DC Carnival Updates

Rumor has it that this year the annual Friday event usually held by Gresham Entertainment will make us 'wine to d side' and get on 'wotless' ;) If its half as good as Machel was last year it will sell off!

Panisha Mas has released photos of their section in the Indulgence Mas Band. Basically you can either play in the paint section in a tank top and shorts($70) or in the pretty section in a decorated bra and your choice of boy-shorts or regular shorts ($85).

'Ice'

'Strawberries and Cream'

'Honey'

The option to play in a scaled down 'pretty' carnival costume for only $85 USD just might see me make the switch from paint to pretty this year!

Whats poppin in the DMV: May Edition

May 14th: Second Installment of Pulse Saturdays

SOCACIZE® Bootcamp
An exhilarating Caribbean Workout!
7-9pm at the TnT Clubhouse

May 28th-29th: Caribbean Wine Fest
I was first introduced to this event the summer following my junior year in college. The wine is great and the vibe is always good..it reminds me of a laidback breakfast fete. You are allowed to bring your own food into the venue and the wine is sold at $10 a bottle. Thats great for me as I usually can't make it past that first bottle lol so all-day drinks for just $10 is not bad at all!

May 29th: Soca on a Sunday
Please ignore the fact that the flyer has a different date on it, according to Facebook this event is definitely scheduled for May 29th. I don't know..maybe they're cutting costs? Reuse, recycle??

Indulgence Mas 2011

The Indulgence Mas Band has officially announced their theme AND started registration as of yesterday ($65 early bird registration til Saturday). Albeit it was done without the usual fanfare, but the photos are hott and I think I've more or less decided that this year I'll play with them again. I can def see myslf as the 'strawberries and cream' type ;) I have also decided that this year I'll be prettifying my costume so you just might see me in the paint band with eyelashes and boots lol. Don't judge me! I'm still suffering fom PCD so this is my way of spicing up my D.C. experience. You can see more pics etc in the Indulgence Facebook Group.

On another note Panisha Mas seems to have joined forces with Indulgence this year. Usually Panisha does their own paint section as well as a 'pretty mas' section but I've heard no mention of the latter. I assume its due to the whole confusion on whether there would be a DC Carnival or not but seeing as they are one of the better bands, in my opinion this is a real loss to the parade.


It seems as though despite getting the go ahead for this year next year's DC Carnival may also be on shaky ground and NOT as a result of financial issues. Rumor has it that the new D.C. Mayor does not see the point of keeping the festival as in his opinion that it is something that only the Caribbean Community takes pleasure in and not the wider D.C. Community. Doesn't sound very plausible to me, as far as I can see the city gets huge spikes in revenue to restaurants, clubs, vendors, hotels etc during this week, so why get rid of it? Something to look into perhaps...

I'm Back! Review of The Launch of Pulse Saturdays

So its been some weeks but school is out, work is manageable and I am officially done with my moving process! Now that I had some free time I decided I would break my limin fast and go to TnT Clubhouse on Saturday to take in a lil live soca via an alleged performance by Shal Marshall.

So my crew and I get to the party at around 1am and talk about shout and echo! When we walked in we literally were the party as the upstairs floor was empty, so much so that the bartender had his head on the counter takin a nap lol. But we said small thing, money spend and we WILL enjoy ourselves tonight. So said so done, I haven't had that much fun in a really long time, and there's always something liberating about partying somewhere where nobody knows you and you could get on as wild or as 'cave' as one of my friends says as you want.

As much as we had fun there were three things that bothered me about that night.

1) There was little to no real promotion of this party, I found out about it only because one of the dj's happened to be on my fbook and when he changed his pic to the flyer on SATURDAY as in the day of the party it popped up in my home feed. Now in my opinion if The Clubhouse is trying to re-brand itself and really get the venue out there they really need to step their promoting game up. I'm also not pleased with this alleged move they're trying to make from being known as 'The TnT Clubhouse to just The Clubhouse but I wont go there in this post :) As a result of this little to no promotion the crowd was small and it was really unfortunate as the dj-ing was topnotch. It was honestly some of the best mixing I've heard in a while and the dj was definitely skilled at building hype. Especially as the existence of DC Carnival is so tenuous its very important that these promoters and djs and stakeholders go 'hard in the paint' to promote caribbean culture and events so I really hope they step it up for the parties to come.

2) Its been about 4 or more years that this venue has been serving as a place to hold parties and you telling me you cant find a bartender who knows how to mix a long island iced tea??! I am a long island connoisseur and that weak drink that bartender mixed for me did not cut it at alllll.

3) And this is my biggest gripe by far.
Dear Shal Marshall, I don't care if the crowd only had 33(yes I counted) people, standing in the DJ booth while your songs play does not constitute a live performance. Last time I checked the flyer said LIVE PERFORMANCE BY SHAL MARSHALL , not 'come watch Shal relive his mic man days'. If I knew that was what it was gonna be like I would have stayed home and streamed red 97 for free in my house. It amazes me that these dj turned soca singers complain about not being taken seriously and then he would come and pull a stunt like that. And then have the nerve to go sit dstairs on the club's lower level and watch basketball, *BIG steups!* I have seen people like Ziggy Rankin sing his heart out for smaller crowds than the one in Clubhouse, and JW and Blaze give their all wherever they perform, so there is no excuse for what he did, NONE.

There are MANY more fetes to come as the DC Carnival season is getting off the ground so here's hoping I make it to Benjai in a couple weeks and that he doesnt disappoint!

