Rio de Janeiro revelers twist and shout

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — English speakers got their moment in the Carnival sun on Monday as a wild, Beatles-themed street party let them shake it up, baby, with a samba swing to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."

"Sargento Pimenta," Portuguese for "Sergeant Pepper," is one of more than 400 raucous street parties that spring up throughout Rio de Janeiro during Carnival season. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out for the largest of the "blocos," packed, sweaty open-air dance parties where the crowd sings along to a repetitive medley of Carnival songs — usually in Portuguese, of course.

As many as 850,000 tourists descend on Rio for the five-day-long Carnival free-for-all, and blocos offer plenty of nonverbal opportunities for fun: If drinking till you pass out doesn't suit your fancy, you might try racking up as many snogging partners as humanly possible during a single street party, a common Carnival game here.

But even with such tantalizing diversions, it must be acknowledged that singing along to the blasting music — usually played live by a band atop a sound truck, with a cordoned-off percussion section trailing behind — is at least half the fun.

Enter Sargento Pimenta, the brainchild of Gustavo Gitelman, a music lover and doctor by trade.

Gitelman quickly rounded up an enthusiastic group of Beatles aficionados — so many, in fact that the Fab Four became more of a Fab 70 at the party's debut last year. On Monday, a dozen or so singers dressed in T-shirts hung with gilded epaulettes like those on the "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover belted out a medley from atop a sound-truck. The percussion band that accompanied them was swallowed up in the sea of humanity that turned out for the show, but their rhythms rocked the crowd.

The group gives the Beatles repertoire a Brazilian tweak, adapting "All My Loving" to the peppy beat of a traditional Carnival "marchinha," or march, and infusing "Hard Day's Night" with a Rio funk sound. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" morphed into a samba. Even the melancholic "Hey Jude" was spiked with an infectious upbeat energy.

But the biggest winner of the day was "Twist and Shout," which had the beer-guzzling crowd shimmying and shaking under the intense mid-afternoon sun.

Though the group has adapted a handful of the songs into Portuguese, most are sung in the original English, much to the delight of Anglophone visitors, many of whom can fully participate in the bloco experience for the first time.

"At the other blocos, you get kind of jealous because everyone is singing besides you, so you can feel a bit left out," said Amanda Weaver, a 33-year-old Canadian who has been living in Brazil for two months. "I really love to sing, and finally I get to."

Clint Lightsey of Austin, Texas, agreed.

"The dancing is always fun, but knowing the songs and being able to relate to them really takes it to another level," said the 29-year old oil industry worker.

The group's debut last year was so successful that the crowd was packed so tight it became something of a health hazard, and Monday's show moved to a more spacious location. But the event looked to have outgrown even its new digs in Flamengo Park, off of the iconic Guanabara Bay, and it appeared to have already become among the most popular blocos in Rio.

Sargento Pimenta is not the sole offbeat bloco offering. There's also the "Blocao," an animal-themed street party where pet owners in shorts and flip-flops parade their cats and dogs, dressed up as pirates, princesses and cave-pets; and Paraty, a coastal colonial city south of Rio, is home to the "Bloco da Lama," or "Mud Bloco," where revelers tramp through, dive into and otherwise cover themselves in sticky mud.

And for those who like to take a less participative role in Carnival celebrations, Rio's iconic Sambadrome samba school competition moves into its second and final day on Monday night.

Nearly 100,000 paying spectators turn out for the all-night spectacle, which includes troupes of samba dancers whose costumes consist largely of body glitter and oversized feathered wings, older women in pup tent-sized hoop skirts and giant floats covered in outlandish, oversized decoration. The parade starts shortly after sundown and doesn't finish till dawn, with the winner out of the 13 participating schools announced later in the week.

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Mardi Gras celebration rocks New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — From the family-friendly avenues of the Garden District to raunchy displays in the French Quarter, New Orleans let loose with a Fat Tuesday party as parades rolled and revelers frolicked amid showers of beads, trinkets and music.

The French Quarter began to fill with costumed revelers soon after dawn. Some people hadn't stopped drinking since Monday's Lundi Gras prequel to Mardi Gras.

Wearing a bright orange wig, a purple mask and green shoes, New Orleans resident Charlotte Hamrick walked along Canal Street to meet friends.

"I'll be in the French Quarter all day," Hamrick said. "I don't even go to the parades. I love to take pictures of all the costumes and just be with my friends. It's so fun."

Brittany Davies of Denver was struggling through the early morning hours. Still feeling the effects of heavy drinking from the night before, her friends had her out again early Tuesday.

"They're torturing me," Davies joked. "But I'll be OK after a bloody mary."

The predominantly African-American Zulu krewe was the first major parade to hit the streets, shortly after 8 a.m. Most krewe members were in the traditional black-face makeup and the Afro wigs Zulu riders have sported for decades.

In the oak-lined Garden District, clarinetist Pete Fountain prepared to lead his Half-Fast Walking Club on its annual march down St. Charles Avenue.

Fountain, 82, gave a thumbs up to start off and his band launched into "When The Saints Come Marching In" as they rounded the corner onto St. Charles Avenue shortly after 7 a.m. It was the 52nd time that Fountain's group has paraded for Mardi Gras. This year, the group wore bright yellow suits and matching pork pie hats for its theme, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

In the Quarter, Joshua Westbrook of Dothan, Ala., had been on Bourbon Street drinking since Monday afternoon. His eyes were tired Tuesday morning but he was determined to see Mardi Gras through.

"I'm struggling, but I'm going to push through it," he said.

Wearing a purple wig, New Orleans resident Juli Shipley carried a gallon of booze down Bourbon Street and filled her friends' cups when they got low. "We're going to wander all day and people-watch," Shipley said. "That's the best part of Mardi Gras — the costumes. They're amazing."

Partygoers were dressed as Wizard of Oz characters Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, bags of popcorn, pirates, super heroes, clowns, jesters, princesses and lots of homemade costumes with the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

The raunchy revelry was expected to increase through the day.

After Zulu, the parade of Rex, king of Carnival, would make the trek down the avenue and to the city's business district, with hundreds of thousands of people pleading for beads and colorful aluminum coins, known as doubloons.

Along St. Charles, groups of people, many in costumes, ate breakfast as children played in the street. Small groups were already on the move. The Skeleton Krewe, 25 people dressed in black skeleton outfits, were on their way to the St. Louis Cathedral.

Tom White, 46, clad in a pink tutu, bicycled down the avenue with his wife, Allison, on their way to the French Quarter. "I'm the pink fairy this year," he said. "Costuming is the real fun of Mardi Gras. I'm not too creative but when you weigh 200 pounds and put on a tutu people still take your picture."

His wife was not in costume. "He's disgraced the family enough," she said.

The stakeout for prime spots along the Mardi Gras parade route started Monday, with legions of Carnival die-hards jockeying for the best places to vie for beads thrown from floats on Fat Tuesday.

Stephanie Chapman and her family had set up in their usual spot on the St. Charles streetcar tracks. They arrived at 4 a.m. Tuesday and would be staying for the duration.

"This is a beautiful day and we'll be here until it's over. It won't rain on my parade, but if it does I won't pay any attention," she said.

It was partly cloudy, but rain was not in the forecast. Temperatures were in the 70s.

Across the Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras was getting into full swing. In the Cajun country of southwest Louisiana, masked riders were preparing to go from town to town, making merry along the way in the Courir du Mardi Gras. And parades were scheduled elsewhere around Louisiana and on the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. The celebration arrived in Louisiana in 1682 when the explorer LaSalle and his party stopped at a place they called Bayou Mardi Gras south of New Orleans to celebrate. The site is now lost to history.

The end of Mardi Gras gives way to the beginning of Lent, the period of fasting and repentance before Easter Sunday.

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Sprinkled with history

TRAER, Iowa — It all began with a trip to the Brookfield Zoo. As she was getting ready to leave, Ruth Rasmussen eyed a salt and pepper shaker set, shaped like coffeepots, but with a bear and the zoo's name embossed on the front.

"I just picked it up for a souvenir," Rasmussen recalled of the first shakers she ever bought, back in 1946. Over the years, buying more and more shakers became a hobby — maybe even an obsession — for the Traer woman.

"In 1973, I had 10,000, and you can go on from there," she said. "I'd go to Goodwill; I'd go to auctions when I was younger."

As her collection eventually grew to 14,500 sets, Rasmussen had far too many to display in her rural home. They also filled two outbuildings behind the house.

Last April, she found a home for her collection in one of Iowa's most unusual attractions: the Traer Salt and Pepper Shaker Gallery.

