What Goes On In The French Quarter When You're Not There?

When people think of the French Quarter, what do they think of? Mardi Gras. Bourbon Street. Bars and strip clubs, alcohol, women showing skin for plastic bead throws. Or maybe French Quarter Fest, Jazz bands playing on stages set up on the streets (Jazz bands, by the way, that are not the bands that play in the Quarter every day that is NOT French Quarter Fest; the one above, playing near the Courthouse, is a band that plays here when it is NOT French Quarter fest). Or maybe people have come here for a convention, or a cruise, and think of the Quarter as a stopping-off point to have a drink on their way to the next event.

I admit that when I used to winter in NOLA, I'd get a place to stay close to the Quarter. I'd play on Royal Street, and when the season was over I'd leave town and head off to Georgia or Texas for renaissance faires. I knew nothing of the rest of the city. It really never occurred to me that there was more of the city. Later, when I worked for Carnival Cruise Lines and we docked near the Riverwalk, I would leave the ship by nine AM and head to Bourbon Street for some French Quarter amusement. Even the Riverwalk seemed like a strange, foreign place, nearly a mile from the Quarter.

So when I got involved with a girl a few years back who lived Uptown, I eyed her with trepidation. “You live in New Orleans...Uptown? You don't live in the French Quarter?” My mind could not even grasp this concept!

Now I myself live Uptown, though I spend a lot of my time in the French Quarter. I know a lot about the whole city. But the French Quarter is, for many people, the gateway to New Orleans. When I speak to people who have come here for Mardi Gras or French Quarter Fest, they are often curious about what goes on in the Quarter when they're not there.

Let's take a little trip through the French Quarter on an average weekday, when no special event is going on. We'll start at Frenchmen Street and Decatur, where stands a French Quarter landmark, the Old U. S. Mint.

This amazing building was a branch of the United States Mint (the folks who bring you the coins in your pockets!) from 1838 to 1861. It closed during the Civil War, but reopened from 1879 to 1909. In the few years before the Civil War, the coins minted here were CSA, rather than USA coins. (Collectors love the New Orleans Morgan Dollars, marked with an "O" mint mark). The building is now part of the Louisiana State Museum. One of its functions is to have brass band concerts on its lawns.

 Down Decatur just a bit is the Old Ursulines Convent, which the Parks Department calls "the finest example of French Colonial architecture in America."

The Ursuline Nuns were some of the first French women to arrive in New Orleans, sent by King Louis XV in 1727. They ran a hospital, taught the daughters of Noble families, and ministered to the native women. They'd built a smaller convent when they arrived, but moved into this incredible building in 1751, and stayed there until the 1820s (the Ursuline Nuns now have a convent and a school Uptown close to where I live). The convent is still used by the Church, and houses Saint Mary Cathedral; the street it stands on is still called Ursulines Street.

Above is a detail of the Saint Mary Cathedral.

The nuns gained a bit of a reputation in the 1700s when they brought French women to New Orleans as brides for wealthy French colonists. The women would arrive after six weeks at sea in an awful state, pale and disheveled, carrying coffin-sized steamer trunks. Word soon got out that the nuns were bringing vampires to the city to drain the aristocratic blood of French nobles! The local bishop apparently led a mob to the convent, volunteered to go in alone, and came out a few hours later claiming he had destroyed the vampires. This story is how the city got its vampire reputation.

Across Charters Street from the convent is the Beauregard Mansion with its stately courtyard. Beauregard was a highly decorated Confederate Civil War general (down here we call it the War of Northern Aggression).

Our most spectacular cathedral is the Saint Louis Cathedral, right up Decatur Sreet in Jackson Square. It has the distinction of being the oldest operating cathedral in the United States.

Here is Saint Louis Cathedral as seen from Jackson Square.

Here are the grounds.

The cathedral is open daily to visitors. Let's peek inside.

Cool, huh?

When we cross Decatur, watch out for the insane drivers. There are plenty of F^#*ing cars driving at any moment up and down Decatur Street. The cabs are the worst. But there are also two other modes of transportation worth noting.

The first is bicycles. Most of my busker friends live farther downtown, in the Lower Ninth ward or the Saint Claude area. They come to work in the Quarter every day on their bicycles, an instrument strapped to their back.

"Wait a minute! I have a bicycle too," you say. "Doesn't everybody?" Well here there is an entire bike culture. In fact we call the downtown females "bicycle girls." We have a store called Plan B: they'll help you make your own bike. It's an identity as well as a mode of transportation here. On any day in the Quarter, every gate, fence and column has a dozen or so bikes chained to it. It's how we roll. Really!

But OK, you're still unimpressed. You have a bicycle too. Maybe you even ride it to work every morning. Maybe you even love your bike with a New Orleanean passion. But do you have one of these?

I didn't think so... Yes, we use mules, all over the city. They draw carriages for tourists. They draw candy vendor carts. They draw floats for parades. They've even been involved in a wedding or two. And they're damn cute! Look at that face... All over the Quarter you find troughs of water for these critters. We love our mules. Next time you come down take a mule carriage tour. The drivers are the best tour guides in the city (aside from moi).

