News and information from the New Orleans area
Archive for February, 2010
2010 Muses Parade Review
215 years
Muses Title Float 2010
When you are number 1* other Krewes come gunning for you. The top krewes all compete like Olympians for the best floats, costumes, and throws. The other krewes may specialize in one aspect of a parade, that’s all the money they have after their membership has fallen after Hurricane Katrina & Rita plus the recession. They may have better floats, or throws, or great costumes.
Muses has satirical floats; the best throws by a mile; the most unique marching groups except for Krewe du Vieux; and an abundance of great bands. Unfortunately, because of Muses 2010 parade rescheduling, some bands were forced to drop out. However, some of the bands had no other commitments during the new Muses time and rolled with the krewe.
Here’s a mostly complete list of Muses 2010 throws, each of these have the Muses Logo- Shoe Bracelet, Seed glass beads, Strobe Theme Light Up Bead, Muses Ivy Bead, Shoe Necklace, Shoe Bead, Historic Shoe Bead, Diamond Ring, Puffy Key Ring, Disco Ball Necklace, Flashlight Bottle Opener Bead, Acrylic Shoe Necklace, a variety of Muses plush, Re-usable Muses Tote, Plush Cupid’s Arrow, Rhinestone Bracelet, Glitter Heart Tattoo, Can Koosie, Sleep Mask, Glitter Frisbee, Muses 10 Ball, Muses Patterned Bead Bag, Cloisonne Doubloon
Muses is the most feminine of all parades, the only other feminine parade being Iris, which has many men riding with them. All the floats show a feminine point of view to a large extent. There’s around 800 women in Muses (with a waiting list almost as large). Muses throws all types of spangled, wildly decorated shoes- high heels, boots, sandals, stilettos. Mid City could be considered a feminine parade because of the foil; however, I consider foil gender neutral
Muse’s personalized throws from the last couple of years, (incomplete list): over-sized logo powder puff, working lava lamp key chain, Muse comic book ( “SuperMuse”), full size decorated woman’s shoes, shoe medallion bracelets, roller skate medallions, Muses LED-Fan, Muses glitter stick-on fashion accessory, lighted shoe medallions, Muses Night Fever (parade theme), lighted medallion, plastic crystal lighted heart medallion, soft spear, headband, disco ball medallion, song spoofs and lyrics booklet, regular logo beads, and more. Here’s a link to a really cool youtube video we shot of a 2009 Muses LED-FAN throw. According to the Captain, the 2010 Muses threw a record 30 different items with their logo on them. Here’s a description of the Muses shoe decoration process by a Krewe member:
All year, we collect gently worn specimens — from friends, thrift stores and garage sales — then get together for Glittering Parties, where the wine and the glitter flow like … well, like wine and glitter are supposed to. Groups of gals sit around tables set up in dining rooms, garages or basements, laughing and gossiping as our fingers fly, applying white glue and ultra-fine glitter to one area of a shoe at a time, then letting it dry while we work on the rest of our stash. Once a whole shoe is glittered and the glue has dried, it’s time for a trip to the hot glue station, where jewels, sequins and other assorted gewgaws are applied to the sparkly creations. As a finishing touch, each shoe is “autographed” with the word “Muses”, painstakingly applied with more glue and glitter or with cut-up bits from signature beaded necklaces from Mardi Gras past.
Fabulous Muses shoe collection, photo by reeldrlaura
Muses Chivalry Float 2010
Muses Fiber Optic High Heel Sculptures 2010
Flying Elvi Group in Muses 2010 Parade
His Hers prop in Muses 2010
* Carnival New Orleans News Parade of 2009
HAPPY MARDI GRAS TO THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
015 years
That’s it, just HAPPY MARDI GRAS TO THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!
Rex riding down St. Charles Avenue
WDSU Parade Tracker System Review
015 years
I’m a big fan of this parade tracker system, when you want to find the start of a parade that’s rolling or a parade stops for some reason. How does the system operate? WDSU puts a car near the front of the parades they cover. The car uses the GPS tracking system to pin point where the tracking car is, and relays that information to a computer, which texts that info to all opt in phones. The system is a bit intrusive when you are already at a parade, catching throws and enjoying the sights and sounds of of the event. You constantly receive parade updates on your phone, when you don’t need them, as you are already parading. You could always opt out when at parade, and opt back in when you are searching for a parade on the street. However you might think this is a bit much opting in and out.
To get Parade Tracker updates on your mobile phone, text “follow parades” to 40404. This is the second year for this service. If you opted in last year, you were automatically opted in for this year. For some parades, you can track the parade’s progress on WDSU.com, via a special map. The markers on the map show the location of the lead float in the parade, and they update every 10 seconds or 20 feet.
The biggest flaw in the system is they skip parades! Babylon had to switch days because of bad weather. Could parade tracker keep up with parade rescheduling? NO. No parade tracking for Babylon. Earlier in the Carnival season, when some of the smaller parades roll, parade tracker opted not to cover the earlier parades.
Among the Orleans parades that WDSU opted not to track were Sparta and Ponchartrain.
My thoughts on the inconsistent tracking is that if you are going to offer a parade tracking system, you should cover all the parades in an area.
Bacchus Drew Brees Snafu Surprises Brunch Guests!
315 years
Ghostly Bacchusaurus 2010
Big surprise at the Bacchus Brunch this morning, prior to the Big Bacchus parade down St. Charles this evening. This information came to me tonight on the parade route from some out of town Louisiana folks who came down as guests of their relative, a member of Bacchus. It is standard Bacchus policy for the Bacchus Celebrity King to take part in the Bacchus Brunch, to greet and meet the krewe and its guests. Guess who was a no show today? Super Bowl MVP and New Orleans Saints Star Quarterback, Drew Brees! Was Drew ill? Was Drew drawn out of town by some problem or emergency?
Nope, it was the same folks who created that bull crap Who Dat and Fleur de Lis controversy that occurred prior to the Super Bowl, the National Football League’s Licensing Cops. The same NFL that backed down when the ferocity of the Who Dat Nation’s response was felt via a zillion phone calls, emails and faxes to the NFL office responsible.
It seems that Quarterback Brees was signing too many Saints jerseys and jackets, other pricy memorabilia at Bacchus events, and the NFL refused to let him appear at the Brunch, afraid that their newest Super Bowl MVP was cheapening his brand, giving away his John Hancock instead of selling it.
So just one week after the TV’s highest rated event ever, Super Bowl 44, starring the Super Bowl MVP, New Orleans Star Quarterback Drew Brees was slapped down by the NFL. When will the NFL ever learn their lessons?
2010 Bacchus Super Float
Iris & Tucks roll down St. Charles on beautiful Saturday
015 years
2010 Tucks Toilet Float & the Toilet Guy
2010 Tucks Super Bowl Float
Iris and Tucks rolled down beautiful St. Charles Avenue on a clear blue day. After all the cold and rain of the last few days, it really helps to finally have some great weather to enjoy Mardi Gras to it’s fullest. It was a good sized family oriented crowd. Iris, the oldest parading women’s krewe in the New Orleans Mardi Gras, had at least 6 bands from Memphis, TN. We caught some cool beads and throws at Tucks, they are a very irreverent krewe with a giant toilet bowl float they use every year. They throw rolls of Tucks toilet paper, miniature plastic toilets that shoot a stream of water, and other crazy throws. They feature their own original marching groups, such as a big foam rubber Dragon group, and the Duck Brigade. Iris is a very mainstream krewe, almost the last parading female krewe in New Orleans. Fortunately, Muses, a much bigger woman’s krewe has come to the fore the last decade to join Iris.
2010 Tucks foam rubber dragons