***Unknown date and place of recording*** (Probably around Lafayette in the mid-1980s?)

Barry Ancelet and Jane Vidrine:

-Stage manager knowing the performer very well--ideal (ex: Liberty Theatre in Eunice, Louisiana);
-Not interjecting one-self into the performance;
-Eliminating problems between audience and performers;
-No interaction or helping introduce songs or getting information out of the performer;
-Regular crew of presenters--developed talent, some good and some not;
-Jane used to training for the national park service. Some got it quick and others weren't good at picking it up;
-National park service and Eunice might want to develop a regular local crew;
-Training and management. Repetition. Eunice every Saturday afternoon (John Delafose or Bois-sec Ardoin). Rotation, easy way to handle contracts and retaining a revolving thing;
-Change every 4 months. People get used to performers and learn what needs to be done;
-Presenter needs to know the performers well, not threatened by a personal question;
-How is it going to work from the performers point of view. Regular programming, visitable on a regular basis, frequently recurring for tourists;
-Bois-sec, Dewey, Wayne Toups--be sure there will be someone for tourists to see;
-Beale Street Theater. Pictures of major performers, maps, reminiscing going to the theater (where they sat, who they went with, what they saw);
-Abe's Palace and the drug store;
-Mini-version of instruments exhibit with more contextual photographs with making and players;
-Major dancehalls (Abe's Palace, Bélizaire's, 'Tit Maurice);
-Not a hall of fame. Revolving?;
-Visitors can view films on Cajun music. Multimedia slide show 10-15 minutes long. What's been happening in the theater;
-Paying performers at the end of the performance. People walking out after getting paid in advance, or not even showing up. Travel money for people coming from far, mileage;
-Equitably, scale to develop what performers get paid. Developed within the park service;
-Jane used to pay craftspeople $50 a day from 10 am to 3 pm with a couple of breaks and a scheduled program. 1 program announced for that day, formal presentation like an interview;
-Some people would come back and develop what they wanted to say. Aware traditional performer like Dewey Balfa. $75 a day for performers. Group of +3 got $200 a day. Depends on the budget;
-Flexible democratic system for the festival (Festivals Acadiens et Créoles). Paying the band leader ($75 a man), then band leader pays the band. Band leader distributes the money how he wants it. Barry is not in the middle;
-Paying band leader with a name gets 2 shares (manager plus musician), band of 5 gets 6 shares. Up to 3 shares--Gervis Stanford's reunion of Chuck Guillory and the Rhythm Boys);
-Zachary Richard and Rockin' Dopsie have their own price--professional musician. Dopsie gets $1,300 a performance. Barry negotiates with him. Reserved for bands with an obvious need to do that;
-Joe Wilson--this is what we have to pay you or forget it. How much it's worth to your festival to have a named band like Zachary Richard or Wayne Toups;
-Zachary Richard priced himself out of availability 2 years ago. Happened to Clifton too. Only so much money. Can't buy bread with 50 cents. Worth to come for less money;
-Festivals Acadiens et Créoles was worth it to Zachary, even if he had to give all the money to his band;
-National park service, federal government has money. Just like the Grand Ole Opry, playing it for free;
-Start with a strict scale, and 3 shares only in exceptional cases. 2 shares to a band leader, 1 share a piece if more democratic;
-Quality less an attraction than outlet potential. Playing for visitors from whom they might get more gigs;
-National park service and the city of Eunice/Lafayette/Thibodaux as equal partners;
-High level of standards at national parks;
-Cooperative agreements. Put yourself at the mercy of the cooperator. Blending standards;
-Folk-type events put on by the national park service. Grassroots effort can be molded. Not just once a year, for a long time;
-Review committee? made up of all parties involved. "Think tank";

