That said, I watched it from beginning to end, just to see if
something good happened. Very little did.
It came on at 6 pm NY time. It was supposed to come on at 5:30. OK.
We see some Jesus freak signs: The Wages of Sin is Death. I need to
check this but shouldn't it be "are"? Wages are plural... but this
may be one of those things that are weird about the English language.
It was fun listening to a Jesus freak taunting the crowd through his
bull horn. Towards the end of that episode, we heard some people
taunt him back which was pretty funny. Some of our hosts too. "You
throw like a girl." I swear to God (there I go to Hell) he said that!
And our hosts threw it back at him. The usual problems: masturbating
is sinful, homosexuals are sinful, go look at your Bible, you're all
going to burn in Hell... I gotta admire this guy for facing down a
HUGE crowd and challenging them on these things. He's so very wrong
but at least he believes he's right.
The audio goes out before 6:45 NY time. It comes back but then goes
away again. When it comes back for awhile, we can hear the hosts
remarking, "this mic is very sensitive, we'll have to watch what we
say."
6:52 (all time NY time) someone moves the camera around. Zooms in.
Then it is still again.
7:07 It's getting dark.
I wonder who all those people are in red. A marching band? We see
many people wearing red, many of them together. I've seen some bands
in red but why is that the prevalent color we're seeing?
The hosts come on. We get Jerrica again. Kate is mentioned but I
don't recognize her voice. Another woman and another man are on.
We see a Santa Claus. The hosts say they saw the Easter Bunny. If
it's the same guy I've seen over the years, I'm sorry I missed him.
He is perfect for the part. Very creepy and it's surprising he hasn't
been put behind bars for some sort of pedophile charge. Still, that's
what you want in a grown man with a pot belly wearing an Easter Bunny
costume, don't you?
Someone should shut Jerrica up. She is running at the mouth and
repeating things. If she mentions that "Mardi Gras is a marathon, not
a sprint
' one more time I'm going to.... I don't know what.
She did. That's it. I'm muting it.
Hopefully they'll zoom in on some good costumes. (They don't.) What's
the point of of pointing the camera into the crowd and not zooming
in? (And talking endlessly.)
We see a balcony's occupants throwing lit throws.
8 pm The hosts have stopped talking and are now zoomed in to nothing
in particular. Why not find interesting things to look at?
8:28 pm We lose the audio.
Damian yammers on... "a piece of King cake I enjoyed just shortly."
What is this affliction that strikes New Orleanians? I've seen it for
years. The mind takes shortcuts when speaking and jumbles things up.
Unfortunately those connections are needed to make sense.
The cam moves around a little.
8:44 pm. Very few are in costume. Cam is zoomed in, looking around. No hosts.
9:05 We see two girls drinking.Why isn't everyone drinking?
9:09 We see a woman in what looks like a cow costume. This is
pathetic! Saw a woman expose her breasts for some beads but she
wasn't facing the camera and it happened very quickly. (It's cold
down there...)
9:55 See a long line of people in white shirts 3 or 4 abreast heading
towards the far end of Bourbon St, away from Canal. What was that
about? Missionaries?
10:30 Someone with rabbit ears.
10:32 two guys with "I eat pussy" signs are seen holding them above
their heads. They put the "I" so close to the "pussy" that I thought
they said Eat Pussy. There is something written on the back of each
one but I can't read it. Is that some kind of a joke? Maybe they
wrote they eat cats? Did any woman take them seriously and take them
up on their offer? It's kinda sad. Why not just say I need to get
laid?
10:49 We see some of the people on the balcony where the cam is. A
pretty blond. The most exciting thing on the street are people with
lit up necklaces. Pathetic.
10:53 A conehead. Not the SNL version but more of a highway cone as a hat.
There ARE a lot of people on Bourbon St. We can see them from afar.
11:05 We see the blond from behind, from the waist up, looking out
into the crowd. It would make a nice still shot with her being dark
against the lights of the street and the ironwork.
11:16 A balcony, not too far away, has dangled what looks like a
clump of beads on a string, lowering it and then bring it back up,
teasing the crowd. Now they have a bright light focused on a smaller
group in the crowd below as they throw things (beads, lit things)to
particular people.Is there a TV crew filming this? Playboy? The
bright lights make that group stand out.
11:21 The guys carrying the "I eat pussy" sings are still out.
11:25 We see a fire down the street! The second floor of a building a
male host says. See a fire hose(s) spraying it. Don't see or hear any
fire trucks. The 1100 or 1200 block of Bourbon he says. Occasionally
we hear cheers. The crowd seems close to it. The host is very low
level.
11:35 We see blue lights flashing. The fire is almost out. Can see
smoke billowing above the rooftops, contrasting against the ambient
light. The male host says matter-of-factly: Back to Mardi Gras.
11:40 The cam is not looking at the fire anymore.
11:42 A Who Dat is heard.
11:44 Haven't seen any crosses in a long time. They may be in another
direction.
12:03 am We see, in the middle of the street, a guy feel up a girl's
breasts while another watches.
12:14 Haven't seen any fights yet. Good.
12:17 See the first cop on horseback. For that matter, the first cop
on the Bourbocam tonight.
12:26 See a nice beer glass hat.
12:40 Bourbon St is still full.
12:48 I see red flashing lights at the far end of the street. People
are heading towards the cam. This seems to be the beginning of the
sweep.
