Up, Up, and Away

♪Bill, I love you so. I always will,
I look at you and see the passion eyes of May... ♪

© "Wedding Bell Blues" by Laura Nyro

Yesterday it was Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, addressing massive crowds at Tulane University. Today it will be William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, campaigning at Dillard University on behalf of his wife Hillary. Yesterday there was a contested nomination for the Republicans. Today John McCain is the standard bearer of his party as Governor Mitt Romney made clear his intention to suspend his campaign. In a period of a little more than a week the field of candidates for the presidency has shrunk to two for each major party: Obama and Clinton for the Democrats and McCain and Huckabee for the Republicans. To be sure, Huckabee is not in any position to overtake McCain's huge lead and with Romney's exit, the conservatives will have to learn the hard lesson that sometimes one must bend like a mighty tree in the onslaught of overpowering winds or else snap. My feeling is that a McCain-Romney alliance, while unlikely, might be the best bet for the Republicans, but who knows? If McCain doesn't care about appeasing conservatives at this stage of the contest, he might just go the other way. What about a McCain-Lieberman ticket? On the other side of the aisle, the Clintons versus Obama looks like a knock-down, drag-out fight. A few months back, I thought Hillary was the heir apparent. To be frank, Obama has captured the imagination and determination of youth and women who were the Clintons' former strength. His presence and charisma are formidable. I can't see either a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. So I suggest we keep our eyes peeled for a tough fought race there. Then again, it was my feeling only a few weeks back that Romney and Giuliani would have stayed in the Republican race and that Edwards would have mounted a significant alternative campaign for the Democrats. 2008 has proven to be the year of the unexpected. It is only February, yet much of what should have played out in the ensuing months has already been determined. The next six months will be interesting to say the least. Meanwhile, the 47 Republican delegates and 67 Democratic delegates from Louisiana will be determined tomorrow. It's nice to be wanted, I guess. But sometimes I feel like the Fifth Dimension's Marilyn McCoo. Maybe Bill will give us something to be hopeful for later today.

Trash Talk

For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, city officials reported that the size of trash collections has returned to pre-storm levels. Officially, the city will not release the gross tonnage figures, because, they say, it encourages revelers to "trash" the city. But this is very significant. More trash means more sales of disposable products, which directly relates to sales tax collections and is a barometer for economic progress. I must admit, I did not personally add to the refuse on the streets, but I am a local. I tend to use a trashcan.
Interestingly enough, the local owner of the trash collection service tabbed by the city to clean up the formerly disgusting and dirty French Quarter has become something of a local poster boy himself. Sidney D. Torres IV, 31, the owner of SDT Waste and Debris Services, has become such a local celebrity that he recently rode on a special float with the Krewe of Orpheus on Lundi Gras. Torres, rode with his young son on the float, each delighting in the unusual honor afforded them by the krewe. Torres is a hard worker, often rising each morning by 4:30 a.m. to ride along with his crews as they begin the arduous task of picking up the trash left over by revelers and residents from the night before. Torres has only been in the trash business since shortly after Katrina passed through the city. He reportedly found a need for trash pickup at local hotels he owned, but found the services priced beyond reason. So, he met that need by buying his own truck and dumpsters and providing his own service. The good-looking Torres with shoulder-length hair askew looks like a college kid one might hire as an intern. But don't let his youthful looks give you the impression that he's not an astute businessman. He has shot several likeable TV commercials with a jazz tinge to enhance his company's public persona. Along the way, he became a local star too. A former personal assistant to musician Lenny Kravitz, Torres hired the rocker who now calls New Orleans home for a gritty local TV spot touting the fact that the city is bouncing back and that SDT Waste and Debris Services is pitching in to help. Another recent popular spot showed a male Carnival reveler attempting to use a building on a side street for a urinal. With the sounds of the parade in the background and while his back is turned to the camera, an SDT truck with a pressure washer comes up behind him and douses him with a torrent of water and, one hopes, enlightenment. Torres is a dynamo, but if he doesn't watch out he may become a casualty of his own success and get elected to public office. Yeow!
Meanwhile, with the lack of a clear-cut winner on Super Tuesday, Louisiana has become a state in play. Saturday is the date for the Democratic and Republican primaries and the struggle to snatch delegates has the candidates going to the mattresses. Even Barack Obama was here this morning for a free speech at Tulane University. It's nice to be remembered during the campaign. I just hope they'll remember us after it's all over.
Inspirational thought of the day:
"Even in the grimmest times I have seen man's goodness as the flame that can never be extinguished." - Nelson Mandela, former jailed political activist for 27 years, 1993 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and president of South Africa (1994-1999), who is expected to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 18.

