---

The Unknown Hobo once told me - after watching Mark and Wade's antics at the late, great Brewsky's on East 7th Street, "Y'know, as a kid I saw Treasure Island, and there's this church service at one point, and at the end of the prayer Long John Silver says 'Amen,' but he says it like a pirate. Arrrrrmen. And as a kid, I thought he was saying 'Our Men.'" He then looked over his shoulder at Mark and Wade and shook his head. "Our men, indeed."

Well, the Unknown Hobo was not there for the parade this year, but he and I had gathered for libations at a small Irish pub the night before and reviewed the plans. "So, you're going to be carrying a monster made of spaghetti, dressed as pirates?" he asked.

"No, there's more to it than that. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of anti-global-warming pirates everywhere. It's gonna be grand."

"Jesus Christ," he said.

"No, not Jesus Christ. Not at all. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is something else entirely. In his fine hereafter there is a beer volcano, a midget and strippers," I explained.

"Arrrrmen..." the Unknown Hobo commented, and finished off another Fuller's staring off at the Mets game on TV...

You may be aware that the Great Hoboes of New York have appeared in Coney Island's Mermaid Parade on several previous occasions:

• In 2003 as hula girls
  
• In 2004 as vikings
  
• and in 2006 as the cartoon characters of Adult Swim
  

As always, the parade provided an opportunity for the city's artsy party types to have their very own Mardi Gras. The fine folks at Coney Island USA have a thread on their message boards that highlights the photos and video of many participants, but please read-on to see what us Hoboes were up to...

(Note: If you want to be all Web2.0, these photos are up at Flickr, in case you want to Fave them or shoot 'em around the interweb.)

(And Thanks to folks who recognized us and gave us props - mad shout outs to the Spaghetti Monster homies everywhere, including:
AtheistForums.com
Andalus.livejournal.com
QXZ and plenty of other folks on flickr
ChuckM.livejournal.com
Five Bucks to Friday
We were part of somebody's video project...

Next Page...