BRIEF ARTICLES

New York City , NY Micheline Maynard, September 2004 ARTS BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS LOST AND FOUND: Disaster struck the Lost Bayou Ramblers, an up-and-coming zydeco group, before a performance in Denver this month. On the morning of Sept. 12 the Ramblers emerged from their lodgings to find that their van had been stolen. Inside were their instruments, sheet music and sound system, as well as compact disks and cases of hot sauce, which they sell at concerts. The only thing the Ramblers had left was their accordion, which they had taken inside. For Louis Michot, 25, the group's leader and a third-generation musician, the loss was particularly devastating. Among the stolen instruments was his fiddle, a 1925 Stradivarius copy given to him by his grandfather. Friends and fans in Denver found them instruments and took up a collection so the Ramblers, who include Mr. Michot's brother, Andre, 28, could rent a minivan for the drive home to Lafayette, La. Upon arriving, the Ramblers, whose members are all 30 or younger, were stunned to find that news of the theft, aided by the Internet, had spread throughout the Cajun music community. As a result, the group was flooded with offers of "fiddles, basses, guitars, standup basses, drums, amplifiers" and a complete sound system, Mr. Michot said. A local merchant invited him to pick out any violin in his shop. "It's really mind-blowing," Mr. Michot said by telephone from Lafayette. "First you're destroyed and devastated, then you have all this help, and you wonder how it's happening." The loans will allow the Ramblers to keep their dates on Saturday and Sunday at the Chile Pepper Fiesta, running from noon to 5:30 pm. at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

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