New Orleans bounce rapper Katey Red (center, in sunglasses) entertains a late night crowd at Quintron's Spellcaster Lodge in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. (AP Photo/Daphne Carr)
One of the 9th Ward Marching Band's Gun Girls affixes an ascot on a band member while waiting for the beginning of Monday's Proteus parade in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Daphne Carr)
In this asap podcast, Daphne Carr explores the Spellcaster Lodge in New Orleans' 9th Ward as Mardi Gras approaches.

Quintron is one of New Orleans' great eccentrics and world class bohemian spirits. As both the proprietor of the Spellcaster Lodge (with his wife, Miss Pussycat) and leader of the 9th Ward Marching Band, he takes to the streets as one of the city's great citizens.

As Quintron and crew prepare to march in the Proteus parade, one of the many festivities leading up to Mardi Gras, asap catches up with this whirring ball of creative energy.

The scene: A group of 60 assorted band members, cheerleaders, baton twirlers, color guards and gun girls stands in the median strip, waiting to march in their next Mardi Gras parade. A man in a kilt stands nearby talking the band's mohawked bass drum player, while a man on an adult tricycle covered in beads lounges in wait nearby.

In spite of the group's nonconformist vibe everyone is dressed in the same colors : the red and white of their 9th Ward Marching Band uniforms. Only one man -- their leader Quintron -- is out of costume. Instead, he's running around talking to the parade's grand marshal, fielding questions from late-arriving band members and checking on instruments. Any of the folks who think he's one of New Orleans' great eccentrics and world class bohemian spirits should see him in this moment -- the great negotiator, the quiet general.

This Alabama born musician has, for the last 13 years, made New Orleans his home and brought an electrifying edge to the city's arts and rock music community. It all started in 1994 he played a solo show as a one-man-band at local club run by a puppeteer named Miss Pussycat. He fell in love with her and moved to New Orleans. Since that time he has become a husband, an inventor, a club owner and marching band leader. Now he's set to take the streets as one of the city's great citizens, but not without some controversy.

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Daphne Carr is the editor of the Da Capo Best Music Writing series. She lives in Los Angeles.

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