Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys play Downtown Alive! tonight at Parc International for a special “Welcome Homes Marines” celebration for those coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Riley will be joined by special guest Geno Delafose. Riley grew up in the prairie town of Mamou where French is spoken on the street, the national holiday is Mardi Gras, and a poor family is one without a fiddler or accordion player. American popular culture was stealing Mamou’s children away when Riley took up the accordion and became his hometown’s favorite son. He plays a single-row diatonic instrument made by his cousin, famed accordionist Marc Savoy. Riley concentrated on learning Savoy’s fiery, intricate style and the music of the Balfa Brothers. At age 15, this young prodigy was noticed by Dewey Balfa, who invited him to join his band. Under Balfa’s guidance, he grew as a performer, learning hundreds of French songs and how to sing them in Balfa’s singular hurts-so-good style, and taking up the fiddle as well. In 1988, he and David Greely formed the Mamou Playboys, which rapidly gained prominence on the international folk scene without sacrificing the allegiance of Louisiana fans. In a land where accordion is king, Riley has inspired countless young men and women to follow him and keep Cajun music’s royal instrument alive. Be there tonight to witness the magic.
Downtown Alive! begins at 5:30 p.m. with food and beverage concessions. Musical performances start at 6 p.m. DTA is a free event sponsored by Cox, Lafayette Coca-Cola, and The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living.
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.
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys play Downtown Alive! tonight at Parc International for a special “Welcome Homes Marines” celebration for those coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Riley will be joined by special guest Geno Delafose. Riley grew up in the prairie town of Mamou where French is spoken on the street, the national holiday is Mardi Gras, and a poor family is one without a fiddler or accordion player. American popular culture was stealing Mamou’s children away when Riley took up the accordion and became his hometown’s favorite son. He plays a single-row diatonic instrument made by his cousin, famed accordionist Marc Savoy. Riley concentrated on learning Savoy’s fiery, intricate style and the music of the Balfa Brothers. At age 15, this young prodigy was noticed by Dewey Balfa, who invited him to join his band. Under Balfa’s guidance, he grew as a performer, learning hundreds of French songs and how to sing them in Balfa’s singular hurts-so-good style, and taking up the fiddle as well. In 1988, he and David Greely formed the Mamou Playboys, which rapidly gained prominence on the international folk scene without sacrificing the allegiance of Louisiana fans. In a land where accordion is king, Riley has inspired countless young men and women to follow him and keep Cajun music’s royal instrument alive. Be there tonight to witness the magic. 
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