This blog is now hosted at www.coreykgraham.me/bizblog - As you can expect I am ever evolving and when its time to move its time to move.
Now if you are reading this message in an RSS Reader it would mean that you are not subscribed to my feedburner feed. This means that when I change feeds you would not have a seamless transition and you will have to subscribe to - http://feeds2.feedburner.com/coreykgraham.
Subscribe to my feedburner feed! It helps me to know who is reading which is certainly a motivation to keep writing.
This move is going to be a pretty silent one, no big splash.
I started reading Music 2.0, Essays by Gerd Leonhard(http://www.mediafuturist.com/) Co-Author of "The Future Of Music". Being 2.0 myself, I was excited to dive in and figure out who was more 2.0 me or the music!
More Money To Be Made From Music 2.0 Just a few pages in and its already a very interesting book. Gerd Leonhard believes that the pricing structure of the media and music is changing. Although many persons are worried about the declining sales hitting the record companies, Gerd believes that once the structure evolves, there is actually going to be more money on the table for everyone. I will have to keep reading further before I can reasonably comment anymore on this idea. However, there is something else I have to talk about right now! It really hit me as I read it. Its burning my tongue and its related of cource to our beloved Caribbean Industry.
The excerpt -
Before there were any music “products” that could be purchased, just like a box of soap or a can of beans, music was controlled “by foot” (as my friend and fellow museratus Jim Griffin likes to say). In other words, the artists had to be physically present to perform, and equally, the listener had to be present at the same place and time of the performance. Music was simply a service (as it still is in many developing countries, which is why they will head into Music 2.0 even quicker, skipping the entire product-centric period), and artists enjoyed great influence and appreciation.
This sooo interesting, in my humble opinion as soca music is actually making good use of the internet as the net evolves and becomes more and more a part of our lives. I believe soca is well on its way to a Music 2.0 format.
SOCA 2.0 With music comes a culture, soca's culture is Carnival. As we move through the year and Caribbean Communities all over the world have their carnivals. Soca lovers worldwide get online to follow the music. Soca lovers search for the latest songs, music videos and performance clips. They budget their spending money for the trip as they research the fete/party schedule and shop around for the perfect costume to parade in the streets on carnival day. Soca music is now strictly released worldwide. Several artistes and producers email their latest production across the world via email. To "release" their songs. The webmasters, free 2 Air Radio & Internet radio stations make the music available for us all to listen to at our leisure. The webmasters and radio stations in the host countries watch their website hits and radio streams go on fire, as soca lovers from all over the world tune in, and listen to the very latest happenings of the carnival. The music drives the energy of the infectious carnival atmosphere. People want to hear and feel the music while jumping down the road dressed in their colourful carnival costumes. Sounds to me like the soca music is actually a service or carnival that people enjoy, rather than a product to snatch off the shelves. This is how it has been for years. It continues to grow as the internet gets more and more ubiquitous.
The soca industry is evolving rapidly. However, many of us do not perceive it as actually in a state of evolution. We see it as something broken, and so we are forever trying to fix it. We readily cut the momentum of an artiste career so they are prepped and ready to sign a record deal with record labels which are actually losing more and more revenue each year.
The floor is now open for discussion. Feel free to express and share your opinion!
GET INVOLVED IN The "SOCA NOW" MOVEMENT
Its not just talk, I have enlisted "Soca Now" Movement which aims to push myspace to create a soca category.
People in the industry all over the world, fans to artiste to managers have been showing their support to this movement...
The first thing you can do is SEND IN YOUR EMAIL TO MYSPACE .... then you can invite all your friends
I am not sure if you heard as yet, just over a week ago Band Leader Brian Mc Farlane owned the front page of every newspaper in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Oh, and it was not on a weekday. It was on Sunday! Yup! The prime time spot. No, he did not just get that placement because he is the two-time winner of the "Band of the Year" title in Trinidad Carnival. Nor did he purchase front page advertising in all the newspapers. Hmm, now there is a thought. Boi would I love to be able to have the kind of money! Can you imagine that purchasing that kind of advertising over the counter. Lol. (Corey Graham 2.0 stops and looks into his wallet imagining)
Right focus boi and write the blog post! Ok from Dreamland...
I was making the point that he was able to accomplish this feet by being REMARKABLE ...worth making a REMARK about. Seriously, the man asked the media to be ready for pick up at 5:30 am on Saturday morning! Power to them! Maybe my team and I could have gone there after covering something exciting on the Friday night. I am not sure how the logistics of getting out of bed at the time would work out. lol.
Anyways the media who did make it had no clue where they were going to end up! They only knew they were getting on a shuttle to be driven to the location for the presentation... "Up in de bush" (forested location).Yup, I am sure the media were a little surprised by that. Brian Mc Farlane launched his band in the middle of nowhere! To add to the story...Lets stop here for a minute. Notice who is the story teller here. Brian is. Not the journalist. This man was "making news" I was saying...To add to his story, 50 dancers, singers and drummers came forth from the forest to present 19 costumes to the 25 journalists on hand. Thatis howBrian Mc Farlane's Trinidad Carnival 2009 Presentation Africa : Her People, Her Glory, Her Tears.
