Thursday, February 25, 2010

Posted some stuff on Humid City concerning the Roots of Music and why we still need it. Donate to the program through this link.

I also look forward to seeing a PayPal account opening up for the victims of this fire. I'll pass on the link once Oyster gets it going.

The Tweeter Tube passes on this nifty interview with David Simon about his new show Treme and about how he learned that Martin Amis likes him. Adrastos details, in recent days, his experiences as a re-enactor...whoops, recreator of the 2006 Krewe du Vieux parade for a Treme shoot.

And me, well, I'm reeling from one of the more insane weeks on record. My son is being held together with super glue for the skin, I'm an art fool failure and a sucker for Pomeranians that are about to be run over on my street, and the only thing that has enabled me to giggle uncontrollably at this point - aside from our family Zamboni fetish - is this video:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Curling Team Tryouts Outtakes Pt. 2
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorSkate Expectations


So yeah, I need help. Hope tomorrow and next week are better.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Husband: "I think we should get a Zamboni." Me: "Where would we PARK it?" Husband: "On the street in front of the house."

Welcome to my world, ladies and gents.

This is how we get into the winter Olympic games in my house. We watch it around and through the Mardi Gras parades passing through our 'hood. We check out the athletes' performances, comment on all sorts of quirks shown on camera (Is it me, or do the Americans in the freestyle ski events and the snowboarding events look like they're wearing pajamas? What the hell does Johnny Weir have to do to get a medal - this without the words? Why do they have to keep showing Shaun White knocking his chin on the edge of the snowboarding halfpipe?), and then, with all the ice dancing we've been seeing for the past couple of days, it came down to the Zamboni.

NBC switched away from the resurfacing duet the Zambonis were doing on the ice to give us the medal count, and I found myself crying, "Noooooo!" to the TV. Dan came home from a band rehearsal shortly afterwards, I told him about NBC's switcheroo, and that's when Dan made the suggestion that we get a Zamboni.

We have a mutual history of going to hockey games in our youthful days and cheering the loudest for the Zamboni man (yes, it was always a man...Zamboni women, lemme know if you, too, are doing the resurfacing thing) as he trolled slowly across the ice between the periods. The operator that passed 'round the rink where I watched my college games would have such fun with it, developing a Miss America wave as he expertly twirled the steering wheel of the machine with his other hand. Dan and his pals would chide the machine at his college's hockey games when it rolled off the ice and left behind some detritus: "Ewww, Zamboni shit!" When we visited the Redwood Empire Ice Arena built by Charles & Joyce Schulz, we had to purchase a mini-Zamboni for the little guy, which he still treasures. Suffice it to say, for those of you wondering why my first question concerned where to park the thing rather than, "Are you insane???", we are a family with a liking for the creation of a man who had to get the ice of his rink smooth without it taking an hour and a half to do so.

So of course, the next question I had was: what could we do with the damn thing other than have it grace the gray brick road in front of our house? What if...

...you just park the zamboni on the street until next Mardi Gras and then clear the ladders and chairs from intersections?

Hmmmm...

If the Zamboni only goes up to 9 mph maximum, it'd also be perfect for pulling floats.

I'm seeing a new Mardi Gras parade tradition taking shape that'll help with the ladders, chairs, and indiscriminate roping-off of parade watching territory while still bringing the fun.

Any other ideas for a New Orleans Zamboni, y'all?
Last bit of Saints-related stuff I'll post 'til next season, I swear!

I just couldn't resist this, because...

...even Lenny Kravitz showed up to bury the Aints:



Found via OffBeat's New Orleans In The News.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Health-wise, I've felt the best I have in a long while - nothing respiratory is plaguing me, I can breathe through my nose all right, and there are no noticeable extra aches and pains. All of that seems to have passed on to my husband, who wakes each morning coughing and hacking away, something that gets better as the day goes on...at least, it got better enough to enable my husband to sing a beautiful solo at the synagogue in Mobile, Alabama, Saturday night.

