Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Sweet Insanity by Marilyn Lee . Andrew "Andy" Paley (born 1952) is an American songwriter, , and multi-instrumentalist who has been active since the late 1960s. His work includes stints as a producer for Madonna, the Ramones, Jonathan Richman, Debbie Harry and . In the 1970s he was one half of the Paley Brothers, a power pop duo formed with his brother Jonathan Paley. Contents. Personal life and early career. Andy was the son of Henry Paley, a college administrator and lobbyist, [2] and Cabot Barber Paley, a teacher and therapist. [1] He was the third of five children and grew up near Albany, New York. [1] His younger sister Sarah is married to former U.S. senator Bob Kerrey. In 2010, he married Heather Crist in a ceremony officiated by Kerrey. [3] He began performing in his early teens as a drummer and singer for local Albany-area bands before moving to Boston. He was a founding member of and the drummer for the Boston, Massachusetts band, Catfish Black, which also included future Modern Lovers members Jerry Harrison and Ernie Brooks. The band was renamed the Sidewinders and was later joined by Billy Squier. The band performed around Boston and in NYC at venues like Max's Kansas City. They released an album, produced by Lenny Kaye, which featured songs written and sung by Paley. The Sidewinders broke up in the mid-1970s. Paley then played on Elliott Murphy's album Night Lights , and performed with Jonathan Richman after the break-up of the original Modern Lovers. [4] The Paley Brothers. Andy went on to form The Paley Brothers [5] with his younger brother Jonathan, a guitar/bass player and singer who also was part of the early Boston punk scene and had played with Boston and NYC bands such as Mong. They disintegrated as an act in 1979 when Jonathan joined the Nervous Eaters. Although the Nervous Eaters collapsed after Ric Ocasek, who had produced their demo, was not permitted to produce their second album," [6] the Paley Brothers did not reform. Said Jonathan, "It was more of an evolution. Andy went on the road with Patti Smith's band and got into production work; I went and sailed around the world." [7] Collaborative work. In 1979, Andy Paley played guitar on Jonathan Richman's album Back in Your Life , and continued to perform on and off with Richman and later incarnations of the Modern Lovers, and produce many of their recordings, through the 1980s. He produced Richman's 1985 album Rockin' and Romance. Andy then focused on songwriting, session work and record production and working with Madonna, k.d. lang, Mandy Barnett, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John, Brenda Lee, Little Richard and many others. Brian Wilson. In 1988, Paley produced and co-wrote songs on Wilson's solo comeback album Brian Wilson , and continued to work with him on unreleased material in the 1990s. [8] He also co-wrote songs on Wilson's Gettin' In Over My Head (2004). Film and television work. He produced the soundtracks for Dick Tracy (1990) and A Walk on the Moon (1999) and wrote the original music for Traveller (1997, starring Bill Paxton). In 2009 he contributed to the soundtrack of World's Greatest Dad , directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and starring Robin Williams. He also wrote the musical score for Season One of Showtime's The L Word . [ citation needed ] Paley wrote and produced the music for Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants. He and Tom Kenny – the voice of SpongeBob – co-wrote the It's a SpongeBob Christmas! Album (2012). He leads the Andy Paley Orchestra, which provides the music for The Thrilling Adventure & Supernatural Suspense Hour , a theater group in Los Angeles that performs original stage productions in the style of old radio melodramas. [ citation needed ] Brian Wilson facts: Looking back at legend's life and career. Brian Wilson is one of the true greats of pop and rock history, and one of the most gifted musicians of his generation. The Beach Boys co-founder was the chief songwriter of the legendary group's biggest hits, and he ended up influencing countless artists that came after him. Here are all the important and fascinating facts about Brian Wilson that every fan should know: Who is Brian Wilson? Brian Wilson is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is most famous for co-founding the Beach Boys. Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen international hits for the group, including '' and ''. Read more: Brian Wilson performs 'God Only Knows' at home - video. He is known for his unorthodox approaches to writing pop music, for his expert use of recording techniques. He has also battled lifelong mental illness. He is generally considered to be one of the most innovative songwriters of the 20th century. How old is Brian Wilson and where is he from? Brian Wilson was born on June 20, 1942, and celebrated his 78th birthday in 2020. He was born in Inglewood, California, and was the eldest son of Audree Neva and , a musician and machinist. His two younger brothers were Dennis and Carl, who were also members of the Beach Boys. Brian's father said that, as a baby, he could repeat the melody from 'When the Caissons Go Rolling Along' after only a few verses had been sung to him. Aged just two, Wilson heard George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', and that moment changed his life forever. At a young age, he was discovered to have poor hearing in his right ear. The exact cause of this hearing loss is unknown, with theories ranging from him being born partially deaf, to a blow to the head from his father, or a neighborhood bully. When did he form the Beach Boys? Aged 16, Brian Wilson was sharing a bedroom with his brothers, Dennis and Carl – aged 13 and 11, respectively. After watching his father play piano and listening to the harmonies of vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen, Brian would teach family members how to sing the background harmonies. Read more: The Beach Boys' best ever songs. For his birthday, Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He taught himself how to overdub, using his vocals and those of Carl and their mother. Family gatherings brought the Wilsons closer with cousin . Later, Brian, Love and two friends performed at a high school concert. Brian also knew Al Jardine, a high school classmate. Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. Love then gave the new band its name: 'The Pendletones', a pun on 'Pendleton', a style of woolen shirt. Dennis was the only surfer in the group, and he suggested that the group write songs that celebrated surfing and the lifestyle in Southern California. What health issues has he had and who was ? After his father's death in 1973, Wilson secluded himself in the chauffeur's quarters of his house, where he spent most of his time sleeping, drinking, doing drugs, overeating, and other self-destructive behaviour. He also attempted to drive his car off a cliff, and demanded that he be pushed into and buried in a grave that he had dug. Wilson became a patient under psychotherapist Eugene Landy's program in 1975. In 1982, Landy was re-employed as Wilson's therapist, and also became his executive producer, business manager, co-songwriter, and business adviser. Landy went on to co-produce Wilson's debut solo album Brian Wilson in 1988 and its unreleased follow-up Sweet Insanity, as well as allegedly ghostwriting chapters of Wilson's disowned memoir Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story. Brian Wilson in 1982. Picture: Getty. In 1989, Landy agreed to let the state of California revoke his professional license due to accusations of ethical violations and patient misconduct. Wilson continued to see Landy a restraining order in 1992 stopped Landy from contacting him ever again. Wilson soon started receiving normal medical treatment and, by the late 1990s, he started performing and recording again as a solo artist. He is diagnosed as a schizoaffective with mild manic depression. He regularly experiences auditory hallucinations. Is he married and does he have any children? From 1964 to 1979, Wilson was married to Marilyn Rovell. They had two daughters together: Carnie and Wendy, who went on to form two-thirds of the . In 1995, Wilson married Melinda Kae Ledbetter, a car saleswoman and former model. They met in 1986, but Landy put an end to their relationship. Wilson and Ledbetter reconnected in 1992, and married three years later. The Untold Truth Of Brian Wilson. When one thinks of the Beach Boys, there are usually a few specific things that come to mind. Things like catching a wave, needing some help from some woman named Rhonda, and having fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird away. Much of the band's formidable output over the decades has skewed toward the lighter side of the musical and lyrical spectrum, which is a touch ironic. The band's de facto leader (and, for most of their existence, chief composer, songwriter, and producer) Brian Wilson has never exactly been a happy-go-lucky guy. A great deal of Wilson's life has been one big struggle — against his bandmates, addiction, mental illness, and his own limitations — and considering everything he's gone through, it's kind of a miracle that a) he's still kicking around, and b) he literally changed the way pop music is recorded and produced forever. He's repeatedly been labeled a genius, and even though he himself has consistently rejected that label, you know what they say about what one should do when the shoe fits. Let's take a deep dive into the life, career, and endless struggle of one of the flat-out greatest artists the world of pop music has ever seen: the untold truth of the legendary Brian Wilson. A prodigy from the start. Wilson grew up in a musical family; his father, Murry, was a small-time songwriter and pianist, and his mother, Audree, also played the piano. Unfortunately, Murry was short-tempered and abusive, and Audree was an alcoholic. As a result, Wilson and his brothers, Dennis and Carl, had a mixed bag of a childhood, with their parents regularly alternating between engaging their budding musical talents (the brothers learned to sing and harmonize at home at an early age) and physically smacking them around; Wilson once said in an interview that he "had a good childhood, except for my Dad beating me up all the time." The boy dealt with his situation by becoming prodigiously gifted on the piano, beginning to write his own compositions as a teenager. Over the years, he and his brothers' harmonies also became startlingly cohesive — all of which is much more impressive for the fact that Wilson was (and still is) almost completely deaf in one ear. In his 1991 autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice , he summed up his trajectory succinctly: "An abused child, I turned myself into a boy wonder piano player and wrote the Beach Boys into rock and roll's Hall of Fame." Indeed he did — but before his famous band could get off the ground, there were a couple of early false starts. Early group efforts and a well-timed fad. As teenagers, Brian and his brothers formed their first group with friends Mike Love and Al Jardine — but this being the early '60s, they cycled through a few band names that were wholly of their time before finding their identity. They began their career as Carl and the Passions (a moniker they would later revisit on the 1972 release So Tough ) before taking on the name The Pendletones, in reference to a popular style of shirt (the "Pendleton") worn by those crazy kids