Hey Girl, What Yo Name Is?!?

Noooo! We lost. But that's the only bad thing about this weekend.

When Dennis told me about "the little gymnasium" at Tulane i was wondering why he used the word "little". To me it looked like the real big gyms at home: A basketball field and space for maybe 1.000 people. Now I know what he was talking about.

I cited Katie's mail in the last entry so here is what happened: Tulane Basketball Girls performed pretty well in this years NCAA championship which seem to be something like the official league for University team-sports. As there are not sooo many Tulane-fans in Arizona for some reason they needed support and that's where Soundwave comes into the game. It's not a real official Tulane band but it's the musicians who really like playing music and it looks some way as if it was Soundwave that made Tulane Marching Band happen again after there hadn't been any official Tulane Band for years. However - Tulane chartered a whole BOEING, paid for our food and booked rooms for us in the Hilton. We even got some per diem just for supporting our team. And when I say supporting I mean really supporting. You'll see it later in the pictures but there's a big difference between support in Austria and support at Tulane. It's like there is the whole stadium filled only with a few people and it's of course the band that makes all the stuff happen. It's loud, it's colorful and it's of course a lot of fun.

To tell the truth I felt a little bit misplaced the first times with the Marching Band. I'm used to seeing a band as "the band" which includes not only music but the whole social stuff. To me it looked a little bit like people are attending a course and don't feel as a part of the band. However, after that weekend I know that Soundwave is way more than just some people playin' music at some sports events.
Unfortunately we lost the game and so we had to travel back on Sunday. This time it was only a DC9 but not a bad experience once again. Actually the food was better than in the BOEING.
I think that's all for now. I posted some pictures below (ooop, I didn't) and if you're really interested you can have a look at my Picasaweb-Album. It's a lot of pictures and I think Soundwave hates me a little bit for taking photos all the time. I'm sure it was kind of annoying.

Happy Spring Break,
Rödel

PS: Did I mention that I got one more real N'Orleans experience now? Somebody stole my bike on Sunday so I had to take St. Charles on Monday. Needless to say that someone else stole my wallet there. Not a big deal as I still have all my documents and financial stuff but it sucks a lot. However - got a new (crappy) bike and wallet now. It's just a bad feeling of missing my good stuff. But back to the basics: Life's beautiful and OZ Radio still keeps rocking my days here. That's the important stuff.

Good Evening from the Hilton!

Ooops. Things are happening pretty fast here. As the last entry happened to be interrupted by that amazing e-mail from Katy I'll give it a second try. Thinking about the right words made my mind confuse like crazy so I decided to find another way. - Voila! - Here are my instructions:

1. Don't wonder 'bout the BOEING.
2. Make sure your work is finished. If not: Make sure you don't give a s**** for it. 
3. Amp to the max. If you don't own an amp: Buy one! Life's too short for listening to crappy music.
4. You can't afford an amp? Sell your TV and go to cinema with your friends. Everything else is waste of time.
5. OK. I told you you're wrong but you still wanna listen on your crappy laptop-speakers? DON'T DO IT! At least: Use your earphones.
6. Go to New Orleans Moonshiners Website .  Select Baby Face in the Playlist on the right side of the Website. If you're in New Orleans right now: Go to Frenchmen Street. Just anywhere. 
7. Maybe have a short look at my Pictures...
8. ...and enjoy this awesome feeling of joy and fun. You know, that's what this city is all about: amazing people, joy, and of course: the music that makes you feel that way all day! 

Hope it works for you!

PS: Did you read the Title of this posting? Have you ever enjoyed lying around in a BOEING that has been chartered just for you and your band? It's great fun!

~*~* AWESOME! ~*~*

Oh wow! Explainin' this is gonna be a hard job...

I already mentioned that I got in contact with some local guys. To be exact they're the Ball Brothers, two guys of roughly my age, both looking pretty the same and both working as a cook in different bars. Now that we've been around for a while it's AWESOME!

Ohhh stop. No more own word now. I just got a message I wanna share with all you guys:

SoundWave,

I have finally gotten some details on our trip, as I just came out of a
meeting with Athletics.  I've attached a tentative itinerary to this email.

