What to Know
- Union Station
- Tuesday, Feb. 13
- 4 p.m.
Mardi Gras doesn't stand for Move & Groove, though the "M" and the "G" may have a person understandably thinking as much. For dancing, celebrating, waving your hands in joy, and following a tune-playing band is as much a perfect part of a Fat Tuesday party as beads and beignets.
And, yes, the "Mardi" is "Tuesday," and the "Gras" has decadent connotations, though if you want to think of it as a holiday for moving, for music-making, and for the traditional Second Line processions seen around New Orleans, you absolutely should.
But where to find an expansive, acoustically amazing place to move, to groove, to wave those hands in happiness, or a parasol or hankerchief, here in Los Angeles, as you follow a large band summoning those quintessential NOLA-style sounds?
You could hop a train that's making its way to Louisiana, but the "here in Los Angeles" part of the equation can actually be found at the train station, before you even board that train, on Tuesday, Feb. 13 beginning at 4 o'clock.
That's when The Mudbug Brass Band will begin to lead a Second Line-inspired walk through Union Station, complete with the big, hall-filling, heart-gladdening sounds you'd expect to hear around Bourbon Street.
Joining the procession? Listening in for a few minutes? It's all free.
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The procession starts in the East Portal of Union Station and will eventually wrap up in the Grand Waiting Room by 5:30, which means if you have other Mardi Gras plans, such as dinner out, you can visit this vibrant scene, and take part, and still make supper in time, most probably.
The octet is described as "Louisiana-rooted" but a SoCal favorite, which makes the band a perfect way to mark Mardi Gras at a local Los Angeles landmark.
So are you up for moving, grooving, dancing, and following some musicians deftly playing a line-up of horns and instruments, all to honor Mardi Gras in the merriest of ways?
Be at Union Station on the afternoon of Fat Tuesday to join other Southern Californians in a grand show of spirit, occasion, and music-bound togetherness.
