Sunday: Crotch-clamps and tear gas

Reports from the Sunday parades....

Sao Clemente (Sunday)
"A good parade", says O Dia. The theme was the 200th anniversary of the Royal Family in Brazil. O Dia liked the dance group and said the floats were luxurious, but with a few flaws that looked like some parts had been left unfinished. The chickens on the third float had gaps in their wings (horrors!). Sao Clemente had to rush a bit at the end of the parade, too.

I was fascinated to read the following little story. At last I learn the name for what I've been calling a "crotch-clamp". Now, just so you understand the situation, here's a Sao Clemente girl wearing a crotch-clamp:



Then I read this in O Dia:
"The tapa-sexo (sex-cap) of the model Viviane Castro unglued just minutes before starting the parade, and had to be re-attached with a superglue. The beauty, however, wasn't ashamed to stand there nude in the parade gathering area."

Tapa-sexo! So that's what they're called!

And no, she doesn't seem like the shy type:
(she's the one on the right)



While looking up "tapa-sexo" to be sure I was translating it right, I found that Porto da Pedra's queen of the bateria lost hers right in the middle of last year's parade! (apparently not in front of my sector, oh well) The papers published this ever-so-modest photo:



She dashed to the second recuo, where her husband was waiting with her handbag, in which she had stashed her back-up: a tiny bikini bottom made of flesh-colored silicone. Right, I always carry one of those around too. Actually she designed it herself; she's been parading for 8 years and she knows the hazards of the game!




PORTO DA PEDRA:
A "creative and good-humored parade" says ODia. The theme was the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Japanese immigration to Brazil. O Dia liked Porto da Pedra's trademark tiger on the first float, and also liked the second float (entirely made of bamboo) and the Japanese make-up on the baianas.

Moments before entering, the vehicle that carried the 15 members of the dance group broke down and almost didn't enter the parade route. The little float, a Buddhist temple, had a broken wheel, and, according to some escola members, another part had come loose. The directors didn't want to discuss it.

The madrinha da bateria (sort of like an extra queen of the bateria), actually had plastic surgery to pull her eyes into a Japanese slant... just for this parade. She'll have it undone after the parade. "I was so excited. The surgery was beautiful, my eyes are super-pulled, just like a geisha. It was just what I was hoping for," she said.

The mestre of the bateria, Mestre Louro, fell ill during the parade and had to be carried to the first-aid post. However, he returned the parade later, rejoining the bateria when they were in the second recuo.

An 18-year-old girl who was helping staff the gathering-area had the ghastly bad luck to get caught in a Sao Clemente float somehow - squished against a fence? not clear what happened. She passed out and was taken to the hospital with stomach injuries.

And I was wrong about nobody falling from the grandstand - somebody did! It just didn't make into the papers till later. A 68-year-old lady fell out of Sector 1. She was taken to the hospital.

SALGUEIRO
Salgueiro had a great parade, "irreverent" says O Dia, and got the whole crowd swept up in it and singing along. The parade members sang loudly and strongly.

I noticed something cool that O Dia also commented on. Usually the parades are peppered with guys in t-shirts, looking oddly drab compared to all the costumed paraders. They're the ala directors and are directing everybody around - but - why not put them in costume? Salgueiro did exactly that - they were all in royal uniforms like palace guards. O Dia loved this. O Dia also praised their floats and costumes, and the dance group (a re-enactment of the Portuguese discovering Rio, though for some reason the Portuguese were in a gigantic banana).

They only had one relatively minor float problem - one of the 3 large neon suns on the first float lost power.

Salgueiro's queen of the bateria entered the Avenida playing tamborim! I've seen her play - and yes, she really does play tamborim! She learned the paradinhas and everything, and entered playing with the bateria, then split off in her rainha role. This was her first year as Salgueiro's queen and she said she was very warmly received. And - she lost the bottom half of her bikini at some point. No word on whether she was prepared with a back-up.

The bateria was dressed as malandros, in snappy-looking white pinstripe suits and rakish hats. I was with a bunch of Lions watching this and we were all commenting on what a great look it was for the bateria. (Brian Davis then remembered the most surreal bateria costume he'd ever seen: all the bateria members actually shaved their heads (!) and dressed in white robes and little glasses - yes, you guessed it, 350 burly Mahatma Gandhis all pounding away on their drums. He said it was one of the weirdest things he's ever seen.) \s.

Meanwhile, out in the tiny free grandstands for the "povo" (poor people) in the gathering-area, where they can watch the parade slowly entering the Sambodromo, a "general fight with much shoving" broke out, including, yipes, tear gas from the police.

And tomorrow... the scores!