HAMTRAMCK, Mich., Feb. 12 (UPI) — Michiganders indulging in the Fat Tuesday tradition of eating paczki would require a 4-mile walk to burn off the calories, experts said.
Fat Tuesday treats pack high fat
Tag Archives: Fat Tuesday
Rain expected for Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Wet streets, puddles and soggy ground greeted the faithful revelers who braved rainy forecasts threatening to wash out Mardi Gras, New Orleans‘ biggest free show.
Freddie Zeigler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell, La., said there’s an 80 percent chance of rain Tuesday, with showers likely hitting in the pre-dawn hours along Louisiana’s coast and moving into the metro area around sunrise. Still, lulls are predicted throughout the day.
“It’s going to be dicey though for parades, but it all depends on how fast that warm front moves to the north,” Zeigler said.
Fat Tuesday kicks off with the Zulu parade, which rolls at 8 a.m., followed by Rex two hours later.
Still, rain or shine, many revelers planned to hit the streets early Tuesday morning.
“We’re going to get here extremely early,” said Carly Gerhard, who drove with a friend from Philadelphia to New Orleans over the weekend — through storms that spawned tornadoes along the way — for her first Mardi Gras experience.
Gerhard said her most memorable experience so far has been the French Quarter.
“My favorite part was getting to Bourbon Street and seeing all the different people,” she said. “The diversity is pretty cool. We’re looking forward to the parades. We’re looking forward to it all.”
Frank Warford, of Riverdale, Ga., was holding an umbrella Monday as he walked Bourbon Street. He said he was ready to party through the rain.
“This is a party city. Everybody’s partying and having fun, catching beads like crazy,” said Warford, his neck draped in beads. “If it rains, put a hat on. It’s as simple as that.”
Katiey Diamond, of Sayreville, N.J., said rain won’t ruin her Mardi Gras.
“I’ll party if it’s freaking thundering,” she exclaimed. “We’ve got indoors. We’re good.”
Scattered showers didn’t keep revelers away Monday either as thousands flocked to the French Quarter and along the Mississippi River for Lundi Gras festivities.
As local brass bands played on stages …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Gunfire Erupts Just Before Mardi Gras
WWLTV
Sounds of shots sent a partying crowd running from New Orleans‘ famed Bourbon Street on the Saturday night before Fat Tuesday.Number seriously wounded in shooting
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL
Weather Service: Tornado, injuries in Mississippi
The National Weather Service says it’s getting reports of a large tornado and injuries in southern Mississippi.
Meteorologist Joanne Culin says spotters and emergency officials say a tornado was seen on the ground in West Hattiesburg, Miss. She says there have also been reports of injuries in Marion County.
Nasty weather has settled in on much of Louisiana and Mississippi, including tornado or flash flood watches.
The National Weather Service says bad weather is likely to stretch into Fat Tuesday in southeast Louisiana. Jefferson Parish has canceled a Monday night parade.
Police: 4 wounded in Bourbon Street shooting
New Orleans police have released a bystanders’ video of what they say is an argument involving some people in a Bourbon Street crowd celebrating ahead of Mardi Gras when shots ring out, followed by screams.
Police spokesman Frank B. Robertson says the shooting in the crowded French Quarter just days before Fat Tuesday left four people wounded, including a male victim shot in the abdomen, thigh and pelvic area. He says two other male victims also were wounded and one female.
The footage showed many partying in costumes before what police described as an argument between the most seriously injured male and two other men. Four rapid shots are heard, then screams.
Authorities have not said if they have made any arrests, saying they sought the public’s help.
Police: 3 wounded in shooting on Bourbon Street
Police say three people have been shot on crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans as revelers were partying during Mardi Gras.
New Orleans police spokesman Frank B. Robertson said two males and a female were shot just before 9:30 p.m. local time. He says one person is in critical condition and the other two are in stable condition. He did not release their ages.
Robertson says detectives are working vigorously to identify a suspect and determine a motive. He did not have any other details.
The streets were crawling with bar-hopping revelers as they celebrate the weekend before Fat Tuesday.
3 wounded in shooting on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, police say
Police say three people have been shot on crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans as revelers were partying during Mardi Gras.
New Orleans police spokesman Frank B. Robertson said two males and a female were shot just before 9:30 p.m. local time. He says one person is in critical condition and the other two are in stable condition. He did not release their ages.
Robertson says detectives are working vigorously to identify a suspect and determine a motive. He did not have any other details.
The streets were crawling with bar-hopping revelers as they celebrate the weekend before Fat Tuesday.
A Healthier Mardi Gras Menu
By Leta Shy
It’s called Fat Tuesday for a reason; Mardi Gras celebrations are known for being over-the-top indulgent, but if that’s not your style, not to worry – you can still enjoy all the flavors of New Orleans without all the calories. In honor of next week’s celebration, we’ve put together a menu of healthier versions of classic New Orleans and Southern dishes. Read on for the recipes!
Kim and Kanye Pack On the PDA in Rio
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West kissed on the balcony of their Rio de Janeiro hotel today. Kim was still sporting the sheer top she wore when she caught her flight out of LAX yesterday. She later changed into a blue dress that showed off her baby bump to grab lunch with Kanye.
