His initial ambition was to become a star of Western movies. He started playing it only recently, however. Simien was born and reared on a farm around Lebeau, La., north of Baton Rouge, and his grandfathers and uncles all played French music. Then we turn around and do a teen dance and do disco. ''I do zydeco and mix it up, everything from Fats Domino and Stevie Wonder to (the Cajun classic) `Jole Blon` and old country stuff. During the week, he says, he sometimes would play some ''mostly white'' nightclubs. Although he appeared with some of country music`s giants at Willie Nelson`s annual July 4 picnic, until ''Toot-Toot'' most of his weekend live performances were before ''mostly black'' crowds in Catholic church halls. He has a zydeco radio show on Saturdays for KEZM in Lake Charles. ''made it real popular,'' Simien says, although ''somebody had it out before.''Īlthough Simien himself has been performing for more than 25 years, he has been doing zydeco for less than a third of that time. That`s how zydeco music got to be called that-or at least that`s my view of it.''Ĭlifton Chenier was the one who recorded ''Zydeco Est Pas Sale'' and Some people didn`t know the whole title of it, so they just asked radio stations to `play that zydeco record,` and they`d go to the dances and ask for the same thing. There was an old record a long time ago called `Zydeco Est Pas Sale` that meant `no salt in the beans` and became very popular. ''But we call a dance or a party a zydeco. ''Which doesn`t make any sense,'' Simien says with a chuckle. John of New Orleans and Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Big Twist from Chicago.Įxpect, therefore, to hear more in the next few months about zydeco, a term currently about as well known in the mainstream as ''toot-toot.'' The word ''zydeco'' is derived from the French words ''les haricots,'' which means green beans. The Lone Star venture employs such performers as Louisiana zydeco patriarch Clifton Chenier a young New Orleans band called the Radiators such other bayou-country aggregations as Rockin` Dopsie, Beausoleil, Atchafalaya Īnd such blues notables as Irma Thomas and Dr. Continuing through Thursday, a ''New Orleans Mardi Gras Festival in New York'' got underway 10 days ago at the Lone Star Cafe. Simien`s Bottom Line appearance occurred during a flurry of Cajun activity in Gotham. It also rides an apparently growing ripple of national urban interest in an accordion-based Louisiana brand of music called ''zydeco.'' Zydeco has been succeeding in Chicago-area nightclubs for a couple of years now, and Simien recently took it into New York on a high-profile basis-to headline a show at the Bottom Line Cabaret Theatre. The song`s title and Simien`s widely varied labors in its creation aren`t all ''My Toot-Toot'' has going for it.
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