1:14 Headlights seen in the distance at the far end. They're coming!
Sirens heard. Unfortunately, the cam then changes position to a shot
that is nowhere near as encompassing, looking towards Canal. We see
people walking both ways and then the Jesus freaks coming towards the
cam with their signs held up. We see the first cop cars and then
legions of cops.
No lights at the far end when the cam turns to follow the cops. We
see cops on horses.
The host says it's time to go. says goodbye. (They've stayed on the
cleanup longer in the past.) Calls this the "blue light parade".
Cam goes off at 1:22 am NY time. I miss the old Bourbocam.
Mardi Gras (Professor Longhair) - 5
Get Crunked - 8
They All Asked For You - 1
Rock and Roll pt 2 - 6
When The Saints - 5
Boogie Shoes - 1
Celebrate - 2
New Orleans - 2
Get Ready - 2
Love Shack - 1
unknown song by Michael Jackson - 2
Bourbon Street Parade - 2
Clap Hands - 1
Louie Louie - 1
Boogie On Reggae Woman - 1
Soul Finger - 1
Take Me Back (Jackson 5) - 1
Brown Eyed Girl - 2
Do Watcha Wanna - 2
Hey Look Me Over - 1
I Don't Wanna Work - 1
Play That Funky Music White Boy - 1
Sunny Side of the Street - 1
Starting Something (Michael Jackson) - 1
Yippie Tie Yo (Cajun) - 1
House of the Rising Sun - 1
Mustang Sally - 1
Who Dat - 1 (not counting all the chants)
Mardi Gras Mambo - 2
That's The Way I Like It - 1
Tonights Gonna Be a Good Night - 1
The Saints Are Coming - 1
Boys Are Back In Town - 1
Word Up - 1
Heard It Through The Grape Vine - 1
Madame Sosthene- 1
Get Down Tonight - 1
Can't Hurry Love - 1
Hey Baby - 1
Givin' It Up For Love - 1
Big Chief - 1
Hey Pocky Way - 1
Jeopardy Theme - 1
Starting this early is crazy. 9 o'clock, NY time, 8 NO time. What are
they thinking. Who can function at that hour especially after all
this...
It's snowing up in NY. Snowed all day. Maybe 6". But it's actually
warmer than NO or some places in LA!
First I look at the Jackson Square cam. It looks beautiful in the morning sun.
I then watch the Algiers Point cam. It's crooked. Never seen it
crooked before. Related to Mardi Gras? See a (barge) with lots of
(barges) (substitute correct terminology) heading downriver. It heads
away from downstream. I wonder if I am about to witness an accident.
It goes off cam. Another barge speeds by but I don't see it pass the
other longer one. When the longer one comes back into view, it is
heading downstream correctly and the faster one has passed it safely
on the New Orleans side. I've need seen barges take the turn like
that before.
8:48 am I watch the DSU cam. There are two hosts at the Le Cirque
hotel, high above Lee Circle. The man says, "let me check my
chronographer." He means his watch. Chronographer? Right. Chronograph
maybe.
The woman says, " We're all excited about all the excitement." Aren't
these people great?
It's 30 degrees down there. Same here!
Margaret said Zulu started a minute early. Another woman said it
started 3 minutes early. Which is it? Both got this info from DSU's
text service.
Audio is ahead of video. Video quality is jerky. We then lose the
audio. Audio is intermittent.
We see a Revolutionary War soldier walk by playing a banjo. Great!
Never seen that in NO before.
Bud Light advertising is all over the stage in Metarie. I hate to see
advertising like that during Mardi Gras.
Margaret and Arthur are low level. Randi - no audio. Yeah!
I have my first drink at 9:34 am.
We see a kid in a banana suit who's gotten a skeleton and another
throw from Zulu. Her father is in a skeleton krewe. Cool.
We see the Revolutionary War soldier again.
A very nice walking Lombardi trophy!
We see Pete Fountain. His Half Fast Walking Club are all dressed as
Juan Valdezes! Great! Pete looks great too. Nice to see him so happy.
Randi, talking about the Half Fast MC, "They're so true." Margaret,
"They're drinking." (That's what makes them "true".)
Randi, "We've got all the marching clubs kind of coming through.
Setting the screen for what's really going to happen."
Nice Peter Pan family out in Metarie.
Rachel Wulff, "So, again..." No, not again. You haven't said it once
so how can it be again?
Nice giraffe costume on stilts has 4 legs!
Travis, "High atop the Intercontinental." No, the camera is showing a
street level shot.
People are calling it Lombardi Gras.
10:09 am, no audio on Camille's standup on the Bourbon St balcony.
DSU is having its problems this morning.
No audio for Pete Fountain's HFMC at Gallier Hall.
Pete toasts us. To you, Pete. Lots of funny old guys in this group,
though we can't hear them.
Norman joins Chris and Arthur.
Nice fans, Hell freezes over sign.
We see "Study the Bible" and "Repent" signs on Bourbon St.
Nice costumes on Mondo Kayo group. I never knew about them before.
Travis describes the Juan Valdezes as wearing white tuxedos. I think
they are just white suits.
See Nagin ride with Zulu.
10:49 am We lose the audio.
Zulu is at Gallier Hall.
Norman says: Hotel Intercontinental.
Lower third: Intercontinental Hotel.
Nagin toasts King of Zulu.