It's Over, Already

It is the middle of the night and the strains of the "Triumphal March from 'Aida'" have just finished playing. Almost immediately, a gay, flighty little mazurka titled "The Jolly Coppersmith" begins to play from the speaker of my television. Egad! I have fallen asleep in the bedroom while checking out the rerun of the meeting of the courts of Rex and Comus I had watched earlier in the night in my living room. It is a Mardi Gras staple that has increased in coverage from the 15 minute one-camera, black and white presentation I recall as a kid to the more than three and a half hour long multi-colored production broadcast over the local PBS station. I am still tired even after resting the entire day. This Carnival season is history and it seems a lifetime ago that the process began back in October with coronation balls and the research into the ball themes. This was the second earliest date that Carnival Day could be held and the season was compressed in a way that was exacerbating. For me it was a day of unwinding, not partying as one might expect. I enjoyed the spectacle of the day-long proceedings from the sanctity of my bed and the peacefulness of my living room. I did get out for a while, but it was only for a short time and I must admit it felt good to not worry about work or other pursuits. On the one hand, I am glad that it is finished, but like a jilted lover, I am overwrought that its conclusion, while necessary also smarts.
Now that the results of Super Tuesday are in, it would appear that some of what the pundits had been predicting came true, but that no nominations were decided and campaigning will still go on. No big winner for the Republicans, although McCain is certainly well on his way. The other big Republican story would seem to be Romney's sputtering campaign and Huckabee's resurgence. Wow! It's going to be a long winter for the G.O.P., especially for the uneasy conservative minions. Meanwhile, Demos Clinton and Obama are still picking up wins in different areas. The Barack Express is moving at breakneck speed, but the Hillary juggernaut is moving along too, picking up momentum in key metro areas. It is only February, folks. We've got a lot more to come.
Final days for the poll: The straw poll at bottom right won't allow me to change the names of those who dropped out (Edwards, Thompson, and Giuliani), but it will allow those of you who have already voted to change your vote. Only five days remain. Right now, though, Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are tied. That means that three votes for Edwards and one for Giuliani are essentially wasted. If anyone wishes to correct that, please do so. Or, if you'd like to vote for your preference before the poll ends, please do so.

