates humor and warmth with his often fast-tempo tunes. “The music is like family music. It’s just like being home and getting along and joking around with your family — your brothers, your mom, your sisters or whatever. It’s making you feel like you’re home.” “If you tell a good story and make whoever is listening to the song feel that they’re part of it — or they are looking at a movie — you get a better response,” continued Dwayne, who has been writing both music and lyrics since he was a young boy. “I can’t read music and I can’t write music notes, but if you let me hear it, I can play it. I write songs out of what I hear in my head.”
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IDOLIZING HIS FATHER AND SPEAKING CREOLE FRENCH Dwayne grew up in Lafayette, as the youngest of eight children in a home filled with music. “My father sometimes would take his accordion out and clean and play it,” he remembers. “When I’d see him grab his case, I’d stop what I was doing and sit down on the floor Indian style and watch. I was mesmerized. I think of those memories a lot. Even [while] eating dinner and listening to his stories, some of the things that he’d say would sound like a song. It was always a good time.” “I was much younger than everybody else,” says Dwayne, explaining that, in his early years, there were just two of his brothers at home — rubboard player David, also known as Rockin’ Dopsie Jr., and accordionist Anthony. The rest of his siblings, including drummer Alton, nicknamed Tiger, had already left home.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! At age six, Dwayne was playing rubboard, and made several appearances with his father’s band, Rockin’ Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters. By the time he was seven, he’d already taken up the accordion. “My father had an accordion that he let Anthony and me play,” says Dwayne, who upon arriving home from school would jump right on it. “We had a big camcorder and a tripod and I’d record myself for five hours playing and go back and watch it. That’s what got my motivation.” He remembers thinking to himself that he wasn’t playing it right and that he needed to do better. “After my father passed away in 1993 when I was 14, that kind of ignited me like a fire. I need to get this going! I was never into school, and after he passed, I dropped out of school in the ninth grade. I just figured this [zydeco] was my calling.” “Kids would tease me,” confesses Dopsie. “Other kids wanted to be a construction worker or fireman, but I just
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com wanted to play the accordion. Then I would get teased because I could only play two songs.” When his father died, “It was like a light switch turned on and I couldn’t stop playing accordion and learning new songs. His death crushed me. I had fourteen years of experience of being with this man every day and learning my craft from him. He still is the first thing on my mind when I wake and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep.” Though his father was gone, his words of wisdom stuck with his youngest son: “If you’re going to do it, do it right. Don’t do it halfway.” “I think about his words on a regular basis. That’s why, from my shows to my CDs and even at home, I don’t cut corners.” As the youngest child in the Rubin family, Dwayne was home with his parents a lot and heard them speaking Creole French, and picked it up. “In school
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Rubin brothers Anthony, Dwayne and David (Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr.).
they’d teach French but I’d go, ‘Hmm, that’s not what I heard at home‘ because it was Paris French.” Being fluent in Creole French, Dwayne helps keep the language of his ancestors alive by incorporating it in his music. On the two-step number “Hey La Ba,” he starts out singing in Creole French and later he translates the lyrics into English. He mixes it up similarly on the waltz-time, “Everybody Talking,” from his 2017 Grammy-
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com nominated album Top of the Mountain, where he also sings “Ma ti femme” entirely in Creole French. Dwayne laments that there are so few people that he can talk to in the language that he loves. “When I go home and visit my mom, we’ll speak French,” he said, adding that he also has conversations with some of the older people in his hometown who are shocked that he remains fluent in the language. “My brothers understand more than they speak [it],” he adds. What really got Dwayne’s career kick-started was when, in 1999, he won the “America’s Hottest Accordionist” national competition, presented by American Accordion Association. “I was never shy to take a jump,” says Dwayne of entering the contest that included traditional and classical musicians. “I was the only oddball there that could play the blues.” That same year, Dwayne formed his own band and
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! initially named it Dwayne Dopsie and the Rollers. While performing at Bourbon Street’s La Strada club, a man came up to the bandstand and said, “Man, you guys are really raising hell—you’re hell raisers!” “I thought, ‘ding’ that’s it.’” From then on, the group has very appropriately been called Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. Dwayne’s father, Alton Rubin, embraced the name Dopsie years ago, a moniker carried on by his musical sons. Dwayne tells the story that a guy from Chicago, who was known as Dopsie, would come to Lafayette and he was hailed as a great dancer, especially doing the jitterbug. Alton started imitating him and folks began calling him “Lil’ Dopsie.” That evolved into Good Rockin’ Dopsie, which eventually led to the shortened version, Rockin’ Dospie. His first band, called Rockin’ Dopsie & the Zydeco Twisters, is now led by his son, David “Rockin’ Dopsie Jr.” on rubboard and vocals.
