A&E

WeekINDer for October 2013

by Walter Pierce

Mark your calendars; October is jam-packed with events.

Thursdays

Rhythms on the River

Tab Benoit

5:30 p.m.
River Ranch Town Square

Rhythms on the River breezes through October with a heavy dose of Louisiana roots and variety music. These free community concerts are offered on consecutive Thursdays through Nov. 7 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Food and beverages are available for purchase so please leave the ice chests and glass containers at home.

Here's the fall 2013 Rhythms lineup:

Oct. 3: Nik-L-Beer
Oct. 10: Bag of Donuts
Oct. 17: GTO & "D" Street Brass
Oct. 24: Tab Benoit (with Keith Blair)
Nov. 7: Wayne Toups & ZyDeCajun

Fridays

Bach Lunch Concert Series
11:15 a.m.-1 p.m.
Parc Sans Souci

The biannual Bach Lunch concert series fills the month of October beginning Friday, Oct. 4, in Parc Sans Souci downtown, bookended this fall by old and new Cajun bands, with a hearty helping of American roots music in between. The series is a fundraiser for the Lafayette Science Museum Foundation and features one-hour performances by local bands along with the sale of boxed (get it? Bach?) lunches provided by area restaurants. Food is sold beginning at 11:15 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis, with proceeds helping the science museum. The music begins at noon.

Here's the lineup:

Oct. 4
Les Freres Michot
Chris' Po-Boys
Ema's Cafe

Oct.  11
The Mercy Brothers
Creole Lunch House
Hub City Diner
Joey's Specialty Foods
Roly Poly

Oct.  18
Sassafras Jubilee
Agave Cantina
O'Charley's Restaurant    
Joey's Specialty Foods

Oct.  25
The Yvette Landry Band
Chick Fil A
Deano's
iMonelli
Poupart's Bakery

Nov. 1
Pine Leaf Trio
The French Press
Jefferson Steet Pub
Zea's Rotisserie & Grill

Nov. 8
Les Bassettes
Cena to Go  
Bailey's Seafood & Grill

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 5-6

Roberts Cove Germanfest
Saturday: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Willkommen! The 19th annual Roberts Cove Germanfest will be held at St. Leo's Catholic Church grounds. Germanfest consists of live music from German bands (of course), Alpenfest and Alpenmusikanten, along with youngsters, Tailgators. The festivities not only include music, but food and refreshments. There is a designated area for the tots called Kinder Land. And for the general public there will be folklore, food and blacksmith presentations and the Rathkamp Dance performance and a German Heritage Museum. Adult admission is $8; kids 12 and younger get in free. Admission covers activity costs but does not include food, drinks and souvenirs.

For more information on the Roberts Cove Germanfest visit www.robertscovegermanfest.com or contact Sherry Rimmer at (337) 334-8354.

Photo by Robin May

Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 11-12, 17-19, 24-26 & 31

Museum of Fear
7-11 p.m.
Lafayette Science Museum
433 Jefferson St.

At the Museum of Fear the boogie man doesn't just pop out at you, he follows you around. Equipped with elaborate lighting and sound, professional actors and almost real-life props, this "museum" will undoubtedly leave you scared. The Lafayette Science Museum has been presenting the Museum of Fear since 2009, but this year be prepared to be spooked more than ever before. "There are some extremely terrifying scares that I'm excited about. The audience's response is what we live for," says Kevin Krantz, the museum director who began working on this year's haunted house soon after last year's MoF closed shop. The Museum of Fear concept is simple: groups of six are unleashed to make it through, by themselves. Admission is $10, and proceeds benefit the museum. For more information check out its Facebook page (search Museum of Fear); for tickets visit MuseumOfFear.org. The Museum of Fear goes out with a bang with the second annual Zombie Walk (see below for details).

Saturday, Oct. 12

Robert Cray
7:30 p.m.
Acadiana Center for the Arts

With five Grammy awards in his pocket, Robert Cray brings genuine blues bona fides to the James D. Moncus Theater at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Fresh off performances with Eric Clapton's Crossroads and Peter Frampton's Guitar Circus tours, Cray is the real deal - a celebrated bluesman who can be at once contemporary while harkening back to the old masters. His show at the AcA two years ago is still talked about.
Tickets for the general public range from $55 to $75; AcA member tickets are five bucks less. Log on to AcadianaCenterForTheArts.org for more.

Saturday, Oct. 12

Bananaversary
7:30 p.m.
Theatre 810

Photo by Gwen Aucoin

Betcha didn't know: Lafayette is a hotbed of improvisational theater. It's true. UL's improv comedy troupe, Cult of the Stage Monkey, has been going strong since October 1998, and its local offshoot, Silverbacks Improv Theatre, is a mainstay on the stage at Theatre 810 (located at 810 Jefferson St. in downtown Lafayette).

