Tommy Alesi:

00:01:00 - Tommy Alesi, son to the owner of Alesi's Pizza House in Lafayette
00:02:20 - Stationed in Lafayette during war; meeting Tommy's Mother
00:02:40 - Moving to Lafayette in 1957
00:03:15 - Father playing piano accordion
00:05:00 - Talking about how he began to play music; started out in school band playing drums

00:05:30 - First influences being Jazz and swing
00:06:00 - Playing with Sonny Landreth; in the rock band "Electros"
00:08:20 - Local Jazz scene ; Antler's
00:09:30 - Starting with BeauSoleil in the late 70's
00:12:00 - Becoming full time with BeauSoleil in the early 90's, and traveling

00:14:00 - Late 80's: a change of style for BeauSoleil
00:17:00 - Evolution, the usage of drums, and bass guitar in BeauSoleil
00:19:30 - Calypso and Latin musical influence
00:22:00 - Movie Soundtracks
00:26:00 - "Lightning Rod" versus regular drum sticks/brushes

00:27:00 - Bands involved with in the 1980's: Zachary Richard, Sonny Landreth, Dickie Landry, Wayne Toups
00:30:00 - Touring experiences with BeauSoleil
00:37:00 - Cajun Dancing around the country; Ashkenaz in Berkeley
00:40:00 - Playing with Mary Chapin Carpenter at the Super Bowl
00:43:00 - Experience playing in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

00:44:30 - Meeting musicians from other genres of music
00:48:25 - Jamming with musicians from other cultures, eg. Arabic
00:51:30 - Tommy Comeaux; and playing in "The London Fog" with him
00:57:30 - Studying at U.S.L.
00:58:00 - Personal mentors: Buddy Rich, Louis Bellison, Max Roach, etc
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