Full nest of titles for Blondie Bird and Friends

Work on their 2013 presentation has begun, but the members of mas band Guinness Y de Lima Hitz 103.7 Blondie Bird and Friends are still basking in the good news of their 2012 performance.{{more}}

Not only did Blondie Bird and Friends complete the hat-trick by winning the Band of the Year title, they almost made a complete sweep of the awards, by capturing most of the top prizes in the mas component of Carnival 2012 with their presentation ‘A glimpse of Kingstown’.

The band was made up of sections which depicted scenes from around Kingstown and carried names such as: “Coins”, “Heritage Square”, “Lotto”, “Fibre Optic”, “Vegetable Market”, “Costume Jewelry”, “Pizza”, “Lady Justice”, “Alliance Francaise” and “Little Tokyo”.

Apart from capturing the coveted ‘Band of the Year title’ at the Mardi Gras celebrations on Tuesday, the band won the Section from the Band with their portrayal “Little Tokyo”, the Uptown competition, the Best Use of Colour, the Individual of the Band, as well as an almost clean sweep in the junior category on June 30.

Elroy ‘Blondie Bird’ Boyde spoke with a sense of accomplishment, as he boasted of having also taken the King and Queen of the bands titles, with Ricardo Adams portraying St George’s Cathedral and Semone Richardson, Costume Jewelry, respectively.

And according to Boyde, he and his group are confident that they can do it all over again next year.

“Winning is something that we are accustomed to,” Boyde told SEARCHLIGHT.

“We feel no pressure at all,” he continued.

The team has already identified the title for next year’s presentation – ‘Jewels of the Caribbean’.

And when SEARCHLIGHT caught up with the veteran Mas maker of 19 years, he said that once the partying was over, it was going to be time for ideas to come forward.

“That process has already started…and by December we will have our band,” Boyde explained.

But for now, he and the rest of the crew are in a festive mood.

He, however, took some time to thank his sponsors, particularly those who were there from almost inception.

To sponsors such as Y de Lima and Paul McLeish of SVG TV he expressed his gratitude for the continued support over the years and for providing the band with everything that the members requested, Boyde said.

Meanwhile he revealed the secret to producing an award-winning production and according to the Mas maker, that was sticking to the original craft of costume making.

“Other bands not coming like how we coming,” he said.

He credited another veteran mas man, the late Roy ‘Dragon’ Ralph, as one of the men who helped him to start his craft.

Boyde explained that this year’s presentation was a tribute to the great costume designer.

The plan is not to become engulfed by the new trend of bikinis and beads, but to stick to the old-fashioned craft of costume building.

“That is why people like to see our mas, because they still seeing mas,” he said. (DD)