The performance of Jewish songs and liturgy we participated in attracted all sorts of folks in the Mobile community, and not just the Jewish folk. One fellow went up to my husband afterwards and asked him about the significance of the sanctuary's architecture. "Why IS all the seating arranged to angle downwards from the pulpit instead of upwards, like stadium seating?" he was asked. Good question.

Dan's answer, even though he wasn't a member of the temple in Mobile? "The architect designed it that way."

It's true. There's no hard and fast rules for how a synagogue should look, necessarily. The only requirements that have developed over the centuries are that the synagogue must have an aron ha-kodesh, a holy ark, in which to store the Torah scrolls that are read from every Shabbat, and that the congregation must be facing in the direction of Jerusalem, something that got thrown out the window for a while in Reform Jewish temple architecture and was returned to in recent years as Reform Jewish congregations reclaimed more of the ritual present in more halakhically observant sects of Judaism. The orthodox Jewish shuls still maintain separate seating for men and women, either with the use of a mechitzah - a separating barrier of some sort - or a balcony for the women. But, aside from those requirements, pretty much anything goes.

I grew up in a synagogue with a sanctuary that had an aron so tall the curtains had to be opened by pushing a button (things are always done bigger in Texas), and I've been in synagogues that were in shopping centers until their facilities could be built. I've been in the many-columned great room of a synagogue-turned-church in Toledo, Spain, with the incongruous, now-I'm-a-museum-to-the-history-of-what-the-Inquisition-drove-out name of Santa Maria la Blanca Sinagoga (The one thing about synagogues is, once they have become churches, they can't be reconsecrated as synagogues. Thanks, Fernando and Isabel. Thanks loads.). I've been in some huge temples and some small ones: the one in my great-grandparents' neighborhood in Brooklyn was about the size of our apartment here. Size doesn't matter, so long as you can have at least ten people in there for a worship service.

The inspiration for decorations and structure tends to be borrowed from many sources: not just the Tanakh, but also the use of words in Islamic mosque decorations and the use of stained glass in churches and cathedrals (the use of which is sometimes thought to be borrowed from some pieces of colored glass in window niches in early mosques). And then there are the quirky decorations, like the huge tapestry of a somewhat abstract flaming bird that once formed the centerpiece of a local sanctuary and covered the aron in that sanctuary as well. Dan once whispered to me in the middle of a service that the tapestry reminded him of a turkey, with the Torah as its giblets, causing me to never see that thing the same ever, ever again. That was a synagogue design faux pas if ever there was one.

As for the sanctuary in Mobile, I don't know why the architect made that choice of having the seating angling downward from the bimah, or pulpit. The reasoning posited was probably to raise the Torah physically up higher than the congregation or some such thing...but that can be done without angling all the seating like that. If anyone knows what the reasoning would be, I'd be interested in finding out.

Just beware of those strange tapestries in ritual settings...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Some impressions of communications during Carnival 2010 are up and at 'em from me over at Humid City...and they apply to all seasons and all times, not just to Mardi Gras.

But now, Mardi Gras is over and done with for this year. Decorations have been put away until the next Twelfth Night comes 'round. I still must deal with two bags of throws in the trunk of my car, the stuff garnered from the beginning of the Krewe of Thoth's parade near our pal Pacrac's place. Things'll be calm for a bit, 'til Purim rolls around and then, in my 'hood, St Patrick's Day. There's always going to be something, but there won't be much that'll hold a candle to Lombardi Mardi Gras for quite a while.

Which is as it should be.

It's best for us to get cracking on all the things that our city still desperately needs. I mean, for starters, we need May 3rd to come rushing in.

We need to start reforming HANO...really reforming it this time.