It was a process to get all of Rasmussen's salt and pepper shakers in one place.

Rasmussen was always happy to show off her collection to friends — and friends of friends — in her home. For several years, a group of local ladies led by Ellen Young tried to convince Rasmussen that her astonishing collection belonged in a museum. In 2007 — at age 83 — the collector agreed. Last year they proudly opened the doors of the Traer Salt and Pepper Shaker Gallery.

"There're 318 pairs of dogs in this one case, from floor to ceiling," Young pointed out as she showed a visitor through the gallery.

The shakers are organized by subject. Next to the dogs is a case containing 213 pairs of cats. Nearby are displays featuring all 50 states, children, politicians, farm animals and even a wide selection of ceramic ears of corn.

There isn't room to display Rasmussen's entire collection, let alone another 4,000 pairs that have been donated by other people. The basement's full of those sets, some of which are being cleaned in preparation for display during the museum's 2012 season.

"We try very hard not to have duplicates," Young noted.

Rasmussen diligently kept track of her purchases.

"She gave every pair a number," Ellen Young explained. "She wrote the number down on these recipe cards with a brief description of the shakers and where she got them, when she got them, and how much she paid for them. We have six boxes of these cards of hers."

Young's team of volunteers has since computerized Rasmussen's records, including photographs of each set. The earliest date to the 1930s, and the most valuable pair is valued at about $1,000.

There are, however, about 20 sets of salt and pepper shakers with which Rasmussen refuses to part. Her absolute favorite pair depicts Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

"The museum gets them when I leave (this earth)," the 88-year-old said with a chuckle.

ctc-travel@tribune.com

If you go

The Traer Salt and Pepper Shaker Gallery, 411 Second St., is open from March 1 through Nov. 30. Traer is about 25 miles south of Waterloo, Iowa, and about 280 miles west of Chicago. 319-231-7654; traer.com. Admission is $3, $1 for children 5-12.

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Tiny museum tells of the Bonnie and Clyde ambush

GIBSLAND, La. — To American lawmen of the early 1930s, Bonnie and Clyde were, in a word, infamous. Yet to the average person, wearied by the ravages of the Great Depression, they were folk heroes.

The pair stole from banks that hadn't already collapsed, endearing themselves to those in line at soup kitchens — people willing to overlook the pair's 13 killings, mostly of lawmen.

It was along a back road near here, about 45 miles east of Shreveport, that the lovers died on May 23, 1934, slumped against each other in the front seat of a stolen sedan.

Historical accounts about the pair conflict. But "if you want to see the truth, you'll see it here," said L.J. "Boots" Hinton, director of the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum. Exhibits consist primarily of voluminous black-and-white photographs and newspaper clippings, with a few of the pair's belongings. Fascinating film footage of the couple together in death is played in a small theater in the museum. But the $7 admission is worth it if just to chat with Boots.

Though he was just 5 months old when Bonnie and Clyde died in a hail of bullets, his father, Ted, was among those who lay in wait. The deputy sheriff from Dallas had spent 17 months tracking the pair. The officer had known Clyde when they were messenger boys together at Western Union in Dallas. "Dad kind of took Clyde under his wing," Boots said, adding that Clyde later veered into the crime world.

Bonne and Clyde still capture the imagination. Two new books appeared in 2009, and this year another movie, "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde," is due out.

The museum is in what had been the cafe where Clyde bought sandwiches minutes before the ambush. A historical marker marks the spot of the attack at the crest of a hill along Louisiana Highway 154.

The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum (318-843-1934, bonnieandclydemuseum.com is at 2419 Main St. in Gibsland, a couple of miles south of Interstate Highway 20.

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Beyond a shot and a beer for friendly drinks in K.C.

What do you mean, you haven't been to Kansas City? Haven't you heard that it's one of the next great cocktail cities?

This cocktail snob didn't believe it either at first. Yet Kansas City has a broad range of bartending excellence, delivered sans attitude.

"The drinking culture here is relatively laid back," said Ryan Maybee, owner of craft bar Manifesto (theriegerkc.com/mani

festo), which reopened last March within the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange. (Technically, Manifesto is housed within the Rieger but has a separate address and back-alley entrance.)

Although the growing community of bartenders certainly takes pride in, say, brewing up grenadine from scratch for high-end cocktails, they don't look down on anyone ordering a shot of whiskey or a beer either. Indeed, bar-hoppers laud K.C. for its friendly, approachable vibe.

