Howie Luvzus

Instead of recognizing the compelling nature of this photo of a second-line at the first anniversary of Katrina:

One of my most popular images on flicker is this:

Ashley’s blog entry about obscenities reminded me of something I need to write about. Ashley links to a story about Shell making $75 million a DAY! Funny how the oil companies don’t mind destroying our coast and our politicians don’t hold them accountable.

Anyway…Back to obscenities. A few weeks back, I was invited to walk with the Krewe du Vieux in spite of my post last year. It shows what a good sport those folks are. Unfortunately, because of the short notice (I had accepted an invitation to fill in earlier in the week, but it fell through) I didn’t want my wife to be stuck driving at night or sitting at home so I had to decline. Maybe in the past I would have been hesitant to join such a rowdy bunch. However, even though the Krewe has been criticized as obscene, I think that much of the graphic stuff they display is warranted. The Krewe is engaged in satire. They really don’t have a difficult job finding stuff to make fun of around here.

Three points must be made in order to understand the value of what Krewe du Vieux does. Maybe most importantly, it lets us and the people they satirize know that the corruption, incompetence, and vulgarity of the political scene that relates to us does not go unnoticed. Vitter’s repeated visits to a prostitute while arguing for “family values” might have only appeared in the papers a few times and on TV news a few times, but we have not forgotten! The graphic images of Krewe du Vieux only depict how obscene Vitter’s actions are. Maybe it’s not appropriate for the media to graphically depict what went on, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a venue for that. The second point is that KdV captures the obscene way that our “public servants” act. Thus, it must be demonstrated in an “obscene” fashion. Thirdly, KdV serves as an outlet for our frustrations. I really can’t explain how good it makes us feel when those who take advantage of their position, or simply don’t care about us are revealed for who they truly are! Vitter…we know what you are. Jordan, Blanco, Nagin we know what you are. FEMA, etc. we’re not stupid!

Thanks Krewe du Vieux for helping us vent!

John Edwards dropped out yesterday. Froze to death at Cleopatra last night and didn’t get many throws. Looks like Muses might be rained out.

Once again we did Barkus with the Homan’s and Keith and Jeffrey. This year we left Chloe home since she doesn’t really enjoy it. We had a great time! I’m really tired and sore. I’m getting too old for this!

This week I was looking for a toy gun to carry in Barkus. I’m going to be Indiana Jones so I needed a large toy revolver. We went to Toys R Us and they had none (Dang Liberals!) I was hoping since it was in Metairie, they would have guns. A truckload of tanks and Army gear, but no pistols. Of course Wal-Mart had one, but it was very small and since I’ll be parading with Homan I chose to look elsewhere. I found one at BigLots but it was still a bit small.

It’s a darn shame that this liberal culture of ours has taken pistols out of the hands of our children! It’s also not fair to tease them with tanks, bazookas, and what not that they may never be able to use!

Guns are not dangerous. I mean, I use my BB pistol to shoot the barking beagles that live behind us all the time. Since I’m an excellent marksman, I can shoot them in the butt almost every time! That way it doesn’t really hurt them.

NOTE: The above is only satire. I don’t like handguns and am a strong advocate of gun control. Shirley won’t let me shoot the beagles.

Just got the news that the theme for Barkus this Mardi Gras season will be: Adventures of Indiana Bones: Raiders of the Lost Bark
My friend Keith like to make drinks for special occasions. Any suggestions?

Also, If you have any suggestions for a costume, other than the obvious, let me know!

I got really ticked off in front of St Louis Cathedral Mardi Gras day. Before I get accused of being inconsistent, let me again say that I am for freedom of speech.

I am against persons posing as Christians and offending people in public. I stayed away from this group because I heard one of the psychos tell a man that he was a bad father for bringing his kids to Mardi Gras.

Feel free to protest against anyone you want, but don’t go around condemning folks in the name of Christ. There’s just no basis for it. The only persons that Jesus openly condemned were religious hypocrites.

It’s amazing that as my wife, daughter, and I sat on a park bench yards away from these jerks, a homeless guy was talking to a chaplain about the group in question. My wife and I marvelled at the homeless guy’s theology. He was dead on. He seemed to feel sorry for the guys. I didn’t. I was ticked. He kept saying that Jesus would never take the side of power. He always led by example and showed love not hate.

AMEN brother.

Overall, Mardi Gras was very fun this year. We kicked it off with Krewe du Vieux, which was great! I don’t remember last year very well, but that’s another story… I think it’s the best way to start Mardi Gras. It gets you in the mood for the real focus of Mardi Gras which is to have fun and laugh at who we are.

Barkus was better this year than last year. Even though the theme really didn’t lend itself to a lot of creative costumes, Chloe was fenced in the float this year so we didn’t have to worry about her spazzing out. We had cool bowling shirts and a great breakfast at Keith and Jeff’s as usual. It was difficult because my friend Michael has been dealing with his father’s illness and death, but being with him and his family was very special.

Sunday, Shirley, Shirley Jr, and I spent all day at Lee’s Circle with the Homans (minus Michael) and Keith and Jeff. We had plenty of food and chairs so we sat and talked and napped in between the parades. I took a lot of pictures of Mid-City for Michael. My brother was in Bacchus so we stayed for that. It was a huge disappointment. We will probably see KDV, Muses, and Cleopatra next year and skip all the other night parades. We have so much more fun during the day. Plus it’s kind of frustrating when you’ve staked out a spot for 12 hours and then some knuckleheads push their way in after it gets dark.

Monday was spent on laundry and packing up beads for Barkus next year. We’re going to have a lot more than we did this year. Tuesday was perfect except that Michael wasn’t with us. We went to the quarter, ate beignets at Café Du Monde (didn’t see Minnie Driver this year), and then went on to Zulu. After Zulu, we went through the Quarter, stopped at the stage across from Jackson Square so that Shirley Jr could dance in front of the huge crowd! and rode the ferry back to the Westbank and took the Homans home. Not too busy, not too stressful, and we didn’t go to work too tired today.

Thinking about what I’ll give up for Lent….

There’s a huge weekend ahead for New Orleans! Mardi Gras? Yeah, but there’s something bigger. If I had the money, this would be my costume this weekend.

According to the TP: Orleans Parish prosecutors have given up trying to charge a first-degree murder suspect from its batch of 47 homicide cases from 2006, blaming witness problems and a lack of physical evidence.

47 homicide cases! How many homicides did we have last year? Wow, great job folks! Thanks Eddie! I look forward to hunkering down and staying at home this weekend.

“District Attorney Eddie Jordan’s office dumped the case because the surviving victim couldn’t or wouldn’t identify anyone as the perpetrator, his spokesman Dalton Savwoir said.”

I wonder why? I bet the victim will either retaliate or be killed this weekend. But then again, why does it matter (other than another tragic murder) whoever does the killing won’t pay for it any way.

We put this poster on our Barkus float this year. We had a great time even though the theme was pretty lame. This was on the other side of our float:

You can see all of my Barkus pics here.

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