We see the Juan Valdezes walking down Bourbon St.
The male host at the le Cirque Hotel is good. He thinks before he speaks.
We see Shaw HS from East Cleveland. I wonder if they are the same
dancers in red I was so impressed with last year?
We see people dancing on the cam by Touro.
No audio for Rachel in Metarie.
I can get the audio to come back if I move the jog shuttle control on
the Quicktime Player. Is this a Flip4 Mac bug?
Randi, "the marching bands that have just came through."
See a blond, wearing a wig?, on the Zulu float.
Travis, "Like I said..." No, you didn't say it already.
We see a nice parade crossing Bourbon! I wonder who that was.
We hear the Marine Band play. Norman says, let's hear them and then
he talks over them.
See a nice shot of the Captain for Rex.
The chef on the Boeuf Gras float is wearing a Saints jersey.
Arthur recognizes a 70s tune, The Horse. I wondered what it was. Very familiar.
We see the Gates of Hell float. Wow.
The crowd is still dancing by Touro.
See a Rodrigue Blue Dog float, Puppy Love.
We lose the audio after the New Millennium Social Club float.
Jog/shuttle gets it to work.
1:33 pm NY time. Zulu is still going on!
We see a truck parade Uptown.
Bourbon St is full.
Norman, talking about the Marines, "Not at parade rest." Chris, "At a parade."
Rex is at Lee Circle.
A little girl, when asked why she doesn't have very many beads, says
she was told you'd get more if you don't look like you have very
many. Smart! Start them youg!
Boeuf Gras looks great.
Talking about Laura Bush: Norman, "She's been here several times."
Chris,"Many".
We see a cool praying mantis.
The guy on Bourbon St says, "A shot of former first lady Laura Bush
riding in Rex." No, she's watching Rex.
Rex gets to Gallier Hall.
Bravo to Norman for asking to hear the bands as they pass by.
The stream stops, then it starts but we lose audio.
Nice pot of Gold costume.
Norman, "This is a shot of Rex." No, it's not.
We see and hear the Riverside Ramblers go by playing Hey Pocky Way.
Margaret talks with Bailey who is wearing a Mexican hat and has tons of beads.
Get a cool shot looking up to float at Gallier Hall.
See a "War on Cancer" float! And I see prostate cancer written on the
side it gets to me, having gotten rid of my prostate cancer recently.
One of the cams marches with the band. Great shot. The cameraperson
is using a Stedicam. Very nice work there.
Norman, "This is dynamic stuff." Arthur is low level.
We hear the Jeopardy theme.
At about 4:20 pm NY time, I watch the Jackson Square cam. Kinda blurry.
Now, to watch the Bourbocam.
The paradecam host, Damien, comes on at 6:36 pm NY time. The theme
for this year? Mythology and Astrology.
He pronounces flambeaux as flambeuz, as if the plural was with a z
sound. Plural flambeaux are flambeaux, pronounced flambeau, no?
Warren Easton: nice flags, we lose audio so we can't tell if band is
good or not. The host is turning the mic off. Bad idea. We NEED to
hear the bands!! (Later on, I think the mics battery starts to die.
Too bad they aren't prepared.)
The stream is a bit jerky.
Nice dancing, nice smile on one flag carrier.
#5 The Sun. The figureheads are nice. The rest of the floats look
terrible for the most part.
#6 Luna, the moon. Float has a dragon on it. Hunh?
Xavier percussion group: nice moves.
#8 Leo the Lion has an ape face.
Baker HS: stops and dances in front of the cam. Nice!
#9 Taurus. A nice bull.
The Riverside Ramblers play When the Saints.
#11 Venus, the morning star. Pretty. And kinda sexy.
Polaris: Sexy! And so was Mercury for that matter.
Damian makes a bad joke about snowmobiles. He's an Arctic Cat kind of
guy, himself.
Libra has breasts!
Laura comes on cam briefly.
Oak Haven from Memphis look good but we can't hear them!
#16 Aires the Ram. I couldn't see a ram but the float looked good.
Virgo the Virgin, nice.
#18 Pieces. A scary fish!
Damien mentions Hercules and Heracles. I didn't know they were the
same, one Greek, one Roman. He does offer some good info on these
characters.
#20 Scorpio, a nice scorpion.
The end of parade fire truck plays Get Crunked!
I switch to the DSU cam but can't tell if Proteus has reached it yet
so I switch back to the paradecam. It's about 7:19 NY time.
Orpheus
About 10 minutes later Orpheus begins.
See cool red motorcycle lights flashing.
Laura on now as the host. Maybe she'll leave the mic on.
It's 30-40 degree down there. Sorry. That's what it is up here too!
She interviews some guy who's made a jacket out of beads. Nice job.
We see horse drawn chariots.
McDonogh #35: nice batons, band sounds good!, looks good, I don't
know the tune.
Laura calls them Lambeaux! They look good, red. Many are flares.
Float #1 has Taylor Dane on it and Mitch Landrieu.
#2 has Harry Connick Jr on it. Laura raves about someone catching a
throw he threw.
O Perry Walker: looks good, sounds good, dancers look good, flags
too. Pom poms too.
Nice red flambeaux behind them.
St Mary's Academy Band: sounds pooped.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddies don't play and are stingy according to Laura.
Walter L Cohen: nice moves by leaders and flags, band looks and sounds good.
