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UtahArt Car Parade. Houston, Texas. May 9, 2009.
Yes, it's the Batmobile, and I mean THE Batmobile! This is the actual car used in the movie, the one actor Michael Keaton sat in. The lady with the company that owns the car alluded to the fact that it gets the most ooohs and ahhhs but she said it "ain't nothing under that shell".
Yes, that's me next to the car wanting to be a superhero.
A classic type of art car with over-the-top ornate detail.
'Venus Hairse'
The cars are always more amazing when you get in to see the details.
You would not want to be in front of this scary creation.
The Blues Brothers, and they actually were pretty darn good. Funy too.
This car was completely covered in mirror shards. Look close and you can see my white shirt and jeans, even my eye in one of the pieces. (By the way, note to travleling self, jeans... HUGE mistake in the heat!) The reflection of legs and red on the right would be my daughter Lexi.
Grand Marshall of the parade was Kinky Friedman, writer, recent Texas gubernatorial candidate. marketer of salsa and cigars, and all around unique human. He seemed to be wildly popular with the crowd and also to be having a good time himself.
It's hard to tell from a photo but this creepy monster had animated head and mouth and snarled it's way through the parade.
In the past I had seen this car at Houston's Art Car Museum. One of those incredibly ornate art cars it is set apart by the huge and bizarre beast attached to the front end!
An evil easter bunny. And yes, this is just for you Charli in Cambridge, MA, we both know how you like bunnies.
The very portable porta-potty. Believe it or not this laid-back gent drove this crazy car all the way from Waco, Texas to Houston at 4 miles per hour!
Silly rabbit slippers come to life as art cars.
Yes, he did crow, often and loudly.
Small balls on springs bounced back and forth as the car moved but the coolest thing about this car is the strange shadow it casts.
These cars with hydraulic lifts almost seem like they are out of control. Very popular and very cool. Check out the short clip below.
Brass this, that, and everything else covered every square inch of this entry.
I am going on an expedition, how did they know? It's more of a peace of mind expedition though.
Some folks can't be bothered to get out of bed on parade day.
Red horses. I don't get it either, but I like it.
Houston has a few giant cockroaches but this is the only one that has a horn that plays that classic tune 'La Cucaracha'!
Cute dogs are popular art cars. This panting pup was one of several in the parpade.
Very dramatic, and titled the Onaminivanapeida.
Wow. Silly singing fish and harmonizing lobsters were totally animated, lit up, and incredibly, sang the most unlikely tune... Handel's 'Messiah'.
Even the police patrooling the parade played along as they rode on their Art Horses!
TP! I may be looking and wishing for that in foreign lands.
Surprising to me as I thought it was all cars but there were walkers, skaters, and a wide variety of odd and unique bicycles.
High handlebars.
A chopper. There also was a woman on a bike with a cage around her. I tried to get the shot but she was fast! I hope my bike doesn't start to feel like a cage.
Tail plumage opens up on this peacock car just as on the real bird.
All of this took place on Allen Parkway (nice name, spelled wrong) which abuts Eleanor Tinsley Park, a wonderful strip of green in Houston stretched between the road and the Buffalo Bayou. (I'm from Louisiana and we say By-you. Here they say By-YO. What I am saying is that they say it WRONG!)
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9 comments:
Linda Ronstadt pronounces it bye-oh and since she is much cuter than you, I go with that.
Douglas, to me Linda has always sounded like she is singing Bie-you, the correct way! I think my description was off because her's sounds right. It's here in Houston where they say Bie-YO, and sorry Houston, you throw a heck of an Art Car Parade but that Bie-yo thing still sounds silly.
Oh...I'm thinkin' we're just so freakin' cool here in Houston that we're allowed to pronounce water ways in any way we please! ;)
(19 art car parades later and Houston Art Car Klub President)
What's the loneliest Bayou in the world? The one that's by youself of course. The closest one? The one that's by you house. And I'm from Houston. And I drive an art car. So there.
Nicole - Yeah, and that was the point of the post maybe, Houston is cooler than people from other places realize with tons of awesome art, theater, and museum offerings. So I can accaept that they pronounce the word bayou incorrectly.
Cory - Don't be so snippy lol. New Orleans is older than Houston so they are correct and Texas is wrong, but I still love you and the art cars. Mardi Gras is fun but your parades are much more civilized!
I was agreeing with you, Alan! Guess I'm just an exception to the rest of those Houstonians who 'mispronounce' it. But, maybe that's just my roots (of the deep East Texas variety) showing.
Thanks for the great write-up on our little parade, shingdig, ho-down, gathering, processional, party, festival or whatever the rest of the universe chooses to call our annual art car craziness. Glad you enjoyed it. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?
Cory - Oh, lol!
hi
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