It's that time

It's a few days before Christmas and we all know what that means.  Super Krewe Royalty announcements! This year the assemblage of has-been musicians, D-list celebs, and mid-level character actors begins with the Krewe of Bacchus who is proud to announce their 2018 King will be That One Guy From That Thing.

The krewe of Bacchus will mark its 50th anniversary in 2018 by welcoming Academy Award-winning actor J.K. Simmons, known for a string of successful film and TV roles including in the current film Justice League, as its celebrity monarch, the krewe announced Tuesday.

Simmons won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a ruthless jazz instructor in the 2014 movie Whiplash. He won a Golden Globe award for the role and the film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar as well.

He portrays Commisisioner James Gordon, Batman's ally in the current box office hit, and will soon appear in the movie Father Figures. He is also slated to star in the new espionage drama, Counterpart, premiering January 21 on Starz.

Actually, as Bacchuses go, that's not half bad.  Endymion got an early jump on this stuff in September by saying they'll have Rod Stewart  and Jason Derulo to at least play their party.  But we're still waiting to hear about the grand marshal.  I wonder if Matt Lauer is available.

Whoever it is, I hope you weren't planning to catch them on Canal Street this year. They're going to be a whole lot easier to miss.

Plans are underway to eliminate the Canal Street loop for Mardi Gras 2018.

The traditional Uptown parade route allows the parades to turn left on Canal Street and loop around to the French Quarter side before making a turn to Tchoupitoulas Street.

The city said the change will increase safety.

"I will be disappointed. I would love for the parades to continue to loop around,” Elfreda Brooks, who works downtown, said. "People that work in the evening would be able to see it if it would circle back around, so if it would end early you wouldn't get that advantage."

One parade organizer in New Orleans addressed his krewe's updated route.

"We will come down St. Charles to Canal. Instead of taking a left and going down and making a U-turn and come back, we will take a right, stay on the same side of Canal Street and just go down to Tchoupitoulas like we normally did, take a right and end on Tchoupitoulas and Poydras," said Jake Romano, the president of the Krewe of Pygmalion, about the change.

Going up the street and back for a few blocks is just too unsafe all of a sudden. Who knew?