ZIPPIDY DOO DAH

Loosely organized insanity.  That was the 34th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade. 

Credit to “Nightranger”

Shamelessly plagiarizing from Wikipedia:

Conceived in 1978 by several friends, sitting in a bar called "Chromo's" (which no longer exists) in Pasadena, as an irreverent alternative to the traditional formality of the Rose Parade, which is also held in Pasadena. In 1978, January 1 fell on a Sunday, and the Rose Parade, which typically takes place on January 1, will not march on a Sunday. So they decided it would be fun to have an alternate parade that year. Some of the early participants were Snotty Scotty and the Hankies, The Lawn Mower Drill Team, The Briefcase Drill Team and General Hershey Bar, among many others.

The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade today features absurd and unique participants such as the BBQ & Hibachi Marching Grill Team, The Shopping Cart Drill Team, The Bastard Sons of Lee Marvin, The Men of Leisure Synchronized Nap Team, The Marching Lumberjacks, Dr. Steel's Army of Toy Soldiers, Claude Rains & the 20-Man Memorial Invisible Man Marching Drill Team, Count Smokula, and the Committee for the Right to Bear Arms, a group that marches in precise formations while carrying mannequin arms. The band "Snotty Scotty and the Hankies" is still the Official band.

And, Snotty Scotty still sucks, having lost whatever voice he had three decades ago.  For reasons still unfathomable, our LA Scooter Group decided to ride in the parade, which we’ve never seen before.  The idea was to decorate the scoots and to promote their “green” character as gas savers.  Oh kayyy.  Why not. 

Well, I’ll tell you.  Because this is a parade for lunatics, not ecologists.  The parade this year was on May 1, and we were still in Vegas on April 30, so we stopped at a party supply store on the way out of town and stocked up on balloons, crepe paper, and other stuff.  As it turned out, few others did much theming to their scoots.  I think we overdressed.

I guess we achieved the green theme, but we definitely were way out of place in this parade.  I mean, it had

and (note the flying conductor suspended from the crane)

Clearly the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are alive and well in Pasadena.  Yes, the unmistakable fragrance of the “funny weed” wafted all over.  We breathed deep.  One of my favorite groups was

Not to offend anyone, but that’s A “Cheesus Christ Pizza Company” sign on the left, and a giant pizza being wheeled in the rear.  Go, godless liberals!

One of the Doo Dah traditions is the spectators throwing food items at the marchers.  In the past, it was marshmallows, but they were banned as an awful mess to clean up.  Recently, they switched (mostly) to flying tortillas. 

As you can see, the marshmallow ban was not entirely effective.  It quickly became high sport to try to hit the moving scooter targets, especially us.  Our balloons made us look like a carnival game, so they were flinging those corn discs as hard as they could to try to break our bubbles.  We only lost one, but had to keep our visors down as we were getting smacked in the face pretty good.

We saw this one before they had put on the sign.  The baby gets hauled up those center ropes by a pully, poises at the top, and then flips over and falls.  We thought it was a guillotine. 

Not everything was creepy.  I guess. 

We were glad when it ended.  It was getting hot in those helmets, and the tires were getting coated in marshmallow slime, making for interesting handling. 

All in all, it was fun, but I don’t see making this an annual event for us.  Unless we can dress like zombies?

NOT!