Human jukebox accepts coins

Putting your explicit request for kickbacks into writing seems like a good idea.

BATON ROUGE- A lawsuit against Southern University, its band director and a number of other campus officials claims the university's band director asked for a kickback to have the famous Southern band perform at an event.

White Enterprises of Louisiana LLC and Octagon Media sued the university asking for damages it incurred from having to pay out refunds after the band didn't show up for events.

"It was going to be for East Baton Rouge Parish school kids to come to Southern to hear the band play," Attorney for Octagon Media, Amy Newsom said.

The lawsuit alleges Nathan Haymer asked for a ten percent kickback to have the band and Dancing Dolls perform at events they scheduled.

Attorneys wrote in the lawsuit Haymer sent a text message asking to be paid: "The ten percent needs to be made payable to me so that the staff can be properly compensated. I am asking for you to hide this ten percent in your percentage charge from your business. If this cannot be done, please let me know."

You know, the Southern band performs at a lot of events. That would suggest the hidden percentage is actually standard operating procedure and most everyone else pays it.  Here they are leading the Krewe of Femme Fatale this year.  I wonder if the parade paid the tithe. Hard to argue it isn't worth it.

Everybody dance now

A brief look back at some of the bands and dance teams we've happened to shoot video of so far this Carnival season.

These bagpipes were in either King Arthur or Carrollton. I've already forgotten which



We did see them also in Sparta where they were giving free lessons to children.



From the same day, here is the St. Paul's High School band doing.. some kind of thing.



Here's a snip of the Marine band playing "When the Saints go Marching In" during Druids.



They were also giving music lessons.



Finally here is a marching club from last night's Muses parade. They're called the "Ameila EarHawts" because... Get IT? It's funny!

The MA School would have had less of a ring to it

It's not clear from these statements exactly why Xavier Prep is closing. One assumes the usual reasons; low enrollment, money, etc. In any case a nearly hundred year old institution and a landmark of an Uptown neighborhood is shutting down. Obviously the only thing to do now is wait to see which developer will convert the school into luxury apartments and "boutique" retail space conveniently located on the "Magazine Street Parade Route."

WWLTV cites here some of the school's notable alums.

Xavier Prep has educated generations of local African-American and minority students since opening in 1915.  It opened as a coeducational school but became an all-girls' school in 1970.

Located on Magazine Street, the school was founded by St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who also founded Xavier University.

Among the notable Xavier Prep alumni are Judge Edwin Lombard, former New Orleans first ladies Sybil Morial and Mickey Barthelemy, as well as singer Wanda Rouzan, who also taught at the school.

But most New Orleanians with no personal connection to the school are familiar with its marching band as an annual Carnival institution.





In 2006, Xavier Prep took in students from Katrina-damaged St. Augustine High and St. Mary's Academy to form what was called the M.A.X. School that year.

While Xavier Prep’s campus housed the students, it was the smallest of the three campuses so only a an allotted number of students attended. Faced with a small space and a lot of students, the MAX still flourished even if only for the spring semester. It managed to send its class of 2006 into the world, and unite its underclassmen in a way that had never been done before.

Naturally, the MAX school had a band.



 I watched it debut in the Krewe Of Carrollton parade that year.  I remember the two cops on the corner watching the band with us were ribbing each other.  Apparently one of them was a St. Mary's alum.  As the band approached, her partner teased, "That sounds like a Xaaaavier Prep band to me!"  In the future no one will be able to claim they can tell you what that sounds like.

Fortunately, I managed to get this video of the MAX band passing.  Sorry about the grainy video. It was way back in 2006, after all, so I had trouble getting the hand crank on my 16mm Cine-Kodak to turn.  The sound is okay though.  Maybe even Xaaaavier Prep quality.

This week in Carnival stuff

• The Royal Sonesta Hotel engages in a famous ritual each year where they prepare for the final weekend of Carnival by greasing the poles supporting their Bourbon Steet balcony. The idea.. or really the joke.. behind the ceremony is that this prevents drunken revelers from shimmying up onto the balcony should the spirit direct them to attempt such a thing. But really, the whole thing is done for laughs.
  
  Meanwhile, our tradition of applying fresh signage each year to the library bookdrop just before the first parade crowds gather may be more practical in its purpose, but it has become a similar ritual by which we welcome the season ourselves.
  
  



• Spent Sunday afternoon at the Thoth den party. Thoth's theme this year is "Streets of New Orleans" Expect to see a lot of this logo next weekend.
  
  



• Meanwhile, Menckles had an opportunity to help decorate a few of this year's Zulu coconuts. This one, she says, is an homage to Varg's work.
  
  



• If you're looking for an alternative to Saturday night's Uptown parades, you might check out the shoebox Krewe of 'tit Rex because, if you're pissing off the Rex organization, you're obviously doing something right.
  
  

  In fall 2011, members of the Rex organization contacted the microkrewe about the use of its registered trade name.
  
    "I was shocked and bemused," Yuslum says. "I almost thought I was being punked."
  
    Some of the 'tit Rex founders met with a lawyer from the Rex organization.
  
    "We tried to amicably resolve our concerns with regards to the copyright issue and their use of the name Rex," says King Logan, a spokesman for Rex.
  
