VOL 8, No. 1
January 1998
The Cajun Connection is dedicated to bringing the good times of
South Louisiana to the Tampa Bay area;
the food, the music, and the dancing.
Join the Fun - Join The Cajun Connection
1997, C'est Tout Finis
(It's all over)
The year began at the 1996 Christmas party with the announcement that our President and Vice President, Mary and Richard Hummer, were making a career move to California.
The Cajun Connection will always be in debt to the Hummers. They, in fact, did so much for us there was some doubt that the Club would survive.
But our Board Members were determined to keep the club alive.
The loss of the Hummers left a need for replacement dance instructors.
If anything can be attributed for the existence and growth of the club,
it is dance lessons. President Bob Hugenschmidt and Ellen Whitworth took over the lessons
and resumed the Sunday night dance sessions at Britton Plaza.
They held several sessions throughout the year and conducted lessons at many events.
Other members did their part to teach dance as well.
Carol and Mike Handley conducted dance lessons at the Florida Folk Festival.
Recent newlyweds Sue Stanczyk and Joey Norton did the same at the Wings and Strings Festival.
Johnny and Clotile Dugas held a series of dance lessons at the Florida Recreation and Parks Association annual conference.
Benny and Edwina Sylvester and the Dugas held dance lessons at the Lightfoot Recreation Center in Temple Terrace.
Another mainstay of the club was the happy hours.
Benny and Edwina stepped up and kept them alive.
They organized the first happy hour of the year at Duke's in south St. Petersburg.
The turnout was good and everyone had a good time.
We had a few more good happy hours at Duke's, and then began moving the party around to different locations,
and the night was changed to Fridays. We went to Skipper's, Friday's, Cafe Creole, and Club More.
Attendance was great and there was much fellowship and dancing.
The Fais Do Do series also stayed strong - thanks to the yeoman efforts of the Sylvesters, Dave Hildebrand, and many others who pitched in.
Our most frequent fais do do location was Cafe on the Bayou in Pinellas Park.
The owner, Joe Thibideaux, was a gracious host and we enjoyed many a fine time in the Randy Hebert Pavilion.
Unfortunately, Joe has taken quite ill of late.
The Cajun Connection wishes him the best in his recovery.
Sheryl Cormier and Cajun Sounds provided us with a memorable time at Skipper's.
The Club held its annual crawfish boil at the end of May.
Benny, with the help of Dave Hildebrand and Johnny Dugas, boiled 250 pounds of crawfish!
Edwina made crawfish Etoufee'. Virtually every crawfish whisker and drop of Etoufee' was purchased and consumed.
The well-fed dancers were in a good mood and really appreciated Sheryl and the band.
Club More was the sight of another great party in November.
Members didn't have the easiest time finding this new nightclub, but loved it and had a great time when they did.
The Porch Dogs were obviously inspired by the surroundings, they tore it up!
And there were festivals. Fort Lauderdale, Festival Acadiens, Jazz Fest, Breaux Bridge, Plaisance. In one word, INCREDIBLE.
If you have a friend who is resisting becoming a Cajunkie, hit them over the head, throw them in the trunk of your car, and take them to one of those festivals.
They will be assimilated!
The events were wonderful, but they were - because of the people.
The Cajun Connection is a great club because its members are great people.
Look forward to even bigger and better things in 1998!! Don't delay - get your membership dues in now.
Members will receive monthly newsletters, free admission to the annual Christmas party, group rates on trips, and reduced admission to all events.
In addition, Skipper's has agreed to allow card-carrying club members to walk up on the day of events and pay pre-pay ticket prices, with the exception of non-Club sponsored fund raisers.
So don't wait, get on board.
1997 - C'est tout finis. 1998 - Laissez les bon ton roulez!
What the Cajun Connection Means to Me
by Edwina Sylvester
It all started after I quit the telephone company after 26 years.
Benny and I traveled all over the United States.
Then he was offered a job in Florida ten years ago.
I did not want to leave Louisiana.
We had just moved back to Louisiana and we were having a ball.
I was lonesome in the beginning. I knew no one and was very homesick.
One day Benny came home and was very excited.
He said there was this group of people in Tampa called the Cajun Connection.
They were having a crawfish boil at Café Creole and Zachary Richard was playing.
I think we were the first ones there.
