Our History
SkinzNBonez was founded as an idea stemming from MidSummer Mardi Gras in 2011 by Claudia (Mardiclaw) and [then Wildman, now Big Chief] John of the Original Wild Tchoupitoulas (OWT). In short, John needed drummers on the street for his gang and Claudia said “I’ll find some for you!”. The krewe has evolved greatly since its conception – and although some SnB members still drum for Big Chief John, the krewe itself has grown into its own beautifully distinct identity.
Soon after its conception, Mardiclaw approached cultural gatekeeper Ronald Lewis (House of Dance and Feathers) and asked him how to proceed as a bone gang. Ronald’s response was “YES – anyone can be a bone”, but with several caveats that we follow religiously: No feathers. No aprons. Learn the cultural context of Northside. As such, we honor Ronald, John, and all of New Orleans’ culture-bearers in everything that we do. It was important then, as it is now to clarify that we are not affiliated with Northside Skull and Bone Gang. Ronald was the gatekeeper of their history. They are today, and always have been THE Bone Gang of New Orleans. Skinz N Bonez needed to educate themselves on their traditions and then create their own. In that creation, SNB is a female element, and stands to bring beauty to the community.
Eight years later we have approximately 90 lifetime members, however at any given time there are between 20-40 active members and about a dozen core members. This waxes and wanes seasonally because as a year-long organization, some folks join us for *just* Halloween or *just* Carnival season. We carefully curate our membership in order to follow Ronald Lewis’ initial caveats. We do have a few hand-picked out-of-town bonez, and when rolling parades we typically have between 25-50 in attendance – including some friends & family.
We get together on Thursdays (crafting), Mondays (drumming), and sometimes we combine both on these nights. You don’t have to be a drummer or a crafter to be in this krewe, but you’ll definitely fit in if you’re either!
We do have some internal vetting procedures to ensure all new potential members are a good fit for our krewe! We typically recruit a few new members before our busy fall season begins, however you’re welcome to contact us at any time if you’re interested in joining. We are not interested in gaining numbers for the sake of it. Instead, we’re interested in gaining just a few members each year that really fit with our collective ethos.
Regarding costs:
We have a strong belief that krewe membership should not have to break your wallet. Many krewes in the city are financially out of reach for the average New Orleanian. We have service industry bonez, teacher bonez, veterinarian bonez, artist bonez, musician bonez, techie bonez, professor bonez, non-profit bonez, carpenter bonez, office bonez, lawyer bonez, quarter rat bonez, and everything in between. Every bone has their own creative personality and we don’t ask anyone to fit into a specific mold – just a skeleton. After all, the whole point is that everyone on our planet has a skeleton – regardless of our differences.
What do krewe members actually do?
Generally speaking, Bonez fall into two categories: Musical Bonez or Crafty Bonez. This translates to parade drummers and throw & costume-makers. Most of our Innerbone core group does both. When we meet, there’s almost always some teeter-tottering between rehearsing music for an upcoming show/parade, throw-making, or costuming.
Bone Names
After a new member has been around for a while, they are gifted a Bone name (some folks also name themselves). Until then, new bonez are all considered to be WISHBONES. Our kid bones are called SHORTRIBS.
Current Bone Names Include: Mardiclaw, Tailbonez, TinkerBonez, LoceauxBonez, Dr. Strangebone, KahLuaBone, CelestialBone, ProfessorLongbone, MamaJuanaBone, Indiana Bonez, Bone of Arc, Glabella Bone, Stewbone, T-Bone, Crunkbonez, MojoBonez, JujuBone, ICUBone, Skellebelle, RockinBonez, RedBonezNSpice, BoneADette, BeEzleBone, DobroBone, HipBone, The SuperBone, Bonski Bonawicz, BonesJones Bone Soir, A Bone Named Sue, Bonerella, MojoBonez, C’est La Bonez, Broken Bonez, Thugsy Bonez, Crowella de Bone, TerreBone, GutterBonez, GG Cutie Bonez, Hair N Bonez, Rattle N Bonez, GlitterBonez, California Dreamin’ Bone, Bonehead.