Category Archives: mardi gras

2 things

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i’m gonna keep this short and sweet and will probably flesh out both of these points later in longer posts.

#1 – i have high quality #RESIST stickers, DIY yard signs (spray paint stencil on coroplast), and so far a handful of handprinted grey 90/10 cotton/poly heathered gildan unisex crew neck tshirts with blue ink for sale. message me with any interest and i’m happy to answer questions and/or hook you up. these are kinda basic tshirts that i can get locally at michael’s and a few other places so even if i run out i can probably go find more of them in whatever size you need. the unisex sizing runs from small through 3xl i think though they were out of 3xl when i went there, so i only have up to 2xl right now. if you need 3xl i can try to find some. these will be $20 plus postage. i am still sorting out what other brand/style of shirts i will do pre-orders for for a future run, so stay tuned if this kinda basic heavyweight unisex t is not your jam. (they will likely cost a little bit more though cuz they will be 100% cotton, lighter weight and probably premium quality.)

#2 – i have signed up for my second year of taking CVP (the creative visionary program) from art2life because they offer an 80+% discount to alumni to repeat the course and i didn’t really finish some of it last year and need the jolt of energy it provides to motivate me in the studio going into this year. i will write much more about why i decided to do so in a later post.

full disclosure: art2life like many companies has an affiliate program that pays out a percentage if you get new folks to sign up to CVP, and i have signed up for that affiliate program. so i will be writing a much longer entry about what the program and art2life in general has done for me and will tell you more about all that, but for now i just wanna tell you that art2life does a totally FREE week long online workshop to introduce nick (the creator and head artist/coach) and his philosophy of teaching art and to get people just making some fun art together. at the end of the free workshop they tell you about CVP if you have interest; if you don’t, then you got a free week of art instruction and hopefully made some fun art and learned a thing or two without any obligation.

the free art of your life workshop will be from march 3rd – 7th. (really bad timing for me since that’s mardi gras week, but fyi all the online sessions are recorded and sent to you via email so you can always do them later.) if you are an artist and want a fun week of working with thousands of people around the planet on some art prompts, or even if you aren’t an artist and just wanna try it out, have some fun with whatever materials you have on hand, and get a taste of this kind and uplifting community, or just find out what i’ve been going on about for the past few years with art2life, go ahead and sign up using this link that’s highlighted. as an affiliate i of course do not make any money off of you signing up for the free class but they do give prizes for the affiliates who get the most signups to the free class, so if you are even thinking about taking it, just go ahead and sign up using my link so i get credit for it cuz maybe i can win some free art supplies! (you can always unsubscribe from the emails if you decide it’s not for you.)

but seriously the free workshop is really worth doing, especially in these dark times we are in right now in the US. the upbeat, supportive community and coaches really raise your energy and for me it’s really inspiring and motivating – it’s not just about how to make art but how making art can help your life. i myself will definitely be tuning in! if a bunch of folks i know take it then we could do a little group to talk about it and share what we make!

anyways, more on all that soon but figured i’d put it out there as early as i could since people need to plan. and like i said, for my new orleans folks, you can always get caught up on the class after mardi gras – it might make a perfect post-mardi gras activity.

happy mardi gras everyone! attend your local protests! call your representatives! make some art!

new stickers for sale!

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lastnightabrassbandsticker

one of the rewards i am offering my $5 and up patreon subscribers is stickers. so the first new sticker i have made is that of my “last night a brass band saved my life” design. it’s slightly different than the t-shirt design i ran on teespring last year but basically the same – the background is black with the lime green trumpet, and the trumpet is a bit more ornate than the one i used on the t-shirt design. but i am pleased with it and think it translates well to a sticker. (and yes, you can still order the t-shirts via my teespring storefront and i will run the campaign and promote it actively a little closer to french quarter fest and jazzfest.)

so my patreon subscribers will get a handful of these free this month. the rest of you however will have to chip in a little for one, so i can start raising the money for the next sticker i will make next month – my “less internet, more art!” design that i stenciled on a few signs years ago and then never did anything else with. what with my 2016 push to get back to my art and creativity, seems like that slogan is a logical one to put out there in the world and put in front of myself to remind me to focus and not get distracted.

