TRADEMARKS, DIVAS, DEAD PEOPLE

With the Laird working during the day and having business meals in the evening, the Butler was free to do his own things, strange as they may seem.  

NCAA Trademark Police Rookie   Mr. FOG now has a somewhat more complete perspective  about the use of the NCAA logo, but he still has not decided what if anything he will do about Rick’s Sports Saloon.  You may recall that Rick's was the tittie bar which inappropriately used a fake NCAA Final Four logo. 

As it is getting  closer to game time, throughout Bourbon Street, merchants are advertising the NCAA Final Four to hopefully lure sports fans.  Unlike Rick's, these are genuine NCAA approved logos.  Coca Cola, an official NCAA Corporate Champion, is authorized to provide banners promoting Coke products along with the NCAA Final Four logo to establishments that sell Coca Cola products.  AT&T and Capitol One are also official NCAA Corporate Champions and likely have specific things they can do to promote their products or services by using the NCAA Final Four logo/trademark in their advertising. 

Possibly Rick’s Sports Saloon may not sell Coca Cola products and has not  received an official banner.  Or perhaps Rick’s sells Coca Cola products, but since it is also offers titties, is not allowed to use the official banner.  Such a use would "cheapen" the image of collegiate basketball.  Apparently Rick's decided that by incorporating "titties, beer, sports and fun" with the fake logo; this would better communicate what they offer  NCAA basketball sports fans.  In any event, Rick’s did its own thing, which is probably illegal.  The attached pictures show genuine approved advertising by Bourbon street bars.  These bars offer booze, beverages, and food, but no titties.  They may offer, as Rick's does,  sports and fun.

Hard Rock Pin  On a related note, the New Orleans Hard Rock has put out a Final Four pin.  The pin cleverly uses the head of the guitar to show a "4", the fretboard promotes Hard Rock and a basketball is the body of the guitar.  The design seems generic enough that there is  no NCAA trademark infringements.

 Mr. Fog bought one for friend.  Faithful readers may place an  order with Fog, but do it quickly.  300 were made and they are selling, according to Hard rock staff.

Dixie Divas   False advertising is apparently common place in the French Quarter.  On our first night here, Lord and Butler were beckoned to enter an establishment called the Dixie Divas.  These were “over the hill” ladies in a dingy bar in a side street far from Bourbon Street .  It is a rough way to make a living.
 
Back to misleading aadvertising, clearly these ladies were not “divas”.  A genuine French Quarter Dixie Diva, if such exists, would surely be on Bourbon Street or perhaps a classier street such as Royal Street.  No true diva would be caught dead in a side alley dive.  Also from their accents, these ladies were  probably not from Dixie.  Caveat Emptor comes to mind.
 
 

NCAA Final Four Happenings  The photo shows the line up of Final Four activities.  In addition to the games on Saturday and Monday, there are:

·     free concerts featuring Kiss, the Black Keys, and Jimmy Buffett

·     Bracket Town—a chance for interactive games, meet sports figures, autograph signing, and more.

·      http://www.ncaa.com/championships/basketball-men/d1 has the official line up of the activities.

Dead People    Mr. Fog has seen most of the French Quarter, but had not been to the New Orleans St. Louis cemetery.  He went to the St. Louis Cemetery built just outside the French Quarter.  It was built outside the old city, keeping the dead, usually dying of epidemics or contagious diseases  apart from the living.  Segregated by religious belief, the Catholic French and Spanish, begrudgingly gave a back section of the cemetery to the newly arrived Protestant Americans.

Compared to those of Havana, Buenos Aires, and Paris; this cemetery was a disappointment.  The New Orleans cemetery has fallen into disrepair, losing an important historical piece of the city’s past.  Perhaps it was Katrina damage, or that families have moved away and there is no longer anyone to tend the burial sites.  The cemetery is owned by the archdiocese.

As in the Havana cemetery, family crypts house many generations in above ground burial vaults.  Typically, the French and Spanish custom is to bury the dead in the crypt which is above ground and important in low laying New Orleans.  A body is placed in the vault, allowed to decompose, which takes a year or two.  When decomposed, the remaining bones are moved to smaller niches in the burial vault, allowing room for another cadaver.  The Havana vaults could hold two or three bodies at one time, and many, many more family members, once decomposed. 

You can see from Mr. FOG's pictures of the disrepair.  The marble tiles are falling way and some vaults have fallen apart.   The pyramid vault may have been a Freemason, Mr. FOG thought.



The following links provide links to more photographs and information about the St. Louis cemetery. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=new+orleans+st.+louis+cemetery&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zm90T7C6LaKs2gXm7KTQDg&ved=0CJUBELAE&biw=1365&bih=859

http://cml.upenn.edu/nola/index.html