at the time. This trend had largely been established by the beach-going teens of the Wilsons' native southern California, and when the Pendletones somehow failed to make much noise on the music scene, Dennis suggested that the band lean into a popular watersport fad that these Pendleton-wearing dudes were crazy into. The result: the 1961 single "Surfin'," the first single released under the Beach Boys name. While the tune peaked at #75 on the national chart, it exploded in popularity regionally, and the brothers figured they might as well ride out the wave, so to speak. It turned out to be a far bigger wave than anybody could have reasonably expected. Huge success, and an even bigger crash. The success of "Surfin'" prompted Capitol Records to come knocking, and with Murry acting as their manager, the Boys set about recording their first album, 1962's Surfin' Safari . With nine of its dozen songs written or co-written by Brian, the record broke into the top 40 on the U.S. charts — and even though the British Invasion was beginning to ramp up in earnest, the Boys kept the streak going. Over the next few years, classic albums such as Surfin' U.S.A. , Surfer Girl , and All Summer Long kept the hits coming. Between 1962 and 1966, the band notched no fewer than 20 top 40 singles. Unfortunately, things were going on behind the scenes which belied the band's simple, wholesome image. Brian fired his father as manager after a blow-up in the studio in 1964, and even as the mental health issues that would plague him for the rest of his life were beginning to make themselves known, Brian was beginning to lean toward a more complex, sophisticated style of songwriting and production that didn't always sit well with his bandmates. In the middle of a 1964 tour, Wilson suffered a panic attack while on a flight to Houston, an incident that led him to recuse himself from touring with the band. His resulting isolation had a couple notable effects: His mental state became increasingly fragile, and his musical ideas became increasingly advanced. Fear of the stage. Wilson wasn't just panicking over nothing on that fateful flight; he had never felt entirely comfortable performing onstage, and at the height of the Beach Boys' popularity, he had developed a downright aversion to it. For a famous rock star, he had the distinct look of a man who would literally rather be anywhere else on Earth whenever he was performing, and his tremendous workload in writing and producing all those hit singles was contributing to a mental state that was growing more tenuous by the day. After quitting touring, Wilson immersed himself fully in the studio, and it appeared to be a pretty good deal for everybody; the Beach Boys were free to tour without an extremely reluctant member, and Wilson — completely in his element — was free to let his creativity run wild, experimenting with new ideas and techniques without any input or interference from the rest of the band. He was, however, also doing a little experimenting of another sort, which turned out to be the mother of all double-edged swords. A lifelong struggle. In case you're not a ridiculously talented musician suffering the effects of a childhood filled with abuse whose ideas are so far ahead of their time that even your closest musical partners struggle to understand them, just know that it can be tough. It also doesn't help, in such a situation, to become involved with psychedelic drugs. But that's exactly the path Brian Wilson took, and in his already delicate mental state, his experimentation took a rapid and permanent toll. In an interview, he said that shortly after his first bout with psychedelics at the age of 25, he began to hear voices in his head, and they weren't saying nice things. "I knew right from the start something was wrong," Wilson said. "[The voices] say things like, 'You are going to die soon,' and I have to deal with those negative thoughts. . It does dull you a little bit at first, but once you get used to it, it doesn't bother your creative process." Wilson never even thought about receiving treatment until he was in his 40s, and he says that to this day, those voices have never gone away — he's simply learned to deal with them. One of the ways he did this was to create mind-blowing music capable of making freakin' John Lennon phone to explain that was the greatest album ever made, and that's not an exaggeration. Brian's masterpiece. While his bandmates were out on the road, Wilson sought inspiration in the form of new music, and in 1965, the record that was turning his (and everyone else's) crank was the Beatles' Rubber Soul . "[It] blew my mind," he would recall years later. "I liked the way it all went together, the way it was all one thing. It was a challenge to me to do something similar. . I didn't want to do the same kind of music, but on the same level." Wilson enlisted world-famous L.A. studio musicians the Wrecking Crew to help him lay down the compositions forming in his head, and the result was something darn near otherworldly. That would be the Beach Boys' 1966 classic album Pet Sounds , on which Wilson definitively blew up pop music's conventions in regard to chord progressions, song structure, recording techniques, and pretty much everything else. The record redefined what was possible to achieve in a studio, especially in terms of stereo recordings. (And don't forget, its mastermind only had one good ear.) Pet Sounds directly inspired the Beatles to up their game with their '66 album Revolver , which prompted Wilson to respond with the single "Good Vibrations," almost certainly the most complex pop recording ever at the time. The Fab Four's next volley was a little album called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , considered by many to be the greatest