this batch of stickers cost me $113 for 200 of them (via stickermule), roughly 57 cents each. so i am asking $1 a sticker if you get them from me in person, cash. if i have to mail them to you or you have to pay me via electronic means, they will be $2/each or 3 for $5 or 6 for $10, to cover the stamp, envelope, electronic payment fees, and/or tax.

these stickers are 3″ x 4″ so big enough to put on a car bumper but also small enough for scooters, bikes, computers, and other applications.

you can order them from me via this paypal button:


quantity of stickers



or if that doesn’t work for you, you can paypal me $ at: paypal.me/artbymags

or you can squarecash me $ at: cash.me/$mags

JUST MAKE SURE I HAVE YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS TO MAIL THEM TO YOU. sometimes folks don’t update their address via paypal and then i end up sending stuff to the wrong place. and squarecash doesn’t have your address on file so you have to send it to me. best to jot me a quick email at: mags@artbymags.com and tell me what you’ve ordered. thanks!

happy carnival!

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yes, it is now carnival season, officially. i’m always amazed every year how this town glides so effortlessly from christmas to new year’s to poof, now it’s carnival season, without missing a beat. and this year it will be such a long season – mardi gras isn’t until march 8th!

last night i decided to take in some of the 12th night/epiphany revelry which marks the official start of the season by scooting downtown to see the krewe de jeanne d’arc parade. i think this was their 3rd year parading, but for some reason i’ve never made it down to see it. i went solo, hoping to run into someone i knew, and voila, i did. in fact, i ran into lots of folks i knew, which was nice.

my photos aren’t the best – my now very old digital camera doesn’t do great with nighttime shots using flash – but you get the idea. joan was lovely on horseback wearing her chain mail, making her way through the crowds.

and she had several maids of honor who followed behind her on beautiful clydesdales. god those animals are gorgeous. i was impressed with how calm all the horses remained sandwiched in such tight crowds, particularly when the parade turned onto st. phillip from chartres towards decatur.

though these small walking parades are not the visual spectacles nor sensory experiences of the larger traditional krewe parades, they are so much more creative in many ways, particularly with throws. i did not score any of the coveted handmade items, but was happy to have ended up with some joan of arc matches and a lovely krewe card. i like what it says on the back:

“on this day of birth for joan of arc, the maid of orleans, we celebrate the rebirth of new orleans. we walk on this night to reflect on the past year and rejuvenate for the new year. we honor all those who have fallen by the sword, fire, and flood. we burn candles to brighten this twelfth night, lighting the way for mardi gras season. joan of arc, saint, warrior, leader, and honorary maid of new orleans, we thank you for shining your golden light on us and ask you to bless new orleans in 2011, on this, the anniversary of the 599th year of your birth.”

guess they’ll have a super rockin’ parade next year to celebrate her 600th!

by the time the parade reached its end, at the golden joan of arc statue by the french market, of course, the crowds had swelled to quite a large number. i wish there would have been more organization to the “party” at the end of the parade, as it seemed most folks were just standing around wondering what was supposed to happen next… and after about a half an hour, the crowds dissipated. but it was fine. i enjoyed my joan of arc experience, recalling fondly past moments with both the lesbian avengers and queer nation in the 1990s when we claimed joan as one of our own via street actions. if only her statue had been in its present location for those events – they would have gotten a lot more attention! (she used to be located over by the world trade center and rivergate, before harrah’s was built – it was moved in 1999.)

sadly, i ate no king cake yesterday. i’m hoping for some on saturday in tandem with the saints playoff game vs. seattle. but it was still a lovely kick-off to carnival season.

that’s showbiz for ya

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wednesday, for the second time in a month, i worked as an extra for the upcoming hbo tv series treme, which is set in post-katrina new orleans. i’d heard through the grapevine, as well as seen a craigslist ad, that they were shooting a big mardi gras scene and needed costumed background for the shots. desperate as i am, always and still, for $$, i went ahead and signed up. last time wasn’t so bad.

