Mardi Gras

I haven't even arrived in Mobile, Ala., yet, but I've already had a taste of "Southern hospitality." For a girl from New Jersey, it's been a nice change! I'll be the guest of mayoral candidate Sandy Stimpson, who invited me after I wrote a post calling Mobile the third most miserable city in America, based on Gallup data. Since I wrote about my upcoming trip to Mobile earlier this week, I've received close to 300 emails welcoming me to the Gulf Coast and offering advice about the city. I still don't know whether I'll find that Mobile isn't so miserable, after all. I've been warned it's pretty hot and humid this time of year. But I'm looking forward to finding out. I'm still reading through all the advice I received from Mobilians, but here are some insights — good and bad —from email and comments on Business Insider: The Food: "The absolute best crab claws are at a little hole in the wall called The Lighthouse. It is located in Bayou La Batre and has no view. The crab claws make up for it. People will want you to dine on the Causeway (and yes they have great food too) but the best is a bit out of the way." "For a cheeseburger rated best in Alabama by USA Today, go to Callaghan's. It's a great neighborhood bar that was also rated as one of the best bars in America by Esquire magazine. It's the local hangout, also called the unofficial 'town hall.' Great live music most nights too." "Yes, everything will be fried so put your diet on hold while you're there. It's worth it and you can work it off later. ALWAYS order fried pickles whenever they're available. Trust me, you won't regret it." "Mobile is home to some of the best seafood on the GC (Gulf Coast). The Beach House and The Original Oyster House are two of my favorites for seafood." The Sights: "While you are visiting Mobile please check out the 5 Rivers Delta park on the causeway and go kayaking in the delta. This and the many rivers in Alabama make river kayaking very pleasant." "If you haven’t been aboard a battleship, don’t miss touring the USS Alabama. The school children of Alabama raised the money, by collecting coins, to help bring the USS Alabama to Mobile." "Take a stroll or guided tour on foot through Bellingrath Gardens and home. It is truly breathtaking. Skip the boat ride here, though, it's long and not as informative as others." "Mardi Gras in Mobile is smaller and a lot easier and safer than New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Mobile is where you want to bring your family for Mardi Gras... Of course everyone in Mobile loves to tell you that Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the states, not New Orleans. You are a smart person if you never bring that fact up while living in New Orleans." The Weather: "It's a little unfortunate you'll be visiting during the summer — I'm sure you've been warned about Gulf Coast summers — but try not to let the heat and humidity hamper your enjoyment of the city! Just wear a lot of sunscreen, drink a lot of fluids (of the alcoholic variety particularly) and be in reach of some powerful AC." "There really isn't much to do in Mobile if you aren't an outdoors person and then not in the summer! Too hot and buggy!" "We are one of the rainiest cities in the world — consistently in top 3 in the USA." The Rest: "The best way to sum up Mobile is a family-friendly New Orleans. The history is similar, the architecture is similar, and the racial issues are similar. Mobile is still a very segregated city and that is where a large part of the problems there come from. The people can be a little backwards. However, there are a wide-range of people in Mobile. The food is fantastic and the art scene seems to be exploding. All in all, it is not a bad place to live, or it wasn’t when I left around 2007, but the economy is a little weak. That appears to be turning around. I would not call Mobile miserable so much as I would call it under-utilized. It could be much better." "

Make merry this Mardi Gras in a colorful and classic Mardi Gras Jester costume. Purple and green clash in colorful chaotic style to create this classic comedic look. Stroll the boulevard in New Scary stories by Scare You - Tell us about your favorite Halloween costumes and haunted events. Have you ever seen a mermaid costume? $39.99 | Mens Costumes | Read more...

Mens classic costume mardi gras king adult costume. You will surely be the king of Mardi Gras in this splendid harlequin jacket and royal purple and gold plush crown. Adorn yourself in the colors and spirit of Mardi Gras whether your parading down Bour… Scary stories by Scare You - Tell us about your favorite Halloween costumes and haunted events. Have you ever seen a mermaid costume? $49.97 | Mens Costumes | Read more...

