The Secret Cajun Band (SCB) is a St. Louis ska-band I became obsessed with in the 90s. Marty knew the guitar player from her high school days and asked me to go with her to a small concert they were doing. I said I didn't want to go. She said she didn't want to go alone and asked me to go as a favor. So I went, but under protest. After the first five notes from the first-ever song I heard from them, I became their biggest fan and never missed an in-state show after that. At the end of that first show, I bought their cassette, and it was the only thing that played in my car's tape deck for OVER TWO YEARS. New friend at the time, bookguy, can vouch for this as every time he rode in my car, he would ask if (a) I couldn't afford another tape or (b) if my cassette player was broken and I couldn't get this one tape out.

As you'd expect, I introduced my boys to the SCB decades later. I told them that if they listened to this album five times in a row, it would forever sear itself into their minds and be one of their all-time favorite albums for the rest of their life. The arrow landed. They both, in different ways, have introduced a whole new generation to the absolutely intoxicating energy that is the Secret Cajun Band.

Anthony handed CDs out to his friends and told them they had just been given the most fantastic album of all time. Some of them now, years later, exchange lyrics with one another when they pass in the hallway (you're not the chief of me!). Alex's homage was slightly different. He came to me as he started plans for his freshman year final film project and said he would like to use some Secret Cajun Band music in his movie and asked if I could put him in touch with the band. I did some digging, found the email of one of the members, and reached out to explain the situation. I was not hopeful as I expected someone with such a storied album to be reasonably protective of it or that there would be label bureaucracies to navigate. But that was not the response. Instead, they gave a hearty sure but said they had a few questions for Alex first. Those questions were:

1). What kind of trouble did you get into as a child where your parents punished you by making you listen to our music? That's the only way you could possibly be familiar with Secret Cajun Band.

2) Do you realize that by using our music, your project just dropped a full letter grade?

3). Which songs would you like to use?

And like that, Aleo was off and made his movie which featured multiple Secret Cajun Band tracks, and it was all top-flight in all ways—and yes, of course the SCB-scored film will be coming soon. But another thing that happened through that request was the band said that their super-album, Big House, was being pressed in vinyl and re-released. In response, the band was doing an album-release concert in the coming months and wondered if Alex would video the show AND maybe even consider doing a documentary about the band.

Uhhh. What?

So, in summary. Alex asked to use a few songs in a film he was making, and it led to him orchestrating the filming of a concert video of a band that hadn't played together in over ten years, AND he is now working on a documentary about his father's favorite all-time band.

While this Aleo-fueled roller-coaster had many incredible moments and memories, one of my favorites was this. The day after the concert, Alex had the band come to our house to be interviewed about their thoughts on the performance and the week leading up to the show. After they arrived at the house, one of the band members approached me and said it was his understanding that they were supposed to sign some albums--I didn't know at the time that this was something Alex had negotiated as his payment for all of the filming work. I looked around the busy room and told him, the SCB guitarist, I didn't think that would be necessary as I didn't want to inconvenience them all. Before the band member had time to walk away, Anthony stepped forward, holding his big house vinyl album in front of him, and said that if they didn't mind, he would like to get his album signed. This heartfelt request from a young and obvious fan led to a signing line in our dining room where each member present signed three albums—one for Anthony, one for Alex, and one for Papa-Troy.

Then, right before the group interview started, Anthony ran up to his bedroom. I called him back, saying if he wanted to watch the interview, he had to stay down here and couldn't be running up and down the stairs. He said he didn't know he was allowed to watch, but Alex quickly said it was fine. So Anthony stood in the wings and watched his favorite band get interviewed in his living room by his brother and father (I got to be the question-asker!!!). For another generation and person, it would have been like watching the Beatles getting interviewed on your living room couch by your brother and father while you stood a few feet away and took it all in.

Talk about your singular experience(s) for all the DeArmitt-Walter boys! Like, ALL of them!

p.s. The above image is from a rehearsal session leading up to the concert for use in the documentary.

p.p.s. This is just a teaser for a much longer recounting of this saga, which is still unfolding at the time of this writing (Oct 2023). I am keeping good notes and hope to get it all written up after the pending completion of the documentary about one of the most underrated bands to ever canoe across a stage with a trombone.