He was airplane-flyin', limousine-drivin', 6-foot fivin', totally live and full of jive. Donald James Senegal - widely known in Lafayette as Uncle Donald - passed away on Monday, March 31, at our Lady of Lourdes of Hospital in Lafayette. He was 66 years old.
The self-proclaimed No. 1 emcee of Lafayette worked the crowds for the likes of zydeco greats Clifton Chenier and Rockin' Dopsie, as well as Lightin' Hopkins, Lil' Buck and the Top Cats, the Cowboy Stew Revue and even his own band in the '70s — Love Ltd. Orchestra.
In October, local musicians gathered for Donalroo, a benefit at Grant Street Dancehall to help Senegal offset mounting medical expenses. Performers included like Lil' Buck Sinegal, Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Sonny Landreth, Steve Riley, C.C. Adcock, Curley Taylor, and Rockin' Dopsie Jr.
Visitation will be held at Syrie Funeral Home, 1417 E. Simcoe St. in Lafayette, on Friday from 5 until 9 p.m., and on Saturday from 7 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. A funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 818 12th St.
A show at Grant Street Dancehall on April 11 with Lil' Buck Sinegal and Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural will pay tribute to Donald Senegal's life and legacy.
(photo courtesy of M. Hardy)
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
He was airplane-flyin', limousine-drivin', 6-foot fivin', totally live and full of jive. Donald James Senegal - widely known in Lafayette as Uncle Donald - passed away on Monday, March 31, at our Lady of Lourdes of Hospital in Lafayette. He was 66 years old.
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