News and information from the New Orleans area
Mardi Gras Parade Schedule
New Freret Parade has Stalled Out for 2013!!
012 years
The blame game is out in full on this parade cancellation. The krewe of Freret blames none other than NOPD, our police force, now under a federal consent decree!
Krewe of Freret Logo
The krewe says they have the support of the other krewes and have arranged for the necessary floats. The Captain says the New Orleans Police Department never responded officially to the krewe’s application.
An adviser to our fine mayor, Mitch Landrieu,said the application ”fell through the cracks.” Apparently the police thought the application was for 2014, even though their enclosed check was for 2013.
1975 Silver Freret Medals
The original Krewe of Freret started in 1953. I remember watching them on Freret St in the 1970s and 80s. In 1995, the krewe was in financial difficulties and stopped parading.
http://www.nola.gov/government/nopd/
The new krewe says they will hold their ball and coronation. I’m pleased they are staying active with the plan to return to a parading krewe in 2014. The krewe’s web site says- WELCOME TO THE KREWE OF FRERET – WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!
In late 2011, seven young Loyola graduates lamented the notion of squandering hard earned money to join a formal Krewe where they knew virtually no one and would have limited input. So rather than joining an existing Krewe, they sought to enhance Mardi Gras by creating a world class parade.
Those simple three words that utter so softly off of your lips, “Krewe of Freret”, drive Tulane and Loyola alumni to come together for the greater good of Carnival. Whereas the word ‘Freret’ was previously a division line between two campuses, the Krewe of Freret aims to unify these enthusiastic young professionals and infuse new vigor into Mardi Gras while simultaneously fanning the revitalization of the Freret corridor and her traditions.
The Krewe has received incredible support from the community, with many Freret Street business owners counted as Krewe of Freret members.
Mardi Gras Update 12/17/12
012 years
Lots of news to report, none of it huge, so I’m compiling it into one feature. Of course, the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans in the middle of the Carnival season, so the parades in Orleans parish are split up.
Super Bowl 2013 Tickets in New Orleans
I’ve covered Slidell parades before, as the first couple of entries are about North Shore parades.
1. The Krewe of Claude, a parading krewe with 24 parades under its belt, has called it quits for 2013. No Slidell parade and no ball. Apparently membership had fallen to a point that neither event was possible. They promise to return for 2014, as they plan to pursue new members sooner rather than later. Last year the parade had around 12 floats and close to 200 members. In my crazier, wilder, younger Mardi Gras days, I used to take the family and guests to attend Claude, which runs very early in the season. We had a blast in those days, running to parades in Slidell.
Krewe of Claude 2011
2. For the past 25 years, the Original Krewe of Orpheus has rolled down the streets of Mandeville, throwing their signature pine cones. Unfortunately for Mardi Gras fans in Mandeville, the parade has been cancelled for 2013, according to Krewe Captain Brett Lowe,
Last week, the Krewe of Lyra announced they will not parade in Mandeville, but have moved its parade to follow the traditional parades in Covington Mardi Gras Day, the Mystic Krewe of Covington and the Lion’s Club.
However, Orpheus has no plans of moving. According to Lowe, “The Original Krewe of Orpheus will stick to Mandeville.”
In connection with the decision, Lowe issued a press release that stated, “On behalf of Board of Directors, it is with major disappointment that we must inform everyone of our decision not to ride on Feb. 8, 2013. We have experienced financial difficulties through a decline in membership over the past few years, which dictates our abilities to produce a quality parade that we are proud of. We are re-organizing and will ride in 2014.
Hoping to boost membership, the krewe will host a “rebirth party” on its previously scheduled parade night, Feb. 8, 2013. For more information, interested parties can email Lowe at kreweoforpheus@gmail.com.
The Mandeville all-women’s Krewe of Eve had extend an opportunity to Orpheus to parade behind their krewe on Feb. 1, but Lowe said that was not the route Orpheus wished to take. He thanked them for their offer.
“It was given in the true spirit of Mardi Gras, and we appreciate their kindness, and commitment to the community,” he said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Lowe stated the organization will continue to be a men’s krewe, and the re-organization party will replace the krewe’s annual ball Feb. 8, with women included as they would be at the ball. There will be a slight charge and interested parties should contact the krewe.
Regulations in the city of Mandeville requiring a minimum number of 150 riders paid a “slight part” in the group’s decision not to ride, according to Lowe. As with most parades throughout the area, a permit and insurance is also required.
