Hail Zuuullluuu!

With rain threatening and having to seriously limit morning coffee intake in an effort to avoid using a port-o-potty, we headed down early to catch the Krewe of Zulu parade that started at 8:00 AM at S. Claiborne Ave. and Jackson Ave.   We picked our way to a spot in front of an AT&T building at St. Charles and St. Mary.  (Bonus: it’s nearly impossible to grab any bandwidth on your cell phone in crowds like that, but AT&T must have a signal booster inside their stores.  Woohoo!  Worked like a charm!)

Alas, we came home nearly empty handed except for a Zulu logo coconut-bead necklace and a necklace strung with little black coconuts, black king cake babies, and a big rubber Zulu baby on the end.  No decorated coconut for either of us!  We could have really used Lauren this morning!  Still,  it was a pretty fun and distinctive parade.

Rex sounded a little boring to me (which Tom confirmed), so we didn’t stick around to watch that one in person.

We’re making Red Beans and Rice for dinner using “Blue Runner New Orleans Spicy Cream Style Red Beans.”  Yep, canned beans!  Can you believe it?!  Tom insists it’s a very popular way to make the dish in New Orleans, so I’ll defer to his experience.

Lundi Gras

Pretty low-key day.  We wandered over to Fleurty Girl on Magazine, so I could get myself one of those king cake baby rings.  Score!  Tom picked up some nice t-shirts, too.  We just happened to be down the street from Byblos when our stomachs started growling, so hummos, shwarma and falafel for lunch it was!  (I feel like dropping off a big box of lemons on their doorstep.  I actually pulled the lemon wedge out of my iced tea and squeezed it only the plate of hummos, it needed it that badly!)

We walked over to Napoleon again this evening for Proteus and Orpheus.  It was hardly recognizable from yesterday!  The NOPD officer we talked to explained why the crowds were so out of control for Bacchus and Endymion:  A LOT of spectators drive in from out of town - since they don’t live in New Orleans, the weekend IS their Mardi Gras.  That explains the place looking like an over-flowing refugee camp!

Proteus was a smaller scale but beautiful parade using vintage floats on wooden wheels!  It’s the 2nd oldest Mardi Gras krewe, founded in 1882.  The late afternoon light was perfect for admiring the artistry of their floats.

Orpheus, although much bigger and bolder than Proteus, was also a very pretty parade.  The float decorations had sort of a vintage look with a modern flair.

Wild I

This picture is worthy of its own post.  Wild Irish Rose?  Looks really pretty, doesn’t it?  Ever heard of it?  We hadn’t either, so Tom googled it when we got back to his house.  We thought it was a “whiskey” of some sort but not so.  Guess the “Irish” threw us.

The very first link that google returns is a scream:  www.bumwine.com. The banner (an evolution series) alone makes this site worth a visit!  The wine manufacturer (I can’t bring myself to say vintner or winery) describes “Wild I” as a “full-flavored and fruity fortified wine,” but check out www.bumwine.com’s review.  It’s much more colorful and detailed and includes an actual “field report.”  A choice excerpt:  

“Another web page claims that this foul beverage is a conspiracy by the republicans to kill the homeless.”

Super Sunday

This was truly Super Sunday.  The storm system that blew through New Orleans Saturday knocked Isis off their parade route before the finish line.  Endymion was rescheduled and relocated from their traditional Saturday evening route through Mid City to the Uptown route starting at Napoleon and Magazine behind Bacchus.  Bad news for all the businesses along the traditional parade route who missed their busiest revenue day of the year, and bad news for the Uptown parade goers because it swelled the crowd to unmanageable proportions.  More on that later.

Tom and I walked down Magazine a little ways to catch Okeanos and Mid City.  I just don’t get Mid City.  Half their floats are current or past royalty of some description.  Seriously?  Are they that uncreative?  They even had a float entitled “Barbie’s Birthday,” but hell if we could figure out what it had to do with the price of beans in China.  The one redeeming feature of this parade, the steam calliope float, didn’t even make an appearance this year!  Thank god for Thoth!  They rock!  That krewe seems to have a lot of fun, and they throw very generously!  One of Tom’s friends was on the second float, and he pelted Tom with beads as they went by - signature beads, too!  Sadly, I discovered the memory card in my camera was full just as I started to film the bombardment, so I didn’t capture it on video or in still photos.

We had every intention of catching Bacchus and Endymion, but, after making the trek over to Napoleon on foot, thought better of it.  My god!  It was a sea of humanity.  The neutral ground area, include the street crossings had every square inch covered by coolers, chairs, tarps, tents, ladder chairs, and people.  Even emergency vehicles could not cross Napoleon!  It was insane and looked like we would imagine the Libya-Tunisian border to look like.  I shudder to think about the port-o-let situation!!!  We finally managed to pick our way across Napoleon (by stepping on people’s stuff!) and headed up to St. Charles on one of the other streets.  Unfortunately, the street side of the sidewalks were lined with those ladder chairs, so no one on the sidewalks could see the parade or catch beads!!!  Unbelievable!  The human race never ceases to amaze me!

