Batman at the Ball

The Grand Marshal bit was even more than I expected. I was quite surprised at just how much of a celebrity it seemed to make me in this town. In the couple of months preceding the ball and the parade, there were numerous news articles and pictures in no less than four prominent city publications – including the city’s posh society magazine. Had anybody ever told me I would be featured in that snooty rag I would have paid extra for what they were smokin’. After the announcement of my selection, congratulatory phone calls, emails, and personal visits came from far and wide. It was a big deal. It was my 15-minutes of fame.

My krewe (Krewe of Krime) was absolutely thrilled too since it put all of us in the forefront (literally, since it is the Marshal’s float that leads the parade of course). They pulled out all stops in supporting me.

Since the Spanish Town Mardi Gras has both a King and Queen, I surmised they would be the big-wigs at the ball and all my play would be associated with the parade. Uh…not so. Two days before the ball (which I did not even plan to attend) I was asked by one of the board members if I had my “music” and “grand entrance” and “stage presentation” prepared.

Huh?

A few calls to some of my krewe members and by the night of the ball we were ready…music was the Batman theme (of course) but a kick-ass updated rock version somebody found with a great beat (done by a group named “The Dark Knights” if you care to look it up)…grand entrance was me in the lead with my krewe following and one member carrying my “Standard” which was the Batman emblem on one side and “2009 Grand Marshall” on the other (paint was still wet on this since there was little time to get all this together). But the piece of resistance was this:

The Batwalker

Yeah…and that wasn’t done overnight. My krewe had been working on it for some time already and it was perfect for the grand entrance and totally loved by the crowd.

So that left my short speech. This year’s theme was “Buy Youx Bailout.” As every year, the theme was intended to be political and responses to the theme were expected to be satirical and/or ribald. My paraphrased comments to the 3,200 (sold out) attendees:

“Your government has recruited all us superheroes to help administer its Bailout program throughout the nation. They thought it cute to send BAT-man to BAT-on Rouge. I would like all of you here tonight to take out your business cards and put the amount of money you would like on the back of it. No need to tell us what you need if for or how it will be used…just give us an amount…any amount. Make sure your mailing address where you would like the money to be sent is on the card. Don’t have a card? No problem. Just get a scratch piece of paper and put down your name, mailing address, and amount needed. Sometime tonight just drop your card or piece of paper on one of the tables over there identified for the Krewe of Krime for processing. Also, please tell your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers who are not here tonight that they can deliver their own desires in the same manner and just toss it onto our float as we pass by them at the parade. Our goal, you see, is to make EVERYBODY prosperous and EVERYBODY happy!! But as a special one-time bonus for you folks here tonight, we will also promise you 40 acres and a mule and a chicken in every pot so be sure to sign up early and sign up often…and HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!”

No, I am not talking about the size of my penis here…that is the size of a business card thank you.

The roar of the crowd convinced me it all worked out fine and see, they didn’t leave in disgust:

It didn’t suck to be Batman that night:

{Next entry: The Parade}