album of all time . except by those who would award the title to Pet Sounds . Brian's other masterpiece. The bulk of the album that would've been the follow-up to Pet Sounds wouldn't see the light of day for almost four decades. Wilson recruited lyricist to help him write Smile , an interwoven, unconventional ode to Americana unlike anything he, or anyone else, had ever done. With lyrics bordering on surrealism and arrangements more in line with classical music than pop, Smile may have changed the course of rock — had the Beach Boys not hated most of it. Mike Love in particular was incredibly hostile toward the material, and so — plagued by self-doubt and without the support of his bandmates — Brian abandoned the project. While many of its songs made it onto future releases — such as the completely rejiggered Smiley Smile from 1967 and Surf's Up from 1971 — the album that might have been remained the stuff of legend until 2004, when Wilson, Parks, and Wilson's live musical director Darian Sahanaja reconstructed the original vision from a series of old tapes and their memories. The entire album was arranged for live performance, and after a series of successful presentations in London, the trio took to the studio to put it down properly. While the result demystified the legend a bit, there was no denying its immense ambition and artistry; had it been released in the '60s, there's no telling what a towering influence it may have had (or how it might have prompted the Beatles to respond). He literally dug his own grave. During the recording of the ironically titled 1968 album Friends , Brian Wilson's erratic behavior and perfectionism in the studio had him so at odds with the rest of the Beach Boys that they were all pretty much ready to strangle each other. Wilson finally decided to address his anxiety by checking himself in to an institution, but this didn't last long; upon his departure, he went home and stayed there for about three years. He continued to write music regularly during this period, and while some compositions trickled down to the Beach Boys, many of them simply vanished into the ether. Touring Beach Boy Bruce Johnston recalled, "Brian went through a period where he would write songs and play them for a few people in his living room, and that's the last you'd hear of them. He would disappear back up to his bedroom, and the song with him." Wilson's non-musical activities during this time amounted to hanging out with the likes of Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop, and just doing all of the drugs. Friends grew concerned that he might be suicidal, owing to such incidents as the time he literally dug a grave in his backyard and asked his wife, Marilyn, to push him in. Instead, she decided to seek the help of a therapist — a very good decision that totally went haywire. A shady therapist. Marilyn sought out self-styled therapist to the stars Eugene Landy (pictured, right, with Brian) in 1975, who used an odd combination of aggressive medication and forced physical fitness to attempt to rehabilitate Wilson. He was fired after a year due to his outrageous fees (north of $400,000 per year) but rehired by the Beach Boys' manager in 1982; in the intervening years, Brian had divorced, ballooned to over 300 pounds, and increased his drug intake in earnest. Landy's solution to Wilson's every problem seemed to be more drugs, and the extent to which he was insinuating himself into the star's life started to look excessive, if not downright unethical. By the mid-'80s, he had proclaimed himself Wilson's manager and creative partner, accompanying his charge to interviews dressed like a more flamboyant Rod Stewart and accepting songwriting credits on several of Wilson's solo albums. Fortunately, while out shopping for a new ride, Wilson met car saleswoman , who was familiar with Wilson's past and knew an abusive situation when she saw it. "There was a total parallel between Murry and Landy," she would later say. "Because Brian came from such dysfunction, it was hard for him to recognize how dysfunctional the situation with Landy was." Ledbetter joined forces with Brian's family to free him from the grasp of Landy, who had gone so far as to make himself the sole beneficiary of Brian's estate. Their efforts were successful, and the quack was banned from contact with Wilson by the courts in 1992. Sweet Insanity. Perhaps the single most bizarre thing to come from Wilson's association with Landy is the unreleased 1989 album Sweet Insanity . (Pro tip: If your therapist encourages you to record and participates in the creation of an album by that title, you may not have the most responsible therapist.) We may never know what wonders the complete album held because according to Wilson, the master tapes were stolen by some benevolent soul who rightly decided that it need not be inflicted upon the world. But of course, portions have made their way online in recent years — and this is how we know that, at the age of 47, Brian Wilson decided it was time to rap. Shockingly, the track — titled "" — was produced by Delicious Vinyl co-founder and one-time Dust Brother Matt Dike, but it's safe to say it bears little resemblance to the Beastie Boys' Dust Brothers-produced masterpiece Paul's Boutique . Over the jankiest beat 1989 had to offer, Wilson spit hot rhymes ("My name is Brian and I'm the man / I write hit songs with a wave of my hand") as extremely ill-fitting snatches of Beach Boys tunes occasionally intruded upon the track to back up his boasts. The song might just as well have been used against Landy in court as proof that he was unnecessarily medicating Wilson because only massive amounts of drugs could have made anyone think "Smart Girls" was a good idea. Back to life. Fortunately, along with Landy's departure from his life came something of a personal and professional resurgence for Wilson. He married Ledbetter in 1995 and released the well-received solo albums Orange Art Crate ('95) and Imagination ('98). He overcame his fear, self-doubt, stage fright, and those nagging voices to finish off Smile and perform it for adoring crowds. