KERMIT RUFFINS

'...But Don't Get Knocked Out.'

For Kermit, New Orleans' beloved trumpet MC, some of the fondest memories of Mardi Gras go all the way back to his days in the high school marching bands, first at Lawless High, then at Clark, where he met Phillip Frazier and the Rebirth Brass Band was formed.

"Every Mardi Gras as far as I can remember, we started...