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‘NOT EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ONE PATTERN, OR ONE BEAT, ALL NIGHT LONG.’ In a 2021 story for OffBeat Magazine by John Wirt, “True To Zydeco: Dwayne Dopsie Stays Clear Of Rhythmic Repetition,” Dopsie explained why his music, inspired by zydeco music of his father’s generation, is different from the R&B-infused nouveaux zydeco that has been played to a slower tempo by most contemporary zydeco bands over the past two decades. “Zydeco has a lot of distinctive beats. But a lot of bands over umpteenth years haven’t played them. A lot of bands just want to play one-beat style. If you’re a jukebox, that’s great. It’s not great if you’re actually performing zydeco music.” When he was growing up in Lafayette, Dopsie remembered, there was no such thing as “zydeco
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! dancing.” He blamed the rhythmic standardization of zydeco on dancers or, more precisely, dance instructors, and the bands that accommodated them, John Wirt wrote. “People decided to teach their interpretation of zydeco,” the singer, songwriter and accordion player said. “So, they slowed the music down, to the point where it’s just ba-ba-bop, ba-ba-bop, ba-ba-bop, just so they can do the dance. But that’s not zydeco music. Zydeco has more of a flair, more pepper. I thought for a while they were trying to turn zydeco music into linedance music. That’s not zydeco. Zydeco is blues music. Even B.B. King had slow blues, medium blues and some funky blues. Not everything is going to be one pattern or one beat, all night long.” Zydeco performed by Rockin’ Dopsie and Clifton Chenier, as well as contemporary zydeco artists such as C.J. Chenier and Chubby Carrier, features rhythmic variety and potent doses of blues.
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A 2019 Tribute to Rockin’ Dopsie by the City of Lafayette brought the Rubin brothers and their mother to the front of the stage at Rock’n’Bowl de Lafayette. At center, Lafayette Councilman Patrick Lewis holds a proclamation with Anita Begnaud, CEO of Lafayette’s Downtown Development Authority, to his right.
“It’s like somebody gives you a bowl of gumbo,” Dopsie explained. “You don’t just want the juice and the rice. You like a little bit of seafood, a little bit of sausage. That’s what zydeco is. It’s got something for everybody.”
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
‘BOURBON STREET REALLY WAS MY TEACHER’ Bourbon Street clubs were central to Dwayne’s career and development as an artist, and also played an important role in establishing connections with audiences and business people from around the country and the world. Zydeco was a rarity on the famous street, and for many visitors it was the first time experiencing the style. Dwayne’s powerful and energized shows certainly made for a dynamic introduction to zydeco music. He and his Hellraisers played on Bourbon until Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, when he headed to Baton Rouge and the band did some touring. After getting messages urging him to come back to the French Quarter, he returned to play at the Old Opera House. That Bourbon Street venue became too small for
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com the large crowds the band drew, so the party moved just down the block to the larger Krazy Korner club. The Hellraisers’ last show on “the street” was in 2014. Dwayne felt ready to move on. “I had enough contacts and notoriety from people from out-of-town,” remembers Dwayne, “so we got on the road and we started doing more and more festivals and concerts.” The band now also has the opportunity to play a variety of club dates in New Orleans at spots like d.b.a., the Ace and, of course, at the French Quarter Festival and the Jazz & Heritage Festival. At the 2018 Cajun-Zydeco Festival held in Armstrong Park, Dwayne and the Hellraisers were joined by his brothers, David, Anthony and Alton. The show appeared to be as much fun for the guys on stage as it was for the excited audience. The siblings, backed by the Hellraisers, all shared a stage again last March to pay tribute to their father. It was a first of its kind event, celebrating Alton