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2000 (he and the Beach Boys had already made the Rock Hall in 1988), and in 2005 he picked up a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow," a number from Smile he had started working on way back in the '60s. Though the Beach Boys had officially called it quits after the death of in 1998, Love and Johnston had carried on touring under the name, while Jardine joined Brian on the road for a 2006 tour in which he performed his masterpiece Pet Sounds in its entirety. Then, in 2012, came a small miracle — Wilson joined Love, Jardine, Johnston, and original guitarist David Marks (who had left the band in 1963) for a reunion tour and a new album, That's Why God Made the Radio . Mind of a genius. Brian Wilson has always been a man fueled by his demons: his difficult childhood, his tendency to second-guess himself at every turn, his struggles with virtually every drug known to man, and those amazingly persistent voices. But one listen to Pet Sounds will tell you everything you need to know about his most valuable form of therapy in dealing with those demons: his music, without which he probably wouldn't have survived to adulthood, let alone old age. His ability to make the complex appear simple in constructing his "teenage symphonies to God" is unsurpassed in the world of pop, and the composition and recording techniques he pioneered have embedded themselves so deeply that his influence has certainly been felt by multitudes of artists who didn't even realize where their awesome ideas originated. He's been called America's Mozart (although he himself was always partial to Bach), and even though he's now in his 70s, his process remains largely the same, and he won't be going anywhere anytime soon. When Rolling Stone asked him what he thought about retirement, he said, "Retirement? Oh, man. No retiring. If I retired I wouldn't know what to do with my time. What would I do? Sit there and go, 'Oh, I don't want to be [old]?' I'd rather get on the road and do concerts and take airplane flights." Spoken like a man who has kicked the crap out of a demon or two. Sweet Insanity by Marilyn Lee. Muses Sweet Sixteen. The Sisters of the Krewe of Muses roll tonight for the 16 th time and you can expect one SWEET ride! Tonight is the. Throws of the Year Muses is known for outstanding throws and 2016 will not disappoint. We have the return of some Muses classics like the light up diamond rings, the shoe bracelet and that reMuseable tote bag, this year in silver and blue. Some of the sweetest new throws for 2016 are the shoe of the year bead featuring a Candie-style mule, a strobe theme medallion on a bead, a candy necklace with a dangling M, popsicles on beads, a lollipop foot pumice, Muses stickers, light up soccer balls, a big puffy flashing Muses shoe, a Kaleidoscope, and macaroon erasers. And the Muses plush is the tastiest ever with a donut, cotton candy, cupcake and even a New Orleans Snoball! Get ready to scream Throw me something sister! The Muses hold a contest each year for the best cup design submitted by area schools. The winner for 2016 is Darrell Donaldson of New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy. The annual competition is an activity planned by the Muses Community Outreach Committee. New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy received a $1,000 donation towards its art program. Get ready…Here come the Muses! And happy are they whom the Muses love! The Krewe of Muses is led by the beautiful lighted butterflies and dancing shoes! These unique artisan puppets always thrill the crowd. And the Big Easy Roller Girls will be passing out a parade bulletin! Marching Unit – Big Easy Roller Girls Band –St Augustine High School Marching Unit – Walking Shoes and Butterflies. Float 1 – The 9 Muses 2015 – The Muses Officers The Muses This signature float hosts the captain and officers of the Krewe of Muses, floating on a glittery cloud, and features the iconic Muses tiles, borrowed from the streets of New Orleans. Band – Landry – Walker High School Marching Band Flambeaux. Float 2 – Honorary Muse – Solange Knowles The Honorary Muse 2016 riding in the Muses Shoe The Muses’ signature 17-foot tall, high-heeled shoe, every inch encrusted in color-changing fiber optic lights, carries the Honorary Muse sister of 2016, Solange Knowles! Solange Knowles , the singer/songwriter, founder of Saint Records and noted creative director, will serve as 2016 Honorary Muse. At the impressive age of 16 Solange released her first studio album. Since then, Solange has graced stages at international festivals such as Glastonbury, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Jazz Fest, Letterman, Fallon and more. Her presence and collaborations among contemporary artists have found her as a past performer for the MoMA Museum Armory show, The New Museum, ICA Boston, Dallas Museum of Art, as well within installations at Art Basel Miami and Switzerland. In 2013 Solange launched her own , Saint Records. Her label is designed to give new and ingenious artists a space to create their music and circulate their art. Solange has also been widely recognized as a fashion icon, and has art directed two footwear collections with Puma to date as well as curatorial projects for Microsoft, alongside artist Mickalene Thomas, and New Orleans’ own Prospect 3. Solange has partnered with the Make it Right Foundation and several other New Orleans non-profit organizations