When Spike TV's Fight Master debuts tomorrow, on the surface at least, it's going to look awfully familiar. Thirty two mixed martial arts fighters will attempt to realize a dream, to win a single-elimination tournament and earn their spot alongside the world's very best fighters. Leading the way will be iconic coaches, some of MMA's biggest and brightest names. They will live together, train together, break bread together and do battle together.Deja Vu?That could have been the mission statement for The Ultimate Fighter, a 2005 reality series on Spike that helped put MMA, and industry leader UFC, on the map. Today, a year or so removed from a bitter divorce between the network and its muse, it's not a comparison Spike TV executive vice president for original programming Sharon Levy is comfortable with. Levy and Spike's parent company Viacom replaced the UFC with Bellator, a rising promotion concentrating on developing new talent. But other than being representatives of the same sport, Levy rejects attempts to draw parallels between the UFC and Bellator—or between the competing reality shows."I don't compare Fight Master to TUF," Levy said, cutting my question off at the pass. "I wouldn't do a carbon copy of what came before. The world doesn't need another version of that. It's a completely unique show."Yes, guys are fighting and all elimination concepts work on the same premise. People are going to be eliminated and someone is going to win. I think it's about taking a fresh perspective. What any great television executive tries to do is take something and make it even better, to make it new. To make it fresh. To make it feel like it belongs."Curious about how Spike and Bellator could pull this off, and skeptical that they could create a product in the same genre that would stand out from the wearying The Ultimate Fighter, on its last legs as it enters its eighteenth season, I traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to see what the new show was all about.The first thing I can report, as we travel from the swanky Loews Hotel near Harrah's Casino, is that this show most definitely isn't in the heart of the city. This is a show filmed in New Orleans, but not of New Orleans. As the GPS attempts three times to take us onto a Ferry boat to nowhere, I learn that the fighters don't get to partake of the nightlife on Bourbon Street, didn't enjoy any jazz and ate not a single crawfish. In fact, their existence is confined to a single giant warehouse. It used to house Mardi Gras floats, at least on the 364 days they weren't put to good use. Now it houses a giant circular cage, serving as a production facility as New Orleans throws its hat into the ring to compete with Atlanta and other rising southern powerhouses in the new look television industry. Fight Master may be in New Orleans, but it isn't a show about the drunken hi-jinks the city, and The Ultimate Fighter, are famous for. Show runner Mark Seliga, who once worked in a similar role on the UFC's show before graduating to Project Runway and a variety of bad girl shows, says almost all the hi-jinks, pranks and drunken tomfoolery that have come to define MMA television were all but abandoned this time around."That's the tenant of this show. To really make it about fighting. There's something that we're doing here that I used to focus on at The Ultimate Fighter but it never really aired," he said. "And it's the pre-fight ritual of getting your hands wrapped and what a fighter does in those given moments. What's going on in their head the hour before they are about to fight? What a crazy moment in someone's existence. Some dudes chill, some dudes scream. It's an individualized thing. So you're in the moment. You get the sense that the fight is about to happen. And you get these stories of what they were have supposed to have learned during the week infused into that moment."What we're really endeavoring to do here is to have something that is more analytic. We are sharing the h

Back in March, I wrote a post called "The 11 Most Miserable Cities In America." The post was based on the latest set of data from Gallup's annual Well-Being Index, which ranks cities in terms of emotional and physical health, work environment, and access to basic necessities, among other factors. Let's be clear: I've never been to any of the cities on the list. In the post, I explained that the list was based on statistics published by the consulting company, and not my own impressions. Even so, I managed to make some folks pretty mad — just take a look at the comments. One person, though, was determined to prove me wrong. Sandy Stimpson, a businessman and mayoral candidate from Mobile, Ala. — which was the third miserable city in America, according to Gallup — started tweeting me invitations to come see the city for myself. @jzeveloff we want to fly you into Mobile, AL and give you the red carpet treatment of our awesome city. Are you up for that? — Sandy Stimpson (@SandyStimpson) April 4, 2013 @jzeveloff would love to have you come visit our town! #mobileal pic.twitter.com/h3oaYAdyNs — Sandy Stimpson (@SandyStimpson) May 8, 2013 At first, I politely declined. But then I started to read about Mobile, and realized it actually sounded pretty neat. Sure, the city fell in the bottom quintile on nearly every ranking on Gallup's index. But it's also home to the ninth-largest port in the U.S., which has worked hard to recover from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Airbus is currently building a major aircraft factory there, a move that will create several thousand jobs. Plus, Mobile has one of America's best military museums. And it hosts a Mardi Gras celebration that reportedly rivals New Orleans'. Stimpson reiterated his invitation, and wooed me with a YouTube video and a personalized Tumblr (and a hashtag!). So I ran the idea past my bosses, and decided to take Stimpson up on his offer to show to me that Mobile is not one of America's most miserable cities. I'm flying down to the Gulf Coast city later this week, where I'll visit the Mobile River Delta, eat fresh seafood from the Gulf, and visit the plant of shipbuilder Austal USA. I'm looking forward to meeting Stimpson, who is sponsoring my trip. But I really don't care about the Mobile mayoral race (Stimpson is running against Sam Jones, who's been in office since 2005). I do care about getting a real perspective on the city. As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. I suppose I'll soon find out if where the Gallup stats belong. I sincerely hope that Stimpson and Mobile prove me wrong. You can read all about my trip here, and if you have any suggestions for can't-miss activities or sights in Mobile, please shoot me an email at jzeveloff@businessinsider.com.SEE ALSO: The 11 Most Miserable Cities In America Join the conversation about this story »

