spasticrobot

Post Your St. Anthony Ramblers Photos

Willcore has set up a nice gallery for everyone to upload their St. Anthony Ramblers photos. If you've got photos of the procession be sure to register and upload them all. I just put up a bunch of photos Kay sent me. I'm not sure who snapped them but they sure look good. Comment here if you have any trouble uploading pics or if you have any other questions.

Carnival Wrapup

There's always a point at the end of Mardi Gras where I feel totally deflated and depressed. At that very moment I have the most intense understanding of the transient quality of our lives through the passage of time and the entropy of all beautiful things. As Rex and Comus meet I'm always sad to realize that another Carnival has passed, and another year of my life.

This year those feelings were more intense than ever because of the unique circumstances of this Carnival. The combination of this being the first post-K Mardi Gras and having most of my closest friends in town was a powerful force. It turned what would have been a normally joyous celebration into a white hot streak of joy and happiness.

I'm so blessed to have the friends that I do. You all give me so much to me. This holiday weekend was one of the best experiences of my life. My life is rich because of you.

Here were some of my favorite experiences this Carnival:

• The fireworks at Cass & Heather's wedding
• Sitting in Popeye's, eating a three piece as I heard the MAX band for the first time
• Our Krewe du Vieux party
• Drinking tall boys and dancing at Muses
• Seeing all of the out-of-towners together for the first time at Cass & Heather's party
• Having breakfast with friends not once, but two times
• Drinking cheap Daiquiris and getting to see our friends' faces as the parade rolled by
• Seeing the size of the St. Anthony crowd when I walked out of Chris and Rose's
• Giving my captain's proclamation
• Having Bone Gang members shout out to us as we passed them
• OWNING every street that we marched down
• Seeing Cassady and Heather jump over the threshold on the steps of St. Louis Cathedral
• Hearing the "Ramblers rule the streets..." chant for the first time
• Hanging out on the sidewalk in front of our house, passing a good time for hours
• All of the quality face to face time I had with friends I don't get to see enough

Cassady and Heather Fallon Cooper

Cassady and Heather's wedding was an elegant and lovely New Orleans event. The ceremony was held in the courtyard of the Beauregard-Keyes house and fireworks erupted from the River celebrating the arrival of Rex as they exchanged their vows. After the ceremony we were treated to a great performance by the Hot Club of New Orleans and delicious food from Matt and Naddie's.

Spending the evening with all of our closest friends, celebrating such a wonderful union was a real treat. It was also a great contrast to the St. Anthony march.

Here's a link to some pictures of the event.

Ramblers Rule the Streets

The 2006 march of the St. Anthony Ramblers was incredible! We had our largest group ever and everyone's costumes looked fantastic. A big shout-out and thanks to all who contributed financially, aesthetically, and organizationally. Special thanks to Chris and Rose for having the awesome cocktail breakfast and meetup at their house. It was really special to start in the Treme this year and to receive applause from the residents, especially the bone gangs.

Here's a link to a set of photos Shanna took throughout the day. Willcore is going to organize everyone's photos from this year's march which we will post online. If you have some photos you'd like to contribute please send me an email or post here.

"Ramblers rule the streets, all the rest of ya'll is monkey meat!"

Chaos Floats

One of the coolest throws I received last night were these kickass cards from the Krewe of Chaos depicting all of their floats.

I may or may not post until Ash Wednesday so if I don't see you before then, HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

"May the moon be turned to green cream cheese, if ever I cease to love"

Rex Invitation

Willcore has posted some amazing scans on Prosthetically Hip of the invitation to the Rex Grand Ball that he received this year. These are amazing symbols of the beauty and history of the old-line Krewes. This is the first year that the Rex Ball will not be held in the Municipal Auditorium since 1930, due to flooding. Instead the Ball is being held at the Sheraton on Canal St. The traditional meeting of the courts between Comus and Rex will take place in a ballroom at the Mariott. Rex will more than likely walk down Canal St. to meet Comus, a sight that I may try to make it out to see.

Carnival Kickoff

Last night, as Shanna and I were returning from running some errands we heard a very loud 10 piece Panorama Jazz Band playing outside of Cafe Brasil on Frenchmen St. We walked down and watched them for a little while and they sound amazing right now. They now have 7 horn players and 3 percussionists which makes them louder and wilder than I've ever heard them before. A little later a bunch of our friends congregated there and we had our first mini get down of the season.

I also completed the cape and hat for my costume yesterday. Today I will construct the armbands and paint my shoes & cape. It's coming along very well.

Tonight it's off to see Knights of Babylon, the Krewe of Chaos and the Krewe of Muses. If you plan on being downtown tonight come and hang out with us on the corner of St. Charles and Canal, next to the Pickwick Club and across the street from Rubenstein Bros. I'm so excited for what this Carnival time will hold and tonight is the real beginning.

Ingredients for a New Suit

Pages from the Times-Picayune
Cloth from shirts I wore in the days following Katrina
Blue Tarpaulin
Rubber overalls purchased from HJ Smith
Orange Spray Paint
Gold Spray Paint
Tulips
Wooden Clog pendant from the Dutch conference
Stencils
The Royal Standard of the Netherlands
The Flag of New Orleans
a clay smoking pipe
a whistle
Shrimp Boots
pamphlets

CNN gets it

This CNN clip, A Mardi Gras for the Locals, is totally spot on. This Mardi Gras is for New Orleanians, past, present & future and is probably more meaningful to us than any other before it. The images of Barkus and St. Bernardians is really something to smile about.

Home of the Groove

home of the groove is a really nice New Orleans-centric audioblog run by Dan Phillips. Currently featured is my all time favorite Mardi Gras tune, Carnival Time by Al Johnson as well as It Ain't My Fault by The Olympia Brass Band. Check 'em out and get into the Carnival spirit.