Posts Tagged ‘Parades’

Ah, there’s all kinds of references on the floats this year about Nagin’s impending exit.

Honestly, doesn’t Carnival seem kind of like an afterthought this year? After weeks and weeks of election & Superbowl buildup? What could be better than what we already received? The mayoral race was starting to get nasty- I can only imagine how ugly it would’ve been like if we’d had a Mitch/Troy runoff.

And with Nagin opening his fool mouth on WBOK, trying to stir up racial tensions (again:shock), plus that asshat Riley lying on the same station about Councilperson Head calling him the verboten N-word in emails I just didn’t know what to expect. Of course the email couldn’t be produced (as it doesn’t exist) but with how much Stacy’s been targeted these last two years it was hard to say just how the numbers would fall.

But within half an hour of the polls closing it was clear that both Mitch and Stacey were going to take it in a walk. And now there’s not much left to do but laugh at the floats as we wave buh-bye to Nagoon, trying very hard to make the door hit him in the ass on the way out.

Actually, there is one more thing to be done- get up early tomorrow for the Zulu parade to boo Nagin as he rides by on his horse. It’s the last time we get to do that!

Whoo hoo!

In my wanderings on Sunday I just happened upon our own lovely Prince of Wales group marching and the ladies were front and center as always…

It won’t be too long before it’s time for their annual march in the ‘hood.

After the crazy night before, it was off to Amelia Street, where Alison works as a sitter over Mardi Gras. Most of her charges were riding in Tucks (which follows Iris), so she had some free time to hang out with her cousins.

The twins are 8- Marisa is dark haired and normally the shy one, Nadia the lighter haired and bold as brass tacks.

Marisa held her own, though- she really loved it, and loved that hat with all the balls. Lots of compliments came her way, as they did for Alison when she first wore the hat a couple of years ago. She tried out the ladder, being up at eye level worked out well, and gave her dad and my brother’s shoulders a rest.

Nadia opted for the freedom of the street, picking out her target, waving and jumping, and both girls made out like bandits.

I haven’t had a kid kid at Mardi Gras in years- Alison’s worked the entirety of Carnival the last two years, so I haven’t seen her at all, even though she hardly qualifies as a kid anymore.

But the girls were excited to find out that we have a Costume Box- I think it’s mandatory that if you live in New Orleans, you have a place where all the odds and ends go so that the next time you have go make something out of nothing (you’d be surprised how often that is), you’ve got a base to start with.

Marisa glommed onto this hat- and it is quite the hat- and wore it to the parades. Alison stole it back briefly, and I sighed wistfully, thinking of when she wore it to try and catch the float riders’ eye and snag the best beads.

I had to look for evidence, and there it was.

2005:

2008:

Muses was a little rough this year- the parade was put off because of bad weather on Thursday. Tacked onto the end of Friday, they got going late and suffered a bunch of delays.

We packed it in around 11:30 so the little ones would have some rest before getting up for Tucks in the morning. If you would’ve told me I was going to leave before the last shoe passed, I’d have called you a liar.

But add a gallon of Charlie’s pomegranate margaritas over several hours with no dinner beforehand, add some tired kids, and sometimes you do the previously unimaginable.

Always political, always biting, always hysterical, D’Etat is high on the list of favorites.

The parade starts with the guys in skeleton costumes handing out their newspaper, detailing the floats and the meanings behind them- a fantastic idea because between how quickly they go by and jumping around for beads you can miss a lot of detail, and this is one parade where the genius is in the details.

We’re off to a slow start here- I still haven’t been to an entire parade this season! I’m pretty sure this is a first, but things have slowed down at the office and company arrives in just a few days, so we’re about to kick into high gear.

In the meantime, Alison and I got back Uptown late from the French Quarter and couldn’t get home.

You’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle? Well, we live inside the NOLA Rectangle. The parade route makes 3 sides of the rectangle, and the river makes the last- when Krewes are rolling you cannot get a vehicle in or over those boundaries for hours, so you’d better be where you want to be in time.

Here’s what it looks like- we’re the green arrow- and although the map makes it appear that you can get around the edges, it lies.

We didn’t make the cut, so we walked back from the closest point we could reach, and caught the start of Carrollton’s parade. A few pics after the jump.
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We actually have one Krewe that’s gone to the dogs.

The only two groups that can parade through the French Quarter are Krewe du Vieux and Barkus- neither have massive floats, though both have huge followings.

I’d never gone to Barkus, but Alison and I went down yesterday to catch the goings on. Unfortunately we were pressed for time, so we went to the pre-party, checked some of the hundreds of dogs and had to head back home before the actual parade started.

Their theme for the year is “Raiders of the Lost Bark.” They always use some kind of godforsaken (dogforsaken?) pun, and although any doggie costume is welcome, they encourage going with the theme.

Slideshow after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s funny how it only takes a few blocks on a float to start to sketch out a Philosophy.

Every rider has one- a predisposition toward certain spectator types- it’s inevitable. You’ve spent lots of time and cash on this thing- now who’s going to receive your bounty? Who’s going home empty handed?

On the way home the first time we rode on Mardi Gras day, Charlie declared that although he loved the experience, he might’ve discovered a darker side to his personality than he’d suspected existed.

He’d discovered the joy of withholding.

It’s true. How often in life do you encounter someone annoying…or whiny… or just not whiny enough? Whatever it is- there’s something about that person you don’t like… now how often do you have the ability to do something about it? That’s the power of the float.

But we each had a different style this year- which is the great thing about being in the crowd- with dozens of floats, and dozens of riders per float, there’s bound to be people in the mix who’ll mesh with your particular parade viewing style.

I took a poll, and here’s our group’s breakout:

Charlie’s Philosophy:
Bias toward: misfits, energetic people Bias against: People with boxes, or signs saying "We’re from someplace else! Gimme something!" He wants you to work for it.
Modus Operandi: Thoughtfully & selectively throws a strand at a time, size & quality dependant upon your worthiness.

Christopher’s Philosophy:
Bias toward:Little girls Bias against: Pushy drunks with entitlement issues- particularly the ones who point at the biggest beads onboard and demand them.
M.O.:Leaning waaaaaaay over to hand directly to the little ones- hard experience has taught him to be on the lookout for people jumping in between him and his target. There was one point I thought he was going over the side to kick this guy’s ass who grabbed something before a little girl could get to it.

Beth’s Philosophy:
Bias toward:Everyone! Bias against:No one! M.O.: Huge happy handfuls over the side- get her attention and smile and you’ve just scored whatever you want!

Karen’s Philosophy:
Bias toward:Cute guys Bias against: Personal sobriety. Unfortunately this gets in the way of throwing, but… M.O.: Lives through her whistle- respect the shrill blast and/or give her a wink and she’s yours.

And although she didn’t ride this year, here’s Alison’s Philosophy:
Bias toward: Cool college girl-type role models, little boys for whom she saves some of the grosser beads Bias against:College boys. She holds a grudge against a particularly ill-behaved and drunken group several years ago. Let’s hope this bias sticks with her as she enters college.
M.O.:Send the annoying people to her mother, then, while mom’s occupied, steal her best beads.