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.” ...
The OK Corral
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.” ...
Bright Star Dance Hall
Ronald Pellegrin: Owned and operated by three brothers from Chauvin: Morgan, Faquard, and Aaxon Authement. It was located about two miles below the Rose Room. ...
LaFleur’s Roller Rink
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “The Bad Roads″: The Bad Roads guitarist Bryan Smith: “We’d play at the Golden Slipper in Baton Rouge, the York Club in Lafayette, LeFleur’s Roller Rink in Sulphur, the Catacombs in Houston…” ...
F&M Patio
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “The Gaunga Dyns″: “Most of the (Gaunga Dyn’s) live gigs around cosmopolitan New Orleans were much more happening, especially at clubs like the Hullaballoo (where they shared lotsa shows with the genius Dr. Spec’s Optical Illusion), Mr. Pizza’s on Bourbon Street, Papa Joe’s, as well as a joint in the French Quarter called the Gunga Den!…We played in a lot of places that we weren’t old enough to get in…(another New Orleans band) the Basement Wall played down at a place called the F&M Patio…” ...
Gunga Den
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “The Gaunga Dyns″: “Most of the (Gaunga Dyn’s) live gigs around cosmopolitan New Orleans were much more happening, especially at clubs like the Hullaballoo (where they shared lotsa shows with the genius Dr. Spec’s Optical Illusion), Mr. Pizza’s on Bourbon Street, Papa Joe’s, as well as a joint in the French Quarter called the Gunga Den!…We played in a lot of places that we weren’t old enough to get in…(another New Orleans band) the Basement Wall played down at a place called the F&M Patio…” ...
Papa Joe’s
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “The Gaunga Dyns″: “Most of the (Gaunga Dyn’s) live gigs around cosmopolitan New Orleans were much more happening, especially at clubs like the Hullaballoo (where they shared lotsa shows with the genius Dr. Spec’s Optical Illusion), Mr. Pizza’s on Bourbon Street, Papa Joe’s, as well as a joint in the French Quarter called the Gunga Den!…We played in a lot of places that we weren’t old enough to get in…(another New Orleans band) the Basement Wall played down at a place called the F&M Patio…” ...
Mr. Pizza
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “The Gaunga Dyns″: “Most of the (Gaunga Dyn’s) live gigs around cosmopolitan New Orleans were much more happening, especially at clubs like the Hullaballoo (where they shared lotsa shows with the genius Dr. Spec’s Optical Illusion), Mr. Pizza’s on Bourbon Street, Papa Joe’s, as well as a joint in the French Quarter called the Gunga Den!…We played in a lot of places that we weren’t old enough to get in…(another New Orleans band) the Basement Wall played down at a place called the F&M Patio…” ...
Cave Tangy
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “Toga A Go-Go″: Roamin’ Togas member Pete Adams: “(Roamin’ Togas manager Roger Cavaness) was crazy, but we knew that going in- that was a given! Quite a character, a good guy at heart, but sometimes he’d make a deal with somebody…(Cavaness) comes by and says ‘I got you guys a gig in Amite, Louisiana this Friday.” We said ‘Uh, what’s the name of the place?’ He said ‘Cave Tangy’s.’ And I said, ‘I dunno Roger, that sounds like kind of a rough place. If it’s in Tangipahoa Parish- they call it ‘Bloody Tangipahoa’ and I think there’s a reason for that.’ And Roger says ‘Oh, nah, nah- the place used to be rough, but it’s under new management.’ So we agreed to do the gig. Friday comes around, and we start on the drive to Amite…we’re going down all these back roads in Tangipahoa Parish…suddenly we see our equipment truck (pass us going the opposite direction). We turned around and caught up with them. And (roadies) George and Dean, who were pretty stout guys, said, ‘Look- we ain’t going n there!’…I talked them into it…We finally pull into this place, and I saw- this was the kind of place where they issue guns if you don’t have one and so forth. As we walked in we noticed that they had chicken wire around the stage to protect the bands that played there- it was one of those kind of places!” Roamin’ Togas member Ronnie Rauber: “You gotta understand, these were the days where, if you had long hair, you were a commie pinko fag or drug addict, or all of the above. The Cave Tangy’s was outside of Hammond- pulpwood country. And the place was like this restaurant that had a lounge below it, and to get to the lounge you had to walk through this restaurant. We walked in there, and the place went silent. Stone quiet. Raymond immediately said ‘I’m not playing here,’ turned around, and walked out. It took us an hour and a half to convince Raymond to play. And the guy from the club assured us that they never had fights there, ever! Nobobody ever got into a fight.” Roamin’ Togas member Pete Adams again: “I talked to the guy who ran the club, and he says ‘Oh yeah, we used to have a lot of fights here, but we don’t anymore.’ So we, like idiots, go ahead and set up, and we hadn’t been playing more than two minutes when these two guys come rolling down the steps, beating the hell out of each other.We knew it was gonna be bad from then on! We hadn’t even finished the first set and they were screaming at us, throwing beer bottles at us…it was horrible. We played two very short sets, and then I announced that this was gonna be our last song. Some guy walked up and said, ‘This is not gonna be the last song.’ Then he turned to Ronnie and said “PLAY ‘DIXIE!'” It got pretty bad then.” Roamin’ Togas member Ronnie Rauber: “I said something to this guy, he said something back, then he grabbed me and pulled me off the stage…we had a ruckus then. He grabbed me, and I was trying to fight him and hold onto my bass at the same time- I didn’t want my bass to get destroyed! Then Pete jumped on him, Daryl joined in…We finally managed to scramble out the back door. (Manager Roger booked us into situations like that) about a half dozen times!” ...
York Club
Mentioned in Louisiana and Texas garage magazine Brown Paper Sack, issue #1, January, 1997 in the article “Toga A Go-Go″: “The Roamin’ Togas solidified their rep throughout ’67 at most of the famed venues in South Louisiana at the time like the Beaconette in New Orleans, the Golden Slipper in Baton Rouge, the Puppy Pen in Lake Charles, Paul’s Lounge in Jeanerette, and the York Club in Lafayette…” In the article “The Bad Roads″: The Bad Roads guitarist Bryan Smith: “We’d play at the Golden Slipper in Baton Rouge, the York Club in Lafayette, LeFleur’s Roller Rink in Sulphur, the Catacombs in Houston…” The Bad Roads drummer Danny Kimball: “The York Club used to get real crazy. We were playing there one night when these hoods- about six of them- came in and started hassling everybody. And one of them started giving Milton, our roadie, a lotta shit. And we’re right in the middle of a song, right? So Buz got Kenny and Duane- who were justing waiting for the opportunity to kick your ass- to shut these guys up. So Duane walks up to one of them and asks the guy if he wants to dance. Well, the guy hit Duane with a sucker punch, and Duane just looked at him and smiled. And he and Kenny commenced to kicking’ the shit outta the greasers- they beat ’em into pulps! The people at the York Club didn’t try to stop it- they loved it ’cause those guys were always causing trouble there.” ...