Tuesday, February 12
JEFFERY BROUSSARD AND THE CREOLE COWBOYS
Doors at 7:30 p.m., Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8:00 p.m., Show at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.
Southwest Louisiana's Jeffrey Broussard & The Creole Cowboys return with their fresh approach to the Creole dance music traditions they are dedicated to preserving. Its leader, accordionist, fiddler and singer Jeffery Broussard, was a mainstay in the famous Zydeco Force, a group that took zydeco and Cajun roots and updated them for modern dance crowds without losing the feel of the original Creole zydeco gumbo. Broussard's Creole Cowboys take the music into the next generation, still linked to the great roots music of such masters as legendary fiddler Canray Fontenot and Jeffery's well-known accordionist father Delton Broussard. Joining Jeffery in the band's frontline is fiddler and guitarist D'Jalma Garnier III, a one-time student of Canray Fontenot. With Fontenot's passing in 1995, Garnier has made it his mission to keep alive and spread this unique style of fiddle playing. The band's debut CD, "Keepin the Tradition Alive," was named top zydeco album of 2007 by Blues and Soul magazine.
www.jefferybroussard.com. Advance tickets are available during evening shows, or (for a fee) through Ticketweb, http://www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-3399. http://www.ashkenaz.com.

Just in from the folks over at The Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse: The longest-established full-time folk and traditional music venue west of the Mississippi River, has started renovation of a 70-year-old building at 2020 Addison Street in Berkeley's Downtown Arts District, transforming it into its new, 18,000-square-foot green performing arts and teaching facility.
The nonprofit organization's new home, slated to open in early 2009, will have a 440-seat listening room, double the capacity of its existing venue. The plans also include an additional performance space seating 60-70 people, a state-of-the-art sound system, a café, and six classrooms. The all-ages, family-friendly operation plans to expand its music education program, offering workshops, lessons, and master classes.
You'll surely be hearing more about this in The Trib.

After I finished up the story about Downtown Oakland nightlife for today's Trib, I headed to what I think is destined to be one of my favorite bars: the Missouri Lounge. Basic beer, honky-tonk feel, old-time gritty Blues on the juke box, velour sofas(!) and a pool table. What more could a night owl ask for?  It's a pretty cool little shack ("the most elegant dive bar in Berkeley") with what definitely is my all-time favorite drink special — $5 whiskey & a can o'beer. I don't want to drink it. Just love the way it sounds all stripped down to the divey bones. Bartender Charlie said the lounge, which new owners brought up from a seriously seedy bar in the middle of no man's land down there, has a DJ about every night and the customers are cool and constantly new.  Since I had forgotten the address (2600 San Pablo), I had to search pretty hard until I finally spotted the plain beige facade that faces the BofA instead of looking out on the San Pablo corridor. It was dark, stormy and I was tired, so there you go. If you haven't gone down to the Missouri, I suggest doing so soon. No telling how long  a dive bar will last around that now condo-prone neighborhood.