Here are some video clips I found on youtube of the launch.
Yes Judette, Its my pleasure to pitch and give you some "free" publicity for the great work. (send my mango in fed ex! thanks alot!)
Seriously, though its a great story to tell not just on pages 1 and 2 of the daily newspapers, but its also a story worth blogging about, worth sending to friends in email and worth being the topic of a worthwhile conversation! a.k.a. Word of Mouth the best kinda of marketing there is.
So do you anything as exciting in your marketing/promotion plan?
Brewsters Road Crew reinforced a valuable marketing lesson I learnt at the start of this 2008 summer period during my time under "house arrest".
Summer didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned it. As a Vincy Mas Virgin, I was looking forward to my "first experience" of Vincy Mas 2008 then I was anxious to return to St. Lucia Carnival 2008 for a second consecutive "first experience" lol.... but it was not meant to be.
Without any warning I was reduced to BirdMan 2.0, just 2 weeks before Vincy Mas final weekend. I officially had Chicken Pox and was confined to my bedroom for 2 weeks!!!!
Those trips to Vincy Mas and St. Lucia Carnival morphed into distant dreams, the shadows of a former reality .... into just another episode of 'wishful thinking'.
I could really appreciate how those Olympic hopefuls feel, when they manage to injure themselves just before the Olympic Games. Their dreams crushed. Well hmmm, maybe its 1000 times more magnified for them.. Anyways I made the most of my appointment to the BirdMan 2.0 post, once I had that a lifeline to the internet I was happy! Once I could communicate and blog.
(Backstage manager - stop rambling and "showing off" - just get to the blasted point - Corey Graham 2.0 or whatever u call yourself.. )
CG 2.0 - Alrite!!!
During my daily online sweep as Birdman 2.0, I came across a speech delivered by one of my favourite bloggers & marketing gurus, Seth Godin at TED : Ideas Worth Spreading.
(TED is an annual conference brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)Click here for more info on TED)
Seth Godin's speech, on making ideas spread really hit me hard, and got me thinking. I posted almost immediately to this blog. And then I saw it play out with Brewsters Road Crew extraordinary success over the Crop Over 2008 season.
Let me share the perspective with you.
I strongly recommend that you take the time to watch the video. Its highly recommended by Corey Graham 2.0.
Brewsters Road Crew (www.brewstersroadcrew.com) are known for their hardcore partying during carnival season. This was what fueled their concept for their events. They wanted to create events that hardcore partiers like themselves would enjoy.
The party would not end till 8, 9, 10, 11 am the next day, it was to be wall to wall soca. All soca, and All Party. There was even a cage made to lock up people who did not party hard enough.
Brewsters Road Crew focused on the people on the fringes. They focused on those people who are passionate about carnival, they focused on hardcore party people. They didn't try to be mass market. They chose a niche market and focused on it. I am sure that those persons enlisted to assist them, were clear on the vision for the events. And it spread...
Their idea spread. It caught on like wild fire, like the ipod or the blackberry. They were able to cross over into many different markets and age groups simply because they had something which was REMARKABLE. They had something worth talking about.
It was definately worth talking about. It was REMARKABLE. I would never forget going to Brewsters Road this year.
Its packed from 11 pm and the crowd just kept coming.
At 3 am - 4 am when you usually expect the crowd to lessen, it just thickened. People left other events and went to Brewsters Road after.
Door closed at 2 am, with tonnes of people still outside, and the venue is big!
Event organizers had big headaches just trying to get artistes slated to perform through the mob of people outside trying to get in.
Waiting outside in a line to go in a fete at 2 am is something foreign to Barbados, but for brewsters road, closing the door at 2 am as a standard
Brewsters Road the best thing since sliced bread? Maybe .. spread the idea.
Early in the morning when ah just wake up.... says Mad Dog in his big tune for Crop Over 2008. Its been mashing up the fetes here so far.
Yesterday morning though, I found myself previewing the official Crop Over website soft launched on a brand new domain www.CropOverBarbados.com.
I know what ya thinking! That's ridiculous Crop over is just over a month away and the site only now launching!! West Indian people boi! Let me try and save the NCF (National Cultural Foundation) before the public criticisms have them singing " Hard Times hit we, Hard Time hit we, we gine and drink something now." Its was only after the Barbados General Election on January 15th, that the NCF were once again commissioned the responsibility to produce Corey Over 2008. I'm going to leave it at that. I not writing ah calypso. This is just a new blog post.