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! “Rockin’ Dopsie” Rubin in the family’s hometown of Lafayette. A couple of years ago, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers celebrated the band’s 20th anniversary with the release of its tenth album. It might be surprising to some that he credits his years gigging on Bourbon Street for preparing him for his rise. “Bourbon really was my teacher,” says Dwayne, who would play five — sometimes six — nights a week from 8 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. “It helped me develop my skills, and it helped me learn how to entertain a crowd. I learned so many songs in those days, it’s unbelievable. I have to thank Bourbon and the French Quarter a lot for my success. If there wasn’t no Krazy Korner, or no Old Opera House or La Strada, I wouldn’t exist. Bourbon was my gym. It really put me into shape.” When Dwayne, a very muscular man with eyepopping biceps, refers to Bourbon Street clubs as his
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com “gym,” he means it more literally than one would think. Despite his strapping physique, Dwayne does not and never did work out — no bench presses, lifts, treadmills, pushups, nothing. He credits playing the accordion, the pressure to open it and push it closed (particularly during those long, strenuous nights on Bourbon) for the size of his arms. “It’s a heavy instrument,” says Dwayne, estimating it weighs about 20 pounds. “That’s what developed me to have stamina and endurance. It will pump you up.” Needless to say, the always-in-action Dwayne Dopsie was and is a vision to watch perform. He doesn’t mess around or take anything for granted. He’s full on as an accordionist, vocalist, and showman. Visually, he’s also always been uniquely stylish. “I always wanted to look different,” he admits. “I looked at performers and entertainers from years ago, and everybody had a flamboyant look: Elvis, Little
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Richard, and Clifton Chenier with his headband.” Presently, Dwayne sports a very clean and precisely designed hairstyle that he describes as his “Native American look.” At one time, a similar coiffeur included a ponytail. “I do it myself,” Dwayne explains. “I Dwayne Dopsie in 2003. haven’t had my hair cut by a barber since I was probably 15. So it’s been a long time. I like my hair to look a certain way and I never
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com did like people messin’ with my hair.” Many folks will surely remember when Dwayne went through a period of time when he wore slightly bizarre blue contact lenses. When he appeared on both “CBS This Morning” and NBC’s “Good Morning America” after winning the accordion contest, millions of people saw Dwayne sporting the blue contacts. It’s likely that most television viewers and those in the audience at his live
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! shows figured Dwayne was simply just trying to draw attention to himself. Surprisingly, his intent held a much deeper and significant meaning. “I started wearing contacts when I was 19, after my father passed way,” Dwayne explained. “I was very hurt for a long time. When I moved to New Orleans from Lafayette, I met a man in the French Quarter and he said, ‘People can look into your eyes and they see your soul and I can tell that you’re hurting.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want anybody to look in my soul, and I don’t want anybody seeing that my playing is like anger — even though I love it.’ So I covered up my eyes to deter them away from that. After I got past a lot of things, I stopped wearing them in 2005. I decided it was time to let it go. It had become gimmick and people couldn’t remember my name or the band’s name. I just became the guy with the blue eyes.”
