me got fire me can't put out

the zulu's marched for the 100th time a few hours ago. the indian tribes are out & about in the city throughout the day. it's fat tuesday in new orleans, a month long celebration peaks today & ends abruptly at midnight tonight. as many times as i've been to new orleans, i only spent one mardi gras there. sometime in the '90s, a large group of us rented a huge suite in what used to be the "burgundy house" in the french quarter. i used to joke that it was within "crawling distance" of all my favorite bars. the trip was eventful(jaynie scored a "zulu coconut" for example)but i don't remember a lot about it. i had been on the wagon for several months prior to it, fell off w/a flourish only mardi gras can provide, & was in re-hab six months later. i don't really remember much of the six intervening months either.

"The Mardi Gras Indians do not ride floats, have established routes, or follow this traditional Mardi Gras Krewe structure. They parade through their neighborhoods on foot. When they criss-cross one another's paths, it takes time to meet and greet each other. The Mardi Gras Indian "parade" can be an all-day affair...happening in different parts of the city."

the indian tribes are more "outlaw" than the zulus. they also have the music. during the course of a year, the tribes work on their costumes but also on their music too. when two tribes do finally "meet on the battlefield," the battle consists of a-cappella singing/chanting & much vigorous dancing. the zulu's actually were certified by city hall as early as 1916. their parade has floats. the indians are not indians at all but black folks dressed in outrageous indian garb. the zulu's dressed differently:

"The group wore raggedy pants, and had a Jubilee-singing quartet in front of and behind King Story. His costume of "lard can" crown and "banana stalk" scepter has been well documented."

there was blackface too. that's louis armstrong as zulu king in 1949. zulu utilized subtle mockery of racial stereotypes. for black men to mimic white notions of "blackness" was one of only a few methods available for protest by blacks back then:

"The menace of mimicry is its double vision which in disclosing the ambivalence of colonial discourse also disrupts its authority."

fat tuesday is the last great day of indulgence before the abstinence of lent. it's a day when authority is upended, even mocked. when folks who've never been to new orleans ask if they should go during mardi gras, i always say no. i tell them to go during a less chaotic time. i do qualify this: go to mardi gras AFTER you've been to new orleans a few times.