Right so I found myself wearing my "Web 2.0 / Entertainment Blogger hat" looking over the new and improved Crop Over website. The site was engineered and constructed by the same web architect behind this blog and www.coreykgraham.com. Stan Armstrong of Amitage. Stan is the Man. In his words,
Honestly, I hope I play my part in enhancing the festival experience to all who the site touches
Overall the site is good, I like the way things have been arranged and alot more information available from the website. Stan boi, you got real props for the inclusion of a "festival blog" into the site! As a blogger its good to see that the governing body of a major Caribbean carnival is going to blogging. Yeah i all for that! Blog and wuck up. Hmmm, that sound like a good hook for a Crop 2008 tunes. lol,. right so I am all for the the festival blog. Its a godo way to get information out on the festival and there is the opportunity to build a relationship with Crop Over fans worldwide. (read my recent post on why start a blog? To learn more the whole notion of blogging).
I think it would be even better if the rss feed has the body or the articles in it, then it will be a winner, well at least in CG 2.0 book,
Before I go on you can to take a look at the old site here - Old CropOver Site
The new site is definitely more eye catching and also easy to use. Most of the info on the site you can get to easily directly from the homepage. The homepage also has a summary of the latest news, latest photos, latest announcements and even streaming audio of the latest Crop Over tracks. ITs impressive stuff. NCF Launches its own online Radio station? And listen pod for new tracks? This is interesting though as Bajantube.com now the new hot spot online for anyone wanting to listen to Crop Over 2008 music, in fact BajanTune is boosting of being #1 Bajan website accordiing to Alexa. Check it out here
I don't want to say too much on the actual content. As I understand there is still much to be added, as the site starts to take shape. However based on what I am seeing I am wondering if NCF would be able to keep up getting all these articles, photos and video on the site. Time will tell. Based on what I am seeing now, the content seems a little bit more of a general entertainment site, than that of a governing body for a festival
Media accreditation forms
Rules for competitions, application forms for artiste
Press Releases
Prominent Links directing persons to book tickets and reserve their accommodation
The press releases and media accreditation are the bigest ones for for me, because you want to get the maximum exposure for the festival. Having the press releases available on site would make it easier for journalists around to work to write compelling and accurate news articles on the Crop Over Festival. Having a clear media accreditation process outlined,is an open invitation for media companies to and cover Crop Over 2008. The more media entities that come to cover Crop Over, then the more exposure the festival will get.
All in all the site is looking good do far, with some the fine tuning and more relavant content, I think it will be a bit hit.
Bring out the food and drinks to this nice cocktail party on my blog. This is the time for the Beta launch of another Corey Graham 2.0 innovation. Its an invitation only launch party. Lots of important and influencial people attending. These are my blog subscribers. Also appreciating the value of your time I am going to keep this launch within 5 mins. So let's get started.
Meet and Greet and Getting seated (1 sec) Most of you are already sitting
Opening Remarks - (2 sec)
Hi
History Behind this Moment - (2 mins)
The Caribbean Entertainment Search started out as a personal tool which I developed to make my job easier. Its really a personal tool that I created around Trinidad Carnival time (February 2008). The list of websites to check for the info I wanted was getting a little long. I am good an google search but it was a bit annoying when searching for certian thing especially names of people in the Caribbean entertainment world. It was a bit of a pain sometimes to find some info you wanted quickly. Accomodation, car rentals, music producers, artiste managers etc. were definately not always the easiest thing to find. I used the Google Custom Search to tweak my search results so that I could see all the things I really want to see, in a single search.
After a little testing, it proved to be worth its salt from there I essentially built my own personal Caribbean Entertainment Search Engine. I only shared it with a few people who might ask for my help to find Caribbean Entertainment related info.
These ranged from people in the entertainment business to persons planning trips to Carnivals and other Festivals. One person who I gave the site to contacted me about a week ago ranting and raving about how useful the search was. It was then it hit me that I should share this search engine with other people wanting to find Caribbean Entertainment Information.
After all it will be one of the things which could go a long way in creating a more tangible Caribbean Entertainment Community, by allowing people to find the relavant information more readily.
Feature Presentation (1 mins)
It took some time to package up, and it not perfect however its a useful tool. And
I am constantly refining.
I would like to thank you for attending this launch. I hope that My Caribbean Entertainment Search make life easier for you. I would like to also thank Out Of The Box Thinking for their continued support of my blog and different initiatives.
Thank you for coming see you at another of Launch Event before 2009! I just know there is going to be some other idea.
Corey Graham 2.0
http://www.coreykgraham.com/blog
http://mobile.coreykgraham.com
My research department tells me that we in the Caribbean have 2 seasons, a dry season and a wet season. The dry season is from November - May and the wet season is from June - November (when we are likely to have tropical depressions, storms or hurricanes which generally means ALOT of rain!