All the women wanted to dance with Benny.
We ate dinner and ran out of money and had to come home.
I remember the crawfish boil at Skipper's and three of us sitting at the same table won the crawfish eating contest.
There were hundreds of people there.
I also remember another event at Skipper's where Benny and I took second in a dance contest.
We were told we didn't take first because we were not dancing Cajun. I said "OK".
We love the Cajun Connection and the people.
We have had lots of fun in 1997.
A lot of hard work goes into a successful outing - they don't just happen.
We all get excited when we see students dancing that we helped.
It is our individual obligation to preserve the Cajun Connection.
We ask that all members re-join in 1998. And - try to bring new members in!
Hope to see you all at our next event in January.
Christmas Party 1997 - Thanks Abound!!
by Edwina Sylvester
A great big thanks to all the people who helped make the Cochon De Lait such a big success!
Our cooks, Benny and Dave. Joe and Kim and the baby for the raffle items and rest of the food.
Mike and Carol for picking up Sheryl and the Band and delivering them to the party.
Carol, Alisha, Peggy, Lynn, Rocky, Mark, and Robert who helped with the decorations.
Dave and Lynn who lugged sound equipment and sold drinks.
Greg and Paul who warmed everyone up with a great jam.
Erik who played Santa Claus.
Bob and Ellen who helped with the election of board members.
Kevin and Elizabeth for taking charge of the membership duties.
The many people who pitched in and served food.
And especially all of you who and came made the party such a big success.
God bless all of you.
Upcoming Events
If the first three months are any indication, 1998 will be awesome!
Our goal is to get Club members together for fun and fellowship as often as possible, regardless of who is sponsoring the event.
Therefore, we will also keep you informed of non-Club events that we think will interest you as well as our regular Club-sponsored happenings.
It just so happens that January is a great month with many opportunities for dancing.
On Friday, January 2, Dan Elektro and the Silvertones, an interesting local swing blues band will be playing at Skippers.
The following night, also at Skippers, the First Family of New Orleans funk, The Batiste Brothers, will be appearing, along with the bands
Khadir and Grin. The gate fees are $4 on Friday and $5 on Saturday.
Sounds like a great way to start the new year!
The January Happy Hour will be held on the following Friday, 1/9 from 6 p.m. until we feel like quitting in the courtyard at Café Creole in Ybor City.
The courtyard has a real "Louisiana" feel to it, and manager at Café Creole has promised to give us some free drinks and special food to make up for shooing us off early last time.
Later in January, Bernard Allison (a fine Louisiana blues man and son of the late great Luther Allison) will be at Skipper's on January 24th.
Bernard plays hard-driving rocking blues and is great to dance to.
Tickets for this event are $9 in advance and $12 the day of.
The following Monday night - the Love Dogs will be bringing us great swing music for only $5.
I realize that Monday is not a common party night, but anyone who remembers their performance last summer with Sleepy LeBeef might want to make an exception.
In February, we will hold the first Club-organized live music event, and what a start it will be!
None other than Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys will be appearing at Skipper's on Friday the 13th. (Yikes, maybe we can have a theme party and come dressed in
hockey goalie masks!) Skipper's is splitting the cost of the band with us and allowing the Club to operate the outdoor food concession.
Edwina is going to cook up some more crawfish Etoufee'.
Get there early before it disappears!!
In March - we keep the Louisiana streak alive by bringing in Kevin Naquin (pronounced Nah-kan) and the Ossun Playboys.
You probably haven't heard of them until now, but we enjoyed them at Festivals Acadiens and had to invite them to play for the Club.
We will give you a more complete bio on Kevin and the band in a later newsletter.
The Kevin Naquin dance party will be held at Skipper's on Saturday, March 21st.
The arrangement with Skipper's will be the same with one major difference.
This event will be a fund raiser for the Tampa Bay Humane Society. You may have pet-owning friends and relatives that you could not
convince to come to a Cajun dance party.
Make sure you tell them about this event well in advance so they can plan to attend!
Not bad for the first quarter!
With the proper support, there is no reason we can't keep up this pace all year.
We have the cooperation of many first class venues.
The members rose to the occasion all last year, we know they will do it again in 1998.
Should the Cajun Connection Hire Zydeco Bands?
Should the Cajun Connection sponsor events that feature Zydeco bands?