PLEASE NOTE: THE TIME AND MEETING PLACE HAVE BEEN CHANGED!
*We are now meeting at 5pm in front of Fogelman Arena.*
This is a time change that was made literally an hour ago, and I apologize if this screws anything up for you.

Here are some highlights for tomorrow:
- we will depart from Fogelman at 5:30pm
- we will be fed Quiznos subs before we board the plane at 6:30pm (flight leaves at 7:30)
- we will have pizza when we arrive at the hotel at 9pm Arizona time (11pm our time)
- we are staying at the Hilton Phoenix Airport Hotel
- there IS free Internet and a pool
- our game will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Saturday at 9:30pm, if you have people who will want to watch

Check out the itinerary for more info.  Either Athletics or I will talk to
you about details tomorrow so everyone will be on board.

Also, Athletics wants us to be completely decked out for this game.  We're
talking face paint, feather boas, wigs, Mardi Gras beads, pom poms,
sunglasses...whatever crazy stuff you can think of!  I have face paint and 2
very full bags of beads that I will be happy to share with everyone.  Get
creative and show 'em Where the Green Wave At!  (RIGHT HERE, RIGHT HERE).
 Yeah, that's right.  I went there.

Remember to bring:
- a swim suit
- GREEN Tulane shirt(s)
- some extra money
- your license/passport
- your Tulane student ID
- your instrument/music and reeds/mouthpieces, etc.
- any schoolwork you might need to catch up on

*PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE TIME AND MEETING PLACE CHANGE FOR
TOMORROW*!  Thank you!
If there are any other changes or developments, I will be sure to let you
know.

Hearts, flowers, & Tempe, AZ,

 Oh Wow! U know what this means? It's such an unbelievable good Feeling to be here!

roommate #4

hooh! Met some great guys on Wednesday. 1 musician, 2 wakeboarders and 3 guys having some metal in their shoulders. I think there isn't much left to go wrong anymore.
I don't wanna go into detail as it is 1 a.m. now but we had great times: Goin' to a private party, sitting around the fire and on the rooftop; having some musician singin 20s' songs there. Goin' to a house that was left after Katrina - Big fire and 50+ locals that meet there maybe once a month. Live Local music and a feeling that you won't ever experience as a tourist. Having had my first Burrito and enjoyed it. A great day and a great week!

Not to forget: We've got a new roommate: Nola!

PS: Did I mention that we found a sofa on the street?

Happy Mardi Gras!

Where are all the other pictures? - on the way!

In fact this is the reason for this entry being written so late. Although I had the time to write some news about Mardi Gras I decided to wait untill we get the "tons of pictures" we were assured of. Last Monday Bandleader Barry told us that we will get them within the next days. I'll post them as soon as the next days are over, for now you'll have to content with text + a few pics.

So - what's Mardi Gras about? To make it simple, it's just Carnival - but New Orleans people take it serious when it comes to celebrating anything. In Austria a handful of people celebrate and most just attend Carnival. Take it exactly in the opposite order and you may be able to imagine what is happening here. Within the vast majority celebrating Mardi Gras two groups can be identified: Amateurs and the real Pro's.

Mardi Gras - The Professional Way

The professionals don't wait for Mardi Gras, they create Mardi Gras. By the way, that's a good moment to explain some things: Although the city as a whole is in a state of craziness there is an official and central element of Mardi Gras: The parades takin' place from Friday 'till so called Fat Tuesday (some people prefer to say Shrove Tuesday but Fat Tuesday hits the nail on the head). Organization is not centralized but managed by so called Krewes, voluntary groups that organize "their" parade. They are the ones to stay for weeks in their garages building the floats, they are the ones to do all that administrative stuff and of course they are the ones to throw the beads at the parades. All that just for doing it - they don't even get a Penny for it. As there are only 5 days but more than 30 Krewes running Parades, time and spare place on the streets are rare goods. Most of the parade-routes start uptown, run through Garden district and end in the French Quarter which normally sums up to 6 to 8 miles or 5 to 7 hours. Every parade has a specific leader and style which derives from the Krewe's character. Our four parades were lead by Kings, a Zulu Queen, Olympus and a Great Dictator.having attended 4 parades in the Marching Band also means that there was only one day left for watching parades. Out of three opportunities I missed two and so attended just one of the smaller parades. However, some of the pictures taken at this small parades may give you a little impression of what happens at the big parades:

