Heaneyland!

Mermaid Parade, part two

Before I continue with my series of photos from the mermaid parade, if you would like independent confirmation of my previous postulation that topless woman + monkey head = Creepy McCreeperstein, here is your evidence.

Anyway, if I remember correctly, we left off with a starfish-bepastied mergeisha. Next up was a passel of swing dancers who made me itch a little to get back in practice on my Lindy Hop. Then one of multiple Elvises made an appearance, with pointy ears and a jewelled tail. (In case you can't read the back of his jacket, it says "Elf-Fish Presley: The Return of the King".) And who's that in the background of that photo? Is that a member of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby? Yes, it is! Rose was pleased to get to see them in action, even though they were more handing out pamphlets than elbowing each other.

Then we had more unison dancing from "Eel-ectric", a chipper group who danced the Electric (Eel) Slide with great panache, despite sporting what looked like some pretty warm costumes.

The next group was a delegation from IFAM (the Institute for Aesthetic Modulation), a group I remember from way back when I used to perform regularly at the Gargoyle Mechanique open mike, before the building caught fire and the organizers morphed into Collective:Unconscious. They had a sort of cyberpunk thing going on, with girls wielding whips made of corrugated plastic tubing. They also had a swell giant thingamabob that looked like a floating mine, which I didn't manage to get a decent picture of, but you can find way more pictures of it and the rest of the group here.

At this point, we experienced another slowdown in the parade's progress, but it couldn't have come at a better time, because we ended up with these folks in front of us for two full songs. They were my favorite musical group of the day, and not just because I was crushed out on the accordionist. These guys knew how to stick with a theme; they took the songs "Let My People Go" and "The Israelites" and turned them into two anti-Ratner anthems, "Let My People Stay" and "The Brooklynites". (For non-Brooklyn people, this article covers the high points of why we're not so fond of Bruce Ratner out in these parts.) They also obliged me by being a very photogenic group.

This ornately adorned woman also knew how to play to the audience, staying still for long stretches to make sure people got good pictures of her. Close behind her was this unfortunate girl, who spent the entire time we saw her smiling embarrassedly and clutching her breasts. At first, we assumed she had been talked reluctantly into going topless at the parade and regretted her decision...but after seeing some other people's photos, it seems instead that she had been wearing a flimsy top which she lost at some point.

We all agreed that if we marched in the parade (which we may do next year), we would not design costumes that required us to stoop all the time.

After so many fine modern examples of the only slightly clad female form, it was nice to see some classic-style burlesque girls to remind us of our bawdy heritage.

The Billionaires for Bush also made an appearance, taking corporate piracy to the high seas in style.

I liked this mermaid's sequined corset, but, alas, this group was marching way too fast for me to get a decent photo of the bespectacled silver-haired mermaid on the left, what with my sad, sad camera taking such a long recovery time between shots (I believe it had less than 2 minutes of battery power left at this point). I did get a shot of the only marchers creepier than the Dead Sea mermaids, though.

The end of my battery power and the end of the parade miraculously coincided. I leave you with the photos taken with those batteries' last gasps.

Posted by Francis at 03:34 AM