It's Mardi Gras Time!

The Louisiana State Society of Washington, DC has a Mardi Gras weekend in the Nation’s Capital.  Because it’s DC and DC writes the rules for all of our lives regardless of whether or not they make sense, the LSS Mardi Gras festivities don’t actually coincide with Ash Wednesday at all.  Nope, they hold it about a month before the real event on the bayou.  Whatever.  I attended one night of the DC bacchanalia recently and had a good time.

At this event, they had a square stage that held four bands.  Each band would perform for about 20 minutes, then break while another band took over.  It was non-stop music, it was loud, it was accompanied by gumbo, raw oysters, slow-cooked pork, fried oysters and the like, and it covered the range of traditional New Orleans musical genres, including zydeco, Cajun, Dixieland, blues/jazz, and Senatorial. 

What is Senatorial music?  It’s when you get a former U.S. Senator onstage to play the washboard with spoons to accompanying zydeco music.  Hence, John Breaux, who served 18 years in the Senate and a bunch of years in the House, jamming on stage.  Maybe it helps explain the current state of the union.  Whatever, it’s what Louisiana pols do, and here’s two pictures to prove it:

A couple more photos show some of the other players, including a very skilled pianist who looks remarkably like The Wolf character played by Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction.

 
OK, time for me to geaux.  Here’s a cool song by Credence to finish off this little Mardi Gras thing.  Oh, one last little item – I’m holding beads in my hand right now.  Want ‘em?  You gotta do better than that because these ones have little lights that blink.  Hahahaha.