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‘I ALWAYS HAD A SAX — IT GIVES THE MUSIC EXTRA SPICE’ In keeping with the zydeco tradition of his father and Clifton Chenier, Dwayne is noted for having a strong rubboard player out front with him. The Paul LaFleur on frottoir, Dwayne Dopsie, Damon Sonnier on sax man working hard on the frottoir is Paul Lafleur. “I’ve been fortunate to have two good rubboard players, because I’m very out there,” Dwayne offers, adding that spontaneity between the accordion and the rubboard comes from paying attention. “It’s hard to be next to somebody who is shy. I need somebody that’s going to be out there enough to push with us. What I
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! require is for them to just do their job and make sure people are entertained.” Naturally, Dwayne reflects back on some of the legendary rubboard players he admired from the past including his father’s main man Chester Zeno, who he describes as “the only one-handed rubboard player.” “He was better than some people with two hands.” Dwayne’s brother David, “Rockin’ Dopsie Jr.,” played rubboard with their father for many years and today continues to get a crowd going, not only with his full-on technique, but also his dance moves and slammin’ splits. Of rubboard master Cleveland Chenier, the brother of the King of Zydeco Clifton Chenier, Dwayne says, “His style was impeccable.” Dwayne’s father’s influence, which remains a part of most everything he does, shines brightly not only when he’s playing straight-up zydeco, but when he incorporates the blues, as he does on two lovely cuts from the album, the standard 12-bar of “I’m Your Man,”
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com and the old-school style of the moving “Such a Good Man,” which includes a soulful sax solo. “Every chance I got, I always had a sax. It gives the music extra spice,” says Dwayne, who advised his saxophonists to listen to the great John Hart, the longtime sax man with Clifton Chenier. “He used to come to my father’s house and play with my father. He’d sit down and tell me stories.” Vocally and instrumentally, Dwayne shows his sweet side on the swaying “Such a Good Man,” a highlight of the album for those who enjoy zydeco at its most gentle. “Zydeco is blues,” Dwayne definitively states. “Zydeco is a little bit like old rock ’n’ roll, like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s blues-based. “My father loved blues,” Dwayne recalls. “He listened to a lot of Clifton’s music, and he was friends with and listened to B.B. King. He loved that old feel. I would say my playing is like his, because of the blues lines in
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! the music. I loved listening to him play, and he always incorporated blues licks and blues hits in his songs, and also in his singing. What’s different about his playing and my playing is that I’m a little more aggressive.” “A little more aggressive” is certainly an understatement coming from one of the fiercest zydeco musicians, accordionists, and performers to ever hit a stage. “The button is always on,” admits Dwayne who, since his youth, has been relentless in his pursuit of the music that was lovingly handed down to him from his father, the brilliant Rockin’ Dopsie. When you first see the man, Dwayne Dopsie’s commanding presence might at first make him appear furiously hip. And he is. Yet underlying his often breakneck flurry of notes, and a philosophy that he and the band should play “like there’s a pit bull chasing us,” he keeps zydeco’s tradition, the love of his life, close to his heart.
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REVIEWING DOPSIE’S LATEST ALBUM, SET ME FREE Dwayne Dopsie released a new album this past summer, “Set Me Free.” Dan Willging reviewed it for OffBeat Magazine. As Willging wrote, when Dwayne Dopsie gets off the road, a favorite pastime is relaxing and playing accordion. Melodies, riffs, and storylines run rampant in his head, and before long, there are six or seven songs ready for the next album. His 11th release is possibly his best yet, a remarkable feat considering his sizable discography that now spans 21 years.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Dopsie wrote 11 of these dozen songs with varying textures and tempos that fit together seamlessly without all sounding alike. It’s a 21st-century continuation of firstgeneration zydeco pioneered by Founding Father Clifton Chenier and his contemporary, Dwayne’s father, Rockin’ Dopsie Sr. Unlike that older style of zydeco, these tracks brim with an insane, high-octane energy that’s almost like Chenier or Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr. overdosing on steroids. The opening track, “Take It Higher,” has a revivalist bent to it with imagery of waving arms and enthusiastically clapping hands. The pandemic-inspired title track slows the pace down with a message about helping those in need. Some storylines are imaginative. “Shake Shake Shake” describes an epiphanous experience of an underage youngster falling under the spell of zydeco at a house party. “My Sweet Chaitanya” is about a lady that
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com this protagonist adores, despite all her quirks. Of the six instrumentals, “DD’s Zydeco Two Step” and “I Give It to You” are amped-up recreations of early zydeco and are jaw-dropping squeezebox clinics demonstrating Dopsie’s limitless boundaries. It’s also an album of firsts. Dopsie never recorded with a female background vocalist before, but on “Louisiana Girl,” R&B chanteuse Erica Fox adds her lush, Creole French-sung lines to the tune’s overall infectiousness. But bigger than that, Dopsie reunites with his older brothers, Alton “Tiger” Dopsie on drums, Anthony Dopsie on keyboard and Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. on washboard and vocals on various tracks for the first time on a recording under his own name. On the heartfelt rendition of Guitar Slim’s “The Things I Used to Do,” all four brothers come together to pay homage to their father on one of his favorite songs. Amazingly, the bulk of the recording was
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! accomplished in a day. There were only two takes — pick the best version, then on to the next one. Dopsie sang each song as it was being recorded, then went back to re-record his vocals so everything is audible amidst the action-packed arrangements. His brilliant accordion playing comes through clearly, to the point you can visualize each button being pressed down. With no overdubbing of parts, you hear each hand playing independently of the other, such as bass notes and runs, but everything was accomplished in real time. Somewhere high above in the heavens, Chenier and Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr. must be shaking their heads in disbelief, muttering: “Egad, we created a monster.” Join us on Friday, January 28 to dance to Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa. Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers will also appear Saturday, January 29 at the Charlotte Harbor Chili, Beer & Blues Fest, 115 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda, FL
This story was compiled from stories from OffBeat Magazine by Geraldine Wyckoff, John Wirt, Dan Willging and OffBeat staff writers.
