Party Gras 2009

I am happy to say that I have physically survived my first New Orleans Mardi Gras experience, although maybe just barely. Mentally and emotionally I may never recover. The first major parade of Mardi Gras week started on Thursday night with the Krewe of Muses, which has a reputation for being one of the best parades of the Carnival season. One of my goals for Mardi Gras was to watch the parades in different spots all over the city. I was able to watch Krewe du Vieux (the very first parade of Mardi Gras which I talked about during my last post) in the Marigny and the Krewe of Oshun and Pygmalion in one part of Uptown. My friends and I went to a new spot in Uptown along the parade route on St. Charles (we watched it from St. Charles and Third Street). There were two parades that proceeded Muses, which run one right after another. I honestly didn’t think catching beads would be so much fun, but I had a great time and cleaned up. I didn’t get any great throws (items that people on the floats throw to the crowd) but was happy with the number of beads I caught. I wasn’t overly impressed with Muses but had a good time hanging out with my friends. The parade ended around 10 p.m. and shortly after that I got the call from Ben and Evan that they had gotten into town.

I barely had enough gas in my car to get to the airport but I got there with just enough and picked up Ben and Evan. I showed them around my house and then we decided that even though it was late, that they were only in New Orleans for a short time and that we should go out. I took them to a place called Le Bon Temps Roulet, in which the Soul Rebels Brass Band that plays there every Thursday night. I have mentioned seeing the Soul Rebels in a previous post (sometime back in October I think). The three of us had a good time and I think Evan and Ben really enjoyed the show. It was a pretty mellow first night but I knew it was going to be a long next few days so I wanted to pace myself.

Ben and Evan had reserved a hotel right near the French Quarter and on the parade route for Friday and Saturday night (which I stayed at as well). We headed down to the French Quarter early Friday afternoon and had a few hours to kill before being able to check into the hotel. Obviously that meant we had to go to Bourbon Street to see what was happening there. It wasn’t too crowded (yet) in the afternoon but there were people on balconies throwing beads to people on the street. The walk was fun and we got only a glimpse of what to come later in the weekend. After walking around a bit, we checked into the hotel and got ready for the night’s parades. I invited some friends (Pat, Jon, Jordan, their friends from college, Sean, and Sean, etc.) to come drink with us at the hotel but was unaware that it was a $20 charge for guests to get into the hotel. I felt bad that they weren’t able to come in and hang out. So instead of them coming in, we brought the party outside. We found a good spot on the parade route right near the French Quarter and set up shop there. Pat, Jon, and Jordan’s friends from Fordham were all really nice and outgoing and definitely helped make the weekend a lot of fun. I enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know the type of people that my friends hung out with in college. People had been camping out all day to get there spots was a little crazy to me. I never could wrap my head around the idea that people spent hours and hours sitting around waiting for these parades. I enjoyed the parades but it seemed kind of ridiculous to stake out a spot for 8 hours. Anyways, we watched the parades go by which took about three hours. It was nice that Ben and Evan got a chance to hang out the friends that I have made down here and see a little bit more about what my life is about here.

After the parades were over, the group (around 11 or 12 of us) walked back down to Bourbon Street. At this point of the night, it was insanely packed. The streets were filled from sidewalk to sidewalk with people. Ben, Evan, and I got separated from my other friends for a little while, so we just kept walking down. Evan and I also kept losing Ben in the crowd. We would walk ten feet, turn around and realize he wasn’t behind us. Then we’d find him, walk another ten feet, and he’d be lost again. I know a lot of people have ideas about what Bourbon Street is like during Mardi Gras because of what is shown on TV. It’s not quite as wild as what you see on TV, but it’s definitely something that’s hard to explain unless you experience it for yourself. And for those of you wondering, yes, I did see a ton of boobs (of all shapes and sizes, ha). There weren’t too many girls willing to flash for beads, but there was enough for it to enjoyable. However, anytime a girl would flash, there would be a whole crowd of people around her taking pictures. It was so creepy, I can’t even tell you. A few times, there must have been 15 guys taking pictures of girls flashing. To me, it was a little much. Enjoy the boobs and move on. That was my motto. But I guess if these girls are showing their breasts in the middle of the street, those are the consequences. It was also funny that some of the women on the balconies would try to get men to flash their penises for beads. Luckily, I did not see any old man wiener, or any wiener for that matter, on Bourbon Street, but I’m sure there was a ton of them shown throughout the week. The three of us walked down Bourbon Street for a little while and then met back up with my friends at a bar just off Bourbon Street. Before going in, it was obvious Ben was having a little too much fun and wasn’t sure if he should go in. Evan took him back to the hotel room where I guess he puked his face off. But the big guy pulled it together, as much as he could, and came back out with Evan to meet me and a few of the others at Johnny White’s. The bar was pretty low key for the French Quarter. We spent a couple of hours there and decided to call it a night.

