Mardi Gras

You’re sipping hurricane cocktails and Dixie Beer and watching the Mardi Gras parades. Whoa. Mardi Gras Indians aren’t the only ones dancing today!

“Ain’t No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day” by Benny Antin, from the 1997 album Wild Linoleum. Lyrics here.

Related:

“93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads among debris removed during citywide catch basin cleaning project,” Helen Freund, The New Orleans Advocate

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Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino Jr., 1928 – 2017

Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr., the singer, pianist and songwriter who was New Orleans’ ambassador to Rock n’ Roll, died on Tuesday at the age of 89. He brought a boogie-woogie, R&B sensibility to the world of teen tunes.

More:

“Fats Domino, boogie-woogie pianist who helped launch rock-and-roll, dies at 89,” Terence McArdle, Washington Post

“Fats Domino, piano-playing prodigy and rock and roll legend, dies at 89” John Pope, Times-Picayune

“Fats Domino, Architect Of Rock And Roll, Dead At 89,” Gwen Thompkins, NPR

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Removing Confederate Monuments

“I didn’t start the problems with race in this country, but I did force the people of New Orleans to confront them,” reflects Mayor Mitch Landrieu. 2017 Aspen Ideas Festival.

The monuments:

• Battle of Liberty Place Monument – erected 1891 to commemorate the Reconstruction era “Battle of Liberty Place“. Removed April 24, 2017.
• General Beauregard Equestrian Statue – erected in 1913. Removed May 17, 2017.
• Jefferson Davis Monument – erected in 1911. Removed May 11, 2017.
• Robert E. Lee monument and circle – erected in 1884. 60 ft. column with 12 ft. statue on an earthen mound. Removed May 19, 2017

More:

‘The Confederacy lost and we’re better for it’: New Orleans mayor,” USA Today

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Shirley

“Shirley,” sung by John Fred (John Fred Gourrier), accompanied by Clarence Fox (sax), Frank Fields (bass), Charles Williams (drums), and Walter Nelson and Ernest McLean (guitar). Written by Mr. Fred and Tommy Bryan; recorded in 1958.

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Mardi Gras 2.0

New Orleans has all the urban problems of any American city — crime, poor education, no parking spaces, economic inequality —  and it’s still suffering the aftereffects of devastating Hurricane Katrina. But as the Crescent City celebrates Fat Tuesday, technology has solved one age-old problem:

You’re sipping Dixie Beer and watching the Mardi Gras parades but there’s nowhere to pee? Now there’s an app for that.

The Airpnp smartphone app directs you to nearby locations where, for a small fee, the business or homeowner will let you use the toilet facilities. Ninety percent of arrests along the French Quarter’s parade routes are for public urination, so it’s not a piddling matter.

More:

“AirPnP, an app helps find Mardi Gras rental restrooms: BBC report,” By Doug MacCash, Times-Picayune

“Inventive startups are changing the way New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras,” Shannon Sims, Quartz

Top video: “Ain’t No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day” by Benny Antin, from the 1997 album Wild Linoleum. Lyrics here.

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Auld Lang Syne

“Auld Lang Syne”  by Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans. Founded in 1958, the group ceased operations after Hurricane Katrina.

Harold “Duke” Dejan (Alto Sax), Emanuel Paul (Tenor Sax), Milton Batiste (Trumpet), Alan Jaffe (Sousaphone), Andrew Green, (Snare Drum), Keith “Bass Drum Shorty” Frazier (Bass Drum, natch).

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Allen Toussaint, 1938 — 2015

“Yes We Can Can,” written by Allen Toussaint in 1973, performed by the composer in 2012. The song, first recorded by Lee Dorsey in 1970, was a huge hit for the Pointer Sisters three years later. Musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer Allen Toussaint was an amazing force in New Orleans music for over 5 decades. He died on Monday at the age of 77 while on tour in Spain.

Mardi Gras Saved by High Tech

New Orleans has all the urban problems of any American city — crime, poor education, no parking spaces, economic inequality —  and it’s still suffering the aftereffects of devastating Hurricane Katrina. But as the Crescent City celebrates Fat Tuesday, technology has solved one age-old problem:

You’re sipping Dixie Beer and watching the Mardi Gras parades but there’s nowhere to pee? Now there’s an app for that.

Edible Black History

Rice (Oryza sativa)

Calas (pronounced ca-LA) are fritters made from cooked rice and flour. They were sold in the streets of New Orleans by vendors, women of color, often slaves (who had Sundays free), and remained part of old-time home cooking for many Gulf Coast families of African descent.  The recipe may have been modified in the New World, but the term and concept are said to have been brought to Louisiana by slaves from Ghana.