Bead Mania! And other goings on out and about

It was the big Mardi Gras thing today. We tried to get to Soulard in time for the parade, but after spending over a hour trying to get down there, and having started late (due to my oversleeping) we only caught the tail end.

It doesn't usually take that long to get downtown. The Metrolink was packed to the point of intimacy with unknowns...the train driver felt compelled to introduce herself after squeezing past bodies for the second time. Why were there not more trains? Or more carriages on existing trains? Your guess is as good as mine...I'm sure they compensated for the extra traffic last year.

Then again Soulard was far busier than I remember it being. Perhaps some of the New Orleans traffic migrated North. But it took fifteen minutes to squeeze through the bodies in order to cross the road at 9th and Russel. Not my idea of fun, and the visions of what it would turn into combined with the cold had me wanting to go a little earlier than planned. Worth showing up to see the festivities 'though.

It amazes me how people fight and barter for beads; like stepping into another world where currency is utterly changed. It wasn't as prevalent as last year (due, I suspect to the cold), but women take their clothes off for bits of plastic which are obtained, for the most part, by plucking them from the air. Odd.

Yesterday was nice. I went to the Art in Bloom Exhibition at the Art Museum. This happened entirly by accident. I sometime go there just to sit and scribble, but I arrived to a festive atmosphere and joined in the public judging. The more traditional arrangements are on the main floor, and the more creative ones (in my opinion) are on the other two floors. The arrangements are supposed to reflect the piece of art they are with. I was disapppointed that the art I like best (on the top floor and in the weird stuff section) was not reflected in the arrangments I liked best (in the traditional art and other cultures section).

Off to the theatre with Teabringer tonight to try something new “Johnny Taylor is Gone,” by St. Louis playwright Gregory Carr. New play, new playwrite. Supposed to be a political comedy. I'll report back.