written 2/21/2006
S. invited us to go to her house on Saturday night for a party before the Krewe Du Vieux parade. She lives in what is now referred to as "the sliver by the river". It is the Bywater neighborhood that escaped (for the most part) the wrath of Katrina. It is one of the only areas in New Orleans that has not been destroyed by Katrina, and it is back with a vengeance.
On our way to the city, Greg and I passed through some pretty horrific areas. Greg likes to drive through the devastation. He has been on a photographic quest since right after the storm, and has done a very good job of documenting in pictures what has happened here in the last 5 months.
Instead of taking the interstate, Greg wanted to go through the Lakeview area and show me where the tornado blew through last week. Yes, a tornado, on top of everything else, we had three tornados touch down in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish last week. Talk about getting kicked while you’re down.
We drove through Lakeview and saw the obvious path of the tornado. Houses with no roofs, collapsed buildings, and just total devastation where someone’s whole world used to be.
For me, this is all so depressing. After we passed through the Lakeview neighborhood, we took a right turn onto Elysian Fields towards downtown. This is an area of town that has been hit particularly hard. Block after block of flooded out abandoned homes and businesses. By the time we got close to Port Street, our destination, I was nearly in tears.
I asked Greg how he could stand to look at this day after day. He explained that after a while you get numb to it. I don’t know how that is possible, but I guess it is.
We drove up and down the streets of this 150 year old neighborhood near the river, looking for a place to park We found a parking place a block away from S.’s house. Greg is a "master of parking" and manages to squeeze between an SUV and a pile of hurricane debris.
S. and her husband live in a double shot gun house that they have been renovating for the past 4 years. Walking through the front door, her home oozes the bohemian lifestyle that characterizes this neighborhood. Sparsely, but stylishly furnished, S. has decorated her home with her paintings. She is very talented portrait artist, and her walls are a testament to that. Her home was full of artsy, shaggy, well educated young party guests…bohemians. I felt a bit out of place at first, being the only middle aged suburbanites in the crowd, but it wasn’t long before we were chatting and laughing with this very friendly group.
About a half hour after we arrived it was time to make our way down to the parade. Greg and I walked about three blocks down to the corner of Chartres and Marigny Streets, where we found a good place to stand along side the wide intersection. The crowd was pretty thin at first. From where we stood I was able to get a good look at people around us. Mostly young adults from the neighborhood, sprinkled with a few older people and tourists. It is well known that this not a parade for children, and I think I only saw one child.
Many of the people were dressed up. A three wheeled, giant Amphibian-bike rolled by trailing behind it a tail end of frog legs on two more wheels. A few feet away a man in a hat with naked Barbies all over it was talking to a group of "blue tarped" people. Sprinkled in with the naked Barbies were small pieces of paper with the words "MO DYKES" printed on them. I thought about it a moment and realized I was looking at the first of many expressions of political satire to come.
Irreverent, unconventional, crude, crazy and funny, all describe the Crew Du Vieux parade on Saturday night. This year’s theme was "Cest Levee". Although the Krew Du Vieux is one of the newer organizations in the city, it actually resembles traditions of Mardi Gras past more closely, than the more popular larger krewes. It is made up of several "sub krews" each with their own crazy theme - Krewe of Underwear, Mystic Krewe of Inane, Krewe of Comatose and Krewe de C.R.A.P.S. to name a few.
The parade started with a brass band, marching in front of the float carrying Walter "Mr. Bill" Williams. Big headed Mr. Bills walked by, followed by a Governor Blanco-Refrigerator Cyborg looking float. Float after float of political satire, silly and strange things passed by followed close behind by their creators dressed up to match their creations. Almost every group was accompanied by a brass band.
Smiling, drinking and dancing, the krewes handed their treasures to the crowd. Greg and I collected the traditional beads and cups along with some original items such as FEMA money, Chocolate city Chocolate, and a teeny-tiny comic book. The revilers following the "Premature-Evacuation" float we handing out squirts of hand lotion – yuck.
After the parade passed by, Greg and I went back to S.’s house, collecting FEMA money along the way. We sat in the living room and had some gumbo and kingcake and talked for a little while, then decided to head home.
On the way home Greg decided to drive through the neighborhoods on the way to the interstate. Just outside of "the sliver by the river" the streets were pitch black. I was not very happy with this route, but I knew it wouldn’t take long to get to the interstate. Working our way though the streets, Greg took a left toward Elysian Fields. As we turned the headlights illuminated a house sitting in the middle of the street, blocking our way. I had enough, and ask Greg to please get us home.
