Bacchus

(Thought I would continue with some additional chronologically correct posts, pictures and such thru the end of our trip which ended early Thursday am after Mardi Gras. This post picks up Sunday night after KMC parade earlier in the day...)

After relaxing a bit post Krewe of Mid City parade, my wife Eileen and I headed out later Sunday night to see Bacchus. We had purchased tickets getting us seats in a grandstand viewing area near Gallier Hall so it was a pretty nice way to watch the parade- especially after a long day! This year's King was Will Farrell and I actually managed to catch a throw from him as his float passed by. The next day, I found out in reading about the parade in the local paper that he had also thrown some cow bells as an homage to the famous SNL "More CowBell" skit from a few years ago. Would have been cool to grab one of those- especially given my debut on cow bell with the Treme Brass Band at the start of our trip back at the Candlelight Lounge- oh well, can't catch em all. (Speaking of cow bells- after coming home checked on eBay to see if anyone happened to be selling one of the Bacchus Will Farrell cow bells- initially there was only 1 and I watched it over a couple days and it sold for $147.50! Holy Cow-bell!).


See below for some photos from the Bacchus parades. (NOTE: Not sure photos do a night parade like Bacchus justice. It ain't easy taking photos in ever changing light conditions with moving subjects while also juggling an adult beverage, all the while trying to catch beads and screaming for someone to throw you somethin..Not complaining..just saying..Anyway hope you enjoy..)

Back to the Candlelight..

I know its time to write about the big ride BUT, as I continue to go thru my photos and videos from my Mardi Gras trip I came across this video that I took at the Candlelight Lounge in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans that features the world famous Treme Brass Band every Wednesday night. For folks that know New Orleans, one of my favorite spots used to be Donna's Brass Bar and Grill on N. Rampart St at the top of the French Quarter. Unfortunately, Donna retired to Florida a couple years ago and the club is no more. In my opinion, that used to be THE place to see brass bands in New Orleans. The setting and music was fantastic and the crowd was this great mix of musicians, locals and tourists. Other musicians would drop in during the show to sit in on the way to another gig or regular folks who just felt like dancing would just come in off the sidewalk- do their thing for maybe only 1 song or so and then head back out. It was wild. In my opinion, the Candlelight is very much like Donnas. Its a real neighborhood "joint"in the best sense of the word. The music is great, there are free red beans when Treme plays (Hint: Don't try to help yourself- they have folks who will bring the food and drinks to you at your table; I made the mistake of trying to go up on my own for seconds and got yelled at by the bartender!). Anyway, the crowd here has that "Donna's" mix: local folks from the neighborhood and tourists all mixed up together having a good ol time. Video doesnt do the scene justice but gives you a little bit of a feel for what this place is like. So kick back, crack open that High Life and enjoy. (Note: video was taken using my regular ol point n shoot camera in movie mode so not top quality)