The Redlands Adventure Group

On November 13th at 6:30 PM in the Contemporary Club Smiley Live! Americana Roots will present the sizzling hot sounds of traditional and contemporary Zydeco music. David Sousa & the Zydeco Mudbugs will bring the heat of Zydeco to Redlands through the use of single row and triple row diatonic accordions with songs in both Louisiana French and English. Capturing the rich sounds of New Orleans style music since 1998, David Sousa and the Zydeco Mudbugs will surely make you want to kick up your heals with traditional Zydeco songs like Don’t mess with my Toot-Toot, Why you want to make me cry, Good Old Cajun Music, and Chubby Party.

Early zydeco was a blend of Louisiana French accordion music and Afro-Caribbean beats. It sat at the crossroads of Creole, Cajun, gospel and the blues, yet has since evolved to include influences from several other genres. Instrumentation almost always includes an accordion and a frottoir, a washboard. Guitar, bass, and drums typically add even more rhythm and syncopation to create a highly danceable mix. The word Zydeco gets its name from a colloquial Creole French expression “Les haricots ne sont pas salés” meaning “the snap beans aren’t salty” or idiomatically for “the times are hard.” Like the blues, early zydeco offered a way for the rural poor both to express and to escape the hardships of life through music and dance.'

Don’t miss the Lincoln Memorial Shrine’s commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on Saturday, November 16 at 11am in Smiley Park.

Local favorites the Mountain Fifes and Drums and Camp Carleton Band will perform alongside an artillery demonstration by the ever-popular 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery. The event will include a riveting recitation of the speech by Lincoln presenter Robert Broski.

President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The much-anticipated ceremony brought closure following the bloody three-day Battle of Gettysburg that wreaked havoc on the community the previous July. The president’s brief, but powerful speech is widely considered to be the best public address of his career and one of the most important in our nation’s history.

This event is free and open to the public. To learn about the performers, visit News & Events at www.lincolnshrine.org. For additional information, please call the Heritage Room at (909)798-7632. Program subject to change