    Both sides describe the meetings and correspondence as friendly, and both say they want to find a mutually agreeable solution, but it is unlikely one will be reached before the tiny krewe parades Saturday. Rex offered to license the use of its name to 'tit Rex, but the krewe rejected the offer. Yaslum says the proposal included an admission of copyright infringement and went on to define the small krewe in ways members deemed restrictive. Logan says the offer proposed various points but a legal agreement was not drafted. The group altered its name by replacing the e with a schwa and offered that to Rex officers as a solution.
  
    "We tried to honor what they wanted and maintain the identity of our parade," Schrenk says.
  
    The proposal has not yet been considered by Rex and won't be until after Mardi Gras, Logan says.
  
    In the meantime, the issue has spilled over into the parade. The 2012 theme is "Napoleon Avenue Complex."
  




• Earlier in the week, NOPD met with representatives of Mardi Gras Indian gangs in an effort to reach a better understanding about how the tribes will be treated on Fat Tuesday.

  Chiefs from both sides left the meeting hopeful but circumspect.
  
  “A seed was dropped. And hopefully we can cultivate that seed and watch it grow,” said Big Chief Tyrone Casby of the Mohawk Hunters tribe. Big Chief Darryl Montana from the Yellow Pocahontas nodded. “I feel like we’re getting there. But only time will tell,” he said.
  
  “I think this awareness will pay dividends,” said NOPD 1st District Commander Bobby Norton. “The task is to get every officer to understand the Indian tradition.”
  
  Norton — whose district includes Indian hubs such as St. Bernard, Claiborne and Orleans avenues — is convinced this year will be a good one for Indians, who travel the streets chanting and drumming while visiting places of honor and engaging in elaborate games of hide-and-seek.
  
  Indians have for years complained that police squad cars often vex them by blaring sirens without reason. “We’ve totally said no to that,” Norton said. “No to lights and sirens. No to pushing Indians off the street.”
  
  And if there’s an issue with a tribe, it won’t be resolved by an officer yelling over his intercom. “Officers will get out of the car and go directly to the chief,” Norton said.

  All of this, we've heard before, of course.



• If you're going to the parades this week, keep an eye out for the O.P. Walker Marching Band. Odds are, they're in whatever parade you're watching.
  
  

  O. Perry Walker is taking on a demanding schedule this year. Six of their nine parades will be back to back, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. In spite of all the physical stress inherent in the activity, one student dreads a decidedly different aspect of marching. “It’s tough not stepping in horsepoop because you can’t really see at night. Then your whole night’s messed up until you find some grass.”




• I'm still not in a... um... festive enough mood to blow $27 on a bottle of novelty flavored vodka. But I'm working on ways to make my own in the meantime.
  
  



• Finally, it's starting to look like the weather is clearing up before Oshun gets set to roll. Driving around today, though, I noticed several trucks and scattered equipment which I am told is the Treme crew filming in front of The Columns hotel on St. Charles. If it's not gone by 5:00, I'm calling Parks and Parkways to see if they'll come haul all that shit to the landfill.

Bonus marching band footage

This is a Sophie B. Wright Middle School practice march turning from Camp Street onto Napoleon Avenue yesterday afternoon.

There was a band, they were sickening

St. Aug Band Won't March In Rex Parade

NEW ORLEANS -- The St. Augustine High School marching band will not be in the Rex parade on Fat Tuesday this year, the krewe confirmed Monday.

The organization that produces Mardi Gras' signature event issued a statement in response to inquiries from WDSU about the school's participation in next week's parade. According to that statement, the popular and decorated student band asked to march ahead of another local high school marching band, Warren Easton.

Bunch of primma donnas. Don't get me wrong. St. Aug has a pretty good marching band. But it occurs to me that their reputation as THE band to see each year is based more on this kind of stupid posing than it is anything of substance.

And they certainly can't make a claim to the title of hardest working band in the city. That distinction could go to St. Mary's,



or Xavier Prep,



or McDonough 35



who, bless their little hearts, seem to march in nearly every parade. I swear there have been times that I've seen one or more of these bands come down St. Charles more than once on the same day, as if they had reached the end of one parade's route and then bussed back to form up with the next one.

Heck even Warren Eastson whose position of prominence in this case is the cause of St. Aug's jealousy shows up more frequently than the "Marching 100" does. The two schools' colors are similar. Maybe St. Aug was embarrassed that they weren't the only girl wearing that outfit to the dance this year.



Anyway, here is some marching band video I shot over the weekend. We caught every parade but I don't remember seeing St. Aug at all, although I am told they were out. These first three are from the Krewe of Carrollton on Sunday which is the best parade to see if you like marching bands.

McDonough 35



St. Mary's



Q: How do you know a Catholic school band is coming down the street?

A: Listen for the xylophone. They all have one and feature it prominently. This is Brother Martin playing a xylophone-heavy tune which also happens to be the only damn song they know how to play... ever.



And finally, check this out. I know it's in the dark so it's kind of hard to see. It helps a little that the band is wearing luminescent novelties tied to their uniforms but anyway it's the Get a Life "adult marching band" playing Lady Ga Ga.



They seemed like they were having a good time. I wonder if they knew how insulted they should have been that there were other bands marching ahead of them in the formation.