Weekend Update

I have a new obsession.

I was in Bloomington over the weekend, and, in a twist of fate, they were having their Lotus Festival. As we wandered down Kirkwood after dinner we came across the most amazing site: a bus unloading characters that looked like they could have stepped out of Alice in Wonderland. Women in glittery short skirts and stripped tights. Men in tuxedo vests, top hats and T-shirts. Glittery lipstick and exotic blue eyeshadow. And best, not to mention strangest of all, stilts. At least a half dozen were on stilts.

This, it turned out was the March Fourth Marching Band.

A fantastic conglomeration of dancers and actors and musicians who perform to New Orleans Dixieland jazz with all the implied drums and brass. And then there are those amazing stilt walkers. They dance and sway do handstands and other impossible feats--all under a sliver of a moon and streetlights that made them gleam and glow and had the crowd dancing and clapping--and marching--along.

Truly wonderful and amazing. The minute I got home, I googled them. Born out of a Fat Tuesday celebration, they're out of Portland, so any of you in the Pacific Northwest--lucky you. Any viewings or stories, pass them on. Would love to bring these guys to Nashville.