Graphics (.zip) (Mysti Krewe Logo, Print and web versions of “Life is a Carnival” logo, plus images from past Balls) Coming soon –
Additional images on Photobucket
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PORTLAND’S 6TH ANNUAL MARDI GRAS BALL – FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Life is a Carnival!
Featuring PDX All-Star Tribute to Allen Toussaint
Saturday, February 6, 2016 – Wonder Ballroom (128 NE Russell Street)
Doors 7:30 pm, Show 7:45pm / $30 adv. / $35 door / 21+
Tickets: www.wonderballroom.com/event/1021463-mysti-krewe-nimbus-6th-annual-portland
Portland, OR (December 16, 2015) – Portland’s annual Mardi Gras Ball has been listed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune as one of the Top-5 most authentic Mardi Gras celebrations in the United States outside of Louisiana. And it’s no surprise given the event’s origins – produced since 2010 by the Mysti Krewe of Nimbus – a NOLA-style social club founded by Louisiana expatriates that now counts more than 100 members in Portland. This is no half-hearted plastic bead and powdered hurricane mix party, this is a critical mass of Louisiana revelry with full costume finery – the crazy, the macabre, the funny, the sexy, the rude – and high-spirited indulgence. Last year’s event at the Wonder Ballroom sold out weeks before the date so guests are highly encouraged to buy tickets in advance. Each year the ball has a theme which will be announced on January 6, also known as Twelfth Night, the traditional start of the Carnival season in Louisiana.
This year’s musical acts will include the Bridgetown Sextet; the Too Loose Cajun and Zydeco Band; and a PDX All-Star Tribute to the late, great Allen Toussaint featuring dozens of the PDX indie, Americana, folk, blues, and jazz artists who perform in the yearly critically-acclaimed Next Waltz concert.
There will be a costume contest with great prizes and the crowning of the Mardi Gras King and Queen with free traditional king cake distributed to the crowd.
THE MYSTI KREWE OF NIMBUS (www.portlandmardigras.com)
Founded in 2009 by Louisiana expatriate, pianist Steve Kerin and his wife, Jane-Clair, the Mysti Krewe of Nimbus is a party-collective of 100+ Louisiana culture lovers, comprised of other ex-pats and Portlanders who understand “what it means to miss New Orleans,” as Louis Armstrong sang. Growing from a simple desire for an authentic Mardi Gras experience by Katrina refugees, the social club has quickly become an often-seen public presence in Portland, second lining through the Waterfront Blues Fest and the Tillikum Bridge Opening, riding floats and marching in the Starlight Parade, and the organizing force behind the now-annual Mississippi Avenue Mardi Gras Foot Parade.
BRIDGETOWN SEXTET (www.facebook.com/Bridgetown-Sextet-170791309246)
Portland, Oregon’s Bridgetown Sextet plays authentic old-time jazz, swing, and stomp with high energy and a spirit of enthusiasm which made early jazz revolutionary and wildly popular – harkening back to the time of Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver when “jazz” was still “jass”….
TOO LOOSE CAJUN & ZYDECO BAND (http://www.tooloosecajunzydeco.com)
The ever-popular Too Loose Cajun/Zydeco Band rocks the house in the Portland area with their infectious brand of Cajun and Zydeco dance music from Southwestern Louisiana. This band has two fiddles, accordion, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, the traditional Louisiana rub-board, and a kickin’ rhythm section. With their vocal harmonies tart and sweet, male and female, they are perennial favorites on the zydeco stage at the Waterfront Blues Festival, as well as at area parties, weddings and festivals. So come on down, and bring your dancin’ shoes.
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