The following are excerpts from that popular daytime radio
call-in talk show, Ask Dr Zydeco, that originates from radio
station KLAF in Lafayette, Louisiana USA, and is syndicated on 144
other stations throughout the country.

Caller one: Dr Zydeco thanks for taking my call. My name is Beau and I am
a first time caller and long time listener.

Dr. Z: What's your question?

Caller one: I've heard that the origin of the word "Zydeco" has something
to do with the French word for snap-beans. Is this true?

Dr. Z: A common mistake, Beau. I don't know how these stories get
started. The real truth about how the word Zydeco came about,
according to historians, actually dates back to 1925 when Sam and
Sadie Rabinovitz, from Poughkeepsie NY, made a shopping trip to New
York City, staying at a cheap hotel just off of 2nd Ave. After visits
to Macy's and Gimbal's all that was left was to purchase a stuffed
Teddygotcha pet caring toy from FOA Peter Schwarz, the famous 5th Ave.
toy store. The Teddygotcha was a popular toy and had been scarce, but
FOA Peter Schwarz had them. Sadie spotted a poster for a Bingo
Tournament that was being played in the hotel's ballroom. Her
intentions quickly changed from purchasing a toy to playing Bingo. In
Poughkeepsie, all they played was Mahjongg and Sadie was Bingo
starved. She nagged and nagged poor Sam relentlessly till finally Sam
could take it no longer and yelled, "Sadie, Go!, Sadie, Go!, Sadie,
Go!"

In the next room was this young Latin accordion playing musician from
Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Senor BeeZee Chavez, who was in New York to
audition for a position in the Prez Parado Latin Band which was
playing at the Roxie Theater. BeeZee had developed a new form of 4/4
"back-beat" music that he could play on the squeeze-box but didn't
have a name for it yet. He knew that during his audition, where he was
to play the music, he would be asked the name of this style of music.
At that very moment Sam's loud words, slightly filtered by the thin
walls of the hotel, reached his ears. Being muffled, The "Sadie Go"
sounded like "Zydeco" to BeeZee. That was the name he was looking for
-- Zydeco.

So there is the real origin of the word Zydeco. It's creation lies in
Judeo-Latin roots. You can forget this French snap-bean stuff. And as
for Sadie, she was lucky enough to win the Bingo jackpot in a
"cover-all-numbers" game; her last two numbers being B-11 and I-27.

Caller two: This is Max, one of your "zitto-heads." I'm calling from my
car phone.

Dr. Z: Glad to have you aboard, Max. What's your question?

Caller two: I'm from San Francisco and my Zydeco dance teacher was talking
about leaders and followers. Just what is that?

Dr. Z: Well in San Francisco, and a couple of other places around the
country where alternate life-styles are common, a special rule has
been established. Always, the person who asks another to dance is
called the leader and the askee is called the follower. By this way it
is established who steps off using the left foot - when dancing
commences; that would be the leader or asker, and who steps off using
the right foot; and that would be the follower or askee.

Caller three: This is my first time calling and I am a bit nervous.

Dr. Z: Well don't be. 50 million Americans are tuned in listening to
you and they are all on your side.

Caller three: Thank you for easing my mind, Dr. Zydeco. My name is Mike Lust
and I was wondering about the SPSS and SSSP techniques of Zydeco
dancing? Can you shed some light on that?

Dr. Z: Why of course, Mike. For the benefit of our other listeners the
SPSS technique that Mike is asking about refers to the accepted
Step-Pause-Step-Step technique of Zydeco dancing while the SSSP refers
to the Step-Step-Step-Pause technique that is practiced in certain
parts of California and other third-world developing countries.

Caller three: But how did the SSSP get started there.

Dr. Z: Well it seems, Mike, that a famous Cajun dancer from Lafayette,
Louisiana, a Mr. Gglleenn Gilbert was visiting California to attend
some Zydeco dances. A particular local California band, the Zydeco
Zits, was playing at one of the local venues. Now the Zydeco Zits
really played Cajun music but with such a strong down-beat that it
sounded like real Zydeco. For years, they had been getting away with
it because none of the local people had noticed and just danced Zydeco
anyway, fer shure. Well Mr. Gilbert was not fooled and recognized that
it was really Cajun music and, being true to the dance, started
dancing the Cajun Two-Step. As you know, the Cajun Two-Step uses the
SSSTouch technique. The venue was so crowded that he was not able to
progress counter-clockwise around the perimeter of the dance floor, so
he had to be content to dance in place with his partner, Ms. Vally
Gerll. Their "Touch" became a Pause, by necessity, so their in-place
step became a SSSP.