Orpheuscapade

Lundi Gras is an amazing day of community building. When the Rex organization was relatively young, it began a tradition of having the King of Carnival arrive at the banks of the Mississippi River by steamboat on the evening before Fat Tuesday to officially signal the beginning of the holiday. The tradition was held from 1874 until the entry of the United States into World War I. Starting in 1987 the School of Design, the parent organization for Rex, brought back the tradition by having Rex arrive by water transport at the foot of Canal Street. With the immense popularity of Zulu as a worthy competitor for the public's attentions in recent decades, it wasn't long before city officials and the Zulu organization campaigned with the Rex organization to make the new Lundi Gras a community event incorporating both groups. Zulu, formed in 1909 by the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, began as an outlet for prominent New Orleans blacks to ridicule the Rex organization. Their early king arrived on an oyster lugger wearing a crown made from a tin can and holding a banana stalk as a scepter. For many years the organization continued to provide an outlet for the disenfranchised members of black New Orleans, growing in popularity and acceptance. One of the biggest events for them was in 1949 when Louis Armstrong returned in a rare visit to his hometown to accept the crown as King of Zulu. Yet, the Zulu parade continued to be an impromptu affair without any specific parade route until city officials clamped down on them in the last three decades, forcing them to deal with respectablity. That respectability has grown in stature so that Zulu also now takes part in the Lundi Gras celebrations taking place in Kenner at their Rivertown area. The King and Queen of Argus, the major parade held on Mardi Gras in Metairie, greet the King and Queen of Zulu at midday. Then the Zulu royalty travels to the foot of Canal Street and meets with Rex, who accepts the mayoral proclamation giving him the rule of the city for the following day. Musical acts play throughout the afternoon with street dancing and carousing heavily encouraged. Later, pyrotechnics are used to signal the beginning of festivities. The parades on Monday night are among the best in all of Carnival. Zeus, the oldest parading group in Metairie handles very large crowds, while in New Orleans the traditional Krewe of Proteus makes its way early in the evening along the traditional uptown and downtown route. They prepare the way for the final superkrewe, the Krewe of Orpheus, formed 15 years ago by Harry Connick, Jr., his father, and Sonny Borey, the artistic director at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré. Their parade ends at the Ernest Morial Convention Center as the huge, colorful floats, many featuring fiber optic displays, arrive for the Orpheuscapade, a party featuring well-known bands and celebrity figures who perform into the wee hours of the night. That was where I was until late (or early) this morning. I awoke this morning with a kosher king cake (no baby inside this one) and a cup of coffee and chicory. I think I am ready.

Super Sunday

So, it turns out I did FOUR parades at Gallier Hall today including the rescheduled Krewe of Babylon. I started the day meeting the Queen and the Royal Court of the Krewe of Okeanos at the Queen's Breakfast at the Le Pavilion Hotel. Around 10:15 a.m., the ladies of the Royal Court, their mothers and other family members entered three large stretch limousines and headed uptown to the beginning of the parade route. Already at that point historic St. Charles Avenue was bristling with families camped out for a day of parading. We made the turn at the starting point and headed back along the route on St. Charles Avenue. Wow! Everyone was waving at us as we had two motorcycles escorting us downtown to historic Gallier Hall. It was hot outside today, so we kept the Royal Court inside until I was able to get them egress into the building. They kept cool inside the building while the parade approached the reviewing stand. As the parade was just about on top of us, I announced the maids and lovely queen as well as the king's wife and the captain's wife and president's wife of Okeanos. It was a great day to start. Following Okeanos, I was surprised when a representative of the Krewe of Babylon handed me the script for his parade and informed the officials on the reviewing stand that I was going to announce his parade as well. Following the very short Babylon parade came the 75th anniversary parade of the Krewe of Mid City, whose foil floats were celebrated with the theme "75 Years in Foil" and then came the 38-float extravaganza, the 61st annual Krewe of Thoth parade. My son David paraded on float #14 along with a cousin who flew in from Vanderbilt University and a Tulane roommate. They had a blast! My mom joined me on the stands at Gallier Hall, so it was truly a Smason family affair until after 5:30 p.m. this evening. The Superbowl had already started and was well into the first quarter when I left Gallier Hall. While others were lining up to gain entry into Gallier Hall for the celebrated Krewe of Bacchus parade, i was heading back uptown to watch the Superbowl featuring my hometown hero, Eli Manning of the New York Giants. Eli proved to be as exceptional an athlete as his brother Peyton was at last year's Superbowl when he won the national championship ring with his Indianapolis Colts. I watched Cooper, Peyton and Eli play football at Newman High School for many years while my son attended lower school and middle school. To see the incredible success Peyton and Eli have garnered for themselves in the NFL is truly wonderful and a testament to Olivia and Archie, their parents. While the New England Patriots were not able to enjoy a perfect season, they still bested the previous record set by the 1972 Miami Dolphins and have raised the bar very high for another team to repeat. They have nothing to be ashamed of other than they got beaten by a superior team on the field today. Congratulations to the New York Giants and our hometown hero Eli Manning! I say to heck with perfection. Just concentrate on execution.

