Moishe Oysher

Shabat Shalom.....From the classic 1937 film "The Cantor's Son", one of the milestones of American Yiddish cinema.

john whitney

Louisiana Story

Two excerpts from Robert Flaherty's classic 1948 film. While not a straight documentary by any means, the film is meant to chronicle the world of rural Cajuns. As with his previous films, "Nanook of the North" and "Man of Aran", Flaherty casts non-actors to essentially play themselves albeit with a loose story line. The first excerpt is in English, the second in Cajun French, without subtitles.

Spend it All

An excerpt from Les Blank's classic documentary on the Cajuns of Southwest Louisiana. Blank, who has Cajun origins himself, is better known for his documentary on the making of "Fitzcarraldo", "Burden of Dreams".

Alan Lomax on Ammedee Ardoin

On the bayou...

"Creole" as opposed to "Cajun" refers to an ethnic group in south Louisiana with shared African-American, French, and Native American roots. True "Cajuns" would largely trace their roots back to the French Canadians that were forcibly expelled from Nova Scotia and Quebec by the British in the 18th century, and who resettled in Louisiana. As with the cuisine of the region however, everything tends to be a true mixture, and thus rural African American Creole communities spoke French until very recently. "Zydeco", a bastardization of the French "Haricot" (or "snap pea") is the traditional music of Creoles.

Buffie Sainte Marie on Sesame Street

Happy mid week!

Alan Watts: Work as Play

Grover Cleveland

I know I am a little late on the draw here, but in honor of Presidents' Day, I nominate one of my favorite unsung Democrats: Grover Cleveland, who has the distinction of being the only President in the history of our country to serve two non-consecutive terms.