Posts Tagged ‘parade’

Yesterday was Super Sunday, rescheduled from last week, when it was windy and rain threatened. Instead it was absolutely gorgeous… both the weather and the suits, of course.

We’ve been going long enough now to recognize many of the players, but the person who caught my eye most was my favorite little Indian:

I’ve got pics of her strutting her stuff last year, and 2008.

I didn’t upload as far back as 2007, but now I’m going to have to go back and see if I have pics of her then, too. She’s fascinating to watch, totally self possessed and in charge. This one’s gonna be a heartbreaker, folks…if she’s not already.

And while she’s growing up, the next generation is on the scene:

While their elders are there to show them the way…

Like I said, a gorgeous day all around. To see more of the Indians, click here.

One of the reasons d’Etat’s one of my absolute favorites (other than their scathing wit, of course) is their embrace of the old fashioned grotesqueries. In a time when everything has got to be perfectly scrubbed and lovely it’s nice to have a bit of the flavor of what it was originally about. A little danger, a little mortality reminds you to really enjoy the fun on offer.

More d’Etat here.

Words cannot express how amazing this was. It was freezing, nobody cared. It was mobbed, everybody was thrilled. It was phenominally loud, noone expected anything different.

Cars waited for three hours in traffic to get into and out of the city-crowd estimates were 800,000+, pretty amazing when the metro population is around 300k. School bands from all over the state had learned to play Saints anthems and the players themselves were having a fantastic time.

When it was all over the Saints disembarked at Mardi Gras World and disbursed to all points. Drew Brees actually headed to a local dive that’s right around the corner from my office. Sigh. If only we’d known. He hopped behind the bar and took over, ultimately teaching the crowd his chant:

Is he just the nicest, most down to earth guy ever?

Bless you boys. It’s a great time to be in Nola!

I just don’t know about Mardi Gras this year; it seems so…well, so small next to the Superbowl.

Think about it: we have Carnival every year, but this is our first Superbowl in 43 years. To call things ‘a bit crazy here right now’ might be the understatement of the century. Add to that next week’s election where no matter who wins their last name will NOT be Nagin? Forget it. Might as well leave an Out-of-Office message for the entire city, telling people we’ll be back…oh, say around French Quarter Fest.

Today’s insanity was the Buddy D parade. Buddy was a legendary sportscaster in the city, as long suffering a fan as ever there was, and he once said that if the Saints made it to the Superbowl he’d dance in the streets in a dress. Buddy died in 2005, but his memory lives on and so today, one week before the big game we held a parade. Several thousand people showed up in the cold, almost all of the men in drag, everybody thrilled.

More photo & video at the T-P here, including a great shot of the crowd- it really was massive.

Schools are closing the Monday after the game, on the assumption that the parents aren’t going to be mobile, one way or the other. A judge has postponed a trial because he can’t seat a jury due to Saintsmania (his word- apparently now an official legal term?). Of course, win or lose, we’ll have a post-game parade, too, not to mention who-knows-how-many impromptu parades over the week.

Okay, so we’re a little…um…overly enthusiastic. But tell the truth… don’t you wish you were here?

After a day of visiting various cemeteries to see what everyone was doing on this post Halloween holiday, I went to the Backstreet Museum’s 10th anniversary Second Line. More photos to follow, but this one was coming into the home stretch, turning off Rampart and back toward the Museum.

On Saturday, Alison had zero interest in going to the parade, even before she knew it was supposed to rain. After years of parades, she’s got the jaded teen thing down pat.

Just as I’ve been looking at how this contrasted with her first year of we-have-to-go-to-every-single-parade-everywhere, I got a message from my sister about the year that we came down for St. Patrick’s/St. Joseph’s weekend and how bizarre it was.

The three of us had no idea what was coming. Suddenly there were drunken Irishmen & Italians dancing down Bourbon Street with flowers and kisses. It was absolutely magical.

And- I know this is shocking- the paraders weren’t the only ones who were a little tipsy…

And after we got back, 7 year old Alison was just in love with the schwag, and wouldn’t give it up…though she has given it up. At least for now. I’m sure the magic will return.

So, for now, for her benefit, the rest of us will pretend to be grownups.

So this year, his third marching in the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day parade, Charlie went whole hog and got the kilt to go with the flower cane…

and loooked damn good in it, too.

We had 2.5 inches of rain on Saturday…but no thunder, so the parade rolled!

Actually, there was one bit of thunder- the marcher’s Mass let out less than a minute after the hardest downfall of the day ended- when they opened the doors the cheer was so loud I heard it 5 blocks away.

BTW, just how Irish is this guy?

ALL the Irish. That’s how Irish.

Still, a good time had by all. The Mardi Gras Indians didn’t fare so well- their Super Sunday parade was to be this weekend, but they got rained out. That’s alright- gotta save something for next weekend, right?

We missed the parade because of Prom, but were there for the big afterparty and had a very good time quaffing and suchlike.

Love this…the required proper attire is clearly a relative thing.

Lots of bemused tourists were Aaarrrghed at, and I proved something I long assumed- no matter how fierce your outfit (or, okay, costume), it is impossible to look tough holding a bright red Hurricane or lime green Hand Grenade.
Read the rest of this entry »

We thought we were going to miss all the goings on in the French Quarter this year, but as we returned from Bywater, we passed by the gay parade lining up and having a wonderful time, so naturally we had to stop and join the party for a little bit.

The morning parade is more of your standard idea of an Easter parade- big hats, lots of pastels, and because it’s New Orleans, beads.

The afternoon parade- this one- is rowdy and raucus, full of attitude, short on throws, but that’s just fine. There are Drag Queens by the score, leather guys, supportive local businesses and parents, and who knows who else.

Several bemused tourists wandered by, wondering what on earth was going on. Locals honked and cheered as they drove by on Rampart Street. A parade member, a guy on a decorated Segway (remember those?) berated a somewhat uncomfortable cop on a motorcyle: “That’s because you’re just a mean old white man, that’s all!” The ever-increasingly uncomfortable cop was quite young, and the berater was also white, so I have no idea what that might’ve been about, but in the spirit of the day, everything was let slide.

If you missed it, you missed quite the time, but there’s always the slideshow after the jump.

And so concludes Easter ’08!
Read the rest of this entry »