Mardi Gras 2008
It amazes me the way that New Orleans gets all caught up in Carnival in January and February while the rest of the country just shivers in the cold winter weather. I spoke with a number of folks from 'out there' who just remembered it was Ash Wednesday on Ash Wednesday! Really? You didn't know? Sorry, but our whole city has been busting its butt to get some partying in before Lent begins in a collective dance of beads, parades, booze and reverie for the last 118 straight hours and you just remember now that its Ash Wednesday? Where have you been? Personally, I don't know where I've been for the last few days, but I know darn well that it was Mardi Gras.
Truth be told, we didn't get too wild this Mardi Gras. That's because waking up at 6:30am to get ready to walk to a parade, catch beads, drink Bloody Mary's, and wave to the mayor as he passed by on horseback dressed as an Indian Chief is no longer considered 'wild' to us. We've lived in New Orleans for a year and nearly 5 months now. This stuff is old hat.
Again, I am not telling the truth. Mardi Gras is never old hat. We started out the season with a wonderful viewing of Krewe de Vieux, the 'don't bring the kids' parade through the Marigny and French Quarter. There was excellent music and wonderfully naughty satire that paired beautifully with an Irish Coffee on a chilly night. The theme was 'Magical Misery Tour', so the floats and sub krewes were a mix of New Orleans satire and plays on Beatles songs and albums. I think my favorite was 'We All Live in a Jello Shot Machine'.
A few weeks later, Mardi Gras weekend arrived, unfortunately with some canceled parades due to poor weather. However, in the true spirit of the season, we enjoyed good food and good company at a friend's house near the parade route despite the cancellations. The conversation that night brough us to fantastical and uncharted New Orleans lore, including a monkey named 'Pinky' who gets her nails and hair done regularly, other monkeys who were used to breed biological weapons, close personal ties to families with origins on a certain Mediterranean island that will go unnamed and who have a hand in the dark world of this and other cities (mum's the word, capiche?), and the assassination of a president. This town has layers.
Saturday (aka Samedi Gras) marked the return of Endymion (pronounced: en-dim-EE-un) to its original route throught Mid-City, and one block from our house (picture above). We did NOT know what were in store for, but we began to understand when people started sitting in their lawn chairs on the parade route on Tuesday of that week (5 days early). This is a big parade. Thousands of people spent the night on the neutral grounds of Orleans Ave, Carrollton Ave, and Canal St in anticipation of the 4:15pm start in Saturday. We live at the beginning of the route and decided to throw a party for after the parade. This turned out to be a bad idea as none of our potential guests were able to reach our house due to the crowds. The last floats of the parade did not pass the beginning of the route until 9:30pm! In the end only a few troopers made it to our house, but it was all the better for me as plenty of cookies and ganache cake were left over (Megan can coo-oo-oo-ook!).
Sunday we caught a few more big parades down on St. Charles Ave. An interesting mix of revelers and rebel-ers gather near Lee Circle. Even in celebration New Orleans can astound you with her dichotomies. A highlight that night was listening as parade goers relayed radio broadcasts of the excitement of the final plays of the Superbowl as New Orleans' own Eli Manning led the Giants to victory. A loud cheer erupted from observers and paraders alike.
Monday (Lundi Gras) was a work day, BOO! But that night we caught a magnificent show at Tipitina's that included an opening band called the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. Those guys would play the most rockin' Bar Mitzvah there ever was. They were even joined on-stage for a song by hip-hop artist and orthodox Jew, Matisyahu. He wears a long beard, a wide brimmed hat and a white scarf and raps/sings exquisitely about the Middle East, politics, world peace, and love. One song and he was gone in a flash of beard, wide hat and white scarf. He is very well know nationally and internationally, so it was a treat to see him perform - plus he is a downright silly dancer.
Galactic was the headliner, joined on stage by Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, and they funked it up (in the positive, musical sense). We made it all the way to the end of the first set - at 3:30am before we had to call it a night.
We crashed at our friend's place off the parade route and were up before 7am (dedication!) on Mardi Gras day to watch Zulu roll. This is the most unique of the big parades, with mostly black riders wearing black-face and 'African' costumes. The prize 'throw' is the coveted Zulu coconut. We didn't get one, but there was a couple that made up signs using their baby as bait to get a coconut ('Throw one to d' baby!'). The audacity, you have to respect it.
