Alan Langhoff
Kosmic Reveler Alan Langoff remembers being pushed along in the dense Mardi Gras throng and encountering a man sitting in the middle of Bourbon Street with a broken hurricane glass, crying like a child over spilt milk. Only he wasn't really crying—he was clowning. A...
Blaine Kern
After turning down a job offer from a fellow master of fantasy, Walt Disney, Blaine Kern built his own kingdom of make-believe in the city of Mardi Gras dreams — becoming perhaps the world’s largest builder of parade floats. In New Orleans, he is known as Mr. Mardi...
L.J. Goldstein
L.J. Goldstein and his band of Mardi Gras revelers, the Krewe du Jieux, have proven that “masking Jewish,” with unbridled chutzpah, can be a transformative, uplifting experience.
John Lawson
What many people would regard as junk is, for New Orleans artist John Lawson, a “natural resource”—and a compelling artistic medium. A native of Birmingham, England, he uses Mardi Gras beads to bedeck all manner of objects–pianos, bongo drums, shoes, bones,...
Mardi Gras Underground Man
The inside story on the birth of a legendary bacchanal, MOMs Ball, from the founding mystic orphan and misfit instigator.
Coleen Salley
Riding around in a grocery cart known as the Royal Chariot, blowing kisses and parting crowds, Queen Coleen was the living embodiment of the city’s rollicking spirit and love of revelry.
Chuck Busch
Mondo Kayo’s founder was an iconoclastic provocateur who conjured a tropical Tiki mythology based on the premise that New Orleans is the northernmost banana republic.
Hash House Harriers
Hash House Harriers and Mardi Gras—they go together like champagne and king cake, or big beads and bare breasts.
Pat Jolly
In the city of Mardi Gras merriment, Pat Jolly, a.k.a. the Funtrepreneur, immerses herself in a smorgasbord of rituals and subcultures that thrive on creative expression.
Andrew Justin
At age five, Chief Drew began second lining with The Square Deals Social and Pleasure Club. Maurice Justin’s brother Theodore “Teddy” Justin served as the original vice president of the club, under founder Dooky Chase. Chief Drew remembers watching the members...
Colorful Characters
Rex and his queen officially reign over Carnival, but who are the real movers and shakers of the realm? Carnivaldom is full of iconoclastic provocateurs, gifted artisans and visionary revelers who collectively enrich the panorama of the festivities.Reveling in...