A bit of an obscure LP this I picked up at the boot sale this week. Made for the evn more obscure Sunrise label in 1984. An American ,Bill Zorn, teamed up with a comedian Jon Benns to form Bill & Benns back in the 70's but they passed me by I must admit. The Lp though is a bit of a curates egg - some great tracks and some that are not so great!Bill Zorn seems to have gone back to the states in the 90's and joined The Limelighters. This is from their website -"Bill was born in May, 1948. In 1970, after studying music and drama at Arizona State University, Bill earned a place with The New Christy Minstrels where he performed, directed and toured from Viet Nam to the White House (twice) for four years. A contact of Bill's from hosting a TV talk show was a then unknown singer, Kenny Rogers. Rogers told Bill there was an opening upcoming in the New Christy Minstrels. Bill informs us, "I replaced a guy named Byron Walls, who wrote one of Glen Yarbrough's signature songs, "Grandma's Letter." This was maybe the fourth generation of the group by that time, and I stayed with them for four years as their musical director. My brother was also in the group, and it was a great experience for us."Then he became a banjo-playing full member of The Kingston Trio for three years. Bill says, "It was three years of full throttled, non-stop fun - like a Mardi Gras that never ends. But it was also lots and lots of travel and after a time I had to admit to myself that I just couldn't keep up with the pace. Remember, I had just come off of four years of the same with the Christy's. Every fiber of me was exhausted. I finally had to say to myself it's stay in the group and die, so I decided to take up my brother on his offer come have a good rest at this place in England."Bill's move to England in 1977 didn't stop him from performing, and while there he recorded a hit single with his brother called "Car '67." He has also had his share of television acting, voice-over work, and comedy, gained by teaming up with British comedian Jon Benns to form the successful duo "Bill and Benns" in England. In 1995, while still in England, Bill produced a Glenn Yarbrough album called Chantyman."Tracks are as follows - 1. Wake Up 2. Conversation Piece 3. Billboards 4. Prune Pit Jackson 5. Luang Prabang 6. Oh Lord, When I DieBill & Benns - Side One

Tyson and Allie’s Florida wedding had a music themed wedding with touches of Halloween, New Orleans and vintage. They didn’t want a stuffy and regimented wedding, they wanted a wedding that was a massive celebration of all the things they love. “Halloween is my favorite holiday however I didn’t want to make that the main theme”, explained the bride. “I wanted to add a touch of elegance. My first inspiration was our favorite place, New Orleans. We went on our honeymoon there and instead of making the wedding really obviously Halloween themed, we added the vintage New Orleans spin. It turned out to be the perfect mix!” “We spared no detail in designing our theme. We were Rock n Roll because almost the whole bridal party was (ourselves included) or is either in a band, plays music or is affiliated with it. Tyson and I even got a coordinating tattoo on our first tour with the band to honor our love and commitment to each other.” “We DIY’d everything”, she continued. “My mom is a flea market and yard sale genius and Michael’s craft store was my savior. I did tons of research (mostly on Rock n Roll Bride!) until I put together the perfect silk flower and feather bouquets. All the girls had mini Victorian hats with feathers and birdcage veil. The guys had boutonnieres made from guitar picks, bottle caps and feathers – each different to match their personality.” “For the tables I printed the table numbers on sheet music and held them up with mini glitter styrofoam skulls. We found metal candelabras for $1 each, spray painted them black and glued moss, peacock feathers and flowers to them. We finished the look with mardi gras masks (which we also designed with silver beading, ribbon and feathers) and flameless glitter candles. The favors were Hershey kisses and custom guitar picks printed with a logo I designed with our initials and date.”