In an all too New Orleans moment, Megan realized the folks with the baby sat behind us on the plane ride to Minnesota for the holidays in December. They are natives of the land of 10,000 lakes. They shared their Bloody Mary's with us (picture above), and their Mardi Gras too!
This is a small town and a great party. We were in bed by 11am on Mardi Gras day.
Truth be told, we didn't get too wild this Mardi Gras. That's because waking up at 6:30am to get ready to walk to a parade, catch beads, drink Bloody Mary's, and wave to the mayor as he passed by on horseback dressed as an Indian Chief is no longer considered 'wild' to us. We've lived in New Orleans for a year and nearly 5 months now. This stuff is old hat.
Again, I am not telling the truth. Mardi Gras is never old hat. We started out the season with a wonderful viewing of Krewe de Vieux, the 'don't bring the kids' parade through the Marigny and French Quarter. There was excellent music and wonderfully naughty satire that paired beautifully with an Irish Coffee on a chilly night. The theme was 'Magical Misery Tour', so the floats and sub krewes were a mix of New Orleans satire and plays on Beatles songs and albums. I think my favorite was 'We All Live in a Jello Shot Machine'.
A few weeks later, Mardi Gras weekend arrived, unfortunately with some canceled parades due to poor weather. However, in the true spirit of the season, we enjoyed good food and good company at a friend's house near the parade route despite the cancellations. The conversation that night brough us to fantastical and uncharted New Orleans lore, including a monkey named 'Pinky' who gets her nails and hair done regularly, other monkeys who were used to breed biological weapons, close personal ties to families with origins on a certain Mediterranean island that will go unnamed and who have a hand in the dark world of this and other cities (mum's the word, capiche?), and the assassination of a president. This town has layers.
Saturday (aka Samedi Gras) marked the return of Endymion (pronounced: en-dim-EE-un) to its original route throught Mid-City, and one block from our house (picture above). We did NOT know what were in store for, but we began to understand when people started sitting in their lawn chairs on the parade route on Tuesday of that week (5 days early). This is a big parade. Thousands of people spent the night on the neutral grounds of Orleans Ave, Carrollton Ave, and Canal St in anticipation of the 4:15pm start in Saturday. We live at the beginning of the route and decided to throw a party for after the parade. This turned out to be a bad idea as none of our potential guests were able to reach our house due to the crowds. The last floats of the parade did not pass the beginning of the route until 9:30pm! In the end only a few troopers made it to our house, but it was all the better for me as plenty of cookies and ganache cake were left over (Megan can coo-oo-oo-ook!).
Sunday we caught a few more big parades down on St. Charles Ave. An interesting mix of revelers and rebel-ers gather near Lee Circle. Even in celebration New Orleans can astound you with her dichotomies. A highlight that night was listening as parade goers relayed radio broadcasts of the excitement of the final plays of the Superbowl as New Orleans' own Eli Manning led the Giants to victory. A loud cheer erupted from observers and paraders alike.
Monday (Lundi Gras) was a work day, BOO! But that night we caught a magnificent show at Tipitina's that included an opening band called the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. Those guys would play the most rockin' Bar Mitzvah there ever was. They were even joined on-stage for a song by hip-hop artist and orthodox Jew, Matisyahu. He wears a long beard, a wide brimmed hat and a white scarf and raps/sings exquisitely about the Middle East, politics, world peace, and love. One song and he was gone in a flash of beard, wide hat and white scarf. He is very well know nationally and internationally, so it was a treat to see him perform - plus he is a downright silly dancer.
Galactic was the headliner, joined on stage by Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, and they funked it up (in the positive, musical sense). We made it all the way to the end of the first set - at 3:30am before we had to call it a night.
We crashed at our friend's place off the parade route and were up before 7am (dedication!) on Mardi Gras day to watch Zulu roll. This is the most unique of the big parades, with mostly black riders wearing black-face and 'African' costumes. The prize 'throw' is the coveted Zulu coconut. We didn't get one, but there was a couple that made up signs using their baby as bait to get a coconut ('Throw one to d' baby!'). The audacity, you have to respect it.In an all too New Orleans moment, Megan realized the folks with the baby sat behind us on the plane ride to Minnesota for the holidays in December. They are natives of the land of 10,000 lakes. They shared their Bloody Mary's with us (picture above), and their Mardi Gras too!
This is a small town and a great party. We were in bed by 11am on Mardi Gras day.
posted by Jake at 9:07 PM
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