I Can See Clearly Now....

... the Reign is gone! 


But, let me make one thing PERFECTLY clear!  I am still, and ALWAYS will be, Queen Olympus XLI !!!  But, after as spectacular ball last night, Queen G is totally ready to pass the reign on to QOXLII !

As called for by protocol, after the Ball Captain is presented and seated, the show begins as the audience rises to welcome the reigning King and Queen- moi!  


The ball theme this year was "Mythology", chosen by this year's captain, and the reigning King and Queen were presented as the Ice King and Queen from Norse Mythology,  as chosen by last year's captain, the captain who crowned us!  Queen G was thrilled with the choice and had a blast with the concept! Framed by wreaths of glittering snowflakes in a frosty-cool palette, we entered to greet our adoring guests and be toasted by this year's captain!


The presentation came off without a hitch, which is pretty miraculous, since, the week before the ball, Queen Ginger's MRI revealed that she has not 1, but 5 herniated disks in her spine!!  Certainly, carrying all that snow on her back would not have been prudent, so a team of attendants was assembled to handle the issue.  It's good to be a Queen!  And, in a show of gallantry, as not to make his Queen feel singled out, King Tony chose to have his back piece carried as well, to keep the presentation balanced.  Chivalry is not dead in the royal world of make believe!

Queen Ginger looked resplendent, if she does say so herself, in a gown of her own design and creation, made of sequined lace, faux ermine, and enough silver and blue satin to cover a quarter of a football field- seriously!  There are 27 yards of fabric in that outfit, and it turned out EXACTLY like she wanted!  Just goes to show- if you want something done right, sometimes  you just gotta do it yourself!! Her makeup continued the icy theme, with blue lips and a blush of blue on the cheeks.  BTW, they don't make blue blush, so the Queen had to make that herself, as well!

There was a face in the crowd that many of you will recognize!  That's right, biotches- Chloe Dao, or Project Runway fame, was one of the many well-heeled Houstonians who came out that night to share the Mardi Gras madness with Queen Ginger and the Krewe!  

What a time King Tony and I had watching the ball from our seats on the proscenium, as costume after costume parade down the floor solely for our entertainment!  Of course, we shared the fun with a ballroom full of almost 1,000 of our closest, most personal friends!  By the time the show was ending, we realized we could have partied all night, but soon enough if was time to reveal our successors,  King and Queen Olympus XLI, who were presented at the Royalty of the Myans.

It is, of course, bittersweet, to hand over the realm to the new regime, but Queen Ginger was very pleased to bow to her new Queen and one of her dearest friends, who shall jokingly be referred to on these pages as QEXBF!  


So, the new King and Queen will have their hands full running the day to day activities of the realm, and preparing their return to preside over Ball XLIII, while Queen Ginger will bask in her retired glory!!




Good news is, she'll have much more time to keep all of her loyal GingerSnaps posted on what's going on in her FABULOUS world!

The Year has Started!

The new year starts today for the Krewe of Olympus- Texas, Inc, with the election of new officers!  We are truly Mardi Gras TEXAS-style this year, with 3 of our officers living in other cities! In addition to Houston, we now have Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin on the board!  With Skype, email, and Southwest Airlines, who says we all have to be in the same city?!!


Last night, King Tony and Queen Ginger had a whirlwind night, beginning with the Krewe's Campaign party, at Chez Ginger.  The campaign part is where we all get together to booze and schmooze, and the members who have announced their candidacy bring "groceries" to bribe the members for their votes!  It's all in fun, and a great chance for the candidates to share their vision for the upcoming year!




King T and Queen G snuck out early to head over to "Bringin' in the Green", a St. Patrick's day fund raiser for the Montrose Counseling Center.  Once the social hour was over, our royals headed over to the Brazos River Bottom to check out the Mr, Ms, and Miss BRB contest, and wish our dear friend Aurora Briar the best on her step-down.  


Tomorrow, the Krewe hosts it's Appreciation Party to show our love to all in the community who support hour endeavor!  It's always a lot of fun, and our first chance to watch the video recording of the event with our guests!


