Running for Mardi Gras

Okeanos Queen Martha Elizabeth Dart at Gallier Hall with sidekick

Yesterday was a real workout. After what for me was an unusual night of at least four hours of sleep, I awoke to prepare myself for the challenges of being the announcer for four day parades at Gallier Hall. Being prepared is a bit of an understatement. No matter how well I held up my end of what was needed, I was still dependeent on lots of external factors and other people to do what had to be accomplished. After finding a parking spot within three blocks of Gallier Hall, I walked the ten blocks to the hotel where the Queen of Okeanos' mother was hosting a special breakfast in her daughter's honor. All of the royal maids of Okeanos and their mothers were smartly attired in dresses or suits. Each maid donned an attractive hat. The queen, Martha Elizabeth Dart, was resplendent in a white suit with a crown symbolizing her reign. The limousines carrying the royal party had a bit of a problem. Because the four parades needed motorcycle escorts to their respective staging areas, the New Orleans Police Department's Motorcycle Division was hard pressed to provide a full escort until after the 10:00 a.m. start time. As a result, we had to "buzz" the parade route on the way to the uptown staging area, making our way through Carnival crowds already camped out on Napoleon and St. Charles Avenues. Two stretch limousines, which were in reality converted SUVs, carried the maids, a male escort and yours truly in one and the mothers and the captain of the krewe and a female escort followed behind in the other car. The police did a great job getting us to where they thought the beginning of the parade was, but it soon turned out they didn't know where they were going. We got within a block of the start of the parade and I stopped the caravan, grabbed a dozen yellow roses intended for the king's float and ran like the dickens for three blocks bouquet in hand. After handing the flowers to the aid on the king's float, I ran back to the waiting limousines, while the officers conferred as to what route would get us to the reviewing stand in time for me to announce the parades. I marvel at my breakneck speed in making it through the obstacle course of people and parading units. A bit out of breath, I waited for another two minutes while the motorcycle escorts and the drivers figured out a suitable side street on which to turn. These stretch limos were quite long. Finally I made a suggestion and off we went. As it turned out, we made great time getting back. However, by the time I got into the stands, the Knights of Babylon parade was already at Gallier Hall. It took a bit of running up the marble stairs and negotiating through the crowd, but the toast from the city to Sargon XLV went off magnificently as my adrenaline kicked in yet again. The parade, rescheduled from Thursday night's rainout, passed by in rapid order due to the fact they had no marching bands. It seemed to be less than ten minutes in length from the time of the toast to the time the trailing police and fire department units were passing the reviewing stand. It was then time to announce the arrival of the royal party. I called out each maid's name and her parents and introduced the Queen of Okeanos, Martha Elizabeth Dart, to my announcer's booth. After the captain's wife was introduced, all of the mothers of the maids were allowed into the mayor's reviewing area. Within a few minutes the 61st parade of the Krewe of Okeanos winded it way to the former New Orleans City Hall. The theme "Okeanos Asks: 'Will You Be Mine?" was an obvious homage to Valentine's Day The Krewe of Mid City followed right behind with 18 bright and dazzling floats decorated in alumninum foil of many colors. Another parade and another two toasts to the 2010 king and queen. Finally, the crowing achievement of the day came about when the impressive Krewe of Thoth, the second largest Carnival krewe behind Endymion passed in review. It was a huge parade with 42 floats in total and the theme "Thoth's All Mixed Up," a tribute to libations and potent potables like the White Russian, Margaita and Fog Cutter. The final toasts were done by recently re-elected Councilperson Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, but the parade seemed to last forever. It was a great day for Carnival, but I must admit I was plain tuckered by the time that the Krewe of Bacchus was set to roll with Drew Brees as its celebrity king. Brees was picked to be Bacchus several months ago when the Saints were still undefeated and when a Super Bowl win was still an unrealized dream. It was the third parade Brees has been in since the win last Sunday in Miami. He was in Orlando at Disney World for their parade on Monday, in New Orleans for the Super Bowl parade on Tuesday and, following stints on the Ellen Degeneres, David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey shows managed to get back in town to portray the Roman god of wine. Meanwhile, I am ready for the Greek god Morpheus to take over. Sleep...sleep...sleep.

