One of the landmark clubs that helped put zydeco music on the map is no more. We heard the news first in passing Saturday morning on Zydeco Est Pas Sale on KRVS. Herman Fuselier confirms it today in The Daily Advertiser: Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki, founded in 1947, shuttered at the end of 2015. But here’s the Ki-Ki-Kicker: One of the club’s owners blames unruly younger crowds and zydeco bands charging exorbitant fees.
Tony Gradney, the 58-year-old son of founder Arnold “Slim” Gradney, tells Fuselier: “It’s a younger crowd and a lot of disrespect. They’ll take off their shirt and want to dance with no shirt. It’s not like it used to be with the older people. People would just come out and have a good time. You’re under four hours of nothing but stress now.”
Gradney also points to bands asking up to $3,500 a night to perform — a fee that surely is only demanded by the top acts. Gradney’s lament points to another reason why top zydeco acts like Terrance Simien and Chubby Carrier hardly ever play in Acadiana: They can’t make a living.
Read Fuselier’s story here.