The Coalition of the Swilling

Reminds me... What's Justin Wilson doing these days?

"How ya'll are?" is gone, unfortunately, in 2001.

Besides, I understand that crawfish are tastier than groundhogs.

That's too bad. Our (sadly departed) local weirdass radio station KFAT used to play stuff of his. It was only some years later that I found out the reason for his celebrity was for a cooking show.

Easiah tah clean, dat be fah DAMN shor!

Actually, IIRC, I found out about the cooking show part from those potato chip commercials he did at one point "Ah gar-on-tee!"

Major Dad and I still use some of his expressions when we're cooking, like calling a great cut of pork "some fine looking P - I - G, hog." Ebola and I still wave our hands in the air everytime something reminds us of his crawdad joke. ("Dat dere crawdad is tha bravest thing on earth...")

From Justin Wilson.com:

"Cajuns" long have been the pride of Louisiana, but they might have continued to blush unseen had it not been for JUSTIN WILSON, a true Louisiana legend. In fact, his legend spread across America and throughout the world. In its turn-of-the-Century commemorative edition, readers of the “Atlanta Journal Constitution” voted Justin Wilson as one of the 100 most influential “southerners” of the 20th Century!


Born in Roseland, LA April 24, 1914, Justin Wilson was of English and French extraction, the son of another legend in the state, Harry D. Wilson, Louisiana's long-time Commissioner of Agriculture, in a state where its politics border on religion. Justin was always popular at political rallies for his favorite candidates, but he eschewed political career and to become a raconteur extraordinaire and goodwill ambassador of the Louisiana Cajun for more than 60 years.


The young Mr. Wilson was working in Cajun country along the Bayou LaFourche in the 1930s and took its residents to heart. His duties as Warehouse Examiner took him to Crowley, in the heart of Acadiana. Being half Louisiana French himself, there was a natural affection between "Joos-tain", as his Cajun neighbors referred to him, and his new neighbors.


After pursuing a career as a safety engineer, Justin traveled up and down the bayous for years telling Cajun stories. He found an ever-growing market for his tales, and was finally persuaded to put them on record so that a vast number of people could enjoy them. That very first album sold more than a million copies.


Justin was a "Humorist" who found something funny in almost everything. He did not laugh at his Cajun friends, but he laughed with them. His genuine admiration for them shined through in his stage, radio and television and 27 hilarious albums.


But Mr. Wilson’s talent was not limited to his ability to tell stories. He composed 10 songs, as well as composing the background music for his world-renowned cooking show and recorded one album of Christmas songs with a jazz band.


A professional member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, Justin never quit wearing both a belt and suspenders—there were some things he’d just never leave to chance. But he described himself most often as a "damn good cook"! And it was his Cajun cooking that gained him the most notoriety. The author of seven best-selling Cajun cookbooks and two books of humorous Cajun stories, his cooking series were aired from coast-to-coast on Public Television and worldwide on Armed Services television. Justin died September 5, 2001.


Justin's daughter, Sara, who had been working along side her father for 40 years, cooking, answering mail, and helping to produce his TV shows is now running the Justin Wilson company. "Pop always told me I would know what to do to develop the company. I know he would be proud of the following he had."

My favorite story of his was the squirrel hunting story - of course, what I've heard was limited to what I heard on KFAT. I didn't know he had albums too, I will absolutely have to check that out.

The mayors of Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana actually jointly proclaimed Feb. 1, 2006 to be Claude the Cajun Crawfish Day. The mascots for the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Hockey team helped Claude get the word out that there would be great party weather for Mardi Gras. Claude is always right because if he's not . . . well, there's that big steaming pot of gumbo nearby. So it's either good news, or good gumbo! You can get all the details about Claude the Cajun Crawfish on the Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau's website at http://www.sbctb.org/media/claude/. There are lots of pictures of Claude and a great interview you can listen to. Be prepared to laugh!