News September 2005
Recap of Summer Highlites:

    June found our New Orleans Cajun/Creole group “Bayou DeVille” busy with our regular gigs at the Cajun Cabin, Mulates, and Ye Olde College Inn. We also played as a trio at the Arthur Roger gallery for an art opening featuring southwestern Louisiana painter Elmore Morgan and photographer Debbie Caffery. I was also busy with accordion students and Young Audience performances in schools, etc (Cajun Experience).
    July was full with our regular restaurant and dance gigs, but for me entailed much teaching as well. I was on staff again this year for the Greater New Orleans Suzuki Association’s summer music Institute. I taught fiddle and guitar as an elective for the classical students, which included my son Colin on viola and my daughter Eva on ‘cello.  After that our family went to Ohio where my wife Maria and I were on staff again this year for the International Music Festival in Berea near Cleveland. This is another classical music camp/institute, where I taught a fiddle elective and Maria taught visual art. The children were there as well, and I got to play viola with some of the ensembles, which I hadn’t done in over 15 years.
    August brought more of our steady work at home, and trips with Charivari (for me, Bo, Matt  & Colin) to the Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp in New York and the Liberty Theatre in Eunice… almost…That gig got derailed as Matt, Bo and I got stuck in New Orleans preparing for hurricane Katrina. The rest is, as they say, history.
 

Wow! It’s been a while since updating this website. I guess I’ve been busy. Here goes. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who has come to gigs, bought CDs, and supported live music in any way. You guys keep the motor runnin’.
The main thing I’ve been doing for the past two years or so in not an “I” thing, but a “We” thing. It’s called “jonno” and we have the jonno CD, but really it’s a band which has grown and evolved into its own entity. With my band partner Bo Ledet, and our third accomplice, Dave Stover, we have grown into the core of a strong and versatile roots music group. We still specialize in Cajun dance music, but play other types of South Louisiana and American Roots Music, as always.
With Dave on bass, Bo on fiddle, guitar and vocals, and myself on accordion, fiddle, and vocals, we have long standing weekly gigs in New Orleans. Our regular drummers include Chris Courville, Dwight Galliano, and Glen LeBlanc. For traditional French (cajun/creole) music, we usally include John Dowden (accordion and fiddle), a former student of mine who totally jams, and with him we have a 5 piece band capable of twin or triple fiddle music!
When we play on Bourbon Street or do variety gigs, we include Jan Robach on piano and vocals. Jan has incredible chops and is definately a home grown New Orleans piano player who is somehow able to connect to Cajun, Creole and Country with it. It’s a perfect match, and Bo and I get to sing three part harmony with her!
Keep tuned for two live CDs to come from these two combinations- One recorded at the Four Columns in Marrero (with John), and the other on Bourbon St at the Cajun Cabin (with Jan). These CDs will be realeased as “Bayou DeVille”.
Bo, myself, Dave, Glen and John are multi instrumentalists, so some times we mix it all up and just have great fun with it. We also can scale down to a three or four piece band, and in fact do many gigs, including the Ye Olde College Inn, this way.
Keep an eye out for Bayou DeVille at the French Quarter Fest (12:30 Friday April 8th at the Mint).

Kid Stuff

I still do many programs each year for children. Usually in the school system through Young Audiences. For most of the educational shows I’m blessed to be working with two wonderful dancers- Sally Farrell and Pat Gandolfi. Dave Stover has also joined us this year on bass. We’ll be at the Jazz Fest in the Kids Tent again this year with a program for children including the Bayou DeVille Band, dancers, and featuring some young players...Last year we had Amanda Shaw and Gretchen Caverly join us, and it was great fun. Tune in for this show at 2:45pm on April 28th.

Charivari

Lafayette based band Charivari is alive and well, though it’s been hibernating for a while. Keep an eye out for a new Rounder Records CD release in April, with a Jazz Fest date on the 23rd and a special Mulates CD release apperance the night before (April 22nd). Mitch Reed, Randy Vidrine, Bo Ledet, Matt Swiler and myself recorded the CD (in Lafayette with Grammy winning engineer Tony Daigle), and will play these home gigs before embarking on some travel this spring and summer up North!

