Krewe of Muses 2012

Too busy parading to write, but I have been taking photo and videos. For more information and history about Krewe of Muses, read last year’s post. This year, the theme was “Muses go Shopping.” Celebrity guests included hometown girl, Patricia Clarkson (known here as Councilwoman, Jackie Clarkson’s daughter) riding in the giant lit stiletto and Theresa Andersson, singing live atop a giant swan followed by our beautiful city made of papier mache hats. We even spotted Ted Danson quietly marching along, taking it all in.

L.A. Celebrity Sitings

This week, I traveled back to Los Angeles to attend to some things for my upcoming part in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Though I was thrilled beyond compare to be embarking on that journey, it was bittersweet to be leaving NOLA in the middle of Mardi Gras.

Krewe of Oshun kicks off Mardi Gras

Krewe of Oshun rolled St. Charles as the first official Uptown parade of the season. No time to write so if you want more information about the parade, check out last year’s post. This year’s theme was “Child’s Play” with 19 floats based on nursery rhymes. Deborah Singleton Rogers was this year’s Queen Oshun and Ronald Joseph Lewis Jr. served as King Shango. Grand Marshal was former City Councilman and Treme guest star (playing himself), Oliver Thomas.

Got Gumbo? 2012

Where can you get all-you-can-eat gumbo from over 20 NOLA restaurants and help out the United Way? The annual Got Gumbo? event at the Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter. With competitions for best traditional, seafood and exotic gumbos, the chefs show off their best recipes on tables decorated as parade floats complete with throws. There’s even a dessert competition.

Second Line 101 with Treme Sidewalk Steppers and Rebirth

If you grew up in New Orleans, a second line is second nature, a near-weekly event. The “first line” of any parade consists of a brass band and the primary paraders (in a funeral procession this would include the family). The “second line” is anyone who follows the parade along its route. The bopping strut dance that paraders employ is also called the “second line.” The parades are generally not connected to any particular event. It’s parading for parading’s sake.

Many second lines are sponsored by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs (S & P’s). S & P’s began in the 1800′s when the end of slavery necessitated banding together to create a version of insurance.

Krewe de Vieux and Krewedelusion 2012

It’s Carnival time!!! Kids on Christmas Eve have got nothing on New Orleanians anticipating Mardi Gras so when I heard a brass band passing through the French Quarter Saturday afternoon, I ran to find The Roots of Music marching through the the streets, rehearsing for their 6 upcoming parades, and squealed with delight. Enjoy the short video of the casually dressed but very skilled kids who’ve dedicated themselves to training after school with this wonderful non-profit group. They certainly got me in the mood for Krewe du Vieux and Krewedelusion’s parades later that evening.

Mardi Gras Decorations!

Decorating for Mardi Gras is a new habit for me, but it’s quickly become one of my favorites. It starts with taking down the red and green glass balls and my fussy handmade Christmas ornaments and replacing them with silly handmade purple, green and gold ornaments and medallions from beads caught in previous parades. Just like unpacking my Christmas ornaments is like a trip down a candy-cane lined memory lane, now taking out my Mardi Gras ornaments transports me back to St. Charles Avenue, catching prize medallions from Muses or Bacchus or Thoth. My treasures are my 4 strands of beads thrown by Saints at the Victory Parade after the 2010 Super Bowl.

Comic Con and Butcher

This weekend, I attended my first ever Comic Con. I’ve heard about them for years, mostly stereotypes about nerds who love fake universes more than deodorant. Walking through the convention center in my Video Archives t-shirt (the video shop where Tarantino worked for a decade), we passed through a crowd heading to the car show and another group for the jewelry show before finding our way to the costumed crowd of Comic Con. New Orleans loves any excuse to wear a costume, but this was different. Rather than the petticoats and beaded concoctions we donn with second line umbrellas, these were elaborate soldiers from future wars, intergalactic creatures with blue or orange skin and chain mail-covered warriors and their corseted damsels. 

St. Louis Cemetery #1 and Armstrong Park

I’ve spent most of my life in D.C., New York and L.A. That is to say, I’ve spent most of my life in tourist destinations, stuck in traffic behind someone with a map and sharing sidewalks with people looking up and pointing. New Orleans is yet another of these many destinations, a magical and historical place that attracts people from all over the world. Before I left the East Coast, I made a serious effort to enjoy the attractions people came from far and wide to see. I went to monuments and museums. Instead of seeing them through the eyes of a kid who’d “been there, done that” since my many elementary school field trips, I pretended I was from Nebraska and seeing it all for the first time.

Evergreen Plantation on MLK Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I visited the beautiful and still functioning Evergreen Plantation, a privately owned sugar farm that offers walking tours. Built in 1790 and located on 2200 acres on the River Road with neighbors such as Oak Alley and Laura’s Plantation, the estate is best known as “the most intact plantation complex” in the south. The grounds holds 37 buildings, including 22 slave cabins. Touring a plantation is an odd way to spend MLK Day but it was a good day to reflect on what has come before and where we are now.