Is there a more totally lame state motto than California’s “Eureka” (I Have Found It)? The friggin’ thing’s even in Greek. What we need, especially in these times, is a rallying call. What we need is “Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!,” the Cajun French battle-cry of New Orleans that’s used to absolve every sin of the flesh during the city’s annual Mardi Gras bacchanal. To take your mind off the housing market, job market and car market all being in the toilet, come check out the Long Beach Bayou and Mardi Gras Festival. There’s a musical buffet of Cajun/Zydeco and blues—Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Hubert Sumlin, the Bill Magee Blues Band, Jimmy Vivino’s East West Connection and many others. Plus, a luscious array of Cajun/Creole cuisine, dance lessons, a parade and free arts and crafts for the kids. If you still need extra motivation to strut your stuff and chow down, repeat after us, “Let the Good Times Roll!”
Sun., June 28, 11:30 a.m., 2009
