Hey Mister, Throw Me Some Beads: Bruce Gilden

Hey Mister, throw me some beads!‘ is a phrase that is iconic in New Orleans’ Mardi Gras street lingo. Strings of beads, doubloons, and other trinkets are passed out or thrown from the floats in the Mardi Gras parades to spectators lining the streets. Between 1974 and 1982, New Yorker Bruce Gilden became a regular of the Mardi Gras scene. The energy, alongside the social and cultural mores of Mardi Gras were all new for him, allowing him to capture the raw intensity of the crowds with an unaffected eye.