All on a Mardi Gras Day ..Part 1
Mardi Gras started real early- for me anyway. I was on my bicycle heading down Orleans Ave by 5:30am- I literally heard roosters as I rode along. I was headed for the Treme to the Backstreet Cultural Museum to hopefully see the Northside Skull and Bone Gang come out of the museum and walk the neighborhood banging on doors and waking folks up on Mardi Gras morning. Got to the museum and there was already a small group of folks- many already in costume for the day sitting or standing around. My krewe buddy Arthur showed up around 6am just as you could start to hear singing and chanting coming out of the museum building. Soon, the gang members in their skeleton costomes came out the door onto the front porch chanting and playing their tambourines. One of the members of the group was on stilts and he walked menacingly among the small crowd of onlookers who had started to crowd up to the porch to see the goings on and take pictures. The group moved off the porch and into the street and began moving up the street- calling out for folks to wake up- it was Mardi Gras morning, time to get up. The small crowd of onlookers, including Arthur and I fell in behind and walked with the gang as they moved thru the neigborhood chanting, singing and banging on doors to wake folks up. Pretty special to be seeing this- what a great start to the day. After a while, said goodbye to Arthur-he and his family would be leaving later today and would likely not be seeing him again til we both got back East. Got on my bike and started my ride back up to my sister's house. Next up on today's agenda was the Zulu parade which started later this am. Ride back up Orleans Ave took me right by the Zulu club house. There was a lot of activity as the krewe members were already gathering together to get to the beginning of their parade.I noticed a couple of folks in costume out on the sidewalk taking pictues of each other. I pulled up and offered to take their pictures together- in return they let me snap a photo of them in costume. I wished them a good ride and hoppped back on my bike-I quickly came across a woman in full Mardi Gras indian dress who was calling out a challenge to any other tribe that might be in earshot- pretty cool. I made it back to sis's house- she and my wife were now awake and we went aboout getting into costume for the day. The plan was to walk over to the streetcar and head back into town to get a spot along the Zulu parade route. We made it to the streetcar stop and after a short wait hopped the streetcar into town. We took the streecar as far as it ran( today it was not going all the way down Canal St due to the parades)and walk down and then across Basin Street heading over to a spot near Louis Armstrong Park that I thought might be a good spot to watch the parade. There were alot of folks who were alreadyy setting up their spots along the route. The crowds in this area were predominantly African American and we soon realized that we were somewhat of a curisoity as we walked along in costume on the way to set up our own spot. More than a few folks stopped us along the way asking to take our pictures- it seems as tho the whole costume thing was more of an in the French Quarter kind of thing since 99% of the folks in this area were in their regular clothes. It was not something any of us had expected but it was kind of fun to be noticed. We made it to an open spot on the curb over near the park. The crowd was mostly families with kids and there was a real good vibe- everybody was there for a good time. We ended up meeting some of the families who were waiting along with us for the parade. Almost everyone we talked to seemed to have a friend or family member in the parade and were waiting to see them on a float or marching in the parade. We enjoyed the party atmosphere (along with our adult beverages- yes it was only 9am but it was Mardi Gras day and this was New Orleans- so go with the flow). Speaking of flow, it wasnt long until we were in need of a comfort station. I noticed that there was a bar a little ways up the route so I went to scout it out to see if there was a public restroom. I think it was called Bertha's Place and there was a real party going on! Folks were out on the street waiting for the parade and inside the music was blasting, folks were dancing and the drinks were flowing. This was the place..After using the facilities, hit the bar for some "supplies"- the lady behind the bar offered- along w my beers- a bucket of ice to carry them out in- now we were really set. I returned to our spot, gave my scouting report and then my wife and sister took their own walk to Bertha's. After a bit more of a wait , the parade started. It was a lot of fun and the crowd was really into it. Everybody was hoping to get one of the prized throws of Mardi Gras- the Zulu coconut. It wasn't too far into the parade and my wife Eileen managed to talk one of the Zulu members into giving her a coconut- holy cow! Mission accomplished and the parade had just started. We watched the brass bands, the floats and marching bands . We got our share of other Zulu throws and then started helping folks- especially the kids- collect stuff. We had a great time. As the parade started to come to an end we made our move. Next up- heading into the French Quarter to hopefully hook up with the Krewe of St. Anne's Marching Krewe.