And we need to be wary of Erroll Williams. Check Mominem's for more on this. The man is apparently infamous for incorrect appraisals of property taxes. And we need to do more than simply rely on Janis Lemle's tweets that corroborate the incorrectness of the appraisals: we must demand that he do his part by keeping pressure on his office to do the right thing. Is the Office of the Inspector General listening?

More will be coming up in the next few days, I'm sure of it.

We must be our own best watchdogs.

Update, 6:21 PM: More reasons to be wary of our first "lone assessor"...and to be constantly on the lookout. We all should have been paying more attention to this race, myself included.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The lessons I've learned thus far in the parading season?

When you're at a standstill on the parade route on a cold night, make the most of it:



Southern Unversity's band KICKS. ASS. Almost upstaged Drew Brees in Bacchus:



More parade season pics here.

Excuse me while I tend to the open house I've got going later. King Cake #2 is a-baking.

Happy Mardi Gras, all.

Friday, February 12, 2010

From how far away did people come to the Lombardi Gras parade this past Tuesday?

Well, lots of people from across the river...some from across the lake...some from that parish upriver...

...and at least one lady from Alabama, who gave me this gem of Bob Breck's:



He might have been at least a little punch-drunk during the making of that forecast, if not actually drunk. Check more of Saintseester's links and pictures here.

"Some kinda tackle that split the sofa" is another grand reaction to Tracy Porter's pick six.

More evidence that the Saints put the team back in "team sport".

And, finally, we're heading into that weekend before Mardi Gras day. Tonight is a (gasp!) four-parade night due to the weather and the scheduling of the parades. Bundle up, hell is still freezing over. And pace yourselves out there.

In your calmer moments, ponder how best you can contribute to making city government better. Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu wants to know.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

In all truthfulness, I'm glad the parades are postponed/cancelled for tonight. Gives me another chance to try to get over my sore throat. It's a pain in the rear being sick during Carnival.

To tide you all over 'til then, I give you my latest post over at Humid City, a day late but most definitely not short in any way. It's pretty long, actually.

And as a person who remembers when there was a parade or two every night the week before Mardi Gras day, I agree with the yaller blogger's tangent on parade scheduling. It would certainly go easier on a friend of mine in the NOPD and his buddies, who've had to work some major amounts of overtime compressed into just a few days.

I also can't get this outta my head:



To think, we coulda schlepped over to Lucy's to eat that night. It would have blown my son's mind even more, which was already blown by seeing Drew Brees atop that Bacchus float.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010


Who Dat?

YOU DAT!!!!

You are invited to the 4th Annual Carnival Ball of the
KREWE OF PANCAKES AND SYRUP


"The krewe with the edible doubloons"

Where: Our House (email me at liprap2@netscape.net for directions)
When: Mardi Gras Day (that‟s Tuesday, February 16, 2010) from 8am until we get tired of it all
What: Pancakes, and lots of 'em (maybe some syrup, too)
Who: You
Why: We can‟t eat all those pancakes by ourselves
Krewe Fees: We're supplying pancakes, syrup, coffee, milk, juice, and probably Leigh's homemade king cake, so bring whatever* else you want to eat, drink, and share with others between 8am and whenever – that's what we like to call a “potluck”.
Specialty Throws: In honor of the Saints, we will have our own limited edition black and gold doubloons... and they'll taste good, too!
Honorary Krewe Royalty: King… Cain C. Rupp
Queen… Pat O. Butter

Need to get ahold of me? Email me at liprap2@netscape.net


* food disclaimer: please bring something other than pork, shellfish, catfish, or anything that mixes milk and meat in the same dish.

“Religious” disclaimer… We started this because we like pancakes, always make too many of them, don’t want to give up our parking spots for Mardi Gras, and like company. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Christian tradition of observing Shrove Tuesday or “Pancake Day” by making and eating pancakes, which we didn’t learn about until a couple of years ago. Of course, if we were the NFL, we’d file suit and demand royalties from anyone else who eats pancakes on a Tuesday, but we aren’t the NFL, so we’ll just let it slide.


