Is it the bad economy or the crime or the lowered Government assistance or the EVENT in general?

It would be nice if KEITH DIAZ told us how many people attended the PANORAMA FINALS. But that would create some problems for him and Forteau ... imagine in this day and age THAT NUMBER is a BIG SECRET.

Well, when THE CIP takes over this year (HA! HA! HA!) I expect them to bring some TRANSPARENCY to the management of the organization.

Anyway, I am waiting for the highlight of MY CARNIVAL when Doctor Dolly goes before the media tomorrow and announces: WE HAD A VERY SUCCESSFUL CARNIVAL!!!

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  • My highlight moment from the whole Carnival was when VANESSA HEADLEY was asked about bringing her band on the road for Carnival and she said emphatically: "My players eh PUSHING NO PAN ON THE ROAD!!!"

    All dem Carnival Videos I see from all dem Global Carnivals -- it look like everything on TRUCK!!!

    • But she talk a piece ah chupidness on Finals night when she suggested that there aren't enough players for steelbands...when in fact too many steelbands are allowed to compete in Panorama as it exists today...but that is another story entirely...

      • Merrytones , when I see Naparima College students beating pan , I'm convinced that there are more pan players in T&T than in anytime in our history.

        Not to mention , foreign players.

        All ths talk about not enough players is nonsense , when many of the young people in steelbands today come from families who would never have allowed them in panyards back in my day , which was the heyday of the big steelbands.

        In my day , "college boys " like Bobby Mohamed (Presentation ) and our arranger Michael Alleyene ( St. Benedicts ) were rare in steelbands , at least in south.

        Even I didn't beat pan until after I left school.

        And I agree with you , too many little steelbands exist just to capitalize on the panorama check.

        • And BTW there were also so few female players that the handful of girls playing pans back then were very noticeable. 

          Probably the reason why Scrunter's Woman on the Bass " was such a hit.

          Even then , in the eighties women were still relatively few in steelbands.

          Don't tell me there aren't enough players , with all those attractive young ladies playing pans :)

          • Glenroy: I read an article by Keith Smith years ago and he was talking about the quality of PAN PLAYER you have to be to make it in a band like RENEGADES (that was the band he referenced). The whole audition process and the level of skill required to make the band. And about dejected Pan Men who could not make the cut (good players).

            So there might be an abundance of PAN PLAYERS around. But when it comes to putting that WINNING BAND together -- they need CRACK SHOTS aplenty.

            Oh, and since yuh are the right man to ask: What are your thoughts on the WINNING COMPOSITION this year? I will take the LONG ANSWER.

      • merrytonestothebone: I heard that loud and clear when she said it: She said that there were not enough players and she had to bring in a few (CRACKSHOTS: I take it!!!).

        You came to my mind when she said that. And Cecil and Glenroy came to my mind with the other quote.

        EXPATS doh live in TRINIDAD and we doh know what the hell is going on so we should stay out of the LOCAL PEOPLE PAN BUSINESS!!!

  • The alarming stories about people being robbed in jouvert bands disturbs be very much. I have attended New York Labour Day twice and although I still find it comical, I believe that we need to take a page out of their book and start detailing police to accompany all bands on the road. Especially for jouvert.

    • "and although I still find it comical"

      Merrytonestothebone: You should  expand on that line!!! Terry Joseph wrote an article on the Foreign TT Carnivals one time that was very much on point (for this cynic at least). And that line triggered the memory of that article.

      • Nah is just that at that time I felt that such heavy security in a jouvert was unnecessary...but with this recent carnival I surely feel differently...I remember seeing on my first jourvert morning in NY, an ambulance called out for a drunk panman...he had to beg them to accept that he was ok and to leave him alone...but hey...those are the standards that people in big developed countries live by I suppose...

        • That was comical!!! I like that story!!! But we sort of had the same experience with the police. Went back to Brooklyn after a number of years and when the band start to move with all dem police surrounding the band it was like I cyar enjoy mehself with all dem police surrounding me ... and then ah next voice say: But yuh safe what you worried about.

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