my call time was originally 11am but got pushed back to 12pm. i geared up in my 2009 mardi gras costume, the aerosol avenger, and rode the scooter down to the french quarter. i love that in this town, the sight of a grown adult wearing tights and glittered boots riding a scooter wearing a spotted ladybug helmet doesn’t even garner a second look. after zipping around for twenty minutes trying to figure out where i was supposed to go and where to park the scooter, i finally figured it out. the holding pen for extras for the day was ralph and kacoo’s, where i sat for an hour or so before getting shuffled over to one eyed jack’s for a daytime mardi gras scene inside the bar.

the only actor i recognized all day was steve zahn. he was one person away from me, seated around the bar, for like ten minutes. then, they moved me from the back room to the front, as they continued to shoot in the back room (but in the direction of the front). for a while, it seemed i was in a line of people that would be in the direct background of their shots, but at some point, they moved me out of the way, saying my hat was too big and was blocking the light. oh well. much pantomiming of mardi gras revelry with fake drinks ensued.

"treme" mardi gras scene inside one eyed jacks

we broke for lunch (which was at 5pm; in my world, that’s dinner) and then returned to one eyed jacks for more shots. they switched the extras around – those who had previously been in the back room up front, and those who’d been in front to the back. again they moved me around a few times, and for one or two takes, i was kinda in the background of the scene. who knows which take they’ll use, though. so no assurances that i’ll in any way end up actually on tv.

they sent us back to holding around 7-7:30ish. we all assumed we were going home. i got frantic, looking for my bag, as they’d moved everything from the room we’d been in previously to a different one, including all our bags. in the midst of hunting for my bag, i was informed they were picking 20 extras to hang on to, for some final scenes. i put on my best “please don’t pick me, i want to go home” face, but the goddamned wardrobe gal who’d loved my spray paint can lid hat early in the day came running over, even remembering my name. and, see, when you sign up to be an extra, it’s a 12 hour shift; they have the right to keep you that long. and at this point, we were only at the eight hour mark. so i had no choice. thankfully, chris (skeleton krewe) found my bag, on the seat of a chair, hidden under a table cloth, so i could stop fretting about that.

chris and i on set inside one eyed jacks

the next almost four hours were fairly miserable. it was dark, and the temps were dropping. i was, however, still dressed in my tights and tshirt, sans cape. (the last scenes for the day were supposed to be at the end of mardi gras day, so we were made to look disheveled in some way.) they took us out to jackson square, and promptly picked about six of the extras to start working with, to stagger across the square behind the scene. they must have shot that scene 30 times, as the rest of us stood out in the cold, holding our fake drink props. two more scenes were eventually shot, and each time they picked a few more of the extras, but they never chose me. so until about 10:30, i stood around doing nothing but freezing, coughing, getting hungry and tired, and wishing they’d let us go back to the holding area until they needed us (or let us go home if they didn’t).

finally, it was a wrap and we were released. stood in line to check out to get the all important voucher (which proves you worked and gets you paid). and then had to ride the scooter back home in the dark and the very cold with only a hoodie. i was a popsicle by the time i got home around 11:30.

so yeah. not sure i’ll do that again. i did meet some very interesting people, and got to hang with a few folks i already knew, which helped pass the time. parts of the afternoon were even fun. but being held for those last scenes – and then not even used – kinda soured me on the day. but it’s part of the deal when you sign up to be an extra: might be an easy four hour day, might be a horrible 14 hour slog. you never know til you’re there. but this is exactly why i think i’m not really cut out for this kinda work. at my age, i’m just not all that flexible anymore and my endurance is not great. maybe if i’d brought a flask of booze and/or some hash brownies – like some of those i hung out with did – it’d been more fun… though that’s not really my style. i would have been happy with a few real beers, though.

but it will still be fun to watch treme when it airs, and to hunt in those mardi gras episodes for a glimpse of me or my spray paint can lid hat.