The run to the finish

The last few days have been a whirlwind of excitement in the city. Tuesday's parade honoring the world champion New Orleans Saints was unlike any ever held before. That's a lot to consider because, after all, this is a town known for putting on parades. The cooperative effort by several Carnival krewes who "loaned" Barry Kern of Blaine Kern Productions twelve floats on which the team owners, players and coaches would ride was unlike anything ever seen in New Orleans. It was the biggest parade ever held in downtown New Orleans and the track took only a couple of miles. Estimates were that 800,000 fans came into the downtown area to cheer on the boys in black and gold. That's incredible when you consider that the latest census estimates have the New Orleans population at a little over 300,000. Usually, the celebration of Carnival intensifies in the last week leading up to Mardi Gras. This year is decidedly different. The Saints celebration party brought out every politician to Gallier Hall including both U.S. Senators, the governor, the mayor, the entire city council and most of the legislators who hold sway in Baton Rouge. Since that parade set a very high mark, the pattern could be likened to a rollercoaster ride that starts at the top, quickly plummets and then must start the climb back to the top. Wednesday the Krewe of Ancient Druids rolled through the city and I was there to announce the parade at Gallier Hall. The night before there were thousands there. The Druids parade with a theme titled "Holes" offered a funny exposition for a determined crowd that braved chilly winds in the Crescent City on Wednesday. Thursday's night parades were rained out, which mean the cancellation of the Knights of Chaos satirical parade and the postponement of the Krewes of Muses and the Knights of Babylon. Muses rolled last on Friday night's in what were four different parades one behind the other. Babylon chose to reschedule for Sunday in the morning. Yesterday's day parades include the Krewe of Iris, the oldest women's Carnival organization and I was pleased to be selected to provide music for a special group of ladies in the 25 float presentation. The spectacular Krewe of Endymion parade paralyzed the city last night on what has become known in recent times as Samedi Gras. The krewe featured Saints owner Tom Benson as the grand marshall and the 2400-plus members enjoyed the Endymion Extravaganza until the wee hours of the morning. It is only fitting that the announcer for Endymion is none other than Jerry Romig, the Saints announcer for the past 42 years and the announcer for Endymion since it began. So, I must leave to attend duties for announcing at Gallier Hall the four parades for today: the Knights of Babylon resecheduled from the rainout on Thursday night, the Krewe of Okeanos, the Krewe of Mid City and the second largest Carnival organization, the Krewe of Thoth.

The new hizzoner

In all of the hoopla leading up to the New Orleans Saints becoming world champions at the Super Bowl, there was a citywide election Saturday that set into place the officials who will lead or continue to lead New Orleans for the next four years. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2006 Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu attempted what would have been unthinkable prior to the storm: to be elected the first white mayor of New Orleans since his father, Maurice "Moon" Landrieu held that august office. The elder Landrieu, for whom the so-called "Moonwalk" at the river and Jackson Square is named, also served as President Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Health and Urban Development and is the father of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and Verna's husband. The pitched battle between incumbent Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Mitch Landrieu four years ago resulted in Nagin's re-election after an enormous campaign in which large numbers of displaced voters were bussed in from areas as far away as Atlanta and Houston. Landrieu's entry into the race seemed a gamble at the time and Nagin mustered his forces together in a well-organized campaign that put his administration back into power for another four years, but the margin of victory was hardly convincing. Landrieu fought a good and decent campaign, but lost out by a few percentage points in what was his second mayoral attempt. Nagin was still a force to be reckoned with, but his attitude with the media became strained. It wasn't long after that election that City Councilman-at-large Oliver Thomas, the heir apparent to Nagin, was swept up in a kickback scandal discovered by federal authorities as a result of another investigation. Thomas's meteoric flame out occurred over a three-day period when he resigned from city office and pled guilty to the federal indictment secured against him. Thomas is still in the federal slammer counting the days until he is released. As the media continued to pound Nagin for alleged indiscretions including a family link to a business set up to work with Home Depot and several "business" trips to Hawaii and other locales, confidence in Mayor Nagin began to wither. Some media reports suggested he had, in fact, already moved to Dallas. One of the most controversial episodes occurred when the mayor's office was requested for his 2007 calendar as part of a public records request by both WWL-TV investigative reporter Lee Zurik and the Times-Picayune. An office spokesman stated that the request could not be fulfilled because a good portion of the mayor's e-mails had been "accidentally" deleted. What followed were several months of accusations and challenges before the Louisiana Technology Council and its partners were called in to help clarify the matter. Eventually, they restored the missing e-mails and concluded that the "accidental" deletions were, in fact, deliberately done by someone with a great deal of technical savvy. The press conference LTC called to go over the affair was seen by City Hall as disloyal and grandstanding. In any event, the local branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made sure it copied all of the missing files, but nothing yet has come of that. The lack of an incumbent made this most recent race interesting to be sure, but when Landrieu qualified at the last minute, some cried foul. Even though he had already ruled out a run in a decision last summer, the astute politician must have known that the field of candidates that had announced was weak at best and poor choices at worst. When the vote was tallied on Saturday night, Landrieu had won in the first primary by a whopping mandate of 66% in a field of 11 candidates. Political newcomer Troy Henry followed Landrieu's impressive 58,276 total with 12,275 votes. Landrieu had garnered a sizable majority of the black electorate as had his dad before him to secure the mayoralty in another race conducted with dignity and little negativity. Personally, I am looking forward to Landrieu's leadership. I've known him for a long time and respect him as a legislator, an upstanding citizen and a devotee of the arts. His administration may mark yet another turning point in New Orleans that could signal the recovery is well on its way to restoring the city to its full glory.

