Harry Connick Jr, Cowboy Mouth And More Join The Mardi Gras Celebration

With Mardi Gras a little bit more than two months away, news, updates and information is starting to come in on a steady basis from the parading Krewes and festival organizers. You can stay up to date with all of the additions, schedule changes and what not via this blog from now until the Mardi Gras season. If your Krewe or organization wants to share your news and updates with the Mardi Gras New Orleans readers please send us a message via this contact form.

Lundi Gras With Rex

Rex has added one of New Orleans’s favorite rock bands, Cowboy Mouth to the celebration at Spanish Plaza on Monday, February 11.

The Lundi Gras celebration starts at 3 pm with the brass, funk band The Brass-A-Holics. Cowboy Mouth takes the stage at 4:30. At 6 pm, there are fireworks and the arrival of the King Of Carnival. The Topcats take the stage at 6:30 pm and close out the party.

Since 1915, Rex has made his grand entrance by boat. Since 1986, when the Riverwalk opened along the Mississippi River they’ve greeted the approaching king with fireworks and music. The festival is free and open to the public.

Krewe Of Orpheus Announces Celebrity Riders

The biggest Mardi Gras news this week comes from the Krewe of Orpheus. This week they didn’t just announce one or two celebrities that'll ride in their parade. They announced that world famous New Orleans musician Harry Connick Jr. and the talented Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews will lead their 20^th Anniversary parade on February 11^th.

 But it doesn’t stop there. Their crew of celebrity riders also includes actor Gary Sinise, actress Mariska Hargitary, a skateboarding dog from Animal Planet named Tillman and the kid’s rock band The Imagination Movers.

Connick was one of the founding members of the Krewe in 1993 and will sing an original tune that he wrote for the Krewe’s 20^th Anniversary.  The song is called “Smokey Mary Boogie Woogie Choo Choo” and is on his upcoming carnival music album.