Do Whatcha Wanna...

Mardi Gras Morning...

and that's one of my favorite Carnival tunes, particularly when Kermit Ruffins and Da Rebirth do it.

Every New Orleanian has a Mardi Gras Strategy. For the wealthy, it's all about the Rex parade. For the black middle class, the strategy is participating in or watching Zulu. For college students, it's about going downtown, getting drunk and crazy in the French Quarter.

Our family's Mardi Gras Strategy has evolved as my boys have grown older. Originally, our plan involved going out on St. Charles Avenue, somewhere around where my father-in-law's accounting firm would go. The firm would rent an apartment on or near the parade route, so we'd have a place with food, and most importantly, a bathroom. The bathroom is the most essential component of a Strategy, because it factors in how much beer one can consume. We'd go out very early on Carnival Day and put up a ladder with a wooden seat on top that the boys could sit in, above the fray, to enjoy the parades.

Then my f-i-l passed, and the boys got older, we began to leave the ladder and seat behind. That made us more mobile. A couple of buddies of mine started riding in the Zulu parade, so we'd go closer to downtown to catch that parade as well. When my oldest was in high school, he was in NJROTC, and marched in several parades. By Carnival Day, he wanted to see some of New Orleans, then hang out with his friends. Little brother is now a band kid, so he's got essentially the same attitude as big brother (who is now at uni in Atlanta; we call him and tell him we miss him).

So, this year's Mardi Gras Strategy involved both New Orleans and Metairie. The idea was to see the best parade of the day, Rex, then head back out to the 'burbs, so Kevin could catch several of his friends in parades out here. We headed out to Napoleon Avenue at 7am this morning, and by 7:20am, we were sitting out on the neutral ground of one of the loveliest boulevards in the city. While my wife and son walked around, I kicked back with an anthology of alternate history stories (e-book, reading on my PDA). We were a block down from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, waiting for Rex.

Rex is the King of Carnival. The official name of the organization that puts on the parade is The School of Design. Their membership is a list of the wealthiest and most influential folks in town. Actually, that's the wealthiest and most influential white folks in town, I should say.

Cops always lead off Carnival parades. They're important, for crowd control, gun control, etc. There's a DHS unit that is part of the cop part of the parade that I find amusing, because I've never really thought of a Carnival parade as a turrist threat.

The Golden Band From Tiger Land. For those of you not from Louisiana, that's the Louisiana State University Marching Band. If you've never experienced American Football as played in the SouthEastern Conference of the NCAA, you can't fully appreciate why the premier parade of Carnival would choose this band as their lead unit. LSU's band is why we have our current Mardi Gras Strategy as a family. My eighth grade trombone player worships this band. I don't know if he'll go to LSU for uni, but for right now, this is the Coolest Band On The Planet.

Rex, King of Carnival. This year, he's John Edward Koerner, III. Koerner married into a wealthy Uptown family, but he also made a few bucks on his own--his family IS Barq's root beer. Koerner sold the consummate New Orleans cold drink to Coca-Cola, and has used the money for a lot of philanthropic purposes, particularly since the storm. It's kind of an interesting twist that Koerner is a graduate of the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and a HUGE Tulane fan, because the Freeman family started the Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Company.

The Ross Volunteers of Texas A&M University. My oldest considered being an Aggie, but decided to go to become a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech (and a hell of an engineer!).

The Hebrus River. The theme of the Rex parade this year is "Royal Rivers."

His Majesty's Streetcar. The Knights of Babylon have the best streetcar float, a Carnival replica of a Stephenson Bobtail streetcar, but Rex's streetcar is still pretty cool.

Marines! LSU may have led off Rex, but most of the marching units in the parade are military bands. In addition to Marine Reserve Forces Band New Orleans, there were three US Army bands. Military bands are a true treat, because these men and women are not only professional musicians, they're professional soldiers. Depending on the command, bandsmen/women are also combat troops.

One of the most enjoyable moments of Rex today came further up the route. As the MRFBNO made their way down St. Charles Ave., there were a number of points where they had to stop while waiting for the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club to go in front of Rex. One of the teevee stations caught the band at a point where several of the local Marines went into an impromptu number on the street. You could see the "WTF?" looks on some of the other musicians' faces when about six of their colleagues formed a Dixieland combo in the street and did a couple of numbers. Just after that, the parade was ready to move forward again, and the band re-formed as the well-disciplined unit they are to move down the route.

Three "riding Lieutenants" of the Rex Organization. There are several groups of these riders, one each in purple, green, and gold, the colors of Carnival.

Once Rex passed by, we said good-bye to friends along the route and quickly headed back to Metairie. Kevin was able to see some of his friends riding in "truck" parades in the 'burbs. The floats you see in these photos are typical of our regular Carnival parades. On Mardi Gras, however, groups of families parade on floats that are pulled by 18-wheeler cabs, hence the term "truck parades." These folks make a day of it, assembling at their starting points early in the morning and riding the parade routes. Behind Rex are two truck parades, Elks Orleanians and the Krewe of Crescent City. In Metairie, the Krewe of Argus is followed by two of its own truck parades, Elks Jefferson and the Krewe of Jefferson.

And now, after grilling a couple of nice steaks (it's Carne Vale, after all), I'm enjoying a nice rose' and watching Tweety make an ass of himself.)

Toujours Mardi Gras!