The Original Krewe of Orpheus was founded in April 1987, a year after the Krewe of Eve had successfully made its debut. Its first parade was in 1988 with 13 floats plus local and regional marching bands. Its signature throw, the pineloon, was originally a pine cone covered in glitter, sitting atop a doubloon base. More recently, it was a plastic pine cone necklace.
Ironically, this past year was the 25th anniversary year with the theme “Orpheus’ Silver Lining.”
3. Orleans Parish’s Krewe of Orpheus announced 2013 plans- Leading the festivities and parade with Harry Connick, Jr. are other celebrity monarchs including star of the CBS hit show CSI New York, Gary Sinise; Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews; Animal Planet’s Tillman the skateboarding bulldog; and returning monarchs, Law & Order SVU’s Mariska Hargitay, and the Imagination Movers.
4. Harry’s got a new Mardi Gras album named Mardi Gras in New Orleans. That’s an original title if I’ve every heard of one!!
Trombone Shorty
5. My own Krewe du Vieux is building their floats, my own Krewe of Underwear’s float is taking shape beautifully, can’t show any photos yet. We roll January 19, 2013!!
2013 Parade Season Split in Two by Super Bowl!!!
212 years
2012 Super Bowl Tickets, Indianapolis, IN
As was the case for Mardi Gras 2002 after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the 2013 parade season will be cut in two, with the first week of Carnival beginning Jan. 25 instead of Feb. 1. That will be followed by a nine-day break in parading as football fans, city officials, the tourism industry and police turn their attention to Super Bowl XLVII (47)
The Super Bowl is Feb. 3, and Mardi Gras 2013 falls on Feb. 12.
The parade season will pick up again after the big game. Traditionally, the official Carnival season consists of 12 consecutive days that culminate on Fat Tuesday.
A handful of Krewes must change their parading days to suit the new schedule.
Parades rolling on Friday, February 1, Oshun and Cleopatra, move to January 25. Parades rolling on Saturday, February 2, Pontchartrain, Sparta and Pygmalion, move to January 26. Parades rolling on Sunday, February 2, Alla, King Arthur, and Carrollton, move to January 27.
As a result of the schedule changes in 2002, some krewes had to scale back in size. The 11 krewes forced to change their schedules received financial compensation from the NFL. The details of the settlement were confidential, but the krewes asked for $550,000, or $50,000 per krewe. The NFL also paid the National Automobile Dealers Association $7.5 million that year to move its meeting to the Super Bowl’s original slot.
Krewe of King Arthur
Schedule courtesy Tulane.edu.
2013 Orleans Only Parade Schedule
| Day | Date | Krewe | Route |
| Friday | January 6, 2013 | Phunny Phorty Phellows | Uptown Streetcar Route |
| Friday | January 6, 2013 | Krewe of Jeanne d’Arc | French Quarter |
| Saturday | January 19, 2013 | Krewe du Vieux | Marigny/French Quarter |
| Friday | January 25, 2013 | Krewe of Oshun | Uptown |
| Friday | January 25, 2013 | Krewe of Cleopatra | Uptown |
| Saturday | January 26, 2013 | Krewe of Pontchartrain | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Saturday | January 26, 2013 | Krewe of Choctaw (1 year only) | Uptown |
| Saturday | January 26, 2013 | Knights of Sparta | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Saturday | January 26, 2013 | Krewe of Pygmalion | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Sunday | January 27, 2013 | Krewe of Carrollton | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Sunday | January 27, 2013 | Krewe of King Arthur | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Friday | February 1, 2013 | Krewe of Cork | French Quarter |
| Sunday | February 3, 2013 | Mystic Krewe of Barkus | French Quarter |
| Wednesday | February 6, 2013 | Krewe of Ancient Druids | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Wednesday | February 6, 2013 | Mystic Krewe of Nyx | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Thursday | February 7, 2013 | Knights of Babylon | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Thursday | February 7, 2013 | Knights of Chaos | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Thursday | February 7, 2013 | Krewe of Muses | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Friday | February 8, 2013 | Krewe of Hermes | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Friday | February 8, 2013 | Le Krewe d’Etat | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Friday | February 8, 2013 | Krewe of Morpheus | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Saturday | February 9, 2013 | Krewe of Iris | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Saturday | February 9, 2013 | Krewe of Tucks | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Saturday | February 9, 2013 | Krewe of Endymion | Mid-City |
| Sunday | February 10, 2013 | Krewe of Okeanos | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Sunday | February 10, 2013 | Krewe of Mid-City | Uptown – Jefferson |
| Sunday | February 10, 2013 | Krewe of Thoth | Uptown – Henry Clay |
| Sunday | February 10, 2013 | Krewe of Bacchus | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Monday | February 11, 2013 | Krewe of Proteus | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Monday | February 11, 2013 | Krewe of Orpheus | Uptown – Napoleon |
| Tuesday | February 12, 2013 | Krewe of Zulu | Uptown – Jackson |
| Tuesday | February 12, 2013 | Rex, King of Carnival | Uptown – Claiborne |
| Tuesday | February 12, 2013 | Elks Krewe of Orleanians | Uptown – Claiborne |
| Tuesday | February 12, 2013 | Krewe of Crescent City | Uptown – Claiborne |
Now I’m a member of Krewe du Vieux, and it really is a blast to be in a krewe. I love Mardi Gras from the street perspective, but belonging to a Carnival Krewe, that’s a whole other level of fun. We get to march in the historic French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny. Our super satiric, ribald floats are adults only. Our floats are pulled by donkeys and each float has it’s own brass band! The Hot 8 Brass Band was in front of us in 2012 and they kicked butt and I mean they kicked butt. The entire miles long route was an excuse for these brass warriors to take our entire Krewe of Underwear to a new party parade level, which energized the crowd as they passed.