It took us awhile to get started on Saturday but Evan, Ben and I were able to get moving and went to lunch at Café Pontabla in the French Quarter. I don’t usually eat at restaurants too much, so it was nice to change things up. I wasn’t really in the mood for any creole cooking or cajun food but we did get a fried alligator appetizer and Ben had the creole combination which included jambalaya and gumbo. The big parade on Saturday was the Krewe of Endymion. It started in an area called Mid-City. Some people in the neighborhood camped out for two days to get their spot on the parade route. Needless to say, this parade is a big deal to the people of Mid-City. A normal commute from our hotel to Mid-City would have been five to ten minutes. Because of how packed the city was, it took us almost 45 minutes to finally park. We stopped at a party that a friend of mine from work was having for a few minutes, as well as met some other friends who were playing guitar and hanging out in the park. After that, we walked around for at least a good hour trying to find my friends and a good spot to watch the parade. We never ended up finding them and decided that we would be able to catch the parade back in the French Quarter. Almost all of the parades ran behind schedule and took forever to get all the way through. Ben, Evan, and I ended up back at our hotel in plenty of time to see the parade. Throughout the weekend, we often got frustrated with the walking situation. Because our hotel was right on a parade route, it was hard to cross the street at times. This was just one of many travel issues I had during the week.

We found a spot for the parade that was pretty close to the one from Friday night. I wasn’t overly impressed with this parade. It was pretty much like all of the others so I didn’t understand what everyone got so excited about. At one point during the parade, I was talking to Ben and Evan about how these parades could be better if they had musicians performing on the floats (or something of that nature). Within five minutes, Kid Rock and REO Speedwagon were each on floats that passed our area. About a quarter of the way through, we decided that we were a little “paraded out” and went back to the hotel room. My stomach really started bothering me so Evan and Ben went to the casino for a bit while I stayed at the hotel and rested up. I met up with them at the craps table where Evan had a nice run. Ben’s foot had started to hurt him but he toughed it out and hobbled along. While we were in the casino, it began to rain. We decided that we weren’t going to let a little rain spoil our night and headed back to Bourbon Street anyways. It was even more crowded than the night before, so we decided to go to one of my favorite bars in the French Quarter, Erin Rose. It is right off of Bourbon Street and is a friendly, little dive bar. We chatted with the bartender and every time I looked over at Ben, it looked like he was passing in and out of consciousness. I didn’t think he’d make it too much longer that night but once we got ready to leave, he was fine. The rest of the night was a blur and only those present are fortunate enough to get a full account of the events that took place. Read into that however you would like…

By Sunday morning, I was hungover, exhausted, and my stomach was still hurting. I was hoping to take Ben and Evan to see some of the houses that I have worked on but too many streets were closed and there was too much traffic to take them. So we ate lunch, hung out at my house for a bit, and they called it a trip. I think that they had a good time and we ended up doing a lot in the time that they were here. I drove them to the airport and came home to lie in bed. I knew that there were parades going on Sunday night, but I needed a night to recover if I was going to get through Monday and Tuesday.

