Mardi Gras is mighty early this year!
Sunpie is carrying the torch to preserve the African American version of Mardi Gras, which has been in a tailspin ever since the powers that be put an interstate right down the middle of the street and neighborhood where African Americans had their own and very special party on the day before Ash Wednesday.
Here's a story about how he's trying to preserve it, from a local weekly.
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/cover_story.php
(For those of you who have never been to the Port Townsend workshop, Sunpie, from New Orleans, was the Zydeco/accordion teacher a couple of years ago. That's just one of many things he's involved in.)
Lindy