Need a Tan ?

Look what I found one of my trips to Harts mas camp:

click on photo to enlarge

Indoor Tanning Salon now available in Trinidad!

All of you masqueraders coming in from the cold and need that golden glow for Carnival but do not want to bake in the sun can now bake indoors or even choose the spray tan option.

Trini Revellers Website is up.. sorta

Almost one month and one week after their band launch Trini Revller's website is up, somewhat. There are still several section photographs and prices missing but you can view the sections Angostura Bitters, Black Gold, Folklore, Chutney, Nylon Pool, Panorama, Soca Warriors, Splendor of Buccoo Reef and Together We Aspire.

Now, personally I have had to warm up to Trini Reveller's costumes over the years (with the exception of a few sections, like Rugeri, D Krewe, Kyle Matas) as the theme is sometimes portrayed too literally and the costumes can be a bit ostentatious and gaudy. However, on the road the band usually makes a great presentation, my favourite years being French Revolution and Rome. Last Year's Viva Mexico also had some eye catching costumes with great headpieces. Even with masqueraders wearing Chandeliers on their heads the band still managed to look great on the road.

For 2009 I have to say that the costumes have fallen victim to slapping a name on some bikini and beads, a fate that has befallen most large bands for Carnival 2009.... gone are the days when one could look at a costume and hazard a guess at what it might represent. The trend has been around for some time, but Trini Revellers has never buckled until 2009. I would take the chandelier headpiece over some of the costumes I am seeing on their website any day!

Splendor of Buccoo Reef

The majority of the costumes that I have seen thus far are very generic and could fit into any band producing bikini and beads; not what I expected from Trini Revellers. Not to mention that some of the designs look low budget, sorry to say it, but the construction and designs are a bit shoddy. There is one section in particular Angostura Bitters, that looks like an art and craft school project, not even a decent headpiece! What happened Trini Revellers?

Angostura Bitters


Soca Warriors


PHOTO SOURCE:
www.trinirevellersmas.com

The Bets Are Off..

So the Carnival Bacchanal could never die!

Now news reaching the Sauce is that a POPuLAR party committee has allegedly decided not to take the gamble for 2009 and left out the newbie band under which their section is "SOLD OUT" (even though only 52 people are registered) and have gone back to the nest!!

And added to that, talk is that the once lauded head designer is rumoured to be looking to throw in his chips and fly the coop!

Well, all I can say is IF this is true the "old band" is VERY generous because the band wars between those bands was down right dutty, nasty and stink.

But, I am apt to believe that there is some truth in this rumour seeing as the POPuLAR party committee and affiliates of said "old band" just threw a party together and when I saw that pairing it left me with my EYES WIDE OPEN!!

The Seven Deadly Sins

Mas Jumbies has launched all 7 of their J'ouvert presentation "Diabolus Imperium", The Seven Deadly Sins and registration is available online.

I have been informed that Mas Jumbies will be having a 40ft music trailer for 2009 along with some new sponsors, one of which is Correias Hard Wine; please note that wine is TROUBLE!

For more information on Mas Jumbies or to register visit their website here.

Question and Answer With the Band Leader

Why is it that merchants in Trinidad complain about the importation of costumes, but yet they are not accessible. For example – this year I needed costumes to be made for my section in New York, I had a hard time finding vendors in Trinidad. It is only if you know someone or is family to a person that makes costumes that their information was shared. Yet, the merchants that imports costumes, most of them have websites and other forms of communication. I would like to give business to people in Trinidad but I cant get any contact information. Is their a website or some sort of means to obtain that information? If not, why?

A very good question, Local merchants complain because they are being bypassed so they do not make money.If you need costumes to be made the only suggestion I can give is to contact any of the established carnival bands here, and request the info you need. The easiest way would be via their website. As for the local costume production houses, it is their failure to advertise that is the issue. And also a lot of these production houses are geared to produce for the local carnival season and may not be functioning year round. In any case you can contact Tribe , Harts or Island People, as far as I know they all do costumes for foreign countries.

How much time does it actually take to plan and create a theme as well as costume for the next year?

Approximately 3 months from concept to finished prototypes.

As a followup to JV's question, and the answer may seem obvious, but why have a new band theme every year? I am not being silly, I would really like to know your point of view.

I don't quite understand, Are you sure you are not trying to be silly? The obvious would be to create different costumes and themes so as to give your masqueraders a variety of ways to enjoy their carnival every year. I hope I didn't miss the point of your question. If I did, let me know and I will try again next week.

Talk to you guys again next week.
BL

Vintage Tuesdays

The year was 1957, Carnival was under threat of a boycott by 16 bands over the fact that the prize money for band of the year was not enough. The ship running between Trinidad and Tobago broke down forcing Tobagonians to stay in Tobago for Carnival and George Bailey's "Back to Africa" wins Band of the Year which drew raves from the judges from "how much research went into the band" as well as captured spectators with sections such as Masai, Watusi, Zulu and Zambesi tribesmen.

"Oba Adelle I had a train 15 yards ling held by African Maidens and the burnished rhinestone studded crowns of the African Royalty and Court Ministers were masterpieces of metal craftsmanship".... read more in today's Vintage Tuesday:

Click on the book to read online

Or download today's articles HERE.

The following photograph can be found on Noel Norton's website along with other Carnival gems. Please visit his website to see other treasures from our Carnival History by Minshall, Berkely and others... really fabulous photographs:

George Bailey's "Back To Africa"


PHOTO SOURCE:
www.noelnorton.com

Shubh Divali

To all the Hindus celebrating the Festival of Light today....

Monday Question Time

It's MONDAY!! Time for more of your questions for the band leader.

Leave a comment or email me your questions at trinicarnivaldiary@yahoo.com.

Sold Out Section Update

Ronnie & Caro
Calypso Fiesta (frontline)
Cock Fight (frontline)
Dimanche Gras (frontline)
Soca Monarch (Frontline)
Panorama (Frontline)

Harts
Gandara
Vayu (Male)
Zranka (pink)

Spice
Sea Salt (frontline)

Brian Mc Farlane
Kasena (Female)
Rashaida Bride (Female)
Hausa Dancers (Female)

For Masqueraders Across the Pond...

With all those beautiful feathered costumes it would do you all wise to invest in a bottle of Fletch Dry Powder, just in case it rains or for some unforeseen reason your feathers get wet (spilled drink, misting zone perhaps?). For those of you in the US I already linked several sites where you can purchase waterproofing powder online, now those masqueraders in the UK can also purchase the waterproofing powder online as well. Through research from one of the bloggers this site is selling the powder at the best price compared to others, even with shipping and handling included. The product is called Gateway Waterproofing Powder, sold at www.merlinarcherycentre.co.uk for £4.00

As for footwear, I have been getting request for cheap boots from masqueraders in the UK and here are a few sites that I have come across that have pretty decent flat boots at reasonable prices:

(click on the highlighted name to be taken to the website)

Faith
Boots from £10.00

Urban Outfitters
Boots from £19.99


Priceless Shoes
Boots from £2.00


Garage Shoes
Boots from £19.99


Linzi Shoes
Boots from £20.00


Desmazieres Shoes
Boots from £ 14.00


Wynsors
Boots from £12.95

New Look
Boots from £15.00

Remember that Afro Chic can spray any boot to match the colour of your costume so even black boots are fine. You may want to consult her regarding the material the boot is made of however; the website is bootsbyafrochic.com

Antilia Carnival

WHAT?: The premier "Sneak Peek" for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival festival featuring a costume catwalk of themed carnival costume collections from rival carnival bands. Hosted by AJ Calloway & Vashtie Kola, live performances by soca sensation Rupee and other special guests.

WHEN?: Oct 30, 2008 at 8:00 PM EDT (7:00 PM DOORS)

WHERE?: Prince George Ballroom - New York, NY $100.00

HOW MUCH?: $100.00 (US) Inclusive of Premium Drinks & Hors D'oeuvres. Tickets can be bought online at Ticket Web.

See antilia.com/carnival for details.

D Harvard Section 2009

As we await patiently the launch of Trini Revellers website, private section with that band, D Harvard Section, has launched their offering with "Sweet T&T a Tribute to Trinidad and Tobago":

The sections are Play Yuhself (orange), Cyar Fraid Powder and Carib Country (blue). Since I am in a good mood today I am ONLY going to focus on the positive.

