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Gary Hayman Wins "8 Clubs Award"

Gary Hayman Wins "8 Clubs Award"
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as reported in the 'Lafayette Mondial'

The oft sought, but never obtained "8 Clubs Award" was finally garnered by Gary Hayman of Greenbelt, Maryland during this past Festivals Acadiens weekend. The award, sponsored by the Greater Lafayette Association of Dancer's of Zydeco (GLAD-Z) in conjunction with all dance venues within a 45 mile radius of Lafayette has been available for the past five years to anyone, regardless of sex, who, during the course of one evening could complete a Zydeco dance at eight different Zydeco venues. Mr. Hayman, a noted visitor to Louisiana and an avid Zydeco dancing enthusiast took the challenge.

While on the surface, this accomplishment appears easily achievable, there have been many attempts and failures over the five years that the award has been available. In fact, last year, Mr. Hayman made the attempt but only completed 6 clubs before his time ran out. He was caught in a traffic jam on I-49 where an overturned boudin truck had spilled its contents on the road, and was forced to abandon his efforts. He did however, gain five pounds.

According to GLAD-Z, there are a couple of easy rules to be followed:

1) The participant must pre-register with GLAD-Z at least 24 hours prior to the attempt.

2) A entry fee of $15 judge fee must be paid along with the registration.

3) A judge will be assigned by GLAD-Z to accompany the participant to evaluate that all rules are followed and report results to GLAD-Z.

4) The participant will provide all transportation for him(her)self and the judge, but need not be the driver.

5) Zydeco dancing will be limited to the hours of 9 pm - 2 am.

6) Normal entrance fees must be paid by the participant at each venue. Judges will be afforded free entry by the participating venue.

7) Participants must dance with current venue customers and are not allowed to bring dance partners in their vehicles.

8) Zydeco dancing with the same partner at more than one venue is not allowed.

9) Zydeco dancing must begin within the first 8 measures of the currently played live song and must not end until the song is completely finished.

There are some interesting stories about others who have attempted the feat.

A lady from Houma LA on her forth stop arrived at a venue where BooZoo Chavis was performing. At that moment, BooZoo started talking about being the King of Zydeco -- and that shot the whole evening.

A gentleman from NYC, who did his own driving (very rare that a NYC resident has a driver's license), got lost on I-190 near Opelousas and was too stubborn to stop and ask for directions (Judges can't assist).

A lady from Minnesota who has visited the area often but has a reputation of refusing dances when asked, arrived at her third venue where the locals recognized her and would not dance with her so she could not complete the evening. "What goes around comes around", thought the Judge.

A well known Zydeco dancer, who makes her home in the Metro DC area but travels throughout the US Zydeco dancing, was favored to win the award during the first year that it was offered, but while at Slim's Y-Ki-Ki, her 5th stop, she chose to dance with local Joe "Wild Man" Potier -- a big mistake. Joe immediately launched into his now famous "Partner Back-Breaker", "Knee-cap Shuffle", "Rip Your Arms Out", "The Two Knee Bounce" and "The One Knee Bounce." It was during this latter Zydeco maneuver that Joe's knee bounced upon the toes of her left foot. She let out a scream but it sounded like the general Zydeco "woofing" that dancers do in Louisiana when they are please with the dance and their partner. No one paid attention to the look of agony on her face as many dancers carry this same expression anyway. A call to 911 for the Rescue Squad eliminated her from the competition. To this date, she has never been able to dance the same and always shuns potential partners with strange names such as "Wild Man" or "Kokomo."

A Slidell LA dancer, unfortunately arrived at a club where Beau Jocque (RIP) had already started playing one of his "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" length pieces. After waiting for 18 minutes, Beau launched into another equally long piece of music and he could never make up the time from that point on.

Then there was the lady from Montana who made the attempt for the award on her first visit to Louisiana. She chose a tall partner with a cowboy hat and boots that showed her "The figure-8" move and she never left his side for the rest of the evening. She has since moved to Louisiana where she is happily married to that dance partner. They Zydeco dance nightly and she couldn't be more pleased. Montana had been a lonely place and now she could "park and ride" while giving her partner a "happy dance" -- any time she wanted.

Mr. Hayman attributes his success to scientific pre-planning. He factored in driving distances, routes, weather, the various bands that were playing, estimated times of band breaks, normal band length of songs, etc. and plugged them into a computer model that he had developed during the year. He remarked that the results were very surprising and he learned that the shortest route to take was NOT a straight line but included zigzag directions and doubling back to take the best advantage of the mathematical SPSS algorithms.

He conjectured that now that he has broken the "Zydeco Dance Barrier" there will be others who will soon eclipse his record and perhaps do 10 clubs in an evening. He reveals that there is a fellow from Metropolis, a Mr. Bruce Wayne, who has built a special car which uses "OnStar" to transport him quickly between the clubs in an attempt to break the new record. Hayman wishes Bruce the best of luck in his undertaking. Hayman sez that in 50 years, he will return and do it once again just to prove that he can break the "Zydeco Dance Barrier" with the "Right Stuff", even when he reaches middle age.

[posted October 21, 1997]
As of January 1, 2006 Hayman's record as yet to be beaten.