Krewe of Muses

2013 Muses Cup designed by O.Perry Walker senior

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:29:34 +0000

The winner of the 2013 cup artwork contest is Pedro Richard, a senior at O. Perry Walker High School in Algiers. Pedro’s design will appear on the cups thrown in this year’s parade and his school’s art program receives a $1,000 award.

New Muses shirt by Dirty Coast

admin — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:33:32 +0000

Once again, we’ve partnered with our favorite local t-shirt genius, Dirty Coast, to introduce an exclusive Muses design to the public. Now you and your entire Muses fan club can support the Krewe and sport the 2013 Dirty Coast Loves Muses masterpiece.

Hot off the press: Shop or order now while supplies last!

Pick up the new shirt for yourself and your entire entourage at the Dirty Coast store at 5631 Magazine St. (across from Whole Foods Uptown) or shop online.

Throw Me Somethin’ Sistah!

Ruby Bridges Named Honorary Muse 2013

admin — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:12:33 +0000

The Krewe of Muses announces that Ruby Bridges, lecturer and founder of the Ruby Bridges Foundation will serve as the Krewe’s Honorary Muse. The Ruby Bridges Foundation mission is to empower children to advance social justice and racial harmony. The Honorary Muse recognition project honors women who have proven themselves as role models to the women and girls of New Orleans. On February 7, 2013, Bridges will lead the carnival organization’s thirteenth parade riding in the Krewe of Muses iconic shoe float, a 17-foot tall fiber optic encrusted red pump.

On November 14, 1960, surrounded by armed US marshals, six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Norman Rockwell’s painting, “The Problem We All Live With” depicted that day and remains a quintessential image of the Civil Rights Movement. Robert Coles penned a 1995 book, The Story of Ruby Bridges, and soon after Walt Disney Home Entertainment produced a television movie based on her life. The movie received the honor of being screened in the White House, and on January 8, 2001 President Bill Clinton presented Ruby Bridges Hall with the Presidential Citizens Medal. In 1999, Ruby published her own award-winning memoir, Through My Eyes.

As a lecturer, Ruby brings her message to children and adults nationwide. She established the Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote the values of tolerance, respect and appreciation of all differences through educational programs. A major focus of the foundation is the program “Ruby’s Bridges” which connects students, parents, and educators from different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The goal of the program is to build lasting relationships, which will allow individuals to transcend their differences and achieve racial reconciliation.

Among its annual philanthropic activities, the Krewe of Muses annually contributes to a cause that is related to the Honoree’s field of interest. This year a $5000 grant will be presented to the Ruby Bridges Foundation. For additional information about the foundation visit www.rubybridgesfoundation.org.

“We are honored to have Ruby Bridges as our 2013 Honorary Muse. Her extraordinary work to foster racial healing and to promote racial equity both locally and nationally is an inspiration to our members. She embodies the values and the culture of the Muses. We are so pleased to have her leading our parade this year,” said Krewe of Muses Captain Staci Rosenberg.

Krewe of Muses, dance groups honor girl jeered during Mardi Gras parade

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:00:32 +0000

NOLA.com

Emily Mueller, right, receives the coveted Muses shoe from member Louise Regan, left.

Forget what the calendar might have said. Friday, at least in one part of New Orleans, was Emily Gras. Emily Mueller, an 11-year-old northshore girl with autism was the object of one drunken young man’s abuse during the Muses’ parade on Feb. 16. She was reduced to tears before she could see any of her favorite parade.

Wearing a pair of Elvis glasses given to her by a member of the Krewe of Rolling Elvi and a wreath of leaves, Emily Mueller looks around the Muses den. Mueller, who is autistic, was jeered at because of her disorder by someone on the parade route during the Muses parade last Thursday. After the incident, Mueller and her mother, Amy, center, left the parade right away. On Friday, February 24, 2012, members of the Krewe of Muses held a last minute party for Mueller.

Her mother, Amy Mueller, wrote about the experience online on Thursday. On Friday morning, she said, she awoke to find 30,000 page views.

Staci Rosenberg, Muses’ founder, offered to open up the den so the organization could make it up to Emily.

