{"id":22026,"date":"2015-02-20T16:54:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T22:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=22026"},"modified":"2015-02-20T18:03:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T00:03:15","slug":"mardi-gras-duties-provide-busy-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/mardi-gras-duties-provide-busy-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Mardi Gras duties provide busy week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n<p>The last week has been something of a blur due to the rush of Carnival activities that slam home in the final week before Mardi Gras. No, we don&#8217;t say Mardi Gras <em>Day<\/em>, because that is redundant. There is Carnival, the celebration that starts in earnest on January 6 every year and which is tied to the Catholic calendar (&#8220;Twelfth Night&#8221;), and then &#8211; depending on whenever the day before Ash Wednesday falls &#8211; we have Mardi Gras (literally &#8220;Fat Tuesday&#8221;).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22027\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22027\" class=\"wp-image-22027 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22027\" class=\"wp-image-22027 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Alan_GallierHall-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-22027\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Narrating parades from Lafayette Square affords a picturesque view of Gallier Hall, the old city hall, where parades are normally received by the city. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>My duties as a manuscript writer and narrator begin in the summer as the themes for each of the Carnival krewes is shared with me. The costume designs for the maids, dukes and officers are seen to gain insight into the theme and then the research for the theme is conducted. Some themes are rather simple (&#8220;Okeanos Parades the Kings&#8221;) in which we saluted king cake, non-kosher king crab and King Midas. Others are much more obscure, such as the Knights of Babylon&#8217;s secretive &#8220;The Babylonian Pantheon,&#8221; which saluted the ancient Mesopotamian gods of idolatry like Mummu, Zu and Marduk.<\/p>\n<p>Sometime around October the first of the manuscripts is readied and the first readings are held. If the tableaux passes muster by the captain, we then move on, incorporating the other portions of the script until a final manuscript is readied. I begin working on several other manuscripts at this time. All told, I am the manuscript writer and narrator for the Krewes of Okeanos, Iris, Thoth and Carrollton and the Knights of Babylon as well as the narrator for the Krewes of Excalibur and Argus.<\/p>\n<p>A Jewish man involved in the upper echelon of planning Carnival parades and <em>bal masques<\/em> is unusual, but I have been doing so since 1980, ever since I filled in for an ailing narrator with laryngitis at the Krewe of Venus ball. Apparently, my words and voice have become a part of the fabric of the Carnival scene.<\/p>\n<p>Although I enjoy my work as a narrator, I am most proud of the unique manuscripts I write for the various krewes. As a theatre critic, I am quite aware that each manuscript is not unlike a play with lighting cues, description of action and music cues for the live orchestras or canned music interspersed for introductions at specific points. There is no way a ball can be held without a script for the orchestras, the sound and lighting technicians to follow nor can the maids, dukes, officers and captains make their way to the arena floor without a proper introduction (oftentimes a very theatrical one).<\/p>\n<p>The very first balls are held as many as six or seven weeks before Mardi Gras. The first of the balls are held at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner or a downtown hotel, usually the Sheraton, Hilton or Marriott Hotel. Women are required to wear full-length ball gowns, while men must wear tuxedos to gain entrance or wear tails (<em>costume de rigueur<\/em>) should they expect to walk on the ballroom floor.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22028\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22028\" class=\"wp-image-22028 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22028\" class=\"wp-image-22028 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Okeanosqueen_mayor-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-22028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Queen of Okeanos receives the key to the City of New Orleans from the Honorable Mitch Landrieu. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first few weeks have only one or two balls, but as the rush toward Mardi Gras occurs in the last week, additional announcing duties pop up. These duties include announcing the street parades at official reviewing stands at Gallier Hall or the Hotel Intercontinental. As the years have gone on, the presentations at these reviewing stands have become ever more complex, oftentimes now including music cues and elaborate introductions.<\/p>\n<p>After narrating the Krewe of Carrollton street parade at the Intercontinental Hotel ten days before Mardi Gras, I then narrate the Krewe of Ancient Druids at Gallier Hall, narrate the Babylon bal masque the next night (Thursday) at the Marriott, narrate the Krewe of Argus ball at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner \u00a0on Friday before returning to the city of New Orleans to travel with the official delegation from the Krewe of Iris to narrate the ladies&#8217; street parade on Saturday at the Intercontinental Hotel. The perk is that we are conducted to and from each place by a New Orleans Police Department motorcycle escort with flashing lights and loud sirens.<\/p>\n<p>My duties on Sunday begin early with my helping to coordinate the Okeanos Queen&#8217;s Breakfast, which occurs early in the morning. Then the queen, maids and I travel via limousines and escorted by yet another group of motorcycle cops to the start of the Okeanos parade and then on ride to Gallier Hall via the parade route. It&#8217;s there city officials toast the captain, the queen and her royal court and the king with careful guidance by me. After the krewe leaves, I have additional duties at Gallier Hall because I continue with narrations for the Krewes of Mid-City and Thoth, giving me the responsibility of narrating all three day parades in the parish on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Monday night I am a guest of the captain of the Krewe of Orpheus at his annual Orpheuscapade at the Ernest Morial New Orleans Convention Center until the wee hours of the morning.<\/p>\n<p>While most people are busy rushing out on Mardi Gras early in the day, I am spending much of my time, trying to relax after a very busy week of Carnival activities. Usually, I do manage to make it down to check out some costume viewing before all is said and done.<\/p>\n<p>But no matter how much I try, I can&#8217;t but wonder how long it will be before I am back in the thick of it, writing the next manuscript and working on the details of the theme. And I also am thinking that Mardi Gras is early next year, February 9, meaning I will have even less time to get everything accomplished. <em>Oy veh!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Mardi%20Gras%20duties%20provide%20busy%20week\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8790,806,6776,8853,6777,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22026"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22033,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026\/revisions\/22033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}