A Very Big Easy Birthday Party

New Orleans is known for being a good time and a great place to party. There may be no bigger party in the nation then the marathon of Mardi Gras – especially when we are taking a “break” from Carnival in the middle to have a week of Super Bowl festivities! That said, the only topper would be to celebrate your birthday during this party-palooza. A friend of mine did just that last weekend and it was as good as it gets.

Wizard World Comic Con 2012

As regular readers of this blog know, my schedule has been very crowded lately as we head into the final stretch before Tarantino’s Django Unchained is released (for those who don’t read regularly, I play Leonardo DiCaprio’s sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly in the film). As such, I haven’t had much time to write but I did attend the Wizard World Comic Con  last weekend. I was only there for part of Sunday but we managed to attend 2 Q&A events – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos of History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and Michael Madsen of Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill.

Parades, Festivals, Saints and Treme

Is there another city where 4 parades cross your path by 6pm? It’s not even Mardi Gras, but Saturday was one of those days. There’s nothing like hearing a brass band heading your way, running to door and finding a birthday girl leading a second line, or the talented kids of The Roots of Music marching past or an endless stream of women in neon-lit hats or poodle skirts passing by. The city was hopping this weekend with the Treme Creole Gumbo Fest, Ladyfest, the Falcons getting their asses kicked at the Dome and Veteran’s Day doings. Good thing so much of it passed in front of our door since we were nursing a change-of-season cold and barely left the house.

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. 

The Out of Towners

I’ve had friends here for a week, a couple from L.A. in town for the librarian’s convention. Readers of this blog and web-surfers, they had a pretty long list of things they wanted to do and as a week came to close, I’d have to say they did pretty well crossing things off. We started with a walk through the French Quarter past Jackson Square and down to the river bank. The water has gone down a bit exposing slick algea-covered steps but the Mississippi continues to flow high. We moseyed past Cafe du Monde (which they visited later for some beignets and chicory coffee) and down to the French Market.

Treme – Life Imitating Art Imitating Life

Last week, HBO’s Treme once again killed off a beloved character. I’d been enjoying the episode, continuously intrigued by Councilman Oliver Thomas’ portrayal of himself and the choices he made that led to his downfall and incarceration. We got to see Corey Henry play with Kermit Ruffins as well as a scene at the romantic Columns Hotel on St. Charles. Though they talked about the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s parade and the throwing of cabbage and other food items, there was no footage from the parades. If you feel you missed out, check out my video from this year’s parade. But, the whole episode was leading to the shock of the senseless murder of a valued musician and I’ll admit it left me with some rare trouble sleeping.