By the way, a mule is male. Do you know what a female mule is called? Maybe I'll tell you some time...

On our way from Ursulines to Jackson Square we run into our first of many street performers. This one has what nearly all street performers around here have: a dog. And his dog has puppies. I made the mistake of calling my girlfriend over to see them. I highly recommend not doing this, by the way...

Stop staring at the puppies. Let's head over to Jackson Square.

We love our history here in New Orleans. This cannon was fired in the War of 1812, the War of Northern Aggression (that would be the Civil War), and the Mexican American War. It now guards the river.

Below the cannon is this cool sign. The first riverboat to navigate the Ohio-Mississippi weighed anchor right here! I knew you would be utterly impressed.

In Jackson Square is a "human statue" street performer. They're pretty much all over the Quarter. I just like this human statue best of them all. I imagine you can figure out why that is...

The day I was down here, there happened to be a Mardi Gras Indian showing off his mask for tips (mask, you may remember from my previous Blogs, is the word for the entire costume). These costumes cost a LOT of money to construct. Some indians show off their current mask to make money to create their next mask. If you read my previous Blog, you'll know that this is a Flag Boy.

Let's head up to Royal Street next, passing the statue of Saint Joan, patroness saint of New Orleans, which we call Joanie On A Pony...

She stands over the French Market. A lot of bands play here. It's the only place in the FQ where bands need a permit to set up and play. I passed this band as I crossed Decatur under Joanie.

By the way, a female mule is a jenny. Let's head up to Royal.

Royal Street is lined with art galleries. Here are my friends playing Old Timey Fiddle outside the Blue Dog Gallery, home of local-painter-done-good George Rodrigue.

The fiddle player, Lyle, is also in a band with myself and singer Stephanie Mitchell. A lot of musicians down here, myself included, play in several bands. That way we work as often as possible.

Royal Street is closed off every day to auto traffic, and becomes a pedestrian mall. For that reason, many busking bands play here, as you can play right in the street and gather a good crowd. Here are my friends the Yes Ma'am Band playing at Royal and Toulouse.

Dizzy is an awesome washboard player, and is in great demand by several local bands. Washboard is our preferred rhythm instrument: easy to carry, easy to play, and with a sound unique to Cajun, early Jazz, and to String Band music. Most bands down here have a washboard (few players are as good as Dizzy though). Note the requisite dog at Dizzy's feet...every busker has one.

Elena is every bit as good a fiddler as me, and I do NOT say things like that lightly. She also dresses to match her bow. Nick on the banjo is also in a band with my buddy Hank. They are about the funniest band I know. I wish I could be as funny as Nick and Hank when they play. Yes Ma'am, while really good, is not very funny.

One bock down from Yes Ma'am, at Royal and Saint Phillip, is the Royal J band. They play early Jazz, and they have professional dancers accompanying them. The male dancer is also their singer.

The banjo player is Joseph, and yea, we're in a couple of bands together. I also used to be in a band with the drummer.

The female dancer also teaches swing dance classes at a couple of clubs around town, including the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen. You should check it out!

Before we leave the Quarter, we should walk down to the river. Here is one of my favorite statues along the river, representing the immigrant spirit. My grandfather came to America in about 1910, at the age of nine. I think of him when I see this...

This is the other end of the statue, the spirit guiding the immigrants to American shores.

And finally, a dog, belonging to a busker friend of mine. Yes, they all have one.

From the French Quarter in New Orleans, this is Kenny Klein explaining it all.

01 Fairy Queen

01 Fairy Queen

02 Black Widow

02 Black Widow

MARDI GRAS INDIANS

Yes, I had an exhausting Saint Patrick's Day weekend: five gigs in two days. But that did not keep me from running out Sunday (and dragging poor sleepy Lauren and Stephanie with me) to see the Mardi Gras Indians on what we in NOLA call Super Sunday.

What's a Mardi Gras Indian, and what does football have to do with it? Well first, our Super Sunday is not football related: it's the Sunday that falls closest to Saint Joseph's Day. This is the Sunday when the Mardi Gras Indians parade, in the final (most awesome) parade of the Mardi Gras season.

So we're back to the first question: what is a Mardi Gras Indian? (Besides the best kept New Orleans secret of all?). Mardi Gras Indians are a loose confederation of "tribes" that each fall somewhere between a social club and a gang. They are composed almost entirely of African Americans, who follow a tradition that goes back more than a century and a half. There are roughly 38 Mardi Gras Indian tribes in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, each tied to a traditionally African American neighborhood. Since the mid-1800s the tribes have "masked," or dressed in costumes influenced by American Indian culture, and paraded through their own neighborhoods. The tradition probably dates from a time when escaped slaves were harbored by American Indian nations, and Indians and African Americans intermarried and created the cross culture that is known today as the Creoles. Beginning at Mardi Gras, each tribe will stage parades in their own neighborhood. On Super Sunday, all of the tribes converge in the Lower Garden District. The parade is a competition, and the tribe that makes the most spectacular show gains the respect of the entire Mardi Gras Indian nation for that year.

