There’s the head of Queen Elizabeth II. Just her head. She’s grinning ear to ear, wearing lemon yellow with her trademark matching hat. She’s actually a bust of the late monarch, and she’s propped up against a window of a glassed-off studio, surveying the factory floor.
A likeness of The Queen at Mardi Gras World. Photo: Vivian Vassos
But this is not just any factory. This is Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, the most expansive workshop in the New Orleans area, and where The Queen is one of hundreds of works that decorate floats for the most important day of the year here in The Big Easy.
Double than lifesize Marilyn Monroe sidles up to the rock band Kiss and a towering Gene Simmons; The Genie from Aladdin has Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas in his sights; towering masked court jesters in a rainbow of colours smile wickedly; Asian dragons glow a fierce orange; flaming demons shoot fire from their palms; lions and tigers and, yes, bears (and a gorilla or two), oh my!
Photo: Mardi Gras World
To see these sculpted works of art so still, and so up close allows an appreciation for the craft that goes into creating them. When they’re in motion on parade, they’re even more awe- and joy-inspiring. Sculptors and painters are at work all year, creating the next big thing. And, Mardi Gras World is open to the public, with guided tours on offer seven days a week.
Mardi Gras, music and the mystical go hand in hand in hand in New Orleans. Later that day, we gathered in Congo Square at Louis Armstrong Park, listening to a guide tell the story of this important African heritage site. Congo Square was an open-air performance space of sorts, for enslaved Western Africans to ensure their music and religious traditions were kept alive, without intervention.
It’s considered a birthplace of New Orleans sound; off-kilter rhythms and beats gave way to the infancy of jazz. The park, of course, is named for NOLA son Satchmo (Louis Armstrong), the immortal musician who broke down barriers, played his trumpet and hit the high notes with his unique vocals. The J&M Studios, just across the way, recorded the likes of locals Fats Domino and Guitar Slim, and also played host to Ray Charles and Little Richard. Jelly Roll Morton and Satchmo introduced jazz to music lovers in the dark parlours of Basin Street and soon, broadcast this uniquely American form of music to the world.
It’s in Preservation Hall in the French Quarter, a tight little all-ages music venue with bench seating and walls lined with photos of the many who have played here, is where legends were made. So close is the live band, you can almost reach out and grasp the trombone’s bar as its player slides it back and forth; you can’t help but move to it; feet tapping, hands clapping; you’re dancing in your seat, it’s such joy.
Preservation Hall by Cheryl Gerber
The players are joyous too, with a sense of humour, poking fun at each other while they play, telling a few stories and a bit of history about this hallowed hall. This is the latest incarnation of the Preservation Hall All-Stars Jazz Band, a group of musicians of all ages playing and touring under the Hall’s name since the early 1960s – many played with greats Morton and Armstrong.
And sometimes, you may follow them, all the way out the Preservation Hall’s doors, playing and shimmying their way down the street, forming a Second Line. It might be a wedding, or maybe a funeral – the merry or the melancholy melody and the pace of their step makes the occasion clear. Anyone can join: Getting caught up in this line that spreads the width of St. Peter Street is magnetic, taken by the beat of the music and the presence of this marching brass band is the essence of New Orleans. Sound. Music. People. Dancing. Everything stops for it; the parade is everything.
By Pableaux Johnson
Ah, but what about the mystic? There’s more of this in New Orleans than anything else. Voodoo queens, fortune tellers, psychics and seances – dabbling in the beyond might be considered canon here. And tea-leaf readers. I’ve taken the last sip, flipped the china cup and prepared to hear my personal tea spilled. Across the road from Preservation Hall is The Vampire Apothecary. It’s a known haunt of witches and spell-weavers, but we’re here taking afternoon tea, complete with sweet treats, while many others are having a pint at the bar.
But for that bar, it could be an enchantress’s cottage: dried herbs and flowers hang hodge podge next to crystal chandeliers from the ceiling; rustic wooden chairs and tables cover the rickety floors; exposed brick walls and mismatched china cups are charm and mystique at once. I wait, hoping there’s something prescient brewing in my tea leaves. Finally, I give in, and gently turn it for the reveal.
To my eye, it looks like two countries, separated by water with birds flying in an arc over it. I smile. It’s Canada, I say, and I’m one of the birds, flying my way to Europe, something I’m known to do often; having just recently returned before my trip to NOLA. The tea-leaf reader takes a look, and doesn’t disagree with what I perceive, but I can tell she also spies something else. Suddenly, the spell is broken.
That’s the magic of New Orleans. It draws you in and then releases you to come back for more.
When you go
Cajun Jambalaya, American dish. Typical and authentic Louisiana Cajun Creole cuisine. Stew consisting of chicken, andouille and shrimp with Bayou seasoning and white rice. Photo by K I Photography
The cuisine of Louisiana is as legendary as its jazz greats. Try your hand at a creole or cajun cooking class – gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya and more – at the Mardi Gras School of Cooking. I discovered some chef secrets and nifty gadgets to make it all easier, including a shrimp de-veiner. themardigrasschoolofcooking.com; neworleans.com