Looking at this you would think that conventional wisdom would dictate our the summer falling somewhere in the dry months of the year especially when there is not much of a possibility of a hurricane. Another angle might be to argue that the longest days of the year must be summer. This would mean out summer is in the right place May - July months. Its possible though that the summer comes from a learned habit from our past European colonial masters? All the students in the caribbean have their longest vacation period during these months ... My research department is digging deeper. I will let you know if we uncover anything else...Something to think about.
Right so as I was saying summer is here, and lots going on Vincy Mas, St. Lucia Carnival, Reggae Sumfest (JA), ATI weekend (JA), Great Fete(Tobago), Crop Over (Barbados), Antigua Carnival, Spice Mas (Grenada) and tonnes of other shows and parties. I feeling the theme song "Out on De Road" by Zan
"I out on the road...
I dey with my friends
If you looking for me
You will find me again
I right round de bend"
There is alot of buzz going on about this years summer, there are going to lots of new events and new chunes in abundance. My personal phrase for this summer is
Whas de cool?
Click here for the first Corey Graham 2.0 Podcast -
It that simple,
Oh I have to give it a meaning?
hmmmm let me see
How are you toning down all this summer HEAT?
For those of you who might want to use this coooool idea - email me and get your cheque book ready we can talk.
Let me know what you think of my first real effort at a podcast
Break your routine! Just for a day, do something you won't have normally done.
You will be amazed at how refreshing it could be! Corey Graham.
Try it! Seriously! Try it!
I believe that as annoying and disruptive some breaks can be, there is still a lot of good in them.
Well that is if you doing freak out and complain and complain and
complain. Just keep your basic plans in front of you and enjoy it!
Breaks can really
enlargen your perspective
give you totally new perspective.
get a glimpse of what your future holds on your current path
You might get to see your skills in action. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you are capable of
Give yourself permission to take breaks.
I learnt this last year when I went to St. Lucia Carnival at the height of 'Festival Fever' for Crop Over in Barbados.
I was a bit skeptical as to how the trip would turn out, especially since I didn't have many real links in St. Lucia.
However, I ended up having a blast and realising how small and yet how similar the Caribbean is.
Yet still how far apart and oblivious we are of each other....
It took 9 months for the St. Lucian Road March to leave Wave FM and
reach Bajan airwaves of Mix FM 96.9, Hott 95.3 and 98.1 FM The One....
'Caribbean Integration' will be a future post. For now I wanted make the point
that the trip expanded my mind to appreciate that I am a really
Caribbean Man from Barbados. And now I can look at this coming summer from a much broader perspective.
Yes, Yes small islander still having to hunt for my food ...but now in a concrete jungle.
Since then I have given myself permission to take breaks and life seems all the brighter and more fulfilling for it
Break the Routine up a bit. Don't expect chaos, Just some perspective. Allow yourself be refreshed!
It has come to my attention that there is going to be a new option available for those of you planning to vacation in the Caribbean this summer.
A grouping of Caribbean Tourism ministers, some of the major cruise liners along tour operators in the world have come together to offer cruises this summer which will see the packaging the summer festivals of the Caribbean into a range of cruises.
Caribbean Summer Festivals of Interest
Vincy Mas - St. Vincent & the Grenadines
St. Lucia Carnival - St. Lucia
Crop Over - Barbados
ATI - Jamaica
Great Fete - Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua Carnival - Antigua
Reggae Sumfest - Jamaica
Spice Mas - Grenada
Yes, yes I couldn't believe it!
Can you imagine that?
Ok let me paint a picture for you....
After parading in the Streets of Kingstown for Vincy Mas with the music of Zoelah, Jamesey P, Skinny Fabulous and crew. You stumble to your 'hotel room' on a cruise liner and the next morning you step out into Castries with car pasing blairing the sounds of Ricky T, Kakal and Alpha. Hitting the road for J'Ouvert and Pretty Mas with the bands Just 4 Fun and Red International.
The next stop is to the Soca Bowl (Soca Monarch) on the East Coast Road in Barbados climaxing on Kadooment day with the sounds of Hypa Daug, Krosfyah and Alison Hinds. Down behind the Baje International or Power By 4 music truck.....
I think you get the picture.
Alrite, now let me make your blood boil now (esp. The Yankees DEM). This cruise will have what they call the "Premium Carnival Experience".
No, no! this is not just getting VIP tickets to the major events. I am talking about no hassles.
No calling 10 people to secure tickets for your crew for the fetes.
No saving scalpers numbers in your phone. And paying a lot more money for your tickets just cause you have a foreign accent.
No getting lost for an hour of your valueable liming/party time.
What about your costumes? Ladies do I really, really need to get into the mis match horror stories. Many of you know about jumping and not looking your best!
The Premium Carnival Experience
All passengers on the cruise will never have to touch a single event ticket!!!! Ever!
Every passenger will be banded once they get on the bus, wait let me re-phrase that! When the fully air conditioned coach arrives at the venue each passenger will be banded and will enter the fete in a special line. No lines and no designated drivers or navigators needed! Sorry!!! For you who look forward to being awarded that responsibility.