We Had Our Dreams Answered Tonight (W.H.O.D.A.T.)!

Special Saints yarmulke and black and gold beads with fleur-de-lis atop Times-Picayune

While most everyone woke up this morning thinking only of the game, I had other responsibilities. I was supposed to be announcing the Krewe of Carrollton parade at historic Gallier Hall. It was my duty to welcome the fourth oldest parading organization to the streets of New Orleans on behalf of the Honorable Mayor C. Ray Nagin and the City Council. I dressed in my tuxedo with special fleur-de-lis studs and cuff links and wore a special black and gold fleur-de-lis that hung from a a pair of gold beads. Just for special consideration I also wore a special suede yarmulke (skullcap) to keep me connected to my Jewish community here and in Cleveland, where I lived for almost two years following the Hurricane Katrina diaspora. It took me less than 20 minutes to make the drive from my home, park and walk into the building that formerly served as the New Orleans city hall. The day was crisp, the crowd downtown was sparse and everyone enjoyed the Mardi Gras spirit with popular Saints songs interspersed with Carnival tunes on the loudspeakers there. I gave deejay Charles "Bam Bam" Belonge (which is pronounced Buh-LONG-jay) a special CD of several other songs he was lacking, which he eagerly played and asked if he could keep. In the spirit of Carnival and the kinsmanship I felt with him and everyone else who was hoping for a Saints victory I agreed. It seemed forever before the parade arrived, but an hour and a half after they started, they were there. I announced the parading units and floats as they passed by with the theme "It's a Small World," but as soon as the trailing police and fire units had made their way past the announcer's booth, I was on my way home, looking to park myself in front of my TV for the duration of the game. I kept my yarmulke on throughout the game, prayed and hung tough as the Saints pulled away from the Colts in the second half. No sooner had the game ended, then I was off to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter sans my yarmulke. It would have been yanked from my head in a flash. There is no doubt I was the only person walking in the masses of humanity wearing a tuxedo, but I didn't care. The Saints had won the game and given the citizens of the city and the entire Gulf South - some still living afar - a redemption beyond any they could have envisioned four and a half years ago in the wake of those dark, swirling floodwaters. Pride in the individual team members and the way they persevered in the face of their greatest challenge is to be expected. But the team gave back to the city more than a simple trophy. They gave them hope and promise and a reason to keep fighting back as recovery efforts go on. The smiles and elation of the crowd were not fueled by alcohol tonight. They were fueled by an uncommon love for our city and what it means to live here. The Bible tells us that Moses and the Hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years. The Saints, lovable losers for decades, had suffered for 43 years and had only managed a few shots at post-season play, those coming only in the last two decades. Tonight we won it all and in so doing froze a moment in time that will forever be remembered as a victory of spirit and purpose. To all of those naysayers who questioned why New Orleans should be rebuilt after the storm, I offer them a picture of Drew Brees holding high the Vince Lombardi trophy with a smiling Sean Payton looking on. It means more to us than a win on the scoreboard. It is our redemption and a shining symbol of what we have endured and what can be achieved with drive, determination and guts. Who Dat!

Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh?

