This afternoon the Completely Mystick Krewe of Chartreuse will be seen staggering through the French Quarter in order to participate in the opening day of Tales of the Cocktail. If you see them abase yourself to the reigning Dark Lord.
That is all.
This year we had a meeting of the Krewes as The Krewe of Chartreuse and the Skelton Krewe joined up in the Vieaux Carre on Fat Tuesday. Pictured above is the ceremonial passing of the spanker from our Captain to theirs.
Despite being somewhat impaired by my injured wrist and all over aches I managed to march. Despite the many things going wrong right now Carnival, as always, has lifted my spirits. The trials of life in the new New Orleans fade a bit as I reflect on the fact that for the first time I am doing something I absolutely love for my livelihood (blogging and online social networking), I have a fantastic marriage, and wonderful friends. All in all life is good.
I hope to be writing more frequently soon, lately I have had to save my typing for work forcing me to leave you to the tender mercies of our other writers (Thanks Bigezbear!). Until I’m in better shape I will be doing short posts and throwing up photos on a regular basis to keep a hand in.
Look out tomorrow for a special post I will be making concerning the Grey Ghost and Rex Dingler of NOLA Rising.
Pax,
Loki
Carnival is here. Even with a hurt paw that is wonderful. See? Even Maitri is enjoying it!
It feels like right after Katrina to me. That was the last time I was typing mostly one handed due to an injury. But it is not the dawn of HumidCity, rather it’s the first weekend of Carnival 2008 (celebrated with the picture of Comus back in 1938 that you see above), and we have just skipped the first parades of the first weekend. Why, you ask? Because it’s bloody cold and wet and I’m still pretty beat up from my encounter with a car a few days back.
The temps here are running towards weather only a resident of Seattle or Edinburgh could appreciate. While out of town readership may laugh to us 36 degree weather with rain is pure unadulterated evil. The humidity and rain make it chill to the bone in a fashion I have seen shock yankees.
Hoping to have pics tomorrow from the daytime parades to share by the later evening manana. Staying minimal on the typing outside of work for awhile longer, at least until my Thursday doctor’s appointment tells me (I hope) that these all over body aches are exactly that, aches. Simple pains that will pass with a bit of time and hopefully before the big march with my Krewe on Mardi Gras morning. Cross your digits for me. In the meantime, I return you to the (?)saner(?) voices of HumidCity.
-Loki
The Krewe of Endymion will roll in Mid City again next year for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, the club’s top officer said today.
Endymion captain Ed Muniz said that while the superkrewe hasn’t yet applied for a city permit to return to its traditional route, Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley have told him that one will be granted.
Granted I don’t think Nagin or Reilly have much credibility, but I hope this is true. Mid City needs its own Carnival back, and to be frank I am sick of both Endymion and the rude, territorial crowd it brings with it.
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The Annual Krewe of Chartreuse stumble has come to an end. From our annual march down St Charles Avenue through the meeting of the subkrewes and subsequent Grand Rumpus Toast it was, as always, a blast!Way too much Green Chartreuse was consumed, Maitri was initiated looking lovely in her finery, our Charter Member and Krewe De Noir Captain Micahra returned form her exile in L.A. just in time, Lex and I got remarried in a SubGenius ceremony, and we all had a day of purest catharsis. I think I now feel more stable and human in the aftermath then I have for months. |
I have now stepped down as Dark Lord for the Krewe, only to be replaced by my predecessor! Could not go to a better recipient, especialy as he joined me amongst the racks of the 40+ set as of Carnival Day! Happy BDay Doodler!
Now those of you who do not hail from our beknighted city are proabably quite puzzled by the festivities, and not without reason. At first galnce it may seem counterintuitive to be partying when everything around us is so completely in disarry. What you need to understand is the psychological ramifications for those of us that live here.
We exist in a place where Katrina, the Federal Flood, and the ongoing trials infect every aspect of day to day life. Every interaction, every conversation, every walk down the block are tainted with the events of the past 18 months. In this sort of environment catharsis is essential. On Mardi Gras Day a pauper can be a prince, a prince can be a clown, and the clowns that, “govern,” us can be skewered with impunity. Every masker is able to leave behind the wrekage of their former home and cut loose in a collaborative satirization of the pain we are steeped in.