As far as Playin' Mas goes....Mas Bands, will be invited on board the cruise ship to deliver costumes and to ensure passengers are 'road worthy'.
Where did this all start?
Apparently this idea came up
during talks regarding ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 held in the Caribbean....
....It came back to the basic rule all major promoters know. Its better to build up an annual event over time than run after a one time opportunistic events. The risk is just so much larger.....
So why just stop at cricket?
It didn't turn out so good but some of the Cricket World Cup discarded partying ideas made it into the Summer Festivals and did pretty well in that forum.
This was the first indication that this idea has something to it.
Ok look lets at it
tourism ministries and tour operators will now have a product with tremendous credibility and appeal to many more persons. No Hassles, less unknowns, no local connections needed.
festivals will grow, with some cruise ships with a capacity of approx 3000 people, that is 3000 more people to experience the festival...
Ok let me put to you like this way. If you put together the largest mas bands in Crop Over and St. Lucia mas you cannot fill 1 cruise ship!
Cruise ships companies can now add another package to their current offering.
Mas Bands and Promoters would have confirmed sales from much earlier and so they can invest more into producing a quality show and costumes.
lots of other small businesses will benefit from the increased visitors on the island.
I understand that the details of the package still need to be worked out. However, the initial market research indicates that these cruise packages are expected to attract alot students, graduates and young professionals who have very few responsibilities.(e.g. children, Mortages etc).
Marketing Campaigns will be directed to the universities in the caribbean (UWI, SGU, etc). Also those in the diaspora McGill, York, Toronto, CUNY, Miami International, Howard and a few more.
Its also expected to have a good response from the groups of Stella's out there looking to get their groove back on! Lol. And of course a good wine or wuk-up!
My take on it is that it will be a tremendous benefit to the economies of the Caribbean esp. the 'Carnival Nations'.
Now for those news reporters reading this, let me save you a call or email by giving you a quote now.
'Its a paradigm shift in tourism in the caribbean. Its a very innovative and very creative product which is well positioned to grow rapidly in the coming years. It embraces the new trend of cruising and carnivals worldwide, while leveraging the close proximity of isles of the Caribbean and the similarities of the cultures along with the great diversities in the cultures. You couldn't want it Better than that!' Said Corey Graham 2.0
'Also of course it is April Fools day and I just got you!'Laughed Corey Graham 2.0
Or did I really get you?
Is this not an inevitable step?
Maybe its just a conversation we have not got into as yet as a Caribbean Community.
I have started it here on my Blog. Now my question to you is .....
Will you join me in this conversation?
Corey K Graham : What about the other entertainment Shaggy and Alison Hinds ...
CG 2.0 : Hmmm there was alot of entertainment planned the Heineken Regatta is really a 4 - day event but the Alison hinds ....
Corey K Graham : Alrite maybe you can give us a short run down of the Schedule ?
CG 2.0 : Yeah man I can do that... Alrite so..........
Day 1 (Thrus) At Port De Plaisance (the warm up day for sailing)
Fashion show followed by 2 local bands take the stage White Knuckle Weekend(Rock Band)and One White Chick(9 piece soul band).
Day 2 (Fri) At Philipsburg, Boardwalk (first day of the race)
Boardwalk was set up with 3 stages Island Flavor, Holland house and St. Rose Arcade. The St. Rose Arcade. The performances we got to see were HoneyPot(versatile band from Aruba), Intwine (St. Maarten born-International Rock Band) and King T-Mo (st. Martin Carnival Jump Up King)
Day 3 (Sat) At Marigot , Waterfront (second day of the race)
International Ladies Day and it was fitting to have 2 female soca stars in the "Soca Queen" Alison Hinds from Barbados and Tizzy with El-A-Kru from Antigua and Cutcreator DJ Outkast from St. Maarten.
Day 4 (Sun) At Kim sha Beach, (final day of the race) International Superstar Shaggy (Mr Lova Lova) from Jamaica, Youth Waves from St. Martin, Pan Band and Mixmaster Pauly.
Corey K Graham : Wow man that is alot of entertainment .....
CG 2.0 : Its a kind of showcase of the Caribbean Culture for sailors, spectators and locals....St. Maarten is not your typical Caribbean island there is alot of dance music, zouk and other genre you won't usually expect when partying in the Caribbean.... There was even a premiere of St Maarten movie.
Trailer shown for a St. Maarten Movie - The Panman: Rhythm of the Palms
Corey K Graham :Wow man that looking like a Hollywood style trailer that was not expected at all!
CG 2.0 : Yeah man its for international release they said.
Corey K Graham : What stood out in the entertainment package for the Regatta? Something you not accustomed to?
