Qu’ils Mangent de la Brioche

More neon art at Laumeier, this one by David Hutson himself. This was hard to me to read at first because what look like R's to me in the second word are actually N's. This is the original French of the famous words attributed to Marie Antoinette, usually rendered in English as "let them eat cake," the words she supposedly spoke after being told that the peasants had no bread.

There are problems with the story. The word brioche doesn't actually mean cake. It is a very rich bread with lots of egg and butter; it would have been as unaffordable to the masses as cake. However, there is no evidence that Marie spoke these words. They have become part of a legend.

Note the unusual bread slicer in the lower right. It resembles Le Rasoir National, a clever compliment to the words.       

Liberté, Egalité, Debauchery

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The term Mardi Gras is, of course, French. New Orleans, the capital of the festival in the US, was founded by France. The other great center of the carnival is Rio de Janeiro, which speaks Portuguese, but that doesn't fit the narrative so let's move on.

Most of the floats in the parade had really dorky themes, stuff like old TV shows and movies. One entry had a much grander concept, the French Revolution, albeit tempered by alcohol and a little sleaze. So,

Aux armes citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons,
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons.

Although in St. Louis, when the battalions march down Broadway from downtown to Soulard, there's a better chance of stale Budweiser than impure blood running in our gutters.

By the way, I got my original 1,517 snaps down to 445 in the first cut. More trimming to come. I'll explain my method one of these days.