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 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.
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
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?
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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