During Carnival, nothing beats the experience of riding in a parade. Except reigning over a parade. Given the choice between being king or commoner, I advise the royal route.
This year, it was my honor to rule as King of the Krewe of Push-Mow, which parades through my hometown of Abita Springs. My wife and I got to ride in a gold Cadillac convertible, driven by a gentleman named Virgil, who kept turning to remind us during the parade that "Yep, you’re sitting where Elvis once sat." We could never figure out if he meant the real Elvis or some other configuration.
The parade ended at the UCM Museum, a wonderful cultural facility owned and operated seven days a week by artist/curator John Preble. Within the museum are such curiosities as an Airstream trailer into which a flying saucer has crashed (a preserved alien body resides in the trailer), 250,000 hand-painted bottle caps, a jukebox featuring James Booker’s "Gonzo" and a 20-foot-high alligator created by Abitian artist Dave Kelsey that was used as set-dressing when MTV shot its Mardi Gras special in Jackson Square with hosts Carson Daly and Britney Spears.
After the parade, Preble hustled me into his gift shop, proclaiming that he had a book that was "made" for me. Never had truer words been spoken in Abita Springs.
The book was Cajun Sexy Cookin’ and I have yet to show it to anyone-male or female-who was not overwhelmed by its perfection. Created by Dana Holyfield and Viola Estain, Cookin’ combines photographs of 24 Louisiana women (including Ms. Holyfield and Ms. Estain) with such recipes as Grilled Coon, Nutria Roast with Sweet Potatoes, Gator On A Stick and Wild Duck Gumbo. Now these aren’t your usual, barely-clad women-these are barely-clad women wearing white shrimper’s boots, armed with rifles, crossbows, Bowie knives and Zatarain’s Crab Boil.
For example, there’s Abby Williams in a floral bikini and Doc Martens, seductively aiming her rifle: "This elegant femme fatale spends lots of time on the Pearl River going frogging, fishing, hunting, boating and camping. When Abby is not on the river, she is serving snowballs from a snowball stand between college classes."
As a life-long student of Louisiana culture, I can testify that Cajun Sexy Cookin’ is an infinitely truer glimpse of what makes this state tick than any other tome I have ever digested. Guns, gators, guts and girls-that’s my Louisiana! Check out www.cajunsexycooking.com for the delicious details.
A PUSSYCAT MARDI GRAS
Miss Pussycat dropped off her suitably wacky green vinyl record, "Mardi Gras!," too late to be reviewed before Mardi Gras. It features Quintron and XBXRX, a punkish band from Mobile that spends much of its time touring Germany, as well as the future dates for Mardi Gras (through 2014) printed on its sleeve, which makes the record a useful addition to any modern household.
I thought Mardi Gras 2002 was heavenly, despite the presence of cross-bearing Christians. Without revealing secret identities, among the masqueraders I sighted were a couple decorated with cheese puffs, one of the Soggy Bottom Boys, a winsome church lady, a Roy Rogers clone, a troupe of green fairies and a well-known music writer disguised as a bar-on-wheels, complete with every known alcoholic beverage and garnish. His wife was dressed as a martini and their baby was an olive. The barman was dispensing free drinks, which during Mardi Gras is about as civic-minded as it gets.
NEW YORK NEWS
In early February in New York, the second concert in the Jazz Composer Portraits series, featuring pianist Eric Reed and drummer Jason Marsalis, was dedicated to New Orleans drummer and composer James Black, who died in 1988 and never made an album under his own name. Nevertheless, Black’s 5/4 blues "Magnolia Triangle" shows up on Stanton Moore’s new album-testament to Black’s enduring presence.
Among the audience members grooving to Galactic at Irving Plaza was guitarist Jeff Raines’ father, Howell Raines, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Executive Editor of The New York Times.
BIG IN JAPAN
Eyehategod and Soilent Green, two of Louisiana’s (and the world’s) biggest, grimmest and baddest metal/punk bands are touring Japan this month, corrupting 14-year-old girls, eating raw fish and as the title of one of Soilent’s songs goes, "Daydreaming The Color Of Blood." The tour includes dates in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
BAKED GOODS
On March 1, lovers of distaff and daffy music will be treated to "an eclectic cabaret" at the Country Club, 634 Louisa Street, starring the EZ Bake Organs, the Road Dog Divas (Myshkin, Laura Freeman and Darlene) and special guest Jan Bell. Eternally-energetic Myshkin and her Ruby Warblers will release a new album this month.
KATRINA IN RIO
WWOZ deejay, OffBeat contributor and Brazilian recording artist Katrina Geenen, in what must’ve been an arduous endeavor, spent her Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, from where she dispatched the following vignettes:
The best parties in Rio are the ones that happen at people’s houses, and with singer Ryta de Cassia, they are always musical and highly entertaining. Everyone ate and drank, sang and played music, passing the guitar around, using improvised percussion instruments, lots of rhythmic hand clapping, lots of laughter and the joy of living life to the fullest in the moment.
There is an actual reason why the cariocas are so scantily clad during Carnival. It’s the middle of the summer here in the tropics. It’s 40 degrees celsius, which translates to 104 degrees fahrenheit! Current carioca haute couture: Clear plastic bra straps! Everyone is wearing them, the drag queens too!
MORPHEUS
Certain that many readers will be confounded when "Backtalk" subject Johnny Vidacovich tosses out the term "morphic resonance," I figured I’d better come up with a definition. Rupert Sheldrake, author of one of Vidacovich’s favorite books, Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals, coined the theory, which he thinks is "the basis of memory in nature…the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species." Which explains why New Orleans drummers such as Charles "Hungry" Williams or Earl Palmer could musically murder such lower members of the species as Ringo Starr or Mickey Hart.
