Posts tagged Hurricane Katrina

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