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Posts tagged Krewe of Proteus
Top 3 Orleans Parish Parades for 2012
013 years
Last year’s Parade of the Year, Muses, has taken a step back, as their 2012 floats lacked first rate execution. Blaine Kern didn’t do his usual excellent work for a relatively new super krewe. The floats moved so quickly it was difficult to get a good look.
Their own floats sparkled as usual (also made by Kern). Super krewes draw a huge audience, which often brings out the boorish behavior in many hard drinking spectators, as they jostle the crowd in pursuit of Muses’ vaunted logoed throws.
Muses’ marching groups are second to none, and the 610 Stompers, Bearded Oysters, Pussyfooters, Camel Toe Lady Steppers and Flying Elvi didn’t disappoint.
Not too long ago, Muses was a new krewe that drew much smaller crowds. The sheer number of unique throws, memorable floats and biting satire hadn’t caught on yet. Any ordinary Joe could catch a shoe back then. Those days are way over now.
Muses throws were not anything special for 2012. Check out the YouTube video above, that is one cool fan!! I caught it several years ago. I’m waiting for another out-of-the-box throw.
Their throws included a number of new logoed items, including a band-aid box; a coin purse on a lanyard; a bottle opener/flashlight on a bead and a floating liquid pen. The most original of those throws is the floating liquid pen. That’s a fun writing tool!
2012 Muses Purse on Lanyard
I rate Muses number 3 for 2012.
Number 2 is REX, the King of Carnival. They are the oldest daytime parade and still roll on wooden wagon wheels.
Rex Wooden Wagon Wheels
Rex Wooden Wagon Wheels 2009
REX is number 2 for their historic use of wagon wheels, plus several other important factors. It was a perfect day, and REX is a daytime parade. Blaine Kern builds this parade, and it’s their number 1 showcase daytime parade. The paint job was gorgeous! Kudos to the Kern painting team.
REX introduced their new Butterfly King float for 2012.
REX New Butterfly King Float photo courtesy WWL-TV
REX had several good bands, including the United States Army and the Tulane University Marching Bands. Monroe’s High School Marching Band delivered a strong performance as well. By the time REX rolls on Fat Tuesday, most high school bands are unable to march anymore due to marching limits imposed by the City Council.
The floats looked terrific, as did the krewe’s costumes. The throws were typically REX with a couple of exceptions- they had a fancy cloisonne pin celebrating the new Butterfly King float and re-introduced the plush crown they first threw a few years ago.
Number 1 for 2012 goes to Hermes!! They had it all together in 2012, and that’s a very tall order.
Their bands were top notch- St. Augustine, Xavier Prep, L.B. Landry, McDonogh 35 and several out-of-state bands all marched with Hermes.
Hermes’ throws were improved. They threw plastic Hermes goblets, a light up Hermes headband with plastic wings (D’Etat threw the same headband in purple with the D’Etat logo instead of wings), light up medical caduceus beads, blinky winged shoe beads and a light up ball. A nice throw this year was a crawfish/centipede stuffed toy in Mardi Gras colors. I’m not sure if this an official Hermes toy or a generous generic one.
Hermes 2012 Light Up Headband with Light Up Ball
The floats were top of the line old fashioned, marked by striking colors and expressive prop figures, wonderfully detailed, and an abundance of bouncing paper ornaments, including flowers, grapes, snowflakes and more. The floats moved at a reasonable pace and the traditional flambeaux were interspersed with the floats as were the Lieutenants on horseback, who dispensed purple riding doubloons.
2012 Hermes Float The Glories of this World on St. Charles Ave.
The Krewe of Hermes rolls down Napoleon Ave. near St. Charles Ave. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
As per tradition, the Hermes captain leads the parade in full regalia on a white horse.
Hermes Captain on Horse
Mythical Cartoon Hermes with Caduceus
Special Mention goes to the Mystic Krewe of Proteus for the float work of Royal Artists. They have a web site here, it apparently hasn’t been updated for a couple of years, as they are Bordeaux Street uptown and the site lists the North Shore.
2012 Proteus Signature Fish Float
Rear of Signature Fish Float
PROTEUS & ORPHEUS ROLL ON LUNDI GRAS!!
014 years
Proteus had some of the most beautiful floats last year, my Float of the Year 2010 was this Proteus float:
2010 Proteus Fish Float
KREWE OF PROTEUS
Proteus is the Second oldest Parade at New Orleans Mardi Gras. Founded in 1882, Proteus (“PROH tee us”) The shepherd of the Oceans, is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer the Old Man of the Sea has always held elaborate masked Tableau Balls and the most beautiful Street Parade to date.
in 1893 the Krewe first introduced the tradition of call outs, Where masked costumed Krewe members invited ladies in attendance to step out on the dance floor with them. This custom was then adopted by many other Krewes including Rex.
The Identity of the King of Proteus is never revealed to the public. His Parade float is a giant Seashell and very march part of the New Orleans Carnival scene for generations.
Proteus did not parade from 1993 – 1999 but returned to parading on Lundi Gras (The Monday before Mardi Gras Day, Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday) in 2000. The Parade of The Krewe of Proteus Follows the Traditional Uptown or St. Charles Route ending on Canal Street. The actual Krewe of Proteus parade floats are still using the original chassis from the early 1880’s.
The Mythical Proteus
The son of Poseidon in the Olympian theology ( Homer,Odyssey iv. 432), or of Nereus and Doris, or of Oceanus and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon’s seals, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of “versatile”, “mutable”, “capable of assuming many forms”: “Protean” has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.
Proteus is also known as a shape shifter and can assume the guise of anyone or anything he so chooses. When held fast despite his struggles, he will assume his usual form of an old man and tell the future.
The so-called Old Man of the Sea, is a prophetic sea divinity, son of either Poseidon or Oceanus. He usually stays on the Island of Pharos, near Egypt, where he herds the seals of Poseidon. He will foretell the future to those who can seize him, but when caught he rapidly assumes all possible varying forms to avoid prophesying.
Proteus [PROH-tee-us], like all six of Neptune’s newly discovered small satellites, is one of the darkest objects in the solar system — “as dark as soot” is not too strong of a description. Discovered by Stephen Synnott, Like Saturn’s satellite, Phoebe, it reflects only 6 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Proteus is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter, larger than Nereid. It wasn’t discovered from Earth because it is so close to Neptune that it is lost in the glare of reflected sunlight. Proteus circles Neptune at a distance of about 92,800 kilometers (57,700 miles) above the cloud tops, and completes one orbit in 26 hours, 54 minutes. Scientists say it is about as large as a satellite can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity. Proteus is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geological modification. It circles the planet in the same direction as Neptune rotates, and remains close to Neptune’s equatorial plane
Orpheus is a Super Krewe founded by Harry Connick, Jr. They have Celebrity Monarchs-
Celebrity monarchs
- 2010: Steve Zahn, Sean Payton, Imagination Movers, Paul Mainieri
- 2009: Joan Rivers, James Belushi, Reno 911!
- 2008: Hélio Castroneves, Sidney Torres, Lance Bass, Kevin Meaney, Salt-n-Pepa, Christian LeBlanc, Ricky Paull Goldin, Sean Payton, Josh Gracin
- 2007: Patricia Clarkson, Sean Payton, Harry Connick, Jr.
- 2006: Steven Seagal, Josh Hartnett
- 2005: Sawyer Brown, Toby Keith
- 2004 Dominic Monaghan, Brad Paisley, Nicole Miller, Harry Connick, Jr. [9]
- 2003 Travis Tritt, Harry Connick, Jr.
- 2002
- 2001 Glenn Close (grand marshall), Whoopi Goldberg, Hoda Kotb, Harry Connick, Jr. [12]
- 2000 Whoopi Goldberg (grand marshall),
- 1999 Sandra Bullock, Forest Whitaker,
- 1998
- 1997 Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Anne Rice, Harry Connick, Jr.
- 1996 The Road Rules gang from MTV, Laurence Fishburne, Jay Thomas (’96 King of Orpheus), Anne Rice (’96 muse of Orpheus), Harry Connick, Jr.
- 1995 Anne Rice
- 1994 Little Richard, Branford Marsalis, Vanessa R. Williams, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Connick, Jr.
Other celebrity monarchs for the Krewe of Orpheus include Camryn Manheim, Debbie Allen, Tommy Tune, James Brown, David Copperfield, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Josh Gracin and Christian LeBlanc.
joker float krewe Orpheus