Doo it again
Sunday’s 32nd occasional Doo Dah Parade celebrates Electric Squirrels, UFO religion and China protests reminiscent of that
‘other’ parade
By Joe Piasecki 01/15/2009
Now it’s official: Visual Artists Guild President Ann Lau — the tiny woman with the big voice who helped push human rights violations in China to the forefront of the local political agenda — is “a royal pain,” says Tom Coston. But to the longtime ringmaster of Pasadena’s Doo Dah Parade, that’s a very good thing.
Lau, who police once escorted out of a Tournament of Roses Royal Court selection announcement for shouting her objections to a now-infamous China-themed float, was crowned Doo Dah’s Thorny Rose by a secret committee last week, and will ride in Sunday’s 32nd “occasional” parade.
“It might sound dubious, but it’s really a great honor,” says Lau, whose group was founded to support freedom of expression following the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, of being named one of Pasadena’s prickliest blossoms. “We have been a pain to the government of China for years,” she adds, as if to mean it was only natural for her to have a similar effect on Pasadena City Council members and Tournament officials.
This week, Lau, who presided over what Coston called a “priceless” dramatization of alleged Chinese organ harvesting outside Tournament House, is scrambling to assemble her followers for some political street theater (the frequent pamphleteer might hand out copies of some sort of “Lau’s Little Red Book,” one reporter has suggested).
But Lau is only one of hundreds of weird and wonderful stars for the day — a list topped by colorful LA-area “histo-tainer” and parade Grand Marshal Charles Phoenix, plus the ebullient and equally colorful Queen Skittles, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, and her costumed entourage.
And while many old favorites, including the alien theologians of the Raelian movement and the Synchronized Briefcase Drill Team, are set to return, Coston is also promising several spectacular new entries, many of them outgrowths of the Burning Man phenomenon.
Among the 85 entries, these include Chundra’s Techno Hillbilly Steam Punk Voodoo Imaginarium — “a big barn performance thing with crazy hoedown music I’m not sure they really know how to play,” explains Coston — and Booboo Kitty, “a giant cat with paws like a vice, or lobster pincers, and they grab at people while it makes a cat sound and spits.”
There are also the Electric Squirrels, the nature of whose performance is unknown. But not really knowing what will happen is the essence of Doo Dah, a send-up of the Rose Parade known for its officially “unofficial” titles and traditions, and an event that is always held on a Sunday because the Rose Parade never is.
“I still don’t understand parades, actually,” confesses Coston. “It’s kind of like bringing a circus to town — it’s sloppy, it’s messy, and it’s up to people to just show up and do it. … It’s going to be fun.”
The 32nd Occasional Doo Dah Parade starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Raymond Avenue and Holly Street, near Memorial Park (where participants are expected to gather hours before) in Old Pasadena. The parade continues south on Raymond, then turns west on Colorado Boulevard before ending at Pasadena Avenue. Call (626) 205-4029 or visit pasadenadoodahparade.info. If you’re out of town Sunday, visit doodahlive.com to see a live Webcast of the event.
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