Krewe du Vieux’s theme was Crimes Against Nature and Mama Roux dressed up as Arabi Spring: The Chic of Arabi. I made a very fashion-forward nutria fur bra to wear with my Genie costume. My fellow Arabians were something to behold. Oil barons, caliphs and harem girls were all dressed up in orange and blue with nutria fur hats, cod pieces and mullets. Some wore shrimp boots and nets. We had so much fun. Some years, it just all comes together.

Our King and Queen were Ken Digeronimo and Linda Schexnayder. They looked so great it was beyond words. I’ll post a picture of them. They were on the cover of the Metro section of the Times-Picayune the next day.

At one point in the parade, a woman came up to me and asked if I was Dangerblond. I asked how she recognized me and she said her husband loves my blog. Then her husband came up and thanked me for introducing them to Krewe du Vieux! That was fun.

One awful thing has happened lately and that is that Gloria Powers died. She was a friend to all artists in New Orleans. Her house was always full of wildly creative people. I finished up the last two or three Mardi Gras with Gloria. Last year, we sat under a balcony on Frenchman Street until the rain stopped and then walked to her house as it got dark.

I first met Gloria in 1988, when a bunch of us were working on a performance piece at the CAC called “Dinosaur.” It was a theatrical interpretation of Basic Call to Consciousness. It was great fun and it set the stage for many fun times with Gloria and the rest of the gang. Through the years, I was always impressed by her ability to be completely free of conventional received ideas.

Gloria had three beautiful daughters, Tiffany, Ashley and Jessica, and they each had wonderful husbands. She had a passel of grandchildren. I imagine she was very happy at the end of her life, and knowing Gloria, that’s all she would ask for.

Gloria’s family is having a celebration of her life, and that is truly fitting. They are asking that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Gloria’s name to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, a non-profit that provides health care and mental health care for musicians. As her daughter, Jessica Bride, said, “Gloria would want it no other way.”

I will be thinking a lot about Glo this Mardi Gras. It won’t be the same without her.

To begin with, they look like coffins. If you put them all in a room, it would look like a casket showroom at the American Undertakers Association. The proportions are deadly.

Another thing that bugs me about them is that the painted streetcar idea is sort of a re-do of the painted fish thing, which was an appropriation of the painted cow thing in Chicago. I’m up for one generation of recycled ideas, but not two. Also, the oversized fish are a much more pleasing shape than the aforementioned sarcophagi.

And another thing. Of the many painted funerary boxes I’ve seen, only a few are well done. Some are fading dilapidated.

The last thing I’ll say is that the sight of a streetcar floating in mid air freaks me out, as it should all decent people.

Now, what are the good points? I guess some people got paid to make them. They make a handy place to put your beer while you’re digging in your briefcase. In the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that important that some people insist on junking up the public thoroughfare.

Any way, I’ve learned to live with them. But what’s next? The oversized painted King Cake baby?

Kenneth Louis Frey died August 17, 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Born in Eunice, La. and reared in Iota, La., Mr. Frey received a degree in Geology from Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now known as Louisiana State University at Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1957 and was employed by Geophysical Services, Inc., Division of Texas Instruments working in Indonesia. He later joined his family in pioneering rice farming in the Mississippi Delta as owner of Frey Farms, Inc. For twenty years he successfully grew rice and raised soy beans, at one time farming 8,000 acres. He was Vice President, majority owner and on the Executive Board of Mississippi Delta Rice Mill, Cleveland, MS., and majority owner and president of Delta Seed and Rice, Arcola, MS. He was hired by Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO. to buy rice and implement contract growing from farmers in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana to be milled by Delta Seed and Rice in Cleveland, MS.

After retiring his farming operations, he acquired a Real Estate License in Florida and sold commercial real estate in Destin and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. Upon his death he was owner and operator of Professional Carpet System, Inc. in Jackson, MS.

Mr. Frey was a member of Theta Kappa Phi Fraternity; Sons of Confederate Veterans; 1st Vice President Mississippi Rice Growers Association; President and Executive Board Delta Seed & Rice; V. President, Executive Board MS Delta Rice Mill; U.S. Geological Society; Knights of Columbus Council 848 Jackson, MS 4th Degree serving as Immediate Past Grand Knight.

He is preceded in death by his father, Henry Louis Frey and his mother, Esther Guillory Frey.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara Clark Frey; three children, Gwen Luthjens (Auggie) of Ocean Springs; Monique Harrison (Andrew) of Vicksburg; and Christopher Frey of Madison, and three step children, Kimberly Marshall (Don) of New Orleans; Amy Jones (Rabun) of Greenville, and Arthur Pogue of Jackson. He leaves behind nine grandchildren: Jennifer Tablada (Jason) of Chattanooga, TN; Andrea Harrison of Vicksburg; Crystal Frey of Madison; Meagan Frey of Madison; Laurence Landon of Lafayette, La; Leicester Landon of Providence, RI; Ashley Gardner of Greenville; Katie Duncan (Treis) of Leland; and Dakota Pogue of Indianapolis, IN. He also leaves behind three great-grandchildren; Jackson Landon of Lafayette, LA; Robert Francis Duncan, IV of Leland; and Ella Grace Frey of Madison. Mr.Frey is also survived by a sister, Mary Grace Edwards (Jeff) of Lake Washington, and two brothers, Gerald Frey (Phyllis) and Pat Frey (Jean) both of Greenville.

Ever true to his Louisiana roots Mr. Frey was know for his ‘Cajun’ cooking, particularly the fried turkeys he distributed at Christmastime, his corn/crawfish bisque, and his gumbo.

Unfortunately, all is not well in the kingdom. My grandmother has had a stoke. It was apparently not a very bad stroke, as they go, and they are doing some kind of procedure on her tomorrow, but the whole thing freaks me out. My grandmother is my favorite person in the whole world, after the royal offspring. I talked to her earlier and she was in her usual good humor.

Me at the historic moment I found out I was Queen of Mama Roux.

“A playground?!? Why can’t they just stay inside and watch Sesame Street?”