Tom and I both decided we didn’t have the patience to put up with that sea of humanity and headed back to his house, but not before stopping at the Creole Creamery for some delicious ice cream cones.  Check out their menu - some very unusual flavors!  I had Steen’s Molasses Oatmeal Cookie, and Tom had Choc-work Orange.  We’ll write that adventure off as a long, Sunday afternoon stroll and enjoyable afternoon snack!  Maybe we’ll go back this afternoon on the way to catch Orpheus and Proteus!  Think I’ll pass on the gorgonzola-walnut flavor.

Bead Me, Bead Me Very Much!

Finally, some rest for the weary!  We spent the evening kicking back on the balcony  of the Avenue Pub, catching beads from Hermes, d’Etat, and Morpheus.

First memorable moment of the evening:  Kayla had a shirt with an Elvi version of a “don’t be an Earl” symbol:  a stick figure of a man asleep (or dead in Elvis’ case?) on a toilet with a read circle around it and slash through it.  It was so well done it deserved promotion to the truck decor level.  Next year, look for these to be posted on the Doody Calls port-o-let on our trucks and music trailer...with lots of glitter on them, of course!

Second memorable moment: As one of the Hermes floats slowed in front of the Avenue Pub, one of the riders, stood up, triumphantly holding a Rolling Elvi bead bag for us and the rest of the crowd to behold.  Hell, yeah!  

Third memorable moment was when the 2nd them float of Krewe d’Etat, “Triple Sow Cow” rolled by.  It was a Muses bashing float!  “No, they did NOT just do that!”  Talk about throwing down the proverbial gauntlet! From “The Bulletin,” their program of sorts that explains the floats: 

"TRIPLE SOW COW – What’s this mooooving down the parade route? An over-stuffed, bovine figure skater? While we doubt the Swedish ice-skating master had this in mind when he created the triple sow cow, our version of this now classic move features a certain “krewe“ of whirling dervishes whose spins on things have slung mud (and ice) on many others in the past. But this time, the high-heeled mudslingers are in for the Tonya Harding treatment themselves. Mooooving targets are hard to hit, but the Dictator’s aim is true here, scoring a perfect 6.0. In addition to tossing out the high and low scores, watch for the old footwear that might also be flung from this float. Who knows, perhaps this year these full-figured skaters might even be able to witness this spectacle, rather than once again riding in our wake."

Needless to say, the Muses will likely have an equally, if not superior, stinging retort next year, and I suspect that is the game d’Etat hopes to have started!  More photos of the Muses spoof here:

We Reauxled!

 

I am so far behind!  Just too much going on!

Our truck perils continued the morning of the parade.  We were down to only 1 truck again as the 1 Ryder truck we had secured caught fire on the way down from Lafayette.  The truck we did have did not have a lift on the back either, so we had to use a step ladder to get on and off.  Nothing to do but make do.  We packed on Priscillas like it was a can of sardines.  This also meant ditching about 1/2 of our beads.  1 truck could not possibly contain our generous intentions.  All the blue suede-glitter shoes made it on, though!

Tom was having difficulties securing his gas tank.  He thought he had it resolved but had to bail before he even made the turn onto Magazine St.  It was either that or risk losing his tank, causing a fuel spill, and having no convenient way to get costumed self and scooter back home!

And speaking of Magazine Street, omigosh!  As soon as we made the turn off Jefferson Ave., it became clear pretty quickly that these were NOT your average crowds!  The were spilling so far into the street, I don’t know how all those floats squeezed through!  It was CRAZY!  Clyde was able to get to us and film us going by.  He also go some good loot, including a museuzela!  My coworker, Liz was also able to flag us down on Magazine.  She took a picture as we handed her a shoe!  Awesome!

We didn’t finish until 11 pm.  It was slow-going with those crowds.  Sadly, we wound up with almost NO Muses signature throws.  The Muses are known for their generosity, even with the sub krewes and bands in their parade, so I suspect they had advance warning of the massive crowds along the parade route and were cautioned to hold their throws.

The truck didn’t make it back Uptown until after 11:30.  By the time we unloaded and made it to Tom’s house, it was nearing midnight, we were tired, and I was nearly crippled.  My feet felt like someone had been spanking them with a 2x4 for hours!  Damn boots!  Gorgeois footwear should NOT have to hurt!  The boots have been officially retired in favor of some FlexOr dance go-go boots.  Anyway, we bailed on the ball which is a good thing.  We heard the next morning that by the time our krewe started showing up, the food was gone, and Trombone Shorty was halfway through his performance.  That would have been soooo disappointing, not to mention painful!

Omigosh! Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to announce our parade position!  We will appear between Muses floats 16 and 17.  Look for 2 truckloads of lovely Priscillas flanking 100 Rolling Elvi and a Clockwork Elvis (live musical accompaniment)!

2011 KRE Bling!

We are stocked with cool signature throws yet again!  In addition to our traditional dog tags, koozies, cups, scarves, and medallion necklaces, we’ve got some new ones this year:  collapsible Frisbees in a pouch, little footballs, Priscilla lip gloss, blinky engagement ring with 3 (THREE!) different blink settings, and blue-suede shoe plush toys!

And check out the new logo!  It’s been changed up from the scooter Elvis image.  Now it’s a fleur-d’elvis, a fleur-de-lis composed of Elvis hair and sideburns!  Very clever!

WOOHOO!  We are ready to roll!