highlights of Iris and Tucks, 2/21

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highlights of Druids, 2/18

Watching the WDSU cam...

I start watching at 6:56 pm , NY time. Lots of standing around. We
see Rachel Wulff preparing for her standup, going over her lines,
chatting with Arthur Hardy. Finally she goes live but beforehand we
get to watch her almost get run over by a van, used by some military
people, backing up without its beepers.

The cameraman/woman gets a shot of the moon by itself!

We see more standing around. Then some horse riders appear over the
heads of the crowd.

We then see some Marine Corp trainees march to The Halls of Montezuma.

We see the king in red go by.

Various crowd shots, some good long shots of the crowd, including
some of their hands reaching up against the pitch black sky.

The riders of these floats all have tall pointy caps on. Some are
blue costumes, some black, all are good looking. One float in
particular looks good. It starts out with the face with white hair,
and had a beautiful comet trail over the top, curling up in the back
in a golden cornucopia with a star at the end. One of the nicest
floats I've seen and perfect for a night parade. How come all the
floats can't be that nice? Some are really sloppily painted.

A green band was ready to go in front of the camera. They'd take on
step forward and then a few back in a cool pattern. They played well
but the audio is totally distorted.

We see a K Why float! Clever. A bottle as K-Why.

The Navy float, a nice square rigger ship, plays what appears to be
Oye Como Va by some cover band.

A red and white dressed band plays and we get good sound!

We hear a loud horn and people start to get out of the way. The fire
truck, signifying the end of the parade is coming through.

Greasing the poles on Bourbon St

Roop Raj, the WDSU reporter: "This is certainly a family fun event as well".

Un hunh. 'C'mon hun. Let's take the kids down to the pole greasing...'

highlights of Hermes, D'Etat, Morpheus, 2/20

Watching the WDSU cam...

I had planned to watch all of these but it didn't work out. I did
catch some parades up until about 11 NY time and then Morpeus at
11:30 pm.

What I caught before 11 was a little of the paradecam on nola.com. My
friends couldn't take listening to the woman who was hosting so I had
to turn it down. I also heard Charlie Brown on there for a little
while. Not two of my favorite hosts. And compared to the WDSU cam,
harder to watch with the camera bouncing around and the audio
overmodulating all the time. Still I plan to watch more and have
figured out how I can have a 2 camera switched feed on the computer!
Both full screen. (Both are Quicktime feeds using the Flip4mac plug
in so it's just a matter of switching windows and you can set QT to
have sound only from the top window.) With a cable modem, it's the
next best thing to real tv.

I was hoping to see some of the float names and enjoy the satire that
Krewe d'Etat is famous for but I didn't see much.

At 11:30 NY time, I saw Morpheus start downtown.

We see a cop bending over a few times to pick up some throws on the
ground. I guess they were good throws.

Then we see red lights coming up. They're motorcycles.

The video is hazy. The DSU cam doesn't work well in this light unless
it is close up, so much is blurry.

Then come the ATVs.

We had audio for a little while but I'm not getting any now.

The stream gags a little, stutters, 12:02 NY time.

Not much to see. A float doesn't have many riders on it, 4 plus the royalty.

We see a nice moon float, Heavenly Dreams.

Zeus? It looks like he is carrying a thunderbolt. At first I thought
it might be Poseidon.

We see some men in black shirts gathering in one spot. I wonder what
they were doing.

The stream gets better, 12:36 NY time.

We see some cute girls in red tops and black shorts. Cheerleaders.

A float with the sun on the front brings the crowd to life.

Then the parade is over.

highlights of Babylon, Chaos and Muses, 2/19

Watching the WDSU cam...

Babylon

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.

Muses

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 Ninth Ward Marching Band! Quintron's! Yeah.

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.)

highlights of Carrollton and King Arthur, 2/15

Watching the WDSU cam...

Carrollton
We see the Jesuit Jayettes from afar, pom poms clapping, and blue
somethings behind them. (Oh, we do have sound!, It's low level but
barely audible.) We hear them do a cheering routine. The dancer
behind the cheerleaders have a nice routine then they stop and rest.
Then they start up in front of us for a short display.

Off in the distance we see the King paying homage at Gallier Hall. As
his float comes closer we see the flowers shake violently as the
float moves.

