In Louisiana, the word lagniappe is Cajun slang meaning a “small gift.”
Consequently, a couple of years ago, my wife got me a “small gift” that plotted the course to our marriage—a copy of Cajun artist Rockin’ Sidney’s seminal single “My Toot-Toot,” which, unofficially, kind of became our song.
I knew I wanted to find more music from Rockin’ Sidney, so during my vacation to Lafayette last week, as I typically do, I went to check out the town’s only record store of merit—Lagniappe Records at 311-B Jefferson St.—about an hour before closing time.
Even though I didn’t find any copies of Sidney’s other works—sadly—that was okay, because after power-browsing the record shop that Saturday afternoon, I realized that lagniappe is the perfect word to describe it.
Passing a pithy quote from David Foster Wallace on the store’s literate sandwich boards—sorry, you probably wouldn’t get it either—I walked into Lagniappe, and while it was strange to be in another record store in another town, I immediately fell into my routine of perusing, finding, and buying.
Sauntering past the clerk after some sincere greetings, my wife pointed me to the selection of new and used Louisiana music. Like I said, they didn’t have Rockin’ Sidney, but they did have a small poster of him on their wall that I should have asked about purchasing.
I started digging in the stacks. From local zydeco to statewide rock and everything in between, Lagniappe had one of the best selections of homegrown Louisiana titles I had ever seen. Sure, I had never seen a selection of homegrown Louisiana titles before, but you get what I'm saying.
Flipping through the stacks, the first thing that caught my eye was the mid-’60s compilation album A Rockin’ Date with South Louisiana Stars, featuring “Let’s Do the Cajun Twist” by Randy and the Rockets. That’s a definite winner for me!
Also unheard by me, I blindly picked up T-Lou and His Los Angeles Zydeco Band’s self-titled record. While I’m sure the music is out of sight, I bought it based on his similar nomenclature to mine and his swanky Creole outfit. Pass the boudin!
After I picked through that Louisiana section like a crawfish dinner, I realized I still had over 90% of the store left to shop, but the closing bell for the store was quickly approaching. Could I make it through in time?
While my wife was looking at the shop’s shirts on the wall—sadly, they didn’t have my size—I started digging through everything: the maxi-singles, the electronic fare, the metal scene, the new wave ’80s German club traxxxs, and so on, uncovering a few buried treasures.
Always a favorite search term, the Beatles section was alright for the most part—it was all stuff I had seen before… until I found a club version of Yoko Ono’s “Hell in Paradise” that I had been searching eons for. (Say what you want, but Ono is an incredible artist and I truly enjoy her avant-garde leanings.)
Moving to the other side of the well-organized store, it was all about the R&B and soul sections, and Lagniappe was packed to the gills. From the maxi-single of Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Do Me” to Shalamar’s recently re-released Big Fun record, they even had releases I had never heard of—quite the testament in my book!
While going through that section, a nearby poster of a nearly-naked Prince got my wife’s heater running. Swoon!
After one more shopping cycle around the whole store—in which I found a new copy of Air’s Moon Safari that I added to my pile—I took my small bounty to the clerk. As he was ringing me up, I asked about their t-shirt sizes; he told me that next week they’d be working on reprints of them
“I will have to check on that the next time I’m in town,” I said.
With my bag overflowing with even more recorded treasures to listen to and enjoy, I checked out the Wallace quote again on my way out the door. It said, “I do things like get in a taxi and say, 'The library, and step on it!'”
Even though I don’t hit the gas for the public library anymore like I used to—sorry—I will always take the time to discover new record shops from Oklahoma to Louisiana and beyond.
That’s my own lagniappe to you.
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
