Defend The Indefensible: Parades

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The homecoming parade is interminably sailing down the street by the library I'm working at. Screams of "We Are Penn State," a marching band playing You Can Call Me All, screams upon screams upon screams that are only redeemed by the fact that I can pretend they're all on fire.

Parades have never done anything but annoy me. As a kid I was forced to go to 4th of July parades. One time a horse went crazy and stampeded onto the sidewalk pretty dang close to me and my dad. When I was living on campus here the homecoming parade made me unable to cross the street and hide in my dorm room. Ugh. This will probably be the last PSU Homecoming parade I have to witness in any shape, thank god.

Anyhow, what do you all think of parades?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Being in one is fun, or laughing at someone you personally know very well forced to be in one; otherwise dud

― Vic (Vic), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Throwing candy at peoples heads while in one is best thing ever, actually

― Vic (Vic), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Mardi Gras parades rock.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

any parades with semi or full nudity is usually good

― Vic (Vic), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

are usually good, excuse me

― Vic (Vic), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I can only ever go to a parade when it's Fiesta time here. I have to go to at least one of them -- it's my little Fiesta-y requirement. However, when it comes to any other parade, at least locally, they don't have the same sort of allure. The Fiesta Flambeau and Battle of Flowers parades are too big to pass up, either by watching them on TV or by actually going to them.

The only thing I ever did this past Fiesta that was Fiesta-y, btw, was attending the Fiesta Flambeau parade, which btw is apparently the largest nighttime parade around. Marching bands travel from places such as Georgia and Ohio to participate. All the area festival queens get to be on floats. It's fun, dammit.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 3 October 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Philly parades are pretty good too
http://mummerartist.homestead.com/files/mummers.jpg
http://www.philsch.k12.pa.us/schools/spruance/Mummers.jpeg

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Saturday, 4 October 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

are these pics from the Mummers Parade?

― Vic (Vic), Saturday, 4 October 2003 00:08 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I don't know.

― Paul Kelly (kelly), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Orange parades are colourful.

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

this is a funny thread, 'cause anthony is at his first mummers parade ever AND LOVING IT.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:27 (twenty years ago)

Any excuse to walk around in public in a Sgt. Pepper uniform has to be a good thing.

― Mitya (mitya), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:35 (twenty years ago)

psh, please. calling it a "sgt pepper uniform" is an insult.

oh holy crap, i havent been this drunk in a long long time. mummers parade = greatest thing ever.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:36 (twenty years ago)

good thing about rose parade - the night before becomes a somewhat diverting street party, last refuge when you couldn't muster any plans or invites to a real NYE party. the parade itself - I haven't roused myself to watch it much less go down there in at least 10 years. Pasadena doesn't do "naked" so maybe I haven't seen a proper parade yet.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 2 January 2006 06:33 (twenty years ago)

i must google this mummer business. i was in philadelphia for 24 hrs and there were commercials and newspaper articles all over the place, but my dad and his sister (who grew up there) could not explain what a "mummer" is.

― tres letraj (tehresa), Monday, 2 January 2006 07:08 (twenty years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_Parade

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 2 January 2006 08:39 (twenty years ago)

It sort of dawned on me recently that parades were developed as displays of military might, and that any other type of parade is sort of pointless. Political rally-type parades make sense because they're displays of political strength, in a way ("We're here, we're queer," etc.) But having a few funny floats and costumes is boring. It's a lot of effort for a not-very-impressive spectacle that's a pain in the ass to watch.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 00:06 (twenty years ago)

http://www.warwickschools.org/damato/gaspee.htm
http://gaspee.com/1966PressRelease.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasp%C3%A9e_Affair
http://www.gaspee.com/

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 00:12 (twenty years ago)

http://msep.ifrance.com/msep/msep_logot.jpg

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 00:13 (twenty years ago)

not all parades are mummers parades, maria. most parades in the united states probably involved high school and colleges students walking around in...

― Mitya (mitya), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 01:12 (twenty years ago)

mitya, really? i guess i never figured that out.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 02:31 (twenty years ago)

it's very fun to be in a marching band in a parade. gay or scottish pride parades sound really fun too (drag queens or bagpipes, awesome).

― Maria (Maria), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 04:50 (twenty years ago)

SECOND-LINE PARADE.

Beer out of coolers in grocery carts, food, music, fuckin' 4 hour party through the streets.

You people don't know what you're missing. :(

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 04:58 (twenty years ago)

jordan, only four hours? mummers parade is an all-day, nay, two day experience!

truth: one of the times i broke my nose was when i was marching in a parade. but thats a story for another time.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Well, in New Orleans the mardi gras parades last all day/week/whatever, but a second-line doesn't have floats and shit, it's just following one or two bands. It's hard enough to play for four hours!

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 05:17 (twenty years ago)

i used to live on a street frequented by parades. i have to say that the bagpipes annoyed the hellll out of me when i was trying to sleep.

― tres letraj (tehresa), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 06:06 (twenty years ago)

What's indefensible about parades?? Apart from the fact that marching in the West Michigan winter is enough to freeze that mouthpiece right to your face.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

classic if the parade is in your honor

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:02 (twenty years ago)

http://img.hmv.co.jp/image/jacket/190/10/9/1/680.jpg

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Ethel Merman loved them.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

I hate parades.

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:34 (twenty years ago)

James Brady's okay, but Marilyn Von Sant can ride a fast one right into hell.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:45 (twenty years ago)

What, no love for Walter Scott's Personality Parade?

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:49 (twenty years ago)

I don't much see the point. It's just people walking, innit. And politicians waving. And lots of cops on motorcycles. Seems like an awful lot of build-up for something where nothing actually happens.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

i may of course be, non-natively speaking, wrong,
b-b-but weren't these "parades" meant to be proverbially good for just being "pissed on"?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:03 (twenty years ago)

JAY I THINK YOU'RE FORGETTING MARCHING BANDS.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:04 (twenty years ago)

I don't much see the point. It's just people walking, innit. And politicians waving. And lots of cops on motorcycles. Seems like an awful lot of build-up for something where nothing actually happens.

public drunkeness. well, at least in the case of the mummers. here is a wee video i shot on cameraphone from the 2005 parade:

http://herjazz.org/movies/mummers_2005.mov

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:21 (twenty years ago)

DAMMIT ALFRED TOTALLY STOLE MY POST

― Dan (But The Point Remains) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 22:35 (twenty years ago)

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