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We all know that Mardi Gras is a big party, but there are a lot of misconceptions about what Mardi Gras entails. To help understand the music and history of New Orleans' most famous tradition, we called Bobbi Mannino, who is part of the public relations team at mardigrasneworleans.com.

She explains: Mardi Gras, to New Orleanians, is the culmination of an entire season of Carnival celebrations early in the year. It starts starts on January 6, the Christian day of Epiphany, and continues through the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as Fat Tuesday, in French, Mardi Gras.

The Mardi Gras traditions hark back nearly 300 years to the 1730s, but the first parades started in 1870. Contrary to popular opinion it's not just one big parade on Bourbon Street, but many. There are over 70 organizations throughout the four parishes of the greater New Orleans area that fundraise, organize different krewes, and support the public works for safety and clean-up after the parades. These individual parades have a distinctly family-oriented feel and are an annual neighborly affair, contrasted from Bourbon Street's celebration.

New Orleans has an incomparable musical history and Mannino describes some of the most iconic songs of the Carnival season, including "Carnival Time" by Al Johnson, "Go to the Mardi Gras" by Professor Longhair, "Hey Pocky A-Way" by The Meters; and she goes on to explain the concept of the Second Line.

"It's usually a brass band and it's traditionally in a funeral procession. In a jazz funeral when you're going toward the cemetery. It's slow and solemn and it's like a strolling kind of march, and then after the person is buried, then it becomes a celebration. And the second line means it's the people following the brass band, so they're strutting and celebrating that this person is going to a better life, and it's jubilant. but of course you can strike up a second line at any event you want. It doesn't have to be a funeral. You just have to hear the trumpet.

"It's totally New Orleans music, but it's a blend of its own. It's not really blues, it's not really traditional jazz, it's just New Orleans!"

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Coffee Break: New Orleans sound
Top six Mardi Gras songs of all time

Jack White pledges to rebuild historic Detroit baseball stadium

If you are a fan of Jack White, you probably know that he's a big fan of baseball. He's also a huge supporter of his hometown of Detroit, so, it's not entirely surprising to hear that White contributed $10,000 to a project that will help restore Hamtramck Stadium, one of the last Negro League-era ballparks that is still standing. The former home to the Detroit Stars has been unused since the 1990s. (Rolling Stone)

Lost Beatles magazine finally returned to library

What's the longest you've held on to a library book or magazine? Well, the Cuyahoga County Public Library may have your record beat. Last week, a fifty-year-old copy of Life Magazine featuring The Beatles on the cover was returned through the mail to the Cincinnati Library.

There was a note included in the package that said, "I stole this magazine from the Parma Ridge Road Library when I was a kid. I'm sorry I took it. I've enclosed a check for the late fee." Signed, Brian.

A spokesperson for the library said that this is the oldest item he has ever seen returned, exceeding the reach of the library's records. Now that the Sept. 13, 1968 Beatles issue has come together with its rightful owner the library plans to have it framed along with the note. (NPR)

Fake Rihanna album released, removed

A new Rihanna album dropped quietly last week and quickly worked its way up the 67th position on iTunes' worldwide albums chart. Only problem? It wasn't a real album. Yes, the voice people heard on Angel, was Rihanna's but it was from demos and previously unreleased songs that have been circulating online for years. The album was quickly removed from streaming services.

This isn't the first time this has happened. A similar "leak" happened back in January when unauthorized Beyonce and SZA albums were uploaded to Apple Music and Spotify. These sorts of releases have been "rampant on the Internet since streaming became the dominant mode of music-listening, due to the sheer amount of music flooding those services all the time and the lack of a technological fail-safe to police for inauthentic music." (Rolling Stone)

Viral clip: JD McPherson celebrates Mardi Gras

Nashville rocker JD McPherson dropped a new music video that's an ode to The Big Easy for his song "Jubilee." The video shows McPherson driving around the Mardi Gras celebrations in 2018. He explained, "I just drove around the city, looking for 'Jubilee.' It was like being in a dream. The car handled as though it were floating on a cloud. There's no other city in the world like New Orleans, especially during that time of year." (Rolling Stone)

Audio sampled in podcast
Jahzzar: "Comedie" (CC BY 4.0)
BoxCat Games: "Against The Wall" (CC BY 3.0)
The Beatles - "Come Together"
Rihanna - "Don't Stop the Music"
White Stripes - "Hotel Yorba"
Al Johnson - "Carnival Time"
The Hawkettes - "Mardi Gras Mambo"
The Meters - "Hey Pocky A-way"
Professor Longhair - "Go to the Mardi Gras"
Sugar Cane and His Cane Cutters - "Jock-A-Mo"
Stop Inc - "Second Line Song"
Acoustic Jass - "When The Saints Go Marching In"
Pete Fountain - "When We Danced at the Mardi Gras"
Benny Grunch - "Ain't No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day"
Fats Domino - "Walking to New Orleans"
Lee Benoit Cajun Band - "Jambalaya"
Pine Leaf Boys - "Pine Leaf Two-Step"
JD McPherson - "Jubilee"