the macy's thanksgiving day parade: the pinnacle of american culture?

new years day 1998, woke up at 6 am with a screaming hellbound hangover in my girlfriends house south of broad st. who had already departed that morning for home in virginia. by the time i had showered and got my shit together and stumbled into the harsh daylight of regret (and the outside) i had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE PARADE. i stepped into the middle of broad st., completely oblivious to the masses of people thronging the area around broad and pine, until i was SWEPT UP in the middle of a mummer brigade. disoriented and confuzzled, i walked with those banjo playin freeks for four blocks, until a cop chased me off. i hate the mummers.

(cue someone, anyone: what in the HELL are the mummers?)

And great entertainment value!

Two women were killed, six police officers were shot and about 50 bystanders were injured April 27, 1979, when Ira Attebery went on a shooting rampage about a half-hour before the scheduled start of the Battle of Flowers Parade. Attebery's recreational vehicle was parked at a tire company at Broadway and East Grayson Street, the parade's starting point. He emerged from the vehicle shooting, ducked back inside and eventually shot himself to death. The Battle of Flowers was canceled that year.

Watching the parade now! Have seem Smurfettes, Spiderman, Joan Jett singing on a float, tons of boybands, Ariana Grande singing to Dora the Explorer...

Oh no, its over. There's drunk Santa. Dog show up next

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ92eyxnxmQ

A marching band played the Amboy Dukes' "Journey To The Center Of The Mind." Adding insult to injury, Matt Lauer said the song was originally done by "the Asbury Dukes." Thanksgiving is ruined.

part of me hoping for a balloon to snap it's moorings in the high winds

Hear about this on the radio on the way to my folks. It was followed by a really short human-interest story about people wishing stores would close on Thanksgiving so workers could be w their families. Then the DJ listed all of the stores that were staying open, which was more or less all the stores w huge floats in the parade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JKPNdcWsAk#t=30

I believe in being a "gamer" about it. In the USA, XMas is part of an ongoing religious war in which everything that is godless and unholy about capitalism teams up with humorless religious forces to overwhelm us with crappy holiday sentiment. In my family we believe in toughing it out for the sake of not losing our stake in this dispute.

I always enjoyed the parade for its unintentional (?) humor. People dancing in animal costumes, giant hot air stuffed animals, a peek at what's on Broadway....

Also it was worth it to see Dora the Explorer attempt to funk out. Meanwhile, the Motown dancers were horrid - have they never watched The Temps? Or maybe it was too cold. Also a couple of the dancers slipped and nearly fell.

It seemed though that the participants had good humor about it. And marching bands are cool. Go Spartans!!!