Have Guitar, Will Travel

Last Tuesday, I was at a house party at "Chez Ouizzee" -- the home of Louise "The Queen of Relay" Vanderbeek, just outside of Baltimore. Our official "Bon Temps Relay" tee-shirts (designed by yours truly) made their official debut. But most important, I got to play with the band, Dikki Du and the Zydeco Crewe. Led by Troy "Dikki Du" Carrier, the band includes other sons and nephews of the great Roy Carrier, himself cousin of the late great Creole musician Clifton Chenier.

The best part of it was playing with daddy Roy, who took a turn on the accordion, and whose bloodline reads like a "Who's Who of Zydeco," his being related to the Broussard, Ardoin, and Chenier families. The Black Hat is off to guitar man Gabe, who gave me a crash course on rythym playing (having already established that I was far enough along for the challenge), and to Troy, who took the drums while daddy was on the squeeze box, and who showed me how to watch for cues from whoever's up front. This "closet musician" is coming out of the closet, for sure. Tomorrow, I'll be in Philly, to see these guys get to work at the TK Club in Conshohocken.

"Yeah, you right!"