Monday Mas!

TRIBE, still as massive as ever, have a great time on the road today, be safe and extra careful. Here are a FEW pics from on the road yesterday....

Carnival Coverage Live

If you are looking for LIVE Carnival  2010 coverage please check C News which is the offical Carnival station. You can pay per view at C News website or view for FREE here:

http://www.tvchannelsfree.com/watch/6228/C-News---Trinidad.html

And also visit the National Carnival Commission for scheduled stream of Carnival Events HERE.

TRIBE Size Issue Resolved For One Eri Masquerader

I was at first most upset with the sizing of my bra... ok, I was pissed as hell... my 34dd's were spilling out from all sides.

I called Tribe to complain, and they told me to come by Cascadia so they can switch (without any attitude) and I was actually surprised that it was so easy.

None of the bra samples that they had fit properly, so they opted to send me to their seamstress to measure me to get my bra made.

I am really pleased with the level of service they displayed, to me and the other masqueraders who needed adjustments, while I was there. They were VERY accommodating. They called me to let me know when the bra was ready. Perfect fit, and the design on very pretty, and did not seem rushed in any way.

Island People Mas Delivery - Review

I am an international masquerade playing in Island People Taal section. Basically we decided to have our costumes delivered. We sorted out our delivery before we arrived into the country by telephoning the Mas Camp and booking a slot over the internet.

We flew in on the 9th February so we decided to have our costumes delivered on the 11th between 8-12 in the morning. To cut a long story short we wait till gone 12:30 for our costume, when they didn’t arrive we called the Mas Camp. The Island People representative was very helpful she explained that there had been some confusion with our delivery date, they thought we arriving on the 11th so our costumes were going to get delivered on the 12th.

The IP representative then took my contact details and she told me that she would call the delivery service and try and get our costumes delivered right away. Ten minutes later the IP representative called me back to say our costumes would be delivered within 30 minutes, which It was. I was shocked. When our costumes arrive they looked better in real life and guess what Saucy, nothing was missing from the boxes and we had all the correct sizes we order.

So I hope IP are this organised on the road so the fun carries on. However my friend has a Caspian Sea Frontline costume and she is not happy, beside the costume collection being

absolute madness by having all the international masquerades collecting on Saturday and Sunday why????, we wait hours for her costume the actually costumes back piece looks nothing like the prototype, she really vex.

Three happy IP masquerade’s and one vex Spice masquerade so far it all could change on the road

First Look at Taal Frontline

Prototype

Finished Product

First Look At Kindred Spirit

Prototype

Finished Product

First Look At Kalpana Frontline

Hi Saucy,

Yes I'm late. But better then never.

First my experience in collecting my costume.

Went to Sonia Mack's Camp. WHERE I registered was not the same place to go collect my costume.

Arrived at Diego Martin camp. Went to back of building and received my chits and band.

To the front... I was given my costume. However when the young lady was going over my pieces, I noticed that the extra bra I ordered was NOT what I was shown at the registration.
( The style was my deciding factor) instead of the triangle bikini bra I was now given the usual bra issued and told that's what it has.

THEN, I noticed, I had no Pasties..

So when I asked about them, I was told that my receipt did not show I wanted Pasties. HOWEVER, the costume box Blatantly showed the costume pieces, with Pasties included.

So they sent someone to find them. Then the illustrious Mz. Mack comes out, with a pair of pasties... One of them having no adhesive cover.

So I asked what am I to do with that!

Long and short, Mz. Mack advised that I buy pasties and use them and stick the designed ones over it.

*sigh* This is my last IP year. I love my costume, but come on man IP, after all this time... Still... Treating ppl like second rate / beggar customers after I forked out $4125 for my costume? Epic Fail.

Everything else was in order though.

Have a safe carnival all.

Prototype

Finished Product

First Look at Black Indian

Prototype

Finished Product

Headpiece

Plait

Jacket

Trousers

Apron

Shoe Covers and Bag

First Look At Thailand

Prototype

Finished Product

Corset Option

One Of These Things Is Not Exactly Like The Other

You may have noticed that up until now I have refrained from commenting on any of the costume photos sent in by blog readers, however in this instance I cannot NOT comment as they affect my friends  who have some obvious costume complaints and are not satisfied with the final product. As these are my friends I am compelled to say something especially given that they are also not happy with the bullshit served to them with a smile!

First up, Wings of Isis frontline:

Prototype

Finished Product

While I cannot argue that the finished headpiece does not look nicely decorated it is glaringly obvious that the 25 or so  18 inch  Ostrich plumes from the prototype are missing on the headpiece my friend collected. 

The reason my friend was given for the stripped down headpiece was that the plumes were removed after the headpiece was tested for "weight".This change in design was done without informing the masqueraders in the section and adding insult to injury the masquerader was NOT given a cape (which comes with costume) because they had to do "extra" work on her special corset (which she had made on her own and delivered to be decorated).

Prototype

Corset with the "extra" work that 

eliminated the need for a cape

Are you kidding me Spice? So, removing the plumes was not enough to JUSTIFY giving this woman a cape? For the life of me I cannot see what was done "extra" on the corset seeing that the monokini is FULLY decorated and the corset is not. That bullshit excuse would be akin to TRIBE telling me no leg pieces because I have a bigger bra than an A cup and it took more gems to decorate! 

My other friend is extremely unhappy with her Caspian Sea backpack :

Prototype

Finished Product

click for large view of closeup

As you can see the feathers on the backpack my friend was given are NOT the colour on the prototype; the periwinkle blue feathers have been replaced and not only that, the feathers they have been replaced with are DIRTY (see closeup image)! And while Spice's excuse to her was that the feathers represent the colour of the sea and the prototype on the website has been "touched up" I have photos taken at Spice's Media Launch with the said same prototype and the colours do NOT look touched up to me:

So this leaves my friend in Wings of Isis looking for a cape to PURCHASE or MAKE two days before Carnival Tuesday after spending close to $1000.00US on a costume that is missing feathers! And, my friend in Caspian Sea left with the choice of either spending MORE money in addition to the $933.00US she has spent on the costume, to fix it to her liking OR not playing mas at all! 

Now tell me, do you think, in any realm of the imagination that this is fair to the masqueraders? Bandleaders, first rule of business the customer is ALWAYS right and instead of the excuses these two ladies could have been given some sort of recompense and alternatives to leaving costume collection unhappy, after all they PAY FOR DAT!

Soca Monarch Results

Groovy Soca Monarch

4th Patrice Roberts

3rd Rikki Jai

2nd Faye Ann Lyons

1st Sherwyn Winchester

Power Soca Monarch

4th Tallpree

3rd Shal Marshall&Screws

2nd Faye and Lyons

1st J.W. & Blaze

First Look At Wings of Isis

Prototype

Finished Product