Entertainment

Mardi Gras: Last Tipsy Revelers Sent Home, Trash Swept Up

Published

10 years ago

February 18, 2015

Revelers dance to a brass band in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015. Revelers in glitzy costumes filled the streets of New Orleans for the annual fat Tuesday bash, opening a day of partying, parades and good-natured jostling for beads and trinkets tossed from passing floats. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mardi Gras 2015 is officially over and the last tipsy revelers in New Orleans have been cleared from city streets.

At the stroke of midnight, New Orleans police on horseback rode down the French Quarter’s main tourist thoroughfare, Bourbon Street, sending home the last revelers from the “Fat Tuesday” bash in this Mississippi River port city.

City crews before dawn Wednesday began sweeping up tons of trash, discarded food and plastic beads that had been tossed from the Mardi Gras floats during parades the day before. City officials have said up to 150 tons of trash would be collected — making it appear as if the parades never happened.

Each year, the unabashed Mardi Gras celebrations by costumed revelers mark the prelude to the solemn Catholic religious season of Lent.

And with temperatures near freezing on Tuesday, almost everyone was bundled up even along Bourbon Street, where costumes usually tend toward the skimpy during Mardi Gras.

“You can’t tell, but we’ve got Mardi Gras shirts on,” said Tiffany Cannon, watching Tuesday’s first big parade with her 8-year-old son, Eli, tucked up in warm layers. The youngster had a blue scarf over his chin and mouth and a large fuzzy hat to ward off temperatures Tuesday that began in the mid-30s.

No major incidents were reported Tuesday by police. But a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman fell from different floats in a truck parade in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said. The man was in stable condition and the woman was expected to be treated and released, said Col. John Fortunato, the sheriff’s spokesman.

Tuesday’s main celebration kicked off when a retired musician, Pete Fountain, launched a 10-mile stroll by his Half-Fast Walking Club through the city. Many fortified themselves agains the cold with a breakfast of sandwiches, coffee and brandy-fortified milk punch.

“There was beer and water, too. But most people stuck with the milk punch,” said Ralph Jukkola, on his fourth walk with Fountain’s club.

After Fountain’s group, major parades of Zulu, Rex and others followed down the streets, their costumed participants tossing trinkets and plastic bead necklaces to revelers lining the sidewalks and median strips.

The crowd was thick along the main St. Charles Avenue, where Zulu’s parade route merged with that of Rex, one of the most elaborate. Rex was followed by two long “truck parades” — floats built up from flatbed trailers and decorated by costumed riders.

Matching gray quilted jackets hid the gowns worn by young women on the “maids” float in the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club’s popular parade.

As Zulu passed, Ashley English said she was too cold to show off her costume.

“I have a corset on. You just can’t see it,” she said, pulling at the neck of her leather jacket. The corset was purple, she said, to go with her green and gold leggings.

Purple, green and gold were introduced as the colors of Mardi Gras in 1872, when a group of businessmen first crowned one of their own “Rex, king of Carnival.”

Because of the cold weather, many wore extra layers of sweat shirts and jeans under costumes made to look like clowns or animals.

Erin Buran of New Orleans wore a white jacket and feathery angel wings but didn’t mind the cold.

“My angel wings have tequila in them,” she said, showing off the mouthpiece of a hydration backpack covered by the wings.

___

Associated Press writer Stacey Plaisance contributed to this report.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

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December 20, 2024

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Arts and Culture

Promise Marks Performs Songs of Etta James in One-Woman Show, “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Theater in Berkeley

“The (show) is a fictional story about a character named Etta, aka Lady Peaches,” said Marks. “She falls in love with Johnny Rhythm, leader of the Rhythm Players Band and headliners of Madam G’s Glitta Lounge.” Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo Courtesy Of Promise Marks.

Special to the Post

It was “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Group Theater in Berkeley on Saturday night, Dec. 7. The one-woman musical based on the music of Etta James featured the multi-talented singer Promise Marks

Marks, who wrote and directed the musical, also owns PM Productions.

Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

In between her soulful songs, Marks narrated impactful moments of the love story and journey of blues and forgiveness.

Marks sultry voice carried the audience back to an era that echoed with the power of Black music and a time of great change.

Marks said James shared love for the Black community by singing at gatherings during the Civil Rights Movement uplifting the people.

“She spoke to the movement, spoke to the people, and let her music speak for itself,” Marks said.

Backing the musical’s monologues, images and videos of Etta James are projected for the audience to view. While the production is fictional, Marks infused script with the unfairness and heartbreak James experienced while performing.

Marks performed gospel artist Donnie McClurkin’s “We Fall Down” as she narrated acts of reconciliation and forgiveness among the characters at Johnny Rhythm’s deathbed.

Marks, who regularly sings for the Miss America Pageant, was asked to perform as Etta James last year. “(At the event) a lady yelled out to me: ‘You’re Etta James!’ And then the audience went crazy. I said to myself, ‘I may have something here,’” she said.

Within 12 months, Marks created the musical production, which featured a dozen songs honoring “the great legacy of Etta James,” she said.

Marks says she was saddened to see how Etta James was often judged by the struggles in her life and wanted to offer attendees a more layered view.

“Etta’s life was so big. I want people to know that she was more than her drug addiction,” said Marks. “We can’t make that her legacy. Her catalog is too amazing. You can’t just be that and have the catalog that she (created). I don’t want the addiction to be the focus: I want her music, her element, her sassiness, and what she brought to be the focus – her woman-ness, that she was strong, and I wanted to honor that.”

Set Designer Nora Burnette says she created the set segments to mirror James’ life story. A set designer for BRG since 2016, she explained that her process of researching the scenario and the character serve as her inspiration for her design.

“I try to design a set as close to real life as possible so that the actress can deliver the performance sincerely,” said Burnette. “By creating the right setting, it helps the actors release the true essence of a character.”

The set brought the story to life and absolutely floored Marks. “Once Promise (Marks) saw the actual set, she understood my vision: ‘Wow, you get me. You get it,'” Marks told the designer.

Born Jamesetta Hawkins, Etta James, began her career in 1954 and gained fame with hits such “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She faced a number of personal problems, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album “Seven Year Itch.”

Co-producer and BRG Development Director, Sean Vaughn Scott, works with Overseer Production. According to producer Pamela Spikes, “Marks talent truly does Etta’s life story justice.”

Pam Jacobs of Hercules, a friend of Marks’ mom, Jackie Smith, said, Marks “was fabulous and sang all of those songs flawlessly.”

“I’m so proud of my daughter,” said Smith.

Marks, who has served as an instructor for BRG, will return on Feb. 21- 23 for an encore run of the musical.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the BRG (Black Repertory Group) family and continue our executive director Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott’s vision for the Black Repertory Group theater,” said Marks.

The Black Repertory Group Theatre is located at 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703. For information, visit: BlackRepertoryGroup.com