The Paulin Brothers Brass Band - New Orleans

I am a member of a sub-krewe of Krewe du Vieux, my very favorite Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. One of my bucket list items. I had an opportunity to photograph our pre-party and second line parade for the opening Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans last Saturday.

It was especially poignant as The Paulin Brothers were our personal Brass Band. They played for our pre-party and led the King and his Queen in a lively procession to our floats. I can't post images of the floats because...well...Krewe du Vieux is a satirical parade that does use some, let's say, profanity to get our point across. But here are some shots of the Paulin Brothers Brass Band.

And I am truly lucky as they will be playing for a Mardi Gras Wedding I am photographing the day after Valentine's Day.

A side note. A week ago, probably one of the most well known Mardi Gras Indian Chiefs, Chief Bo Dollis Sr. of the Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, passed away. There was a second line funeral parade earlier the same day as our parade.

In all honesty, with the hurried preparations (our theme isn't announced until early December so we had a short time to execute our float) and excitement of the day, I had completely forgotten about Chief's funeral and that, most likely, The Paulin Brothers, which are the longest continuously operating Jazz Band, had attended his funeral earlier that day. It wasn't until I was in the post processing that I noticed early on they had tears in their eyes. I don't remember the song they were playing but truly wish I did.

Our city's life is built on the soul of music. These images portray that soul.