Da Neutral Ground: Mardi Gras

It was a nice, calm, settled MG this year. We walked from the Quarter to Uptown to visit my cousin's family for a bit. Then we took a cab back downtown, (remind me to never walk from downtown to uptown again; ohhhh my feet!), and spent the rest of the day in the Quarter. The first two photos and video are of the Krewe of Orphus' parade; it has some of the most beautiful floats IMHO. (Sorry 'bout weight loss Wed. but was worn out from MG and gave myself a break.)

Even the rear of these floats are beautifully decorated.

It's a shame that the tiny fiber optic lights that
highlight the float didn't really show up in this picture.

This is Vic n Nat'ly. We dressed as Vic n Nat'ly. I was Vic.

This is the Rosenberg's girl. It's a NOLA thing.
The little niece went as the Rosenberg kid
and sang the tune for everyone who asked.

This pic really doesn't do it justice, but my poor floor, furniture, cats, husband, porch, stoop, car, and neighborhood are covered with glitter.

I used news paper to make a pattern for the Rosenberg girl dress.

Here's the family: Vic, Nat'ly, and Rosenberg. Yes, I am willing to be a bald man with hairy legs, (stockings with black embroidery thread, and yes that is my sister's real hair, (Got 2B Glued is the best hairspray ever).

Mardi Gras for the locals, really is a family affair.
We stood next to these people for the Zulu parade. They were awesome!

Yeah, I know you shouldn't walk through the most shee shee pooh pooh hotel in the city, (the Roosevelt), in order to make the route shorter, but we are just a little naughty. What was even more pathetic is that we behaved badly and acted like the loud Yats that we are the whole way through. It's a good thing the staff thought it was funny.

This is the Rex parade. Rex is a traditional old line organization and the king of Rex is made ruler of the city for MG day. No, really; the mayor declares Rex ruler for the day.

This is not a fancy float, but it is probably the most important float in all of MG. It is the Boeuf Gras, (fatted cow).
The Boeuf Gras is probably the most representative of what Mardi Gras is all about. It's all about that last hurrah before Lent, having that last bit of sugar, or meat, or in my case saying my last curse word because when Lent comes, well you've got to behave yourself. The Boeuf Gras is a permanent float in the Rex parade. A hundred years from now, as long as there is a Rex and a New Orleans you'll see that fatted cow parading down the street on MG day.

Beads stay in the trees all year long or until they fall out.
It's one of my favorite things to see as I drive down St. Charles Ave.

If I had a nickel for every Jack Sparrow I've seen... But this guy... This guy was a genius.
He imitated Depp's walk to perfection. He was the costume and for that here is his picture.

These are the shee shee pooh pooh people waiting to toast Rex. His Queen is somewhere in there.

This is the neutral ground. It is packed with families who stay in the same spots for generations. There are families who have held these spots for fifty years.

There is the Rosenberg girl and Schwegmann's on a Truck float. We had a Schwegmann's shopper in our little group, she is in a pic further down. Truck floats are when groups of families, friends and or co-workers all put in and decorate specially built trailers for trucks, (it's way cheaper than belonging to Rex). This particular truck parade are the Krewe of Elks Orleans.

St. Charles Ave. fence and parade watchers.

Frog on a bike.

Up ahead is Nat'ly (pink), Rosenberg girl sans wig (red), Making Groceries Schwegmann Style, (yellow robe and curlers), and the boyfriend who was sorry he didn't dress up, (HA that'll teach you!). Also a couple of angry birds heading towards the camera.

Okay they look store bought but these super heroes were in lame' so they have my respect.

This was a great moment in our day. Costumed people tend to congregate on the street and get into character. Here's our Schwegmann's Shopper, Jesus, and Tim Tebow, (done in 70's rock star style), planning a tableaux for a photo shoot.

I am sooo disappointed that I didn't get a great shot of this. There were several poses and it was as funny as, well I can't say because I gave up cursing for Lent, so just use your imagination.

Me and sis, with some guy from Devo's Whip It video in the background.

You know for a last minute addition, our Making Groceries Schwegmann's Style Shopper looks pretty good for only two hour's notice. It was shortly after this pic when the Rosenberg girl was picked up by her cousin and taken off to the mattress ball. (Actually she sat up 'till we got home playing on the computer with her uncle who wouldn't go out with us because we get too wild. Now do we look like a wild bunch to you? Nah, meek as mice.)

This is a drag queen. In this family you have to be a fan of drag queens. It is essential to have drag queen approval on our MG costumes. It's a tradition. If a drag queen approves then, and only then, are we successful. God bless her heart, she gave us much approval! Whew, we passed the test. : )

I stood up and clapped over these glitterific shoes! What a wonderful shoe choice!

This is a view from my home away from home. Yeah, it's a bar. The Pirate's Alley Cafe crew got me through that first year after Katrina. Or as Jez said on MG night, "blank, (remember no cursing), it was the alcohol that got us all through." I love my PAC krewe; mmmwwwwahhh!

Nice. Love the wind-up key.

As with all good times, things must come to an end, and so we end up at Cafe Du Monde. It's also a MG tradition.

Cafe au Lait and beignets; midnight soul food.

Midnight it's all over, well if you are a native anyways. It's just not right being boisterous on Ash Wednesday. So as we walk back to the car we see interesting things in the windows. Aren't these the coolest barber chairs?

This is our scary, built in 1930, looking, before safety codes parking garage.

I have to admit these columns are the bees knees.

Look ma, we were good girls. home by 12:30AM!

I make one sexy, fat, balding, middle aged man don't I? (Look my bald cap is coming off in the back, ha!)

Sigh. One whole year before we can do it again. Sis said in the car on the way home, "It's too bad MG couldn't be two days, huh?" We think alike.

This weekend we hit three parades. Knights of Nemesis in Chalmette, the Krewe of Caesar in Metairie, and the Mystic Krewe of Barkus in the French Quarter. It was miserable cold; the coldest weekend of the year so far. Warning, lots of pics.

Nemesis

This was her first MG style parade. She didn't want to go and said it was going to be boring.
We picked on her all day for saying that little bit of foolishness.

This was not her first MG style parade and she thought her cousin was weird for saying it would be boring.

Nemesis float, not exactly fancy, but hey, it was a parade.

Yup we caught baby clothes.

Krewe of Caesar traveling band mini float.

Cookie Monster and Elmo were Grand Marshalls for Caesar.

Cookie Monster and Elmo were Grand Marshalls for Caesar this year,
making the parade a must for the toddlers in our family.

Caesar selected some excellent HS bands. High School bands earn money in these parades and if they are slackers they don't get invited to participate in the big name parades. No such thing as a band nerd in the GNO area, these kids are the rock stars of Carnival and the crowds love them.

Krewe of Caesar float. See the difference in quality from the Nemesis float? Some krewes have more money and can afford better quality floats. The smaller krewes rent their floats and so you can see the same float several times in the same season.