Rabbi Robert Loewy with his Saints jersey (Photo by Judy Bottoni/AP)

Leave it to a rabbi to come up with a Hebrew translation of "Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who Dat?" Rabbi Robert Loewy of Gates of Prayer Synagogue in Metairie came up with the full expression "Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh Omer Yach-vosh et Ha-tsa-dikim? Mi Zeh?" sometime before the NFC Championship game against the Minnesota Vikings. I take an advanced adult Jewish education course from Loewy on a weekly basis, so I learned of his translation just after the last game the Saints played. He said he worked to try to come up with the right words that would suffice. One of the major stumbling blocks is that the concept of a "saint" is foreign to Hebrew. There is a term for being righteous, which is translated variously as tzadik or in the plural tzadikim and the rabbi determined that was probably the best word choice. The major problem in getting the phrase out to others is that the Hebrew fonts have to be installed on computers before they'll understand the characters and, as most gradeschoolers know, Hebrew reads from right to left, has no punctuation and, oftentimes, lacks vowels. The English transliteration works well enough and it has established Loewy as a local Saints enthusiast. LIke every other segment in the greater New Orleans community, the Jewish community is very fired up about the Super Bowl game on Sunday. But that won't stop the first of the major parades from rolling tonight. Even the Sunday parade schedule has been bumped up an hour so that fans will be off the streets and inside their homes or favorite lounges by kickoff. Saints fans believe they can win. They know their history and look back only a few years ago when Peyton Manning's little brother Eli and his team, the New York Giants, swept the heavily-favored and undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. That wasn't supposed to happen, but it did. If you can conceive, you can achieve. Down here everybody is waiting with abated breath for the start of the game. Even moreso they are hoping that the end of the game will have the Saints on the winning side of the score. The game plans are done. The players are ready. It's time for some football, Shabbat and Mardi Gras, although not necessarily in that order. Mi Zeh?

Recovery, digital forensics and Hippo

Ever watch an episode of NCIS and marvel how Abby Sciutto (played so expertly by New Orleanian native Pauley Perrette) can recover data off a hard drive that's been shot, set ablaze or otherwise damaged in a way only a Hollywood scriptwriter could devise? It must be fiction, you will undoubtedly assure yourself, otherwise why couldn't the computer technician recover data off the hard drive that died with a simple whimper last week? Aren't they the same thing? After all, if it happens on TV, it must be steeped in fact and reality. So what gives? Has my computer technician been misleading me? Why did I have to buy a new computer workstation or reinstall my operating system and lose all of my data? First of all, we need to make two distinctions. There is data recovery or digital forensics and then there is a recovery of the operating system, meaning the Windows, Mac, Linux or other operating system along with attendant applications like Word or Quickbooks. I think most of us will recognize that the computer drive that's been used for target practice is not likely to come back to life. However, if there were critical data needed on that drive, it might be able to be recovered and then copied to a healthy system. The ability to return a crashed drive back to healthy status requires a great deal of knowledge and forethought. Doing something silly like keeping an extra hard drive plugged into a new operating system install can have dire consequences later. Tuesday night I learned quite a bit more about about both data recovery and digital forensics when the Louisiana Technology Council invited their members and interested parties to learn from two experts who have been movers and shakers in these two areas of computing technology. The first was Chris Read from Carrollton Technology, one of the lead partners with the LTC in the project which resulted in restoring thousands of what the LTC and Carrollton jointly concluded were deliberately deleted e-mails from the New Orleans mayor's server. These e-mails were the subject of a public records request made by several local reporters including WWL's Lee Zurik at the time (Zurik now works for crosstown rival WVUE-TV) and the Times-Picayune. Also included in the forum was Golden Richard, III, a professor at the University of New Orleans, considered one of the foremost local digital forensics experts. He talked about how data is like an unwelcome visitor; it never truly goes away when you'd like it to do so. So-called registry "scrubbers" or rewriting programs intended to "wipe" hard drives of data are no match for Richard or any of his peers and students. Richard has been used by several federal groups to assist authorities in determining criminal activity by suspected purveyors of child pornography, for example. As Richard explained, sometimes a simple dumb act like not securing one's wireless access could have disastrous consequences. Richard gave an example of a person wrongly accused in hosting child pornography over the Internet, when it turned out it was his pedophile neighbor "stealing" his wireless access. By the time the facts were sorted out, the unlucky person who was accused had lost his computers, had his good name sullied and had endured a great deal of aggravation and unnecessary stress. If this doesn't scare you into placing security on your wireless access, I guess nothing ever will.