Invitation written by Dan C., my ever-sufferin', ever-lovin' husband.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Happy Lombardi Gras, all!

Who Dat Tuesday is here. Most of the kids in the area have a half day off school. People have extended cases of the Who Dat flu that compels then to call in sick to work for this day. A parade made up of the signature floats from the major Mardi Gras krewes' parades will be winding its way through the streets of the Central Business District and we will have to try to fit possibly 100,000 people into spots that'll enable everyone to see everything and maybe catch some stuff, 'cause that's how our parades roll.

And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this trophy is in Saints' head coach Sean Payton's hand and NEW ORLEANS IS ITS HOME:

Believe Dat.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

More on the cornerback who left Peyton Manning on his ass and ran it in with the winning TD tomorrow.
For tonight, all of New Orleans and all of Louisiana are screaming with joy.
WHO DAT!!!!!!
Mazel tov to our SUPER BOWL CHAMPION NEW ORLEANS SAINTS.
I need to be pinched when I wake up tomorrow, I think.

Until then, I give you this.
On this Carrollton/King Arthur/Barkus/SUPER BOWL morn, I must first kick out a hearty mazel tov to Mitch Landrieu for landsliding his way into the mayor's office. Check the NolaStat PDF here to see how much of a blowout it was all over town. All that's left is for Hizzoner the Walking Id to somehow get stuck to his seat in the stadium in Miami and thus resign come Monday morning...but first, amateur local politics enthusiasts like myself must figure out why we got so caught up in Claude Mauberret vs. Janis Lemle and completely missed the stronghold Errol Williams still has on the assessor's office in this town. The political ground beneath New Orleans has shifted considerably and I'm certain it'll take us another four years to figure it all out...

Until then, there's more Mardi Gras coming our way...and then some big game in Florida someplace.

If you're up for getting pumped for Super Bowl XLIV, you can just flip on ESPN, apparently, and immediately get ticked off at all the fawning over Peyton Manning's mad QB skillz and his gene pool. According to Rick Reilly, you must either have had your heart removed by corn tongs or be in the Manning family if you're not pulling for the Saints.

If nothing else, Twitter has been one hell of a resource for this #twaddict in the Saints/Super Bowl reference department over the past couple of weeks. A sampling:

Saints fans, run get your hate on from this Indiana native and naturalized New Orleanian. His primers:
Ya know, if you move from here to a place where both its expansion NFL teams haven't come near the Super Bowl, you should be a little more tactful. I'm talking to you, Doug Brinkley.

We love Scott Fujita. We really really do. If you don't, your heart really has been eviscerated by corn tongs.

How big a deal is this for us? Well, you can go by what my husband the Niners fan was trying to say about it to my father-in-law over the phone the other night: It's like everybody is back in high school and holding pep rallies! Or you can just read a synopsis of the Saints' long and tortured history here.

For the bigger picture of the psychic boost the saints' season is giving us this year, check Nordette's post and links.

Closer to game time?

Start with dat wacky Cajun Boy's appearance on this podcast (2nd half of this show) for some silly humor, some explanation of what a coonass is, and some off-the-wall Super Bowl predictions.

High-Five Super Bowl Edition will pump you up too, and make you laugh.

Everybody, behave at your Super Bowl parties. Case in point: if you're going to engage in this, pick one and stay with it. If you try to do it all, you won't even be able to enjoy the kickoff.

Not safe for the kids, but inspiring all the same.

Much safer for the kids, and they can dance along if they'd like:



And finally, take Grandmaster Wang's words to heart:
I'll probably take some shit for this, but I've gotta admit that while I want it for these Saints so badly I can taste it, ultimately I feel like I've already experienced about five Super Bowls this year. And as a result, I can't imagine being pissed off or disappointed in the least if by some chance the Saints don't end up winning it all.

