As readers of this blog know, I’m suffering a major time crunch blogging this year. This has been my busiest, most amazing Mardi Gras ever! I’ve gotten to watch the parades many ways this season – as a regular parade-goer and while dancing with the Pussyfooters in Muses and Thoth and even from Quentin Tarantino’s float in Orpheus. But last Friday was my first time watching from a balcony on the route. At last year’s Greasing of the Poles at the Royal Sonesta, I met the Pussyfooters. It was the beginning of an amazing journey into sisterhood and silliness. This year, I met Saints punter Thomas Morstead. The next thing I knew, we were meeting his wife and friends, eating good food and enjoying the super-crowded parades from his balcony.
To say he was a gracious host is to undersell how welcoming he was. I felt so comfortable, I often forgot that he was the same guy I cheer on Sundays. I wasn’t sure I’d like being so far from the action but I was bone-tired from parading for miles and hours the night before and getting up early Friday for the Greasing of the Poles. I did make a point of going down to street level to catch a bag of goodies from a fan of this blog riding with Krewe d’Etat. My timing was perfect as Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band snare drummer, Derrick Tabb, was just coming to a stop with my favorite youth marching band, The Roots of Music.
I wish I had more time to talk about the parades and the history of their Krewes but I’m super-pressed for time so enjoy the photos and I wish I had more time to label them.
Still to come – Iris and Tucks, Endymion from the bleachers at Gallier Hall and marching with the Pussyfooters in Thoth.
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- Krewe of Hermes rolls
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- Krewe d’Etat begins
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- The Roots of Music
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- The Roots of Music
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- Krewe of Morpheus begins
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- Make a Wish float
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- leftovers
L.A. to N.O.LA 
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