Back in Louisiana for another road trip

I'm off on another US road trip with Dave Carroll, Alan Lloyd and Lee Wilkinson. We flew into Houston and I drove along I10 to Lafayette. The weather was abysmal with heavy rain. After some gumbo at Prejean's Cajun restaurant we went to the new Rock 'n' Bowl in downtown where an entertaining group called Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boys were playing some good soul covers as well as zydeco numbers. Quite a smart modern place and a good addition to Lafayette's music scene. What do you know - Dave and Julie Thomas walked in, three weeks into their six week Anerican tour.
Next day we drove to Baton Rouge, calling in at a museum in West Baton Rouge devoted to the sugar plantation that was there. There are various buildings including a recreated juke joint where they sometimes hold live events. Kenny Neal was there recently for an event commemorating Lazy Lester and he will be back soon for the annual sugar festival. There are also recreated slave quarters, plantation store and barn as well as plenty of exhibits in the main building. From there we went to a record shop and museum dedicated to R and B singer and band leader Buddy Stewart which is now run by his daughter Philippa. I spent a happy hour or two going through the many piles of 45s and picking out a few and then had a look round the museum where there are photos and memorabilia of Buddy and other local musicians including Kenny and Jackie Neal, Tabby Thomas and Bobby Rush. In the evening we had an overpriced 'fusion' meal in a deserted downtown and then went to the blues jam at Phil Brady's bar which has been taking place every Thursday for 40 years. Two bands played rather predictable cliche blues numbers such as 'Got My Mojo Working' and 'Every Day I Have The Blues and when the second band launched into a pedestrian version of 'Mustang Sally we decided we had had enough. Now it's on to Bogalusa.