Unbeknown to him, some nefarious person was video taping his dancing
and within hours was selling the tape to the dancers as a Zydeco
teaching tape -- a la Mona Wilson. The California dancers, always
hungry for the real thing, bought the tape thinking that this famous
dancer, Mr. Gilbert, was actually doing Zydeco -- like they do in
Louisiana. Not knowing that he was really dancing Cajun, they changed
their step from the SPSS to the SSSP technique -- and have been stuck
with it ever since. Many visitors from third-world countries who use
California as an ideal model for development also purchased this tape
and brought back the questionable Zydeco style to their respective
nations.

As a result of this unfortunate occurrence, Mr. Gilbert, upon
returning to Louisiana, never danced Zydeco again. What a tragic loss.

Caller three: Dr Zydeco, why is it that the Louisiana
Zydeco bands often travel up and down the Northeast corridor playing
at a multitude of venues, leaving the Louisiana clubs empty?

Dr. Z: That's a good question. The answer is 1) money and 2) food. As
you know, Louisiana is a poor State and they cannot afford to pay
their talent very much, so musical wages are low. Fortunately, since
there are so many festivals down there, bands sometimes can get 2 or 3
maybe 4 bookings in a day, often working 18 total hours. Even then,
the combined earnings are minimal and just enough to make ends meet.
However, when they travel on the road to the rich areas of the
Northeast corridor, they are paid handsomely. Not only that, upon
crossing the Mason-Dixon line, they are revered as "Kings." Many a
time, when being introduced from the stage of the various venues, the
band is referred to as "The Kings Of Zydeco." This makes them feel
wanted and the music they play is 10 times better than you would hear
in Louisiana -- so now there is no longer any reason to travel to
Louisiana when you can hear better Zydeco music in the Northeast
corridor played by happy bands.

But that is only one reason. The main reason is the food. See, in
Louisiana good food is rare. The poor musicians are forced to eat such
inferior quality foods as gumbo, jambalaya, ettouffee, crawfish,
boudin, andouille, cracklins, catfish, shrimp, oysters, maque choux,
muffuletta, boulette, tasso, beignet, etc.; all flavored with hot
Tabasco sauce to at least make them palatable. And I didn't even
mention dirty rice and po-boys. See what I mean! They can't wait till
they get up North so that they can feast on alfalfa sprouts, lentil
loaf, vegie-burgers, yogurt, carrot juice, clean white rice, broccoli,
ginseng tea and all the good eating that the North is known for. I've
heard many a band state that when they are up North, they don't want
to have any of the Louisiana style food, so we shouldn't bother
cooking it for them. Proof!

Caller four: Hi Dr. Zydeco, my name is Jim Dupetrole and while I was in
Louisiana I heard many people talk reverently about "fais do do."
Could you please tell me what that is?

Dr. Z: Jim, would you mind spelling that.

Caller four: I'm not sure but I think it is F-A-I-S D-O D-O.

Dr. Z: (Chuckling) I thought so. No Jim, that's not "Fais Do Do,"
that's "Fay Dodo", actually Carol-Fay Dodo, although most of the
locals called her Fay for short. Carol-Fay was born in Lafayette,
Louisiana and loved to eat pork chop sandwiches. She would take a
fried pork chop, smother it with barbecue sauce, and place it between
two slices of Wonder Bread. She loved her pork chop sandwiches. She
had at least one per day -- sometimes two. And on the weekends --
As a result, Carol-Fay took on a little extra weight,
but, unlike ordinary people, the weight settled in her, aahummm!,
shall we say -- balcony. Her balcony became so protruding that years
later, and this was captured with a photo layout by Playboy magazine,
she was able to rest drink glasses on her balcony, and walk across the
room without spilling a drop. This was a remarkable talent and was
quickly recognized and appreciated by the locals. Well her fame spread
and she became nationally known. Capitalizing on her attributes and
popularity she moved to San Francisco where she dropped the Fay part
of her name and revised the spelling of her last name a little for
artistic reasons, changing one of the "o's" to an "a" and opened up
the now famous strip club, "Carol Doda's." So Jim, when you hear about
what you thought was "fais do do" it's just the locals reminiscing
about (Carol)-Fay Dodo and her pork chop sandwiches.

I see that we have reached the end of our show but our lines will be
open tomorrow at the same time for your Zydeco questions. As always, I
would like to leave you with a Dr. Zydeco thought of the day.

May you be the Captain of your own boat
and travel the mighty Mississippi,
but please don't ram it into the River Walk!