Watch Country Roads editor James Fox-Smith on WAFB's 9 News This Morning as he discusses some of the unique events in our area one can explore in the coming month. Visit WAFB.com for times and dates!

Events for the month of June 2009:

MUSIC

June 18 - July 10
Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz,

Consider peeling yourself off the floor by the air conditioner for some of the sultry summer tunes offered in the LSU School of Music’s Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz series, presented in the cool comfort of the Claude Shaver Theatre. Here’s who’s to come:
• Thursday, June 18: Vocalist Philip Manuel.
• Friday, June 19: A “Trumpet Summit” featuring jazz trumpeter and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh faculty member Marty Robinson and LSU faculty trumpeter Brian Shaw.
• Thursday, June 25: saxophonist Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson.
• Friday, June 26: vocalist Germaine Bazzle with Wess Anderson.
• Friday, July 10: “The Johnny Mercer Songbook, with St. Louis-based vocalist and trumpeter Tom Birkner.
The guest artists will perform with LSU faculty pianist Willis Delony, bassist Bill Grimes, trumpeter Brian Shaw and Baton Rouge drummer Troy Davis.
Get your tickets ($15 adults, $6 students) early. Each of these concerts usually sells out well in advance. Seating is limited to 270; a cash bar opens at 7:15 pm, 45 minutes before each concert. (225) 578-3261. The programs will be different each night.


FAIRS & FESTIVALS

June 20
Louisiana Bicycle Festival

Abita Springs becomes even more of a creative cyclist’s paradise than usual this Father’s Day weekend, as it’s done yearly since 2000. In addition to a bike parade and bike garage sale, the Louisiana Bicycle Festival mounts a bike design competition with various categories. You’ll see bikes from every era, many of the older ones in original condition; others tricked out for modern riders. Decorated, novelty and custom bikes get their due, as do art made from bikes and/or their parts. Who will win best of show? Only one sure way to find out! Live music and festival food, too, at a bike fest that the web-zine Bike Ride & Custom has declared “the biggest custom bike festival in the United States.” Held on the grounds of the UCM Museum (you-see-’em ... get it?), easily the oddest and arguably the most interesting museum in the state. 10 am-4 pm. Free. 22275 Highway 36. (985) 892-2624.

FAIRS & FESTIVALS

June 27 - June 28
Lacombe Crab Festival, Lacombe, La

June is definitively not a good time to be a crustacean in St. Tammany Parish. This crab-fueled fiesta has been doing its part to celebrate the height of crab season each June since 1977, and again this year the fest takes over the community center at John Davis Park. The largest crab-themed festival in the South centers around the huge Sparky Arceneaux Crab Cook-Off on Saturday, with a gumbo cook-off to follow on Sunday. Both events are at 1 pm. Those who would like to enter the crab cook-off are welcome to bring a seafood dish containing crab. Groups wishing to enter the Gumbo competition may do so for $50. Celebrity judges will sample entries (tough job) and award prizes accordingly. Between times festival goers lose themselves amid nonstop live entertainment, games, an interactive heritage village, and a wide array of seafood and crab dishes presented by local restaurateurs. 11 am-11 pm Saturday, noon-9 pm Sunday in John Davis Park. $3 adults entering before 5 pm; $5 adults after 5 pm; free for children. (985) 882-3010 or www.lacombecrabfest.com.
FILM

June 19
Cocktails and Cult Classics at Manship, Baton Rouge, La

This summer Manship Theatre introduces its 2009 Cult Film Series, which means a summer of cult classics on the big screen at Manship Theatre, with cocktails available. The movies lined up are A Clockwork Orange (June 19), Purple Rain (July 17) and The Road Warrior (August 14). Even in the Louisiana summer, does it get much cooler than that? 10 pm at 100 Lafayette Street. $8 for one film or $20 for all three. (225) 344-0334 or manshiptheatre.org.