such as Son of a Saint, a mentorship program created by Sonny Lee, for young men who have lost their fathers in the local area. Additionally, her philanthropic work includes working alongside 14 plus, Water for people, and Africa’s Out on improving the progression of education, water needs, and Rights for the LGBT community in many countries in Africa. Band – Katherine Drexel High School Marching Band. Float 3 – Mt. Olympus Brass Band (Coolbone) Band – Lake Area High School. Float 4- The Bathing Muses 2016 This beloved signature float bubbles its way down the route filled with beautiful bathing Muses. Band – Helen Cox Horse Unit – Lady Godiva Riding Club. Float 5-Mardi Gras Indian Queens This year the Krewe of Muses pays tribute to the Mardi Gras Indian Queens from various tribe in the city including: Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Honorary Muse, 2002, Maroon Queen, Guardians of the Flame, Curator and co-founder of Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame Cara Harrison Daniels, Guardians of the Flame Herreast J. Harrison, Queen Mother Supreme, Guardians of the Flame Michele J. Harrison, Guardians of the Flame Veronica Henry, Third Queen, Golden Blades Malita Thompson Martin, Guardians of the Flame Jamilah Y. Peters-Muhammad, Ambassador Queen, Guardians of the Flame Roslyn Johnson Smith, Guardians of the Flame Big Queen Tonya, Big Queen, Wild Tchoupitoulas Denice Smith, Big Queen, Monogram Hunters. Band – Edna Karr High School Marching Band. Float 6 – Title Float – Muses Sweet 16 2016 marks the sixteenth parade for the Krewe of Muses and they are celebrating in sweet style. It’s a Sweet 16 that will rival the most outrageous of them! So as the parade rolls we’ll let the candy roll, or as they say down here… laissez les bons bons rouler! Band – McMain Senior High School Marching Band. Float 7 – Molly Marines Chapter LA-1, Women Marines Association. Band – McDonogh 35 Senior High School Marching Band. Float 8 – Atomic Fired Balls These are an acquired taste, and are being served at several tea parties this year. We hear they’re Donald Trump’s favorite candy, along with Spoiled Patch Kids and Lemonheads . He sure doesn’t like Hot Tamales though. We’re pretty sure this guy is Sweet on Himself. B and – Martin Luther King Charter School. Float 9 – Confederate Conversation Hearts The conversation has changed – at the office, at every gathering this year. Now it’s all about those statues. Confederate Conversation Hearts sweetens the attitude, but we’re just looking for a sweet surrender . Band – Martin Berhman Middle. Float 10 – Double Bubble Here she comes! That infamous character that broke the internet. How did she do it? With her Double Bubble of course! That’s one Sweet Thang ! Band – Walter L. Cohen High School. Float 11 – Whoppers Everybody loves Whoppers …well maybe not the whoppers these guys are dishing out. Those politicians sure are good at Sweet Talk! Band – George W. Carver High School Marching Band. Float 12 – Blow Pops Holding nothing back, let’s tell it like it is, Sugar Daddy’s may be delicious, but what really makes it happen are the Blow Pops …some more than others. Just remember that sometimes you have to take the bitter with the sweet . Band – West Jefferson High School. Float 13 – PREZ When it comes to The Sweet Life, no one has it sweeter then the Prez . Band – LW Higgins Marching Band. Float 14 – 100 Grand Bar, Bit O’ Money & Heavenly Cash Is that a whole orchestra or just one sweet tune coming out of Irvin Mayfield’s trumpet? And it sounds like it’s worth 100 Grand . Irvin’s got some Heavenly Cash and a Bit o’ Money . Oh what Sweet Charity ! Band – Kipp NOLA Marching Unit – High Steppers and ISL Circus Arts Kids. Float 15 – PolyTix The only thing sweeter and more sugary than PixyStix would be good ole’ Louisiana PolyTix. Such memorable rhetoric flooding the airways! Watch out for cavities as politicians try to find those magic words that will hit the Sweet Spot with voters! Marching Unit – Camel Toe Lady Steppers & Brass Band. Float 16 – Gay Day We all love PayDay, but last year we witnessed something new. Mike & Ike stormed the Capitol and we witnessed lots of Her/She Kisses . SCROTUS gave the entire country a chance to Taste the Rainbow and we call that GayDay. Victory is Sweet! Marching Unit – Pussyfooters. Float 17 – Everlasting GOP-Stoppers What kind of candy is being served up by the Grand Old Party this year? Looks like it may be a big case of Everlasting GOP-Stoppers . It started with a huge box of what we like to call the White-man’s Sampler . Bobby Jindal jumped on in, despite being very tanned. And every debate turned into a circus. That’s what we call some Sweet Confusion and Sweet Insanity . Marching Unit – Rolling Elvi. Float 18 – Guilty Way We’ve got a fancy new prison in town and it looks like the Mayor and the Sheriff are playing tug of war over our Guilty Way . It’s filled with Lawbreakers and LifeServers so steer clear. You would not want to call OPP Home Sweet Home . Marching Unit – Dead Rock Stars. Float 19 – Gummy Heirs Looks like a sticky situation over at the Saints headquarters and those heirs are sticking to their irrevocable trust like Gummie Heirs . Mr. Benson may not be selling the team but he may have to Sweeten the Pot before this deal is done, unless he’s Dementos . Marching Unit – NOLA Cherry Bombs. Float 20 – M&M&M&M&M… We’ve had some sweet leadership down here…with a hard candy shell. M & M & M & M & M stands for Mary and Mitch and Moon and Marc. Those are our Sweet M’s. Band – Noisician Coalition. Float 21 – Milk Studs When you have a parade of over 1,000 women you need a little eye candy. Forget about candy corn, this is candy porn . This float is just a tasty pleasure we call Milk Studs . Oh Sweet Mystery of Life, At Last We