[full set of images and videos on my Flickr]
The Mermaid Day Parade 2010 opened with a bang! A great procession down Surf Ave and then onto the boardwalk featuring last year’s King Neptune and Queen Mermaid, that is Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson respectively. Lou rocked the push-throne with his baseball-cap crown and pink-n-green cape-robe. Brilliant! Freaks to follow:
This was a pretty timid Mermaid Day Parade in my mind though. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but there were a couple points to reckon with:
the BP oil spill theme was a little too much. I mean one or even two costumes dealing with it seems okay, but I counted about a half-dozen if not more, including some entire sections that were just BP-related. Yes, it doesn’t effect NY yet; yes, it will someday; yes, people who live in NYC are from areas effected by the spill; BUT, I think the overt, acute nature of the costumes really doesn’t do any good. Straight up.
not enough Freaks on the whole. Just an observation. Not sure what it means.
per above comment, that means I must get involved next year! even though I’m Normal.
stilt-walkers these days just buy their stilts – not sure how I feel about this.
not enough electro-art costumes – again, I must get involved!
most of the music – save the Hungry March Band – sucked. banging on wooden boxes out of rhythm doesn’t justify your participation in the parade! At least figure out ONE tune and play it well – within 50 feet I can’t hear you so it doesn’t matter if you’re on repeat.
group and collective thematic sections were the HIGHLIGHT: from the sailor booty-bass section to the Flea Circus even to the Coney Island Brewery girls, it was the sections that were driven by a group energy that proved the most exciting for the audience to cheer on!
Please someone tell me you know who this is! I’ve seen her around town before and I want to involve her in some upcoming projects. She’s totally wicked!
And finally for part 1, the Hungry March Band. They rocked, without a doubt, and their gold-n-white theme showed how to unify a section and really drive the energy levels UP! The kids up front were absolutely adorable and the puppet in the rear was a great finishing element!
fyi, the blue scary skeleton gulf coast stilting merbeast is my number one ladyfriend. her name’s tara mcmanus, and she’ll probably be at the flux party this saturday.
that’s awesome shalin, and somehow I’m not surprised! i hope she can make it out to flux, I’d like to talk with her about her costumeries – all very impressive.