News and information from the New Orleans area
2010 Muses Parade Review
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
Most “feminine”? Iris may take issue with that but that’s another subject. Here’s my point for writing:
While Muses has many of the great qualities you write of, until they drop the not so thinly veiled sexual innuendo marching groups whose titles include the words ‘cameltoe’, ‘bearded oysters’, ‘pussyfooters’ you can’t claim yourself to be kid friendly regardless of how kid friendly your throws are.
There is no way to justify the two.
Oh, and don’t be so quick to pat yourself on the back. There are other Krewes that have been consistently doing a really good job for much longer than Muses has. I wouldn’t be so quick to read your own press clippings. Muses is a relative youngster with respect to other well-established parades.
Thanks very much for the comment! Muses is more feminine than Iris because Iris has a lot of men riding with them. Also, the style of float painting is way more feminine. Foil is sort of gender neutral to my way of thinking.
As for Camel Toe Lady Steppers, Pussyfooters, etc., those groups don’t act or dress in a sexual way, and their names don’t mean sex, at least to me.
And as for patting myself on the back, I’m a huge fan of all things Mardi Gras, and older krewes aren’t necessarily better because of their age. Bacchus, Rex, Endymion, Orpheus, Alla (way downsized since Blaine Kern quit as Captain) are the Super Krewes, I love them all, but their throws pale in comparison to 30 throws with logos. Did you check out my youtube link for the Muses LED fan video? Who else ever made a throw like that? Take care and thanks again for commenting.