Mardi Gras started real early- for me anyway. I was on my bicycle heading down Orleans Ave by 5:30am- I literally heard roosters as I rode along. I was headed for the Treme to the Backstreet Cultural Museum to hopefully see the Northside Skull and Bone Gang come out of the museum and walk the neighborhood banging on doors and waking folks up on Mardi Gras morning. Got to the museum and there was already a small group of folks- many already in costume for the day sitting or standing around. My krewe buddy Arthur showed up around 6am just as you could start to hear singing and chanting coming out of the museum building. Soon, the gang members in their skeleton costomes came out the door onto the front porch chanting and playing their tambourines. One of the members of the group was on stilts and he walked menacingly among the small crowd of onlookers who had started to crowd up to the porch to see the goings on and take pictures. The group moved off the porch and into the street and began moving up the street- calling out for folks to wake up- it was Mardi Gras morning, time to get up. The small crowd of onlookers, including Arthur and I fell in behind and walked with the gang as they moved thru the neigborhood chanting, singing and banging on doors to wake folks up. Pretty special to be seeing this- what a great start to the day. After a while, said goodbye to Arthur-he and his family would be leaving later today and would likely not be seeing him again til we both got back East. Got on my bike and started my ride back up to my sister's house. Next up on today's agenda was the Zulu parade which started later this am. Ride back up Orleans Ave took me right by the Zulu club house. There was a lot of activity as the krewe members were already gathering together to get to the beginning of their parade.I noticed a couple of folks in costume out on the sidewalk taking pictues of each other. I pulled up and offered to take their pictures together- in return they let me snap a photo of them in costume. I wished them a good ride and hoppped back on my bike-I quickly came across a woman in full Mardi Gras indian dress who was calling out a challenge to any other tribe that might be in earshot- pretty cool. I made it back to sis's house- she and my wife were now awake and we went aboout getting into costume for the day. The plan was to walk over to the streetcar and head back into town to get a spot along the Zulu parade route. We made it to the streetcar stop and after a short wait hopped the streetcar into town. We took the streecar as far as it ran( today it was not going all the way down Canal St due to the parades)and walk down and then across Basin Street heading over to a spot near Louis Armstrong Park that I thought might be a good spot to watch the parade. There were alot of folks who were alreadyy setting up their spots along the route. The crowds in this area were predominantly African American and we soon realized that we were somewhat of a curisoity as we walked along in costume on the way to set up our own spot. More than a few folks stopped us along the way asking to take our pictures- it seems as tho the whole costume thing was more of an in the French Quarter kind of thing since 99% of the folks in this area were in their regular clothes. It was not something any of us had expected but it was kind of fun to be noticed. We made it to an open spot on the curb over near the park. The crowd was mostly families with kids and there was a real good vibe- everybody was there for a good time. We ended up meeting some of the families who were waiting along with us for the parade. Almost everyone we talked to seemed to have a friend or family member in the parade and were waiting to see them on a float or marching in the parade. We enjoyed the party atmosphere (along with our adult beverages- yes it was only 9am but it was Mardi Gras day and this was New Orleans- so go with the flow). Speaking of flow, it wasnt long until we were in need of a comfort station. I noticed that there was a bar a little ways up the route so I went to scout it out to see if there was a public restroom. I think it was called Bertha's Place and there was a real party going on! Folks were out on the street waiting for the parade and inside the music was blasting, folks were dancing and the drinks were flowing. This was the place..After using the facilities, hit the bar for some "supplies"- the lady behind the bar offered- along w my beers- a bucket of ice to carry them out in- now we were really set. I returned to our spot, gave my scouting report and then my wife and sister took their own walk to Bertha's. After a bit more of a wait , the parade started. It was a lot of fun and the crowd was really into it. Everybody was hoping to get one of the prized throws of Mardi Gras- the Zulu coconut. It wasn't too far into the parade and my wife Eileen managed to talk one of the Zulu members into giving her a coconut- holy cow! Mission accomplished and the parade had just started. We watched the brass bands, the floats and marching bands . We got our share of other Zulu throws and then started helping folks- especially the kids- collect stuff. We had a great time. As the parade started to come to an end we made our move. Next up- heading into the French Quarter to hopefully hook up with the Krewe of St. Anne's Marching Krewe.
No comments:
Post a Comment