Content vs. Form:
-Leroy Martin--people don't understand the concept of a workshop. Learned skill;
-City of Eunice owns the Liberty Theater. High school play or Vaudeville/minstrel show. Remaining 'Acadian Culture National Park.' Working special shows through special work permits;
-Park service should have a pretty heavy reign for the first few years;
-Cooking demonstration (at the world's fair). 20-minute version of what actually happens. Not fun to sit and watch a gumbo boil for 1.5 hours. 3 demonstrations a day. Not huge portions. -Presenter. Allowing what normally happens in the kitchen. Whole meal, not just 1 dish;
-Storytelling/music jam in relation to cooking demonstration. Talking over the meal. Cooking is expressive culture. Expect guests to critique the color of the roux. Clapping at a performance, laughing at a joke. Cooking is a performance (dancing around the stove making a roux). Visual and audible that gets tasted. Dramatic, play up natural drama without getting Justin Wilson;
-Commentating on cooking, like at horse races. Barry did that when his mother (Maude Ancelet) went to Washington;
-Louisiana vs. Washington. People in Louisiana comment about how they do things differently;
-Easiest way to pick a fight in South Louisiana is to talk about religion, politics, or recipes. Everyone has a strong feeling about how things are cooked. Mama vs. mama defended by kids;
-Natural meal. Barry's father (Elmo Ancelet) came to Washington too with his barbecue pit and crawfish boiling pot. Talking about what he was doing while he was doing that. Little stick to keep the air going in, sitting in his lawn chair and visiting with family and friends. Wandering into their backyard, familiar to them;
-Presenting as much to outsiders as insiders;
-Daddy makes barbecue and mama made potato salad, wandering into a Cajun family. Family members help out in the demonstration;
-Gumbo/jambalaya will be ready in 1.5 hrs. Sit around and visit or go and check out other crafts. 1-2 couples to stick around and extra 20-40 minutes;
-Package it as a veiller or a visit to someone's kitchen. Make them understand better;
-Mrs. Louella, souper chez les Ménards, walking in with a notion of how to act. Presenter must extract himself from the kitchen and act as a mediator, a catalyst;
-Hiring Ulysse, Ray, and woman who helped Maude in Washington? to come down and train someone from Eunice;
-On-going training program to develop a corps of people who know how to do it well, same for music presenters. Barry, Jane, Ann is good at interviews;
-Music workshops, not an opportunity for people to toot their own horn. A personal visit. First, best, or any superlatives, presenter should move off of that;

Maida:
-Storytelling is a real problem, under-presented of traditional arts. Bilingual problem. All kinds of stories. C.J. Guilbeau got his backpack shot off by Germans in WWII, Barry's heard it 35 times.
-May change, but it has become a story;
-D.L. Menard recording 'The Back Door'. Lies, jokes;
-Nomenclature. Storytelling--fairy tales that are recognizable. Not necessarily for 3-5 year old. Felix Richard telling dirty jokes in Washington for one session and he ran loose. There was no kid in the audience, recorded by the Smithsonian;
-Advertising correctly. Children or adult stories. 'Memory' instead of 'oral history/storytelling';
-Park service interested in presenting and preserving cultural resources: Cajun storytelling in English AND French. Musicians wouldn't sing in English. Should be just as unthinkable;
-Storyteller like Alex Girouard. French and English sessions (separate) in order to not undermine the tradition in its truest form. Not just translating jokes. Storytellers figure out what works, immediate reaction from the audience (laughter, crying, shocking). Appreciating things for what they are;
-Visitor from Minnesota might be just as enriched to go to the one in French--tourism, reminding them their not home;
-Signs down Jefferson Street all in French so that visitors don't understand. People get impatient and wander off;
-Short storytelling sessions of 15-20 minutes with the ability to spill over if they'd like to;
-Exhibits, slide presentation--1 hour visit;
-Always be no less than 2 storytellers on a stage. Competition. Ideally 3-4, never more than 5. Mistake is presenting only 1 person, not a solo performance in its natural setting. People tell stories back;
-Eliminate audience intervention. Guys talking in a General Store with the outsider off to the side. Never in a straight line;
-Barry's pig roast. Musicians facing each other (jam/play for each other/experiment/comments) vs. in a line (performance). People sitting around them. In the middle of the potential audience with chairs on all four sides (circle). Visitors see what they are doing what they are doing already (zoo/sacred circle in Indian terms);
-Natural commentary, discussion (i.e.: where they first heard it, what key they normally play it in--no need for a presenter);
-4 podiums in Girard Park (Festivals Acadiens et Créoles) facing each other in a circle. Crazy idea, turning backs. Circular informance for themselves, haze around the backs of these musicians. -Best music found behind the scenes where performers are not performing;

