Iko Iko

This song is a bit late -- consider it a Mardi Gras-themed song. It was recorded by the Dixie Cups back in 1965, and is one of the old-fashioned New Orleans songs. This YouTube recording includes the lyrics.

What it's about is a mock confrontation between two New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Tribes. (Also see the Wikipedia version if you prefer). The New Orleans Indiana are about 35 tribes, more or less, who parade on Mardi Gras Day.

Setting fire to another tribe's flag is the height of disrespecting them, and likely to result in a fight!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Pi Day

Today, March 14th (3/14), is Pi Day. 

Celebrate it by having a piece of pie. Chocolate is my favorite, but pecan, cherry, apple, and I-40 pie rank up there too.

Actually, to celebrate today more precisely, have your pie at 3:50 AM. (Pi to five decimal places is 3.14159).

National Absinthe Day

Today, March 5th, is National Absinthe Day. Absinthe is a spirit that had been well-associated with artists and writers in the Nineteenth century. It has been referred to as The Green Fairy (La Fée Verte).  It was banned for almost a hundred years in France and the United States; but has again been legal since 2007. 

There are several myths about absinthe. However, these are not supported by evidence. It's not a hallucinogenic. Ii doesn't have to be flambéd on a sugar cube, or any of the other bizarre notions that have come up. 

It has a licorice flavor.

Absinthe has been associated with New Orleans mixology with the historic Old Absinthe House, where General Andrew Jackson met with the pirate Jean Lafitte and enlisted the Baratarian Battery of cannoneers toward the end of the War of 1812. 

It was originally an ingredient in the Sazerac, the original New Orleans cocktail.

Edgar Degas, The Absinthe Drinker