the first parade, Krewe Du Vieux

Here is the video from the TP/nola.com ex-Bourbocam host, Jester/Jon Donley.
(Audio from him)(He catches a Golden Bagel.)

The notes below are from my watching the WDSU cam.

My first glimpse of the WDSU cam was of a lady in a red dress with
cone tits that had cans of whipped cream inside them which she could
dispense! I forget what she called herself. What a great concept!

The WDSU feed looked good! (Quicktime) A little mottled but not bad
and a good strong stream, good internet speed.

(What I saw in the order it came in )
The cameraman yelled at people to get out of the way. A menora. Lots
of pirates. The cult of landscaping. Lots of Egyptian outfits. People
covered w/ cash. A good brass band by the record player float. Single
sperm cells on sticks. A smoking gun float. A devil float w/ ex-Mayor
Morial's (and other's) pics on the side. A float as Senator Vitter's
family values meal (Wendy's parody). A woman who was going as a
shit-head said "When life gives you poo, make mushrooms!" Lots of
mushrooms. Skeletons. We all live in a Jello-shot machine float (a
parody of the Beatles Yellow Submarine). A paper-mache' guy getting
an enema on one float. A girl gave the camera some beads and kissed
it. (Love is in the air!) A kaos sign. A woman is interviewed. Her
group are the LRA (Louisiana Recovery Authority). The theme - "You
never give us the money" (spoof of the Beatles song) the theme of the
parade this year being the Magical Misery Tour. She said "People are
miserable but it is still a great place to be." (God bless her and
those trying to make NO come back.). The parade had passed by at this
point. They then interviewed a kid. His favorite part of the parade?
The penis tank! They interview a couple. They interview a guy named
Greg, "The parade was fast cuz it was cold." His favorite part:
Spermes, a spoof of Hermes. The WDSU techies talked for awhile.

So, not quite like the Bourbocam but not bad. No constant yakking
like the Boubo/Paradecam hosts but they did do some properly
journalistic interviews. I am looking forward to the rest!

Eh la bas!

More info on the Krewe du Vieux here:
http://www.kreweduvieux.org/

Here is last year's. My new favorite parade...

The Millennial Territory Orchestra plays Prince's 'Darling Nikki' at Tonic, 4/9/07.

MTO Darling Nikki 4-9-07
Uploaded by sharpiepen

"Get In My Belly!!!"

"Get In My Belly!!!", originally uploaded by The Voice of Eye.

(Click on the pic to read what it's about.)

From a comment he made on another Flickr pic, the photographer, The Voice of Eye says:

"Can't think of any other place I'd rather be... Though I'm sure the playful and provokative adolescence of Krewe du Vieux might put some people off... that's part of what I love about this place. Pushing the boundaries of free speech and having a great time without trying to be something we're not..."

Amen.

How to prepare for being in a parade...

Getting ready for the first parade tonight at 7:30 NY time, The Krewe
du Vieux (Doo?), (which apparently will be streamed live on WDSU probably here: http://www.wdsu.com/mardigras/index.html ), I ran
across the Krewe Dy Vieux's guide on how to prepare for the parade.
A good guide to the behind the scenes of how a Mardi Gras parade is done.
How would you corral 900 drunks?

Check out the Brass Bands in this parade!

* Kirk Joseph
* Trombone Shorty
* Treme Brass Band
* Paulin Brothers Brass Band
* Stooges Brass Band
* Free Agents Brass Band
* Hot 8 Brass Band
* James "12" Andrews
* Da Truth Brass Band
* Rebirth Brass Band
* Panorama Brass Band
* The Jazzmen
* Charles Joseph
* Down N Dirty Jazz Band
* The Soul Rebels
* New Birth Brass Band
* Bone Tone Brass Band

Most of the best brass bands in NO!

The ball afterwards features:
Late Night Trip by Quintron and Miss Pussycat!!

More info on the Krewe du Vieux here:
http://www.kreweduvieux.org/

A Day In The Life Of My Cat, 1/8/08

I thought I would document a day in the life of my cat. See the slideshow on YouTube above.

She usually sleeps with me so when I wake up in the morning, she'll be there on the bed. When I wake she'll come over and lie down so that she is connected to me somehow, her back, her butt, whatever. I pet her and she'll purr. She purrs alot.

I get up eventually. Today, like many, she stayed on the bed sleeping. After my shower, she likes to drink some bathtub water. I guess it is fresher than what I have in her water bowl.

I get dressed and shave, then have breakfast. After breakfast I give her her shot of insulin. Lately, the routine is for me to round her up from wherever she is and herd her to the kitchen. Hopefully she will jump up on the table which is amazing and today she did that. I assume she knows it is time for the shot but I don't know if she wants it by jumping up on the table. I am just glad she does it.

She certainly doesn't enjoy the shots. Today, despite "assuming the position" which is the first time I've seen that, she hissed and was mad at me for injecting her. Sometimes she'll lash out and scratch me. I don't enjoy giving her her shot.

