Well, well, well. We made it through the Gras. Barely. Usually we have a quiet period for a while after the good times stop rolling. Folks rest their livers and lick their wounds. Some of those wounds are psychological; some are physical. (Hey! It’s OK. Float riding and doing “the worm” can be dangerous.)
But wounded or not, no one took a breather after this Mardi Gras. The beautiful weather this past weekend brought out peeps in droves by land and by sea. So I’ll give you a little bit of the skinny on that, but first I have a few leftovers from Lundi Gras and Fat Tuesday. So go ahead and remove the plastic wrap, stick this column in the microwave and nuke it on high so you can dig on into this week’s oh-so-tasty gossip.
Mega Lundi Gras
Since we went to press early on Lundi Gras day, we didn’t get a chance to report the rest of the Carnival scoop in the last issue. So we are fixin’ to do that right now, y’all.
The weather was nasty for most of the day on Saturday, Feb. 10, so they canceled the Mystics of Time parade that was set to roll that night. I’m sure it made sense at the time, but Mother Nature is quite unpredictable. And of course, since they canceled it, it turned out to be a nice night. That’s just the way it works. I am sure it’s really hard to make those calls and really easy to Monday morning quarterback, so I’m not complaining. But many did, especially those who had come in from out of town to see the parades.
They rescheduled the parade for Monday. The MOTs would ride before the Order of Doves and Infant Mystics, which was not good for the out-of-towners trying to catch the parade on Saturday but provided a supersized parade for locals Monday night.
Unfortunately, it created quite a bit of cluster-you-know-what around the Civic Center. The organizations rolled on a different route to try and prevent this but it was still a mess. The MOTs’ signature dragon floats were awesome as always but were really late, causing some little ones to fall asleep on the parade route. However, we did hear that if their clothes got dirty, some of the riders were throwing Tide pods. (Boozie hates she missed that, those things aren’t cheap! Also, not delicious, teenagers!)
But anyway, my spies who were trying to get to the IM tableau had trouble finding places to park and many missed it. We hear it was fabulous, though, as they celebrated their 150th! The spies said the band was great and everyone was out on the floor getting down. Happy Birthday, IMs! You don’t look a day over 149!
You’re so second fiddle!
The Knights of Revelry paid tribute to famous sidekicks with their floats on Fat Tuesday. Some of Boozie’s favorites were: Batman’s boy wonder, Robin; Shrek’s real ass of a sidekick, Donkey; and Tom Hanks’ volleyball, Wilson, who is quiet but an excellent listener. No word on if there were any Tide pods or packages of Conecuh sausage thrown, but a couple of my spies who watched the parade at The Royal Scam said they were inundated with so many footballs and beads they thought they had won the Fat Tuesday lottery — although some minor bruises were reported.
Cowboys return
Everyone was waiting with bated breath to see how the satirical Comic Cowboys would come back this year after facing controversy last year over signs many folks viewed as offensive and racially insensitive. They were so incendiary, in fact, it caused a couple of politicos to resign from the group, including Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson.
With so much contention, their signs were literally held under wraps this year, covered with tarps at their annual barn party and right up until they rolled away from the Civic Center.
But with so much great material to work with this year (Roy Moore, Donald Trump, Mobile City Council president debacle and yet another man who had sex with a horse out in the county — just to name a few), the Cowboys did not disappoint, covering all of those topics and more. And with just the right tone — they were biting and funny but not offensive. I mean, they were offensive, but in a good way. And they poked some fun at themselves, too, for last year. Self-deprecation is always a winner! Good to see them back in their groove.
But still, I don’t think we’ll see any politicos running back to join anytime soon. As one of their signs read, “The three things politicians fear the most: Being caught with a live boy, a dead girl or a membership in the Comic Cowboys.”
No rest for the weary
The weekend after Mardi Gras is usually pretty quiet, but with the warm temps everyone wanted to be outside. One of my spies said on Saturday night new downtown restaurant El Papi was standing room only and Briquettes and Grand Mariner were on one-hour waits. Also, we heard Pirate’s Cove in Josephine, which just underwent renovations, was packed out with boaters all weekend. Our spies said the renovations looked great but the Bushwackers tasted the same — perfect!
We did get one odd report that an Orange Beach police officer was all hot and bothered that dogs were out on the beach. Wonder what the pooches were suspected of? Barking and entering? Dog-mestic violence? OK, those were just bad so I’ll stop there.
Well kids, that’s all I got. Just remember, whether rain or shine, dramatic or scandalous or some plain ol’ Mardi Gras leftover lovin’, I will be there. Ciao!
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