After that, a day in the office and then in the air again to Baton Rouge!  It's been since December that Boy G hasn't had a business trip, but now the twice-monthly travels begin again!  


With the election of Ball Captain, next year's theme is secured! Now, you KNOW Queen Ginger is not going to spill the beans, especially during her return year!  This year, Queen G and King T will have the entire year to plan and execute the costume and presentation, to create the most extravagant, over-the-top return for the ball over which they will reign!  It also gives you far-flung GingerSnaps a full year to save your pennies and plan your travel- if you ever thought someday you'd want to see one of Miss G's balls  Mardi Gras shindigs, this would be the year to come!  There's room at Chez Ginger- first come, first served!! Ball XLII will be February 11th, 2012, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Hope to see you all there!

For the Boys....

...of course, I didn't forget about you!

"Everywhere Else It's Just Tuesday!"

Happy Mardi Gras, everybody!  This girl's sign just kinda says it all, doncha think!?  It's been a very interesting, very unusual, but very awesome Mardi Gras for Queen Ginger, and it will probably take a few posts for her to share it all with you!!


First, you must know that Miss G risked life and phlegm to bring you these on-the-scene shots of the festivities!  When she woke up this morning, she discovered this sinus thing had dropped to her chest, so she was way too miserable to drag out the drag and be a part of the scene! She sent Boy G out, incognito and sober, to spend his day taking in the sights and snapping these pics for our gentle readers!

As soon as Boy G left the hotel, he ran smack dab into Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club,  a legend among New Orleans locals and one of the most popular walking clubs in the city!  Now, don't confuse these guys with mall walkers or anyone who walks for their health!  Click here to learn about the purpose of walking clubs and their contribution to the party!

Boy G got so distracted by one handsome walker....

....that he almost missed the opportunity to catch this awesome shot of the Legendary Pete Fountain himself!  Boy G fondly remembers seeing Pete play live with Momma and Poppa G back when Pete had a place in the New Orleans Hilton.










After taking in the sights along Royal Street,  Boy G wandered up Dumaine to Lafittes, where the costumed revelers were gathering for the annual Bourbon Street Awards, to be held at noon.

Here, Boy G was able to catch up with some of the gang from home, and finally found the person she had been looking for all weekend long:

...the elusive Amber LeMay!! Of course, Amber was all dolled up in her Mardi Gras finest, and Miss Ginger was just sick that she didn't get to meet her!  Lucy Belle and the other girls were off at the parades, but being the hard-core party gurl that is Amber, she wanted to stay in the French Quarter to she wouldn't miss a sinful inch of the party!  I always knew she was from good people!!

Amber was, as always, the Belle of the Ball, and was having a great time meeting the crowds and oggling over the fabulous, creative costumes that are a hallmark of a French Quarter Mardi Gras!










We saw:

Wonder Woman meets the Golden Girls!

The Doublemint Twins- Rehobeth Beach style!

Mary Poppins and her Spoonful of Sugar.

The Supremes- and their "Love Child"!

Rosie the Robot!

and many, many, more!!  Watch this spot for a couple more posts coming your way!  There's also some great costume pics on NOLA.com!

Happy Lundi Gras!

What's that? You've never heard of Lundi Gras?  Well, quelle surprise, since it really isn't a holiday!  And you can confirm this by looking it up on Wikipedia, which isn't really an encyclopedia, so that settles it!

Lundi Gras is one of those "Hallmark holiday" kind of marketing schemes dreamed up several years ago by a greedy marketing tyrant tradition-minded city leaders to bilk the tourists out of every possible dollar extend the celebration and spirit of Mardi Gras!  Literally "Fat Monday", the term has come to mean, simply, the Monday before Mardi Gras.

The "official" Lundi Gras celebration takes place along the riverfront, with bands, entertainment, and gradually expanding crowds that peak around sunset, when the King of Rex and the Zulu King come across the river by boat and meet at Spanish Plaza for a celebratory toast.

