SUPER ENTHUSED BLOG: Halloween Weekend in New Orleans/ Lestat Coronation Ball, October 2014

Travel back in time with me to 5 months ago, Halloween 2014, as I recount my trip to New Orleans to attend the Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club's Lestat Coronation Ball, part of Undead Con, a series of related events happening in New Orleans on Halloween weekend.

Like many lovers of horror and fantasy fiction, my first visit to New Orleans (2002) was largely prompted by the romance and nostalgia of Mrs. Rice's works. As a teen, besides dragon and space-themed novels and sagas, I was all about that Anne Rice. As I grew into an adult and my literary world expanded, the novels of my youth never lost a place in my heart, and the vivid descriptions of New Orleans never left my imagination.

By 2014, I had been visiting New Orleans for over a decade and I feel more at home there than most other places, besides my actual home, though I had never visited for Halloween (or for Mardi Gras, but that will soon be remedied!). I try to mostly avoid the tourist traps, and make a point to visit new neighborhoods and areas on each visit.

We purchased general admission tickets to the ball and did not plan to attend other Undead Con events due to time limitations. Next time, we will surely purchase VIP tickets and attend more Undead Con events.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn New Orleans and I have no complaints about this hotel. It's in the Central Business District, walking distance to the Vieux Carré, and a pleasant streetcar ride to the Garden Distinct, Magazine Street and more. Our room had a nice view of the CBD. The venue for the ball was The Republic, New Orleans.




We arrived in New Orleans early afternoon, Friday, October 31st, and it was glorious from the moment we arrived. First thing we did after settling in was have a po' boy at Cajun Mike's Pub and Grub. We ordered an alligator and a cochon po' boy and there were both delicious, flavorful, fresh and completely satisfying. Everyone in the bar was friendly (as are honestly most people I've interacted with in New Orleans), the bartender made us feel completely at home and took really good care of us. We sat near the open front door to try to minimize the smoke intake (side note: looks like we won't be dealing with smoky bars on our trip next month) - the added bonus of sitting near the window and open door was that we were able to watch folks start streaming down the streets in their Halloween costumes. At the end of our meal, we were offered Halloween candies and we walked out of Cajun Mike's with our stomachs and hearts full of happy.





After that, we took a stroll across the street to Sazerac Bar. The Roosevelt hotel is beautiful, ornate and impressive. It feels like stepping into a different era. The group of patrons dressed as a barbershop quartet (... or... sextet?) added to the old-timey feel. The drinks were good, though we generally prefer Arnaud's French 75 for atmosphere and quality of cocktails.




After dinner and drinks, it was time to dress for the ball. We made our way into the streets fully costumed and we were certainly not alone. The air was vibrant and the streets were packed with costumed revelers. It was a quick stroll to The Republic and we immediately identified the growing line of vampires and ball attendees in various Victorian themed garb. There was some press coverage, a few cameras interviewing attendees, and we all watched on as Anne Rice superfans gushed over their love for her novels, characters and landscapes. People complimented and admired each others costumes and those of the people in the street, who all stopped to admire the impressive line of vampire ball attendees.

There were some seriously splendid costumes at this event. The ball was a whirlwind of light, color and sound. Anne Rice made her entrance escorted by a second line parade led by Mardi Gras Indians and followed up with a performance by Skinz n Bones. Dancing, drums, costumes, feathers, dark melodies and scenes flashed by. People cheered, danced and were generally captivated. The theming was dark, but lighthearted, bawdy but not scary or lascivious. While I wouldn't recommend this event for minors, nor do I believe they would have been granted entrance, there was nothing that I found offensive or alarming in any way. It felt like everyone was there to have fun and celebrate their love of vampire lore, Halloween, New Orleans and the works of Anne Rice. I didn't notice any rabble rousers or even rude behavior, everyone seemed polite and in good spirits, though a little crammed into the tight venue. One guy did spill his drink a little and received tsk,tsks from all around him.


While part of the procession led Anne to the VIP area on the second floor balcony, the musicians, dancers and revelers continued onto the dance floor and continued performing for quite some time. There were lots of smiles... lots of gleaming, fang-filled smiles, lending themselves to the festive atmosphere of Halloween.


Here I am being creeped out and simultaneously entertained by the mannequin head on a stick behind me. As you can see, the crowd is captivated by the dancers and musicians in front of me when they should all be keeping an eye on that mannequin head more closely. Silly mortals. 





It was dark, there were flashing lights, jostling and movement, as you can see. I loved that Nosferatu was playing on a screen behind the stage. Once Anne, Becket and their entourage were situated on the balcony, attendees waved and smiled at them and were treated to smiles and waves in return.





Anne said some lovely words to the crowd and the feeling in the air was that everyone was glad she was back at the ball. One of the highlights of the night was the Prince Lestat look-alike contest. The crowd was pressed in so tight that we didn't have the best view of the stage. The Lestat look alikes had fun with the audience and the winner was crowned, then back to live music and generally hanging out.

At one point in the evening, I noticed a tall, thin woman in a red dress slowly walking the floor followed by a camera. "She looks familiar...." I thought, when I suddenly realized it was Juliet Landau, the actress who played Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire the Slayer. I almost screamed out, "Drusilla... my poppet!" but regained my composure and approached her in a cool and collected manner to tell her I was a huge fan and ask for a photo. She was kind and gracious and obliged.


A blurry photo of me with the lovely Juliet Landau, Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

The night flew by, and my only critique, as already mentioned, was that the venue was too small to hold the large crowd. This appears to already have been taken into account by the event organizers as they are looking at a larger venue with a more spacious VIP area for next year's ball. If I attend next year, I will definitely purchase the VIP ticket. The folks on the balcony looked like they had a lot more space to relax, move around and converse than those of us on the main floor.

I would recommend this event for lovers of Halloween, vampires, New Orleans and good old fashioned creepy/goth fun. I wouldn't recommend this event for those who plan to strictly people-watch and not dress up themselves. At least a minimal effort of some sort of costume is highly recommending to avoid detracting from the ambiance and theming of the event. This is not like a comic/anime convention, where you can show up in jeans and a tshirt and watch all the amazing costumes without feeling like a creep. If you plan to attend the ball, come out ready to have fun and get into the Halloween spirit. You don't have to be incredibly elaborate or splendid, but do get into the spirit of things and dress in your best vampire, Victorian, spooky or similarly themed garb. I recommend going all out and purchasing some mold-able fangs from your local Halloween/costume store, and putting together the loveliest Vampire Ball attire you can manage.

Besides the ball, we spent an afternoon in the beautiful Garden District, including, of course, visits to 1239 First Street, previously the home of Anne Rice and the setting for many of her works, most notably the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, as well as 2523 Prytania Street, previously owned by Anne Rice and later by Nicolas Cage. The predominant feature of the Prytania Street home is a beautiful sculpture of Virgin and Child under a wrought iron dome with the words "Our Mother of Perpetual Help" in gold letters under an ornate gold cross. I could stare at this structure all day, and I make sure to pay a visit on each trip when possible.




The Garden District homes were decked out for Halloween. I even found a neat Halloween pencil on the cracked pavement that I have to this day as a keepsake. 


There was so much more to this trip, but I'll wrap it up here as the focus of this post was the ball. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write to me at superenthused @ gmail . com (remove the spaces), or leave a comment below. I welcome your feedback. As always, thanks for reading!