Sean Payton with American flags on either side of him, spotlights behind float.
The Who Dat Dames: "Oh Lord, who are these people, " Laura. "They are so hot."
Laura says: "800,00 got out for that parade. That's more than got out
for the..." Got out?
I hear Smokey Mary! The cops by the neutral ground get out of the way
as she rounds the corner. That's one long float! 5 sections! Looks
surreal all light up as it comes around the corner.
#7 Angel and Devils Food cake: The sides look nice on this one.
LW Higgens: good dancers! leaders dance well then the band stops playing.
I think we hear Sweet Home Alabama coming from Fat Harry's. We can
hear the bass notes pretty well.
See lots of Hummers in the parade. Boo.
#9 Pinwheel biscuits. I see a pinwheel. Don't see any biscuits.
#10 Queen of Pudding. I see a cupcake.
The Fun Dept fire truck. I think it has clowns in it. (Painted purple.)
#11 Orpheus Trojan Horse: Beautiful and with a good band.
Not sure who the group is but I big nice smile on a girl in yellow.
Every once in awhile you'll see someone marching with a big smile on
their face. It's always nice. They're happy. We're happy. We need
more of that.
The hosts tell of someone from the crowd who jumped into the dance
routine of a group and promptly got taken out. A funny story.
Frederick Douglas HS: Looks good.
Wee see a dragon with smoke coming out of its nose. The baby dragon
behind it needs more decorations though.
The hosts mic starts to distort.
Nice dancing men in white, hopping. The band starts playing when it
gets to the cam. We can't hear the hosts because the mic is
distorting so much.
GW band (George Washington Carver?) shouts!
#20 Shoe Fly Pie has a mouse face. I don't get it.
9 pm NY time, the parade ends. I switch to the DSU cam.
We see the motorcycles so Orpheus is just beginning. The stream is
good, only hiccuping a little.
We hear The Village People play Macho Man on the float Mitch Landrieu
is on. Ick.
I can't tell who most of the bands are but they look good from above
and if they stop by the cam, they sound good.
A blond guy on the LSU float is enjoying himself. (LSU sucks.)
We hear Smokey Mary from afar. Very cool.
The dragon float passes by and we get a brief but nice look at it.
Overheard: "That's the best float."
The stream is hiccuping every couple of seconds now.
A band in green shouts and screams! Oh,now they're going backwards!
(Adjusting themselves.) Surreal.
People are throwing beads onto a flatbed truck! lol Only in New
Orleans is that funny.
See a nice sun float.
11:19 pm NY time, the last float goes by. The barriers are quickly
mov ed out of the way. Very efficient.
Now, for tomorrow!
6:35 (NY time) the parade rolls.
We see the Clydesdales. Each horse has a person to look after it as
they parade.
We then see King Kong! And then Lady Kong. No Baby Kong! What
happened to her? Great to see Mr and Mrs Kong though.
The Marine Corps play a 1920s tune, familiar to me but I don't know its name.
A flambeaux gets on cam enticing the crowd to Who Dat.
We see the flambeaux rest, their gas containers laid on the ground.
See lots of Bacchus lieutenants.
Then the parade stops again. While we wait, someone runs a remote
control toy truck along the ground that looks the same as the one
pulling the spotlights, with a Saints flag on it! The camera focuses
on two pigs that have wings. (And Hell froze over earlier...)
Drew Brees float comes by and the crowd goes wild. It looks like he's
got a bag full of footballs but I don't see him throw one. He isn't
looking towards the cam.
The Southern University Band drum section stops by the cam!
St Augustine looks and sounds good.
Jesuit HS comes by with the drums ahead of the rest of the band.
About 7:20 NY time, we get some hum. (It gets real bad later.)
Walter L Cohen: nice leaders dancing, flags, band strutting, nice
flambeaux behind them.
O Perry Walker: nice dancing in red (hard to see), leaders look good,
band only drums, nice flags after and pom poms,
Hum gets better, sometimes.
Edna Karr: see smiles on some of the band members as they pass by.
They don't play. Cheerleaders stand and sway slightly.
Lover's Lane float has a car with headlights on against a dark background.
McDonogh #35: looks good with flags waving from far away. The band
bends over and walks - cool! The cheerleaders look good as they sway
in tempo.
Lots of flambeaux.
George Washington Carver: Drums sounded good.
#8, a beautiful pink and white float, Baccha Amore, like a cake!
We see search lights sparkle with confetti.
Warren Easton Jr High looks good but doesn't play. The 2nd part does
though and the cheerleaders strut.
Joseph Clark Sr HS: nice red flags, we get BAD hum now, looks and
sounds good, nice dances in white behind them.
Little White Chapel has Elvi as riders.
Sara L Reed HS: nice dancers, flags, a young blond girls laughs, they
sound good.
The hum gets bad.
Eleanor McCain secondary school band looks good.
The young blond girl is held up to the camera. Very cute.
Float #12: If I Ever Cease to Love, New Orleans' motto, no?
Frederick A Douglas: looks and sounds good.
The Bacchasuarus.
Martin Behrman: nice dancing.
(I get a phone call and don't look for awhile. I coma back to see
#17, Sealed with a Kiss which has unmasked riders.
Sophie B Wright: band looks good.
The Bacchagator! Riders have gator heads and outfits!