The MG Indians created their own parade day primarily because they were not allowed to parade officially on Mardi Gras itself: while New Orleans has always been a mixed race city, and Free People of Color have always lived here, after emancipation "Jim Crow" laws prevented Blacks from involvement in official Mardi Gras celebrations. So the Mardi Indians established their own parade day (though Indians do parade "unofficially" on Mardi Gras itself) on Saint Joseph Day. While most official parades today date back as far as the 1970s and earlier, the Mardi Gras Indian events are the only Mardi Gras celebrations that follow an unbroken history nearly two centuries old.

Indian costumes are spectacular. That's not even the right word. Amazing might cover it, overused as that superlative is. Each costume is hand made. The bead work takes hundreds, maybe thousands of hours, and tribes enlist family and neighbors in the creation of each "mask" (as the entire costume is called). At the end of the parade season, the costume is deconstructed and burned, and creation of a new costume begins. Yes, really! Above is a big chief of the Comanche Hunters. His mask tells a story of the Plains Inidans. These shots were taken early in the day as he was preparing to parade.

The parade itself is not a traditional parade at all. To a spectator it might seem like mass chaos, but this hundred-and-fifty-year-old culture has a complex social structure.

Each tribe is led by a Flag Boy. The Flag Boy will travel a block ahead of the tribe. His job is to steer the tribe toward friendly tribes and away from potentially dangerous tribes. While a Flag Boy may dress in street wear, this one is masked, and using his flags to signal a potential competition. A hundred years ago there were occasional bouts of violence between tribes. In fact a well known song, Iko Iko, (covered by acts including the Grateful Dead and New Orleans' Dr. John: listen to this version for the correct MG Indian lyrics) is a taunt between two Mardi Gras Indian tribes. In recent decades the organization of the tribes has done away with all but symbolic combat.

Next comes the Wild Man. The Wild Man wears horns or antlers as a mark of his rank. His job is to part the crowds so the rest of his tribe can march through, which he does by dancing wildly into the crowds (almost like Punk slam-dancing). While I was shooting these images of the Comanche Hunters, this Wild Man was dancing threateningly, pushing myself and the rest of the crowd aside.

Then come the tribe members gathered around the Big Chief and his Queen (here are the Big Chief and the Queen of the Comanche Hunters). Each Big Chief carries his "Chief Stick." The tribe will sing, chant and dance as they parade; each tribe has its own set of chants and songs. There is a deep musical connection between the MG Indian chants and the Jazz tunes of the Second Line tradition, though bear in mind the Mardi Gras Indian tradition is slightly older than the musical style of Jazz (but only slightly). There was probably a huge crossed culture between Indians and early Jazz musicians.

The tradition is carried by families through generations; Children are active paraders, chanting and marching with their adults. The boy in this photo carries a toy rifle; the MG Indians once carried real shotguns into parades. These are now replaced by toy rifles and mock spears.

Here a girl shows off her mask. She is in the retinue of one of the Queens.

Here is a Flag Boy of another tribe (this might be Wild Tchoupitoulas). Note that his flags are actually marked with "Flag Boy."

Big Chiefs wear the most elaborate masks, with hidden panels and layers of feathers and bead work. When posturing against another tribe (or posing for cameras), a Big Chief will assume an "open" position, showing off his paneled bead work.

When marching or resting, the chief will remain "closed."

Here is a tribal member whose mask does not tell a story, but simply proclaims his tribal affiliation:

A chief and his Queen, above.

The Algiers Warriors made a spectacular showing. Here is their Big Chief and his retinue:

Below is an example of the amazing bead work worn by Indians. This mask represents a peacock; note the detail of the headdress:

Amazing geometric beadwork, above.

This Wild Man created his mask out of denim. Note the detail on the back represnting peace between the Black Man and the White Man. (His friend, below, was a well dressed spectator).

Take a look at the incredible textured layers of feathers in the child's costume below:

By the way, since fake hair is used to represent the long braids of Plains Indians, it can be very difficult to tell the girls from the boys in the youngest paraders.

As with any New Orleans event, the spectators often dress as spectacularly as the paraders:

Below: One of the tribes chanting as they parade. The chants are great, very rhythmic and catchy. Spectators will often fall into the parade with a particular tribe to chant and dance with them:

A Queen and her retinue.

Above: This kid, whose t-shirt says "Pirate Girl," got some special attention from one of the Big Chiefs. For gangs that can be hostile to each other, there is an ethic of sharing and sweetness among the tribes when parading for outsiders.

After the parade, the tribes gather in the park at Washington and LaSalle, and present their masks for all to see and admire (and to gain standing among other tribes). Here are some close-ups of the amazing bead work. The first represents the battle of the Little Big Horn, and George Armstrong Custer's defeat:

This one represents life on the Mississippi before the Whites came. Note the alligator:

Above: The beadworked banner of the Geronimo Hunters tribe.

From Super Sunday in New Orleans, this is Kenny Klein explaining it all.