Groundhog Day

In the movie "Groundhog Day" Bill Murray lives through seemingly endless permutations of the same day, February 2. My Groundhog Day here in New Orleans was, perhaps, the exact opposite of Murray's plight. It was over before I knew it. While it may be true that I was not able to vie for the hand of the comely Andie MacDowell, there were so many items on the agenda that I hardly had time to catch my breath. It started early enough with my usual Saturday morning activities preparing to attend religious services, but it was much more involved because I was sponsoring the Kiddush luncheon there in honor of my father's yartzhiet (anniversary of his passing). I was given an honor and asked to talk about my father following two other members of the synagogue whose father's death coincided on the same day on the Hebrew calendar, Shevat 28. After they had talked about his connection to the synagogue, I was asked to speak. I acknowledged that while my father didn't regularly attend services, he nonetheless felt that it was a proper duty for a man to belong to a synagogue and that he was a member of Beth Israel from the time he married my mother. "My father was a prominent figure, but he was a man of few words," I continued. "He would not deign to hold up these services, so I will conclude with what was his favorite expression: 'If I'm not there, start without me.'" It was a wonderful morning capped by the appearance of my son David there for a short, but meaningful period. Unfortunately, the services didn't end until noon and the luncheon that followed put me on a very late start that prevented me from watching the Krewe of Iris, the female parade organization I work with during the Carnival season. I did watch the Krewe of Tucks, who celebrated their 40th anniversary yesterday I remember when the "krewe" was nothing more than the result of inebriated Tulane students gathering at a nearby bar and parading with pickup trucks on busy Claiborne Avenue and other side streets near the university. Their king sat on a commode in the rear of a pickup truck and his "scepter" was a toilet plunger. They have certainly come a long way. The rest of the evening was spent preparing dinner and trying to relax prior to today's major slate of parades I will be announcing at Gallier Hall. I have three to do: Okeanos, Mid City and Thoth. The rescheduled Krewe of Babylon will be sandwiched in between the first and second slot and someone else will have that duty, apparently. Time to don the tux.

A New Month

Welcome to the second month of my entry into the blogosphere. Yes, for those of us who are just getting adjusted to the acceptance of such terms as "my bad" and "friends with benefits," the word blogosphere seems like one of those Dr. Seuss expressions my sister called "made up." After all, it is only about a decade old and may just take a bit more adjustment before it rolls trippingly off the tongue. My spellcheck program still highlights "blogosphere" as a misspelled word, but not to worry. It highlights "spellcheck," too.
According to the way that I set up the blog, one should be able to go back in the archives and read any of the previous 28 posts that were made in January. As is the case always, the last few blogs will be visible on the home page of Kosher Computing.
It is cold in New Orleans today. Not cold by Cleveland standards, but cold nevertheless. A 30 or 40 degree day in New Orleans with 97% humidity seems much colder than those of much lesser temperatures in my former haunt in Ohio. As the natives here like to say, "it's the humidity stupid." Well, whatever the reason, my feet are especially cold this morning. The weather system that blew through here yesterday was brief, but intense. The lightning and driving rain was over in just a little over an hour and a half, but it came at a crucial time for the mounting of the evening's parades. After talks with city officials before noon, all the New Orleans krewes decided to cancel; two of them, the Krewes of Muses and Babylon, opted to reschedule for tonight and Sunday afternoon, respectively. That means four uptown parades tonight along St. Charles Avenue (Hermes, d'Etat, Morpheus, and Muses), the return of the biggest tomorrow night, the Krewe of Endymion, along its traditional Mid City and downtown route, and five parades on Sunday (Okeanos, Babylon, Mid City, and Thoth to start) concluding with superkrewe Bacchus on Super Bowl Sunday night. Monday night is superkrewe Orpheus where I will be at the Convention Center and that leaves just one day more. For the rest of the country, it's Super Tuesday, but for us it's Mardi Gras. It is a hectic, whirlwind schedule for me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. L'eissez les bon temps rouler!