Performance with Chubby Carrier and his Bayou Swamp Band will be in conjunction with the New Orleans Hornets-Memphis Grizzlies basketball game in Tennessee
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, who admits his musical skills are "extremely limited," last week learned the basics of playing the zydeco washboard -- or rubboard -- so he can sit in on a set with Grammy-award winning Chubby Carrier and his band Wednesday in Memphis, Tenn. "It was a new experience," Dardenne said of his lesson on the frottoir.
View full sizeLouisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne, right, and Bruce Mitchell of âSwamp Peopleâ watch second-graders in New York get up close Feb. 2 with an adolescent American alligator, part of an authentic south Louisiana swamp exhibit in New York's Chelsea Market. He said he used spoons to play the instrument, a staple of zydeco and Cajun bands. "I thought it would be a fun thing to do," Dardenne said.
Carrier and Dardenne will promote Louisiana in Memphis, a new tourist market the state is trying to cultivate. Dardenne said Carrier's Bayou Swamp Band will perform in conjunction with the New Orleans Hornets-Memphis Grizzlies basketball game at the FedEx Forum.
Dardenne said that as part of a partnership between the state Office of Tourism, which he oversees, and the Hornets, tourism officials will throw "a "Louisiana-themed block party." The highlight of the party will be pre-game and post-game appearances by the zydeco band. Dardenne said his role in the musical part of the party "will be very minimal. I think I may sit in for a single song."