This website supports my radio show “Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa” which is broadcast in Olympia and Bellingham (Washington). You can listen to past shows on this website.
I feature a gumbo of blues, jazz, R&B, hip hop, folk, cajun/zydeco, Mardi Gras Indian, rock, and everything in between-new and old . . . . . . . (See show times below.) It’s music from New Orleans, as well as Lafayette and Baton Rouge.
While I live in the Northwest, I was born in New Orleans and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School at the corner of Freret and Napoleon from kindergarten to fourth grade in the 60’s. I wore the uniform required of Catholic students — khaki shorts, black tie and saddle oxford shoes. Lourdes is no longer a school but I still wear the khaki shorts.
Pre-COVID, Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa was broadcast live at the studio of KAOS 89.3 Olympia — a community radio station located in Olympia, Washington (2,619 miles from Frenchmen Street). A recording of that show was edited for KMRE and broadcast the next day in Bellingham. During COVID-19 restrictions, I’ve recorded the show in my home a few days before their broadcasts. To get a flavor of the show, here’s a bit about the show’s patron saint!
I visit New Orleans as often I can (annually) and I stay plugged in with help from New Orleans musicians who respond to my emails, by reading Offbeat, listening to stations like WWOZ and WHYR in Baton Rouge, and by talking with friends and connections. I also follow all my favorite NOLA artists through my facebook page. If you poke around this website, you’ll find articles, interviews and pictures of bands and musicians performing in New Orleans and the Northwest. Let me know what you think.
Thursdays, 10 a.m. – KAOS, 89.3 FM Olympia – Live (not during COVID restrictions)
Fridays, 7 p.m.. – KMRE, 102.3 FM Bellingham – Same show
Consider subscribing (see right side of this page). Thank you for visiting.
Hello,
Thanks for the shout outs on the show. That particular stack of 45rpm phonograph records were discovered at a second hand store in Beaumont, TX. Stopped off on the way to Lafayellte to hunt up records and stuff. Also stopped in Port Arthur and Lake Charles but this was by far the best find. There were a few other r&b singles in there but they’ve since been absorbed into the general stacks of wax. Anywho, glad you are enjoying them.
ta,
Calvin Johnson
LikeLike