Have Found Thee . Marching Unit – Bearded Oysters. Float 22 – Ms. Goodbar Have you heard? Drinking in New Orleans bars has gotten healthier lately thanks to a certain city councilwoman who has been snuffing out the dangers. We call her Ms. Goodbar and she has provided what many call Sweet Relief . Marching Unit – Kolossos Art Bikes. Float 23 – Nerds, Goobers & Smarties Maybe you should have been nicer to them in high school, because these Nerds, Goobers and Smarties are geek-ing it all the way to the bank. This candy reeks of the Sweet Smell of Success . Band –Ninth Ward Marching Band. Float 24 – Now & Later If you’ve driven anywhere in town, or tried to roll along the traditional Uptown parade route, you realize that despite the mess, little has changed. When is the City going to be undergoing massive construction? Apparently it’s Now & Later ! Beware of Pop Rocks and Rocky Roads . And if you have to drive anywhere, Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow ! Riding Unit – Pink Slip Float. Float 25 – QuitDat Dat slang dat you hear too often? Dat’s enough of dat already. Who Dat? Drop Dat? Grow DAt? Hashtag Dat? Dat Dat Dat Dat Dat…Gimme a break! Just Quit Dat ! Enough of Dat! It’s sweet enough ! Riding Unit – Laissez Boys. Float 26 – Airbeds Lovely New Orleans homes in picturesque neighborhoods, all available by the weekend. Just check the web and you’re find lots of AirBeds giving a new meaning to southern hospitality and giving those tourists a cheaper Sweet Escape . Band – Organ Grinders. Float 27 – Hackel It’s not Ashley Madison’s favorite candy, this always anonymous conspiracy with a crunch called Hackel . Made from pure disaster in China, Russia, Korea and right here in the USA! When it comes to online behavior let’s just be Sweet & Discreet . Band – BateBunda and the Dance Group. Float 28 – Reefer’s & Mary Janes Here’s a candy sure to be consumed in massive quantities. Get laid back and dive into a big batch of Reefers and Mary Janes. Dude. Sweet. Where’s my float? Band – Bloco Sereia. Float 29 – SIRENS The Krewe of Muses has transplanted the legendary sirens from Greek mythology to the swamps of Louisiana. The sirens were dangerous, yet beautiful bird-women known for enchanting music which lured sailors to shipwreck. In the parade, these mystical sirens roll by on a cloud of mist, luring parade goers with a special limited edition sirens tattoo available only from the sirens float. These creatures are certain to leave their mark. Review. I needed a little bit of escapism tonight, so I decided to sit down and watch the Wonder Woman pilot that was not picked up by NBC. After watching the episode, I think with some hefty tweaking in some parts, this could have been a viable series for the network. I’m going to try to do my best to not spoil it for anyone, but if you want to be kept completely in the dark in regards to the content of the pilot, I suggest you stop reading right now. Initial Impressions. I’m going to talk about this pilot and compare it to the Lynda Carter series of the 70s simply because I haven’t read a Wonder Woman comic in about a decade or so and I don’t know where she is in the whole scheme of things in print. I know that I really dislike the new costume in the comics and I didn’t really like the new TV costume as presented earlier this year. That being said, the release of the photos of the costume really did the whole attempt at rebooting the franchise a disservice because the new costume doesn’t weigh as heavily as you would expect. It gave a really bad first impression of the reboot, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. In this reboot, lots of folks know who Wonder Woman is. The world knows that Diana Themyscria, the head of Themyscria Enterprises, is Wonder Woman. People call her Wonder Woman when she’s in street clothes and a few call her “Di” when she’s in her Wonder Woman costume. To escape all of this, Diana has a THIRD identity. She is also Diana Prince, an employee of Themyscria Enterprises. So Diana Prince works for Diana Themyscria in a way. And that is not even a huge secret because her two closest friends/people (Henry, the CEO and Etta Candy, her personal assistant) at work know that she is also Diana Prince and they don’t get why she wants to be that. I found this confusing but I found myself really liking Diana Prince because she felt familiar in some ways. She’s definitely a 21st century spin on Lynda Carter’s Diana Prince. By the way, it’s a shame that this Diana Prince doesn’t spin because she has the ponytail, glasses and everything. Oh, and I liked Sylvester the cat. Plus! She uses a Mac, like everyone else on television. One of the things that bugged me about NBC’s attempted reboot of “Bionic Woman” a few years ago was that there were no elements of the original series at all in the new show, aside from the name Jaime Somers. I know I’m a geek but I would have had a better time accepting the new Bionic Woman if she at least had some sort of resemblance to the original version when she was being bionic – we needed some version of the ch- ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch sound. I found myself wanting the same thing here. When Wonder Woman jumped I really wanted a muted version of that squeal sound that the 70s series had, even if it was an updated version of the sound. It would make a connection for the generation that has the opportunity to see both series and when people feel connected, there’s that much more of a chance of the reboot being successful. At the very least, there are a few connections to the comics and the 70s series that I’ll mention below. The Things I Really Liked. I really liked Adrianne Palicki and I didn’t expect to. I thought she pulled the script off well given what she had to work with. I really