**The indigenous bead tree of New Orleans. Here is a specimen in full bloom**

Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day, 2020. A day of parades, of history, of culture, of camaraderie, and, well yeah, of some of the most outright debauchery known to mankind (but in a good way).

Last year I posted a series of New Orleans themed blogs to celebrate Mardi Gras week. I’ll re-attach links to those here in case anyone cares to revisit them.

The Meters, Kermit Ruffins, Louis Armstrong, The Hawketts, Trombone Shorty, The Wild Magnolias, and Li’l Queenie & The Percolators

This year I’m going to change it up a bit, and commemorate the day with a playlist of songs by New Orleans artists that I made back in 2013 in conjunction with a trip with some of my best buddies back to my favorite city in the world (play it in full on Spotify). It’s a cross-section of many of the more modern-day brass and funksters with some of the Crescent City classics of yore mixed in. If you’re a fan of New Orleans music – and seriously, how could you not be – hopefully there’s something celebratory in there for you.

Happy Mardi Gras day, everyone.

**My gratitude for the photo and caption to the very talented Nola Val, whose pics on Instagram and Facebook are consistently the most beautiful representations of New Orleans I’ve ever seen**