And how. In addition to Muses, costumed members of the 610 Stompers, the Rolling Elvi and the Pussyfooters showed up to strut, dance and bestow glittery shoes, leis, beads and stuffed animals upon Emily, who pronounced the experience “overwhelming.”

In a demonstration of what Rosenberg called “the power of viral media,” nearly 100 people descended upon the den.

Among them were Rudy and Michelle Brown and their daughter, Kelsey. The elder Browns own Nola Snow Snowballs, and they showed up, unbidden, and started turning out snowballs for anyone who wanted one. Their operation was next to a table where king cake was being dispensed.

“We saw the story on Facebook,” Rudy Brown said. “We had a similar experience last Mardi Gras, and we wanted to make it up to Emily.”

Krewe of Muses riders will throw Mardi Gras cups designed by McMain student

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:11:34 +0000

NOLA.com

Nhi Hoang, a student at McMain High School, designed the Krewe of Muses cup this year. showing Clio, the Muse of history.

Along with plush toys and glittery shoes, spectators at the Muses parade tonight will be scrambling for the artwork of Nhi Hoang, 17. The senior at McMain High School won the Muses’ annual student cup design contest with her pen-and-ink drawing of Clio, muse of history. The contest brings with it $1,000 for the McMain art department and the opportunity for Hoang to see her artwork fly through the air on showers of plastic cups.

Nhi Hoang, a student at McMain High School, designed the Krewe of Muses cup this year. showing Clio, the Muse of history.

“I was shocked,” said Hoang, who lives in eastern New Orleans. “I didn’t think I could win.”

Hoang immigrated with her family from Vietnam when she was 8 and has been taking talented in visual art classes since she was in third grade at Village de l’Est Elementary School. She came to McMain in seventh grade, but her shy nature foiled efforts by art teacher Natalie Hutzler Maloney to recruit Hoang until eighth grade. Since then, the two have bonded.

“Nhi is an absolute treasure, a gem,” said Maloney. “I am going to weep during her graduation.”

Hoang’s drawing shows a masked Clio holding a scroll and a book with a fleur-de-lis, to represent Louisiana history. A hyacinth blooms in a high-heeled shoe, well-known symbol of the women’s Carnival organization. In Greek mythology, Clio had a son named Hyacinth.

Those details, especially the attention to footwear, made Hoang’s design stand out, said Kathy Conklin, Muses board member and community involvement chairwoman who organizes the annual cup design contest.

“It was a beautiful design,” Conklin said. “And I try to make this an educational piece. She has the hyacinth flower growing from a shoe, which really charmed me.”

Besides art, Hoang likes her AP English class best, along with world history. She also takes physics and calculus “and they’re killing me,” she smiled. Nevertheless, she’s fourth in her class, Maloney said. Next year, Hoang hopes to attend Xavier University. An older brother — whom Hoang describes as the brains in the family — is a pre-med student at Tulane.

Hoang also enjoys sewing and sometimes designing clothes for herself and friends. “I make a lot of clothes,” she said. “They’re really expensive to buy, so why not just make them? You save a few bucks.”

She loves animation and writes stories and graphic novels featuring characters she’s invented. “In the future, I hope I will be a really good comic artist,” she said. The mention of a Japanese comic called “One Piece,” which is Hoang’s favorite, draws good-natured snorts from her classmates and teacher, who hear her excited updates on the popular series every day.

On a recent morning in art class, Hoang and the other students pieced together a paper mosaic from magazine scraps. The students get by with recycled materials, paints bought with the proceeds from a student art fair and whatever teachers can scrounge up.

There is no budget for art supplies, Maloney said. The $1,000 cash prize from Muses, along with a $2,000 grant from Cox earlier in the year, “seems like a fortune,” she said. Paper, pencils and brushes are always needed, but there’s a particular kind of pricey marker, called Copic, that Hoang loves.

“We got those for her when she won the prize,” Maloney said.

Actress Patricia Clarkson to reign as Honorary Muse

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:30:59 +0000

WNOL

NEW ORLEANS - N.O. native and award-winning actress Patricia Clarkson has been named the Honorary EveryMuse for the 2012 season, the krewe announced Thursday.

Clarkson will lead the parade from the iconic 17-foot tall fiber optic-encrusted red pump shoe float.