St Paul's in Covington: nice dancers in blue, they dance as one! I
love the band outfits and remember them doing a great job dancing
years back. They don't play this time though.
We see a different Lucille Ball float. Two!
#21 Love Those Southern Bells.
Not sure of the band but they are in red. good dancers and band.
#22. The float looks like it is ejaculating beads. We see it against
a dark background. There's an image for you.
WJ Fisher: hard to see. They do a tired Rock and Roll pt 2. The hosts
are talking off mic.
#24 Love Bug: The band plays Rock and Roll pt 2 too!'
The band behind the Love Birds float (#25) looks good.
We see a Stop Youth Violence float. Good but unusual to see something
like that.
The parade ends, 9:20 pm NY time.
I switch to the DSU cam. a few floats and bands pass by before I
recognize where they are. The Lover's Lane float is the one I
recognize.
No hosts. The DSU cam is good to see an overview of band formations
and dances but not so good to see floats.
We hear the noise that cell phones make when they interfere with
broadcast audio. (Hear it all the time on C-Span...) I'm guessing the
cameraman's phone is either ringing or he's making a call.
The steam is good by hiccuping every 7 seconds. Getting full motion otherwise.
I'
I watched it to the end on the DSU cam. Here's what I'd add.
We hear some people chanting LSU, LSU. (LSU sucks. I went to Tulane.)
We see some women enjoying the music and dancing vigorously in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.
White throws stand out against the black background as they are thrown from the floats.
Some banner holders dance nicely.
A nice tune from Sophie P Wright?
See more nice baton twirling and dancing.
See some nice dancers in blue who turn out to be from St Paul's. The band does Word Up.
The I Love Lucy float goes by and some guy near the camera is heard saying, "I Love Lucy" in almost a Ricky Ricardo voice. Then we hear his girlfriend, I guess, saying, "Ricky, I'm cold."
The cops stop the parade and we see a LOT of people crossing in each direction. They also let some more tractors come in.
We hear off-camera: "15 more floats." His friend says, "What? Oh my God."
We hear a new weird noise. Have no idea what it is. Digital artifact? Some sort of interference I think.
A band plays Heard It Through The Grapevine.
The large tow truck comes by and blasts its horn. Love it.
The parade ends at about 11:45 NY time.
While waiting to for the parade to start, some guy flashes his chest
quickly as he talks on his cell phone and waves to the camera.
About 2:20 NY time, the parade starts. Theme is All Mixed Up (mixed
drinks). MC, a guy, gets a "get out of jail" card for Plaquemines
Parish. He thinks it may come in handy.
We learn that Thoth should be pronounced as Toeth, not Toth. I wasn't sure.
Mexico NY marching band and color guard teamed up with Chalmette HS.
The Fighting Owls. Un hunh.
We can see the MC in the lower right hand of the screen. He looks
bald, or blond.
He says, "The indefatigable engine of our city, out youth."
On the Tulane band, "they look much too young to be college students."
He asks, "where is my cheat sheet?" It's under your arm, the one
you've got the mic in! I can see it. Soon enough it drops. A couple
of minutes later he finds it.
Stilt walkers! Jerrica is slightly off camera and off mic.
Nice Egyptian bird (Condor?) on the side of one float.
Nice streetcar float. I can see the male host dance. They play When The Saints.
Mt Carmel again.
Cajun Cowboys make their horse walk sideways.
Irish Channel Corner Club, a walking club, apparently has been around
for a long time!
http://www.cornerclubnola.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Gris Gris Strut, who have their own Facebook page.
About 3 pm we lose the audio. About 15 minutes later we get it back
and we are at street level. That doesn't last though and we're back
up on the roof.
Can see Jerrica with her dark hair and sunglasses. She talks of her
brother, a lawyer, who got 250 dozen long stemmed roses to give out
today!
A float gets stuck going around the corner and about 5 minutes later,
the crowd cheers when it starts going again.
The Loyola dance team struts to awful music.
Baker High School plays Rock & Roll pt 2 (like others before it) and
it sounds good! And they look good too.
It is beautiful to see the horses go by.
The Margarita float has a nice face painted on the side, fire in its
eyes and mouth.
I've seen 2 people pick up plastic bags on the street. Are they
neatniks (Yeah1) or do they want to use them for their loot?
More awful music.
Kate, kate@loyola.com, whose been a host before, doesn't like White
Russians because she doesn't like the idea of milk with alcohol. Hmmm.
Our Lady? Academy from Marrero, nice dancers, terrible music.
Girls in red, also, nice dancers, terrible music.
A red car drives by. Its underbody catches a yellow plastic bag and
takes it with it. Will that cause a fire later on?
An Army truck passes by and blasts its horn. The crowd loves it. (Me too.)
Amite High School, looks good, sounds good too but doesn't play long.
Float #20, Mimosa, has a bottle of wine on the front. Hunh? One of
the hosts says, "Now you're being mean" as the riders pelt them. We
lose the audio and then it comes back. One of the hosts gets some
fluffy handcuffs!
About 4 pm NY time, we shift to the street-level cam! It looks SO
MUCH BETTER! We see a nice close up of the float and riders. The
riders are in blackface and are wearing fake tuxedos! Very cool.
Oh La La (Music Company) has a dance team with nice brown outfits
with feather headdresses.
Abdul and the Tentmakers (great name and I've seen them in many
parades over the years) play Mustang Sally and some guy dances behind
them in a brown suit with a pimp hat. Very nice!