I spent the better part of the next 24 hours at my house, barely leaving my room. It was much needed and by Monday afternoon, I was rearing to go again. I met Jordan, Pat, Jon, and their friends along the river near the French Quarter. We sat along the water and people-watched for awhile and enjoyed the nice day. There were a couple of stages set up nearby for Lundi Gras (Fat Monday), so we walked over and watched an hour of Rebirth Brass Band, who is pretty popular here in New Orleans (they play at a club every Tuesday night). Watching their performance outside near the river with all different kinds of people that had come from all over, I got my first real sense of how much Mardi Gras means to the city and the people of New Orleans. Everyone was singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and simply enjoying the experience. The band was very good and I had a great time watching and feeling what Mardi Gras was all about for the first time. A lot of people down here don’t have much and Mardi Gras is the one thing they have to look forward to every year. Once the show was over, we walked around for a bit, picked up groceries and went back Uptown. We caught about an hour of Sunday night’s parade, which was pretty much like the rest of them and then went back to barbeque. A little after midnight, I called it a night and anxiously awaited Fat Tuesday.

When I woke up early Tuesday morning, the day felt a lot like Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at U of Illinois. My friends and I headed out a little after 8:30 a.m. and we decided to catch the city’s biggest parade, Krewe du Zulu, in a different spot than we had watched all of the other parades. To give a little bit of background, Zulu celebrated its 100th Anniversary this year. We decided to watch the parade in Treme, one of the neighborhoods I work in, which was at the end of the parade route. As we were looking for a spot to set up, I realized that we were the only white people that I could see. I didn’t mind it at all because I thought it would be fun to watch the parade with people who actually live in New Orleans and would really appreciate it. And I was right. I saw a lot of interesting things. One of the guys that was standing right next to me had his little son in one arm and a joint in the other. I saw a woman sitting in a stroller with her baby on her lap smoking also. Some of the parents got a little rougher with kids than I’m used to seeing. Anyways, the parade was absolutely amazing. The floats, costumes, and marching bands were all spectacular. This was the biggest parade of Carnival with almost 50 floats. This parade was also known for having the best throws. As the floats would come by, all of the people would rush up to catch whatever they could. It was amazing how much fun everyone was having, especially the kids. The people in this neighborhood don’t have a lot to get up for so they absolutely love Mardi Gras. Everyone was barbequing and sharing food with each other. To me, this was what Mardi Gras was all about. It was for these people. There was so much joy and energy and I could just tell how much this meant to them. I could not have been happier that we chose to watch the parade in Treme, with people who appreciate Mardi Gras. The whole experience definitely helped me put things in perspective in terms of how lucky I am to be in the situation that I’m in and how nice it felt to be a part of the whole experience. We had a great time watching the parade and got some good throws as well. The parade lasted over two hours and we hung out in our spot for awhile after the parade was over.

We then gathered our belongings (mainly beer) and strolled down to Bourbon Street where the people-watching was incredible. There were so many unbelievable costumes. People were dressed as anything and everything. It was hysterical. We would hang out on one block, drink and people-watch for an hour, and then move a few more down. Everybody was singing and dancing and having a great time. Pat’s friend Mike and I took a shot of whiskey and at that point, I had the perfect buzz. It was an absolutely perfect day out (I actually came away sunburned) and I felt so incredibly happy with where I was at. There is nowhere else I wanted to be at that moment. We walked around Bourbon Street for another couple of hours, ate some burritos, and went back to Pat, Jordan, and Jon’s house to continue the festivities. We had left before 9 a.m. and returned back just before 7 p.m.. We played beer pong and sat around the bonfire till close to 1 in the morning. Everyone was so completely wiped out from the day that we decided that our Fat Tuesday was over. Fat Tuesday was honestly one of the coolest days ever and a day I will never forget. I don’t know how many more Mardi Gras my mind and body could physically handle, but Mardi Gras 2009, especially Fat Tuesday, was absolutely incredible. I have waited for this since I moved down here and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I tried my best to explain everything and give you the best details that I could, but until you experience it for yourself, you will never truly know. I am so exhausted right now that it is going to take me a few days to recover. No partying for me this weekend. I am all partied and Mardi Grased out. I hope you enjoyed the post (I know it’s long) and if you want to hear more stories, just let me know. I’ll be putting up videos in the next couple of days. So from Mardi Gras 2009, goodbye and “Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet.”