Is dis ah two-man gang ting

Earlier dis year, two men walked into Searchlight Office, high daytime, one of dem headed straight to de Accountant’s desk and told him to hand over all his cash, all his cash, indicating which ah the three drawers de money was kept. Nobody present in de office, ever saw dem before, but dey knew dey way-about and de time of day to hold-up de Office.{{more}} Ah few weeks ago, two men went to Findlay’s Villa home looking foh apartment to rent, he tried to extend genuine landlord courtesies, invited dem in foh ah drink, and dey beat him to near death and robbed him.

Last Sat-dey at about 10:00 a.m. Dennis Joyette, ah seen-yah citizen like me-self, went to his Office to check on things, feed his dogs and so on. He sensed something was wrong as ah yard light dat he left on over-night, was off. But his dogs kept looking upstairs as if to let him know dat two masked robbers had cut thru de roof and entered de building, de dogs wanted dey master to be aware, dat robbers were inside his office waiting to ambush him! Joyette narrowly escaped death, he was beaten, robbed of cash and other personal valuables; den dey threw him into his vault room. Findlay and Joyette are counting dey blessings.

De question is do we have ah pattern, ah two-man gang randomly terrorizing innocent and harmless (ole) people? We don’t know who is who and Lie-Za say dat when de Police shoot and kill, she prefer to remain sigh-lent. But Citizens must be on high alert and on de look-out from strange looking characters in dey area.

HARM-CHAIR JUDGING

Ah paid foh de Karib Cable package and judged de Carnival Shows from my harm-chair at home. It cheaper and de seat more comfortable. Mardi Gras on stage was colourful, and if ah must be buy-us, Becks Band from my area, Murray Village, was impressive. Dey was ah marked improvement in dem “charmingly chubby” and “pleasingly plump” ladies costumes, dey was less abuses ah de skimpy, bikini swimwear. But oh boy, some women still opted foh dey lude and vulgar behave-yah pon stage, shame-full!

CDC must stamp out vulgarity pon de stage, do like Bo-bathe-us, disqualify de Band immediately. Dat’s why our Pastors in de Churches condemning de Carnival. On de other hand, ah wish dem same Pastors would be as vocal on de real issues, victim-I-say-shun and corruption in Guv-ah-mint. Just wait, ah lot ah beds done mek up at Be-Lie-Prison waiting foh dey tail, not de Pastors yuh know.

DE WINNERS

Congrats to Pee-Lyn Pollard foh walking away wid de $50,000 prize money foh de 51 st Anniversary ah Band-ah-de Year in SVG. If ah lie ah lie after Doc Fraser’s his-story notes, and “if de Doctor say so, is so!” Bet yuh dollar, Blondie Bird will fly back wid ah bang nex’ year. Ah wish to congratulate Dragon’s young designer, Athiba, dah’s Duggie Nose son, ah note ah nice concept in his design. De youth obviously got skills that he acquired from his dear Mom.

Ah looked at de Panorama and my harm-chair scores had Sion Hill Euphonium, First; South-East was Second and Starlift Third. Ah heard ah T’n T sound in de Sion Hill Euphonium’s presentation, and ah was told dat dey had some Trinny playing in de Band. Starlift had Trinnies too. Trinidad is de “Mecca of Pan” and ah would love foh Vincy Bands to sound like T’n’T, but wid Vincy players. Ah would prefer we recruit Trinnies to come up before de Carnival and assist all of de Bands in de preparation.

BIG UP ST JOSEPH CONVENT SCHOOLS

De Kaiso Competition is like ah pair-ah-ducks. De new King, Skarpyon was not in de ten Finalists, Luck was on his side when Ron B, one ah de ten Finalists opted out. So Skarpyon, de first reserve, came thru de back-door to replace Ron B foh de Finals. We all know de results, Skarpyon on de night of finals, beat everybody.

Lie-Za giving me her own explanation, in scoring Skarpyon’s marks, ah Jen-yuh-in mistake was made, like ah 6 foh ah 9 or ah 8 foh 18, in fact de difference was significant and denied him of ah top position in de Semi Finals. Unfortunately dey discovered de mistake after de ten Finalists were announced by CDC. But rather dan telling it like it is, CDC seemed intent on being infallible, dey must look pull-it-to-kill-he correct! Dey refused to go public and explain.

Now it borders ridiculous, de man who failed to mek de Final 10, slipped thru de back door and won de Monarchy. Skinny is undoubtedly de best in his class, maybe he should step aside till de others catch-up. And ah wish we could settle once and foh all what is Kaiso, too much diverse-shun from de traditional Kaiso beat. I had Shanelle first in de Monarch and Skarpyon first in de Ragga Soca.

My wife was telling me dat at St Joseph Convent School, Marriaqua she taught First and Second place winners, Skarpyon and Fya Empress; also finalist, Dyah. Interestingly third place winner, Shaunelle, who tied wid Dennis Bowman is ah past student of St Joseph Convent School, Kingstown. And dis year’s Junior Kaiso Monarch is Gillian “Geisha” Smart also of Convent, Kingstown. So Big up de Cat-licks Eddy-care-shun! Troublesome Lie-Za say Carnival was always ah Row-man Cat-lick ting. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.