Nowadays, people celebrate Lundi Gras all over the city,  and Boy G and his old pal John from back home spent the late morning and early afternoon walking the French Quarter and watching the city gear up for the party.  Jackson Square was already gathering quite a crowd by mid day,  with the usual artists and street performers joined by still more bible thumping christians and self-proclaimed missionaries.

The party spilled from the Square and Bourbon Street all up and down Royal, the usually reserved, daytime pedestrian street that is home to many of the cities finest antique and art dealers.  Today, however,  the street was filled with street performers, musicians, mimes, and such, of varying qualities and talents. The tourists were clearly into it, and rewarded them with attention, photos, and generous tips!!

Almost every balcony in the quarter had people with beads bargaining with the crowd below for a glimpse of this or that.  Spirited tourists frequented the balconies of hotels and guest houses with cases of beads, boas, and other throws to taunt the passersby.

In the more residential areas of the Quarter, families and locals drank, entertained, and just soaked in the party atmosphere.

And, of course, in the gay section of the quarter,  men with beads on the balconies taunted boys with bodies below, offering the largest, most luxurious strands of beads to the boys who showed the most!

It is truly impossible to be anywhere in the city and not be sucked into the spirit of the celebration!  Booze flows, beads fly, but mostly, EVERYONE wishes one another "Happy Mardi Gras" at the world's largest party!

The Rain Has Gone!!

 It was a BEAUTIFUL day in New Orleans today: sunny, clear, and a bit chilly but not really cold!  Inside Queen Ginger's brain things were a bit more foggy after a long night at The Corner Pocket, so she spent much of the morning trying to get her eyes open and un-knot her back from sleeping like a rock! 

Our girl finally got herself out of the hotel about mid-afternoon to find the damn dog that bit her so she could pluck a hair from it! When she arrived on Bourbon Street, the  christians were out in full force with their bullhorns and signs.  Then, 2 hot Harley Daddies drove their motorcycles into the mele, revving the engines and creating a monstrous noise that completely drowned out their bullhorns! It was hilarious, and well wisher after well wisher walked by and put beads around the necks of the noisemakers to show their support!  Miss Ginger watched for a while, but concerns about CO2 poisoning made her decide it was time to move on to fresher fields!  


She had a few leisurely cocktails with a few fabulous friends, and then decided to make an early stop by Nelly Deli to pick up sustenance for an early night!  There's still 2 more days of this nonsense, so this old lady has to pace herself!

I Can't Stop the Rain!

Instead of hundreds of shirtless men, the Quarter was filled thousands of garbage bag ponchos as the rain continued Saturday night.  After the gullywasher came through, lighter rain continued into the evening, dampening the hair, if not the spirits of the thousands of people who came to NOLA for the world's biggest party!  There is not a square inch of New Orleans where one could escape the party atmosphere, and why would anyone want to?

Boy G risked life, limb, and watery beer to bring you the pictures he promised of the Mardi Gras festivities, so here' a bit of the experience for you!


For Miss Ginger and her friends, the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann is the "center of the Universe", the spot around which all of the parties revolve.  There on St. Ann street, between 2 of the city's largest gay clubs, the party spills onto the street, and from overlooking balconies, the boys bargain with beads to see various and sundry body parts of the passersby!  

Of course the religious right never fails to miss the opportunity to oggle men's body parts under the guise of salvation, so there they were, as always, with their hate filled-rhetoric.  Their venom was not so potent this year, however, since their leader, Grant Storms, was arrested last week for masturbating in his car while watching a bunch of kids play in a Metairie park! Methinks thou protest too loud!  And c'mon: "Grant Storms"?  That's a porn name if I ever heard one!!


All of this commotion causes a great deal of traffic on our little narrow corner, and even though most of the French Quarter is closed off to vehicular traffic,  there are still quite a number of taxis and beer trucks that are allowed through.

Lucky for us, our self-appointed TRANSportation director did a remarkably effective job of keeping everyone safe, and entertaining the crowd in the process!