Teaching

I have been too busy with gigs this year to do much private teaching, but I will be at the Dewey Balfa Louisiana Folk Roots Camp in April teaching fiddle (Chicot State Park), and again in July I’ll be at the Suzuki camp in New Orleans teaching fiddle, as well as the International Music Festival in Cleveland OH for the second time. August will probably find the whole Charivari band at Ashokan NY, where I’ll be teaching fiddle and accordion.

To all of our friends and family, and music fans, thanks again.

Jonno

P.S.....

Gambit Big Easy Award Nomination

Oh, almost forgot! The band “Jonno” has been nominated for best cajun group along with heavy hitters Beausoleil, Amanda Shaw, and ‘Tit Sale- We’re full of gratitude for this honor and hope to attend the award ceremony and wish all the bands well.

j

NEW IMPORTANT INFO:

JONNO BAND TO PLAY AT YE OLD COLLEGE INN SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 9AM TO 11AM!! (FOR “ZYDECAJUN” BREAKFAST)

Hello everyone! It’s been a while (since August) that I’ve updated the gossip column… So here goes:
August was fun. And busy. September got off to a great start with Charivari at the Wheatland Folk Fest in Michigan. We saw our buddies the Mammals, Donna da Buffalo, Dirk Powell, and others. The late night dance was awesome, and we got to play that one twice. As soon as Bo, Matt and I got back, we were once again in the French Quarter for our regular Monday night. We celebrated my good friend Adri Slaton’s birthday there, (as we did my own earlier in the year)! We’re also playing at the Four Columns (on the West Bank in Marrero) every month for their weekly Tuesday night dance. Joy and Vic have a scene there that reminds me so much of Acadiana - they even do the “Paul Jones” dance- I wish someone would make a documentary around this event, because it might be one of the last remnants of another way of life…
The Mulates gigs on Fridays are getting better all the time, and we have regulars who come and dance and party with us, making it feel like a neighborhood thing! Festivals Acadiennes (with Charivari) was really cool
this year as well. We played on Sunday, and it rained all day- but stopped when we played- I think the reprieve lasted through our set and for Balfa Toujours before resuming with greater force. I felt doubly blessed for the break in the weather and for the opportunity to perform at my favorite music festival for several years in a row. It’s actually the first folk music festival I ever attended as an adult. Fate brought me back to Lafayette the next weekend to play my CD release party with John Dowden and Dave Stover. This was held at Mitchell and Lisa Reed’s Store, Louisiana Heritage and Gifts. They have fiddles, accordions, rare CDs and videos, and of course rubber alligators…I brought a ton of boudin and cracklins, and we had red beans from home (thanks Maria). Will and Ruth were there, and Fran with Maya, and of course Mr. Harry and Miss Elsie are always there for the jam session afterwards. Horace Trahan came with his family… Ward Lormand & Jodi Hebert came by- it was really nice to see everyone on that sunny day!
As September drew to a close, I found myself in Lafayette a third time to do some recording sessions with Amanda Shaw’s band. Amanda was my student for several years when she began her fiddling career at the age of ….eight? Now she’s thirteen and hires me to record on her second CD!! It was a lot of fun, and she has come up with some really cool material- I look forward to hearing it when it comes out. I guess September was Lafayette month.
October has the band busy with our usual gigs, plus a special dance we do twice per year- the North Shore Cajun Dance Association event at the Town Hall in Abita Springs. It’s a great venue with an incredible dance floor. We also just yesterday played for the Fresh Art Festival. This is a free, open air art festival in the Warehouse district with a great stage, children’s activity area, etc. My kids had a great time and we saw jazz fiddler Neti Vaan, who sat in with us, as well as singer Susan Cowsill, who joined us (me, Dave, John and Eva) for the last choruses of “Jambalaya”. Colin Frishberg was our stage manager.
It looks like a great autumn shaping up for us and I want to thank everyone who visits this site or comes to a gig for your interest. Don’t forget, if you’re in New Orleans October 26^th, come visit for breakfast at the College Inn on Carrollton, now run by John Blanchard of Rock n Bowl fame!!!
Best Wishes,
Jonno (October 03)