A band in blue give us some nice music. A man in white with masked
feathered cap rides by on horseback. Most would associate this with
the Ku Klux Klan but it is also the traditional style of Mardi Gras
"royalty". I prefer that connotation.

From far off we see and hear some cheerleading and a band. we hear
the drum major's whistle blow. The girls are in blue, some are in
white and black and they can dance.(Mostly black kids) They also have
some yellow flags. Blue and white outfits follow. The next float is a
masked Mardi Gras figure. Someone on that float signals to the camera.
The marchers that follow include some dressed as bees. One has an odd
walk, knock-kneed. Some dancers in white, a good band, more dancers
in white. impressive.

A bride and groom float follows. She gets to sit. He stands. Behind
them in another float, their wedding party, so me young kids all
dressed up.

Some dancers wait: swing, swing, dip, swing.

This could be St Augustine's band (gold and maroon). They're looking
sloppy. They don't play, alas.

Behind them are some skinny dancers, all dressed in black leotards.
behind them some vivacious flag wavers doing a good routine
enthusiastically.

More generous floats pass by, tons of beads, doubloons, bags of
goodies flying from them.

The Carmelettes pass by. All in white, with white caps. Celebrate as
the music. A very white routine.

A float with a naked lady as the figurehead passes next.

After some more white girls dance by, there are some vigorous
dancers from St Paul's School, We hear them chanting "hey," They're
dressed with straw hats and jumping rhythmically while shouting. That
looks like fun.

Many more floats pass by, all very generous. Some with bozo-haired
wigs and red and white striped coats. Following them a gator with a
guitar float! That's the last float for this parade.

King Arthur
Starts out with a horse-drawn cart and riders on horseback. Is that a
Shetland Pony I see?

More riders come by, a few dueling with swords. On one horse, a fat
woman in a purple dress stops and pulls out a cell phone on camera.
Real life.

Some guy on a float with huge white feathers behind him. Behind that
we see flags waving and behind them, more flags. A good band passes
by (Warren Easton High School). The dancers with ridiculous pom poms
on their feet. Another band behind that. And flags behind that. Nice
drumming.

A float passes by with only two riders on one side of it. Later some
little kids dance to a song I like, some R&B I would never know
about, here today, gone tomorrow.

The king comes by. He tosses to the crowd after taking a drink.
Behind him is his homely queen. But inbetween is a good band, some
good dancers and a good flag team.

The Queen is on a great twin swan float but boy is she homely. She's
having a good time, blessing the crowd. We see her close up.

A good band follows. Good dancers too. They're in strange black
outfits with silver? strips across their middles and shoulders. Good
flag team too. Lots big girls in it.

After some more floats we see a band in red come up, the trombones
clearing the way as they waved side to side. When they gear up and
play, their heads pointed down, the LOVELIEST dancers come by. All in
red, they hop, shake and point, one moment ballistically, the next
with passion, their pony tails profiled as they turn their heads . I
am taken. A couple of hop skips and they repeat the routine.
Gorgeous! Great routine, great dancers!

Later, a men's flag team of green and red come by. Then, another
band in red plays Shake Your Booty poorly. Behind them the women's
flag team. The colors do look nice when waved.

An Aztec float comes by with it's riders in sombreros!

Then, I don't know who these are but they are men dressed in
black/dark blue with silver/white helmets on. I guess they are some
kind of drill team. They do a strange routine. Not very impressive.

Next, the second best dancers so far. The band are in white and black
outfits and good. The dancers immediately behind them have shaggy
afro-like hair which they shake back and forth. How do these dancers
and the one's raved about earlier have the same hairdos? Wigs?

Not far after another dance group comes by. This one has only a few
members, has both men and women and the men are in blue tops. One
lead dancers does a base gyration, very crude, and a bit of a
routine. Then they all do it. Then they strut off.

We see a brass band in white on top of a float. Olympia?

Another dance group comes up. All white. They mostly run by but their
sound truck is scary. Lights flashing it has some tower speakers
stuck on the roof, a wombat peering over one.

A nun float passes by. Good.

Rhythm Dance Co comes by. White but good. Terrible music but at least
they are all dancing together for good effect. A cop stands in the
middle. I'm amazed they don't move out of the way but they have got
it down to a science. They don't even move for the floats.

A winged lion float goes by. I had to look that up. That is for St.

A gator float follows that.

