Machel Montano Autograph Session - a review

Thanks to triniprincess for the following review; girl friend braved the cold, and possibly getting fired from her job, to not only see Mr. Montano up close and personal at J&R Records but scored photos to prove it! You are a real Carnival Jumbie, job well done.

So I get over there promptly at 12:30 , there are a couple of people milling around waiting to purchase the CD.


We are informed that they are on the way with Machel. I am a little anxious because there are not a lot of people there, but that QUICKLY changes. So I patiently take a position in line when one of the girls says that the CDs are here. I have my co-worker hold my position in the line and run to get two CDs. As I am waiting to pay in comes Mr. HD himself with a lieu of camera men and photographers in tow. It seems like we boy really blowing up!!




I quickly return to the line that has more than doubled by now. The store announces that Mr. Machel Montano WILL BE PERFORMING IN A FEW MINUTES FOLLOWED BY AUTOGRAPH SIGNING, A TREAT!!! I wasn't expecting a performance!!


It took a couple of minutes for Machel to take his position on the stage, the crowd started to heckle him a little that they only have an hour for lunch and if he make them lose they job he will have to take them in. All in good fun, Mr. HD graciously poses for pictures as the crowd asks him to turn this way and all the "Machel smile for me nah ah over here!!"

Finally he takes the stage and starts off with "Dance with you"; he stops and tells the crowd that he can't wait to dance with them tomorrow at the Garden and if you coming to the late show he will do it "One more time", which leads him into that song. He follows that with the new breakup follow up song for One more time (I don't know the name of it but if you were in Trinidad for Carnival you heard it).


He quickly runs through a few lines of his other songs until he asks for all the Jumbies that will be in the Garden tomorrow. The crowd goes as wild as a crowd could go in a packed HOT store (winter coats NOT helping) on your lunch time break.


He pulled a lady out of the crowd to Jumbie with him, who quite politely refused to get off the stage when he was done until he gave her a hug.


He then quickly wrapped up and started signing autographs for the people.

All in all that was a great warm up for tomorrow, I came back to my desk "Higher than high", ready to bring out my inner "Jumbie" and I know that we will "Light it up" tomorrow night!!!

Sidebar: It was funny hearing the people not in the know asking everyone who this person was, poor souls they just did not know but they quickly found out.

Saucy I also ran into quite a few of your fans when the store manager asked how did we find out about the in-store promo, girl you large and in charge.

Dear TRIBE Souvenir Mag Editor

Dear TRIBE Souvenir Mag Editor:

First of all, I would very much like to thank you for another wonderful job you have done this year. My "TNT technical support crew" was able to scan several pages for me to visualize your masqueraders in their magnificence, as I have not yet received my magazine. This is due to ah wutless blogger who shall remain nameless, but I digress. TRIBE has become synonymous with gorgeous, fit individuals in their splendiferous Carnival accoutrements (Is how ah doing Sarcy? Yuh like that?) and I cannot wait to feast my eyes on all of the fabulousness that is TRIBE.

***CORRECTION*** I have now received my official TRIBE Unleashed Collector's Edition souvenir magazine with 1001+ photos inside! De above mentioned blogger is no longer wutless.

However, I do have one bone to pick with you. Okay maybe several, perhaps. Ah know allyuh did rush big time to gi'we we nice memoir book, and I does try tuh have the undahstanding, yuh know? First and foremost, why do you continue to select masqueraders from other bands to place in your book? Are there not enough TRIBE players who meet your standards? Every year I continue to see folks from Harts and IP sprinkled in. I believe the other bands can make their own souvie mags and should take the time to do so. Is it really necessary to document their raining on our parade? I understand that there was a downpour this year, but there is no pun intended. There are so few spaces to begin with. Fill them up with exclusively TRIBE, TRIBE, and more TRIBE!

