News and information from the New Orleans area
New Orleans
City Council Removes Toilet Paper Ban from Carnival Bill!
010 years
Orleans Parish Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, District B is leading this effort to tighten up some Carnival rules. Some make sense like ending parking on the opposite side of St Charles during parades. I didn’t see the toilet paper ban coming by any means, I thought the City Council was busy with the city’s business and the upcoming election. Wrong!
The Krewe of Tucks has already spent tens of thousands of dollars printing this year’s toilet tissue, and is shocked the ban is still part of the proposed ordinance.
The throw is made in America, unlike beads which are extruded in China in gulag type factories. Toilet paper disappears during the first hard rain, unlike beads which last for years. But as fast as this the toilet paper ban was presented by Cantrell it was withdrawn by Cantrell as the ruckus over this harebrained idea grew.
Tucks toilet paper hangs on St. Charles Avenue
Tucks is known for several throws but their icon throw is their toilet paper roll. Each sheet has the Tucks logo printed on it. It’s not exactly on a par with the Zulu coconut, but it’s pretty high up there on the short list of icon throws along with Muses’ decorated shoe.
Zulu Coconut and Muses Shoe 2009
2010 Tucks Parade – the Toilet Guy!
Tucks Toilet Paper Close Up
I spoke to some Uptown New Orleanians who don’t like St. Charles Avenue after Carnival with all the toilet paper on the majestic oak trees. Personally, I find the temporary effect surreal.
Some Mardi Gras Beads Have Too Much Lead Content!!
010 years
It’s a scandal of the worst degree when beads have high lead content. Check out verdigras.com and verdigras.org for additional information. Verdigras is a doctor led carnival organization that is trying to get Mardi Gras to green up. After testing a cross section of beads found on the parade routes, they found the beads exceeded safe lead levels some of the time, and the lead could be found throughout the beads in some cases. There were other chemicals found in some beads, some from flame retardant compounds in higher than allowed concentrations.
Verdigras.com Logo
None of this is good. Little kids put beads into their mouths all the time. That prolonged exposure will make the kids sick. Very sick.
Verdigras’s numbers, produced by the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, are fairly frightening. Parts per million is the measurement used. The highest of lead level found was 29,864 ppm in a green bead. More than 60% of all beads tested had concentrations of lead above 100 ppm.
Dan Kelly of Beads by the Dozen, has been testing his own beads for several years. His results from 2005 and 2006 show his beads’ lead levels are below the U.S. standard of 600 ppm.
How Much Lead in These Beads?
Mardi Gras Made in China is a film that depicts the real story of how Mardi Gras beads are made. The documentary follows the story of four teenage workers who sew plastic beads together with needles and thread and also pull them from a machine. Each story provides insight into their economic realities, self-sacrifice, dreams of a better life, and the severe discipline imposed by living and working in a factory compound.
The raw material for the beads comes from polyethylene and polystyrene — oil based liquids supplied by the oil mega companies (and coming out of Iraq). Here, the film comes full circle. After Mardi Gras ends in New Orleans, the beads are left on the ground where some people collect them and send them as care packages to U.S. soldiers in Iraq where they celebrate Mardi Gras by tossing beads into the streets! Hence, disposable culture is exported overseas as a cultural ritual. In other words, the beads go full circle from a liquid material in Iraq, to China, to New Orleans, and back to the streets of Baghdad where soldiers exchange them in a material form.
Mardi Gras Made in China
Mardi Gras Indians Teach Sewing to OPP Inmates!!
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The Mohawk Hunters from Algiers came to Orleans Parish Prison to show inmates how to sew patches for Mardi Gras Indian outfits. It is rare for a story for one of my two blogs to be appropriate for the other, but that is the case here. For me at least, that is cause for a small celebration.
Mohawk Mardi Gras Indians on Levee!
Central to this story is the Alternative Learning Institute (ALI) and Tyrone Casby, principal of ALI and Big Chief of the Mohawk Hunters. The project is the Mohawk Hunters Cultural Journey and they brought a message of transformation from violence to pride. In the past, a culture of violence permeated the Mardi Gras Indian culture. Over time, feelings of pride in their sewing efforts and attaining proficiency in their craft replaced the violence.
Roughly 42 inmates took part in the program. Each participant worked and completed their own patch. The address I found on Google maps for 3000 Perdido St., New Orleans, LA 70119 is Orleans Parish Prison and that’s the address for ALI.
The Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians at Algiers RiverFest.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman praised the work of Casby and the Orleans Parish School Board for its funding of the Alternative Learning Institute and the many people necessary to provide the courses and other programs to inmates who choose to sign up.
