From NOLA.com:
The shameless, choreographed manhood that is New Orleans' own 610 Stompers grabbed the Big Apple by the shiny nylon scruff Thursday, rendering "Today Show" hosts Matt Lauer and Al Roker nearly speechless during the group's minute-long feature performance in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Or maybe it was the tube socks.The moves, the outfits...awesomely cool in every way. Heh, heh.
The group of 60 dancers, donning their regulation pale-blue short-shorts, shiny red jackets and gold sneakers, boogied a two-mile stretch of parade route from the start along Central Park West down Seventh Avenue to Herald Square.
Wedged, somehow fittingly, between a TV promo for the 2012 Olympic Games in London and a pink four-story Energizer Bunny balloon, the Stompers busted out to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For a Hero" from the 1984 movie "Footloose."
They thrust their hips. They pumped their fists. Some wore shades. All wore white terry headbands.
Gwyn Andersen of Montana, who had camped out early on 71st Street and Central Park West for the parade, said her group of 11 agreed that the Stompers stood out as the favorite in a mostly traditional parade roster.On Wednesday morning, members of the group appeared on the "Today Show" with an appreciative Hoda Gotb, who once worked in New Orleans and knows a bit about the madness that characterizes the city.
"We're like, wow. The thing that really catches your eye is they actually were quite polished. And unusual. Just that -- and their haircuts," Andersen said. "We all suddenly realized they actually worked at that. Some of the guys standing around us were saying, 'I could be part of that group.' "
But it was all prelude to the parade, where the Stompers showed off their "ordinary guys with extraordinary moves" bona fides in front of an estimated 50 million TV viewers.And it's only right.
"Finally a group that would take us," Lauer said.
"Tell Matt Lauer he still needs to audition," [Stompers leader Brett] Patron responded.
