Founded in 2000 and named for the god of dreams, Krewe of Morpheus is a quickly growing co-ed krewe that caps the 3 parade Friday night extravaganza like a climactic burst of fireworks. The theme this year was, “Morpheus Sings a Tune,” and featured floats of Elton John, Elvis and Michael Jackson among others. Membership is open and the 500 or so members get together several times throughout the year for social gatherings and fundraisers.
I was finally in the right-ish spot to see a bunch of the local dance troupes strut their stuff during the many times the parade came to a halt. Pure Envy, XTreme Voltage and Operation Dance showed us some of their moves as well as the Superstar Steppers, Candy Girls and the adorable and skilled Twirling Dolls.
There were plenty of great school bands like O. Perry Walker, Archbishop Shaw and their Eaglettes, L.W. Higgins, St. Mary’s, Sarah T. Reed, Helen Cox, Behrman, West Jefferson and Kipp Renaissance and well as marching bands from other cities. Both Kirby and Oakhaven represented Memphis and the energetic Harper (featured on Oprah) was there from Chicago. Oakhaven ended up parked in front of us during one of the many times the parade came to a halt. They played it cool for awhile, keeping a regular drum beat as dancers moved hips rhythmically, but finally they broke out a guaranteed crowd pleaser and brought us to life with their rendition of, “Stand Up and Get Crunk.”
We enjoyed cowboys on horseback and parade staple Arnie’s Jazz Gents and much more before the krewe rolled off in the distance leaving the crowd littered with “blinkies” and toting overflowing bags of beads.
L.A. to N.O.LA 