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This past weekend, the Applebee's of Coney Island had its grand opening, unveiling a giant shark tank filled with amusement park miniatures, including a neon Wonder Wheel and Cyclone.The tank was made by Las Vegas' Acrylic Tank Manufacturing company, stars of a reality television show called Tanked, in which two guys make large, elaborate fish tanks, e.g., a 57,000 gallon aquarium for a Dallas megachurch and a "man-cave aquarium" for an NFL player. photo: Coney Applebee's Facebook page Next weekend, the international chain restaurant, that honey-glazed, Fiesta lime-flavored emblem of the suburban dining experience, will throw a Mermaid Parade Party in collaboration with Coney Island USA. Tickets to the party are $45 and they'll give you entry to Applebee's "comfortable air-conditioned dining room" for drinks and an all-you-can-eat buffet in the "ambiance of the hottest new restaurant" in Coney Island.What is wrong with this picture? Coney Island, wild child of the city's fringe, is suffocating in national chains. Applebee's has plenty of company, including Johnny Rockets, Red Mango, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway, with Hooters and Outback Steak House on the developers' wish list. As Amusing the Zillion said six months ago, the park "famous for its quirky authenticity" is "about to look and taste more like Anyplace USA."Zane Tankel, CEO of Apple-Metro, Inc., the Applebee's franchisee for New York City, sees it another way. He told the Daily News, “Coney Island’s time has come. It’s the renaissance of the neighborhood."What kind of a renaissance is this?The image on Applebee's Mermaid Parade Party ticket provides a clue--a photo of gals (and guys) who look nothing like the scrappy, freaky, iconoclastic artists that epitomize Coney's mermaids and men. The young women in the foreground are air-brushed stock-photo princesses better suited to a Disneyland float than a little red wagon pulled by a bearded drag queen on a three-speed bike. And while the Mermaid Parade was originally meant, in part, to pay tribute to Coney's old Mardi Gras parades, the colors and beads on this poster seem just a little too Mardi Gras and not enough Mermaid. Maybe the poster was re-purposed from a Fat Tuesday Riblets Feast. Can a multi-national corporation truly get the Mermaid Parade, or the spirit of Coney Island? I asked Zipper director Amy Nicholson her thoughts. She told me, "The Mermaid Parade embodies the spirit of Coney Island: wild, chaotic, creative, unfettered and free-spirited--words that I am sure do not appear in Applebee's brand guidelines. I wonder what will happen when pictures surface of topless women (or a guy with a shark on his penis) with their logo in the background."(For more on that, check out Laurie Essig's essay on how the source of the Mermaid Parade's popularity is "bared breasts and the age-old question of whether or not the mermaid has a vagina.") supertouchart: Big Dick MermanWe know that Bloomberg likes his luxury city to be clean and in uniform--everything gritty and chaotic, from newsstands to whole neighborhoods, has to be systematically rezoned and renovated to fall in line with his vision. Since Coney Island had the misfortune to get on Bloomberg's radar, it's been under siege by developers who aim to profit by cleaning it up and making it palatable for mainstream audiences (for the whole tragic story, you must see Zipper).Applebee's is now selling the Mermaid Parade as a family-focused event: "The Mermaid Parade is all about family! Enjoy the largest art parade of the nation and join us at America's favorite family friendly restaurant." But the parade is not, and never was, "all about family." I'd say it's all about art, yes, along with: transgression, activism, crossdressing, freakiness, and tits. Lots of tits.Applebee's FacebookFrom the beginning, the mermaid activists and their friends fought back against the developers and city planners. At the 2008 Mermaid Parade, in the window of Coney Island USA, the Qu

@rachelstayshigh, @K00LJ0HN, @TheBrother_Hood, & @DaveSteezy gon let the Dollaz Hit The Floor on this bangin @YPOnTheBeat produced track! From Choppa $tyle & YPOnTheBeat's joint mixtape, "Mardi Gras" MIXTAPE DOWNLOADCHOPPA $TYLE & YPONTHEBEAT - MARDI GRAS