Kim and Kanye are in Brazil just in time for the start of Carnival, which kicks off tomorrow and continues through Fat Tuesday. The festival will bring plenty of excitement for the couple, who already have a lot to look forward to with the upcoming arrival of their first child. Kim is due in July and has been open about her pregnancy since it was announced in December. She’s also shifting her priorities and reveals that Kanye is more important than her family in the upcoming episode of Kourtney & Kim Take Miami.
Mardi Gras parade weekend gets started in New Orleans
The city’s glitziest, most star-studded parades of the Carnival season roll this weekend, including one with a float being touted as the biggest in New Orleans‘ history.
Mardi Gras is Tuesday, but more than a dozen parades roll in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday. The big ones that feature celebrity float riders include Endymion, Orpheus, Bacchus and the all-women Krewe of Muses. Dozens of others will roll elsewhere in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Alabama.
While Endymion boasts that it will have the biggest float the city’s Carnival has ever seen, the Bacchus parade is shaping up to be a larger-than-life experience for more than two dozen child cancer patients from seven hospitals across the country.
Bacchus is providing costumes and throws — trinkets for tossing to the crowds — to 28 teens and pre-teens being treated for cancer. They’ll ride in Sunday’s parade with this year’s celebrity king, actor G.W. Bailey, co-star of the TNT show “Major Crimes.”
Bailey, 68, is known for his roles in the “Police Academy” movies and the cable TV crime drama “The Closer.” He also serves as executive director of the Sunshine Kids, a nonprofit that takes patients on trips to major U.S. cities. It regularly takes kids to New Orleans during Carnival, but not usually during the season’s big weekend.
Bailey said the trips give patients a break from treatments and the opportunity to spend time with teenagers going through similar experiences.
“When you’re a teenager, the worst possible thing that can happen to you is isolation,” he said. “Even if you’re in a room full of people, if you’re not with another teenager losing their hair, going through what you’re going through, you feel alone. We bring those kids together. We give them a common experience, and within two days, the wigs come off and they don’t have to worry about their scars, their missing limbs. It just doesn’t matter anymore.”
Bailey and Sunshine patients arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday to a packed weeklong schedule that includes eating in some of the city’s finest restaurants, taking a south Louisiana swamp tour, and visiting the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium of the Americas.
But the trip’s highlight will be Sunday’s parade, said 17-year-old Paden Blevins who is in remission after two bouts with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “When they told me I was going to be riding in the parade, I was like, are you kidding me?”
Bailey also will visit patients at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans on Friday. It’s a tradition held by previous Bacchus kings, including Saints quarterback Drew Brees and actors Will Ferrell, James Gandolfini and Kirk Douglas.
Bailey and the patients also plan to watch Saturday night’s Endymion parade, led by pop star Kelly Clarkson. Clarkson, the first winner of TV‘s “American Idol,” is scheduled to perform after the parade at Endymion’s ball at the Superdome.
The parade’s other star is the “super float” that organizers bill as the largest and most elaborate in Carnival history. Parade floats typically reach lengths …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Tux Does Mardi Gras: Share His Video and Win Ticket to LinuxCon/CloudOpen
LinuxCon North America and CloudOpen won’t happen until September but the party has already started in New Orleans where the Mardi Gras celebration is in full swing this week and the recent Super Bowl was so hot it literally turned the power out.
With all this action, we thought Tux better go scout out the best landmarks, food, drinks and fun in good ol’ NOLA. And, we’ve just received his video trip report for all to see (including a guilty, powdered-sugar grin).
Share Tux‘s travel log (the video below) on Twitter/Identi.ca, Facebook or Google+ using the #linuxcon and #cloudopen hashtags and you could win a free ticket to this year’s events, taking place at the Hyatt New Orleans September 16-18, 2013.
You’ll be entered into a random drawing that will take place on Fat Tuesday, February 12. What better day to celebrate your Big Trip to the Big Easy?
African-American baby doll tradition is undergoing a revival in New Orleans for Mardi Gras
By hnn
NEW ORLEANS — The “baby dolls,” an on-again, off-again Mardi Gras tradition of New Orleans’ African-American community, are on again.
The troupes of women strutting and prancing in bonnets, garters, and skimpy or short, ruffled dresses on Fat Tuesday also are being spotlighted in a new book and museum exhibit that trace their history and modern rebirth.
When the predominantly African-American Zulu krewe hits the streets on Fat Tuesday — Feb. 12 — its marchers will include the Baby Doll Ladies, a troupe formed after Hurricane Katrina. They play tambourines and cowbells to accompany their dance, a hip-hop style called bounce.
Though Mardi Gras celebrations date from the city’s French founding in 1718, historians say the baby doll tradition started in 1912 when black prostitutes who worked just outside the legal red-light district called Storyville dressed up on Mardi Gras to outdo their legal rivals….
Source:
AP
Source URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/african-american-baby-doll-tradition-is-undergoing-a-revival-in-new-orleans-for-mardi-gras/2013/01/21/5130f554-6428-11e2-889b-f23c246aa446_story.html
Date:
1-21-13
Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University