CG 2.0 : Definately the variety, I know about Alison Hinds, Tizzy (El-A-Kru) and Shaggy before the Regatta but I mean the other bands I didn't know very much about them. I guess I would have to admit the whole North of the Caribbean is all a bit new to me. I think though Intwine was definately intriguting to be. I am told they are pretty big in Holland, they are a rock band, but to connect with their Caribbean roots they created something called the 'Rum shop" acoustic session that they have become known for. Its really like a musical melting pot with short clips of some top Caribbean hits that are blazing the airwave across the region from every genre. All mixed into a acoustic session. I am sure as a Caribbean person no matter your musical preference you would have found your leg shaking during their performance.
Corey K Graham : hahaha yeah ?
CG 2.0 : yeah man for sureeee
Corey K Graham : Anything else that stood out? That was different for you!
CG 2.0 : Definately Mix Master Pauly facing off musically against St. Maarten's top pan man. It was crazy .... that's definately a clip i will get up on BoomTribe.com soon! the pan name playing the pan upside down and DJ Paulie keeping up with him. It was maddd!!
Corey K Graham : hahahaha ...
CG 2.0 : Oh and I almost forgot! Vicks is Fa Cold and fa Cough (Read aloud and quickly lol). That was a one song that certainly stood out! It was killing me dead. King T-Mo really did well with that tune....
Corey K Graham : ahahaha, What about the other performances?
CG 2.0 : Everyone seemed to be on their A game, from the press conference where we got our interviews with Tizzy, Alison Hinds and Shaggy for Roamin TV show. When they took to the stage at their appointed times they really delivered.
Tizzy really stood out for her energy even though she had 3 false starts due to technical difficulties with the sound system. when she go going she really did! The crowd going crazy to her hit "Expose". Tizzy was just about looking sexy and cute she showed she had all the moved to back it up!
Alison Hinds really did well too, having the crowd singing along with her most of her performance to songs like "Faluma", "Raggamuffin", "Thundah" and "Roll" and more.
Her dancers providing good visual support to her show. Alison was looking well herself!!!
Corey K Graham : Hahaha sounds like you enjoyed your International Women Day!
CG 2.0 : Yes i did!
Corey K Graham : Tell me did the ladies, Enjoy Mr Lova Lova?
CG 2.0 : Listen, Shaggy came out and in a few second said he was feeling horny. Man for the women it was all over ... all the women were hooked from there, esp those volunteers that were working all weekend, they went crazyyyyyyyy. I was impressed with Shaggy he really performed and rocked the crowd. Took the party to another level. Shaggy is a real star man, just real matter a fact and confident throughout his interview.
Corey K Graham : That's why they call him "Mr Boombastic".
CG 2.0 : Did i mention all these parties were free? all?
Corey K Graham : No you didn't!!!
CG 2.0 : Yeah man all them were free. and it suprised me! But after all Heineken ain't got small bank accounts. Also St. Maarten is a big Heineken market. Actually There is the new Heineken Premium Light that is only available in 3 places in the world and St. Maarten is one of them!!
Corey K Graham : Really? Is it any good?
CG 2.0 : Its smoother that the regular heineken's. but the Heineken in St. Maarten in general tasted different because they are brewed in Holland. The South Caribbean gets
Heineken's from St. Lucia.
Corey K Graham : Talking about that? you were mentioning something about a Heineken plane ?
CG 2.0 : Oh yeah believe it or not there is a plane that was turned into a restuarant. So you can actually dine on board the plane in the fuselage!!!
Corey K Graham : Are you serious ????
CG 2.0 : Yesssssss, lol look at the photos. we did some filming of it for Roamin' too. Apparently it was a plane that the wings had been dismantled in Anguilla and it was brought to St. Maarten and made into a restaurant!
Corey K Graham : St. Maarten does sound like an interesting place? What about the night clubs ?
CG 2.0 : We hit 2 clubs Bliss and newly opened Mansion. Because of your hectic schedule we only really got just over an hour in each club. They were really nicely laid out. Bliss is an outdoor club, with a indoor type feel it was definately nice. Although its an outdoor club the dance floor is still light up with all the lighting effect you expect from an indoor club. You can really feel like you are in an indoor club
Mansion is just as nice. its a smaller club but styled with couches running throughout. It done in such a way that people are able to stand on the back of the cushions and party the night away!
Corey K Graham : Sounds good ...
CG 2.0 : Yeah man, let me know forget Klush Ultra Lounge with the largest collection of 128 vodkas in the caribbean and probably soon the world. Very chic place with nice decor and a very keen staff. The bar tender and chef were definately on the top of their game. There was new bartender just on the island for a few weeks and he was becoming know for his Rasberry Mohito which I have to say was quite good. I was definately impressed! The food was just as good as we took some time lounge around.
Corey K Graham : That's how you are rolling?
CG 2.0 : In a little bit I hope to be getting accustomed to it !!
Corey K Graham : Thanks for a good interview man, funny thing though, I feel like I know you!
CG 2.0 : Same here, I dont know. thanks for having me.
