Showing off all the locally sourced handicrafts

Blaine Kern's monstrous Halloween parade thingy boasts all sorts of unusual throws.

Costume designer, environmentalist, Bearded Oysters Dance Troupe and Krewe of Kolossos founder and all-around Carnival juggernaut Katrina Brees has a new mission: convince krewes to use locally made throws. In 2012, she founded I Heart Louisiana, an organization that provides krewes with eco-friendly, locally made throws, props, costumes and entertainment. This Saturday, Krewe of Boo will use I Heart Lousiana’s throws in its annual Halloween parade, which rolls at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 through the perimeter of the French Quarter and into the CBD. Here’s an interview with Brees for more about the throws and I Heart Louisiana’s mission.

Let's not concern ourselves too too much with the term, "all-around Carnival juggernaut" or even the question of whether or not "Katrina Brees" is just about the most lame and cloyingly cliche stage name this side of "Gumbo Party  Robicheaux" or even "Blake Pontchartrain."   Encouraging the use of locally produced throws is a good idea.

Someone will have to explain to me how these throws are more "eco-friendly" than the regular thing, though. Besides the fact that there are likely to be fewer of these, I don't see the big difference. I suppose if it's your purpose to just have less throwing altogether, this works. Maybe if you didn't grow up chasing Carnival throws as a kid, such an idea would be appealing. I wouldn't know.

Anyway, what's most amusing about this is the "eco-friendly" and meticulously local-sourced Halloween parade is quite clearly an event staged with tourists and only tourists in mind.



The route doesn't touch a single neighborhood where you'd find many locals.  But it does hit all the hot spots of the booming hotel scene.

"We are a good, robust market for investors to come in and buy real estate," ( developer Pres)  Kabacoff said.

He said, to investors, New Orleans beats out other cities by topping the list for things such as the high number of entrepreneurs, the most-improved public school system, and one of the highest increases of gross domestic product.

"That encourages an investor to say, 'its okay to invest here,'" Kabacoff said.

However, he warns that if the city is to continue the sharp investment trend, it needs to get a better handle on protecting the coast and eliminating poverty.

"We have to work on both of those, but it's much better to have a robust economy to deal with those issues," Kabacoff said.

More businesses and more hotels means more room for visitors.

Kabacoff says the city tourist commission is working to increase the number of visitors from eight or nine million to 13 or 14 million a year, which will keep the robust economy growing.

I'm tempted to say something about that "most-improved public school system" canard but let's not get bogged down in every lie a callous liar tells when he's in the middle of a good pitch.  I'm more interested in that "robust" target of an additional 5 million annual visitors the tourist commission wants to fly in and let loose all over the adult Disneyland they're building downtown. I wonder how "eco-friendly" that whole thing is.

Update: I've been informed that Katrina Brees is actually Katrina Brees's real name.  And that pretty much eliminates any angle I have to razz her.  I really do support the idea of promoting locally sourced Carnival throws, for what it's worth.

Upperdate: And so now... actual fact checking occurs. Well, okay, more like casual Googling but here we are.

The spanking new Krewe of Kolossos is seeking to “create a new breed of parade,” utilizing tradition while drawing on ideas of environmental sustainability and reuse, art director Steven Donnelly said.

The idea for the krewe came from a partnership with grand marshal-elect Karina Nathan, the artist a.k.a. Katrina Brees. Donnelly’s drum cart creation, a mobile performance art drum show and Nathan’s Bearded Oysters, an all female marching and social group. Both share a love of a good party, and Kolossos was formed with this in mind.

 So there.  "Katrina Brees" Why?

Some day, if I become a very ineffective artist, I may change my name to Karen Ingram.