Formal informality:
-Presenter needs to be sensitive, intermediary between inner and outer circle. Musicians talk to each other amongst themselves, especially musicians who don't normally play together like Dewey Balfa, Lionel Leleux, Don Montoucet, and David Doucet. Creating its own dynamic and wandering all over the place. People shut up and listen. Something very special, only between musicians;
-Normally what they do in workshops;
-Don Montoucet and the Wandering Aces, David and Michael Doucet, and Dewey Balfa--each would have a 15 minute set for the afternoon. Playing early evening. Warmed up and ready to go. Exchange;
-Lionel has claimed he doesn't play second fiddle, Dewey claimed he doesn't play harmony. Dewey discovered that he could to that. Calling Lionel at a festival;
-French storytelling preservation. Storytellers laughing causes audience laughing even if they don't understand. Their own interaction on stage like in Mamou and his father's barber shop. Close in the circle;
-Put everyone sitting on stools or around an ice chest. Need some kind of prop. Fish fry for Pascal's storytellers--waiting for something to happen. Stories kill time;
-Barbecue, crawfish boil, fish fry, someone shoeing horses. Integrating storytellers into something else. Don Montoucet making triangles. You wouldn't be able to stop the stories. Setting it up to be in French (the only ground rule). Presenter can bring them back if they stray too much, or priming the pump. Stop a dirty joke session by having a lady presenter like Jane or Kathy;
-Age and sex make a big difference depending on the content of the presentation;
-Make the storytellers part of the plan. Demonstrating to the public the ability of Cajuns to tell stories in French, avoiding as much in English as possible;
-Musicians who normally do everything in English done in French at festivals;
-Planning session with performers. Someone from the outside saying "this is what we want to do" vs. "this is what we want YOU to do";
-Costumes--no traditional costumes;
-Leroy Martin at the Vin Bruce thing, he knew exactly what Barry had hoped would happen. Showing the audience the natural symbiotic relationship between Cajun and Country music. Leroy understood how to get a message across, like Dewey (not everyone can do that);
-Have points/goals for some performances with some direction (extremely delicate, don't let a yoyo load that gun). Sometimes, you want them to be themselves;
-Old time radio, les bals de maison with theatrics. Content determined by participants. Hector Duhon used to playing minstrel shows. So huge and undertaking. Ann Savoy took the whole burden. Mounting and remounting it, 3-4 a year. Seasonal focus on some point;
-National park side needs more than just things 3-4 times a year. Not only providing a community theater, also need something frequent;
-Scheduling and programming formats;
-Jane doing the programming at the arch in St. Louis. Programming of 6 days, staff of 2 people. Every week from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Smaller thing for school kids. Weekend program with musicians and crafts people. One from Tuesday-Friday, another one Thursday-Sunday (Special events Thursday-Friday);
-Filling certain blocks;
-Scheduling storytelling and cooking demonstration. A person who is in charge of doing something, have to have a staff (even if it's 1). Like Ray and someone in Eunice/Thibodaux;
-Person in Eunice calling for more people. Sitting down with a list of themes. Making sure they get paid. Content and mainly administrator. Ray will govern the content. Corps of presenters will be volunteer staff;
-Tiny ? up at the Smithsonian. Get her down here to do some serious volunteer development guidance?;
-Burn-out factor. Already happening like for the Mardi Gras run. Not a burden, but a growing experience/opportunity for people;
-Dealing with retired people, housewives, disabled people would all love to make some money. It won't fly longterm with some money. Run-away burn-out problem;
-Michael Doucet knows to do this on whichever date, scheduled. Someone named Russell Fuselier from Eunice, not having people travel far;
-Dewey can cover more about the musicians. Setting up performances, scheduling musicians depending on time, number of groups, payment, etc.;
-Dewey's experience. What information do people need before you go. How much tender, loving care is enough/too much. What's necessary, not enough;
-How many performances a day is comfortable. His current experience;
-Glenn Arlen--cowboy singer. Big white mansion with a big log with all these blues musicians lined up with double-bladed broad axes. Folklorist trying to teach them a work song to chop this log. Glenn could see what was going to happen. Newport 1964, axes didn't work. Putting them on a rope, holding/pulling the rope. Fred McDowell's wife, Annie, with her red dress and her handkerchief;
-Force blues musicians whether they had their roots or not;