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FESTIVAL NEWS SUANNEE SPRING REUNION
March 17–20, 2022, Spirit of the Suannee, Live Oak, FL Early bird tickets are being sold on the festival website through Jan. 4, 2022.. This Florida festival presents Americana music: bluegrass, newgrass, folk, singer/songwriter, blues, and more. Headliners at the 2022 festival include Donna The Buffalo, Greensky Bluegrass, Trampled By Turtles, Yonder Mountain String Band, Sierra Hull, Peter Rowan, Jim Lauderdale, Verlon Thompson, Roy Book Binder, and the Jon Stickley Trio. For a complete list of bands and ticket information, visit suwanneespringreunion.com/tickets
FESTIVALS ACADIENS ET CRÉOLES March 18–20, 2022, Lafayette’s Girard Park I plan to attend Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, but information about the event has not been added to the website at this time. Due to the pandemic, the festival was re-scheduled to these dates from the traditional second weekend of October. Information: festivalsacadiens.com
DUNEDIN MARDI GRAS Saturday, February 26, 2022, Dunedin, FL Tom White of Skipper’s Smokehouse has been recruited to line up some artists for a couple of stages. Save the date for the Dunedin Mardi Gras. We’ll give you the rundown and schedule in the February Update!
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! STRING BREAK MUSIC FEST April 7–9, 2022, Sertoma Youth Camp, Dade City, FL Keep your eyes and ears open for news on this festival. Most of the bands fall into the Americana category, but headliner for Saturday night is often Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band. Information: lindentertainment.com
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LOUISIANE April 27–May 1, 2022, Downtown Lafayette Information is yet to be posted to the website about specific plans. Information: festivalinternational.org
GATOR BY THE BAY May 5–8, 2022, San Diego’s Spanish Landing Park The San Diego festival planners are selling tickets at early bird prices, and attendees can get discounts at nearby hotels including the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina outside the gates of the festival. The festival was dark in 2020 and 2021, and people who purchased tickets for 2020 may still get credit towards the 2022 festival. If your tickets were purchased online, the festival will reach out to you. I was one of those who intentionally relinquished my 2020 tickets to help get the ball started next time around. The lineup of talent is phenomenal as ever, with Louisiana artists Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Horace Trahan and the Ossun Express, Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie, and Michael Doucet (from BeauSoleil) performing with San Franciscan Tom Rigney. It has taken 20 years to get Tom Rigney to come down the coast to the San Diego festival, and he’s going to be there this year! They will have seven stages of entertainment with over 100 performances plus the Saturday Night Dance at the hotel. Information: GatorByTheBay.com
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com Featured typeface family this issue:
MONTREUX SANS PRO Roch Modrzejewski is a type designer in the historic city of Kraków, Poland. Educated in Poland, Germany and Switzerland, his typeface creations sometimes bear the names of places in Europe, as is the case of his 132-font super typeface family, Montreux. Montreux is three type families in one, all inspired and informed by important sans serif typefaces of the twentieth century, but expanded to include many OpenType options including 80 ligatures, international symbols and accented characters, tabular and oldstyle numerals, and a few decorative glyphs. Each subfamily includes 11 weights, and “soft” versions with rounded stroke endings instead of sharp stroke endings for
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
a more gentle and organic feel. A broad array of uppercase ligatures are intended to provide logo design and creative headline options. At this moment in time when old digital “type 1” typefaces from the 1990s are becoming obsolete and will not work after 2022 with contemporary design applications from Adobe, this typeface assortment provides an excellent toolbox for replacing some of those old workhorse typefaces. The three subfamilies include:
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OpenType features of Montreaux Sans Pro include discretionary ligatures, select alternate characters, foreign language symbols and accented characters, tabular and oldstyle numerals, and other decorative glyphs.