This is how we heal.
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Mysticks, Orphans, and Misfits 2007: Vices May Vary
Some images from this year’s festivities. This is as close to a post as you will get between now and Wednesday.
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The Krewe of Endymion, is a wonderful looking parade. Much like Jesus it is its followers who raise my ire. From about 8am on I have watched the public land of the neutral ground sprout suburban land barons like corn in Indiana. Now Carnival season is for everyone, I do not deny them that, but creating an impassable wall of roped off campgrounds and edge to edge ladders is far from endearing.
Unlike the usual crowd that gathers along the route there is a distinct and profound lack of manners. The phrase, “fuck you man, I’m from Kennah!” is one I have heard no less than three times today, all from people staking out their own little feifdoms on the neutral ground.
This is their Mardi Gras, and they should be having it on their traditional route.
For one thing few people realize that Carnival is celebrated in many different ways depending on what neghborhood you are in. Granted I tend to dislike most of the Endymion crowd I have dealt with on the three years they have been rerouted to St Charles (steps away from the keyboard)
Sorry, a case in point just resented itself. Just had to go rail at some punk for urinating on my windowsill. Third one in the last hour. I live 30 feet off the route, every parade goes right by and their crowds inundate the street outside my door. Endymion is the only one where people are pissing in my yard and on my door. The. Only. Time.
Anyway, as I was saying, another very important reason it needs to be on its home route is morale. This is Mid City’s Mardi Gras, and with all the foot draggin from our leaders they are in a bad way. They, like everyone in New Orleans, deserve the cathartic experience of celebrating Carnival their way in their neighborhood.
Failing that I hugely recommend learning some bloody manners!
EDIT 9PM: The Final Count on morns mistaking my building for a unrinal that I have caught is eleven! That is eleven addresses I want so that I can return the favor. Talk about self proving theorems!
As you may imagine, I will not be posting much till after Mardi Gras Day next tues, so here is a link to my album of Carnival pictures. It will be added to constantly throughout Carnival and can be reached here.
I also had the pleasure, while on my way to pester Dangerblonde, of meeting the 501st Legion, Vader’s Fist. These guys are a blast. Look for the pics of me with the NOPD’s best backup yet: Imperial Stormtroopers!
Happy Mardi Gras! ( and Muchas Gracias to Adrastos and Dr.A for coffee, booze, feline companionship, booze, coffee, king cake, heckling, and a wide variety of ill mannered interactions!)
Al Copeland’s restaraunt on St Charles and Napoleon is getting its private reviewing stands up. There were many people running around this morning in and out f the building.
On the right side of this picture is Copeland’s, a rat infested dump that has had next to nothing done to it (despite repeated complaints from neighbors) since the storm. The purple, green and gold on the left side is the reviewing stand set up for him, his cronys, and if I am not mistaken those who purchase seats. There is a high probability
Down the Avenue sits the likewise ignored remains of his Cheesecake Bistro, another eyesore and more evidence of his desertion of Orleans Parish in the wake of the Storm. So my question is: Why do we allow him preferential treatment in the form of ringside seats to the greatest spectacle of modern America?
I am obviously not the only neighbor who feels this way, as shown by the signs posted (and immediately removed) on his building when the stand started going up. (Click thumbnail for larger, readable images)
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If the expected drinks concession opens I encourage others to follow my example. Bring your own beer, Big Al has lost the right to our money.
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Marking their territory! This morning, all along the parade route I was greeted by the leering pronouncements of the Krewe D’Etat and its Dictator. I cannot think of more appropriate images that the notorius satire that greeted me from everylightpole on Napoleon.
I’m old school, my favorites are the parades that still hold to the sociopolitical parody of their forebears. This is even more important in a climate where there is so much that only gets media play when couched in humor. The Daily Show is the inheritor of a fine tradition of pointing and laughing when the Emperor has no clothes, but is by no means its orignator. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep the tears at bay. This is why we NEED carnival.
Krewe du Vieux rolls through the French Quarter this evening. Let Carnival madness Comence!
