Cajun dance featuring Blake Miller (from southwest Louisiana), backed by the Aux Cajunals. Welcome party for the BOTMC (Berkeley Old Time Music Convention). 7:30 Cajun dance lesson with Sarah Travis, 8:00 Foot-stomping Cajun dance music with Blake Miller & the Aux Cajunals in the front room. In the back studio, an old-time jam with the Corn Likkers. Instrument check will be available. All ages. Free parking across the street in the REI lot. Advance tickets:
https://tickets.venuepilot.com/e/botmc-welcome-party-2025-09-17-ashkenaz-music-dance-community-center-berkeley-49f8be
Tickets will also be available at the door. More info about the BOTMC:
https://www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org/
Blake Miller comes from a multi-generational musical family in Iota, Louisiana. He learned to play all the instruments traditionally found on a Cajun bandstand through his grandpa (world-renowned accordion maker Larry Miller of Bon Cajun Accordions), father, uncles, the late local accordion player Kenneth Thibodeaux, jam sessions at D.I.’s Cajun Restaurant, as well as the Augusta Cajun Week in Elkins, West Virginia.
He started playing regular dances at the age of 14, and at 17, he began bringing his love of Louisiana French Music around the world with bands such as the Red Stick Ramblers, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, and Pine Leaf Boys among others. He currently performs with the Revelers, with his wife Amelia Biere in the Old-Fashioned Aces, Balfa Toujours, the Daiquiri Queens, the Lafayette Rhythm Devils, and you never know who else. He hosts a bilingual public radio show, La Lou Jukebox, on 88.7 fm, KRVS.org.
The Aux Cajunals are delighted to serve as the band for the great Louisiana Cajun musician Blake Miller! They've backed up many other visiting great Cajun musicians, including Michael Doucet, Steve Riley and Ann Savoy. The Aux Cajunals mix old-fashioned Cajun and Creole dancehall music with a bit of old-style blues (a la Memphis Minnie or Freddie King) for a down-home Southern style roadhouse sound. Suzy Thompson (who apprenticed with Cajun master fiddler Dewey Balfa and learned accordion from Danny Poullard) rocks the fiddle, squeezes her Cajun accordions (handmade by Marc Savoy) and brings the Cajun-Creole and classic blues to life with her powerful vocals. Agi Ban, whose double fiddling with Suzy is a hallmark of the Aux Cajunals sound, switches to froittoir (vest rubboard) for the blues and zydeco numbers.
Eric Thompson's lead guitar evokes a steel guitar on the Cajun songs and Freddie King on the R&B songs. Allegra Thompson (daughter of Eric and Suzy) adds her strong lead singing and solid upright bass playing to anchor the sound of the band. Karen Celia Heil's powerful rhythm guitar and Michaelle Goerlitz's drumming combine to underpin the groove, and sometimes Karen adds a third fiddle to the mix when the band performs 150-year-old archaic tunes learned from Dennis McGee.Members of the Aux Cajunals have performed and recorded with a “who’s who” of Cajun music royalty including Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, Queen Ida, Michael Doucet & Beausoleil, Jesse Lege & Joel Savoy, Steve Riley, David Greely and many others. Suzy & Eric were founding members of the California Cajun Orchestra, featuring the late Danny Poullard, with 2 award-winning albums on the Smithsonian-Arhoolie label.
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