krewe du vieux, take 2

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fae and i got a little bonus mardi gras activity in on friday night. though mardi gras is indeed over – thank goddess, i’m exhausted! – we both landed an impromptu gig being extras for the hbo tv series “treme” which, of course, is set in and shot here in new orleans. i’m an avid craigslist reader, and so saw a call for extras on thursday; we applied and got in. (i don’t think they were very picky – they just needed bodies.) seemed like an interesting and fun way to both spend a friday night and also make $100 each while doing so. we considered it a “date.”

well, it ended up being interesting and i guess a little fun, but also very tedious and tiring. and cold. we showed up at 4pm and spent the first 5-6 hours mostly filling out and dealing with paperwork, and then hanging out just waiting for something to happen – though they did at least feed us pretty well. we were inside a huge tent located in washington square park, along with 200+ extras, many of whom were members of krewe du vieux sub-krewes and in full costume. (also many crusty anarchist and eclectic hipster types.)

extras holding tent

the scene they were shooting was set against the backdrop of the 2006 krewe du vieux parade, the first mardi gras parade post-katrina. so they had 3 floats (not sure if they were the originals – probably not since kdv had a den fire last summer – but if not, they were great replicas) and 3 sub-krewes (again, not sure if they were all actual members of the sub-krewes or other folks from kdv or what, but my guess is that they were, cuz those costumes looked original) plus a few brass bands. they’d blocked off two blocks of royal street between frenchmen and kerlerec and had the whole set illuminated by giant flood lights.

on set of hbo's "treme"

the actual shooting only took about 3-4 hours, which was good since it was still pretty cold out. some scenes were shot with full brass band music and crowd noise, just like a real parade, but many scenes were shot with us pantomiming the action while being silent so they could record dialogue between the actors in the scene. it was weird to try to replicate the energy and activity of an actual parade without any sound, and over and over again. i know this is what actors do, but most of the extras were not actors, so it felt kinda ridiculous. but i guess we did an ok job of it.

i did see wendell pierce, who is one of the main characters in the series. he plays a horn player in a brass band, and was in many of the scenes shot and was on set most of the night. we also saw john goodman, who i have heard plays an ashley morris-inspired character, but he was only around for five minutes (or if he was there longer, i didn’t see him), so i didn’t get a picture of him.

wendell pierce on set of hbo's "treme"

wendell pierce on set of hbo's "treme"

all in all, i guess i’m glad we did it. (we’ll be more glad when our paychecks come in the mail!) fae’s friend and former professor kate was also there, as was rollergirl sophie nuke ’em, so at least we had some folks to talk to and hang out with. i guess i’d do it again if i have the opportunity, as it’s pretty easy “work” for the money, but it is a big time commitment and next time i need to bring a book or some things to help pass the waiting-around time. and dress warmer if it’s still cold.

guess i now need to find a way to watch the series when it starts in april, as i don’t have hbo.

more pics available on my flickr page.

all on a mardi gras day…

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mardi gras day was so much fun! relaxed, easy, no agenda really, just simple fun.

i didn’t really get it together to have an actual costume, so instead i decided to go with the black and gold theme. i found an old pair of tuxedo pants i had cut off a few mardi gras ago that i had painted white dots down the striping on the side; i repainted them gold with silkscreen/fabric ink, which stood out much more than the white. and then had a last-minute, lundi gras late-night inspiration to use my “who dat!” stencil (that i use for my bottlecap signs) to put “who” on the right leg and “dat!” on the left, right below the knee, like i do with many of the stencil cut-offs that i sell. some black long-johns, gold/black stripey socks layered with some black ones, and my black and gold skull de lis t-shirt over a black long-sleeved thermal, and voila – instant “who dat” outfit.

