http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=189465&rel_no=1&back_url=You can view my pics at
http://www.magnjc.com:8000/gallery"It started as a faint buzz on Orleans Avenue. Past a line of somber brick buildings, where families sat on porches and kids rolled tire rims in the street, a glaring September sun caught the silver glint of a tuba. A white parasol bobbed rhythmically. There was the clear ring of a trumpet, a driving snare, a chorus of whoops. From a balcony two stories up, a child sang down: "Hey, y'all, it's a second line!"
For a parade town like New Orleans, this was a small one-about 20 band members and dancers, the "first line," and 80 or so followers, or "second line." It's nothing new here, as such parades have been a mainstay in African American parts of the city for over a century. But this parade, with its racially diverse crowd, bookish twentysomethings with clipboards, and posters in red, white and blue, was marching to get out the vote."