Ben Sandmel

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Ben Sandmel |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

The present robust popularity of Cajun and Creole music, zydeco, and swamp pop belies the fact that, until fifty years ago, these interconnected genres were often scorned, excoriated, and marginalized. In 1974 French-speaking Louisianans had endured a half-century of linguistic and cultural disrespect exerted by aggressive governmental campaigns of forced assimilation. Between 1916 and 1921 the Louisiana legislature enacted laws forbidding children to speak French in the state’s public schools.

Aug 31, 2023 | 64parishes.org | Ben Sandmel |Chris Turner-Neal

I can’t imagine doing anything else,” bassist Lee Allen Zeno reflected. “I was so young when I got started. Music’s been a part of me for my whole life.” Zeno’s repertoire combines the related sounds of zydeco, blues, rhythm & blues, ’60s soul, and ’70s funk, along with forays into Cajun music, reggae, country, rock, and jazz. Zeno creates deft, imaginative bass lines that rise above routine, simplistic patterns.

Apr 25, 2023 | billboard.com | Ben Sandmel

Luxurious Minimalism, Extreme Silhouettes, Soft Textures Are Big at Browns Fashion for Fall 2023 3 hrs ago

Mar 21, 2023 | 64parishes.org | Ben Sandmel

Louis Armstrong is renowned as a towering figure in the evolution of jazz and, more broadly, as a major artistic figure of the twentieth century. One of several important second-generation jazz musicians to emerge from New Orleans in the 1920s, he helped introduce jazz to the world. In later years, Armstrong also became a pop music hero and beloved entertainer far beyond jazz’s relatively small audience. What was Armstrong’s early life and career like?