Corey K Graham : Np
So there you know my experiences in Sint. Maarten all captured in interview format. I interviewed myself yes .... dont call it cocky ... crazy works for me.
Thanks.
In the morning I will be flying off to the 28th Annual Heineken Regatta in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. (dutch side)
Its basically a big yacht race with an equally as big party schedule ... if you are from the Caribbean of course you will make the connection between a big yacht race and 4 highly energetic nights of partying featuring local, regional and international artistes. Yip jthat's right a valid reason to party. lol!
Seriously, though its my first time going, but I am told its a big, big deal. The Heineken Crew from all over the Caribbean looks forward to this event every year and so do the people of St. Maarten. Its bigger than their carnival have features a wide variety of music - rock, soca, soul, pop, electro acoustic, reggae, dancehall,rap, latin, jazz, zouk and salsa. I hope i covered all of them!
Shaggy and Alison Hinds are headlining the long list of entertainment for this the 2008 Heineken Regatta along with El-A-Kru, Curcreator Outkast, King T-Mo(St. Maarten Carnival Jump Up King).
I am sure its going to be quite an experience for me, its my first time going to cover for BoomTribe.com. I will be with the Roamin' TV crew of course ... also covering the Heineken Regatta looking to package yet another Caribbean Festival and put it on the screen. After recently closing a deal with CBS Roamin is now on CBS's Caribbean Affliate station WSEE TV which puts it in front of 16 million people. (read more on that here)
Also on the agenda is to check out the 3 biggest clubs in St. Marteen Club Bliss
The Q Club
The Gizmo
This was my first time watching the Soca Monarch in its entirety.
Groovy soca
I tuned into the show with Secondary school champoin performing, He was very energetic spliting and all !! next onstage was the son of the man who sang that first soca tune. Ras Shorty's I son Issac Blackman.
It was straight into the performances of the groovy Soca Monarch.I cant give the best picture because alot of the time i didnt have a picture to work with however i tried to make the most of what i had, considering all the sticking.
We all know its all about the Power Soca Monarch that the big highlight when you talking half million dollars in the prize money and reign of the soca world for a year
you know its no push over. It was my first time taking in the Soca monarch in its entirety and i must say i really really enjoyed it. Its the premeire show in Soca music bringing out alot of showmanship comparable comparable to a small movie production. And I must was I was quite impressed with it.
The Groovy Soca Monarch aspect of the show is the slower and quieter in the greater scheme of things it like an opening to the real showdown which is the Power Soca Monarch. In fact Bunji Garlin thinks of it like 7 - 10 mins for you to put down possibly the best performance of your career.
The Goovy soca monarch had some good entries, I found that the performances were all similar I guess my stream was sticking alot too so i can't really state that too strongly. Based on what i saw i can say that Gyal Farm by Kerwin Du bios and Shal Marshall and Soka Junkie by Mr Dale were the tunes that definately came over as the party songs the others were slower like your were Chippin Down the Road with your own woman or looking for a lil Mo' wuk. Everyone came out and did their role call for all the caribbean nations. shurwayne Whinchester was aa little different in his presentation using a park bench to try to create the atmospher for his tune "Carnival". I didn't get to have a good look at the performances as my stream from C TV was sticking.
At this point I should take some time to commend C Tv on their coverage mainly for filling the slots with interviews of the artiste which would have been done days before the show, They had the entertainers fielding questions not from a lone interviewer but from the public. Yup, the interviews would show with the ariste doing their intro and then pre-recorded clips of questions from their fans. Fans in all shapes and sizes, different age groups and accent recorded in party or on the street or while they were shopping.
Questions ranged from -
What does soca Monarch mean for Soca music ?
to
what do you think about during a performance ?
I must say it was very interesting to hear the artiste reponses and to see accompanying video when the artiste mentioned some the past competitions in their explanations.
So on the the Power soca I have to mention Ricky T (PRessure Boom) I had seen him perform for St. Lucia Carnival and his performance tonite really did improved as he worked the stage and the crowd well. He certianly woke me up and i am glad he did! This power soca was shaping up to be a big show down between Blaxx, Bunji Garlin, faye-ann and the reign monarch D'Boss(The artiste formerly know as Iwer George).
In her performance Nadia Batson (my Posse) said she was being called the dark horse... but watch out tonite. And boy did she impress. In her interview she said she loved presentation and her presentation was definately on tonite. Nadia came up with an all white set. Everyone wore white. she came out when a dance group around her dancing with an african flavour and I definately had that feel that i was watching a
well choregraphed movie intro ... she performed the song quite well and a little later
she asked the crowd to part in 2 and she had all the big flags centred and a line of Moka Jumbies (silt men) standing in the middle of the crowd holding fireworks in hand ...it looked great but then she spent alot of time directing the moka Jumbies and the flags in the crowd and it definately took away from her performance.
