{"id":4259,"date":"2012-02-06T04:26:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T04:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/?p=4259"},"modified":"2012-02-06T04:28:34","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T04:28:34","slug":"rolled-with-krewe-du-vieux-last-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/?p=4259","title":{"rendered":"Rolled with Krewe du Vieux Last Night!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"KdV<\/a>

KdV 2012 Party Poster<\/p><\/div>\n

Under the night sky and perfect weather, the fabulous, one of a kind, historic Krewe du Vieux<\/a> rolled through the historic Marigny and French Quarter. My Krewe of Underwear<\/a>, with a donkey pulling the float and a great brass band behind the float, joined the procession as float #6. Our krewe’s theme was \u201cBayou Beautox.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2012<\/a>

2012 Krewe of Underwear Float, entitled Bayou Beautox<\/p><\/div>\n

Regular Mardi Gras parades in Orleans Parish are banned from the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny since the 1970’s, their big tractors and super floats couldn’t allow emergency vehicles to pass freely around the Quarter.<\/p>\n

I’m in a Parade Referee, meaning I’m supposed to stay sober and guard the floats. I keep parade watchers from joining the parade enroute; keep the crowds back while the parade rolls by; and report any medical or dangerous to parade management or police, depending on the situation. I’ve been doing this job for a number of years, and I’ve never had a drink while the parade is rolling and most years I don’t drink at all.<\/p>\n

2012 PARADE BRASS BANDS<\/p>\n

Lagniappe
\nPinettes
\nKinfolk
\nTBC
\nNew Birth
\nJazzmen
\nBone Tone
\nYoung Fellaz
\nPaulin Bros
\nBaby Boyz Brass Band
\nStooges Brass Band
\nOne Mind
\nPanorama
\nThe Tornados
\nFree Agents
\nTreme Brass Band
\nEgg Yolk Jubilee
\nHot Eight Brass band
\nDown and Dirty<\/p>\n

The after party was a musical blast! The Brass Band Jam was unbelievable!!<\/p>\n

Krewe du Vieux Doo<\/strong>
\nFebruary 4, 2012
\n2830 Royal Street
\nDoor opens at 9:00<\/p>\n

With close to 1,000 total members, the parade has grown in popularity to the point that a new member can join only when another drops out. It rolled Saturday night through Faubourg Marigny and the French Quarter.<\/p>\n

Drips and Discharges<\/a>‘ 20th anniversary formed a large part of the design for this year\u2019s float, with signs and photos recalling themes of parades past, including \u201cStar Whores\u201d and \u201cDrips and Discharges Are Porn Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

For people in an occupation that can often be extremely stressful, the parade provides a creative outlet, subkrewe captain Eileen McKeown said, and a \u201cchance to let our hair down and be a little crazy and forget about it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krewe du Vieux, now in its 26th year, takes great pride in its uniqueness.\u00a0It alone, the nonprofit organization boasts on its website, \u201ccarries on the old traditions of Carnival celebrations, by using decorated mule-drawn floats with satirical themes, accompanied by costumed revelers dancing in the streets to the sounds of jazzy street musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, under the \u201cMutha\u201d krewe theme of \u201cCrimes Against Nature,\u201d Drips and Discharges decided to take aim at a German automaker\u2019s appropriation of the Superdome, now known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was a crime against nature that the Germans own part of New Orleans,\u201d McKeown said of the \u201cBenz Over\u201d theme.<\/p>\n

The Dome\u2019s new name came as a surprise to most Orleanians last fall, overnight giving the city\u2019s most famous building a new sign, a new name, a new sponsor and a gigantic light-projected symbol of the foreign automobile manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just business,\u201d said float captain Ellis Chappell, and not entirely unexpected. But nothing is off limits for Krewe du Vieux when it comes to poking fun at the year\u2019s happenings. \u201cIf some happy little German company gives you $10 million you go for it,\u201d said Chappell, who, alongside his son Reed, a comic-book artist, spent a week carving a \u201cSuperdome with ass cheeks\u201d out of styrofoam for the float.<\/p>\n

Chappell said the Drips\u2019 theme meetings are \u201cfueled by pitchers of mojitos,\u201d and the ideas get better with each pitcher.<\/p>\n

Krewe members Saturday night wore lederhosen and plastic butt hats and carried staffs topped with the Mercedes-Benz symbol.<\/p>\n

McKeown, a physician recruiter, joined Aiken and approximately 30 others in Drips\u2019 1993 founding march.\u00a0She said her favorite part of the night is when she hears the opening beats of the brass bands, 19 in total, at the start of the parade. \u201cYour adrenaline starts rolling and never stops,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other satirical \u201cCrimes Against Nature\u201d themes included the Krewe of Comatose\u2019s \u201cDollar General Hospital,\u201d aimed at the leveling of a Mid-City neighborhood for new hospitals; the Krewe of Rue de Bourbon\u2019s \u201cWe Are the 1 Percent\u201d; and the Krewe of Underwear\u2019s \u201cBayou Beautox.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in the lineup were several apocalypse-related themes, including the Krewe of C.R.U.D.E\u2019s (Committee to Revive Urban Decadent Entertainment) \u201cHEY a-POCKY-lypto WAY,\u201d featuring the 2012 Mayan Calendar girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the night sky and perfect weather, the fabulous, one of a kind, historic Krewe du Vieux rolled through the historic Marigny and French Quarter. My Krewe of Underwear, with a donkey pulling the float and a great brass band behind the float, joined the procession as float #6. Our krewe’s theme was \u201cBayou Beautox.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3,214,89,864,4,210,107,110,10,128,136,1],"tags":[873,1119,870,247,644,1148,650,872,1132,1120,871],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4259"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4286,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259\/revisions\/4286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.carnivalneworleans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}