Who: Buckwheat Zydeco
Where: Buffalo Bill’s
When: Tuesday, Aug. 24
Tickets: $25, available at Buffalo Bill’s or Bestsellers
If there’s a common theme in the reviews of Buckwheat Zydeco’s live shows, it’s that the man knows how to make a crowd move.
It’s the kind of music that gets right down into your toes and wiggles its way up your spine, making your feet tap, hips bop and shoulders shimmy despite your best efforts to restrain yourself. The usual excuses to not get up and dance – social inhibition, utter lack of rhythm – quickly fall to pieces when set against the infectious trill of the accordion and the soulful vocals of lead-man Stanley "Buckwheat" Durant Jr.
Born in 1947 in Lafayette, Louisiana, Durant has taken his unique version of zydeco – a hybrid genre of Afro-Caribbean rhythm and blues blended with hints of soul, rock, country and French-rooted Cajun music – from the bayou to the big-time. An Emmy winner and four-time Grammy nominee, the band has opened for Eric Clapton and U2 and preformed at the closing ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics. Buckwheat Zydeco have also made appearances on David Letterman, The Today Show, MTV, and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. The band played at Bill Clinton’s First and Second Inaugurations and collaborated with artists such as Willie Nelson and Keith Richards.
After a stop at the southeast Alaska State Fair, Buckwheat and his band will perform at Buffalo Bill’s on Tuesday, Aug. 24, almost exactly one year since their last performance in Whistler.
"The last couple of shows have been awesome," commented Bill’s general manager Dale Schweighaldt. "He really enjoys the whole atmosphere of the night, and if we get a good crowd out he really performs. It’s a very New Orleans, Mardi Gras festival kind-of atmosphere. It’s a lot of fun. The most fun you ever had with an accordion.
"Whether you’re 60 or 20 you’re going to enjoy the show," Schewighaldt continued. "He’s a blast, a really high-energy guy."
So high energy, in fact, that a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal went so far as to say that Buckwheat Zydeco have the ability to "incite a riot of happy feet."
Tickets to see what the Wall Street Journal called "one of the best party bands in North America" are available at Buffalo Bill’s or Bestsellers for $25. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 10 p.m. and will keep on going until those happy feet have had their fill.
Not a dancer, you say? Don’t worry, after the boy from the bayou is through, you will be.