Calliope Digital, Maker of WDSU’s Parade Tracker, Claim They Aren’t!!
013 years
This is another exclusive story for Carnival New Orleans News. On wdsu.com’s Parade Tracker site, they claim with a link and email that Calliope Digital is the creator of the mobile application. I’ve been in touch with Chris V. of Calliope Digital via email because I want to delete the program from my phone after I received over 100 texts over the course of the South Shore parades the very first night of parades! That’s way too many for me!
The graphic and text below is cut and pasted from the Calliope Digital web site-
Calliope Digital, LLC announces the release of the WDSU Parade Tracker for Android. The WDSU Parade Tracker is New Orleans’ original FREE parade tracking app for the Carnival season. Now with more parade schedules, parade routes and more real-time tracking of your favorite parades. This year, we’re tracking 30 parades in Uptown New Orleans, Metairie, and on the West Bank. And best of all, this app keeps you up-to-date with the latest carnival news and changes in parade schedules and parade routes. Get it free on Android Market today.
*********************
The following is cut and pasted from the wdsu Parade Tracker page on the Android Market site-
|
The WDSU Parade Tracker is New Orleans’ original FREE parade tracking app for the Carnival season. Now with more parade schedules, parade routes and more real-time tracking of your favorite parades. This year, we’re tracking 30 parades in Uptown New Orleans, Metairie, and on the West Bank. It’s the “must-have” app for Mardi Gras day and best of all, keeps you up-to-date with the latest carnival news leading up to Fat Tuesday, including auto-updates in schedules and parade routes.
Visit Developer’s Website› Email Developer›
********************
The following emails are from Calliope Digital Founder Chris Van Buskir and myself concerning me getting rid of the pesky program.
From: Chris Van Buskirk <chris@calliopedigital.com>
Subject: Re: how to remove parade tracker-
To: “David Eidler”
Me as well, as the app I built does not send notifications. We do not send texts. We do not collect phone numbers. I have no clue as to what you are talking about.
On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:16 PM, David Eidler wrote:
WDSU’s site lists Calliope Digital as developer and have the link to your site and the email I used to contact CD. I’m puzzled about your response.
David— On Sat, 2/11/12, Chris Van Buskirk <chris@calliopedigital.com> wrote:
From: Chris Van Buskirk <chris@calliopedigital.com>
Subject: Re: how to remove parade tracker-
To: “David Eidler”
Subject: Re: how to remove parade tracker-
To: “David Eidler”
Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 11:20 AM
No I didn’t. It was probably something they did prior, so contact them directly.
http://www.wdsu.com/station/267996/detail.html
On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 11:17 AM, David Eidler <araborecs@yahoo.com> wrote:
WDSU does, and you created the program from them. So if you cannot help me, can you give me an email to send this to so I can get this off my phone. Thanks very much.
David
— On Sat, 2/11/12, Chris Van Buskirk <chris@calliopedigital.com> wrote:
From: Chris Van Buskirk <chris@calliopedigital.com>
Subject: Re: how to remove parade tracker-
To: “David Eidler”
Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 11:13 AM
???? We don’t send out texts, notifications of any sort. We don’t collect phone numbers.
On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 11:10 AM, David Eidler <araborecs@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi there,
I desperately want this off my phone. I don’t mind Orleans parade updates, but not the entire South Shore. I cannot find a way to do this, the app isn’t listed in my downloads, or my programs. Please help and Happy Mardi Gras!!