Which isn't to say that I don't care what happens in Miami. Of course I do. Clearly the Saints themselves have the "right" attitude about it when they say things like "We've come all this way, we've gotta win the thing now." Hell yeah, no question about it. This team has had the right attitude about everything all year, no reason to expect any different now.

But as a fan, these Saints have already given me much more than I could reasonably have expected or asked for. 8-0. Demolishing the Mighty Patriots on national tee vee. 13-0. Two consecutive playoff wins against Hall of Fame quarterbacks. An NFC Championship, a Super Bowl berth, and looking ahead, the shortest offseason ever. By far. It's already more than enough for me.

Do I want the championship? Fuck yeah I want it. But not for me. I want it for them.

This is their deal.

Win or lose, I love the New Orleans Saints.

Play well, fellas. Leave it all out there on the field.

Updates, 10:09 AM: Saints, Race, and Moon over at NOLA-Dishu puts all this in yet another light.

G-Bitch reminds us to remember Ashley Morris on this auspicious day. Sinn Fein and FYYFF, all.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Count me as one extremely happy camper that Rachel Maddeaux gets it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


More clips from her show in New Orleans can be seen here.

Thursday, February 04, 2010


Rare Species
Originally uploaded by liprap2
I saw this yesterday in the wilds of Carrollton and crept closely and quietly so as not to scuttle the felines of the area and scare off this truly unique species of campaign boosterism. The photograph you see before you is the result.

So far as I know, this is the only one of its kind. If it has a mate somewhere out there, it bodes well for this sign's survival. Otherwise, it will indeed become a vanishing animal.

If there are any others, please let me know. Perhaps if we throw the both of them in a garage together, many smaller signs will appear.
I cannot resist this, especially when Mr Clio looks so good in his red dress:



Big thanks to Michael Homan and Adrastos, those partners in malakatude, for the footage of the Buddy D Dress Rehearsal & 'Stache Dash.

Another funny one for your day, courtesy of The Real Fans:

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

So now I've committed myself...

...to posting once a week over at Humid City.

When I'm not geeking out over on Twitter and/or posting away over here, I'll be throwing a little bit of motherhood/womanhood/whatever-the-hell-hood into the mix over there. And the first weekly installment has begun with this post concerning the prejudice within me and the little guy. It's been nagging at me quite a bit in the midst of all the Saints/election/Mardi Gras mania in these strange and beautiful days.

Oh, almost forgot...speaking of prejudice, seriously reconsider voting for this guy unless he has demonstrably changed....and as to that, I wish I'd been able to take a picture of the trailer I saw covered with "The East for John Georges" signs I saw on St Charles near Jefferson Ave yesterday - plastered atop one of the signs was one saying "Brought to you by JACKASS".

Which sounds about right.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Okay, this just confirms that I am getting further and further lost to general giddy silliness.

I give you GIMME GIMME MOOCHER MARMOTS.

"When good marmots go bad."

For Moocher Marmots are unique. "We don't care for grass," they squeak. "We prefer things in wrappers often shared by friendly campers."

Into my cooler they did dive and not a wiener would survive. For my tent I did flee. Eat all you want, but please spare me.

Beats Groundhog Day all to hell.

It also calls to mind this soul classic:



I'm catching Adrastos' rockin' pneumonia and YouTube flu.

Other reasons to feel giddy? A black & gold Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, the homestretch of the local elections (GO VOTE on Saturday the 6th if you haven't already early voted) and more reminders to the Times-Pic and nola.com that they, too, are ganking and rehashing... news from local online reporting in their case, though, not campaign promises.

Update, 7:36 AM: As said by this fella on the Tweeter Tube: That's really funny - a story on plagiarism stolen from another source. True dat.

Anudder update, 9:21 AM: Oy, the credit IS in there:
The story does give credit to the Lens. Fifth graph. Page B3 in paper. Go back to your Saints/Carnival/election mania, folks. Nothing to see here.