BOCAGE COUNTRY CLUB HIGHLAND JEFFERSON TERRACE KENILWORTH PERKINS SOUTHDOWNS UNIVERSITY CLUB
ADVOCATE THE SOUTHSIDE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
PROVIDED PHOTO
Cajun fiddler Courtney Granger
Beloved Cajun fiddler has final recording released in collection In 2021, beloved Cajun fiddler Courtney Granger had a weary look that matched the old soul in his voice. Granger, 39, was in the final round of a lifelong fight with diabetes, which forced musical retirement and faint hope of a kidney transplant. APO Records founder Chad Kassem never forgot the Herman jaw-dropping Fuselier moment of seeing Granger play as a teen. The fiddler remained on Kassem’s to-do list of recordings. But Yvette Landry, a friend of both, knew that opportunity was fading. With Kassem’s blessings, she brought Granger to Dockside Studio in Maurice with another old soul in a young body, Creole musician Cedric Watson. Still, Landry wondered if it was too late. “When Courtney got there, you can tell he wasn’t feeling good,” said Landry. “I told him, ‘If you’re not feeling good, we can reschedule.’ “He said he wanted to do it right now. We could tell in his voice, and overall, he was feeling really bad. So we recorded it.” Granger died seven weeks later. That last recording has become “Courtney Granger & Cedric Watson: Cajun & Creole Music of Louisiana,” a two-vinyl, 16-song collection on APO Records of Salina, Kansas. Landry served as producer and played triangle, guitar and accordion throughout these acoustic performances. In the liner notes, historian Barry Ancelet writes that the recordings, “...aren’t hiding under a bunch of production. …The two performers often sound like one.” Landry describes the experience in mystical terms. “I think Courtney and Cedric both lived before in other lifetimes,” said Landry, a resident of Breaux Bridge. “They came back as these old souls that have experienced so much. “They have so much feeling and passion at such young ages. Cedric has probably lived 100 lives before. Those two guys are just amazing to me.” Soulful experiences are also highlights for Landry, a
|
W e d n e s d ay, D e c e m b e r 3, 2025
If you would no longer like to receive this free product, please email brtmc@ theadvocate.com.
1GN
‘All I ever heard was LSU’
STAFF PHOTO BY JAN RISHER
Dolores ‘Bitsy’ Hadskey holds her four season tickets to the LSU/Arkansas game. Hadskey has held LSU football season tickets for 70 years and only missed six games until this season when her health prevented her from attending.
With 70 seasons of Tiger love in Baton Rouge, one fan has missed 6 home games in 7 decades BY JAN RISHER
Staff writer
Seventy seasons is more than a habit — it’s a lifetime woven in purple and gold. LSU has been playing football since 1893 — that’s 132 years of football. Baton Rouge’s Bitsy Hadskey, 88, has been there for 70 seasons. The roar of Tiger Stadium is her favorite song. Her real name is Dolores Hadskey, but everyone calls her Bitsy. She bought her first LSU season ticket package in the fall of 1955. She has renewed them every year since. Until this football season,
she had missed only six games — most of those for what she calls “legitimate reasons,” including the birth of a child and the death of her husband. But at the beginning of this season, Hadskey was told she would have to begin dialysis and wouldn’t be able to go to the games. Though she has since recovered enough to avoid dialysis, she reluctantly handed her beloved tickets over to her sons, grandchildren and younger sister, who have been making the best of her seats in Section 212, Row 25, Seat 35 — Seat 35 being Hadskey’s favorite.
Dolores ‘Bitsy’ Hadskey’s devotion to LSU football began her senior year at Baton Rouge’s Istrouma High School. She graduated in 1955 — a year ahead of classmates Billy ä See FAN, page 2G Cannon and Smiley Anders.
ä See GRANGER, page 2G
Was an Acadiana intersection the site of two Civil War battles? Today, the Vermilion River peacefully flows through Lafayette. In 1863, the waterway was the site of two Civil War battles.
STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
The Louisiana state historic marker near the Pinhook Bridge says two battles took place there in 1863: “Bayou Vermilion,” it says. “Battle of Pinhook Bridge April 17, 1863. Battle of Bayou Vermilion Oct. 9, 1863. We honor the memory of those soldiers who valiantly fought on these banks.” The listed dates place the events in the Civil War, but the
rest is pretty vague. Its lack of detail sparked Phyllis Hall’s curiosity. “Were there really two Civil War battles fought near the Pinhook Bridge?” the St. Martin Parish community of Catahoula resident asked. Now, that’s not saying the information on this Lafayette historic marker is wrong, but inaccuracies have been discovered on some historic markers in the past.
“I wasn’t familiar with these battles, so I was curious to know if they are true,” Hall said. The short answer is yes, though it’s hard to imagine Union and Confederate troops slugging it out at in the middle of Lafayette. Then again, there was no Lafayette back then. The city’s name was Vermilionville. At the time, Confederate Gen. Richard Taylor — son of former
ä See CURIOUS, page 2G