At the end, the cops arrive, spread out and get back in their cars
like a Keystone Cops routine.

highlights of Pontchartrain, 2/14

Watching the WDSU cam...

2/14
Ponchartrain
The cam is on before the parade starts. Practically no one is there.

Some motorcycles and trikes are at the front. From afar and in the
telephoto lens, they look like strange insects, their headlights like
eyes. Lots of them . Some gold, some green. Otherworldly. Just
sitting there, there eyes pulsating, waiting to move forward.

Off in the distance we more trikes. Some headlights, I swear, have
alien eyes. Only in America...

Behind them marching girls in blue, after the porta potty being towed
by a pickup truck.... This is the Dance Connection. Awful stuff if
you had to watch it on a regular basis but effective long distance on
camera. What makes this stuff palatable is that it is a group all
doing the same thing. Awful stuff otherwise. All white girls. A huge
set of speakers follow them on the front of a pickup truck. Again,
only in America. Awful outfits. White boots, white
skirts/culottes/jumpers over blue shirts. Most of the girls are fat
too.

Now come the ATVs, lights flashing. More conspicuous consumption, as
LA does so well.

Some horse riders come. One makes his horse walk sideways forward.
The horse doesn't complain too much other than shake it's head
violently.

Lots of tossing from the floats. Very generous riders.

The King and Queen toast Gallier Hall. She's pretty and gracious. A
high ladder is set up next to the float and bags are lowered to a
go-between who climbs up and down the ladder several times. Paying
homage to someone. The King and Queen wave and bless the crowd.
Somehow I feel blessed although I know this is all absurd show.

We see some cadets, not sure who they are. (They wear dark tops,
white pants and white caps. Most have Mardi Gras beads around their
necks. They've been playing too.) They have to wait for awhile. The
Sousaphones in the back begin to sway exaggeratedly. They sway to
one side and hold it and then sway to the other. Soon all are, each
line going the opposite direction as the one in front and behind it.
Very effective visually.

Behind them are dancers and flag teams in yellow way off in the distance,

Now the cadets start to clap rhythmically. Soon they all are. Nice to
see them enjoying themselves. Now rows are swaying opposite each
other, their arms on each other's shoulders. The drum major (or
whatever he is called) turns and looks at them and perhaps calls
something out or whistles. Within a few moments, the cadets are
lining up, ready to move forward, you see it filter down towards the
back. The drum major turns to the front, prepares himself with a
couple of twirls of his staff and off they go precisely. Impressive.

We see yellow flags from far off going back and forth, back and forth.

The smirking jester with the sunglasses float comes by, it's riders
showering everyone with throws.

St Mary's Academy comes by, a huge band and dancing girls galore.

Some cheerleaders in yellow are seen from far off, strutting and
twirling. All white. They are followed by another huge speaker on a
sound van and trailer.

An Elvis float passes by.

Another generic float with a golden carp? on the front passes by but
this one has at least one very into-it dancer. He undulates and
bounces to music we can't hear. This guy's having a good time.
Another huge soundtruck follows.

highlights of Oshun and Pygmalion, 2/13

Watching the WDSU cam...

2/13
Oshun

Nice close-ups of float riders. The floats look good at night. I've
noticed over the years that many riders don't mask. I thought that
was illegal but I guess enforcement is pretty lax. Lots of kids
watching the parades. Lots of smiles all around, from the riders, the
crowds, a good time being had by all. Nice mouse on the clock face on
the front of one float.

One close-up is of a cute young girl on her father's shoulders with
her arms sort of facing out, lying on her fathers shoulders. Seconds
later a bouquet of red flowers is tossed to her. Her dad catches it
and hands it to the girl, he mouth open with joy . Awww.

We then see some young Marines, fodder for our forever wars.

A pretty blond mom dancing with her young son.

Pygmalion
The cam starts up before the parade is anywhere near. The streets are wet.

Some good dancing and baton twirling by some kids in white. I never
was a fan of that kind of thing but seeing these parades has changed
me.