Decision on Tobago Mas By Month End

A decision on whether there will be an October Carnival in Tobago will be finalised by the end of this month, Arts and Multiculturalism Minister, Winston “Gypsy” Peters said yesterday. He was speaking at the end of a 90-minute meeting a team from his ministry had with Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London and an assembly team at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, Tobago. At the meeting the minister presented a proposal for the Tobago Carnival while the THA presented its proposal for an activity.

Peters said while no name had been given for the activity, technical teams have been put in place from “both sides of the spectrum to try to iron out the chinks and to ensure that whatever we propose to use to go forward, whatever name, whatever activity we propose to have will be done” when they meet on April 28. He will then meet with London shortly after in Tobago to finalise the decision of the technocrats. Peters described the meeting as very cordial and professional, adding:

“I think that from the last time to now we have gotten much further in terms of where we should be and by the end of the month we should have some kind of a decision on the way forward.” Peters and London previously met on February 28 to discuss the issue.

London said the meeting was very productive. He added that it was agreed that from a Tobago perspective there was a trough in the tourism sector between early September and the end of November and the THA, the TDC and the Central Government had been working to see how they could treat with that trough to increase visitor arrivals. He said it also was agreed that one of the ways to treat with that trough was to have various types of activities. London said the Tobago sub-committee had indicated there were some concerns, among them the branding of Tobago, the levels of inconvenience and the problems and challenges of security.He said the ministry brought a proposal about the type of Carnival activity it would like to see in Tobago.

Since it was the first time the THA team was seeing the proposal it was decided a joint technical team from the THA and the ministry would meet in Trinidad to see whether there could be a marriage between the proposals and the concerns raised by the assembly. London said coming out of that meeting a decision would be made about an activity. He added: “I think the discussions were quite professional, quite cordial and quite productive and I think we have reached a point where the THA will be in a position very close to making a decision on the issue. “I have a commitment from the minister that outside of the elections we will work together as a team.”

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I really hope we get this Tobago Carnival this year, and that it is planned and executedly properly. I do not want some thrown together affair.

Now that talks are officially underway I wonder how the existing bands will tackle this. Bring your 2K11 costume, pay a lil $500 maybe and jump? Or would they do separate costumes mayb t shirts and shorts? Would they even allow these private bands or instead, would they just have one huge People's Band :S . For me at least I do believe if I take my Amazon costume back on the road I will be naked at the end of the day based on the rate at which it was falling apart. Regardless, I am very interested in this new venture and hope they have more news for us come April 28th!

Frugalista Fashion

Its not easy being a shopaholic on a student income so I've found little tips and tricks to help me get what I need at the lowest cost possible.

Exhibit A:Perfume
I looooooove wearing perfume, but can never commit to just one scent. For example at the moment my go-to daytime perfumes are Marc Jacobs' Daisy and DKNY's Be Delicious while I prefer to wear Versus by Versace and Givenchy's Very Irresistable at night. Now this could very well run me over $200 easy, as the average cost of the regular sizes these are roughly between $40 to $72USD.

Enter The Rollerball and cue the start of my love affair with Sephora! For just $20 I can have the rollerball in almost any perfume I want and as an added bonus for the lil miss frequent flyer that I am, they are small enough to fit in my makeup bag and can fit in my handbag without making it bulky. Sephora also runs specials on them occasionally, such as the one I listed below which you can get right now.

SIDENOTE: Was inspired to write this blog after my regular sized $60-something-more-than-half-full DKNY Be Delicious decided to start smelling funky after only having it for a couple of years. Ideally perfume should last between 5-7 years but I guess it got too much sun exposure (I sat it on my windowsill)...such a waste and all the more reason to stick to my minis as I have yet to finish a regular sized bottle of perfume. They ALWAYS go bad b4 that can happen.

And yes I am aware that I defined this blog as a 'carnival blog' but in my book Carnival is not just the costume and the bands but the makeup and accessories too, so expect to see blog posts on everything from monday wear and boots to makeup and eyelashes :)

Rollerball Collection For Her
$140 value for only $60!
Fragrance lovers can experience seven of Sephora's most coveted women's scents with this set of full-size rollerballs. Try them all at home, keep one or two in your purse, or give them away as a luxurious little gift.
This set includes seven full-size rollerballs:
- 0.34 oz Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gioa
- 0.2 oz Coach Poppy
- 0.34 oz CLEAN Shower Fresh
- 0.33 oz Hanae Mori Butterfly
- 0.25 oz Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy
- 0.32 oz LaVanila Vanilla Grapefruit
- 0.34 oz Paco Rabanne Lady Million

Its on! But Y No Machel?

The Six Flags caribbean Concert series is on again, and boasts most of my 2011 faves thus far, i.e. Iwer and Kees :D . So here I am all excited when I take a second glance at the list...buh wait..no Machel??? Not even a lil HD Family made the list, never mind that Patrice is starring in one of their homepage ads with a big 'ARTIST LINE-UP' next to her *side eye*. And yes I know Aaron Fresh is on there but I haven't yet accepted him as HD, I'm STILL not over his predecessor Umi leaving HD. I sure hope that this list of confirmed persons gets a lil longer in the near future, especially as i am still salty over missing Machel in MSG.


Confirmed Artists:
- 2011 Trinidad & Tobago Groovy Soca Monarch Champion – Kes The Band
- Def Jam Recording Artist – Aaron Fresh
- 2011 Trinidad & Tobago Soca Monarch Finalist – Iwer George
- 2010 St. Vincent Soca Monarch Champion – Skinny Fabolous
- 2011 Trinidad & Tobago Groovy Soca Monarch Finalist – Benjai
- 2011 Trinidad & Tobago Groovy Soca Monarch Finalist – Chucky

DATE: July 9th 2011
VENUE: Six Flags, Jackson, NJ