La Follette professor emeritus Karen Holden is kicking off her retirement with a CD release party and dance as her band, the Cajun Strangers, unveils "Cajun Country Ramble" on Sunday, August 2, at the Eastside Club, 3725 Monona Drive. Holden plays the Cajun t-fer (aka the triangle) for the Strangers.
Doors open at 5 p.m. with Cajun food and the standard sandwich menu at the TIki Bar. The Cajun Strangers will start playing at 6 p.m. Holden's new all-woman band, Prairie Bayou Band, will perform during intermission, "so no one need stop dancing!" says Holden, who sings and plays electric bass with that group. "Dance lessons will be available starting at about 5:30 or upon request anytime during the evening, except during intermission when the dance instructor is playing music," Holden says.
The party is scheduled to last until 10 p.m. Admission is $5; children are free. The Cajun Stranger' first album, “Valse a Deux Temps,” received the Cajun French Music Association's Prix Dehors de Nous (Prize Outside of Ourselves) in 2007.
Both albums are on Swallow Records, one of the major Cajun labels. The Cajun Strangers are one of very few non-Louisiana bands on Swallow, Holden says.
— posted July 29, 2009; updated August 3, 2009