Krewe Du Vieux!!!!

Last Sunday was the parade that locals see as the true start of Mardi Gras, Krewe Du Vieux. Less of a traditional parade and more of a quarter mile of moving chaos, Krewe Du Vieux is a raucous, bawdy affair that combines sexual innuendo with political satire. It is the only parade that still walks the French Quarter. In fact its name, Krewe Du Vieux, comes from the Vieux Carre, or old square, the parts of the French Quarter that were not torn down and rebuilt in the early twentieth century. It is also the only parade that still uses mule-drawn floats, rather than tractor-pulled floats.

KdV, which began in 1978 as Krewe of Clones, was the first parade to march after hurricane Katrina, and "garnered national attention for its tenacity and lightheartedness in the face of tragedy. That year's theme was "C'est Levee." (from the Mardi Gras site).

This year we are having an early Mardi Gras (February 12). We also have the Superbowl happening right in the middle of Mardi Gras (February 3). Many of the parades were set to dates earlier than they would normally parade most years. So the theme of KdV this year was "Krewe du Vieux Comes Early," and all of the sub-krewes and floats played on the sexual innuendo of "coming early."

 Above, Lauren waits for the parade. Below, the KdV banner float. 

The Queen of KdV, Bethany Bultman, director of the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. We love her!

 A few faces in the crowd waiting for the parade... things get weird down here in New Orleans...

The parade starts in earnest, with a molested Big Bird, a commentary on the political suggestion that public television be stripped of its funding. 

Imprisoned Big Birds...

The next sub-krewe, the Krewe Of Lewd, were penis-bunnies. Of course. 

 Above, a bunny with a hydrolic, um, marital aid strapped to her back. 

Kwazy Wabbit....

 Above, the banner announcing "drips and discharges." Below, our local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, sold out after 175 years of publishing, and is now available only online. This was satired by several floats, a "day-of-the-dead" theme, and costumes made of the newspaper.

The sign above mimics a well known 3rd grade joke about a newspaper.

 Newspaper costumes, and the slogan "I want it every day," (meaning the Times-Picayune).

Below, a play on the Superbowl. Locals have a good deal of resentment about the Superbowl, as our team, the Saints, were handicapped by ridiculous penalties over unproven allegations of locker room discussions: essentially, the NFL made certain our team would not be contenders for our home Superbowl. You'll see this theme several more times in the parade.

 

A sexual spoof on Chick-Fil-A.

Sexual innuendos, and referees from the Superbowl, come together in the KdV swirl of chaos.

Above: Penny Tration. Below, one of the many musicians that march in KdV.

Above, More NFL satire. Below, the next subkrewe, Krewe du Jeux.

The Krewe du Jeux theme combined penises (circumcised, of course), dreidals and space invaders...

The next sub-krewe was TOKIN, who always incorporate a marijuana theme into their display: in this case, Obama Care. The float features our governer, Bobby Jindal, throwing old people to the gators as part of his terrible new policies for senior care.

At this point in the parade, these two scantily clad young ladies edged their way beside us. They managed to stop a lot of parade traffic, and get a good deal of the throws.

Satire on our local energy company, Entergy, famous for power outages when the wind blows a little stronger than usual. In a city that gets hurricanes yearly, you would think our energy company would somehow be prepared...

A yearly sub-krewe of KdV is Krewe of Spermes (a play on the Greek God Hermes), who pose the question, which came first...? If you watch the show Treme, you'll recognize the costume of the Krewe of Spermes.

Above, Lauren watching the parade...

 

Skinz-N-Bonez, part of Krewdelusion, is New Orleans' only female drum krewe. They focus on tribal style drumming. Above is member Pamela Paige,whose photo of me is the cover of my Ghosts Of The Delta CD.

More KdV sub-krewes. Above, Krewe du Jeux; Below, Krewe of Goddesses.

...and Krewe de Seuss

As always, pretty much all of NOLA turned lined the streets of the Quarter for Krewe Du Vieux. It was pretty awesome... then I rushed to Buffa's, which was packed, to learn I'd missed playing the first set (the original plan was that we'd wait until the parade was done...oops), and played till past midnight. 

From Krewe du Vieux Parade in the French Quarter, this is Kenny Klein explaining it all.

Joan Of Arc

Yesterday (Sunday, January 6) was two things: in world history, it was the birthday of Saint Joan Of Arc, The Maid Of Orleans; and in the lore of Christmas/Yule, it was Twelfth Night, the twelfth day of Christmas. So in New Orleans, it was the start of the Mardi Gras season, which kicked off with the Parade of Joan Of Arc!

The Joan Of Arc parade is a very new one; it first paraded in 2009, the creation of Amy A. Kirk Duvoisin, who observed that the first day of Mardi Gras was the birth date of our city's patroness saint. It's a small parade, with about 35 krewe members and an adjunct of The Muff-A-Lottas and various stilt walkers and musicians.

Above: Amy Kirk, founder of the parade, as the "heretic" character.

The parade gathers at Bienville Park, at Decatur and Conti streets in the French Quarter, and Krewe members ready themselves.

 Above: the Muff-A-Lottas warm up. Below, Queen Yolande.

Above: my band mate David Roe as the fires of Hell, surrounded by Muff-A-Lottas; Below, a young Joan prepares to carry the parade banner.

The parade marches up Conti to Charters, and to Saint Louis Cathedral. There Joan herself knocks on the cathedral door, and the priest comes out and blesses her sword. For those of us who live in this city, it is a poignant event!

Forward!!

Above: David Roe and the Muff-A-Lottas (by the way, the troop's name is a sexual play on our local signature sandwich, the Muffuletta); Below, Golden Joan.

Above, angels. Below, monks carry a medieval cart. 

 

 For a small, newer parade, the turn-out was impressive. Crowds swarmed the parade route, and the crowd at the cathedral was so large I could not get a shot of the monseigneur blessing Joan's sword. 

 

Audience members, above and below. Note the Veve, or Voodoo symbol, on the purse hidden beneath the woman's cloak above, and painted on a parade-watcher's jacket, below. This is Oshun's Veve, often associated with Saint Joan. 

The parade continues up Charters to the cathedral....

Baby Joan?

 Joan of Arc's faithful flying squirrel...

 Stilt walkers, above. No pun intended... the stilt walkers came from the International School of Louisiana, led and coordinated by local circus arts teacher Meret Ryhiner.

The torture wheel, and the dragon.

 Walking Muff-A-Lottas, above; twirling Muff-A-Lotta, below.

 Above and below, the parade stops in front of the cathedral while the sword is blessed...

These banners display quotations from Joan herself. they include:
One life is all we have; we live it as we believe.
Trust in God. God will aid the city of Orleans.
I am not afraid. I was born to do this. 
I fear nothing but treachery.

The parade ends at the Saint Joan statue at the French Market on Decatur. An amazing time was had by all!!

The Saint Joan statue, taken in daylight. 

From the french Quarter and the Saint Joan parade, at the start of Mardi Gras, this is Kenny Klein explaining it all.