But back to structure. We had the Pro's so it's time to talk about the others:

Mardi Gras: The Visitors

 To sum it up there isn't much to say. They're not as professional in it but they do the same thing as all the N'Orleans people: Goin' crazy for Mardi Gras. It's a little bit like prejustice about our German friends and their bath towels in holiday clubs. When I came home Saturday at 6 a.m. the first ones had already taken the best places along St. Charles Ave. However, some people just have some refreshment drinks with them, most of them come there prepared with equipment for a whole weekend chillin' on the street: Coals and grills, drinks and burgers, power-generators and refridgerators. Some groups suffer from the allmighty ubiquitous toilet problem, some have their private toilet on the street but the real professional visitors have their own toilet-truck: A chemical toilet mounted on a Pick-Up. 

Last not least some words about the kids: People really take care of them. Not only everybody on the streets is very cautious, it's also a matter of course that they get the best places around. 

I think that's all the general information that had to be provided about Mardi Gras. As stated above there's a little problem with providing the tons of pictures I will get from Tulane Marching Band. But as my roommates took some pictures on their own it's at least possible to give a little preview of my own impressions. Have a lot of fun! (thx, Chaotix)

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Lukas and all the others who can see the problem: No word about it! It took me 10 minutes just to take the publish/no-publish decision. 

 

 

 

stay tuned,
redel

PS: 

+: (woohooo!) the first video!

+: some birthday-pictures on the way...

[UPDATED] Superbowl Mambo!

For all those that still do not know: New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. In NOLA's words: "AMEN, after 43 years, our prayers are answered!"

The whole city which is normally located some feets below sea level has elevated to some feets above and people are going completely crazy about the Saints one week before Mardi Gras. As there is only one person not going crazy around here (Charly), I decided one more time in my life to follow the crowd and tried to freak out as hard as possible. It seems to be impossible to reach the average level of craziness here but at least everything is on the way.

Theoretically the Great Mardi Gras Parades will take place next weekend, in fact the Greatest Parade took place yesterday: The (new) Saints Parade! We started from Louisiana Superdome with Quarterback Drew Brees on the top of the first parade car followed not only by the National Guard but by nearly every Marching Band, all the leading cars of Mardi Gras Parades and obviously every group or organization that managed to have good reasons to be allowed to march on that Parade. Tulanians and the Tulane Marching Band were right in front of a New Orleans Fire Fighters car in the first Quarter of the Parade. We started at 5 and had the route finished at 9:30. OK, there's virtually no part of my body that didn't hurt from playin', dancin' and singing and I couldn't speak or hear anything afterwards but that was a new definition of a New Orleans Parade. Even bandleader Barry was kind of ecstatic when we finally reached our busses. The only picture I have for now was taken in the bandroom some minutes before departure but we will get some more after Mardi Gras. By the way: Tulane President Cowen cancelled every event including courses on Tuesday just to allow all Tulane students and staff to attend that parade.
UPDATE 1: First impressions of the Saints Parade online!
UPDATE 2: + some pictures of the very first Parade warmup in Covington, LA

 

Over all that Saints, Tulane and Mardi Gras News I shouldn't forget to to give extensive information about Tulane studies and apartment life: It is still a massive load of work and we're going to repair the glasses Charly broke up today.

praise the Saints
Rödel

PS: Today I got in contact with a great quartett playin' fine Dixie. The cornet player turned out to be Duke Heitger and he will play in Jazzland Vienna from February 16 to 20. Don't miss that event! And by the way, maybe you'll get some TUMB fan stuff straight from New Orleans on February 16.

home improvements part X

Denon DRA-35V

 

tuition fee for one credit hour at Tulane: $450
total fee for a bunch of party hours at home: 1hr credit x 0.05