Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a tradition that everyone should experience at least once. Click on each individual image above to see what you’re missing.
[All images found via Google Image Search. If anyone wishes to be credited, please leave us a comment and we’ll update with links. Related posts Heureux.]
Have a great weekend, folks, remember the Presidents who afforded us our freedoms and those who assist in taking them away, and be back here tomorrow for more stuff.
Four shorts in under 90 seconds, with balloon animals.
What a happy guy. After those two vids, we gotta walk it down.
Here’s Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (1974) with “Upon The My O My.” We’re not quite at ground level yet, and since we neglected to honor Mardi Graslast week, let’s amend and repair the accidental and unintended oversight with this:
According to Wikipedia:
The song “Iko Iko” was written in 1953 in New Orleans by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford about two competing Mardi Gras Tribes/Krewes. “Jock-a-mo” was the original version of the song “Iko Iko” recorded by The Dixie Cups in 1965. Their version came about by accident. They were in a New York City studio for a recording session when they began an impromptu version of “Iko Iko,” accompanied only by drumsticks on studio ashtrays.
[Listen to it on the Utoobage here. Lyrics are in the notes.]
Other trivia: Crawford formed a band which local DJ Doctor Daddy-O named “The Chapaka Shawee” – Creole for “We Aren’t Raccoons.”
Fun Facts to Know and Tell. Have a great weekend, folks.
That’s a lotta Mardi Crap there. Bet it smells delightful as well, but I’d rather have to clean up that mess than several month’s worth of Occupoopage. Although Fat Tuesday’s Gone for another year, we’ve still got plenty of Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya left.
[Found here.]
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.]
