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New Orleans Recovers Its Beat
Stuart Wasserman
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Decorated shoes, the most
elaborate of the "throws" used
in New Orleans' Mardi Gras
parades. Stuart Wasserman
Click image to enlarge.
During New Orleans' Mardi Gras Parades, the paraders throw mementos to the people on the street -- the onlookers. Colorful beads are among the most common “throws” but some of the Krewes, the organizations that put on the parades, are getting inventive. One of my favorite Mardi Gras throws are elaborately sequined shoes.
I found rows and rows of these sequined shoes lining the floors and draping the mantle at the Ashton B&B (Bed and Breakfast) on Esplanade Avenue. I asked Karma, who runs the B&B along with her husband Patrick, about them. Karma works as a nurse at one of the city’s hospitals and is also a member of an all-woman krewe known as the Krewe of Muses. The group celebrates its 10th anniversary as a Krewe with its upcoming 2010 parade.
Karma explained that for weeks she and the other women of the krewe scour all the thrift stores for women’s dress shoes and then spend additional days decorating them in a very glittery fashion. Diane George, a retired school teacher originally from Shreveport, LA. and a veteran of many Mardi Gras Parades, described her first encounter with these elaborate throws: “I just caught one of shoes -- dropped from the hand of a muse -- and thought, I will treasure this. These shoes are the best throws of all the Mardi Gras parades!”
There are, in fact, many Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. They occur almost daily beginning about three weeks before Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday -- the last day of Mardi Gras before Lent. One of the first of these parades each year is the Krewe du Vieux Carre which this year took place on January 30th. The Krewe du Vieux is one of just a handful of parades that winds its way through the storied French Quarter because it is a non-mechanized parade -- all floats are pulled the way they were in the old days -- either by horse, donkey or human power. The Krewe du Vieux parade is satirical and ribald -- some might say raunchy -- this is an adult parade: parental consent needed.
A Louisiana friend told me that she believes that Mardi Gras should be a national holiday and she predicts it will be within this century. I believe she might be right based on the way Mardi Gras is celebrated in cities and college towns across the America. In fact, I think President Obama should be pro-active and give something significant to the American people along with health care -- a brand new holiday -- maybe that is something all of us could support.
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Musicians play in a cafe on
Frenchmen Street. Stuart
Wasserman
Click image to enlarge.
The "local's Bourbon Street"
Of course, there is more to New Orleans than Mardi Gras. While everyone should walk down Bourbon Street at least once in their life there is a new entertainment avenue in New Orleans that caught my eye the last time I visited the city. It is a bit more reserved and certainly more intimate, yet sometimes it jumps. It is called Frenchmen Street and it is located on the edge of the French Quarter just across Esplanade Ave. Residents refer to it as the locals’ Bourbon Street.
Frenchmen Street is a great place to sample the best of the New Orleans’s music scene. I experienced it last year in early February when I was in Louisiana dancing and eating, eating and dancing and generally taking a break from the Great Northern Shivers. Frenchmen Street is known for its small music clubs that dot the street like the Hookah Cafe, Snug Harbor, DBA, Cafe Brazil, the Apple Barrel and The Spotted Cat.
These are small clubs and even shy people might find it easy to strike up a conversation with a total stranger. I did just that one night at the Spotted Cat. The people I met just happened to be from my current hometown in Oregon. We sat almost arm’s reach from a group called the Jazz Vipers, a group of musicians who were playing classics from the 20’s 30’ and 40’s jazz and blues music era: the likes of Billie Holiday, Benny Carter and Count Basie.
Many of the clubs charge no cover; others have entrance fees as low as $5 a head. Drink up. Frenchmen Street can make for a good night of entertainment away from the hawkers on Bourbon Street and the folks about ready to tip over.
For my first few nights in New Orleans I stayed in The Monteleone, a classic French Quarter hotel located on Royal Street. I like to walk and the distance from the Monteleone to Frenchmen Street was about a mile -- a straight line down Decatur Street past the majestic St. Louis Cathedral. I asked two police officers one night about walking straight down Bourbon Street to Frenchmen Street but they advised against that route. “Decatur is a better pedestrian choice,” one said.
I also like the piano lounge behind the Monteleone’s 60-year-old Carosel Bar. Many famous writers among William Faulkner, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams lifted a glass here while they penned notes on napkins. Many beloved New Orleans institutions like the Monteleone and restaurants like Mr. B’s and the Commander’s Palace have undergone multi-million dollar renovations since Katrina struck August 29, 2005.
Tourist and business visits to New Orleans are inching up with 7.6 million visitors in 2008. In 2004, the year before Katrina the city attracted a little more than 10.1 million visitors. Early February is great time to visit, because the crush of summer tourists hasn’t arrived yet. Restaurants are busy but not overly crowded. The restaraurant scene is also spreading into the central industrial area just across from Canal Street and extending down toward the Mississippi river and the convention center. Places getting attention for scrumptious food and good service include August, Herbsaint and Cochon.
One would be remiss to miss eating at any of the better establishments. Enjoy Gallatoires on Bourbon Street or Tujague’s on Decatur Street for the old time flavor of New Orleans in the French Quarter. Two English woman friends of mine liked the Acme Oyster House for the food and economical pricing. For lunch I enjoyed Mr. B’s across from the Hotel Monteleone. I’m no food critic but I believe Mr. B’s has the best pecan pie in town. And in a town reknown for its pleasures, that is no small feat.
Stuart Wasserman is a freelance photojournalist.
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