Maurice "Hippo" Katz, a well-known and attuned political confidante of major players on both a city and statewide level, passed away on Tuesday morning. Katz, 75, a local character earned his nickname for his wide girth when he was still a very young man. A successful insurance executive, Katz was noted for his political insight and he counseled many candidates for public office over the course of five decades. He was often seen holding court at Ruth's Chris Steak House with such powerhouse politicians as Edwin Edwards, Harry Lee and Aaron Broussard. Although he was accused of being a bit too close to some politicians who had influence and sway, Katz was never convicted of any offense and carried on business with several local governments and entities. That fact seems to have been ignored in the Times-Picayune obituary, which ran today. Much of the article addressed charges that were never proven and Katz's survivors and friends were left scratching their heads over why the newspaper felt it necessary to trot out information that was salacious at worst and misleading at the very least.

The rollercoaster ride to redemption

Throughout the past week the feeling among the residents has been a mixture of elation and nervous anticipation. Several sports memorabilia and T-shirt shops were served with cease and desist letters a week ago by lawyers representing the National Football League. The recipients of the letters included several mom and pop shops that protested the action along with outraged fans. The lawyers claimed that the NFL and the New Orleans Saints organization had trademarked the term "Who dat?" and fans who had been using that cry to rally the team for decades took umbrage and offense over the suggestion that their phrase could be laid claim to like a caveman might take a wife. The term "who dat?" has had a rich history, having been traced back to minstrel shows of the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. Various individuals have claimed to have been at the onset of the popularity of the phrase, some stating it was used traditionally by Cajuns, while others suggested it began outside of the state in nearby Mississippi. More recently the cheer, if we can call it that, was used as a taunt in the mid-1980s by a local high school football team that had racked up some impressive wins. That corresponded to the rise of the Saints organization as a contender in the NFL rather than the Aints of earlier days when embarrassed fans wore paper bags on their heads, espying the games through cutout holes. Several fans began to use the cry "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat?" at games, but then it began to snowball after local sportscaster and New York Mets legend Ron Swoboda oversaw a recording session with several New Orleans Saints football players and local legend Aaron Neville one evening. The songwriters incorporated the "who dat?" cheer into the traditional Dixieland favorite "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a catchy New Orleans "second line" backbeat. The record took off like a rocket and was heard over the local airwaves for much of the last two decades and more. For the NFL to claim ownership of the term as an intellectual property was a bit of a reach and the fan reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Even high profile politicians like Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter invited the football league to challenge him, promising he would be printing up T-shirts for his electorate with the "who dat?" phrase emblazoned on them. "Sue me," he reportedly shot back to the NFL amid the obvious delight of his electorate. The backlash was so great that the NFL, accustomed to strong arm tactics in other cities, was put in the curious situation where they had to rethink their position. Before the beginning of the Pro Bowl weekend they clarified their claim. Only where the term "who dat?' is used with the obvious New Orleans Saints black and gold color scheme and their name would there be grounds for legal action by the Saints and the league, they contended. It still went down loyal Saints fans' throats like day old warm beer. Their outcry was unmistakably opposed to the league and to a lesser attempt at Tom Benson's Saints organization. Even the staid Times-Picayune decried the NFL's action in an editorial. It is curious that the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Saints and Scouting cannot be trademarked or copyrighted. It has existed as a symbol for centuries and the Saints are the only NFL organization that cannot lay claim to it as their exclusive symbol. The dust has settled on that hot topic now that the team members have journeyed to Miami and begun to work on their game plan for Sunday's game. Coach Sean Payton has been tight-lipped about what he plans on doing in Supebowl XLIV, but today is Media Day, the first major day of coverage by sportswriters and reporters from across the globe. Like ravenous piranha fish they will descend on the players and coaches and start the turnstiles of endless coverage that will pervade all media up to and including the kickoff. Local fans are starting and ending conversations with the "Who dat?" phrase, but the anxiety levels are definitely building. The two best teams in the NFL are getting ready for a shootout. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who grew up in New Orleans, would be the local favorite were he not playing against his dad's former team. The trash talk on the local radio talk shows have dealt with how to get to Manning and keep him off his game. Sunday afternoon well over one thousand men donned dresses, slipped on high heeled shoes, applied makeup and bandied boas as they marched in memory of local sportscaster Buddy "D" Diliberto, who had made a promise to his faithful that should the Saints ever get into the Superbowl, he would wear a dress. Sadly, he passed away prior to Hurricane Katrina's devastation and the horrible damage done to the Saints playing facility at the Louisiana Superdome. WWL radio sports reporter and former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert led the rally in a special black and gold sequined number designed by his daughter, who works in the fashion industry in New York City. I liken this period of time to the veritable calm before the storm or the period on the rollercoaster when it is making its slow and steady climb to the top just before all hell breaks loose as it plummets toward the ground. All I can advise to everyone concerned is hold on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.