That is the subject of the following friendly debate between Lee Ray Comeaux and Johnny Dugas.
Mais oui, hire Zydeco Bands
by Johnny Dugas
Cajun music is great.
But I like other types of music too, and believe in the value of diversity.
Too much of anything, no matter how much you may love it, can ruin it.
Even if we hire great Cajun bands for every event, we are running the risk of getting bored with
something that should stay special forever.
Secondly, it makes good business sense to hire both Cajun and Zydeco bands.
Restricting the Club to only hiring Cajun limits our choices.
By opening the door to both Cajun and Zydeco bands, we will have a greater opportunity to take advantage of the
touring schedules of more bands and be capable of bringing in more Louisiana entertainment.
Another business consideration; Zydeco may be more popular than Cajun right now.
Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate of judging music by popularity or sales.
But - increased membership and attendance at our events means higher revenues, and more money means we can do bigger and better things.
There is another thing to consider, Zydeco is FUN!!!
It has tremendous energy and is great to dance to.
Will some of our members refuse to support Zydeco?
Probably. The question is, what does the majority want?
And that is what we are trying to determine here.
Mais Non, Zydeco
by Lee Ray Comeaux
I like zydeco, it is fun to dance to. But I am a
mainstream Cajun man and I love Cajun music.
Cajun gives you more of a variety on the dance floor.
And it is not strung out as long as zydeco songs, which pretty
much all sounds alike. Our over-50 members won't be able to keep up with it.
Last, but not least, if the Cajun Connection could support two bands at every outing,
I would definitely call for a mixture.
But since we can't, I would prefer only Cajun.
Bringing bands that can play both is probably the best answer of all.
Good examples are The Creole Zydeco Farmers and Geno Delafose and the French Rockin' Boogie.
If you want to have a say in this debate, call (813)626-7928,
or e-mail Borisenko@AOL.com.
The results will be published in the next newsletter.
WMNF Update
We got some members worked up with the last newsletter, but it turned out to be nothing to get concerned about.
Randy Wynne, WMNF Program Director, announced during the station's fund raising marathon that he was planning a
Louisiana music festival for Mother's Day weekend in 1998.
The kicker was that it was going to be up against the Fort Lauderdale festival.
Randy soon found out that his idea was going to be difficult to implement.
Debby Bolin, the Fort Lauderdale Festival Director, told Randy that she was going to write "non-compete" clauses in
every band's contract and forbid them to play in Tampa.
Randy landed on his feet with a great alternative, a Lone Star State Festival featuring all manners of bands from Texas.
It is a cool idea - too bad we will all be in Fort Lauderdale.
Randy knows this and understands.
In fact, he said he regrets that it will be in conflict and agreed to consider moving it to the following week in 1999.
Speaking of Fort Lauderdale
While we are on the subject of Fort Lauderdale,
Dave Hildebrand checked in with Debby Bolin on a recent trip to Fort Lauderdale
and came away with exciting news.
The festival is being dramatically expanded.
The number of Louisiana bands is being nearly doubled to include just about anyone you ever heard of.
Debby is adding a second main stage to accommodate the growth, and Louisiana music will be playing continuously
throughout the entire weekend.
Dave also reported that Debby plans to move to a larger venue
the following year and expand even further.
She evidently wants us to party like it's 1999.
Way to go Dru!
The WMNF related news in the last newsletter got one of our members very inspired.
The following are excerpts of an e-mail written by Dru Greene.
I hope this abridged version gets the point across almost as well as her full memo.
"
...I wanted to respond to the article in the newsletter about the relationship the Club has with WMNF
...it's great that our members are so supportive of the station, but why do we allow this to be such a one-way arrangement?
..there are many different cultural entities represented in the (WMNF) air schedule, but I cannot think of one single other group
which is required to purchase their air time...
As a member of WMNF, I support the station through pledges, and as a member of the Cajun Connection, I pay membership dues...
Why, then, should the (Cajun Connection) Club presumably containing many dual members, have to pay from its coffers to enjoy hearing Cajun music,
when every other ethnic and cultural group represented on the station does not?
It would seem to me that the Cajun Connection has the potential to benefit WMNF in many ways...
But the station allows music and volunteers with far fewer credentials to have their own weekly shows.
Often these shows have very low pledge goals because support is minimal.
