Carnival New Orleans News
News and information from the New Orleans area
Online Parade Management – Parade Cloud!!
011 years
If I had thought about this, I would have figured this online parade management tool would originate in New Orleans. It wasn’t. How about Minnesota? What a world, huh?
In Annandale, MN there is a 124 year old parade called the Annandale Fourth of July Parade. There’s a guy named Dwight who runs the parade and is in a little marching band that participates in a dozen parades!
When Dwight got his parade, he inherited a box of spreadsheets and data. He has Site Armor, Inc. and that was a perfect marriage and a year later, paradecloud.com was born. According to Dwight, Site Armor is a web based software company offering solutions to common situations. Meaning his software company creates software for the little man, not giant multinational corporations.
Parade Cloud Image
From the parade cloud web site- Parade Cloud is a feature-packed online parade management solution designed for the busy local parade coordinator. Parade Cloud is a perfect alternative to spreadsheets and paper applications that are cumbersome and take a lot of time to manage. With Parade Cloud, you can manage your parades from any computer or mobile device that has an internet connection. Parade Cloud is fully designed to be used on any mobile device. Perfect for iPads, iPhones and Android. Our efficient architecture and non-flash based coding allow you to use the full site on any mobile device.
Parade Cloud Parade Organization Page
Parade Cloud Customizable Online Unit Registration
I asked Dwight how much business he did in South Louisiana, and he said he didn’t do any. I was surprised. That’s a main reason for this story, to promote Parade Cloud. Pricing is surprisingly reasonable, and goes by the number of units in the parade. He may have to work on his pricing for the Gulf Coast region, since the parades are big, but not as big as an annual parade up north.
Grow New Mardi Gras Sales With This Advertising Opportunity!!
012 years
Introducing a new online opportunity for peak Carnival advertising on several popular websites. Ad packages to meet your unique needs are available through Icorp.net.
Icorp.net is the multifaceted host for numerous successful websites, including laclass.com, carnivalneworleans.com, and news.carnivalneworleans.com. Icorp.net controls such popular domains such as & folk.com & crawfish.com. For many years, Icorp.net hosted Gambit’s site, bestofneworleans.com.
Laclass.com is the original free Louisiana and southern online classified ad site. It was started in 1995, years prior to Craigslist. Google’s search algorithms value the age of a domain very highly. A very old domain gets a good ranking. Laclass’ core audience is high end customers seeking to purchase goods from Louisiana and other Gulf Coast sellers. Mardi Gras advertisers will benefit substantially from a whole new ad audience who participate in their own regional Carnival celebrations throughout the Gulf South.
Carnivalneworleans.com is the original New Orleans Mardi Gras portal, beginning in 1995. It’s an informational site, filled with the customs, lore, history and photos of the New Orleans Carnival. Over 200 million visitors have been to carnivalneworleans.com, more than almost all other Mardi Gras sites.
NEWS
News.carnivalneworleans.com is a popular Mardi Gras blog with over 200 entries all about the parades, politics, controversies, music, legends, food and culture of the New Orleans Carnival.
Bourbon St. Web Cam
The Bourbon Street web cam is the original French Quarter web cam, located near the center of Bourbon (ground zero of the Quarter) in the Vieux Carre. This cam is promoted all around the web due to the wild sights available on the cam when Bourbon is busy.
WHAT YOU GET
Generous sized ads on laclass.com, carnivalneworleans.com, and news.carnivalneworleans.com. Ads on the Bourbon web cam are limited, only a few are available. Ads are medium IAB size. All ads run for one year, until August 2014. I If you desire a larger ad, please contact me for prices.
Same ad, all three sites, $1,000.
Different ads for all three sites, $1,500.
Add Bourbon St. cam ad, $2,000.
We are offering a feature in our Mardi Gras blog for any organization or company that purchases an ad in the off season.
Purchase any ad package before January 1, 2014 and receive an extra 3 free ads (on different pages) on any of our sites!! This doubles your exposure, making our ad packages second to none in value.
Contact David at davidatcarnivalneworleansdotcom for more info and to purchase an ad package.
Medium IAB Ad
The West Bank Loses Another Parade!!
012 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!!
012 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.
Metairie Carnival Parades at Watershed Point!!
412 years
When I was younger and my wife was by my side, I took my family during Carnival season to a lot of parades annually. We are talking around 40 parades per season, and we saw many twice. We were as wild a bunch of parade goers as ever was, and we loved every moment of that lifestyle. We gathered up our kids and the neighborhood kids and off we went, to the Orleans parish parades first, and in those days, we went to Hayne Boulevard, Freret Street, Claiborne Avenue, Downtown, Uptown, Mid City, Metairie, the West Bank, Slidell, the North Shore, and anywhere else a Mardi Gras rolled in the Metro area.
Elks Jeffersonians Parade
Now to talk about Metairie parades, they kind of suck these days, but Alla and Caesar will never suck; they remain really good parades in all aspects. What has happened is sad, but Metairie parades have been fading in quality for a while now. Not enough bands, not enough masking and costuming by float riders. That is now, but back then, when Metairie had very good parades, they were lots of fun and very worthwhile to attend. I remember how large Thor and Mardi Gras (now gone) was, they were captained by a father-son team, who also were float builders.
I had a resume company in Metairie, my only Jefferson job. This was when the Louisiana oil patch was doing poorly, and I learned a little about a lot of jobs. My office was right on Veterans near Bonnabel, and we would go out their to hang out during parades, have our own bathroom, and brought all sorts of delectable foods to snack on. I remember catching like a zillion cups during a Thor parade years ago.
Caesar Title Float
Jefferson Parish officials fined a number of Metairie krewes because of lack of bands and not masking or costuming. $6,000 worth of fines have been assessed, more than four times the 2012 amount. The Jefferson Truck parade was charged $2,500 and the other truck parade, Elks Jeffersonians, was charged $1,800. Thor was hit with a $900 fine, Atlas $500, and Adonis $200. 2013 was the first year the Jefferson truck parades were subject to the costuming/masking requirements. They didn’t do well, did they?
Jefferson Parish officials are thinking about adding a second route. The only route for many years was down Veterans to Bonnabel Avenue, turnaround on Bonnabel, back to Veterans Boulevard to Severn Avenue, down Severn, then turn around on Severn to Veterans, then down Veterans to the end. We used to see the parade twice as it turned around on Bonnabel, running back and forth across the neutral ground to catch each float twice!
So what will happen to the Metairie Mardi Gras parades? That chapter hasn’t been fully written yet. Several krewes aren’t happy with the Veterans route, and are thinking of Metairie Road. The problem with Metairie Road is it is narrow with no neutral grounds and few sidewalks. Still, it’s a beautiful area with a good bit of shade trees (many nice oaks) despite all the shopping that has been built over the last few decades. Like Veterans, behind the stores are homes, homes, and more homes.