Mardi Gras Indians are the Mardi Gras most people don’t see. Modern Day Indians came from a time when African Americans felt left out of the traditional Mardi Gras krewes and parades. Residents from wards around New Orleans formed their own sort of Krewe and named them after their streets or wards. The Indians created elaborate costumes and names themselves after Native Americans- as tribute to the Native American tribes’ role in freeing the slaves. They designated someone to be the Spy, the Flag boy and the Big Chief and these tribes led processions through the streets. In the past, Mardi Gras Indians were violent, but today most tribes simply act out a scene when passing other tribes. Indians do not follow any schedule or parade route and a rare thing to see on Mardi Gras.
Of course there are also a lot of beads, beer, boobs and blues:
Everyone should experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans at least once. The parades are awesome, the music is great, and there are uninhibited and inebriated college girls. There are also pickpockets, drug dealers and people who will fight you over a plastic necklace. The beer/drinks are cheap (since they deal in volume) and the streets and sidewalks flow with unmentionable liquids so you’ll need to burn your shoes afterwards. Again, everyone should experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans at least once.
[Top image and story found here; 2nd image found here. There are hidden bonuses, too – click a pic.]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term “humpty dumpty” referred to a drink of brandy boiled with ale in the seventeenth century. The riddle probably exploited, for misdirection, the fact that “humpty dumpty” was also eighteenth-century reduplicative slang for a short and clumsy person.
Although there are other unproven theories that the rhyme references an historical figure or event, Humpty Dumpty was merely a riddle of the “What Am I” sort, and the answer was “an egg.” (And ten dozen guys couldn’t figure out how to make an omelette?) Try this one:
I am white And wet to touch; I can blind If you stare too much.
We had to watch that in junior high school. We all snickered to ourselves and laughed out loud afterwards. Once school let out, we went trolling anyway:
“Hello, Mrs. Jenkins? This is Bob from Hi-Times Liquor. Your husband left his wallet and motel key on the counter.”
“You Asked For It” was an early television show that pulled in viewers by asking for requests. This one shows some old carnival gaffes, some of which are still employed.
Bob Kuban & The In-Men had their one hit in 1966 with “The Cheater” and the song fits. (Irony note: Kuban was killed by his wife’s boyfriend in 1983.) I couldn’t find a live version, but this works.
Kim Jong Il takes a test drive of an amusement park combat plane ride in Taesong amusement park, in Pyongyang, North Korea on October 2, 1977. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
Etta James passed away on 20 January 2012, and there aren’t many live vids out there on the Utoobage (this one’s from 1962). She was tough on the eyes, but gorgeous on the ears.
We also lost the great Johnny Otis on 17 January. Although I never saw The Johnny Otis Show on television, his 1990s radio show was great, playing old R&B and early R&R. (I spoke with him on the phone once about some trivia about The Contours.)
So here are The Contours live in 1963. I love early R&B, so we might as well continue with that theme.
Ruth Brown recorded “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” in 1953, and it’s a great example of “jump blues” that morphed, terminology-wise from “Race Records” into “Rhythm and Blues” and later into “Rock and Roll.”
According to the late Eubie Blake, the phrase “Rock and Roll” originated in the late 1800s. It described a ragtime piano style that kept the patrons of brothels moving along. (Even the name “ragtime” is bawdy, and you can connect the dots for yourselves.)
Jump Blues. From the Utoobage description:
Illinois Jacquet and his band in the “Jive Crazy” scene from the 1949 noir movie “D.O.A.” — at least, according to the movie publicity.
So that might not be Illinois Jacquet’s band, but it’s still a great scene. And that makes five jumpy and jivey vids for the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.
If the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) were to pass, this post could cause Tacky Raccoons to be taken down with a single complaint.
The complaint could be made by one of the pet owners, the person who created any one of the images, the company that printed the calendars where the images were featured, any website that sold those calendars, and any individual claiming ownership of the pictures, whether the claims were legit or not.
Every website that posted any image could be accused and shut down, whether guilty of copyright infringement or not. Google itself could be in violation, because they linked to the images where we lifted them, which is aiding and abetting.
The U.S. Government has been trying to figure out ways to control the internest for a long time, especially for taxation purposes, but this latest power grab (by a bipartisan commission!) is beyond insidious. James Watt takes it a step further:
SOPA/PIPA is not the way of free speech, nor is it going to help the exchange of ideas. It will hurt science just as much as any other venue to protect a few media conglomerates. SOPA and PIPA is a real danger to all of us who frequent websites such as this one. Imagine if you will, we are discussing the new HadCRUT4 using station data – a complaint is lodged by UEA/CRU to the SOPA/PIPA entity over some portion of that dataset they consider “proprietary” or protected by one of the non disclosure agreements they claim to have with some countries. One complaint is all it would take to shut WUWT, Climate Audit, and other websites using this data for discussion down- without any hearing or trial. Basically, “fair use” gets tossed down the hole. Science loses.
Freedom of Speech is one of the unalienable rights of citizens of this great country. Let’s make sure it’s never taken away, because we’ll never get it back.
Not only was our daughter Bunkarina awarded a Black Belt, she’s been bestowed the title of Sensei. That means that she still has to clean up her room, but only when she wants to.
[Confidential to Bunkarina: Don’t cut out the moose part – you’ll never get it back. – Papa Strutts]
Tacky Raccoons 