First Parade Weekend

Well, last weekend was the first real parade weekend of the 2011 Carnival Season. (Readers know that while I love Krewe du Vieux, I do not consider it a "real" parade. However, I do agree with the general feeling that so-called Mardi Gras expert Arthur Hardy ought to be including KDV and Barkus to his vaunted Mardi Gras Guide. Marching groups are part of Mardi Gras too.)

The kick-off parade is Oshun on Friday. It is our tradition to start off with raw oysters at Pascal's before the parade, and so a group of us converged there about 5:15 pm. Thomas, who has been touted far and wide as "the best oyster shucker in the city" was on hand to do the honors. His title is well-deserved, and we complained that his press clippings and Internet raves were not framed behind him at the oyster bar. He modestly said it wasn't his place to promote himself, but L was insistent (and she can be both insistent and persuasive). In fact, she cornered the restaurant manager and asked about it, and he assured us that if we brought in the framed clipping, he would hang it. (L promptly assigned the research and the framing to me. After Carnival, of course.)

It was amazing how short a time it takes for Thomas to shuck 36 oysters, and perhaps just as amazing how short a time it took us to scarf them down. Showering Thomas with praise and our usual extravagant tip, we left, promising to come back for another parade. (We also ascertained that Pascal's would be open for Bacchus Sunday, though they are dark on normal Sundays.)

We gathered on the neutral ground side of Napoleon, roughly between Pitt and Prytania. The weather was great -- warm with just a light breeze. Oshun was really pretty, with a rental float theme of "The Best of Broadway," but we noticed a new trend: generic rental floats decorated just in the front with a large figure or emblem to illustrate the theme. What a great improvement! As the weekend wore on, it turned out to be a real trend with other krewes too poor to own their own floats. We totally approve. The male and female riders were generous, but unfortunately I did not catch a cup. (Can't wait for my son to arrive, that champion cup catcher!)

Saturday had three parades, and started with Pontchartrain at 2 pm in the afternoon (an unusually late start, for whatever reason), which Big Man and I caught on St. Charles in our neighborhood, which allowed Big Man to get some studio work done beforehand. We enjoyed the krewe's appropriate Big Fish emblem, and their theme was cute too. "Can You Name That Ball?" which translated into floats whose title signs were mostly blank, so that the crowd had to figure it out for themselves -- a Carnival first, I think. A float with an oil rig on it depicted "T-a-r B-a-l-l-s;" one with a big redhead on the front was "L-u-c-i-l-l-e B-a-l-l" and so on, with meatballs, football and beach balls, among the others shown. Very clever. We caught a lot of stuff, but alas, none of the little plush fish for our grandson R in Jersey, who gets a well-stuffed post-Carnival box every year.

There were two evening parades Saturday, Sparta and Pygmalion. These I caught at our family crowd's usual parade spot on a Napoleon corner in front of a local agency that trains developmentally disabled adults. This is a very good parade spot, and riders are generally liberal with throws here, and bands almost always begin to play at or near here. (Which is why I'm being circumspect about its exact location. Sorry.) It's also mere blocks away from the lovely little house of L's friend D, who holds an annual party on the first Saturday.

Sparta's theme was another rental-type: "I Write the Songs." Once again, the floats were pretty generic, but decorated just enough in the front to illustrate the singers and songs for each float. We do love this trend -- it makes the "lesser" parades way more enjoyable. They were followed by Pygmalion, whose theme was, naturally, "It's All Greek to Me" which gave the opportunity to tip their hats to several Carnival organizations, since so many are named for Greek mythology. (I have to say, though, in loving critique, that the float for Sparta has to step up the game, as that was the ugliest Aphrodite I had ever seen. And no bosom either.)

The party at D's sweet house, with its shiny polished cement floors, its French doors out to the front courtyard (lined with ice chests full of booze), and its two en suite bathrooms, was absolutely packed with revelers, and you had to squeeze past people to get to the food on the dining room table, the wine on the kitchen counter, or one of the two bathrooms. The crowd included lots of folks who are in or who attend the infamous MOMs Ball, not to mention this year's king Fred, who was loudly hailed by the crowd on his arrival from the parade route. Conversations centered on costumes, on who still needed MOMs tickets (such folks are mostly out of luck by now), on how would future MOMs be without the Rads, and on plans for upcoming parades. As we departed for the longish walk back to L's house, we all agreed to meet back at Pascal's for more succulent salty raw oysters for Druids on Wednesday.

More later as Carnival rolls on....