The West Bank Loses Another Parade!!
011 years
I’ve written about the problems Carnival on the West Bank is having recently, when the Krewe of Choctaw left the West Bank after more than 75 years. After a test year parading down the historic St. Charles Avenue route, they are making the switch permanent.
Now, the mighty Krewe of Alla, after 80 years, is making the change also, leaving only three parades- Grela, NOMTOC, and Adonis. Alla claims financial concerns are forcing the change. It’s true Alla has lost a lot of members over the last few years, as they only have 175 right now. The Captain said a few months ago they would move the parade if they couldn’t attract 200 new members. In my estimation, they didn’t allow enough time to gain those members. Two or three months isn’t realistic. We are in the Mardi Gras ‘off season’, and even though behind the scenes many Mardi Gras businesses and krewes are in high gear planning for Mardi Gras 2014, the average carnival participant isn’t focusing on Mardi Gras this time of year. It’s unrealistic to ask for 200 new members on this basis. It seems to me that Alla planned to leave the West Bank all along.
Krewe of Choctaw
Choctaw’s growth aspirations are much more realistic. They say they have 200 members, and hope to gain 50 new recruits. For this reason, I back Choctaw’s move far more than Alla’s. Obviously, the long, colorful and successful tradition of parades on the West Bank is in serious danger. When you only have three parades over the Carnival season, you don’t have a parade season, just a single parade every few days. This is a very sad development. The lure of the most famous parade route in the world, St. Charles Avenue, is very strong. In Orleans Parish, as police and sanitation costs rose substantially, neighborhood parades were told to abandon their historic routes in favor of St. Charles Avenue. Pontchartrain used to parade on Hayne Boulevard, by Lake Pontchartrain. Freret used to march down Freret St. Now, both go down St. Charles Avenue. As a matter of fact, all Orleans parades except for Endymion march down St. Charles.
Krewe of Alla
There is one new positive development that might fix the West Bank parade situation, it’s the spanking new Huey P. Long Bridge! Seven long years in the making, the new bridge cost $1.2 billion, making it the one of the most expensive construction projects in the the state’s history. The infamously thin Depression-era bridge has always been a mental and physical barrier to connecting both sides of the Mississippi River. Politicians and West Bank supporters have felt for decades that a wider bridge would lead to an expansion of the western areas of the West Bank, as there are still big patches of undeveloped land across the bridge. We’ll have to see if Carnival on the West Bank grows as well.
New Huey P. Long Bridge
Harry Shearer Sues Bacchus Krewe DJ Over Ear Damage!!
011 years
Picked this up from the Louisiana Record.
Harry Shearer Today
The Simpson‘s voice superstar, who participated in the 2012 Bacchus parade, is suing the disc jockey hired to provide music on the float after allegedly sustaining injury to his hearing following the parade ride.
Harry Shearer filed a lawsuit against Rock-It Productions Inc., Global Indemnity Group Inc. and Penn-America Insurance Co. in the Orleans Parish Central District Court on Feb. 13.
Shearer claims that he was unable to move from his assigned position on the Bacchawhoppa float in the Bacchus parade after being strapped in behind a loudspeaker. He claims he was diagnosed with a case of tinnitus due to the defendant’s negligence and refusal to lower the volume or supply ear plugs.
Shearer is best known for his voice work on the popular cartoon series The Simpsons, but also has an extensive background in film and hosts Le Show, a weekly radio show broadcast on NPR affiliate stations throughout the country.
The defendant is accused of failing to provide any type of ear protection to the plaintiff and other float riders, failing to provide an alternative position on the float so as not to be in direct contact with the loud speakers and failing to take corrective action when asked multiple times by plaintiff prior to plaintiff’s injury. An unspecified amount is sought for medical expenses, loss earnings, physical and mental pain and disability.
Shearer is represented by Andrew S. de Klerk of New Orleans-based Frilot LLC. This case has been assigned to Division L Judge Kern A. Reese.
Bacchus is a super krewe of the New Orleans Mardi Gras. They march down St. Charles Avenue the Sunday evening before Fat Tuesday with an extraordinary parade with icon New Orleans Carnival floats such as the Bacchasaurus, Bacchagator, Bacchawhopper, Baccha-Amore and others. They were the original super krewe parade (1968), and they have been emulated heavily by Orpheus, Endymion
Baccha-Amor Super Float
Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, a satirical rockumentary about a band called Spinal Tap. Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls, the bassist, and Michael McKean and Christopher Guest played the other two members. The film became a cult hit and the band has since released several albums and played several concerts. Spinal Tap was a rock band that played loud rock music, and many rock musicians have ear problems that plague them for decades.