New Orleans, LA, Feb. 27-28, 2006 – We’re shaking off our hangovers to bring you two more days of Mardi Gras fabulousness.

Despite the publicity surrounding pop star Britney Spears’ Mardi Gras visit, she barely did anything that was not connected to her appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America. Britney surprised some students from Metairie, LA, dropping in unannounced on a dance rehearsal, and also taking four girls, all Hurricane Katrina victims, to lunch and shopping.

Other than waving from a New Orleans balcony, Britney did not make any public Mardi Gras-related appearances. Leaving Muriel’s, a restaurant on Jackson Square, on Fat Tuesday, Spears ignored fans, and dashed into her waiting car without so much as a wave, let alone an autograph. A source who worked on planning the city’s festivities told us that Spears’ people were “extremely difficult” to work with.

At the Orpheus Parade on Monday, a sign on one float read “Josh Hartnett & Scarlett Johansson”, but Hartnett was solo; Johansson wasn’t on it. We heard that further down St. Charles, Josh’s float had a flat tire that slowed the parade. We also met Betty DeGeneres, Ellen’s mom and a New Orleans native, actor Steven Seagal and director Spike Lee, who was shooting footage for a film, reportedly titled “When the Levee Broke”, amidst the revelry. Mayor Ray Nagin, Che-like in fatigues and beret, raised a toast and called out tunes to a DJ.

Streets in the city’s devastated Lower 9th Ward, meanwhile, were quieter; we passed only the occasional person picking through the hurricane wreckage.