Krewe du Vieux and Krewe Delusion 2013

Last week, I attended the last My Darlin’ New Orleans event thrown by the producers of HBO’s Treme. It was bittersweet as it means the show will end next season. Our city is the better for the jobs the production created, the peek it gave others into our unique local culture and the light it shined on the Mardi Gras Indians and a little known parade called Krewe Du Vieux. Among the many amazing performances that night was Al Johnson singing his classic It’s Carnival Time.

Saints Finish Strong

In a well-played upset, the Seattle Seahawks ended the Saints bid for this year’s Super Bowl and our chances at a 2 Dat. After the game, I put my black and gold knit cap and scarf over my Who Dat jewelry and Saints shirt and headed down to Bourbon Street to share my pride and disappointment with the city. People were surprisingly upbeat. Not dancing in the streets like last year, but upbeat.

A perfect New Year’s Eve

Every year, I look forward to/dread New Year’s Eve. I look forward to fresh starts and new attitudes and celebrations and fireworks and gatherings. I dread parking and crowds and the sinking feeling that I might have no one to kiss at midnight.

Once in a while, a perfect day comes along, a day even better than the one in your imagination. New Year’s Eve 2010 was such a day.

Halloween and the Saints – Boo Dat!

Apparently, Halloween is the third largest holiday in New Orleans, but don’t quote me on that as I got the info from a bartender finishing his shift at Rawhide, not the Guinness World Book of Records. But Guinness was here to count how many people wore costumes to the Saints game Sunday. With almost 18,000 people in costumes – mostly black and gold, we set the record for the largest costume party.

Street Legal and the French Quarter

First, I got a Louisiana State driver’s license and registered to vote. Then, I registered my car in the state. But, I wasn’t done yet. In L.A., we had to get a smog check once a year. In New Orleans, you’re not road ready until you get a “brake tag.” People take the brake tag very seriously. So seriously that the woman at the DMV told me not to put on my new plate until I had the brake tag. Everyone made it sound like a very serious test. Many had pointers.

Treme again

For those of you who caught the show and wondered if we really do have brass bands playing in the airport, the answer is – yes, sometimes, and it is always the best airport music I’ve ever heard, a welcome that sets the tone for time in the Big Easy.

Believe Dat!

What a glorious and amazing day. The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl! For the first time ever at their first Super Bowl ever and with plenty of points to spare. I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have moved here this of all years.

Why Football Matters

I’m sure there are many answers as to why football matters, but I’m getting a big reminder of why it matters to me. As a child, before the days of VCR’s and TIVO, my father once asked me to watch a game while he was hosting a gathering in our home. He wanted me to tell him everything that he missed between runs up to the TV. I believe it was the Redskins (my home team) against Miami. That day, football went from being something that took my dad’s attention away from me to something we could share and I went from a kid who didn’t care about the game to a Redskin’s fan.

Krewe de Vieux (R-rated photos)

Last night, I took the bus down to the French Quarter to attend the Krewe de Vieux parade. It’s a very bawdy politically satirical parade cometing on local and national politics. According to www.mardigrasparadechedule.com, “The Krewe grew from about 150 drunks stumbling through the French Quarter in search of a bar, to become a relatively well-organized group of about 600 (most of them still drunk), with an actual parade route.”

WHO DAT?!?!

The Saints are going to the Superbowl and the city couldn’t be happier.

The day started small. Waved hello to a neighbor walking her dog on a leash made of three strands of Mardi Gras beads (purple, gold and green, of course). Walked to the Quarter, Ipod on, camera in hand. Passed smiling people who would nod and say, “Go Saints.”