Southern Decadence 2019

Southern Decadence – 5 days of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBTQ community – attracts over 210,000 people annually and creates a $250 million economic impact making it one of the top 5 annual events in New Orleans. It’s also one of my favorite walking parades of the year, an explosion of vibrant colors and fanciful costumes. This year’s theme was Fruit Salad: Come Toss a Good Time which led to a Carmen Miranda inspired spectacle.

Mardi Gras Indians – Super Sunday 2019

Super Sunday is easily one of my favorite days of the year as many of the Mardi Gras Indian tribes step out to show off their stunning suits of beads and feathers. I’m always humbled by the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into the staggeringly beautiful suits our neighbors spend the year carefully designing and crafting with elaborately beaded panels often portraying tales of battle and loss. Weighing up to 150 pounds and costing $3000 or more, the suits portray wildlife or a 3-D version of the Taj Mahal or even a tribute to things that “Ain’t dere no more” like the Jax brewery and the Saints “Dome patrol.”

The big surprise this year was the women. Queen Tahj of the Golden Eagles tribe created a gown rather than a suit. She worked her grandmothers earrings and brooches into her sequin top and her long skirt was beaded with the figures of women and children encircling her to represent her community

Southern Decadence 2018

Southern Decadence is 5 days of costumes, parties and parades celebrating the LGBT community. Marking their 47th year, an M.C. reminded the crowd the event has been around since being gay was illegal.  Now, the long weekend attracts over 210,000 people and creates a $250 million economic impact – making it one of the top 5 annual events in New Orleans.

Good weather held out for most of the Sunday parade, save one fairly brief and cooling shower. Drag queens, dance troupes, pride groups and other revelers took to the streets in costumes

Satchmo Summerfest 2018

Celebrating Louis Armstrong’s birthday,  Satchmo Summerfest kicked off with a sometimes rainy Friday lineup of live music on multiple stages and food. Tents offered shade from the sun and shelter from the showers. Inside the air conditioned Old U.S. Mint, people enjoyed symposiums on Armstrong and related topics.

The day started with The Roots of Music parading down Esplanade.

Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday

After postponing a week for weather, it was 80 and sunny for Super Sunday, one of my favorite days of the years. Staggeringly beautiful and steeped in culture and history, the Mardi Gras Indians fill the streets on Super Sunday wearing plumed and beaded suits they spent the year carefully designing and crafting, bead by bead. We wandered past Baby Dolls dancing and families helping their Indians dress before selecting a burger and sausage combo and following the proprietor to a nearby truck making giant adult sno-balls.

Mardi Gras 2017 Wrap-Up

We’ve heard it a lot in the last few days – this was the best Carnival (Mardi Gras season) in years. In fairness, a lot of it had to do with the extraordinarily wonderful weather. After the 50 degree rain-soaked Krewe of Cleopatra parade,  most days were 70-80 and sunny with breezes. This year, I danced in 3 parades with the Pussyfooters. We were excited to debut our super-hero-inspired capes and signature pink corsets at the Cleopatra parade but mostly ended up covered in dripping-wet plastic sacks. That said, the crowds kept us inspired. Carnival parades are like a perpetual motion machine. The paraders bring energy to the crowds and the crowds bring energy to the paraders.

Though routines are set, each year I get to do new things at Mardi Gras and have new experiences.

Krewe of Freret Parade 2017

The Krewe of Freret paraded for 40 years until the 1990’s then was rebirthed on the parade route 4 years ago. Many members of the new Krewe are the children of the previous membership. I loved that they opened with traditional Baby Dolls, the inspiration for the adult dance troupes you see in parades today. In Saturday’s parade, those troupes included The Chorus Girl Project, Nyxettes and my vote so far for best new dance krewe of the year – Alter Egos. Between their purple afros and their fun, funky moves, they were an instant crowd favorite. The Dames de Perlage put on a great show with their intricately beaded corsets honoring local “saints” like the fictitious Ignatius Reilly, the very real culinary legend Leah Chase and the surreal Big Freedia. Bearded Oysters’s diaphanous wing-capes and Lucha Krewe’s fight-dance moves filled out the entertainment. 

Satchmo Fest 2016

As usual, it was hot-as-heck for Satchmo Fest but the music and food were worth the sweat. Celebrating the life and contributions of Louis Armstrong, the festival moved to Jackson Square this year. Like last year, they charged a $5 admission – a move that still has its kinks (like local employees and neighbors can’t just walk in to grab a plate or a cocktail). The festival featured 2 stages with one focusing more on traditional jazz and the main stage offering a few more-modern takes on Satchmo’s sound.

Saints’ Will Smith Remembered

Super Bowl-winning  Saint, Will Smith, was murdered last week attempting to save his wife’s life after she’d been shot once in each leg. The second line celebrating his life and return home started at the Half Moon Bar, not far from where Smith lost his life, and was headed to the Ooh Poo Pah Doo Bar in the Treme. James Andrews led the band as Baby Dolls, Saints fans and local-born Saint, Keenan Lewis, gathered to hug, dance, sing, pray and cry. The 4 mile parade started with a moment of silence and some words of hope in front of the memorial that’s been climbing up the fence and spreading across the sidewalk.

Brothels, Bordellos and Ladies of the Night Walking Tour

Other than hitting Bourbon Street, I believe the city’s many walking tours and carriage rides must be the most popular tourist activity in New Orleans. Throughout the French Quarter and Garden District, people gather around stringently-licensed tour guides enlivening historical facts (and stories) about everything from architecture and colorful characters to above-ground cemeteries and Voodoo. At night, the Quarter is cluttered with criss-crossing groups of people wanting to learn more about the “most haunted city in America” from one of the city’s many spirit tours (Scary Mary is regarded as the most fact-based fun). But there are many stories locals tell each other that tourists seldom hear. The stories of the city’s brothels and the women who worked them are the subject covered by Two Chicks Walking Tours‘ unique Brothels, Bordellos and Ladies of the Night walking tour.