The krewe said it chose Clarkson because she is a woman the Krewe deemed the embodiment of the spirit of the nine muses. Traditionally, the Krewe of Muses annually selects an honoree who exemplifies a single Muse from Greek mythology.

“We are honored to have Patricia Clarkson as our first-ever Honorary EveryMuse. She is most deserving of this selection. Her lyrical poetry skills are worthy of Erato and her place in history is set as an Emmy winner for Clio. Melpomene-pleasing in her tender portrayals of women facing tragedy like cancer victim Mia in ‘Five‘, to her dance of love for Terpsichore in ‘Cairo Time‘. Urania would certainly agree, as do we, she is the Muses true star,” said Krewe of Muses Captain Staci Rosenberg.

Patricia is an Emmy Award winning and Academy Award nominated actress who has appeared and starred in countless film, television and theatre productions. A New Orleans native, Patricia is the daughter of Arthur Clarkson and Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson. After earning a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama, Clarkson made her Hollywood debut in 1987 as Mrs. Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables“, acting opposite Kevin Costner. She has appeared in critically acclaimed films including, “Cairo Time“, “The Green Mile” and “Shutter Island“; television shows such as “Six Feet Under“; and theatre productions including, “The Maiden’s Prayer” and “A Streetcar Named Desire“.

Krewe of Muses 2011: Riding on a Mardi Gras Float

admin — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:05:29 +0000

USAToday.com

Spectators may only grab a glimpse of Mardi Gras floats as they roll by, but for the riders, preparing for a New Orleans parade is an all-day affair.

I rode in the Krewe of Muses this year for the fifth time since joining the Mardi Gras organization back in 2001. It proved to be the best ride I’ve done so far, so I thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes.

Mardi Gras “krewes” – a name for a New Orleans parading or social organization, that dates back to the mid-1800s – range in size, purpose and traditions. Most of the older krewes are named for Greek and Roman mythological figures, but there are lots of smaller walking krewes, societies and clubs – new ones seem to spring up all the time.

My krewe, Muses, is an all-female organization known for its satirical floats, awesome “throws” (beads, trinkets and toys) and elaborately decorated glitter shoes that are one of the more coveted prizes of Carnival.

It takes all year to prepare for large parade, such as Muses. There are dues to collect, throws to order, themes to choose, floats to design – as well as social and fundraising events held throughout the year (many of New Orleans’ larger krewes have community service components).

The krewe tends to organize by float number, and some groups, such as our “Float 18,” have shoe decorating parties on weekends leading up to the big day. When I lived in Washington DC two years ago, I joined Muses there to decorate shoes (it’s much easier to get motivated to glitter in a group).

But I’m an out-of-town member, and so for Muses like me, the countdown starts the night before when you arrive at the “den,” the location where the floats are kept, to load and organize your throws. As an out-of-town member, I usually buy a package of beads that is loaded onto the float for me, but my sister – who was riding with me this year – and I bought some extras that we needed to put on ourselves.

The float viewing, held at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, also gave my family to take a look at the different floats before the actual parade. My parents, who drove in from Florida to watch my sister and I ride, especially enjoyed the behind-the-scenes tour.

I think one family photo may even make their annual Christmas card!

The next day felt like Christmas morning, as I awoke with the same anticipation I had as a kid. After a brief shop at a costume shop on Magazine Street for wig caps and another at Walgreens for water bottles and chips, we arrived at our fellow krewe member Natalie’s home to get dressed in our costumes. As always, our float focused more on creativity than beauty, and the jokes about our gypsy wigs flew fast.

Everyone in a krewe usually wears the same base tunic, but each float puts its own spin on things. The float that comes up with the most creative headpieces wins a crucial spot in the parade for the next year. Our float, which celebrated the New Orleans Saints, wasn’t destined to win. But we gamely pinned on our shoulder pads anyway.

After we’re appropriately dressed and glittered, we go out to lunch in costume. This year, we went to the famedCommander’s Palace to take advantage of the 25 cent drink specials.

What’s great about New Orleans is that no one batted an eye when we walked into the elegant patio room. Owner Ti Martin greeted us with open arms and we received an ovation from the other diners as we walked to our table. Even though there was a Saks Fifth Avenue fashion show going on, we remained the center of attention; several people came up to us and asked for a picture.

