News and information from the New Orleans area
Carnival New Orleans
Twelfth Night 2011
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I bought two King Cakes in the last 24 hours, both strawberry, one from Rouses and one from Winn Dixie this AM for the wife’s work. Both grocery chains make their own King Cakes by the thousands during the season. The small filled King Cake sells for $7.69-7.79 at the two stores. Unfilled small King Cakes retail for around $5.59 or so.
King Cake - YUM!!- photo- befitnola.com
King Cakes are HUGE in New Orleans. From January 6 until Mardi Gras Day, March 8, 2011- this is a very late date, almost the latest date possible. The weather should be warm for Fat Tuesday 2011. This allows for over 2 months from January 6 until March 8. All this time is King Cake time!! NOLA King Cakes feature more sugar than most.
Historically, King Cakes have been around Europe for centuries before New Orleans was settled. We had plain King Cakes for a long long time in NOLA. Then McKenzie’s Bakeries started filling their King Cakes, and charged like $9.95 for a Medium filled one. This was back in late 1970s as I recall.
Pretty soon, filled King Cakes had created a whole new King Cake Economic Model, based on a more expensive King Cake. Then the Mail Order Model was created, and hundreds of thousands of King Cakes started being shipped worldwide.
Who makes the best filled and unfilled King Cakes in the NOLA metro area? There are a lot of entrants, since the shipping/local markets have exploded over the last
http://bit.ly/emh7cl is a King Cakes of the World article I found while researching this post. The blog is entitled- A Malaysian in France. Here’s an European King Cake:
Northern France King Cake
2009 PPP
Tonight the Phunny Phorty Phellows take a decorated, historic St. Charles Streetcar down St. Charles Avenue from the Willow Street Car Barn onto Carrollton Avenue then down St. Charles to Lee Circle, where the Streetcar turns down Carondelet Street to Canal Street, turning on Canal to St. Charles Avenue, all the way back to Carrollton Avenue and the Willow Street Car Barn. They are accompanied by New Orleans own Storyville Stompers.
I’m a huge fan of the PPP, as they have a creative solution to float building. They take an already build historic street car, and decorate that! I’ve caught them for years on St. Charles. Cannot wait to catch them tonight. Happy Mardi Gras to the World! Go Saints! Who Dat Who Dat Who Dat!!!
Why all the Who Dats? Saints play their first playoff game defending their World Championship Win this Saturday against the Seattle Sea Hawks- Jan 8, 2011. Sat 1:30 PM, Seattle,WA Qwest Field
I’ve loved King Cakes for many years. Over the decades, I’ve preferred various types as they are developed.
REX has a New Colorful Photo Book
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Rex book cover
This is an attractive book if you are into Rex, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, pretty Carnival photos, etc. Rex is a central theme of Mardi Gras, they are the original purple, green & gold krewe. Rex is the second oldest Mardi Gras parading organization in New Orleans. Only Proteus is older, but they stopped parading in 1993 and resume parading in 2000. Rex didn’t stop because of Dorothy Mae Taylor’s ordinance.
Since its founding in 1872, the School of Design has added chapter after colorful chapter to the history of Carnival in New Orleans. This is a story best told in pictures, and a new book, Rex: An Illustrated History of the School of Design, does just that, and for a wonderful cause. All proceeds after publication costs go directly to the Pro Bono Publico Foundation.
Assembled by Rex archivist, Stephen Hales, this book is filled with more than 260 beautiful images telling the story of Rex, the King of Carnival, from his appearance on horseback in the first Rex Procession through the 2010 Parade and Ball. Museums and private collectors have allowed use of images never before published, documenting not only the history of the Rex Organization but also tracing the history of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Photographs of modern Rex Parades and Balls show that the School of Design continues to build on its oldest traditions of beauty and spectacle.
Among the 12 chapter subjects are The Grand Ball, The Rex Procession, Rex and the Military, The Rex Den, and Rex: Symbols and a Song. The book’s final chapter, Pro Bono Publico, documents the new dimensions given to the Rex motto in the five years since Hurricane Katrina.
Priced at $35, Rex: An Illustrated History of the School of Design will be available for sale in area bookstores on November 15, in time for individual and corporate holiday giving. It is also available for online purchase here-
REX on Mardi Gras Day on St Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana
BLAINE AND BARRY KERN KISS AND MAKE UP
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Barry & Blaine Kern
It was a short public feud, less than 1 month. There’s so much money for the Kerns at stake, some of the major krewe captains, notably Owen ‘Pip’ Brennan (Bacchus Captain) and Ed Muniz (Endymion Captain) got the Kerns to sit down by inviting the father and son to a meeting without telling each other. It was a classic usage of the Take Away Sale- If you don’t kiss and make up, we’ll take away Bacchus and other key krewes.
Blaine Kern
This is a hollow threat, there’s no other float builder around to take up the slack if the Kerns don’t build the major krewes. Carnival is less than 6 months away, and that’s go time in the float building business. Only Blaine Kern Artists have the size to build Bacchus, Rex, Endymion, Muses, Alla, Orpheus, and many more parades at once.
It’s very ironic that a Brennan was called to settle this family feud, since the Brennans have a large family and have been feuding in and out of the newspapers for decades
The family survived a rift that left the children of the late Owen Sr. about as disposed toward their aunts and uncles — Adelaide, John, Ella, Dick and Dottie — and their 11 children as the Hatfields were disposed toward the McCoys. Since 1974, when the feud split the business, Owen’s children — Pip, Jimmy and Ted — have run the family’s original restaurant, Brennan’s, on Royal Street.
At the same time, Ella, Dick, Adelaide, Dottie and John took over Commander’s Palace in the Garden District and built it into one of the 10 top grossing restaurants in the United States. Adelaide, who did not have children, died in 1983. Ella, Dick, Dottie and John continued to run Commander’s and built five other restaurants — Mr. B’s, Palace Cafe and Ristorante Bacco in New Orleans, Brennan’s and Third Coast in Houston.
BARRY KERN SUES TO GAIN CONTROL OF BLAINE KERN ARTISTS
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Blaine & Holly
I know Barry, Blaine Sr, Blaine Jr, and Holly Brown from many dealings. In 2006, I was asked to put together a Mardi Gras Music Compilation, and Blaine and Barry agreed to sponsor it. The next day, I’m called to a meeting at Mardi Gras World, and I’m told the CD won’t feature Professor Longhair and Al Carnival Time Johnson, but none other than Ms. Holly Brown.
Vince Vance from Vince Vance & the Valiants was called to produce the CD, and was asked to add a few of his excellent Mardi Gras tunes to the mix. Blaine sells the CD from a little stand for 5 years in his Gift Shops, so it probably sells fairly well. Holly was the new girlfriend at the time, and when she exerted complete control of the situation and Blaine, I knew she was a keeper.
Now, 5 years later, Blaine and Holly marry. Blaine fires Barry as Company President on August 31. Barry sues Blaine a month later, claiming Holly has been interfering with the business for years. Where was Kern Artists Executive Secretary Pixie Naquin in all this? Unfortunately, Pixie passed away recently, leaving the Kern men to their own devices, and that resulted in the lawsuit. You can see the huge role Pixie played as a peacemaker within the family now that she’s gone.