The Just Doin' It Band plays Mardi Gras Mambo.
The parade ends at about 4:15 pm NY time.
Nice floats, nice costumes. A good parade.
WDSU is still not on. What's up with that?
Some of the drinks the floats were named after:
Swampwater, Cape Cod, Strawberry Daiquiri, Hurricane!, Grasshopper,
Sex on the Beach, Boilermaker, Margarita, Kamikaze, Fog Cutter,
Singapore Sling, Jungle Juice, Drunk Monk, Blue Hawaii, Rum Runner.
(links for some of these groups to come later.)
Now to have lunch.
Babylon
11:30 NY time: I watch the paradecam which is still on the roof with
no hosts. NO DSU yet.
They have technical problems: no video, so we miss Babylon.
Okeanos
12:30 NY time. We see a truck. Then, ATVs of the Shriners.
2 busses of clowns!
lots of bands
little kids dancing in pink outfits, described as "sas-a-licious",
not to be confused with salacious.
The stream dies for about 5 minutes.
Parade is over by 1:10 NY time.
Mid City next.
I watch the paradecam.
The only thing I can bother writing down is that David Torkanowsky
was on the lasts float. I took notes on all the rest but at this
point it doesn't seem worth it to write it all down here. Maybe later.
Tucks
The dragons of New Orleans. I've seen them in other parades at night.
Nice to see them in the day time. (See this for last year's
appearance.) The Muff-A-Lottas appear again, Clap Hands as their music. And they
throw REAL muffaletta sandwiches! (mini, wrapped in plastic)
Endymion
The WDSU parade tracker isn't working so I don't know when it will
appear. Have to use the DSU cam as it isn't going near Napolean and
St Charles. The DSU cam is set up to look down St Charles towards
Canal from it's spot opposite One Shell Square and is unhosted. It does zoom in here and there so that's good.
The parade doesn't come on camera until about 8 pm NY time, about 4
hours after it was supposed to start.
We see Tom Benson happily swinging his trophy back and forth. We see
Bree, happy. We see several Mardi Gras Indian-style outfits on
various people on the floats. Not sure who they are but they are
royalty.
... I'm getting bored. One nice thing is I see some ballet moves by
some of the dancers. Another, some guy next to the camera is yelling
out things like, "something for the little one", for a young child
near him. Beautiful floats.
Towards the end, and after along wait with the parade stalled, the
camera gets darker and it doesn't get fixed.
The parade ends about 11 pm NY time. Tomorrow could be boring too. Bacchus is always worth waiting for though.
I was thinking during the long pause that here are all these people, screaming to get what the riders will throw. Even with the parade stopped, they yell, anxious to get as much as they can. Don't they get tired of it? How much do they need? Some of the riders stopped throwing things but the crowd kept yelling for more. I would think after a certain point, you'd have enough. But no. As long as people are willing to give you something for free, there will be people who want it, think they need it and will keep yelling for more even after they have plenty.
I tried to watch DSU but it didn't come on til 9:17 NY time and only
had a stationary camera up by Poydras and St Charles with no hosts.
OK. I'll check that later.
So, watching the paradecam. Hosts are Kate and James though he
doesn't get introduced as far as I can tell. We also hear Jerrica at
one point.
7:10 NY time: The audio gets really loud and distorted. It gets fixed by 7:30.
Some nice floats, skipping most of them: a very cool purple serpent
(#17), nice Phoenix (#20),
SB Wright - nice stepping
Krewe d'Etat
Skeletons!
Kate talks about friend from Brookyn, NJ...Um, it's Brooklyn, NY.
Dante's Inferno - Not so divine comdey is the theme.
#4 - Gates of Hell - City Hell, take a number - 666,
#6 Greed. They lambast Tom Benson! No one is spared!
#7 - Chris Owens. Host reads the blurb: "They could have put the
shocking Tara Reid on but they wanted to keep it family friendly."
#8 Falsifier of words - Bernie Madoff! (Pharoh Madoff...)
#9 Root of Evil - ACORN. ... "corrupt organization run by nitwits"
Boo. Nice float though.
The Dancing Dilebertos! Men in red dresses. Good dance routine!
#10 Tiger Woods - "Should have stuck to one hole in one."
"Appropriately named Beaver Creek."
#11 Lust - Sen Vitter, Sen Edwards...
#12 A thing worn out - Viagra and Cialis.
#13 on Obama but I can't read my notes, something about power.
#15 Dogs of Hell, Cerberus - guards City Hall so that an honest
person can't get i! Mitch Landrieu and Eddie (not so ready) Sapir
listed.
#17 Magical Illusion. Chris Rose's column criticizing Mayor Nagin's
never-delivered promises.
Cool music of the Bones Brigade.
#20 Last Rites - "This internet crap is killing us." The TP and
others are listed.
A fire engine toots out Who Dat!/Stand up and get crunked
Morpheus
Not much to remember
Fantasy Girls
Do What You Wanna done by band
Muses
What a great parade! Creative, sexy, fun.
Big Easy Rollergirls
shoes on poles with nice neon lights!
neon butterflies!
O Perry Walker HS marching band - stepping in place, nice dancing,
band looks and sounds good
#5 Give a thoughtful gift - vacuum cleaner on the front!
Kate wonders why Denver is the Mile High City...