i pulled out my ancient 1980’s era fleuvogs that have become my defacto mardi gras boots for the past ten years – those poor boots have had all manner of beads hot-glued to them and glitter spray-adhesived to them – and gave them this year’s color update (gold, of course!) and glittered and then lacquered the hell out of them! and then also found my cardboard glasses cut-outs – an old pair of 3-d glasses that i’d punched the colored lens out of – and gold glittered and lacquered the hell out of them too. (it’s hard to wear a mask of any sort when you are almost legally blind without your glasses and can’t wear contacts! so i devised this method of face-wear years ago, putting some sort of fun glasses over my regular glasses, so i can still see but still look festive!)

i’ve never worn a wig before in my life (i usually go the hat route), but ran out of time to devise some funky hat to go with my theme, so a blue page-boy wig pilfered from the ponce de leon mardi gras warehouse (thanks jen!) topped off the outfit. oh, and gold football/helmet beads from my friend theresa and a black football bead i’d found at plush appeal (the very last one!) to add a final touch.

it wasn’t much, really, compared to all the wonder i witnessed in the quarter and the marigny that day, but at least i made some effort. (i didn’t get any pics of myself other than this drunkity-drunk-drunk thelma and louise shot of me and my friend diane from much later in the day.)

me and diane

we got up early, as we do, got dressed, picked up friends dix and lisa and headed to claiborne and jackson to catch the beginning of zulu. we were running a tad late – arriving right around 8:15am – but weren’t worried because, well, zulu NEVER goes off on time. EXCEPT THIS YEAR!!! (did you notice that was a theme this year – all the parades seemed to go off on time and move along quickly without much delay? what’s up with that?)  as we were parking, the lead royalty floats were already starting to roll. no worries, though, since zulu has like 400 million royalty floats (kings, queens, dukes, dutchesses, last year’s kings, queens, dukes, dutchesses, etc. – it’s endless!).

zulu

we got to our usual spot near willow and jackson (you need to go down jackson some because the riders aren’t allowed to throw stuff until they make the turn off claiborne onto jackson) and had a lovely view. i love watching zulu there, and it was our friend lisa’s first mardi gras and therefore her first zulu, so she got the full immersion experience – including a drunk guy falling down and nearly splitting his head open on the street behind us, bleeding everywhere. (ems was able to get to him and take him to the hospital, but he’d come to before they even got there – whew!) we didn’t stay for all of zulu cuz it goes on forever and many of us had to pee (it’s hard to find a restroom in that area), but i got some good photos of what we did see.

zulu

we left around 10am and miraculously got out of our parking spot and back onto earhart in no time. back to midcity, dropped off dix and lisa, back to the house to pee and let the dog out one more time, and then down to the marigny. another miracle – we found parking on rampart near st. roch without having too look hard at all, and had a lovely walk through the marigny over to the lamothe house on kerlerec. our gang was already assembled there, fried chicken already procured (and halfway eaten!), beer iced down, cold cuts gotten, thanks to friends d & k. it was perfect.

we arrived to the r bar intersection just in time to catch st. anne’s coming through, taking lots of pics and seeing lots of fabulous costumes.

r bar

skeleton crew

a while later, we strolled down into the quarter in an attempt to meet up with fae’s derby wife, s’aint no lady, but to no avail. it was a fun sight-seeing tour, though, and we kept running into parts of st. anne’s at every turn. i took this fabulous photo of my cute rose-covered girlfriend on chartres street:

the rest of the afternoon becomes a bit blurry as i moved on to my fifth (or sixth or seventh? not sure how many i drank, really) beer, but i do know we made it back to the marigny, hung out some more on the corner by the r bar, hung out in the hotel room eating and drinking more, and then plopped ourselves down in our lawn chairs on kerlerec for the rest of the afternoon to people watch. it’s my favorite part of mardi gras day, just relaxing in the sun, watching folks having a good time and enjoying all the costumes.

chillin on kerlerec

we left by about 4:30 i guess, and then got stuck in black mardi gras/under the interstate claiborne avenue chaos on the way out, which derailed us by about an hour. but it was all good. we were home by about 6 to watch the olympics, and i was passed out by 10pm. it was a good day.

(you can see all my mardi gras pics on my flickr page here.)