Indigo: The Review

I've been stalling on this review simply because I don't quite know how to express just how flippin good this party was.
And yes, I know I was adamant that I was NOT paying $70 for any party without a performer but peer pressure is a biatch and I caved :S.

In previous years the party was held at Decatur House in downtown D.C., but this year the promoters decided to be fancy and have it in Fort Washington. This venue was roughly an hr away from D.C. at someone's nice upscale lakeside house. As soon as you entered there was the bar (and my first stop) to the left, a dancefloor to the right, and the food was set up to the right of the dancefloor. All of this was flanked by a lovely view of the water. *gorgeous*

Its funny that I thought that they couldn't improve on this party, because they definitely did. It was like Beachouse meets Scorch meets D.C. Everyone clearly came out with the intention to get chocolate wasted, have a great time and managed to keep it classy while doing that. I personally had a ball!!! I wasn't even that tipsy seeing as food ran out b4 I got there (insert angry face), so I couldn't really drink. But the vibe was jus sooooooo good you didn't even need alcho to free up and enjoy yourself. I didn't want the party to end and was happy when they let us go til 6pm instead of 5. P.S. Hey Gresham, maybe you guys should look into 7pm next year..just a thought :) Oh and shout out to Barry, who did a great job on the turntables.

Now there were some cons, food ran out by 3 and for an expensive all inclusive that started at 12 and finished at 6 this was unnacceptable. The bar was understaffed and a couple friends of the promoters had to step in and assist at one point to speed up the drinks process, also not cool. The vibe and ambience of the party was THAT good that these things didnt bother me that much, although I did have to make a Mickey D's stop between Indigo and the Appreciation Party.

Overall Indigo gets an A+ and anyone thinking of doing DC Carnival needs to experience this party at least once. Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Weighing in on the DC Carnival Parade 2011

NY Caribbean Vibes' take on the DC 2011 Parade

I.C.E. Carnival's Opinion

Shortmus Production's Opinion

I don't need to say anymore about the D.C. Parade, they've said it all. Its almost one week later and I'm still disturbed by how everything played out. From my research I do understand a little more how things ended up that way but still.....its just sad. Again I hope that the DCCC and DCPD can work together to being the DC Carnival back to its former glory, and in time for 2012!

DC CARNIVAL PARADE 2011:The Review

This review is going to be painful..but then again Saturday was painful, and frustrating!

So by now we all know that DC Carnival had some serious financial issues this year because of money owed to the Police Department for last year's parade. Eventually a compromise was reached where we could still have a parade BUT it would only be half the route and for a shorter space of time to cut back on DCPD costs. Good in theory, not so good in action.

Old Route: Total parade length included the red and green lines, the new route was just the green portion

Close up of the new route

The parade was supposed to start at 11am which at Caribbean People Time meant that the mud band didnt pull off until about 12:30pm. Then, to top things off, as soon as our band started to move the generator in the truck blew. Yep, NO MUSIC! Now on a regular parade day with time to kill, we would have been able I'm sure to pull aside and have someone fiddle with it for at least a 30 mins and get it working. But this year time was an issue so we just continued to head down GA Ave in silence, occasionally punctuated by shouts of "Oh gosh alyuh mash up d speaker boxx!!" and the like.

My friends and I decided that we would go a few sections up to the Indulgence Paint band and chip with them so our parade wouldn't be a total flop. Only to realize that the bands were moving so quickly that Indulgence had already 'crossed' and finished the parade, and it was only around 1:30pm! Pissed would be an understatement for how I felt by then. The bands between Indulgence and the Mud band were of the more ethnic types, Haitians, and Africans etc so we just killed time looking at them..since there was nothing else to do really.

Then, a grand total of 5 blocks from the ending point the mud band's generator suddenly decided to work and I'm not gonna lie, those 5 blocks of jammin rivaled my entire Tribe Red Ants experience lol. I could only imagine just how good my parade would have been if that truck had worked for the full route. The mud band crossed by around 2:30 and the parade was officially a wrap. (Bear in mind last year it finished after 4pm)

I honestly don't know what to say. I can't come down too hard on DC for this ish because it is what it is. My only issue is that this whole thing just smells fishy to me, I just feel as if some part of the story is missing. I just really hope that the DCCC made enough money to cover last year's and this year's debts and pave the way for a proper, full blown DC Parade next year.

I don't want to give much attention to the violence that was reported as ocurring during the festival. I was actually unaware that any of it happened until yesterday. I think that what everyone should understand is that like other urban areas D.C. has its share of crime, and Howard University has a reputation for being located in the 'hood'. The fight that has made the rounds via youtube and worldstar actually occurred AFTER the parade (around 6:30pm) by which time the actual participants in the parade were already off the streets. So please people don't let anyone tell you that it was Howard University violence or DC Caribbean Parade violence. It was just typical, ignorant DC local behavior. I' m a little confused about how it was possible for the fight to continue as long as it did with no police interference, especially since the DCPD are usually zooming up and down GA Ave on a regular basis. Its very, very strange.....that's all I have to say about that.

Eyes Wide Shut: The Review

I'm not gonna lie, two days before Machel's concert I started debating whether or not to sell my tickets. It seemed like everyone was going to Kes and for a lil while I even wondered if this concert was going to flop. I am soooooo glad that I ended up sticking to my original plan. Machel was bess!

I got to DC Star at around midnight and got in easily, the line was short and the entry process ran smoothly. It was interesting to see that they searched/scanned people a grand total of three times before they were allowed in. I guess they were taking no chances, which was wise considering the reputation of that neighborhood and the fact that Machel concerts tend to have their own brand of wileness as we all know. As iffy as I had been about the type of crowd that would have been there all my concerns disappeared once I walked in the club. The party had rel vibes and it was clear that everyone was just there to have a good time.

We jammed, wined and wukked up courtesy Dj Super Slice for a lil bit then it was time for the performances. Farmer Nappy came out first and did his thing and then it was time for the Soca King himself, Mr Montano. (I was secretly hoping for a lil Patrice too but she was MIA this rounds). I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Machel's performance. Yes things got a lil wild in front the stage but being a Machel veteran I know how to hold my own in a crowd like that. When I couldnt take the jammin anymore I headed to the 'middle' of the club where I could still see Machel but without all those ppl advantaging my poor toes lol. And yes as other people have testified Machel did do his usual vulgarity on stage but ummm...ppl is Machel we talkin about here, what did you expect?! Every Machel concert I've been to there's always been him playing with his nipple ring, winin up a storm and ALWAYS some thirst grls/women in front the stage trying to grab his crotch. The only difference was that this time he said and I quote

"Ladies in front the stage, alyuh could stop trying to pull down my pants cuz guess what, I not going home with any of you!"

LMAO! They looked so ashamed afterwards!

Special Guest Walker made an appearance which I loved as With or Without You has always been one of my fave songs. He even put down a small wine on the stage, and what can I say, 'A' for effort lol.

This was hands down one of the best events for the weekend, Machel performed from around 2am to like 4:30 (after begging management for extra time) and joked that we were gonna make him miss his flight. He later replied to my tweet saying that he made it tho :)





At one point one of my friends turned to me and said "Damn I forgot Machel had all these tunes yes!" From Too Young to Soca, to Pretty Gyal to Advantage we heard it all! What had me laughing is that while DC Star was getting advantaged....the Kes concert was already over. I heard that Kes was off the stage by 2:30am and the party finished soon after. A lot of my friends were totin that Machel was on stage for so long, to the point that at 4:30 I had to send a mass text letting them know it was over and they could stop totin and go to bed lol.

Long story short Machel officially brought my carnival vibe back, by the end of the concert I was making plans to be on the road the next day and bbming my friend asking for Indigo tix. So thank you Machel, for saving MY DC CARNIVAL!

C'est Fini!

DC Carnival weekend ended last night. Overall I had a great weekend, there were definitely some ups and downs but at the end of the day I totally enjoyed myself.

My first event was the Launch Party at Bar 7 on Wednesday. It was exactly what you would expect for a warm up party, a more lounge than club type setting and a chill crowd (well except when wotless and where yuh from' played). The event was free with happy hour from 10pm to 11pm. The crowd was a tad uptown as I think at least half of the people there just kinda wandered in after work and found themselves in the middle of a carnival party. This was evidenced by what one patron said to DJ Hazzard (see his tweets about it below). I just about flatlined when I saw this, I mean who goes to a soca party and asks for Trey Songz?? LOL



I do know there was at least one weirdo in the mix who approached my friend with the opening line of "yo ma you aint got no panties on huh?" -_- I kid you not. We couldnt even be that mad because it was obvious that he was really drunk and we also didnt want to cause a scene so we just moved as far away from him as possible. Other than that it was a good night. This was a nice addition to the Carnival weekend line up and I hope they have it again next year. A link to the photo album for the event is below.

http://www.facebook.com/DeeJayHazzard?ref=ts#!/media/set/?set=a.751389866610.2183269.8908404


ONE
This event was held on Carnival Thursday and basically replaced TRIBE's Ignite. I missed Ignite last year but did attend it in '09 and I must say I prefer Ignite to ONE. ONE was held at the Muse Nightclub which was a tad too small for the crowd imo. Also, a lot of people including myself were a little upset that it ended at 2am which is typical for dc clubs during the week but not of course the usual finishing time for carnival parties. Hopefully next year they find a club that facilitates a later end time.

At that point of the week I honestly was not feeling the Carnival vibe at all and was still adamant that I would not on the road on Saturday and would not be attending Indigo. Particularly after Thursday night I just was not feeling the hype that I usually get so close to the actual Carnival weekend.

That all changed after Friday night....to be continued!

Bits and Pieces

Well first off does Machel Montano know yesterday was not April Fools? Everyone was going crazy yesterday over his announcement that he would be performing at the White House. I refrained from posting anything because honestly well...I didn't believe it. I googled and binged and wikipedia'd and nowhere could i find any original US government source to support this claim. I followed the link posted by The Sweet 7 that led to this page. Note no mention of Machel there. I guess we will eventually get the behind the scenes story from his camp, and hopefully sooner than later. Maybe it was a joke that went a lil too far?

Still undecided on what I'll be doing for DC Carnival....got all excited about the Machel concert on Friday but I'm now rethinking it. I mean what if like the White House performance this doesn't get off the ground? I have also never heard of these promoters which makes me even more hesitant. If one more DC promoter has a performer-less party after falsely advertising the opposite I WILL trip so maybe I should just avoid this one lol

In other news TRIBE launches on July 23rd, first said by my friend then confirmed by Saucy. So yes folks its time to get that deposit money ready and your committee link on speed dial lol. I'm thinking of doing frontline this year but that depends on how much progress i make in the gym. I'm also still hoping for huge Victoria Secret wings but we'll see....Hope they put out another teaser video as well!

One can always hope right?!

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!

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!

Whats poppin in the DMV??

April 9th

UMBC Carnival 2011

Venue: Center Road and Erikson Field

1000 Hilltop Circle

Baltimore, MD

12pm - 4pm

This is their first carnival parade, complete with paint, dj's, a road to chip on and a lil mini-savannah at the end of it.

April 17th

Annual I.C.E. Carnival Curry-Que Fundraiser

No Flyer Available

April 23rd

12 Hour Dance-a-thon and Annual Glorious Saturday Fete

Venue: TnT Clubhouse

Cost: $20

4pm - 4am

This event is geared towards raising funds for DC Canival so come out and give your support!

April 24th

KES 360

Venue: Amnesia (NYC)

4PM -10PM

Brought to us by ShorBlue Events and Big and Strong Entertainment this will be a full performance by Kes the Band.

DC Carnival is on? yes...maybe???

According to one of my fave blogs D.C carnival is apparently back on with the setting up of a payment plan to address the financial issues. I have googled and asked jeeves and all that jazz but am yet to find the original source for her info so for now i am going to just trust in whoever her source is and start getting my DC Fete budget ready lol. Not sure how and when I 'm going to have my personal launch...i.e. the first fete for the season but when I decide I'll let you guys know! the 'you guys' being the people I believe read this blog and just don't comment? Yes? Maybe? til nxt time!

No DC Carnival? say it aint so!

http://www.savedccarnival.com/site/

The above link is confirmation that the rumors were true and financial issues are threatening to prevent the annual DC Carnival Parade from being held this year. This is truly unfortunate as (and i'm not being impartial just cuz i live here) DC Carnival is pretty good and usually attracts big name acts like Bunji, Fayann and Machel. As someone who has dabbled in the DC promoting world I know a lot of people who depend on this event to draw the crowds necessary for their own parties I hate to think of the negative impact this could have on them as this is a huge chunk of money they will lose as trust and blieve DC Carnival fetes are always ram out! So please give a little if you can...they certainly gave to us by allowing us to experience our culture so far from home for all these years and stepping things up year after year to ensure that we, the customers were satisfied. Remember, every little bit helps!