Every year this event gets bigger and better! Come dance the night away with us as we celebrate all things Cajun! Held in the grand space of the ASC Lobbies, this fun event blows the lid off any ideas you might have that the performing arts are refined. With music and dancing in the lobby, complimentary Cajun hors d'oeuvres, drink specials, a chance to win season kickoff prizes, and Birmingham's most fun people, this event is sure to be the best yet.
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet takes the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blends elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe. From The Grand Ole Opry to Newport Folk, from concert hall to dance floor, the music of BeauSoleil continues to captivate audiences the world over.
6 p.m., Come early as the ASC Social Club offers free Cajun dance lessons led by ACME (Association of Cajun Music Enthusiasts).
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AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL DOUCET
1) Birmingham has always been “all things Cajun-crazy,” do you have a memorable experience from performing here?
From City Stages, to a wedding of our good friends at the Botanical Gardens, Birmingham has always been a high point place to play in our touring schedule. There was this jazz club downtown called “Groody’s” or something where we played in the late 1980s, I think. It was both a surprise and a blast. Playing for the dancers in the beautiful old dance hall somewhere on a hill.
2) For this particular show, we’re setting up a huge dance floor in the ASC Grand Lobby, hosting free Cajun dance lessons at 6 p.m. before your show, and encouraging people to get out and move their bodies. How does that energy from the crowd affect your show?
It’s absolutely the best way to enjoy, get into, and participate directly to our music. You don’t have to dance every dance, but to just let yourself go and “feel” the music, is the same state of awareness that we’re into while performing. Dancing dissolves the separation between musician and audience......we become one with the music.
3) What is the group working on now?
Working? Haven’t tried that yet, but we have a new and different CD coming out on January 20 on the Yep Roc label entitled Alligator Purse which we may play some selected tunes from. Smithsonian/Folkways has just released my solo CD, From Now On.
4) We recently asked our e-news subscribers to send us their MOST MEMORABLE LIVE PERFORMANCE story. Do you have a story about a great show you’ve seen live?
Tony Joe White and his drummer at Fitzgerald’s in Chicago. We played earlier that evening and I had a chance to visit with him a bit and ask him about how he turned his Louisiana experiences into such memorable songs.
Apart from that, I went early to a JJ Cale show in Boulder just to say hello and Mr. Cale asked me to play the whole evening set with him. It was the most fantastic dream gig I’ve ever played. It just so happened that there was a German film crew doing a documentary on JJ that night and I ended up on a few tunes in the movie. But just to play all his great songs like “After Midnight,” “Call Me a Breeze,” and “Magnolia” was more than enough!