Of course, it is written in my own inimitable style. I coulda used a big set of multi-syllabic words and tried to sound like a formal writer (Et pour quelques dollars de plus) ... but who is my audience, if I even have any. So I wrote like a "REAL TRINIDADIAN" ... how many times have I used that term on THIS FORUM.
I want to thank WHENSTEELTALKS because without the banter and resources and arguments that they allowed on THIS PRECIOUS FORUM -- the idea would have never come to my mind.
As BILL CLINTON said when he was asked about resigning over THE MONICA INDISCRETIONS: "It never crossed my mind." That is one of the best use of cliches that I have ever heard in MY ENTIRE LIFE.
About five years ago, an EXPAT from EUROPE went to TRINIDAD and visited PAN TRINBAGO with some dignity, expecting in return some gratitude ... instead he was treated like a dog. And that really bothered me.
So at that time, I made a decision to write a book praising some EXPATS for the work they had done in GLOBALIZING STEELDRUM MUSIC without collecting a salary from THE PNM GOVERNMENT like PAN TRINBAGO does while doing ZERO for GLOBALIZING STEELDRUM MUSIC. But when I went to research the profiles, I just could not get enough DATA on the EXPAT PAN PIONEERS. So I dropped the idea.
(LORD HOW THE WORLD OF WRITING HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS.)
About seven months ago, I woke up one morning bored as a devil's disciple in a CATHOLIC CHURCH and I decided to write a book on a subject on which I was familiar. Having completed that, I wrote a second book on another subject on which I was also very familiar. And one morning -- a few weeks later -- I was again eating breakfast and the thought came to me that I should write a book -- revisiting the topic -- on EXPATS and their contribution to GLOBALIZING STEELDRUM MUSIC. So I started writing. But a broader twist came to me beyond the first idea from 5 years ago.
I could pay tribute to a number of EXPATS in a later chapter; but I can also advocate for a NEW DISPENSATION of GLOBALIZING STEELDRUM MUSIC because we are still stuck in a rut patting ourselves on the back while THE PNM GOVERNMENT is spending about ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR on PAN locally -- for political purposes -- and we are really not doing anything to globalize the music and monetize the music and bring wealth from THE PRODUCT back to TRINIDAD.
And I could also detail the history of THE GLOBALIZATION OF STEELFRUM MUSIC from the first ship that sailed out of TRINIDAD to GLOBALIZE PAN MUSIC and THE CONTRIBUTORS from the outside world who got mesmerized by the music and jumped on THE STEELDRUM MUSIC SHIP to assist THE EXPATRIATES in GLOBALIZING THE MUSIC.
Without all the information and involvement and debate that I benefited from by being on THIS FORUM -- I want to say THANKS TO WHEN STEEL TALKS -- I would have never gone in that direction to WRITE THAT BOOK and express my position on THE WORLD OF PAN MUSIC without the education I got by participating on THIS FORUM.
And to those who think that I am trying to SELL A BOOK ... I am independently wealthy until the day that I die ... and it just so happens that I LOVE THE PAN TING because I AM A REAL TRINIDADIAN.
I EH COME ON NO BOAT!!!
That is why I have spent so much time on THIS FORUM hoping for a brighter day for PAN PROGRESS.
Just like independently wealthy GARY GRIFFITH is fighting for a better TRINIDAD; I am fighting for the GLOBALIZATION OF PAN MUSIC without out stretching our hands out and begging for PNM DOLLARS like PAN TRINBAGO..
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