The diaspora of Cult of Stage Monkey has spread around the country - Stage Monkey troupes are particularly active and successful currently in San Diego, Calif., and Hattiesburg, Miss. Each October, to mark the anniversary of the troupe's founding, the stage monkeys in their various reincarnations throw down some improv. Locally it happens on Oct. 12 at Theatre 810 with "Bananaversary" (monkeys like bananas ... get it?) when Stage Monkeys from around the country reunite with our local improvisors for a special reunion performance. Or something like that. Admission is a paltry $5.

Friday, Oct. 18

An Evening with Sonny Landreth at Vermilionville Performance Center
doors open at 7 p.m.
Vermilionville Performance Center

Why not spend an evening listening to slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth, known for his masterful playing most recently represented on his 11th album, Elemental Journey. The concert will comprise a musical journey through Landreth's considerable catalogue of music, which the guitarist - whose biggest fan is Eric Clapton - says doesn't belong to any one genre, although he adds that "blues is at the core of it." When asked about playing at home, Landreth says he's "really excited, I don't get to play here very often."
Tickets are available at vermilionville.org and also can be purchased at the door.

Saturday, Oct. 19

BonSoir, Catin

T.E.C.H.E. Project presents Shake Your Trail Feather Concert
noon- 6 p.m.
Parc des Ponts de Pont Breaux/ Breaux Bridge

The 2nd annual Shake Your Trail Feather Concert will raise money for the new Bayou Teche Trail, a National Park Service-recognized paddling trail along the bayou. The heart of the event is live music featuring Makers Reel, BonSoir Catin and Corey Ledet and His Zydeco Band, but the event will also feature a Louisiana Folk Roots Heritage Tent for cultural interviews as well as free kayak lessons from 1-3 p.m. provided by Bayou Teche Experience.

Admission to Shake Your Trail Feather is free, but donations are welcome, and attendees can also purchase a festival pin to further support the event.

Oct. 25-26

South Louisiana Black Pot Festival & Cookoff
Acadian Village

The 5th Annual Black Pot Festival - a celebration of music and food - will feature performances by Cory Ledet, Swayback Sisters, J.P. Harris, Jefferson Hammer, The Revelers and more. Along with the music, guests will be able to jam away and camp out all night long. There is also an old-fashioned black pot cookoff, an accordion contest and square dancing. Did I mention music? Yes, there will be an eclectic mix of Cajun and zydeco, swing, hot jazz, blues, bluegrass, Americana and Irish. To purchase tickets, volunteer or to learn more about Black Pot, visit www.blackpotfestival.com.

Saturday, Oct. 26

Zombie Walk
4:30-10 p.m.
Parc Sans Souci

Just in time for Halloween, test out your zombie skills downtown by joining a gaggle of the undead and staggering through (and partying in) downtown Lafayette. (The walk begins and ends at Parc Sans Souci, which will unofficially be called Parc Sans Vie!) Presented by the Lafayette Science Museum Foundation, the Zombie Walk begins at 6 p.m., followed by live music from YAKk and Bearfighter, zombie belly dancing and a raffle. Entertainment will be provided by Planet Radio and Trybe Habibi Bizarre. Think your Zombie apparel is worth praise, come early and enter the costume contest. By the way, it's free. Refreshments will be available from Schilling Distributing. Visit Lafayette Zombie Walk on Facebook, or call (337) 291-5544 for more information.

Throughout October

Get on the Good Foot
Various Locations

It's all James Brown, all the time - or very close to that - when six world-class choreographers get together with 15 dancers and a production crew in Lafayette in October to produce "James Brown: Get on the Good Foot - a Celebration in Dance" ahead of its Oct. 22 world premiere at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y.

Dancers from the Philadelphia Dance Company will perform to the icon's music and also to new works influenced by Brown, who performed at the Apollo more than 200 times.

The project has been in the works since summer of 2012, shepherded in large part by Jackie Lyle, the former executive director of the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana. The collaboration became even more attractive through the state's Live Entertainment Initiative, a tax-credit system that supports live performances that launch in Louisiana.

Choreographers for "Get on the Good Foot," which will do community-outreach projects in Lafayette and Baton Rouge in the days leading up to the premiere, are Souleymane Badolo (Burkina Faso), Ronald K. Brown (U.S.), Thang Dao (Vietnam), Derick K. Grant (U.S.), Abdel Saalam (U.S.), Otis Sallid (U.S.) and Aakash Odedra (U.K.).

Activities will include student outreach, workshops and more. An open rehearsal will be held Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Heymann Center followed the next day by a "pre-premiere" performance of the production, also at the Heymann.
To find out more about "Get on the Good Foot," call the Acadiana Center for the Arts at (337) 233-7060.