Louisiana Dance Halls | Dance Halls Archive - Page 5 of 173 - Louisiana Dance Halls

LouisianaDancehalls.com reader comment – Michael Juan Nunez: “In Guydan outside of town heading toward Lake Auther there was a dancehall called ‘The Barn’ in the early 90’s. Live music every weekend…mostly Cajun and Country bands… The Barn was a very popular place in that area during that time. By this time in my life I had been playing professionally for a few years and hooked up with a country and Cajun band named ‘Down South’. We would play the barn probably once a month or so, to packed houses during this time. I can remember guys like Richard Lebouf was coming up, and would play there…occasionally springing for ‘big’ draws like Wayne Toups…typical dancehall stuff of the early 90’s. Fun loving people of Vermilion would come down and kick back a few (or more) and dance the night away. I don’t recall there ever being much trouble in lines of bar fights and whatnot…which was typical of a lot of places at the time.” ...

LouisianaDancehalls.com reader comment – Michael Juan Nunez: “I don’t know very much about the place, except for the fact that I played a dance there one Lundi Gras (my first ‘professional’ gig as a musician) and it wasn’t long after that the doors closed. It has been a while since I’ve been in that area…over the Intercoastal Bridge immediately to the left (heading toward Cameron) in Forked Island. Last I saw it, it was in pretty bad shape, they may have torn it down a by now, I’m not certain. Surely there are a load of people in Vermilion Parish that can elaborate on the place much better. The night I played, I was 19-20?! Years old. I had just begun playing with a band lead by a singer who went by the name ‘Woody James’ (about 15 years my senior at the time) he played swamp pop, a little country, and rock-n-roll (real rock-n-roll, like dancehall rock…Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc. stuff people would dance too.) It was the standard bar band set at the time…songs that everyone played if you were in a working band. 4 hours of music. That was the norm. Anyway, I came up ‘sheltered’ I guess you could say. I hadn’t had a whole lot of experience in bar rooms. When we got there they were taking down a little fenced in area they had set up on one side of the building where they had rooster fights earlier that day. They took down the fenced in area so that the band could set up. (I’m not sure what I was expecting when I became a musician, but it wasn’t like this in my mind…haha) As the evening went on…People began pouring in…all dressed in country Mardi Gras outfits…faces covered…and most of them intoxicated and rowdy and looking to continue the party that they had already started. I was young and nervous. I just knew that this was the night I would be shot or stabbed, or something. To make matters worse our singer became intoxicated beyond what would be ‘normal’ and couldn’t even sing by the end of the first hour. No one else in the band sang. 3 hours to go, and these ‘wild’ , intoxicated, patrons were wanting to dance. I took the microphone, and lead the band through the remainder of the evening. Marking the first time I had sang, much less lead a band. It probably was horrible, but the people danced and partied like it was the best thing in the world. I ended up meeting many, and finding out that these were really some very nice people, enjoying the tradition of Mardi Gras…Cajun style.”   ...