Mardi Gras In The Moment

The world has waited decades for a new anti-hero in American fiction, a character who prophesizes the pettiness of American social life at the beginning of the twenty-first century. With Conrad Greyman, a social visionary arrives to illuminate the inequities and shallowness of our social lives now, as the Beats did for their generation.In a musty dorm room at an elite college in upstate New York sleeps Conrad Greyman. He sleeps all the time, in fact. Conrad is a casualty of postmodern malaise and bears hidden wounds he doesnt understand.Mardi Gras tells the fantastic story of Conrads spontaneous trip to the great Southern festival. He finds there, amid the infernal chaos of neon lights and Bourbon, a chance for unlikely redemption. Conrads journey through the mad streets of New Orleans becomes a modern hero-quest, and New Orleans an epic landscape. Conrads adventure is populated by holy fools who come to his aid, menacing frat boys, magical beads, and unadulterated American decadence. In the balance hangs the fate of an inward-looking soul trying to make his way through a fractured, carnivalistic world.

The glitter and glitz of Mardi Gras in New Orleans draw people in, year after year. Floats, throws, and music all make memories that last a lifetime. In this joyful volume of photographs and essays, renowned photographer Judi Bottoni and Mardi Gras expert Peggy Scott Laborde capture some of the best moments from today’s Mardi Gras celebrations. From the Twelfth Night Revelers heralding the start of Carnival season to Zulu and Rex bringing it to a triumphant close, Mardi Gras Moments highlights what makes the experience unforgettable. Relive scenes and music from famous parades and experience the signature floats that return year after year, including Endymion’s Pontchartrain Beach Float, Orpheus’s Smokey Mary, and Rex’s Boeuf Gras. Celebrities, including Will Ferrell, reign over super-krewes as kings. Women wear the crown in Iris, Nyx, and Muses—known for its coveted shoe throws. The Mardi Gras Indians and the Baby Dolls show off a proud history in costume and dance. The Rolling Elvi and ’tit Rǝx are just some of a wild profusion of show-stopping sub-krewes. The exuberance and thrill of Carnival are on full display in these stunning photographs.

An innocent young woman is seduced by the temptations of Bourbon Street in this sultry, scintillating tale Twenty-two-year-old Barbara Dorn has always been sure of herself. Sure of her happiness in rural Tancipahoa Parish, Louisiana, where she was born and raised. Sure of her commitment to her fiancé, an agricultural school graduate who cultivates his family farm with scientific exactitude. Sure of her distaste for big-city life and excitement. But when her old college roommate, Ethel, comes to visit, Barbara realizes she may not have all the answers. Ethel is on a mission to convince her friend to make the hundred-mile trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, when the city becomes one vast playground and a half million people throw their cares and inhibitions to the wind. Ethel insists that Barbara experience the carnival of love before settling down to life on the farm. But when Barbara finally arrives in the City That Care Forgot, the beautiful young virgin will discover that her desires are deeper and more passionate than she ever thought possible.

The Mardi Gras Mystery is a mystery novel by author H. Bedford-Jones. Ever since the first ball of the year by the Twelfth Night Club, the Midnight Masquer, as he was termed, had held New Orleans gripped in terror, fascination, and vivid interest with his holdups and subsequent robbery of partygoers. Until a month previous to the week of Mardi Gras he had operated rarely; he had robbed with a stark and inelegant forcefulness, a brutality. Suddenly his methods changed—he appeared and transacted his business with a romantic courtesy, a daredevil gaiety; his robberies became bizarre and extraordinary. But the Midnight Masquer now fears that the wealthy lawyer and astute chess player, Jachin Fell might be on to him and he moves to protect his secret...

The definitive guide to all things Mardi Gras . . . past and present! From Twelfth Night to Ash Wednesday, New Orleans is transformed. Queens and fools, demons and dragons reign over the Crescent City. This vividly photographed book is a lively, comprehensive history of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Fascinating and intimate, this book seamlessly intertwines the past with the present.

The collection of short essays in Carry Me Home begins as a lament for what in September 2005 looked to be the lost city of New Orleans. Over the following two-and-one-half years, these brief essays become a lyrical celebration of the city and the people, and a journal of a 20-year expatriate's decision to move home after the flood. Mark Folse is a former journalist who, after a twenty-year remove first to Washington, D.C. and later to the upper Midwest, returned with his family to the city of his birth. He currently resides in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife Rebecca, and their two children Killian and Matthew. He continues to chronicle his life in the city of New Orleans at his weblog Toulouse Street -- Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans (www.toulousestreet.net)

Since his first appearance on RTÝ's The Restaurant in 2002, celebrity maître d' John Healy has entertained both diners and viewers alike with his easy manner and winning charm. Seemingly unflappable and endlessly cheerful, he appears the consummate professional. However, behind the smile, John has spent a lifetime struggling to cope with his own demons; battling addiction and depression before suffering two heart attacks and undergoing a subsequent life-saving transplant. A Perfect Heart is the surprisingly candid story of the real John Healy. In it, the popular TV star opens up about his present health fears, as well as his past traumas, revealing the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and the hidden side of a drug and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle that quickly spiralled out of control. A Perfect Heart charts John's incredible journey towards a new beginning with warmth, humour and honesty.