In addition to his own bar, Maybee recommends that visitors try out Westport Cafe and Bar (west

portcafeandbar.com), a small bistro with streamlined signatures such as the Whiskey Smash (bourbon, peaches and honey-lavender syrup).

Other stops include the Viennese restaurant Grunauer (grunauerkc.com) and its Wunderbar, which has offbeat drinks such as a Dark Rum Flip made with "strudel juice." Extra Virgin (extravirginkc.com), a colorful Spanish spot run by James Beard award-winning chef Michael Smith, is prime real estate for long business lunches and tapas-fueled happy hours.

Whiskey — preferably bourbon or rye — tends to be the drink of choice, and it is no coincidence that both pair with Kansas City's renowned barbecue.

In particular, Maybee recommends ordering The Pendergast, a riff on the classic whiskey-based Bobby Burns cocktail. It's named for Thomas Pendergast, a Kansas City politician famed for his populist touch and Mafia connections during the Prohibition speak-easy years. Among other things, his policies are credited with giving rise to the golden era of Kansas City jazz.

"Kansas City was the wildest in the country back then," Maybee explained. Surely, a legacy like that is worth a drink or two.

Try this cocktail

Here is a recipe for The Pendergast, courtesy of Ryan Maybee of Manifesto in Kansas City.

1 1/2 ounces

Buffalo Trace Bourbon

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

1/2 ounce Benedictine

3-4 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir together all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass with no ice. Garnish with lemon twist.

Kara Newman is the author of "Spice & Ice: 60 Tongue-tingling Cocktails."

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Alaska cruise lite

Glaciers, mountains, whales and fresh fish — scads of fresh fish — all await visitors to southeast Alaska. But if you come by cruise ship, scads of tacky dockside shops and huge crowds also await.

Last summer, cruise liners disgorged 876,000 passengers at Juneau, Alaska's beautiful capital. On the busiest day, with five cruise ships in port simultaneously, 17,000 tourists descended on this town, whose population is just 31,000.

Most boarded buses for trips to popular and worthwhile sights such as Mendenhall Glacier and the peak of Mount Roberts, reached by an aerial tramway. But some folks would argue that snapping a photo of a black bear snagging a sockeye from a mountain creek is hardly a Kodak moment when you're squeezed onto a viewing platform like pickled herring into a jar.

For independent-minded souls, adventurous alternatives await throughout the panhandle of our 49th state, using comfortably sized ferry boats, instead of sprawling cruise ships, to reach various communities, some of which aren't among the big ships' ports of call.

The fishing village of Petersburg, its compact downtown full of rosemaling-adorned businesses representative of its Norwegian heritage, is a destination inaccessible to large cruise ships by design. Local residents voted against building a deep-water port.

"We did not want to change the flavor of the community," said the chamber of commerce's Sally Dwyer.

"We get about 50 people a week that come to our visitor center and say, 'We were on the ferry and decided to stop here.'"

Having made the stop, independent travelers find plenty to enjoy, sans crowds, in this town deep in the Tongass rain forest.

"You go to LeConte Glacier, and you're going to go in a boat with a maximum of six passengers in it," said Dave Berg, owner of Viking Travel.

"You can walk the docks and see the different types of fishing boats. You can enjoy local seafood at the restaurants," he continued. "Whale watching is really good out of here. We can connect people to places to go bear viewing."

Fishing charters, from day trips aboard small boats to weeklong stays on luxurious yachts, also are available. And visitors are welcome to stop in at Tonka Seafood to watch as wild salmon is cooked — in steam, not boiling water — and packaged.

A vital arm of state government, the ferry system provides affordable, year-round transportation to 15 southeast Alaska communities, plus Prince Rupert, British Columbia. "Outsiders," a nickname for folks from the lower 48, can visit as many as five of these towns using the See Alaska Pass. Valid May through September, the pass costs $160.

Aboard the ferries, there's a bohemian feel.

"This isn't a cruise ship. We're the bus," observed Mike Queen, the M/V Taku's chief purser.

Small but functional staterooms can be booked at an extra charge. But backpackers often opt to pitch their tents for free on the ferries' open rear decks.

"We tell people to tape them down. We won't go back for a tent overboard," Queen said.