Next was D'Boss with his over you head and the Passa Passa dance. It became obvious that his song was designed for the road march when he started his performance literally over the audience's head suspended in a crane. And he didnt immediately come to the stage either, he stayed out there and interacted with the crowd, while his dancers and back up singers kept the stage filled. D'Boss asked to be put on stage
where he invited more dancers to join him and demonstrate a simple dance put together for the crowd to do. Then he asked the crowd if they wanted to see his passa passa and he broke into "do de iwer, de butterfly, the shadow and wave." He then re entered his crane and ended his performance hovering over the crowd.
Next was bunji Garlin ... flew down on the stage with wings and having them removed he started into his "Firey". From the time he started I could feel the conviction and energy from Bunji's voice was commanding and energetic...and with such a simple intro, you are sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Bunji then said he had a special delievery and called out 2 boys on stage and explained to the crowd he didnt care about winning this crowd he wanted to make sure that good old music is never forgotten. For those of you who dont know firey is a remake of a song by Maestro and was popular back in the 1970's. the boys turned out to be
Maestro's son and nephew. Bunji explained they were there to show he had their blessing. That was great but the enrgy in his voice make yo uthink something big was coming ..then his words came - Start it! Start it! and the suspense was gone. It was just to pay attn now nothing spectacular ever came. But by then bunji firing on all cylinders. lyrics were flying from his mouth like nothing. you could really feel his passion about not letting the old music die and you forgot the theatrics. After that every direction was a ryhme. He was lifted to the roof in a harness and there spinning in a circle he was over taken by this energy. Honestly Bunji's performance gave me goosebumps and shook me to my core by the time he was done i wants to scream. WOW it was firey!
Faye-Ann Lyons
Bunji's wife Faye-ann Lyons followed him with her popular track "Get on". she started out with nothing hugely spectacular. Well dressed in a costume no one has to tell you that faye-ann body is firey... anyways she really did perform the song and her voice was powerful and commanding. She did sing something to her husband.You can figure out how affectionate it was
"bunji garlin i am your wife,
but i will beating u here tonite
and dont call my phone
till we get home"
(not her exact words but u get the idea).
Her big hoorah came next, she said they call IWer, D'Boss and Bunji, the Fire Man. Tonite she is going to be the silver surfer. She asked for her head piece and then mounted her board! And surded thru the crowd all the while performing .. waveee hold it , waveee hold it .. hold it, hold it ..GET ON ... GET ONE faye-ann did well. And damn she had incredible balance to stay on that board !
You tube video of her performance
She was followed by Blaxx and breathless. I felt sorry for him it became obvious his mic
was not configured properly and although the lights were still off even though the band had already started. when he got the mic he just sang - sort of keep it all business, never stopping to talk to the crowd he just got on a plywood similar style to fay ann and finished most of his preformance in the crowd He was too far away for the camera to pick him out in the dark. He returned to the stage and left.
After that came problem child and pelf, who did well but really could not touch the kind of energy or the previous acts....
Before your get the results I should make a note here that in an interview after his performance Bunji said alot of things went wrong and alot he planned to do didn't come off and he was not pleased with his performance. If only Bunji had seen himself lol.
anyways with not futher a due 4th 250 - nadia my posse
3rd 254 - fay-ann lyons
2nd - 257- iwer george
1st - firey - bunji garlin
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Graham : Alrite maybe you can give us a short run down of the Schedule ?
Day 2 (Fri) At Philipsburg, Boardwalk (first day of the race)
locals....St. Maarten is not your typical Caribbean island there is alot of dance music, zouk and other genre you won't usually expect when partying in the Caribbean.... There was even a premiere of St Maarten movie.
something called the 'Rum shop" acoustic session that they have become known for. Its really like a musical melting pot with short clips of some top Caribbean hits that are blazing the airwave across the region from every genre. All mixed into a acoustic session. I am sure as a Caribbean person no matter your musical preference you would have found your leg shaking during their performance.
CG 2.0 : Definately Mix Master Pauly facing off musically against St. Maarten's top pan man. It was crazy .... that's definately a clip i will get up on BoomTribe.com soon! the pan name playing the pan upside down and DJ Paulie keeping up with him. It was maddd!!
CG 2.0 : Everyone seemed to be on their A game, from the press conference where we got our interviews with Tizzy, Alison Hinds and Shaggy for Roamin TV show. When they took to the stage at their appointed times they really delivered.
Alison Hinds really did well too, having the crowd singing along with her most of her performance to songs like "Faluma", "Raggamuffin", "Thundah" and "Roll" and more. 
volunteers that were working all weekend, they went crazyyyyyyyy. I was impressed with Shaggy he really performed and rocked the crowd. Took the party to another level. Shaggy is a real star man, just real matter a fact and confident throughout his interview.
eken in St. Maarten in general tasted different because they are brewed in Holland. The South Caribbean gets 
Apparently it was a plane that the wings had been dismantled in Anguilla and it was brought to St. Maarten and made into a restaurant!
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