RSVG Police is my band ah de year

De Carnival done and mention must be made of some ah de positive initiatives that were introduced this year. Like no bottled drinks, every thing was sold in plastic containers; as ah result we had practically no smashing ah bottles and ah happy to say, no reported case ah bottle-stabbing or serious violence. Is ah PT that CDC or Town Board didn’t think it was necessary to request also, that vendors provide garbage bags to collect the MT’s and avoid de wide-spread littering like you never seen before. Anyhow Kingstown was clean as ah whistle by 5:30 every morning, except Tuesday morning when town was overwhelmed the night before. And so my choice foh Sections ah de Band foh Carnival goes to de Sanitation Wukers foh ah great performance jigging with dey brooms, shovels, garbage bins, wheel barrows etc every morning at 1:00 a.m. cleaning de town and making it look like if nothing happened the night before. Ah hope CDC look sharp call them foh dey well-deserved prize, ah bone-us foh Carnival.{{more}}

Ah listening to all who get King and Queen, Band ah de Year, Best Dis and Best Dat; but my next choice is foh Band ah de Year, and that goes to the RSVG Police Force. Dey did ah fantastic job! Miss Lie-Za say ah must big-up Mill-ah and de Dream Team of Miller, Pompey, Christopher, Brewster and Davis, de “Fabulous Five”! How de trouble makers couldn’t pass thru de Mill-ah-tall! De presence ah de Police was every way: SSU Squad, Black Squad, Drug Squad, Play-in clothes Squad, she say dey even had Mad Squad too! But all joke aside, de talk ah de town is how clean Kingstown was and the absence of any violence during the entire Carnival. Abijah say in his Kaiso that Sister Priam say: “It won’t be always so”; but my girl Lie-Za say: “she hope it will be always so”!

TIME FOH AH SHAKE UP CDC

Last week ah beg foh mercy foh CDC, ah felt that up to that time dey were doing dey best. This week ah not going to lick dem up, but some thing didn’t go down well that needs talking bout. Miss Carival, de Show we ranking as second to none in de Caribbean, went on foh over six hours; Lie-Za complain that de quality ah de show, talent especially was poor, Mack Robertson say he fell asleep during de show and dreamt he was roasting breadfruit. If you know Mack, he ate piece ah dah Roast Breadfruit long before he wake up. But dat’s Ridiculous, not de roast-breadfruit, de Show! And then on Tuesday, Mardi Gras, people in de Stands from 11a.m. till 1p.m before the first Band appear on stage, and then dey sat there up until 7p.m when the final Band left de park.

The concern here is that year after year, CDC does it’s own post mortem, while that is necessary, to assess you-self again and again, this could develop inbreeding which seems to be part ah the problem; Carnival is ripe foh ah open forum, some new faces with fresh blood need to be brought on board to inject new I-dears. The 1977 Carnival format is still very much in use. As Glenn would ah say: “It’s time foh ah shake up CDC”!

WILL I-PA GO TO PAR-LIAR-MINT TOO

Ah not good at judging Mas but looking at it on TV, de Mas was good; ah would ah give Blondie Bird’s Band First Prize, Becks say Dragons, you see why de judges decision is always fine-all. De Kaisos this year was up to standard, lively music, most ah dem nicely rendered too. I-Pa Finally made it to de top! His first song “Can’t tell de Comrad so” has much in common with De Man Age’s “Dey Go Ban It” that he sang in 1978. Both ah dem say what dey had to say and then dissociated dem-selves. Lie-Za reminding me that when Princess Monique sang and won de Monarch, she was invited to Par-liar-mint and copies of her song were taken to de Caricom Prime Ministers Summit. Now she asking me if ah think I-Pa will get honorable mention in de House ah Par-liar-mint foh his skillfully written song on de Prime Minister, and if like Princess Monique, copies of his song will be taken to de next Summit. You see de problems ah does have with dat girl.

GET INTO SHAPE GIRLS

Ah was telling Lie-Za that ah sit down in me living room watching the Bands go pass de stage and ah couldn’t help notice ah lot ah ‘out-ah-shape’ women dancing on stage and dat is not how Vincy women custom to look. You know she chant me down say ah just like her pastor and de Kris-stuff-in and dem in her church, nobody could run down Carnival like dem, but dey don’t miss ah show, dey home with dey eyes glued pon de TV watching everything that show. Ah had to tell she is nothing wrong with having ah look at de menu, but you don’t have to go foh de food! But ah still insist that dem Vincy girls must tek stock ah dey shape or out-ah-shape.

JOHN AND JOE

Quadrille suffered ah terrible blow, two blows actually in one month with de passing ah John Nero ah wicked Banjo Player and Joseph “Joe” Ince ah Cuatro Maestro. Both ah dem hailed from Sandy Bay and held de Fort after de passing of the famous Jonathan “Satan” Ince, he was bad like Satan pon ah Banjo, de only man ah ever see play ah Banjo with one string.. This weekend we say farewell to Joe. Leo Anthony is all ready with his Violin so ah have to tek out me Cuatro and practise-up foh Uncle Joseph’s funeral. With de passing of Joe, Sandy Bay Quadrille has lost all its ole stalwarts: the Ince brothers, Jonathan, James, Joseph and John Nero, all powerful Bible characters. One thing foh certain, with all dem ole time string band players migrating to Heaven, Saint Peter can’t complain foh sweet music; dey love dey strong, but ah have news foh dem, de only drink in Heaven is Milk and Honey. May their souls sweetly rest.

And with that, ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.