After, I give her her pill, Marin, for her liver. That gets put in a Pill Pocket, a WONDERFUL thing that I can't recommend enough. Getting a cat to take a pill is a miracle so something like Pill Pockets which the cat usually likes, is a godsend.

I also fed her some dry food.

After that I go read the paper and check e-mail. She sat on the table, either looking out or asleep.

Later she sacked out on the floor in the main room. I think she is sleeping more than before. Either old age or a possible reaction to the insulin/blood sugar problem. We see the vet this Friday.

(about noon)

I try to interest the cat in trying out the leash since it is a nice day out and maybe she might like to go out. I wouldn't let her our on her own at this point. She complained, hovered by the ground so eventually I took it off. This is the second time I have tried using the leash. Maybe some day she won't mind and we can go outside. No pics of this.

I go outside. It's 70 or so in the sun. I see the cat in the upstairs window.

She returns to the stereo cabinet to look at the birds.

Then she goes to eat again. Then to the kitchen table to smell the fresh air.

3:53 pm

She eats some more then wanders by me in my chair. Then to the bathroom to sniff around. Eventually she ends up on my lap.

I go out. When I come back she is sleeping, curled up on my chair. When I sit down, she leaves and goes to sit in the bathtub, one of favorite places to sit these days. It used to be that that was where she went when she wasn't feeling good. I don't think that is the case now but it could be. (I haven't seen her go into the closet much lately but she has disappeared in this tiny house sometimes and either one of the two closets are where she is likely hiding in. As often as she's been hiding she has been finding a place nearby just to be near me too so that is nice.)

6 pm

Cat has disappeared. I guess she is in one of the closets. Last time I saw her, she was in the bathtub.

She appears around 7. I feed her. Then she moves into the bathroom, jumps up onto the toilet seat, which usually means she wants to look out the window there. I opened the window for her, leaving the storm window down, but she didn't want to jump up onto the windowsill. She has had trouble in the past few months jumping up onto things she used to do easily but this may have been just a case of not wanting to rather than not being able to.

7:40 pm

She's sleeping, Sphinx-like, on the chair now. This has been a favorite spot for awhile.

8:50 pm

Cat eat some more. Now she's sleeping by the corduroy chair.

8:57 pm

Cat leads me around the house. We go to the kitchen. She pokes her head into the cupboard and a closet. To the bathroom. To the front door. She ends up back in the kitchen, eating.

9:30 pm

Has been sleeping on my lap for awhile, snoring slightly. Very cute.

9:50 pm

She's wandering around, looking for something interesting in the same old house she's lived in for 5 years. Now she's resting by the bathroom door.

10:30 pm

She comes over to be petted, ends up sitting in my lap, facing me, purring. She loves to bury her head into my wrist as I pet her so I indulge her often. Her other most favorite thing is to have her tummy scratched. Loves it. She'll direct my hand to her belly and then stare at me as I scratch her. I have never seen a cat do either of these. She does it all the time.

10:56 pm

She gets up to eat again.

11:17 pm

Eating again.

11:23 pm

She poops then runs to the bathroom and elsewhere. She sometimes howls after going to the bathroom (her litterbox) and does so tonight. I don't know why she does this. Often she'll run around the house before she poops. I guess it helps things.

11:30 pm

She sniffs around the front door then sits there. Later, she moves up to the top of the stereo cabinet and goes to sleep.

I get sleepy around then too and end the picture taking.

New Orleans, Mon Amour

This might be interesting. A movie called New Orleans, Mon Amour
http://www.neworleansmonamour.com/NOMA%2011-27-Trailer.mov
Done by the director of the movie Hamlet that was set in NYC, Michael
Almereyda.

New Orleans, Mon Amour indeed.

Mardi Gras is coming up, Feb 5th!

From WWOZ's "Mardi Gras Central"
http://wwoz.org/community/mardigras/

Parades start on 1/19. I doubt any of them will be webcast by OZ but
maybe they'll do a webcam like they have in the past. See the parade
schedule at WWOZ or http://www.nola.com/mardigras/

Tom Morgan's Annual Mardi Gras Indian Extravaganza
Jan. 29th 11 am - 2 pm New Orleans Time
Three hours of Mardi Gras Indian music and history with John Sinclair
joining in !

David Kunian's Indian Show
Jan. 29th sometime between ten and midnight, New Orleans Time
David Kunian will be doing 2 hours of Mardi Gras Indian music with
special guests.

I guess OZ will have some live in studio shows/guests too so that
should be fun.

And on NOLA.com...
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/

Paradecam starts Friday, January 25, 2008 at 6 p.m (NO time)

Catch the Bourbocam, although it isn't being called that anymore, here:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/louisiana/neworleans/bourbonstreet/

I'll do my usual Mardi Gras Day celebration eat and drink-a-thon and
be watching and listening as much as possible then as well as
catching the parades beforehand on the Paradecam and checking out
Bourbon St if it is worthwhile.

WKCR may be doing some Mardi Gras music too so check them out. 89.9
FM in the NYC area, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr/