DJ Private Ryan is one of my fave DJ's and NEVER disappoints with his mixes! Enjoy!
Monday, March 21, 2011
St Lucia Plannings
So in accordance with my plans to hit as many carnivals as possible while I am still young and child-less, this year I'm trying to add St Lucia Carnival to my lineup. I started doing my research and I am actually quite impressed with the costumes I've seen so far, especially those by Red Unlimited which coincidentally and thankfully is the band that my host usually plays with. My faves from their 2010 presentation are below:
Burning Ecstacy would have been my first choice if I had played last year, I just love all those feathers!! Supposedly Red Unlimited will launch on April 29th and I am really looking forward to seeing their 2011 presentation as I can only imagine their costumes getting bigger and better. Now to see how I can manipulate my budget to fit 2 Carnivals (St. Lucia and Cropover) in one month! not an easy task!!
Burning Ecstacy would have been my first choice if I had played last year, I just love all those feathers!! Supposedly Red Unlimited will launch on April 29th and I am really looking forward to seeing their 2011 presentation as I can only imagine their costumes getting bigger and better. Now to see how I can manipulate my budget to fit 2 Carnivals (St. Lucia and Cropover) in one month! not an easy task!!
Cropover plannings
so here I was dilly-dallying on booking my ticket..waiting with bated breath in the hopes that Bdos would really have a two day Kadooment this year and then yesterday I come across the official schedule and Kadooment day is listed as only August 1st :( . I was really looking forward to another two day festival but...o well. It makes St Lucia Carnival all the more appealing though, as they have a 2 day jump up.I included the official crop over calendar below, as taken from the website http://www.barbadoscropoverfestival.com/.
In other news this is a whole world of planning that I need to get done, tickets, accomodation (there is talk of renting a beachhouse) and who I'm going to drag along with me as I am determined to get at least two of my trini friends to participate this year! Also I need to decide on whether or not I will make the move from PowerX4 to Baje International as honestly while I enjoyed myself last year there was definitely room for improvement. My main concerns were that we started hours later than we should have, resulting in our band being the last on the road. Then we had a lot of stormers and a lot of ppl chippin with the band and half my time was spent outside the rope as I felt seriously clustrophobic when i was actually in the band. Also when I took a good look at Baje's costumes it is obvious that they put more effort into actually following the theme and being creative in their costume design and execution, at least more so that PowerX4. Switching bands is all dependent on getting trinis to play with me as all my bajan friends play with PowerX4 so hopefully I can convince them to jump and keep me company.
In other news this is a whole world of planning that I need to get done, tickets, accomodation (there is talk of renting a beachhouse) and who I'm going to drag along with me as I am determined to get at least two of my trini friends to participate this year! Also I need to decide on whether or not I will make the move from PowerX4 to Baje International as honestly while I enjoyed myself last year there was definitely room for improvement. My main concerns were that we started hours later than we should have, resulting in our band being the last on the road. Then we had a lot of stormers and a lot of ppl chippin with the band and half my time was spent outside the rope as I felt seriously clustrophobic when i was actually in the band. Also when I took a good look at Baje's costumes it is obvious that they put more effort into actually following the theme and being creative in their costume design and execution, at least more so that PowerX4. Switching bands is all dependent on getting trinis to play with me as all my bajan friends play with PowerX4 so hopefully I can convince them to jump and keep me company.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Updates
I havent been very good blogger...never finished my Crop Over review and never reviewed Miami either lol.
I will try my best to finish my review of my last carnival, the biggest and best, Trini Carnival! Actually my FIRST TRINI CARNIVAL IN 5 YEARS!!! It was a really great experience, I just wished it could have been longer, not necessarily more than the two days but just for me to have been here for more of the Carnival season. I missed a Machel concert of epic proportions and didn't get to see my costume until the day of collection (Carnival friday) but all in all it was well worth every dime spent. Its so true when people say you pay for the experience and not so much the costume, I will DEFINITELY do it again next year!
There are definitely some changes i need to make next year, definitely need to start preparing earlier as i hd only a month to get everything together and kinda said screw it and didnt go all out for my monday wear, makeup etc as I had originally planned. I also did not have my carnival body ready :( and my lack of fitness caused me to skip the TRIBE/BLISS Afterparty in Jenny's carpark, I was waaaay too bun to mke it. silly me also put no gel insoles in my cheap boots so you could imagine how the soles of my feet felt by the end of las lap!
The one tad unfortunate thing is that I now have the carnival bug worse than ever and am here googling dc, st lucia and bdos cropover dates so i can have something to look forward too. (my poor bank account!) O and also i think this year I may make the shift from j'ouvert to pretty mas right thru. for some reason I didnt have fun in the D.C. paint band in '09 neither did I have that much fun in the mud band '10..so this year either I just go stush and dun and play in Panisha or one of the other 'pretty mas' bands or...I skip the parade and just do the parties..we'll see......
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Umi leaves HD Family
PORT OF SPAIN, 10/11/2010 8:00PM ; FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Soca Star UMI, is no longer with the HD Camp. UMI made the announcement earlier this evening on Synergy TV. "Thank you" was all the Soca Star had to say about his departure from the camp.
Contact:
Marcus TR
marcustrservices@gmail.com
1-647-977-6787
Honestly, this news did not come as a surprise to me. Although I've been to only one Machel concert for the year, as a huge Umi fan I realised early on that he was not touring with Machel and the rest of the HD family but was instead doin his own more intimate thing. Of course people are speculating on the reason for him leaving the band with some saying Machel didnt give him much opportunity to grow as an artiste and others saying Umi was salty that he wasnt getting booked to perform on tour with them. I dont know how i feel about his decision just yet, his biggest hit since intially coming on the scene was Block to Block which he did with Machel so i guess only time will tell if he will in fact succeed on his own. Link to some discourse on the topic can be found below.
http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/f16/umi-leaves-hd-camp-226847/
Soca Star UMI, is no longer with the HD Camp. UMI made the announcement earlier this evening on Synergy TV. "Thank you" was all the Soca Star had to say about his departure from the camp.
Contact:
Marcus TR
marcustrservices@gmail.com
1-647-977-6787
Honestly, this news did not come as a surprise to me. Although I've been to only one Machel concert for the year, as a huge Umi fan I realised early on that he was not touring with Machel and the rest of the HD family but was instead doin his own more intimate thing. Of course people are speculating on the reason for him leaving the band with some saying Machel didnt give him much opportunity to grow as an artiste and others saying Umi was salty that he wasnt getting booked to perform on tour with them. I dont know how i feel about his decision just yet, his biggest hit since intially coming on the scene was Block to Block which he did with Machel so i guess only time will tell if he will in fact succeed on his own. Link to some discourse on the topic can be found below.
http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/f16/umi-leaves-hd-camp-226847/
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Carnival 2k11 Updates
1) Well first and foremost my ticket for Trinidad Carnival 2011 is officially booked and paid for! Now bein the hot foot, half mad child that I am, I booked a one way ticket. This is because my school's spring break is the week after and i rel dont see the point of coming back to DC for two days of school. shhhhhhhhhh dont tell my professors lol
2) Savannah Stage
Now apparently i rel not cut out for this blogging thing, as you can see i havent posted anything on Miami Carnival (which was a BLAST) yet but more importantly apparently i was sitting on a scoop looong days now and failed to be the first to post it lol. So back in September I attended a function at the Trini Embassy here in D.C. to see what my Minister of Health Ms Therese Baptiste Cornelius and Minister of Arts and Multi-culturalism Mr Winston 'Gypsy' Peters had to say. and well...apparantly he had a lot to say lol. First thing was that we would be getting a stage for Carnical 2K11. *screams* Now this is going to be my first time playin (adult) mas and swear I could ask for a better welcome. I didnt think it was possible for me to get ANY more hype than i already was but...well...this surely changed that lol
3)People's Band
So basically he wants to set up a free band...as in in his own words 'we provide the music, you come in yuh costume'. Now at first glance to some (not me) this sounded fun. a nice cheap way to enjoy Carnival. But to me all i thought was 'good lord somebody gonna get shot' i mean think about it. when you pay for a costume you also pay for security, who gonna provide security? the government gonna take my..well your taxpayer money to provide security for some random unnecessary ruff n tuff band? or will there b no security? worse again. Who gonna b the dj? Who gonna pay the dj? Are these people going to be allowed to cross the band....I dunno. I am just rellll skeptical that this can be pulled off while ensuring that no crime comes from it or that it does not disrupt the experience of the people (like me) who actually paid nuff money to be on the road. time will tell......
4) Two Carnivals
So Gypsy also wants us to have two carnivals, saying that Tobago's carnival basically doeant make much sense being the same time as Trini's and it should be moved further down in the year to fill in the gap between Miami Carnival and Trini carnival (October to Feb/March) As someone who is currently suffering from serious carnivl withdrawal this re-scheduling makes sense, however I cant help but wonder how the Tobago people feel about that as basically if they wanted to participate in Carnival they would have no choice but to hop a boat and go to Trini...something to think about
Anyways thats all i can fit in for now, must go finish up some work...and look for Monday Wear lol
2) Savannah Stage
Now apparently i rel not cut out for this blogging thing, as you can see i havent posted anything on Miami Carnival (which was a BLAST) yet but more importantly apparently i was sitting on a scoop looong days now and failed to be the first to post it lol. So back in September I attended a function at the Trini Embassy here in D.C. to see what my Minister of Health Ms Therese Baptiste Cornelius and Minister of Arts and Multi-culturalism Mr Winston 'Gypsy' Peters had to say. and well...apparantly he had a lot to say lol. First thing was that we would be getting a stage for Carnical 2K11. *screams* Now this is going to be my first time playin (adult) mas and swear I could ask for a better welcome. I didnt think it was possible for me to get ANY more hype than i already was but...well...this surely changed that lol
3)People's Band
So basically he wants to set up a free band...as in in his own words 'we provide the music, you come in yuh costume'. Now at first glance to some (not me) this sounded fun. a nice cheap way to enjoy Carnival. But to me all i thought was 'good lord somebody gonna get shot' i mean think about it. when you pay for a costume you also pay for security, who gonna provide security? the government gonna take my..well your taxpayer money to provide security for some random unnecessary ruff n tuff band? or will there b no security? worse again. Who gonna b the dj? Who gonna pay the dj? Are these people going to be allowed to cross the band....I dunno. I am just rellll skeptical that this can be pulled off while ensuring that no crime comes from it or that it does not disrupt the experience of the people (like me) who actually paid nuff money to be on the road. time will tell......
4) Two Carnivals
So Gypsy also wants us to have two carnivals, saying that Tobago's carnival basically doeant make much sense being the same time as Trini's and it should be moved further down in the year to fill in the gap between Miami Carnival and Trini carnival (October to Feb/March) As someone who is currently suffering from serious carnivl withdrawal this re-scheduling makes sense, however I cant help but wonder how the Tobago people feel about that as basically if they wanted to participate in Carnival they would have no choice but to hop a boat and go to Trini...something to think about
Anyways thats all i can fit in for now, must go finish up some work...and look for Monday Wear lol
Friday, October 1, 2010
Miami Fete Roll Call!
So first off as i mentioned previously is TRIBE's IGNITE on Miami's Carnival Thursday!
Limited ladies adv tix are $20. after those are sold out the price goes up to $25. A very small price in the grand scheme of parties to pay for the TRIBE fete experience. Was grrreat last year and from what I've heard this year it will be even better.
This party was so good last year that honestly only a free ticket to its competition would keep me away lol. Drinks flowed like whoa, had nuff food, well worth its $50. price tag. Service was great despite there being a LOT of people at this party. good warm up for the weekend feteing.
Limited ladies adv tix are $20. after those are sold out the price goes up to $25. A very small price in the grand scheme of parties to pay for the TRIBE fete experience. Was grrreat last year and from what I've heard this year it will be even better.
This party was so good last year that honestly only a free ticket to its competition would keep me away lol. Drinks flowed like whoa, had nuff food, well worth its $50. price tag. Service was great despite there being a LOT of people at this party. good warm up for the weekend feteing.
Last year this party was followed up by Greshman Entertainment's DV8 Miami, however this year they have replaced that party by a new and unique party, LIME. This party is being held in conjunction with Brooklyn's ShorBlu Events and is STRICTLY INVITATION ONLY. It is not an all inclusive affair, but you do get complimentary . NO complaints from me there as I know without a doubt that this event will probably end up being the highlight of my Miami experience. Based on the reputation and track record of the organizers and my previous experiences at parties thrown by them i KNOW this gonna b gooood!
Last but DEFINITELY not least is Vale Vibe Miami. I kno i dont need to rate this party, its name speaks for itself. Nothing but Great Expectations, although if its any better than las yr i doh think i cud handle it lol. I just remember steppin into that hotel and it was bare vibes. From the lobby to the elevator tstraight up to the actual party location on the roof eu cud feel the hype in the air. The only party I was sober at last year and the one I had the most fun at so u cud imagine how hype it was!
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