Elvi on mopeds. Fantastic! (Rolling Elvi?)
The Pussyfooters!
#12 SIze does matter - Diamond! "I can't churn butter with a
toothpick" written on the side, lol.
#13 We need to talk - blah blah blah written on the side.
Lady godivas! with thongs drawn on (or worn over) body suits. Some
had aureoles drawn on...
#15 Lay your cards on the table - The loser (Tarot) and the player, the bore...
Bearded Oysters! in white and parasols
Cameltoe Steppers! Good!
#20 Rise to the ocassion - Viagra pills
#21 Don't expect us to share everything - A huge male sex doll!
The 610 Stompers! Men doing the Stripes dance routine.
The Muff-A-Lottas! Good dancers with poodles skirts!
#25 How do I love thee? Let me count the parades. Then the parade ends.
The DSU cam is showing the Hermes parade still so I keep watching it.
Baucus proclaims how this bill/mark isn't a boon to insurance
companies. Among other "reasons" he states is that this bill forces
everyone to buy insurance. How is that not a benefit to the insurance
companies? Holds their feet to the fire? Are you kidding? He keeps
defending his bill. It's awful!
Ah, that is old footage.
Now to the new session.
Jim Bunning on now. He has been one of the worst apologists for the
insurance companies I've seen. Not too fond of this guy. I don't see
anyone else in there besides Baucus and him.
(Audio quality is good on C-Span 3. I'm using RealPlayer at this
point but have also used QT/Flip4Mac.)
Bunning is wasting our time telling us about his kids being too young
to know what kind of healthcare they may want.
Insurance companies make only 3.3% profit margin?
Drs and hospitals don't deserve big salaries. Call me a socialist.
(And if the government was the sole source for drug companies, we
could get lower prices.
Sen. Cantwell is on now. She is sharp. Always been impressed with
her. (She reminds me of my oldest sister. Looks like her and is smart
like her.) Making lots of great points.
(I have lunch so may miss some of what she says.)
So far, I haven't heard anything that would discredit her.
Now she talks about Costco...
Crapo on now. (Not pronounced like crap-o.) Another scary Republican.
An evil man.
Excessive regulation may inhibit competition. But the question is how
much is excessive. We need more, just like we do in the finance
sector, and both have to be better enforced. OK?
I have to admit though one of his staffers, the blond who sits behind
him and has her hair pulled back today, is hot. I love blonds with
dark eyebrows.
Kerry makes some good points. Entitlement (Medicare) vs
self-sustaining (Rockeeller bill).
(I miss some more as I talk on the phone.)
Sen. Rockefeller says, 'let me address my colleagues on the left who
want to maintain the status quo'... He meant to say 'on the right.'
Sen. Rockefeller: "Everyone believes everything they see on television."!
They vote on the Rockefeller amendment. Conrad votes no. Lincoln -
no. Nelson - no. Carper - no. Geez. Baucus - no. Thanks Dems. The
Dems have a 13-10 majority and they can't pass bills? (They lose
8-15.)
Schumer on now.
But we LIKE single-payer...
Baucus ought to be ashamed, and he may be, that he can't support a
public option because the votes aren't there. (The insurance industry
has bought off too many senators.)
Nelson is a good supporter of most causes I support though I don't
know why he voted against the Rockefeller amendment. Interesting that
he was the insurance commissioner of FL awhile back.
Health care cannot be a for-profit business.
Baucus is in a hurry to get this done.
Conrad likes the "public interest option."
Grassley on now.... "Many of the things we feared have come to past."
You mean pass.
Ensign on now. He's slick. He's afraid once a public plan gets
started, it will be impossible to stop. Good!
'We don't need a government auto company cuz auto companies are
already making a profit.' Um. They weren't a few months ago.
Bunning on now.
Tells Schumer his bill will do what he doesn't intend it to do.
Kyl on now.
This is going to be too big to fail...
'State insurance commissioners should keep the companies honest.' But
they don't.
Cantwell on now.
The comments have been shorter.
Baucus doesn't see how it will get 60 votes on the floor so he's
going to vote against it. Thanks ----head.
Schumer on for his last stab. We hear Grassley and Baucus on mic as
well. Schumer echoes my thoughts on state commissioners.
They vote: Conrad - no, Lincoln - no, (Carper aye!), Baucus - no. (It
loses,10-13)
Pitiful. 3 Dems could have made the difference.
Let's see what happens when the Senate bill gets reconciled with the
House bill.
Senator Rockefeller presents his amendment. It seems he is offering a
public option in an exchange. Not good enough. (Medicare for all, I
say. Not as an option. Health insurance companies should only sell
coverage for things not covered like cosmetic surgery, etc. Medicare
should cover all health issues. (Dental, mental, obstetrics, etc.)
Senator Nelson asks Senator Rockefeller to explain his bill and
Senator Rockefeller politely refuses. I don't understand that.
Isn't it amazing that we subsidize the insurance companies now and
will do so in the future? Why do we subsidize industries that are
profitable? They subsidize "the people" to buy the insurance and they
also subsidize the insurance companies as well. It makes no sense.
Baucus defends the "mark" as being hard on the insurance companies.
They levy a fee for 60 billion but are subsidizing them to the tune
of 500 billion.
