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Black Market Trust, billed as a “high-energy living room swing band,” is bringing its intricate harmonies and Rat Pack-style comedy to Morgan City Municipal Auditorium at 7 p.m. April 7.
Single concert tickets are $25 for adults and $5 for students K-12. Season tickets are now on sale for the 2021-2022 Concert Season. All tickets, subscription or single concert, are available online at www.morgancitylive.com or at the door.
According to promotional material, Black Market Trust is an American pop-vocal jazz band that combines the sounds of the great American crooners and vocal groups with the romantic Eastern European gypsy fire of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
The band, made up of five world-class musicians, has toured the world extensively and performed on some of the world’s biggest stages and with some of the most renowned artists in musical history.
Merging their love of everything from The Mills Brothers to The Beach Boys, Sinatra to Lennon-McCartney, their performances feature re-imagined staples from the Great American Songbook in their unique, organically created sound that is daring, fresh and exciting yet somehow still familiar and inviting.

Members of the Louisiana House Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee have approved a bill to outlaw hand-held cell phones while driving, a measure experts said has reduced distracted driving in neighboring states.
The committee voted unanimously Tuesday to approve House Bill 376, sponsored by Rep. Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, to prohibit the use of cell phones while driving, with certain exceptions.
The same bill was approved by the House but fell short in the Senate during the last legislative session.
“This bill is not to keep people from using a phone when driving a vehicle. The last thing I want is to keep a young child from not being able to use a phone to call their mom or dad … or a mother who needs to call for an emergency,” Huval said.
“This is not what this bill is about. It’s trying to promote safe driving, this is all this is for.”
Provisions in the bill allow for community service, rather than a fine, for violations, and exceptions for police, firefighters and EMS workers. There’s also exceptions for reporting emergencies and crimes, life-and-death situations, and communications devices such as CB radios that are attached to a vehicle.
“We’re not doing this to give tickets. We’re not doing this to raise money,” Huval said. “If you happen to want to pay for it instead of your community service, of course, you can pay for it.”
Fines included in HB 376 range from $50 for a first offense up to $300 for a third offense.
“If the operator of a motor vehicle is involved in a crash at the time of the violation, the fine shall be equal to double the amount of the standard fine imposed,” according to the bill. “The law enforcement officer investigating the crash shall indicate on the written accident report that the operator of the motor vehicle was using a wireless telecommunications device at the time of the crash.”
The bill also includes provisions requiring police who issue tickets to record the race and ethnicity of the violator, to ensure the law doesn’t result in racial profiling. That information is forwarded to the federal government for analysis, Huval told the committee.
Jennifer Smith, CEO of stopdistractions.org, an advocacy group promoting the legislation in Louisiana and other states, explained the data collection component and other aspects in the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
“There’s a provision in there that has data collection on police stops, so they collect the data to track the ethnicity of the driver, racial profiling data,” Smith said. “There’s also additional search protection, so police cannot search the vehicle, the drivers, any of its passengers or the phone.
“There’s a federal grant, called the 1906 grant, that the government is really trying to promote, that they even just beefed up in the recent transportation bill,” she said. “These grants will pay for the collection and analysis of that data, but will also now pay for public education, outreach and training, so it’s a really great addition that could really help.”
Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have similar laws, and data from other states shows they are effective, Smith said.
“Georgia’s hands free law for distracted driving crashes the first year they had the law in effect in 2019, which was half the year, there was a 48% drop in distracted driving crashes,” she said. “And they saw about a seven to 12 percent drop since in all fatalities.”
Huval told the committee the bill calls for officers to issue warnings through the end of the year, to give residents time to acclimate to the change.
HB 376 is now on the House floor, where lawmakers voted 77-20 to approve a similar Huval-sponsored bill last session.

People 21 and over have the chance to sample some of the best craft beers from Louisiana on Saturday at the Basin Brew Fest in downtown Morgan City.
General admission tickets are still available at $40, and designated driver tickets will be available at $5 at the entry gate.
The event opens to general admission ticket-holders at 1 p.m. and will continue until 4 p.m. All entries, with no exceptions, require an ID.
Members of the military, law enforcement officers and first responders who bring identification will receive a free beer at the Tap Trailer.
Two-ounce samples will be available from Abita, Bayou Teche Brewing, Gnarly Barley, Parish Brewing Co. and other brewers.
There will also be a homebrew competition.
Attendees will be able to vote for the People’s Choice Award-winner.
The BBF Committee Food Tent will serve hamburgers, sausage po’boys, boudin and cheese egg rolls, chips, bagged pretzels, soft drinks and water.
The Merch Booth will have event T-shirts, 2020 shirts, koozies, stickers and raffle tickets for sale. Big winners get a K2 Cooler filled with craft beer at the end of the event.
Rescue Revolution will be present with adoptable animals and info and information.
They will be collecting donations: treats, blankets, towels and cat food. Dog food will not be accepted. Donations get you a free beer from the Tap Trailer.
No animals will be taken home from the event. Home checks are required prior to adoption.
Live music will be by Forgetting Last Friday.

Danos’ scaffolding service line has reached the notable milestone of working over 1 million man-hours without a recordable incident as classified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
This safety record began in 2014 when the company first established scaffolding as a service offering.
“Since our company’s establishment in 1947, the health and safety of our employees has been an uncompromised value,” said CEO Paul Danos. “This safety achievement by our scaffolding team is a direct reflection of their commitment to that value.”
The scaffolding team performs work on both land-based and Gulf of Mexico projects. As of March 1, the crew worked 2,981 days without a recordable incident, a total of 1.1 million man-hours.
“From daily Job Safety and Environmental Analyses and weekly safety calls, to our biannual safety events, our employees are diligent about safe work practices,” said Danos.
“It’s critical to how we do business.”
In addition to the scaffolding team’s record, several other Danos service lines have met the milestone of working one million-man hours without a recordable incident, as classified by OSHA:
--With nearly 13 years of incident-free operations, the Danos fabrication team has worked over 1.7 million-man hours without a recordable incident.
--Collectively known as energy systems, Danos’ automation, instrumentation and electrical, mechanical maintenance, power generation, and valve and well head service lines have worked over 1.3 million man-hours without a recordable incident.
Founded in 1947, Danos is a family-owned and managed energy service provider.