Play Yuhself is offering one of the cheapest frontline sections ever at $2395.00TT!! You cannot even get a Backline Babe costume at that price in most of the other bands. Cyar Fraid Powder is an interesting twist on the Fancy Sailor for the females who may want a sexy sailor costume and I do like the male costume very much. Carib Country is a simple, no frill costume for the ladies who don't want to fuss with a headpiece and just want something as if they were chilling on the beach at less than $2000.00TT. All these prices are "all inclusive" as per the website.

For more photos please visit D Harvard Section website.

Photo Source
www.dharvardsection.com

Gerad Kelly Shades of White

Today it is all about the kids as Gerad Kelly's website is also up and running; his 2009 Children's Presentation is SHADES OF WHITE:

Pretty costumes but imagine keeping that entire band clean all day!! Invest in Tide to Go parents.

Rosalind Gabriel's Website is up

I am loving the costumes for Rosalind Gabriel's kiddies portrayal of National Pride and one section even requires the girls to wear black knee high boots!

As for the adult's band I was expecting costumes on par with the kiddies, with lovely, towering backpacks and lots of fabric but from the drawings they remind me of Wayne Berkley circa 1995! Further judgment is reserved until I see the actual costumes on the road on Carnival Tuesday.

For drawings of both the Children and Adult's band or for more information visit Rosalind Gabriel's website.



PHOTO SOURCE:
www.rosalindgabriel.com

Question and Answer With the Band Leader

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 Production

Yesterday I paid an impromptu visit to Richard and Anthony's production house where they were diligently working on pieces for the sections Spangled Cotinga, Green Honeycreeper, Caged Canary and Hummingbird. I have to say I absolutely LOVE,LOVE,LOVE Caged Canary's frontline headpiece (which I tried on) it has got to be the most fantastic headpiece of all the costumes I have seen thus far for Carnival 2009. It is just gorgeous!!!

As for quality control, the costumes that I saw in production were all being crafted with meticulous detail to the prototype so at least those masqueraders in any of the aforementioned sections should not be worried of having their headpieces looking different to the original.

I was also able to try the tail on for Spangled Cotinga Frontline and it is very sturdy, the back piece is made with a wire base which is then attached to the front piece using hooks on the side of the belt. The tail is awesome !!! That visit was a well needed booster to the excitement for Carnival, I cannot WAIT to see my costume!

Vintage Tuesdays

Steelband Invaders wearing their instruments hung around their necks
at the beginning of the 1950’s.


Calypso tent, 1956.Top, 4th from the left, Mighty Sparrow

Today's Vintage Tuesday features the year 1956 with two articles, one featuring Carnival in San Fernando. To read online, click on the book below:

Or, download the articles HERE.

PHOTO SOURCE:
http://www.lameca.org

Legacy Band Launch Photos

You can check out the first photos of Legacy's launch of "Kingdom of the Dragon",their 2009 presentation on trinisoca.com:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Gallery 3

They got LOTS of photos.

I will reserve my comments for when I see the costumes in person or on the website for a better look, however THIS costume below, the red one, is a VERY close version of Spice's Melliot Blue frontline:



Spice - Melliot Blue

p.s. And do not try to educate me on the Meliot Blue/Spangled Cotinga similarities; both costumes were done by the SAME designers so it is impossible to plagiarize your own self!!! It would do those of you reading the blog for the first time wellto check the archives from inception in 2006, in fact from the last few months, to understand that I do not spout things from off the top of my head without being aware of the facts.

SOURCE:
www.trinisoca.com

Monday Question Time........

Another Monday.. another round of questions. You know the drill, leave a comment or send me an email with your question at trinicarnivaldiary@yahoo.com.

Panorama 2009

Pan Trinbago has announced the dates for Panorama 2009.

Preliminary competition is slated to begin on January 23rd with the judging of single bands followed by the period January 27th to February 3rd which will feature the judging of small, medium and large bands.

On February 8th the National semi-finals, aka "Savannah Party", will once again be held at the the Queen's Park Savannah with the grand finals of Panorama taking place on February 21st at the same venue.