File Name: albertjoe06-oh-houseparties_M.mp3
Speakers:
KP: curator Ken Perlman
JA: Joe Albert
IA: Ivan Albert
KP: Did they used to have a lot of house parties and such?
JA: We used to have them all when we were up west, Holy…
KP: What were they like
IA: Well they were good, there was a lot of moonshine right them times.
KP: Oh yes I've heard about that.
IA: Before Lent, they'd start about two weeks before Lent. You'd have a dance every night. It didn't make any difference. It might be at my house tonight, and maybe some fellow's house tomorrow night. It just kept goin' and goin'.
KP: Tell me more about the house parties. Can you describe a typical house party?
IA: Oh, you went in with a bunch around Mardi Gras. And there was always lunch. You start playin' a few tunes, the first thing you'd be dancin' on the floor. It'd go to 12 or 1 o'clock, and you'd have a lunch and play music and talk and joke a lot. There wasn't too much liquor at a party at a house; it was generally in the hall.
KP: Was there square dancing?
IA: Oh yeah. You had a big dining room; you'd just move your stuff away and dance in there. Them times, mostly the old people mixed in with the young people. The old people was kind of [inaudible], you didn't bring too much booze. They didn't want you, that was it, you know, you weren't playin'. This was out in the country. Sometimes you'd play for half an hour before the dance was all over. You didn't get out of the corner, and an old stove just sweatin' red as a beet with wood stuffed in there. You'd get outside and [blows out with relief]. That's the way it was. We dragged organs in a horse and wood sleigh from one house to another. You know, them old fashioned pump organs? There were some wild times when we were young. Good times. . Those fellows today they couldn't play with us, like the way we played. They'd be played out. But today it's much easier playing. Because they just turn that machine up and just play with their fingers. Them times you didn't turn anything up. And whatever sound you got, you brought it on your own, and you didn't bring it up it didn't sound.