In addition, my second bone is the most MAJOR and the most SERIOUS. Is whey in de jail is my Shaka Hislop? It is to my utter consternation to have discovered that the incomparable Mr. Hislop was not included on your "Celebs" page in the mag. Why not? The Soca Warriors represented our sweet TNT so spectacularly that this should have been a given. I would have accepted ah lovely full page glossy with him oiled up, shirtless, and well spruced up in he Warrior Spirit niceness, but I was sorely disappointed. Is vex ah vex. He could have been alone or even with he wife, cause Dolli is ah gyel who does respect de matrimony. Instead I was forced to be subject to a photo of ah rough up Yankee celeb with questionable grooming. In the future, a comb in your goody bag should not be an afterthought. As is the case with Multibionta, it must be a requirement. I am already in ah 12 step support group as I had missed my opportunity to give de Mistah ah lil' ah meh Showtime jump and prance. It is ah fact that when ah does get into the mood I want to wine and behave rude. If you must know, I am getting by daily due to de large ups and encouragement provided by Sarce and meh fren DeRedTing, one ah Trinidad's finest. But what I want to know is what rhelly gine on ovah there pon Rosalino St.? Is since when our Shaka is not good enough? I does feel that just like meh Mario's pizza slice ah did have that he is delicious and nutritious. Don't you ever get to thinking....Mr.Hislop is NOT irreplaceable. You must not know 'bout he...You must not know 'bout he. This is an unforgivable violation. Be still mah heart as it has been slighted. Oh the TRAVESTY!

Third, why do you continue to repeat the same, exact picture of people in the magazine? One photo of each is good enough. TRIBE is quite ah large band. I KNOW allyuh could find photographic variations consistent this fact. Yuh totally blank Sarce, and dais not right. Allyuh have some of the hardest wukking phototakeouters in de business. I know this for ah FACT as one of yuh spunky gentlemen did actually fix up meh pose according to how he wanted the photograph to look. Yes, service doesn't get better than that ladies and gents! He tell meh tuh "fix up yuh hand so", and "cock up yuh leg so." "Yuh looking good." I appreciated the help as ah did feel ah little undah de influence and ah does have tuh represent fuh all de rhel TRIBE b*tches out dey but again I digress. Please feel free to peruse the first paragraph of this letter for purposes of review. BTW, why weren't we blessed with another DVD? We got on so bad that we DESERVED it. Your organization has us rather spoiled with its Ultimate Carnival Experience. For 2K8 we pray that you do not disappoint!

Finally, I respect the fact that the folks at TRIBE were decent enough to conclude the magazine with a word of thanks to the individuals who make it possible for the TRIBE legacy to continue....US! It was a dignified and classy touch to an already superb and ultra sexy compilation. We do appreciate the acknowledgement. Cheers!

From Mah Lil' Heart To Yours,
Hotgyal and Frontline H.O. Forever,
Outtah Body Back Tuh Allyuh Self Now,
Smoochez,

Mademoiselle Dolli

Tan Lines

Every year for Carnival, in spite of all the sun block I slather on, I always manage to get a few shades darker than my post Carnival complexion; one year I was sun burnt to a crisp, but that is another story! So, I was very happy this year that the costume consisted of a collar that I thought would protect my back and shoulders from getting those dreadful bikini tan lines. Little did I know the top of the collar, close to the nape of my neck, had a small space and the straps of my tankini which were unwittingly open to the glorious sun, are now branded unto my back! I guess I have to be thankful for small mercies in that it rained on Carnival Tuesday so the tanning effects could have been much worse, but my chest did not fare any better. The part of my breasts that were exposed in the tankini and now several shades darker than the other areas, so I am once again stuck with a weird tan on my chest and on my back!

Now I know the only way for a tan to fade is to give it time, however I was quite peeved to have this X on my back which shows when I wear a tank top or cami. Therefore I took some advice to try and fade the tan by getting another tan......makes sense doesn't it? Well NO it did not work! Instead of just making the X darker I now have tan lines from the bikini I wore to the beach! And this after I spent time in the sun at Maracas and Tobago! The photo above I took on Monday, which is after spending all day on the beach at Tobago on Saturday and Maracas a few weeks ago. I have to say the X did get a little "tanned" and now looks a little better than it did than on Ash Wednesday.

To get the desired effect, which would be to tan the X to match the rest of my back, I would have to sun bathe topless, face down, for a few hours to make any significant change. Since I am not up to doing that any time soon the tan will have to stay,unfortunately. When I go on vacation in May and June I plan on spending lots of time on the beach, hopefully the tan will eventually disappear. To speed it up I am doing lots of exfoliating; body scrub galore whenever I take a shower.

The funny thing though, is that once the weird tan fades away and your complexion returns to normal it is Carnival once again and you are stuck with another tan for the next few months! The one part of my body which normally gets tanned and did not get so much of a tan this year is my face. See I wore a hat on Carnival Monday and that helped protect my face a lot, and it was overcast most of the time on Tuesday so that saved my face as well. I can still use my regular make up and it does not look off so I know I did not get much of a tan at all.

How many of you are now sporting a weird tan after Carnival and what are you guys doing to help your tan fade? If you have any advice on getting a tan to fade faster or a story to share, let me know! You know what they say, misery loves company.