If the support for Cajun music were not significant, why would they bother to (consider) arrange a whole festival for it?
I'm a great fan of WMNF, and what a wonderful force it is in the community,
but it seems that somewhere along the way they have failed to respect the resourcefulness that the
Cajun Connection brings to the table."
Dru brings up some interesting points.
We want to hear from you on the subject.
Hopefully, Randy, or anyone else at WMNF who wants to give their side, will take the time to respond to Dru and the rest of us.
And our Survey Said
by Tee Joe Kopacz
WHICH ELEMENTS OF THE CLUB ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
No big surprise here - Cajun and Zydeco music
HOW DID YOU LIKE OUR EVENT LOCATIONS?
Gulfport Casino ranked first in both favorite venue and most liked.
Skipper's ranked second, followed by Cajun Café on the Bayou.
The UU Church placed last.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?
In a word "everything!" Both "monthly fais do dos" and "fewer events, but with Louisiana bands" emerged as slight favorites.
The majority of votes were spread out among the rest of the categories.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE LOUISIANA BANDS?
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys tied for first with File', followed by Sheryl Cormier, Beausoleil and Beau Jocque.
Interestingly, more zydeco bands were named on the ballot than Cajun or R&B.
HOW IS THE FOOD AT THE EVENTS? WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE LOUISIANA FOODS?
Overall, good. Way to go Lee Ray (or is it Relay?) Favorite foods were crawfish dishes, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and gumbo.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE CLUB?
Swinging sex. Just kidding, the surprise winners were music, dancing, and food.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT THE CLUB?
Many things got individual mention, but if you were to categorize them, they would be:
More events in a given geographic area
Criticisms of individual venues and bands
Not enough big name bands
Many of the members do not know each other
WHAT CAN WE DO TO INCREASE MEMBERSHIP?
Advertise. The Daily Planet, WMNF Program Guide, Tampa Tribune, etc.
The Board has considered this and found the rates to be high.
But we are in agreement, advertising is a good idea.
It appears that the WMNF Program guide, even though it has a smaller circulation, is our
best choice because it reaches the right people.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO INCREASE MEMBER PARTICIPATION?
Ask at events and call prior.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE NEWSLETTER?
Most popular: the pull out calendar of events.
Other items include recipes, jokes, music reviews, and Cajun history.
Thanks for participating! Your input is appreciated and will be considered.
Your Board will do everything we can with our available resources to reach our goal of HAVING MORE FUN!!!
1998 Board and Officers
Benny Sylvester - President
Dave Borisenko - Vice President
Joe Kopacz - Treasurer
Lynn Borisenko - Secretary
Edwina Sylvester
Nick Schneider
Peggy Hildebrand
Barbara Cowan
Carol Handley
Recipe of the Month
Johnny Dugas got this recipe from Mrs. Hadley Fontenot of Jennings in
Jefferson Davis Parrish and made it several times over the holidays.
It was so popular that we decided to share it with you.
Sweet Potato Pie
- One cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
- ¼ pound of melted butter
- 1 ½ cups of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 small can of evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon of lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 unbaked pie crust
1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Pour into unbaked nine-inch pie shell; bake one hour at 350 degrees.
Serve warm.
The Pipeline Job
Our good welder friend, Boudreau went to California in his welding truck.
When he got there, he stopped at a filling station to get directions and gas.
One of the station attendants came out to clean his windshield.
Boudreau, who was lost asked the man for directions to "El Cajon", California.
Upon hearing the way Boudreau pronounced the word "cajon" the attendant asked, "Where are you from?"
Boudreau told him he had come over from Louisiana to work on a pipeline.
The attendant told him that in California, the letter "j" was pronounced like an "h".
They continued talking together and the fellow asked Boudreau how long the pipeline project would last.
And Boudreau, being a quick thinker from Louisiana, said, "I think it's gonna' last till "Hune" or maybe "Huly"."
Join Today
You can join right now by using the
Membership Form.
We will confirm receipt of your membership by return email or phone.
Membership fees are:
$13.00 - Individual
$25.00 - Family
You can make your check payable to The Cajun Connection and mail to:
The Cajun Connection
PO Box 447
Tampa, FL 33592
Mark yr calendars in February... and visit
Mardi Gras
If you'd like to join The Cajun Connection, please email us today!
or complete our online membership form right now!
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