Super Sunday is easily one of my favorite days of the years. The magnificent Mardi Gras Indians show off the plumed and embellished suits they spent the year carefully designing and crafting. Elaborately beaded panels often portray tales of fighting and loss. One family told the story of the wife’s battle with illness and her husband carrying her through the fight. One of the children in the Red Flag Hunters was adorned with sparkly images of Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and friends. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Social Aid and Pleasure Club
Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday – Photos!
Filed under Culture, decorations and costumes, free events and lagniappe, history, parade
Happy Jazz Fest!
Though we have festivals all year round, the Mac Daddy is probably the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. All the other festivals are free so the $60 a day price tag keeps many locals away but Jazz Fest draws music lovers and bands from all over the country, even the world. We got there early and ate before the line for fest favorite Crawfish Monica ($7) from Kajun Kettle Foods got ridiculously long. The Prejean’s Restaurant Pheasant, Quail and Andouille Gumbo ($6) was delicious. Continue reading
Filed under Concerts, Culture, decorations and costumes, festival, Local Cuisine
Second Line 101 with Treme Sidewalk Steppers and Rebirth
If you grew up in New Orleans, a second line is second nature, a near-weekly event. The “first line” of any parade consists of a brass band and the primary paraders (in a funeral procession this would include the family). The “second line” is anyone who follows the parade along its route. The bopping strut dance that paraders employ is also called the “second line.” The parades are generally not connected to any particular event. It’s parading for parading’s sake.
Many second lines are sponsored by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs (S & P’s). S & P’s began in the 1800’s when the end of slavery necessitated banding together to create a version of insurance. Continue reading
Filed under Charity, Concerts, Culture, decorations and costumes, free events and lagniappe, history, Local Cuisine, parade, the Saints, walking
Jazz Fest from the Beer Booth
Did you know you can attend Jazz Fest for free while helping your community? Turns out there are many ways to volunteer at Jazz Fest. When I found out that Raintree Children and Family Services would be working the Fireman’s beer booth 2 days this Fest, I was in! Raintree (founded in 1926) offers services for foster care children, children with disabilities and at-risk children. They also have a home for teenaged girls who were unable to find placement in the foster care system. The booth faced the Acura Stage, the largest stage at the Fest and host to the more popular bands, so though I couldn’t hop around, I was treated to fairly non-stop wonderful music. Continue reading
Filed under Concerts, decorations and costumes, festival, Local Cuisine, parade
The Funeral for Albert Joseph Jackson, the Moses of Magazine Street
Though death hurts just as much here as it does anywhere else, a funeral here can be a really good time. The funeral, repass and second line for Albert Joseph Jackson, the Moses of Magazine Street, were a really good time. The church was filled with Albert’s rather large and loving family and the some of the many people Albert affected in our community. Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Local Cuisine, moving, parade, Super Bowl 2010, the Saints, walking