David Eidler
http://news.carnivalneworleans.com
http://watchopp.wordpress.com
Rolled with Krewe du Vieux Last Night!!
013 years
KdV 2012 Party Poster
Under the night sky and perfect weather, the fabulous, one of a kind, historic Krewe du Vieux rolled through the historic Marigny and French Quarter. My Krewe of Underwear, with a donkey pulling the float and a great brass band behind the float, joined the procession as float #6. Our krewe’s theme was “Bayou Beautox.”
2012 Krewe of Underwear Float, entitled Bayou Beautox
Regular Mardi Gras parades in Orleans Parish are banned from the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny since the 1970’s, their big tractors and super floats couldn’t allow emergency vehicles to pass freely around the Quarter.
I’m in a Parade Referee, meaning I’m supposed to stay sober and guard the floats. I keep parade watchers from joining the parade enroute; keep the crowds back while the parade rolls by; and report any medical or dangerous to parade management or police, depending on the situation. I’ve been doing this job for a number of years, and I’ve never had a drink while the parade is rolling and most years I don’t drink at all.
2012 PARADE BRASS BANDS
Lagniappe
Pinettes
Kinfolk
TBC
New Birth
Jazzmen
Bone Tone
Young Fellaz
Paulin Bros
Baby Boyz Brass Band
Stooges Brass Band
One Mind
Panorama
The Tornados
Free Agents
Treme Brass Band
Egg Yolk Jubilee
Hot Eight Brass band
Down and Dirty
The after party was a musical blast! The Brass Band Jam was unbelievable!!
Krewe du Vieux Doo
February 4, 2012
2830 Royal Street
Door opens at 9:00
With close to 1,000 total members, the parade has grown in popularity to the point that a new member can join only when another drops out. It rolled Saturday night through Faubourg Marigny and the French Quarter.
Drips and Discharges‘ 20th anniversary formed a large part of the design for this year’s float, with signs and photos recalling themes of parades past, including “Star Whores” and “Drips and Discharges Are Porn Again.”
For people in an occupation that can often be extremely stressful, the parade provides a creative outlet, subkrewe captain Eileen McKeown said, and a “chance to let our hair down and be a little crazy and forget about it all.”
Krewe du Vieux, now in its 26th year, takes great pride in its uniqueness. It alone, the nonprofit organization boasts on its website, “carries on the old traditions of Carnival celebrations, by using decorated mule-drawn floats with satirical themes, accompanied by costumed revelers dancing in the streets to the sounds of jazzy street musicians.”
This year, under the “Mutha” krewe theme of “Crimes Against Nature,” Drips and Discharges decided to take aim at a German automaker’s appropriation of the Superdome, now known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
“We thought it was a crime against nature that the Germans own part of New Orleans,” McKeown said of the “Benz Over” theme.
The Dome’s new name came as a surprise to most Orleanians last fall, overnight giving the city’s most famous building a new sign, a new name, a new sponsor and a gigantic light-projected symbol of the foreign automobile manufacturer.
“It’s just business,” said float captain Ellis Chappell, and not entirely unexpected. But nothing is off limits for Krewe du Vieux when it comes to poking fun at the year’s happenings. “If some happy little German company gives you $10 million you go for it,” said Chappell, who, alongside his son Reed, a comic-book artist, spent a week carving a “Superdome with ass cheeks” out of styrofoam for the float.
Chappell said the Drips’ theme meetings are “fueled by pitchers of mojitos,” and the ideas get better with each pitcher.
Krewe members Saturday night wore lederhosen and plastic butt hats and carried staffs topped with the Mercedes-Benz symbol.
McKeown, a physician recruiter, joined Aiken and approximately 30 others in Drips’ 1993 founding march. She said her favorite part of the night is when she hears the opening beats of the brass bands, 19 in total, at the start of the parade. “Your adrenaline starts rolling and never stops,” she said.
Other satirical “Crimes Against Nature” themes included the Krewe of Comatose’s “Dollar General Hospital,” aimed at the leveling of a Mid-City neighborhood for new hospitals; the Krewe of Rue de Bourbon’s “We Are the 1 Percent”; and the Krewe of Underwear’s “Bayou Beautox.”
Also in the lineup were several apocalypse-related themes, including the Krewe of C.R.U.D.E’s (Committee to Revive Urban Decadent Entertainment) “HEY a-POCKY-lypto WAY,” featuring the 2012 Mayan Calendar girls.