The audio quality of C-Span 1 on DirecTV is bad as usual. Distortion,
and now we are hearing monitor ring, which is a problem caused
whoever is doing audio in the Senate chamber.
Grassley tries to defend his approach on the "public option" and then
announces his opposition to Sen Rockefeller's amendment. Grassley has
no credit as far as I'm concerned. ('A slow walk to government run
health care.' Yes. et's do it!) Then he yammers on about half truths
and misconceptions that are the Republican talking points. (People
come to the US for health care...)
Grassley 'A government plan will run the insurance companies out of
business.' I'm all for it!
Grassly rails on about how bad the public option is. Yawn. Most of
what he says has been disproved.
What he's saying is the public option will be more cost effective so
let's not have it because it will put insurance companies out of
business. Doesn't want government bureaucrats making decisions
instead of Drs but that is what the insurance companies are doing
now. Exactly that.
Now he waffles on Medicare.
Grassley wants choice? Choice to pay more than we need to? How about
not needing a choice because the care provided is good. (And I guess
choice doesn't apply to abortion. Can't have choice there, can we?)
Hatch on now. ... "enjoy the private coverage of their choice."
Enjoy? Enjoy paying exorbitant rates and have limited coverage? No,
we don't enjoy it, Senator.
God forbid Drs can't charge whatever they want. We don't need rich
Drs. We need Drs who like to practice medicine. They will be
adequately paid. They are in other countries.
Yes, let's go this way!
No, the government DOES NOT MAKE ALL THE DECISIONS! the Drs do! Liar!
No, the American people will not lose control over their care.
Menendez strongly in favor of Rockefeller's (and Schumer's) amendment.
All (of the Senators) are for choice unless it's for a public option.
Drs ought to be required in this program. He weasels out of Sen
Ensign's question. Then Rockefeller weasels out, after saying they
won't be required to then saying only for two years.
Sen Nelson asks, is the public option a disaster in NJ? Menedez
answers since there is no public option it can't be a disaster. What
was the point of that?
Sen Conrad bashes Rockefeller's plan. Conrad mentions the TR Reid
book! Our system ought to be not for profit. (More talk is about not
for profit insurance but I am for not for profit health care and NO
insurance being needed.)
Ensign tries to criticize our ranking in the world of preventable
deaths by saying that it isn't valid because we have more car
accidents and gunshot wounds than other countries do. Hardly
something to draw attention to since you (Senators) are supposed to
be doing things to improve that.
Sen Rockefeller would have been better starting off saying his plan
IS a government run plan for the first two years.
It's a shame Dems aren't clear on the plans being offered. Bingaman
is confused. Nelson was. Conrad was against the Rockefeller plan....
Schumer up now to talk about Rockefeller's amendment. He then
launches into the state of health care and insurance.
Ensign is missing the point. We may be good at taking care of cancer
There are MANY more health conditions where we are NOT better than
other countries. (Infant mortality, others. Cost as percent of GDP is
twice that of the next "rich" nation. Also bankruptcies due to health
costs are obscenely high.)
Sen Kyle on now.
Britain's health care system may be the world's 3rd biggest employer
but their system works! Works well.
Sen Stabenow on now.
I have liked most of what she has said in the past.
They break at about 5 after 1 to return in about 45 minutes.
More to come.
Heard one gaffe so far: something about making yourself homely.
Danny Paisley and Southern Grass didn't remind me much of his
father's band. His singing is more shrill.
Mix is good. In the Ethiopan set, some of the women are off-mic. Not
sure if they don't have mics or if the sound man/woman is missing
them.
Hosts are listenable. Other than that one gaffe, nothing too
embarrassing. These DJs have presence of mind so they don't say
stupid things. They also are not breaking in every other moment to ID
the station. This is the first ID I've heard during the music,
between songs, today, at 1:37.
It is flowing nicely. No bad communication between on-air DJ and the
stage. Isn't that nice!
1:54 pm Station ID
"And you are listening to the live broadcast of American Folk
Festival..." should be THE American Folk Festival...
Only outright negative: There must be a generator near the ERU booth.
We can hear a low hum. (Was also hearing some echo on the DJ mic
right now but it stopped.)
An intelligent discussion with the Ethiopian band. Credit goes to an
intelligent DJ and it didn't hurt to have a Harvard professor added
in. The Ethiopian is a little off-mic sometimes but it isn't too hard
to hear him.
Gadelle starting up, doing their soundcheck. Good timing, just as the
interview ends. Need to turn down the stage feed while they do the
sound check.
Go to the stage. Flawless. Good mic-ing of feet! Levels going up and down.
Hunh? The sound goes dead and then we a hear a bluegrass CD. Then
back to the stage. OK. Vocals too low. Fiddle out of the mix. Oh well.
Some innovation on foot percussion rhythms! And then they run it
through an efx box. Nice.
Les Charbonniers de L'Enfer are on. Lead singer is not in mix. Can
hear him in the monitor. We hear the mix change, singers sound
closer, but the lead singer gets more out of it. Crowd is mic'd out
of it.
Next tune. Lead's level goes up too high then ok.
Overall, nice.
Now on to Terry "harmonica" Bean.
His vocal is way low.
Johsua Nelson on at 5:30. I fall asleep for most of it. Funny to hear
a black gospel group sing about being a good jew. This music could
sell anything.
It gets livelier toward the end.
So, it's over now. The best for me, Les Charbonniers de L'Enfer .
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