When it comes to keeping your masqueraders happy and protected what are the ratios of masqueraders to drinks trucks, music trucks and security?What about the process of deciding which performers to have on the road? Does that come down to a money thing or do bandleaders go by who are the most popular performers for the season and start the bidding war?
As far as drinks, for a bar to function reasonably well (as no bar is perfect.) a minimum ratio is 1 bar person per 50 patrons, but this also depends on how much available bar surface there is.In any event there will have to be a wait to get your drinks. It is just the logistics of it. Best we can do is minimize the wait. In some aspects the traditional carts function better, for some good reasons,less people sharing the same access area or bar surface. A Cart may may serve an average a 100 or so patrons, attended to by approx. 4 bar tenders or cart workers. That ratio is 1:25 which is very good. As well as most cart patrons can simply put there hand in their own carts and retrieve drinks .Self service is the quickest way. But with the complaints on the rise of congestion being worsened by so many additional trucks I feel that sooner or later the powers that be may restrict the number of of trucks Bands will be allowed.
In respect to who performs on the road, it is a little of all that you mentioned. Availability is I think the most important, and you also has to be careful of who you hire, because some bands are too popular and may cause an unnecessary mount of non masqueraders to invade, and stress the security, as what happened with Machel and Poison. I love HD but I wouldn't let them play on the road for me. So you want good consistent sound with an all round band, that has stamina, fair popularity, and lots of road experience. And Band nor sound system comes cheap. All you can do is try to give the people the best time they could have.
Thanks again , till next week
B.L.
In respect to who performs on the road, it is a little of all that you mentioned. Availability is I think the most important, and you also has to be careful of who you hire, because some bands are too popular and may cause an unnecessary mount of non masqueraders to invade, and stress the security, as what happened with Machel and Poison. I love HD but I wouldn't let them play on the road for me. So you want good consistent sound with an all round band, that has stamina, fair popularity, and lots of road experience. And Band nor sound system comes cheap. All you can do is try to give the people the best time they could have.
Thanks again , till next week
B.L.
6 comments:
There were some questions from last week that the Band Leader did not answer re: his comments on Minshall/Mac Farlane, additional questions were asked.
Can we get these answered next week?
Here they are:
dougla_1 said...
Ah, Bandleader, I am finally excited by a question to ask you.
Your response about the MacFalane/Minshall comparison is intriguing, and I agree. Can you explain what you mean by the "...mistakes Peter has [made]..."? Specifically, what are some of Peter's mistakes in mas you can describe (or his commentary, here I am more curious about his mas vision, though his commentary and his mas are really mostly one and the same)?
Your illumination could be quite interesting since Minshall has fierce defenders and an equal measure of harsh critics.
Mas-ah said...
Well, bandleader I for one am shocked that you believe it possible to put brian Mac Farlane in the same shoes as minshall and to even say that Mac Farlane can surpass Minshall.
Minshall for one draws his own designs
mac Farlane hires someone and puts his name on the drawings
Minshall is an innovator and an engineer
Mac Farlane hires an engineer and is no innovator
Minshall's mistakes band leader, are still a very confusing allegation, what indeed are his mistakes pray tell?
"he also has the talent to take it beyond Peter"
what are you talking about? are you really serious?
I cannot believe this, it is a sad sad day for trinidad mas when Minshalls mistakes and quality level is open for discussion with 'bandleader'
A designer is yet to show him or her self that can fit into Minshall's shoes.
Mac Farlane is not ready!!
Maybe the band leader is Mac Farlane. lolol. Kidding.... KIDDING!!!
The band leader did answer the questions AC:
Blogger band said...
This topic I guess could mever be settled. If you are a supporter of Peter you always will be. But you seem to be caught up more in the process than the product.There is no denying that Peter once was great, but he failed his masqueraders. His numbers dwindled because his masqueraders could not depend on him. They never knew from one year to another if he was going to bring a band. In fact he lost most to Wayne Berkley. Towards the end he had nothing to offer for example; regurgetating the likes of tantana and saga boy ( which by the way is not original to him either, these type of puppets have been used before in Carnival and circus around the world.)over and over again. He even did it with the Olympics also using costumes in white, with rings of fiberglass rods. That he used before even in a diary Diary T.V. ad. And people want to say things about Sonja Mack and her humming bird design. Anyway eventually when he did produce a band it was always late, and giving inferior costumes, like one year jumpsuits, amd concocting rediculous tales of symbolisim to mask his inadequacies. He treated his hard working and very talented crew badly. He consistantly lost money for his financers while still being paid a as designer. It is easy to take chances when when you have nothing to lose. ( a brave man is only brave because he risk his life.)He talks of The Mas as if he alone has the right to it. As if it isn't the god given right of every Trinidadian to play mas how they choose. I don't pretend to be anything other than I am. You may not like my costumes, so play in another band. The difference is I respect and admire all the different ways of playing carnival. As I have always said the real essence of carnival is freedom. Freedom to play your mas your way. Peter was once great, no denying that, but he let his EGO (and nothing is more important to Peter than to have his EGO constantly stroked.)get the better of him. So cheers and best wishes to Brian. Let everyone in trinidad enjoy there carnival their way. Besides it's the difference between us that makes life interesting. I am not going to get involved in any tit for tat so there will be no further response on this.
8:19 PM
Oh...my bad.
Thanks Sauce.
Getting on like a n00b dey boy...I need to read before I type!! :P
I find the band leaders opinion of Minshall almost personal on Minshall himself. I for one cannot agree that Minshall was ‘once great’ the fact that the mention of his name causes debate makes him great, his contribution to mas is in fact so great that years of his absence does not stop the speculation as to if he will ever return so great is his presence, so in my opinion Minshall is great!
As for his works your observations bandleader, are mostly of his kings and queens not his bands, why is that? Tantan and Saga boy original concepts or not, were without a doubt iconic, and never seen in Trinidad carnival or world carnival, (to this day the concept is used and marvelled), before he did it, and while you say he is not the originator of the puppet mas costume you bandleader should back up this argument somehow. The concept in itself demands that it is done over and over, like the human body it can be, Tantan and Saga boy are but a link in a chain of puppet mas, were not the midnight robber, prince of darkness, and the merry monarch all puppet mas?
Were king costumes like Poseidon, and son of saga boy not variations of the concept also don’t forget the Cyclops the individual in the band odyssey... but band leader no band especially these fun bands can compare or compete with Minshall or Macfarlane when it comes to mas, and for you to comment on the quality of the work which I dare call art and not “product” as you put it, is a piss take, you must remember Minshall like most of his time used local and raw materials in his work, not to mention local workers to mas produce them, his mas made full use of “we culture and craft” not imports and foreign made l materials and stones like you and your contemporaries do.
And yet tourists were willing to purchase these works of the backs of masqueraders as carnival Tuesday came to an end.
I don’t know how he treated his crew I was never there, but the people I have met and worked with in the UK that have worked with him in the past all talk of working with Minshall with nothing but pride, and all are respected talents by others over here. And I am sure he has employed and made use of local talent and craftsmanship more than any of the bands and there so called products today.
I hope you bandleader don’t see these replies as tit for tat but an exchange in ideas and opinion that can if only on a small scale on this blog better the appreciation and understanding of this cultural phenomenon that mas is.
As for Mas-ah, a lot of the things you say of MacFarlane can also be said of Minshall, non of them can be ‘jack of all trade’, and are not...
Mas Assassin.
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