The purser described the sheltered waters of the Inside Passage as the "whale freeway." At times, hundreds of whales can be seen surfacing to breathe while feeding on large schools of herring.

In Juneau, ferries arrive at Auke Bay instead of the downtown docks reserved for cruise liners. A right turn from the ferry terminal leads passengers 12 miles into town (and Mendenhall Glacier beyond), but more intrepid travelers may wish to turn left at the sign that reads, simply, "End of Road 24."

Heading west, or left, from the ferry port, visitors are treated to breathtaking vistas of other glaciers and the shoreline. And the cruise lines' tour buses don't ply this route.

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The I-70 reality behind Missouri's TV darlin'

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Truck-stop reality might not strike a lot of people as having TV potential, but when the Travel Channel happened upon a place off Exit 121 along the Interstate Highway 70 corridor just west of here, lightning struck.

TV crews came calling, and everything naturally got amped up. That reality set in over the last several months for Joe Bechtold, general manager of the Midway Travel Plaza, which was made even more famous in "Truck Stop Missouri."

The well-visited stop offers a slice of life — heck, make it two slices — with an interesting cast of characters, the ones visiting and the ones working there.

"You know, it's been a lot of fun and a lot of work," Bechtold said. "It's time-consuming but really cool. ... For us and our customers, it's been great. People come in and they're kind of excited to see people who they've seen on TV."

In its first season, "Truck Stop Missouri" focused on the family-owned travel plaza and became one of the Travel Channel's brightest gems. Thirteen episodes aired, and it will be back again this year as "Truck Stop USA." Run dates have yet to be determined, but you can stop in and see the real reality.

The difference here is that in addition to food, you can buy boots, fireworks and antiques, and even upgrade your body-art portfolio with a new tattoo at Under the Gun Tattoo — you know, all the stuff you need for the road.

Then there are the special events that make the little screen: cow-patty bingo, lawn-mower racing, battle re-enactments.

Sailing down I-70, you really can't miss the cluster of 15 businesses and one church nestled in the quiet countryside about a seven-hour drive southwest of Chicago.

In the restaurant, you get a welcome as if you're part of the family: "How ya doing, baby?" followed by later checkups with "You doing OK, dear?" and "You're welcome, honey." Warm and welcoming without a trace of plastic.

The waitresses know their stuff, such as with 18-year veteran Ruth Marie Roe, who suggests starting a meal with dessert. Here, indulging in a piece of homemade German chocolate pie will set you back only $2.49. It's the same for fresh-baked fruit pies (pronounced "pahz").

All that TV exposure hasn't run up prices yet. A char-grilled hamburger with a choice of mashed potatoes, slaw or the "daily veggie" runs $6.79. And reports are that the biscuits and gravy are second to none. Homemade sausage gravy on two fresh-baked biscuits is $3.99.

The Backdoor Lounge fills to the brim on Friday and Saturday nights, when country music bands take the stage and kick up the energy at 9 p.m. And pretty much by that time 100 or so trucks, lined up neatly like toys, have parked for the night so the drivers can get some R&R.

No doubt those truckers can't wait to finish dinner and get some shut-eye so they can make haste into the Midway Antique Mall and Flea Market the next morning. Its massive inventory arrayed over 60,000 square feet includes vintage toys, glassware and china, quilts and coins, and plenty of Americana, all with seemingly reasonable prices. Currently, 235 dealers offer their wares in 325 booths. It's laid out nicely; no mazes or dark corners to get lost in. The only way to get lost is in time. Some people reportedly breeze in for a break from the road and emerge from the aisles three or four hours later.

If your trunk's full, you can stash that new old dresser you just bought over at Midway Mini Storage. Then go pick up the kids at Cannery Row Daycare or at the Fearfest Haunted House and haul them all to the Gateway to the High Country Cowboy Church, a spiritual font for "cowboys, cowgirls and horse lovers of all brands," for a quick prayer.

Then it's back to the road and all those high hopes for the new TV season.

If you go

The Midway Travel Plaza covers 200 acres off Exit 121, just west of Columbia, Mo., on I-70 almost smack between St. Louis and Kansas City. The Midway Travel Plaza sits about midway between the interstate's terminal points just outside Baltimore and in Cove Fort, Utah, a span of 2,153 miles.

For more details on the Midway Travel Plaza, visit midwayexpo.com/travelplaza, call 573-445-1211, or, of course, watch the Travel Channel.

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