SET IN GROTESK
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Montreux Grotesk, which has some of the styling features of the “geometic sans serif” typeface Futura (1927). Montreaux Grotesk is a dynamic style intended for modern branding purposes, and recommended for industries rooted in technology, new media, architecture, magazine publishing and fashion. The round lowercase “a” characteristic of Futura is an
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SET IN CLASSIC
alternate character in Montreaux Grotesk. Montreux Classic, which has some of the elegant and minimalistic “neo-grotesque” design features of Helvetica (1957). The typeface is neutral, intended to present information in a straightforward fashion, and particularly suited for finance, banking, healthcare, pharmaceutical, IT or legal applications.
SET IN JAZZ
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Montreux Jazz, which has some of the curvy styling features of the humanist typeface Goudy Sans (1929). A playful typestyle, Montreaux Jazz is a good choice for lifestyle design projects such as food and drink, cosmetics, tourism, and fashion. Given its friendly nature, it connects with youth. Just to be clear, the Montreux typefaces are uniquely designed fonts that are not identical to Futura, Helvetica or Goudy Sans, but have styles similar to those typefaces. I admire the work of Modrzejewski and have featured his typefaces in past issues of Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Issue #92 featured the serif typeface Teramo, and issue #94 featured the condensed sans serif typeface Lütschine. Teramo, Lütschine and most other type families issued by Roch Modrzejewski are available on the Monotype store, myfonts.com, but Montreux is an exclusive product on designcuts.com.
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IN-PERSON DANCES & LESSONS ARE BACK IN THE TAMPA AREA Tuesdays, noon to 2 p.m. — Ballroom Dance Lessons (open dancing 2 to 3 p.m.), Gulfport Casino, Gulfport, FL
Tuesdays, 8 to 10:30 p.m. — West Coast Swing Party at District Dance Academy, 14100 U.S. Hwy. 19, Suite 139, Largo 33764 (districtdanceacademy. com) Wednesdays, 8 to 11 p.m. — Swing Time Dance (lessons 6 to 8 p.m.), Gulfport Casino, Gulfport, FL (https://swingtime.info) Thursdays, 8 to 11 p.m. — Latin Dance (lessons 6:30 to 8 p.m.), Gulfport Casino, Gulfport, FL Third Thursdays, 7:30 to 10 p.m. — Westie Night on the Town with Danielle Bouin (dbdance.net/group-classes/) Thurs. thru Sat., 7:30-on — Country Line Dancing at Stockyard, 1916 US Highway 19, Holiday, Florida 34691 (stockyardlive.com) Fridays, 7:30 p.m. — Tampa Bay Dancing Club, Mike Unwin, 8401 West Hillsborough Ave., Tampa First Fridays, 7 to 9:30 p.m. — Cajun Zydeco Dance, Jim Hance DJ, at Sauced, 1250 Seminole Blvd., Largo 2nd/4th Saturdays, 8:30 p.m. to midnight — Tampa Floorplay (west coast swing), Danielle Blouin, Bayou Dance Club, 6541 102nd Ave., Pinellas Park Sundays, 4-7 p.m. — Sara Dance Center Ballroom Class & Dance at new location: 2821 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota (saradancecenter.com) Sundays, 8-11 p.m. — Swing Dance Tampa Bay (Lindy), at ‘Torpedo Room,’ (lessons 6-8 p.m.) American Legion Hall, 3810 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa
