News and information from the New Orleans area
Posts tagged Muses
Mardi Gras 2012 is in Full Swing!!!
012 years
There’s no stopping the New Orleans Mardi Gras 2012 now. Parades resume tonight with the Krewe of Ancient Druids at 6:30 p.m. and Krewe of Nyx at 7p.m. Both use the Uptown route. So far, my favorite parade has been my own Krewe du Vieux. We have the best parade route of all parades- the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny. These are most historic sections of town, as the French Quarter was the original settlement.
Ancient Celtic Druids
Outside of KdV, my 2nd favorite parade was King Arthur, though they ran over an hour late(?) due to a shortness of rider harnesses. The Fire Department has the ultimate say so over this issue, and they delayed the parade until the harnesses were in place. They play an important role in preventing float riders from falling off.
I’m really looking forward to the 2012 edition of Muses, Babylon, d’Etat, Chaos, Hermes and the rest before the big weekend arrives and the Super Krewes hit on the weekend.
I’ve acquired some new purple, green and gold pieces for my Fat Tuesday costume. My plan for the big day? Start off with Zulu on Jackson Avenue, then on to St. Charles Avenue in time for Rex. Catch a few dozen trucks, then eat some seafood gumbo and an Italian sausage hoagie with peppers & onions. Next, I plan on going downtown to the Marigny, around Frenchmen Street to catch a few Mardi Gras tunes at the numerous cool clubs in that area.
I sure love Mardi Gras in New Orleans!!
2012 Orleans Parish Mardi Gras Parade Schedule
012 years
Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve cut down on the parades on the North Shore, West Bank, Metairie, etc. I focus on the myriad of parades in my own backyard, Orleans Parish, my home since I was a Senior at Cornell. Here’s the schedule for Orleans Parish-
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th
- Krewe of Cork at 3pm in the French Quarter
- Krewe of Oshun Uptown 6:00pm
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11th
- Krewe of Pontchartrain Uptown 2:00 p.m.
- ‘tit Rəx Bywater 5:30 p.m.
- Knights of Sparta Uptown 6:00 p.m.
- Krewe of Pygmalion Uptown 6:45 p.m.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12th
- Krewe of Carrollton Uptown 12:00 p.m.
- Krewe of King Arthur Uptown 1:15 p.m.
- Mystic Krewe of Barkus French Quarter 2:00 p.m. This parade is all for dogs.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15th
- Krewe of Ancient Druids Uptown 6:30 p.m.
- Krewe of Nyx Uptown 7pm
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 16th
- Knights of Babylon, Uptown 5:45
- Krewe of Chaos, Uptown 6:30
- Krewe of Muses, Uptown 6:30
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17th
- Divine Protectors of Endangered Pleasures or DIVA French Quarter 1:30 p.m.
- Knights of Hermes Uptown 6:00 p.m.
- D’Etat- Uptown, 6:00 p.m.
- Krewe of Morpheus Uptown 7:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18th
- Iris – Uptown, 11:00 a.m.
- Tucks – Uptown, 12:00 p.m.
- Endymion – Mid City, 4:15 p.m.
- Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus, Central City and CBD, 5:00 p.m.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19th
- Okeanos – Uptown, 11:00 a.m.
- Mid-City – Uptown, 11:45 p.m.
- Thoth – Uptown, 12:00 a.m.
- Bacchus- Uptown, 5:15 p.m.
LUNDI GRAS, FEBRUARY 20TH
- Proteus- Uptown, 5:15 p.m.
- Orpheus – Uptown, 6:00 p.m.
- Lundi Gras Celebration
MARDI GRAS, FEBRUARY 21st
- Zulu- Uptown, 8:00 a.m.
- Rex – Uptown, 10:00 a.m.
- Elks Orleans – Uptown, 11:30 a.m.
- Crescent City – Uptown, follows Elks
2012 New Orleans Mardi Gras Forecast!! Part 2
012 years
The past year has seen a few upheavals in the topsy turvy world of Carnival. Blaine Kern Sr was knocked out of action by his son in the Louisiana Court of Appeals, you can thank Sr’s new bride for much of Mr Mardi Gras’ problems.
It doesn’t appear that any of the Kern’s major Mardi Gras float building accounts have moved on. Rex, Bacchus, Orpheus, Muses, Alla, Endymion are all built by Kern enterprises for decades.
Traditional Jester Float of REX, the King of Carnival!
The traditional Boeuf Gras float of REX, the King of Carnival!
Jefferson Parish began the slow process of upgrading their parades. This is a very good idea, as their parades had slid considerably since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
For 2012, Gretna loses their most historic Mardi Gras Day parade, Grela, the West Bank’s only local celebration on Fat Tuesday.
Gretna stopped funding Mardi Gras in April when officials had to choose between paying for Mardi Gras activities and giving money to the Gretna Heritage Festival.
Yes, Gretna Fest has grown into a really nice festival, but Grela is Jefferson Parish’s oldest Carnival krewe. Gretna Fest has a huge budget with the dozens of bands that play the several day festival. They have corporate funding, charge a cover charge to enter the Festival, and sell a lot of food, drinks, and beer. They certainly could have covered the $30,000 much much easier than Grela could, and this is an obvious fact the Council should have seen a mile off.
Therefore, a Carnival Jeer goes out to the Gretna City Council for backing the total wrong horse with this poor decision in April 2011. The krewe was founded in 1947 as a men’s club, but it changed its name to Grela, an acronym for Gretna, La.
Earlier this year Rhea, another Jefferson Parish krewe, called it quits. Rhea was formed in 1969, making this parade over 40 years old! It began as an all woman parade, but became coed in later years. Rhea was the first Jefferson parade to roll down Veterans Boulevard, and the one of the few Jefferson parades to hold their ball in the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.
One relatively new, local, and all male marching group, the 610 Stompers, marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Wow! The Stompers’ over the top dance routines flabbergasted Matt Lauer and Al Roker, it was a real New Orleans moment in New York City on national TV. They also appeared on the Hoda & Kathie Lee Show. That’s a lot of national attention for our homegrown group, and it’s well deserved!
From whereyat.com’s article on the Stompers-
What makes these men so special is not only their uncanny ability to entertain crowds, but also the motivation behind the uniforms. What started as a plan to start an all male dance school to help pay for their Saints season tickets in their namesake section 610, has turned into an incredible medium to have fun while help others. Underneath those mustaches of manliness lie men with hearts larger than most. Since their formation in 2009, the 610 Stompers have raised and donated over $100,000 to charity. They were asked to be this year’s “Corporate Chair” of the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Louisiana and Mississippi, released a Stomp Out Breast Cancer video with Touro Infirmary, and have partnered with over 13 local and national foundations where their dance moves have helped those less fortunate. They have mastered having fun with making a difference. At this year’s 610 Ball they gave $610 to each of over 20 local charities, which at first glance doesn’t seem like a lot. However, these grants more often doubled the charities’ operating budgets making a profound impact on our citizens and local community.
610 Stompers on Mardi Gras parade route
The first new full-fledged Carnival parade in Orleans Parish since before Hurricane Katrina, Nyx won approval from the City Council on a 6-0 vote to amend the 2012 calendar and schedule Nyx after the Druids parade on the Uptown route the Wednesday before Mardi Gras.
The city’s last new parading krewe was Morpheus in 2002, a year after Muses and the Knights of Chaos made their debuts.
From their web site:
“Three native New Orleans women always loved the traditions, pageantry, and fun of Mardi Gras. For years they admired the floats and loved the bands. They enjoyed how much the kids’ faces would light up when they caught stuffed or beaded treasures. The women adored how the crowds screamed to the riders “Throw me something!”
2012 forecast will continue with part 3 in the near future.
Blaine Kern Loses Challenge to Keep Mardi Gras Float Empire
113 years
Blaine Kern, Rickey Jackson, Holly Kern on Superdome Floor
Once again, suing your aged dad, granted he’s under the spell of his much younger wife, never is a good idea. It doesn’t matter if you win in the Appeals Court, which the son, Barry, did. Karma works against you when you sue your dad, especially if he’s over 83 years old!
The Kerns build REX, BACCHUS, ENDYMION, MUSES, ORPHEUS, ALLA, CAESAR, and many, many other parades around the metro area, region, and world. Therefore, lots of money and responsibility come with the territory, and the Mardi Gras crowds annually depend on the Kerns via REX, etc.
A state appeals panel has upheld the court-ordered transfer of control over Blaine Kern Artists Inc. to the Mardi Gras magnate’s son, Barry Kern.
The one-sentence ruling Tuesday denied the elder Kern’s challenge to an April ruling by Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese that enforced a father-son deal convected last year. That deal was intended to quell a family rift that threatened float production for a number of the largest Carnival parades.
The deal, brokered by three prominent Carnival captains, called for Blaine Kern Sr. to sell all of his shares to his son and for the board of directors to turn over management control of the 54-year-old Mardi Gras giant to Barry Kern, 48, at a shareholders meeting. But Blaine Kern stood pat, and no such meeting or vote took place.
At issue, Barry Kern argued, was the financial stability of the company. He twice filed suit against his father during the past year, saying the 83-year-old Kern Sr. had meddled with management and sapped its cash reserves.
Barry Kern cast blame on his father’s fourth wife, Holly Brown-Kern, claiming his father’s spending on houses, cars and other luxuries had ballooned since his marriage to Brown-Kern, while his debt had mounted and he began seeking cash advances from the company.
Blaine Kern’s attorney, William Wessel, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday on the 3-0 decision by a panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, finding “no error” in Reese’s ruling.
In ruling for Barry Kern in April, Reese called the need to safeguard Mardi Gras “way bigger” to the world than a father-son rift.
Under his order, the company’s four shareholders — Blaine and Barry Kern and Barry’s siblings, Brian and Blainey — met April 25 at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World to elect three directors who, in turn, named Barry Kern president.
Blaine Kern, 2010 People's Health Champion
Barry Kern Lawsuit Hearing Set For Friday
013 years
The dominant float building company in New Orleans continues to air its dirty laundry publicly. A hearing has been scheduled for Friday in the civil suit filed by Barry Kern, who once again, is suing for control of the New Orleans float-building enterprise that his father, Blaine Kern Sr., founded.
Blaine Kern
Barry Kern
This is the biggest float production company in New Orleans, and possibly the world. They build Rex, Bacchus, Endymion, Muses, Orpheus, Alla, and many other parades. They travel around the world building floats and props for a myriad of uses and users.
Barry Kern, the president of Blaine Kern Artists, is seeking an injunction to keep his 83-year-old father “from interfering with the management of the company,” said Randall Smith, the younger Kern’s attorney. Barry Kern must be awfully upset to sue his octogenarian father. When you sue your elderly parent, you generally lose the public relations battle before it starts.
This is the latest chapter in a feud that went public last fall, when Barry Kern filed a suit alleging that Blaine Kern Artists was a company in fiscal crisis. He laid much of the blame at the feet of Holly Brown Kern, the elder Kern’s fourth wife, saying she was responsible for a big increase in her husband’s spending, often with company money.
Now I have some experience with Holly Brown Kern from before she was married to Blaine, and she controlled him pretty good back then. I am sure Holly is pulling a lot of strings behind the scenes now.
That dispute was settled in an agreement between the Kerns that was witnessed by leaders of three major Carnival organizations: Bacchus, Endymion and Rex, who also are longtime Kern clients.
But in the suit filed this week, Barry Kern claimed his father had not lived up to the pact, in which he agreed to sell his stock in the company to his son and attend a shareholders meeting where Barry Kern, 48, would be elected president. Whoever failed to live up to these terms would have to pay $100,000 plus attorneys fees to the other Kern, the agreement stated.
“We need to resolve who’s running the company so that customers can feel comfortable about paying their bills and move forward with planning for Mardi Gras 2012,” Smith said.
Judge Kern Reese will conduct the 9 a.m. hearing.