After a lunch full of cocktails and costumes, we needed to figure out a way to get down to the den. Some years, this has presented a dilemma – some obliging police gave us a ride as we stood haplessly by the side of the road – but this time we were prepared. Even if Natalie had to ride in the back.

By 4 p.m., we arrived at the Krewe of Muses pre-party. I watched my sisters’ face as we entered. Her jaw dropped in surprise as she took in the scene of hundreds of women dressed in costume, each sporting a wig/wacky headdress.

I don’t have many photos from the pre-party because I was too busy loading up our water bottles with drinks for the route. Usually I fill a bottle with vodka nectar, but this time we chose champagne. The pre-party is all about drinking and laughing and checking out costumes and singing along to favorite songs. In short, it’s like a pep rally that’s all about you instead of a team of guys. How cool is that!?

Once the pre-party is over, you get on the float and head uptown to the beginning of the parade route. It’s a city ordinance that you need to wear a mask, and we’re also strapped in to the float with a harness so we don’t fall over. We spend this time chugging our afore-mentioned water bottles and passed around a few cartons of wine, along with water. chips and chicken strips from Popeye’s.

And then suddenly, the float jerks forward. It’s starting, you’re ready to roll. And your time as one of the city’s temporary rock stars begins.

Imagine hundreds of people reaching up toward you, begging for the plastic trinkets that only you can provide. It’s a power trip that brings out benevolent emotions. Your eyes meet someone in the crowd. Gift me, choose me, they plead. And you want to milk the moment for all its worth.

At least I do. I love the drama of making the throw. You dangle the coveted throw – a glitter shoe, a plastic vuvuzela, a long strand of beads – high above the crowd. You hear the roar, you select who is worthy. And then, only then, do you throw. This fun goes on for hours, although it seems like 20 minutes.

Before you know it, it’s time for the after-party. Some krewes, such as Bacchus, require formal clothes for their balls. The Muses are more casual, and costumes are encouraged.

This year’s after party featured New Orleans’ own Trombone Shorty, who is no longer a shortie anymore. My sister and I loaded up on the catered fried chicken and jambalaya from Jacques Imos and then we danced. At least I think we did. It’s all lost in a fade of exhaustion and Elvi.

The lights at the after party came on around 2 a.m., ending the very long day. I fell asleep at my hotel with the glitter still on face, along with a smile. I’m convinced that riding on a Mardi Gras float is just about the most fun you can do with your clothes on. I can’t wait to do it again in 2013,

Zulu has its coconuts, but the Krewe of Muses has shoes

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:22:13 +0000

NOLA.com

When asked to pick a favorite Mardi Gras parade, more and more Mardi Gras revelers are beginning to select the Krewe of Muses. Originating in 2000, the krewe is new compared to organizations like Comus, Rex and Zulu which date back decades, but their loyal fan base grows year after year, and shoe after shoe.

Traditionally, krewes’ throws include beads, doubloons and medallions with a smattering of specialty items commemorating events or milestones.

A “Muses Shoe” decorated with a New Orleans Bingo! Show photo taken by New Orleans photographer Erika Goldring.

The Krewe of Muses however elevated the game by incorporating their now signature throw, the Muses Shoe.

Shoes range in size, decor and bling from rider to rider, but New Orleans photographer Erika Goldring has taken the Krewe of Muses’ shoe-throwing tradition to an entirely new level.

Goldring, a fixture in the New Orleans music scene, decorates her shoes with images shot during the previous year. In a series of annual Mardi Gras emails distributed to close friends and family she states:

“It’s Carnival Time! Musicians rolling down the Avenue with me in 2009 include: Robert Plant, Jakob Dylan, Solomon Burke, Anders Osborne, Lil Wayne and a whole lot of Indians!”

Goldring’s position and float No. are a closely guarded secret, but if you’re lucky, and scream loud enough, you may be taking home Lil Wayne this year!

The Krewe of Muses roll Thursday, February 19, beginning at 6:15 p.m. The route begins at the corner of Jefferson and Magazine Streets in Uptown New Orleans. You can watch Muses roll down St. Charles Avenue live on NOLA.com’sMardi Gras Parade webcam.