With all these cute boys lined up likes ducks on the balconies and in the streets, SIRveillance is like shooting fish in a barrel! 

My favorite boy is Marco, a dick dancer from Nicaraugua, via DC, who looks like a munchkin Mario Lopez, with oversized equipment, if you smell what I'm stepping in!!  He's a sweety and always has that dimply little smile that makes you want to reach in for another dollar's worth!!

More later!! Miss Ginger is STILL trying to find Amber and the LeMay Sisters!

It's Fixin' to Come a Gullywasher....

as we say here in the South!  The Quarter is wet and rainy, and Miss G can hear the thunder outside the hotel.  This seems to her to be the perfect time for a little snappy nap!  Goodnight!!

WTF?!

Granted, Miss G is an early bird....but she always has been! Where the hell are all the gay boys?!   The "straight" end of the quarter is PACKED!! When one passes St. Ann, it's like a multi-family military funeral!  Where are all the party boys?!

The Weatherman Got it Wrong!!

Queen Ginger commanded "PERFECT" weather for Mardi Gras weekend.  What she has arrived to is "TYPICAL" Mardi Gras weather! She hates it when the people don't listen carefully!!


So,instead of sunny and shirtless,  it is drizzly and cool. Not cold, thankfully, and not raining steadily... just enough to make the streets wet and the bars full!




It doesn't seem to have slowed down the revelry on Bourbon Street, and even though it's still a bit quiet past St. Ann,  Miss Ginger is certain that the boys will come out a bit later.... after their spray tans dry a bit!!


Stay tuned for more tidbits!!

Congratulations to the Krewe of Bacchus!

What a FABULOUS weekend Queen Ginger and King Tony have had this weekend with the Krewe of Bacchus!!

Friday night, Queen G checked into the fabulous Palm Suite at the Tremont House hotel on Galveston Island, napped a bit, and then met up with King Tony and Captain Bill upon their arrival.  After a quick bite at the hotel,  we headed out to explore the bars in Glaveston, most notably, Robert's Lafitte,  where we knew there was certain to be a drag show of dubious quality!  Never to disapoint, we were treated to the "Miss Lafitte's Sweetheart" pagaent, and, as expected, discovered that, among the 4 contestants, there were probably about only 3 healthy teeth to share!  We're not sure what it is about Galveston Island, but if you are a drag queen of questionable dental health and you don't live here, you might as well start packing... you will end up her eventually!

After an "interesting" night of drag entertainment,  our royal threesome awoke to enjoy breakfast at the hotel,  where they reviewed the latest edit of the ball video with Captain Bill.  After a bit of liesurely shopping on the Strand, we had a yummy lunch,  and then retired to our respective chambers for a pre-ball nap!

The evening began with a cocktail party here in the lobby of the Tremont,  where Our Royal Majesties had their first audience with the new Bacchus Royalty, Queen Bacchus I.  We also got to meet King Bacchus I, as well as Bacchus I, the official representation of Bacchus, in effect, the Krewe's "mascot", for lack of a better term.  All were lovely and cordial, and appreciative of our rather large envoy from the big city to the beachy island!

After a couple of drinks at the bar,  our entourage paraded about 2 blocks down the Strand to the Galveston Railroad Museum,  as stunning preservation project to save an incredibly beautiful Art Deco station, as well as a collection of actual locomotives, cars, and equipment chronicling the golden age of rail travel.  The ball was a beuatiful affair, with a live band, plentiful cocktails, and a delicious buffet catered by Chopin of Galveston!

After supper,  visiting dignitaries were invited to the floor for a rather undignified dance contest,  where Queen G and King Tony won the prize for their respectable minuette!  No bump and grind for this royalty!  If Miss G is gonna represent,  she's gonna REPRESENT!! 

Once the ball was over,  our Royal Entourage headed to Stars Beach Club,  were they were treated to yet another drag show, and more face time with many of the beautiful people who had attended the ball!  It was  FABULOUS evening, and Queen G is suitably exhasuted and ready for a good night's rest!