.Best Dance Joint at Which to Hear Real Smokin’ Louisiana Music

The Eagles may be a low-rent version of the Lions, but they have one of
the best damn dance floors in the East Bay and without a doubt the best
music. Where else could you hear Dikky Du and the Zydeco Crewe or Leroy
Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners, real down-home bands from southwest
Louisiana or Texas? A lot of zydeco and Cajun bands have been coming
here since the great migration that fueled the Richmond and Oakland
shipyards in World War II. The Eagles Hall is one of the few places you
will actually see regular black and white folks in the same place at
the same time dancing and mingling. (Be warned — the average age
of the crowd is at least in the forties.) Be prepared to learn how to
dance and do it humbly. Leave your hipster snootiness at the door. If
you don’t, Dana DeSimone, dance instructor extraordinaire, will thrash
it right out of you. He hung out at the Fab Mab in the early 1980s and
could probably whup your butt. Be prepared to dance your ass off all
night, and be prepared to learn, be led, and be back led. This is
serious couples dancing with a sense of humor. Shows run about $15
— for that you get a full four or five hours of straight rocking
zydeco. Take that, standard concerts that only give you ninety minutes
for $40!