Mardi Gras Day

Mardi Gras a was a long day for me. I drove to the French Quarter at 7:30 am to see the costumes and the craziness before taking Jane later to the big suburban parades held on Mardi Gras Day. There was a regular parade and two truck parades in which the riding clubs build and decorate huge flatbed trucks to represent whatever theme they choose. The truck riders throw so many throws one has to duck to avoid them.
I stayed in the French Quarter from 7 am until 10 am. Monday night. I put together a satirical costume to wear when I went to that area, since it is the best costume section of New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day. The costume was a parody of our local District Attorney, who is largely responsible for the rampant crime here in letting prisoners out of jail and prosecuting very few of them. Whenever I poke fun of something or somebody on Mardi Gras Day it usually is a hit with the crowds, for though I have no ability to make a traditional costume I do know how to toss barbs with satire.
I had a mask that I painted black (the DA is black), a felt hat very much like he wears with a label on top showing his name in large red letters. I dressed in the same kind of sport coat and pants he usually wears and had signs I wore on front and back. The front sigh new was a 'FOR SALE' sign I had in my garage, to which I added some (I think) clever wording about the DA (Eddie Jordan), his picture (I downloaded from the Internet) and a "get out of jail free" card I copied from one of Jane's board games. This DA lets just about everyone out of prison, even murders.
The sign I wore on my back had various slogans (that insulted or made the DA appear foolish) from him labeled "Eddie Says". Many people walking in the Quarter took my picture or asked to take it with me and when I saw the New Orleans Police Department spokesperson and two other police officers sitting in Jackson Square I approached them. They laughed and said "You're right about Jordan". Hehe The police do not like the DA either. There were many costumes in the Quarter this year, partly because the weather had suddenly warmed and wearing costumes, particularly skimpy ones, was comfortable. There is something special about being in costume on Mardi Gras Day.
When another costumer sees yours and appreciates it there is a special bond , a high that the non costumer never approaches on Mardi Gras Day. Because I was there so early in the morning I saw few of the many sexy costumes that appear in the Quarter on Mardi Gras Day. Those come out after noon on Mardi Gras Day. But there were many beautiful ones and quite a few satirical comments about the hurricane recovery of the city (the lack of recovery). Some of the ones I saw that were my favorites include : A man costumed as the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, another fat man dressed in diapers and pink frills as her baby (Who's my Daddy?), a gold glittered satyr who had the back part of his costume on roller skates so he could drag it along the street, a very sexy lady in heels and whip who had several men following her as if they were trained dogs (or wanted to be her pet?), several beautiful feathered headdresses (probably put together by gay men, who favor that kind of costume), many local satirical costumes regarding the city (which you would not understand, but are worth mentioning as a show that the city is still hurt from the hurricane), a guy dressed as a cell phone who chattered on a real cell phone, a group of "boob inspectors" (NO, they didn't inspect my boobs), a Bourbon Street (a naughty) version of Santa Claus, many pirates (Is there some reason why? Maybe a movie?), The "Crazy Astronaut Lady" who wore diapers while driving 12 hours to kill the lover of her Astronaut colleague ( remember that story in the news recently?), "The Dream Girls" ( Three ugly men dressed in glittering dresses, heels and makeup who sang - badly....
Later Mardi Gras Day I went with Jane to the suburban Mardi Gras parade and the two truck parades which followed behind it. We noticed huge crowds there this year, not as much costuming in suburbia, and an almost euphoria in the crowd. When we left after seeing almost all three parades our goodie bag weighed at least 25 kilos! Weirdest throw from one of the elaborately decorated 18 wheeler truck floats- someone was throwing toilet plungers! It got a laugh and begging form the crowd ("Throw me a toilet plunger, Mister"). Only in New Orleans do we hold parades this way, and certainly only in New Orleans could a person catch a toilet plunger from a float rider.
So Mardi Gras is over, you get relief from my Mardi Gras subject E mails until next year. The Mardi Gras King is Dead! Long live the King.