The Good, The Bad, and Another T-Shirt

Well, the good news is the weather forecast for Thursday night is looking quite good.

The bad news is that Ryder has done it to us again!  The krewe was quite proactive this year, trying to avert another near disaster with stake-bed truck sides.  They pre-fabricated them last weekend, so there would be no parade day panic.  Good plan, if you have the corresponding trucks!  Despite the fact that the 2 trucks have been reserved since...forever...Ryder will only be delivering 1.  The other is in a long term contract.  I swear this outfit thinks of new ways to screw us every year!  And every year it’s worse!  How do they stay in business?  

I asked some of the operations guys in the office who deal with rounding up the necessary seismic equipment for our programs if they new where we could get are desperate, little hands on a suitable truck and have it in New Orleans on Thursday.  Maybe our New Orleans office or Omni in Belle Chasse can come up with something.  Hey!  Maybe we can ride down St. Charles Avenue in a swamp buggy!!!

We found the perfect t-shirt for Tom!  It’s an Elvis Presley Mardi Gras shirt that says “bead me, bead my very much!”  Well, hell yeah!  It’s a Galveston Mardi Gras shirt, but that’s okay.  Kind of cute, don’t ya think?! 

Throw me somethin', sista!

Oh, lord!  I have had a headache since yesterday when I was first alerted to one of the Krewe of Muses throws this year:  a MUSEuzela!  This means the parade route will be defeaning the entire way down St. Charles!  And, as Tom has pointed out, the MUSEuzela buzzing is likely to be the background noise for the rest of Mardi Gras.  Way to leave your mark on Mardi Gras, Muses!  (These ladies are GOOD!)

We still anxiously await photos and/or video of the 2011 Rolling Elvi throws which were distributed yesterday!

Check out this story about one of the Krewe of Muses members who has a room decorated a la Muses with a shoe and throw display case!  I guess Lauren’s room is our Krewe of the Rolling Elvi room.

Local New Olreans artist, Bob Graham, has made some fun Mardi Gras Parade paintings, including one of the Krewe of Muses Parade.  Very cool to see that of the 3 parade impressions he included in his painting, one is the Rolling Elvi (right-hand side of painting)! 

And one final bit of Muse-related news before we head to a baseball game: Dirty Coast is selling Muses Parade-themed t-shirts that say “throw me something sister!”  Get you one!

Mardi Gras Your iPhone!

  

I can’t believe we will be rolling down St. Charles Avenue 2 weeks from this very minute.  It has sort of sneaked up on us!  We still need to do a little costume mending and re-bedazzling and primp our big hair, but in the meantime, I am really fired up about what I just found:  the Experience Mardi Gras app.  And it’s primed to track the Krewe of Muses Parade!  I am definitely going to use this app since I am staying all the way through Mardi Gras Day this year!  Woohoo!  I’ve never done that before, can you believe it?  Gonna get me a Zulu coconut and lots and lots of useless beads!

Blue Suede Beauties!

We finished our blue suede-glitter shoes!  And we only have a minor infestation of glitter in the house.  We think they are mighty fine...so fine that Lauren even named hers:  (LtoR) “Tiger Lily,” Marie’s nameless shoe, “Pocahontas,” “Mermaid,” and “Sweetheart.”  I have to admit, the “Tiger Lily” turned out to be one rockin’ shoe.  Just when we thought we had exhausted our well of creativity!  Can’t touch this, Donald Pliner!

Before you ask, NO, you may not have one.  The only way to get one is to attend the Krewe of Muses Parade on March 3 and hope you get really lucky!  Yes, we are actually giving these away during the parade, if you can believe it!  *sniff, sniff*  The choicest throws from the Krewe Muses Parade are their hand-decorated shoes.  I think the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club invented the hand-decorated, trophy throw concept when they began handing out their famous, painted coconuts.  You can see one at the very end of this video.  (What’s with the black-face with one white eye?  Reminds me of Petie, the dog, “from Little Rascals.”)

Keep Your Shirt On!

I’ve decided a little background on Carnival and Mardi Gras may be in order.  If the thought of Mardi Gras in New Orleans conjures up images of the craziness in the French Quarter and “flashing” for beads, then you’ve got it all wrong!  New Orleaneans avoid the Quarter like the plague during Carnival season!

“So what is it then,” you ask?  Technically, the Carnival season starts on 

Kings’ Day, a.k.a. Twelfth Night, and ends on Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.   There are differing opinions as to the origin of the word “Carnival,” but I prefer the one that makes it a time of forgetting one’s earthly worries and cares.  Just enjoy the festivities and your license to be a clown.  Remember the national uproar and disapproval when New Orleans went ahead with Mardi Gras that first year after Katrina?  Oh, PUH-LEEZ!  It was an act of defiance and determination, and I couldn’t think of another community of people more deserving of being allowed to forget their cares, if only for a few days!  Never mind that it’s big money and something New Orleans couldn’t afford NOT to do.

Here’s a little video that tells a little bit of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras history.  Even better: it shows some King Cakes being made!:

Carnival traditions have evolved over the years, but the Mardi Gras parades are still very much a family-friendly event.  It’s like having a parade and huge street party almost in your very own front yard!  The photo above shows a typical neighborhood scene as a float rounds the corner from Jefferson Ave. to Magazine St.  Note the ladder-chair contraption holding the children on the right.  A birds-eye view for the kiddies!  That’s right!  Kiddies!  February 5, 2011 4:04 PMThere’s something for everyone, adults and children a like.