Pow wow in Taylor Park, Central City, New Orleans

On the most colorful day of the year, photographically speaking, I found I had let the batteries in my trusty G10 run all the way dry. Since nothing happens by accident, it may be that my failure to charge was a subconscious gesture in Freudian sympathy with the Mardi Gras Indians fascinating attempt to control the commercial exploitation of their image.

(As any producer of commercials and films knows, it is absolutely verboten to include corporate logos, signage, and even the facades of actual bricks and mortar stores in televised footage, without clearance. I find this a grotesque overreaching of copyright law. The Denny's, McDonald's and Nike's of the world are happy to bombard us constantly with unwanted billboards, logo-mad clothing, advertising and all manner of intrusions into our visual space, but still wish to keep complete control over the use of their imagery? This is absurd. But if they are legally allowed to challenge the "fair use" doctrine then the Indians should be as well.)

What follows are all that I could manage from the Super Sunday Uptown Indians Parade on a five-year-old cell phone: