The annual Caribbean movable feast proved once again this year why it's worlds ahead of any other parade this city has ever known. Leeroy the Wanderer (that's the elderly oddball from Coursol street hauling flags below) was offered a emphatic whine from overexuberant participant (mercifully unreproduced herein). All was joyous and smiles abounded. One motif this year was participants efforts to stash cell phones, they put 'em down panties, bras or on holsters on naked hips. Big prize to whoever can count the number of cell phones stealthily stashed in tasty places in the pix below (click photos to see them in pervert size).
Fortunately, the weather was nipply.
ReplyDeleteI have a picture of the same guy but didn't get his name:
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Ask him for his card next time, it's Leeroy the Happy Wanderer. If you stroll down Coursol you're likely to be intercepted by him and invited to hear his life story while sitting on his front stairs (he seems oblivious to how badly they need a coat of paint). He'll tell you about how he did Shakespeare in his early days and so forth. Good guy, a real local character.
ReplyDeleteI think he's become more eccentric with age. The first
ReplyDeletetime I ever saw him was in 1983, at a demonstration about
racism in the taxi industry. He stood out then, I seem
to recall he was basically wearing red, but he was no
central figure.
Now, maybe it's just because I recognize him, but
every time I see him now, he seems to draw attention to
himself. Well, the flags at various times helps, but
it's not because he's doing anything in particular,
he just seems to stand out because he's Leroy.
The "happy wanderer" thing also seems relatively new.
At some point, suddenly people knew his name, and with
that tag. It did seem like it was added later, though
maybe I just missed it.
Does this public personna exist because he's created
it, in effect he's famous because he's made a point
of being out there, or is there something that proceeds
all the public appearances that we don't know about
but which gave him a start in the fame business?
Michael
I suspect he has no particular reason to be normal. There used to be a similar guy at the laundrymat on Chomedy Street, just north of St. Catherine. They even looked alike. If you'd find yourself in there he'd regale you with stories of how he had been in movies dancing with Fred Astaire and so forth, all the while sipping from a large Molson bottle. Does anybody remember that guy? He was around 20 years ago but is probably dead now. I don't think they're the same guy, but it's the same general archetype.
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