The King of Pygmalion! A funny black guy. He fusses with his costume
(gotta look good) and struts. Takes his hat off. Waves his arms
around and bounces to liven the the crowd. We can't hear what he is
saying to himself as there is no sound but he is engaged in a lively
conversation with himself. Holds his arms out as if he were the
greatest. Then he find someone he wants to throw to. He points to
her, it has to be a pretty girl. He then bends over and puts his hat
back on. Much more regal that way. OK, hang on, I'm gonna throw it to
you. I just gotta get set here, as he adjusts his shirt and
stretches. limbers up. He picks up some beads, talking to himself all
the time, looks at them, and points to her again, you're gonna get
them, ok? You, pointing. You. You. Youyouyou, shaking his finger at
her. No, you! Not her. You. You. You You. The he spreads his arms out
as if he is powerless about where they will go. He plays with the
beads some more, sifting them back and forth between his hands. He
sifts some more then points to her, with a look of hopefulness on his
face. He twitches as would a pitcher before the pitch. Readjusts his
collar and shirt. (Throw the goddam thing...) You, ok?

No, I gotta take this hat off first. He sifts some more. He gives the
beads a kiss! Winds up, points to her again. You, you, right? You!
YOU! No, the woman underneath. You, ok? You! The one underneath.
Thumbs up. Again and again. Ok, he readies to throw. Limbers up, big
smile on his face, staring at her. He bounces a little as he pats the
beads. He throws!

It doesn't look like they got to where they were intended to go, he
follows it intensely. No, they were supposed to go to, you know, next
to her. Oh heck, I tried. He goes back and puts his hat on. Adjusts
himself. Then he takes the hat off and looks for something in one of
the bags beneath him.

Now he wants to get out of the float so he tries the gate. It won't
open. He tries and tries but it won't open so he starts to step over
it. Someone comes up, wiggles it abit and gets it open. The King
walks out amongst his people but not without first turning to get his
hat and put it on. Gotta look good.

All this takes about 5 minutes and was hilarious to watch. Some time
later, he gets back on the float, adjusts his hat, starts to wave his
arms around, come on people lets party! He claps and bounces. Come
on, come on! the parade starts to move again. Goodbye King. It's been
great. As he passes out of the camera view he takes his hat off.

Next highlight, a good dancer in a silver top with black pants,
shimmies with arms outstretched angularly. Big smile on her face,
she's knows she's a good dancer. Flags follow her and other dancers.
I used to think flag teams were the stupidest things but seeing them
from afar they can make some interesting patterns. I can't see
wanting to do something like that but they make up a good part of the
parade.

A white float looks like cotton in the poor light.

The flags whip in the wind. Oh, to feel that warm humid New Orleans wind again.

Some baton twirlers do a waiting step as only Southern blacks can do.
A step here to the side, another to the other side slightly ahead of
it. Lots of attitude. We love it.

Same with bands. Struttin'. Don't mess with them. Too bad we can't
hear them. (We do later.) Arms swinging hard on each side. Very
impressive to watch. Here come some smaller girls, swinging as hard
as they can. Having a ball. With a couple of hop-steps, they're off.
Later some flags, then some more dancers/cheerleaders. They stop and
wait, balancing back and forth on each leg, their hands on their
hips. In another context, if that was your wife, you'd have some
explaining to do. And they've got all the time in the world.

We're at the corner of Poydras and St Charles, the parade coming down
St Charles. (Who doesn't love St Charles?)

Some marchers in white with white cowboy hats and flags.

Some more flashing baton twirlers, more flashy because it is at
night. The band comes next .Some of their heads are jerking back and
forth, the tassels on their hats making a good effect. The march
stops. Immediately, the bass drums on teh right turns. The one next
to him turns. Then the next. Now all are turned to the right and
their heads are bobbing up and down. Very cool. Then the leader turns
and heads behind the line while they others follow him closely, heads
bobbing all in time. It's a sort of hesitation step. Works great.
They get back to place. The leader turns and looks ahead. There's
still time so they do it again, heads bobbing up and down to great
effect. All the other drums in the band are also having spasms. It
looks great. One by one, the big bass drums turn back to the front
and soon enough the band moves on. All the while the girls in their
blue short outfits behind them are shaking to the beat. Wonderful.
More women, now in red jumpers twitch as they wait with their hands
on their hips, like you had better explain yourself to this nice
mama. A parent walks inbetween them, offering them some water. Some
take big swigs and then almost bow forward like it was strong stuff.
Off they go.

The parade ends so I switch to the Lee Circle cam. We see the
Crescent City Connection in the distance and some colored lights in
that fancy new hotel on Lee Circle. (Hard to believe it is now a
trendy spot. And the Hummingbird Cafe is gone.)