In a different universe tonight would have been the night when we kick off parade season's heavy hitters with the famous "self-proclaimed superkrewe" we all hated to love. On the one hand, Nyx had become the one parade that every New Orleans resident who wasn't actually riding in the parade knew 10 to 20 people who were. On the other hand, it was led by a con-artist who everyone understood was taking advantage of those 10 to 20 people we all knew. Peruse our Nyx/ Julie Lea archives for a deeper dive into all of that, if you like.
Certain things have happened over the course of the past year, though. It's a long story but the upshot is we are not going to watch that parade tonight. We do, however, find ourselves treated to some measure of entertainment.
Julie Lea, the captain of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, and the all-female Nyx organization were sued in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Wednesday on behalf of former riders in a potential class action that could allow for 3,000-plus ex-members to collect $10,000 each in damages.
The suit, filed in Division G of the Orleans Parish Civil District Court, is a grocery list of accusations against Lea, including allegations of inappropriate use of krewe income, of forcing members to buy supplies exclusively from her husband, of refusing to refund dues from resigning members and of the filing of false public documents.
The suit describes Lea’s alleged pattern of personal profit-taking as “racketeering.”
Here is an absolutely perfect Twitter thread by @FQMule from earlier this week that practically everyone had to fav and share. It gets at the heart of the ritual that so many of us are missing this year. It talks about the process of cathartic healing and renewal of community that comes at this time. Here's a quick bit from it.
New Orleans has a reputation for being a community, for helping each other in our times of need. It is a well deserved reputation. During this pandemic, New Orleanians have surpassed themselves on giving back and making sure people are taken care of. Why are we different? Well, there is a tie made by shared culture. But Mardi Gras also deserves credit. You see, when we gather for parades, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors. We may only see them 2 weeks out of the year but they are friends. We share food and laughs and catch up.
I will add one more point. We gather in the streets to see our friends, our neighbors, visitors. But, just as crucially, we see quite a few people we probably don't get along with very much as well. And they, like us, are also at their most.. well.. themselves that they can be. The whole city is there performing a public pageant of itself. Our floats and costumes convey silliness, joy, imagination, but also frequently they delve into satire placing all of the accumulated angst and absurdity of another year in this strange place on display for us to confront... even if only to laugh at. The exercise allows us to grapple with the most carnivalesque versions of ourselves, our city and all of its problems. We don't solve anything by it. But by immersing ourselves in it we renew our bond with this community and prepare to go through another year with its frustrations and its rewards.
Anyway tonight is the part of that weeklong ritual when we would have been watching Julie Lea lead a parade of many of our dear friends who we all knew she was ripping off. Instead we're.. not doing that. But thanks to a lawsuit cleverly timed for filing today, we do get to feel those feelings a little bit. It's nice, kind of.
Despite its ginormous size, Nyx never really grew into the grand spectacle worthy of that membership. That, in itself, was a sign that something was amiss. There were a few signature floats like the purse in the photo above. But, mostly, it was a long string of big box double decker floats full of tightly packed riders. The theme was never anything clever. I mean, it was a perfectly cromulent parade by most standards. People always had fun, the krewe members were proud of what they were doing and they did always throw a lot. But the "superkrewe" status was never what Lea claimed. It seemed like she was promising everyone something more than she offered.
At least Lea has made up for some of that now with this year's spectacular crash and burn. Or, as Doug MacCash puts it in this article,
"Founded in 2011, Carnivals’ most meteoric krewe has since been in disarray."
The most meteoric of meteors has come crashing to Earth. It's not quite the show we wanted but it certainly has been a show. Hopefully some good things come of it in the future.
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