By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — New Yorkers and New Orleanians who won't make it down to the Big Easy for Mardi Gras this year can rejoice.
Two Boots is hosting its second annual Mardi Gras Ball at Le Poisson Rouge on one of the biggest party days of the year, Fat Tuesday, converging two cultures for one soiree that promises a costume contest, mouth-watering food and a plethora of funky music and drinks.
While chowing down on Cajun fare and posing for Lower East Side portrait artist Anthony Zito, guests will also be serenaded by beloved New Orleans jazz-swing street band Loose Marbles and New York-based brass bands including the Hungry March Band, Mamarazzi and Raya Brass Band.
There will also be a ceremony to announce this year's Two Boots Mardi Gras King and Queen, actors Luis Guzman and Susan Sarandon.
The party is being held thanks to Phil Hartman, the owner of New Orleans-influenced pizzeria Two Boots. Hartman is also a filmmaker and the founder of Howl Festival and Pioneer Theater.
After immersing himself in two cultures for 24 years, Hartman decided it was finally time for New Yorkers to don their masks and have a "proper" celebration for the beloved New Orleans tradition, he said.
The best part was that people could party with peace of mind, since the event would benefit the Lower East Side Girls Club, an organization that serves economically disadvantaged girls, Hartman added.
"Two Boots Mardi Gras combines traditional New Orleans revelry with NYC's counterculture — an amazing night of music, dancing, costumes, live art, plus food & drink, all for an amazing cause," Hartman said in a release.
The Lower East Side Girls Club was a fitting beneficiary, since it also straddled a New York/New Orleans existence with its Big Easy-based sister arts program called the Young Artists/Young Aspirations, or the Ya Yas, director Lyn Pentecost said.
In addition to having fun, the club aspired to educate people on what Mardi Gras meant to locals, rather than perpetuate the media hype that surrounded its current Bourbon Street-image, Pentecost added.
"It's kind of how Mardi Gras is playing out in New Orleans, with frat boys chugging down unlimited and ignoble amounts of beer and convincing girls to lift their shirts," Pentecost said. "It's turned into a real frat party. But we're taking it back, back to the real roots."
The group seeks to remind people that the festival's real roots involve women artists and musicians, who are as deeply entrenched in Mardi Gras tradition as they are in New York's Lower East Side.
"This is a chance to reposition how people regard women's participation in this traditional event — and have a great time doing it," she added.
