Will the BIG 5 CONCERT run at a PROFIT?

This could be a new day dawning for STEELBANDS in Trinidad. Perhaps we could enter the era of TRANSPARENCY. What if after THE CONCERT the BIG 5 sends a representative to WHEN STEEL TALKS who discloses all the numbers pertaining to the show. A complete breakdown on attendance and gate receipts and income from sponsors and income from refreshments and parking and what have you (they like to say "what have you" down in Trinidad) against ALL EXPENSES -- giving the general public a true and honest PROFIT and LOSS report from the show.

That level of TRANSPARENCY could put the ISF/BIG 5 in very good standing with a lot of EXPATS around the world. And I could see how such an act could help THE ORGANIZATION both locally and globally.

My expectation is for the BIG 5/ISF to put on about THREE CONCERTS for the year. So we have to start planting seeds to make the shows profitable. If they are smart they could take a LOSS from this show and make a CORNERSTONE for future PROFIT.

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  • How many people viewed the FREE stream? this will answer many questions.

  • Cecil: With all that overhead (more than 200 players on stage; plus Guest Artistes). This is why they should have set up a WEBSITE first thing; from the day they formed the ISF. By MONDAY they should have had a commemorative T-SHIRT (or PICTURE from the show) up for SALE to test the EXPAT MARKET and see their willingness to go beyond sentiment and actually support the effort financially in any way possible.

    THE MONEY IS OUTSIDE -- when will they understand that.

  • Maybe they don't care about what's happening outside. Maybe they just want to have their own Panorama. After all they have been Panorama for as long as anyone can remember.

    Except they don't get the gate from Panorama.

    Maybe someone should ask them what they're planning to do instead of second guessing what they're up to.

    Maybe they have plans to host several concerts, symposia, or whatever PT was supposed to do, but never did.

    What you have to worry about is what happens to the rest of the bands

    And why is everyone fixated on having pan back in carnival.

    Sure it enhances carnival but what does it do for the pan? You can't exist for a year on whatever crumbs you get for playing on the road for a couple of days a year.

    Pan is huge. It's not about a few players getting international exposure or playing a few gigs here and there.

    There are thousands of pan players in Trinidad alone. Not everyone will get a gig.

    For pan to go anywhere it first has to conquer its own. Be no 1 in its own backyard.

    When we the people support the pan then the pan will succeed. How many people even own pan music, visit panyards, hire pan players etc?

    The Big 5 might feel they have something to contribute to the direction THEY want to take themselves. They will do what's good for themselves. The rest of the pan fraternity will have to fall in line.

    Watch what happens next Panorama

    • It's only T&T people could sit and listen to 4 straight hours of pan music, then there is the overhead for 5 bands, not saying it can't be done but who will want to do it?

  • Claude It doh matter who they hire, THE STEELBAND WAS CREATED TO BE IN CARNIVAL.

    • Yeah CH, to ENHANCE CARNIVAL, and it/pan did that, also, remember that carnival was here with the shango/drumming, before it became mobile and/or movable, where the drums were OUTLAWED, and that was when the bamboo tamboo, dust bin lids, bottle and spoon, bugles and irons, phased out the bells etc etc etc, and the tin cups and tin pans, Frico milk cans, C-C Mel cans, Ovaltine, and Klim Milk cans, Pitch oil tins, Sweet oil tins, Paint pans,the Cos-tic soda drum and Biscuit drums,  before the 55 gallon oil drum derived in 1945, you probably was a toddler at the time CH, and just maybe you may have a vague memory of it, yes CH it did ENHANCE CARNIVAL quite a bit, to where it is now/today, and the DJs has just defunct/destroyed it all, get rid of the DJs, and you get carnival back the way it was period...

    • What I am saying is that dem BIG MEN eh go waste their time trying to PUT PAN BACK IN CARNIVAL. However, their time will be wasted trying to think that they could suddenly TAKE PAN ALL OVER THE WORLD. Because, as you said, it have STEELBANDS playing good music almost all over the world. Until they put some EXPATS on that consulting team they should call it the LOCAL STEELBAND FOUNDATION.

      After that show, I think that their first order of business should be to recruit an army of EXPATS from all around the world and make a coordinated effort to SELL SOME PAN MUSIC. But first they have to make the RIGHT MUSIC. And they cannot sit down in Trinidad and figure that out -- NOT THAT "BIG ELEVEN" and all their LOCAL COUSINS. That is why it has NOT HAPPENED as yet and most likely WILL NOT HAPPEN!!!

      They should call up Salmon Cupid and Bob Diaz (from New York) and the fellah from Boston Village and that Dr. Abdullah who came on here and voiced some opinions and start a discussion with that nucleus.

      Here is the problem!!! That BIG ELEVEN is a team of HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LOCALS who have decided to tackle the PAN STAGNANCY PROBLEM. But they are all looking at it from the INSIDE. And because of their individual successes, I don't think that they are capable of listening to anybody from the OUTSIDE. In their minds they have the GLOBAL GAME all figured out. They do not have a clue as to how many STEELBANDS and PAN MEN it have in place already all over the world -- like you said.

      What they do have above ALL OTHERS is AUTHORITY. (And I did try to get that point across to them.) And if they link up with the right EXPATS they could use that AUTHORITY to great advantage. But I do not think that they are psychologically prepared to take advice from the outside.

      THAT IS TRINI NATURE!!!

      • “Here is the problem!!! That BIG ELEVEN is a team of HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LOCALS who have decided to tackle the PAN STAGNANCY PROBLEM. But they are all looking at it from the INSIDE. And because of their individual successes, I don't think that they are capable of listening to anybody from the OUTSIDE. In their minds they have the GLOBAL GAME all figured out. They do not have a clue as to how many STEELBANDS and PAN MEN it has in place already all over the world -- like you said.”

        I address these concerns with a comment I made in another post about CHANGE, “you are like a blind-folded person walking into a familiar room where some-one has removed the chair.”

        DISTRIBUTION of your musical products in the Global market-place alongside your touring steelbands can become an additional source of revenue for your GROWING steelband music industry, you have on-line viewership a fast growing audience that’s competing with TV audiences in cities across the globe, the ease of access is making billions for companies who own the platforms/infrastructure on which these products are delivered. Time to re-consider what’s at stake here; is it about selling your music or celebrating your country?

  • The BIG 5 will be forced to take a long hard look at their functionality in today's world. All over the world you can find Steelbands playing good music,  If they could match what the St Margrets Steel Orchestra does that's alright other than that what can they offer? I've said it time and again, the only thing they could for the steelband today is rejuvenate their presence in Carnival.

    • Cecil Hinkson: Do you think that the "BIG 5/ISF" went and hire these SIX HEAVYWEIGHT CONSULTANTS just so that they could rejuvenate the steelband presence in Carnival?

      Consultant advisors to the ISF are Martin Daly SC, Terrence Farrell, Ingrid Lashley, Professor Brian Copeland, Hollick Rajkumar and Dennis Ramdeen.

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