Fat Tuesday Part 2

I really thought I was going to have a great adventure last night talking to festive people and finding out their views on Mardi Gras. I was surprised to see that there wasn't a wild crowd at any of the watering holes I went to. The only beads I encountered advertised Corona beer. The two beers on special were both Mexican imports. I would not be deterred. I ordered jambalaya, a traditional rice dish cooked with sausage and seasoned with herbs. It can actually contain just about any kind of meat but in this case it was sausage. It was very bland. After I finished my dinner I went back on task. I asked a young lady in her early twenties named Tina what Mardi Gras meant to her and she had never heard of it. I thought she was kidding at first but after I spoke with her for a while I could tell she wasn't. I decided it was time to move on to another bar.

The next stop on my Mardi Gras pub crawl was a place that featured live music. I thought live music would be more in the spirit of things. The music was good but a little on the mellow side. It really didn't inspire a lot of reckless abandon. There was certainly a better vibe at the new bar but the party seemed a bit half-assed. As a matter of fact, that would seem to be the recurring theme of the evening, half-assed. Don't get me wrong, I still had a good time but it wasn't a Mardi Gras kind of time.

Mardi Gras means decadence to me. It's about good Cajun food, spirited drinks, festive jazz music, women showing their breasts in exchange for cheap plastic beads and just letting loose on a Tuesday. This year the spirit fell short. I guess a lot of people didn't even know it was Fat Tuesday. Carnival? No, just another Tuesday night indistinct from any other. I know, all the days we have are special but that isn't the point. Imagine Christmas without any Christmas trees or cookies or Charlie Brown Chritmas special. Imagine Halloween without costumes or candy or The Monster Mash or It's the Great Pumkin Charlie Brown. Maybe that's the problem, no Charlie Brown special for Mardi Gras. Is it really a holiday if there is no Charlie Brown special for it?