liked her as Diana Prince, I semi-liked her as Wonder Woman and I fairly-liked her as Diana Themyscria. She did a good job and I could accept her as Wonder Woman in the same way that I could accept Cathy Lee Crosby in the first movie before Lynda Carter had the role. She did well with what she had to work with and I think she should have been given a chance. The script had it’s flaws but I think Adrianne did good. I liked the way Elizabeth Hurley carried on as the bad guy. She mugged it up a bit but it fit the role. I didn’t find her ridiculous, instead I found her somewhat campy. It felt familiar in a way. And I like the way the current political climate was brought into the show. I liked Henry (forgot his last name) and Etta Candy. I especially liked Etta, played by Tracie Thoms. I thought Steve Trevor was kind of hot and I liked the back story (given the context of the script) of why she wasn’t all around Steve this time around. Diana Themyscria says “tits” and “ass” and Etta Candy reminds her that “Wonder Woman isn’t vulgar.” I appreciated that. I liked the surprise when Wonder Woman is first seen at the last fight scene. She was in a more familiar costume. It was obvious that the cinematography was building up to the more familiar costume after she suited up. I wish I knew why there were multiple costumes. The Things I Didn’t Like. As I mentioned before, I didn’t like the three identities going on. I found it confusing and I found a disconnection with the character because of this. I didn’t like the fact that her plane wasn’t invisible and that it had been made by human technology (apparently). I didn’t like that so much was known about her background and her Amazonian roots. I didn’t like when Wonder Woman returned from her mission and the staff at Themyscria Enterprises applauded her efforts. Wonder Woman always seemed more humble than that and while she shows some humble tendencies in this version, I still found the whole thing a little off for the familiarity of the character. I don’t like the way Wonder Woman suits up. I knew the familiar ‘spin with a flash’ thing would be deemed too campy for today’s “sophisticated” audience, but just throwing the clothes on removes any mystical or magical element of the character. She’s Batman in more colorful clothing. Not my thing when it comes to Wonder Woman. Adrianne seems to channel a rebooted Xena more than Wonder Woman at times and while I always love me some Xena, Wonder Woman seems meaner than Xena when she was a warlord before she found her way to good. When you watch the pilot, you’ll see some definitive Lucy Lawless glares and stares. The Things I Really Hated. It really bugged me that people called her “Di” instead of Diana. That’s tapping the geek in me, they did the same thing in the Cathy Lee Crosby movie but I don’t think anyone ever called Diana “Di” in the 70s series. As a strong woman, Diana Prince deserves more than a monosyllabic name. I hated the fact that everyone knew that Wonder Woman and Diana Themyscria were the same person and I really didn’t like the fact that others also knew that Diana Prince was the other two. I think that many gay men and lesbians identified in part with the 70s Wonder Woman (and all the other superheroes of the time) because of the “secret identity” aspect. I know I did. No one knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman or that Clark Kent was Superman back then. And the secret life holds an appeal for anyone that has every dreamed of being someone else, just for a few moments, but has never shared that with anyone. Wonder Woman has a secret identity as Diana Prince and that’s her business and no one else’s. However, the way the script was written, it wouldn’t have worked any other way. Perhaps this was the biggest flaw of the script. Now, the biggest flaw of the script is that Wonder Woman is a very vengeful woman in this incarnation. She’s angry and mean and vengeful and considers herself above the law. Whoa! That’s just not right. The first fight scene culminates in something that made me gasp, in the final fight scene Wonder Woman outright kills a guy, and not in a nice way at all, and that was just wrong. I think I might have yelled out when that happened. Wonder Woman does NOT kill unless it is an absolute last resort. She also roughs up Veronica Cale pretty wildly. So much for a lasso of truth and then forgetfulness. And she’s also known for her torture techniques. WHA. I could not forgive the amount of anger and ruthlessness in this version and I suspect this is why the pilot may have not been picked up. Wonder Woman was just too damn mean at times. I get where they were going with the premise of the show and why she was the way she was, but it did not translate well at all for an introduction. Things To Watch For. One of the cool things of the version of the pilot I saw is that you can see where the special effects weren’t apparently completed in time for the showing. It was kind of fun to spot the wires or the missing golden lasso. I also know how they smash a car into a person now. Though completely unintentional, it was kind of a geeky goodness to see the pilot without all the effects in place. There are a couple of places where they tell you the SFX are lax, “add police cars here”. On the whole I think that the pilot could have worked after a major overhaul. I could forgive elements of the reboot if there were more familiar elements from the comics and the 70s series. I kind of liked the romantic story angle of it, it didn’t feel too overly girly. If they ever try again, I think Ms. Palicki should get another chance to redeem herself for the reboot. Unfortunately I had a once in a lifetime chance to see the pilot but I suppose if you searched around online you might be able to find it somewhere.