"Luv Ya Baby"
On the morning of Fat Tuesday, the big day's
preparations quietly mix with recovery from the preceding past five weeks of
Carnival. The chilly, overcast daylight began filtering between the leaves and
stucco of the New Orleans Garden District. Across the city, last night's
revelers sleep off Orpheus and its musical ode to the Pythagorean Music of the
Spheres.
Outside of Commander's Palace, the tune-up started for
one of Mardi Gras Day's greatest traditions—the Half-Fast Walking Club. Founded
by New Orleans jazz legend Pete Fountain, the Half-Fast Walking Club has been
parading through Mardi Gras morning since the 1960s. Each year, the group takes
its theme and uniform inspiration from Pete Fountain and the musical traditions
of New Orleans. This year, with Fat Tuesday occurring immediately prior to
Valentine's Day, the group donned red blazers for the theme "Luv Ya' Baby,"
reflecting one of Pete's iconic catchphrases, as well as the late legend's many
romantic standards.
The Walk
At just after 7 a.m., the red blazers set out. Making
their way from the Garden District to Downtown, the procession consisted of
banners celebrating Pete Fountain and the club, a wrought-iron float with a
full jazz band, and two red tides of walking suits between them. The cadence of
its walkers may be casual, but the club's throws and art direction for the
Half-Fast Walking Club are organized and coordinated, with large quantities of
bronze and pearl-toned beads dotting the Uptown leg of the route. As the club
made its half-fast journey from Uptown to Downtown, City Councilman Eugene
Green addressed the club as it processed near Gallier Hall. Captain Benny
Harrell and the club were honored to be hailed by Green as a staple of
Carnival, who proclaimed that Mardi Gras wouldn't be the same without them.
After a brief pit stop at Mike Serio's Po-Boys, the
French Quarter leg of the walk saw an uptick in more elaborate signature throws,
ranging from special Pete Fountain-medallioned beads and glass and metal
cloisonne doubloons delivered by-hand in velvet boxes as the group made its way
to Bourbon Street. Dotting the route were gold-suited members of the Zulu
Social Aid & Pleasure Club awaiting the rolling of Zulu that day. That
parade is a legendary hallmark of New Orleans Mardi Gras, extending back for
over a century to the days of Buddy Bolden, one of the earliest jazz musicians
whose connection to early jazz and Zulu was immortalized by Duke Ellington in
his 1957 folk-operatic history of jazz, A Drum is a Woman. Gold and red
blazers stopped to shake hands and celebrated the day together, as commendable
a meeting as any royal Mardi Gras court could ever hope to imitate.
The Conclusion
As the club made its final leg of its journey through
Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, the final celebrations paused to adorn
beads to Pete Fountain's statue in the Musical Legends Park; Pete's statue
sharing the beads with likenesses of Fats Domino and Al Hirt. Mingling together
with the Baby Doll Ladies and the Krewe of the Rolling Elvi, Pete Fountain's
reached its musical destination of the Hotel Monteleone in the early afternoon,
with members treated to a private upstairs luncheon of bread pudding and red
beans and rice.
One member recounted his membership as the result of
an offhand encounter and walk with the Club in 2019, while Tulane Law professor
Steven Plotkin celebrated 64 years of service as the oldest continuous link to
Pete's original gang. Captain Harrell had a chance to catch up, sharing his
pleasure of another year well-done and the unique opportunity to celebrate
Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day in one fell swoop. The theming paid tribute to
several of Fountain's romantic covers and standards, including "You're Nobody
'Til Somebody Loves You," "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," "Till We Meet Again,"
and more—classics that live on just as clearly in the club's jazz performance
as they do in any digital playlist for the Spotify generation.
Though they've helped usher in the end of the Mardi Gras season, the Half-Fast Walking Club has set the stage for Valentine's Day and beyond.
