Watching the WDSU cam...
I start at about 6:40 NY time. No video yet. It's 5 minutes before the NO start time. OK. 6:47 we get video. The WDSU page takes FOREVER to load, as usual. We see floats going by in the daylight. Looks like the camera is at the corner of St Charles and Napolean.
We see Arthur Hardy then the parade stops moving. DSU's host is Gina Swanson (I think that was her name.) who is not as you might suspect, blond and blue-eyed.
For some reason only known to WDSU, they switch to the camera at Poydras and St Charles where nothing is happening. About 5 minutes later they switch back. They do this a few more times. Why, I don't know.
We see flambeaux! This is the first time I've seen them this year. For some reason, many aren't lit.
DSU switches to the downtown cam again. 5 minutes later they switch back. 6 actually.
It looks like Chaos has begun.
Chaos
We see the king. Then DSU switches to the downtown cam. 2 minutes later they're back.
The beautiful float I saw in the Druids parade yesterday with the comet trail reappears. It's getting dark now. DSU switches to the downtown cam.
At about 7:43 NY time, we start to see signs of the parade downtown. For some reason a whole bunch of people are seen walking UP St Charles as if they came from some event and are going to another. A huge group of people. They don't merge into the crowd on the sides, they move through, en masse. Just as soon as the appeared they're gone and practically no one else is around. What was that all about?
At 8:41 NY Time, the camera moves. We follow a cop with headphones directing things, as well as other cop meetings. The camera begins to slip down, unattended. We see the pavement, perhaps an interesting study artistically.
At 8:44 we see the Entergy truck at the head of the parade.
From far away, we see some cheerleaders do an angular routine in front of Gallier Hall.
9:02 NY time, we see De La Salle. The parade is going very slowly. So many are stopping at Gallier Hall.
We see a nice brass band go by but there is no sound tonight.
Some bagpipes.
The video quality is hazy.
A huge band goes by. West Jefferson?
We see some interesting close ups of the riders. That's one thing the WDSU cams have done well with, close ups of the crowd and riders. Nice long shots, the crowd compressed into the frame. Some very interesting shots.
Another brass band. Sure wish I could hear them.
The last float goes by at about 9:40 NY time.
10:03 I see flashing lights in the distance.
At 10:07 the camera moves and we watch the cops.
The (first?) band and cheerleaders are organized, in god order. So many haven't been.
Lots of horses.
In front of the king's float is a jester who is waving his hands back and forth, appropriately jester-like when seen from afar. He must be tired from doing that.
A flambeaux carrier stops and talks with some folks on the corner of Poydras and some cops. We get to watch. He's smiling and having a good time.
I didn't "get" most of the floats. You'd have to be a local to. I'm guessing the theme was involved with James Bond with the floats that had movie/book titles as their names. Some seemed straight; only once or twice did I notice any twists on the real names. (Wish the DSU camera-person had focused on the names, and the writing on the floats, as the floats went by. )
The first one I noticed was a sNO BALLs float. Good use of a New Orleans staple, sno balls. It had a picture of an policeman named Riley (a black man, not an Irish man) and a house covered in police tape amongst other features I didn't note. Who's Riley? What's the scandal?
Another: Crash Mart ( parody of the Trade Mart) and Sen. William Jefferson. I don't know that story other than he took bribes.
There was a very nice and weird Rodrique blue dog float. It's nose stuck way out making it surreal. I didn't "get" the Claiborne Av signs on either side of it. The band that followed were good, not that I could hear them. They just looked impressive.
What was the St Henry float about and what was the "For Sale" reference to? No doubt, another cash for favors deal.
What was the "master of all scandals" float about?
A football float had a Republican elephant logo on it. What was the point of that?
And who is Harper Gibbs?
That parade ended about 10:38 NY time.
I noticed a trail that the parades had left on St Charles, tire tracks made a slightly different color on the road, parallel to the streetcar tracks. I hadn't seen that before.
Wow, this one went on forever!
A brightly lit ball, so brightly lit I thought it was a spotlight, passed by. When the camera adjusted for its brightness we could see some Chinese characters all around the word Muses. Beneath it were some much smaller spotlights. A trailer that followed that had what looked like a fun band in it. Probably a rock band.
The Big Easy Rollergirls! Swarmed. Perfect! Another reason to love New Orleans. (I'd at least watch them in a parade... I don't think I'd go to more than one of their events though.)
We then saw some shoes on poles. And in the distance, the amazing butterflies I'd seen in previous years' nighttime parades. (They didn't impress me that much this year. )
I'll have to check back with their website to see what some of the floats were about. They have last year's all there! I wonder too if a list of who was marching will be available... A great website, by the way.
The butterflies pass by, too short. I was wowed by them the first two years I saw them. This year they didn't have that much of an effect. Still, Muses is to be applauded for expanding the horizons of parade content. Very few others have shown such creativity, sadly.
I see St Augustine in gold and white so the other band I thought was them in another parade, wasn't them. Too bad there wasn't any sound. That is one big band everyone should hear.
Next, a woman in the shoe float but I couldn't tell who it was. (And at first, I thought it was a man... I thought, gee, that'd be nice of Muses to honor a man...)
During a long period of waiting we see a parent walk a child marcher back to a car behind the group. I thought she'd reappear after perhaps going to the bathroom but she didn't. I guess she was tired. Many looked tired and perhaps cold waiting for the parade to start again. Another boy walked what could have been his mother back to that same car but he walked forward soon enough.
The Lady Godivas go by! I don't see a website for them but what a great concept! They're all in bodysuits but there a lot of them and they're on horseback! Bravo!
Some good flag dancing.
The bathtub float passes by, women with bubble hats on and a purple stream of tinsel for a shower.
A huge band and lots of dancers pass by. The band and dancers are well organized. Flags too.
Dr Know It All. Who's that? And the "from China" part?
The bands are getting bigger!
A nude woman is the figurehead of this float. I couldn't tell what was written on the side of the float. I thought it might be Eve but I don't think it was.
Stilt walkers!
The Roots of Music group passed by. Lots of young dancers.
I'm not getting this James Bond theme.
Some good dancing, flags.
Some men on a float, alright.
An "Oops" sign on the Spy That Love Me float.
They just keep coming.
View To A Kill and something about a veto?
The Pussyfooters! One of my favorite New Orleans institutions. So many of them! They all looked gorgeous.
Here they are practicing earlier this year.
Then we see a horse drawn carriage. A nice palate cleaner after the Pussyfooters.
Then we see lots of cops gathering, running. What was that all about?
Licence to Swill, OK, that's one that is clearly a parody.
The Bearded Oysters! What a parade! Not as many Bearded Oysters as there are Pussyfooters.
A float had a gas station sign on it with, instead of prices, it had LOL, OMG, WTF. Very clever.
Scooters. I guess they are some scooter club.
A float had some wetlands animals on it. (People dressed as wetlands animals that is.) How nice! Let's include everyone! And it's good to think of them rather than just being so indulgent with the usual Mardi Gras routines.
M' Lasses. Not sure who that represented.
And Quantum of Silence? What was that about?
I think it was the last float that had on it "We are New Orleans. Shaken but..." Good to remember how far the city still has to go to be made whole since Katrina.
The parade is finally over. It's 12:40 NY time.
(There was also a group of non-costumed people walking en masse towards the end. I am not sure what group they were. Some were college age.)
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