Has pan out grown trinidad & tobago?

[mark]

has it really outgrown us?

[S. F. Thomas]

Sweet Eustace:

LOL! Reminds me of the story of the umpire who was first to appeal against the batsman. But seriously, with any arithmetic averaging system, it is entirely possible to have a result that no single judge would have wanted.

Re competition, I know where you're coming from, but where there is excellence there will always be competition, and vice versa. You can't stop playing cricket because umpires make mistakes. That would be missing the point, I think. No, leave the competition alone. It's great fun, it brings out the best, and in T'dad at least, it's part of the culture.

Re the Cuban steelband, sounds like a great little assignment for somebody like you. With a good promoter, there might even be some money in it.

Anyway, u r right, it's only you and me here now. So let's call it a wrap.

-- Big Sid

[Sweet Eustace]

the blag goin nice buh like is jus me n u here now, remember the band is in Cuba and it might be the recording it eh soun too bad on my speakers, they could use a touch up but I have heard worse on you tube too, i don't think any body could buy a panorama but it have bias judges, that is why I hate any competition , I too believe that "culture is not to be contested" I once was in a bar and they had a Karoke finals that night and after the results the Mc asked the crowd if they liked the results and I was surprised that 3 out of the 4 judges shouted out no with the crowd,

[S. F. Thomas]

About Exodus management buying the Panorama: a sickening thought, which I hope is not true. I try never to get too upset with the judges, because I know they have a difficult job. But in this case, well... If even the Exodus players had trouble with it, that is saying something...

As a matter of fact, there are some recent Panorama wins that cause at least my jaws to drop. But, I try not to say "teef!". The youth may have a different musical sensibility, and it might be that the old timers have to sit back and let the art form veer off in some new direction. less melodic, less tuneful, more frenetic, more jagged, in keeping with directions already taken by rap, hip-hop and etc. As for me, I'm not so inclined to follow in that direction.

Btw, why don't you see about donating some of those pans otherwise headed for the labasse to these people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI-cS-vqaT0
They're playing one of the all-time greatest tunes of any genre. They're great players, and it's a great tune, so they make it sound good even with the terrible pans. Or go and work with them for a few months. They probably don't know it, but some of them could pass for some ole time Trini bajon! They probably fight the old fashioned way too, with fists, no guns!

- Big Sid

[Sweet Eustace]

some things dont change I see people armed with guns resorting to the old fists, danger though if it fall out and somebody pick it up, fists will never stop flying, and is a good thing some people don't have big stone in the boardroom, in some band the captain had to learn how to pelt accurately, to an extent u might be right bout the lawsuit a white teacher got into some hot water pelting a stick behind a student in a steelband , as you talk bout old timers a youth on a blog here trying to give me pikka saying pan dont need people my age

[Sweet Eustace]

Exodus an all did not know how they win, an that eh no joke, I was in renegades panyard when the results buss as soon as they say 3rd place Renegades the yard was in uproar, I was trying to figure how to celebrate in they yard because I am also a phase II man and they know that, as i waited for the official news some body say Who win some body said Exodus the whole place got quiet what was more shocking was there were a number of Exodus players there and all of them jaws dropped to the ground "EXODUS?????" then what really made the place get more quiet one of them said Arnim mohammed buy the rama,

[S. F. Thomas]

S.E.:

That was you!? Pan paradise is a gem. I remember that year very well. '92. I still don't know how Exodus won that year, there were about six bands better, not least Boogsie (Jam meh up) and Jit (Bees). What a great year that was!

You are right, it takes a no-nonsense attitude. That is what excellence demands, regardless of field.

Sometimes it takes the maximum leader model to get it. Definitely to start it. After that, people either tire of the maximum leader, or they discover they have the problem of "who we go put?", Obviously, if it's somebody you "put", he is no damn leader! (As one Trini politician famously said.) Manager maybe, but not leader. Such a direction though may be inevitable, at least for the next phase. From maximum leader to modest manager.

Actually we saw the same thing in another context to which some people appear to be allergic. After Moses and Joshua (maximum leaders) came the Judges (minimum leaders?, modest managers?), and that era eventually swung back to Saul, David, Solomon, etc. We are definitely in a time of, if not minimum leaders, modest managers. I don't see why pan should be left out of that general "spirit of the times." If that's the flow, we must go with it, but I don't see it as "the answer", just the swinging of the pendulum.

In the meantime, the ole timers like you and me can wax nostalgic about the good ole days, when steelband was a bajon ting, and it helped to own a good right cross.

- Big Sid

PS. I ended a fight with one of those myself... as luck would have it, my father had shown me the move not that long before the fight. It was a big deal... challenge... acceptance...seconds... boxing gloves, the whole deal. That was how it was done at least in the "elite" schools back in the day. I wonder how they do it today.

[Sweet Eustace]

if they did not kill him back in the day they wouldn't kill him today, back then if you wern't an effective leader you will be laid to rest quicker than today, the point was not the violence but was the serious nature when the man mash up Spree pan he dared not take it back to Andrew beddoe, he would have ended with two heads after Andrew Beddoe done tap it up, thanks to spree we changed the shape of the pan, that helped Dr Ellie to get some heads up, when they confiscated his pan ,and took hanged it by the tree in john john he came up with the 55gall pan,
the nature of the beast is such that if you don't know how to put down your foot properly, you will crash as an arranger or a leader, even the most effective leader will have to have a system in place or know how to deal with resistance that is my point, Sonatas have a strong system in place and the captain is not like the old school captain but a departmental head and have to report to a management and a board of directors, that is the way for steelbands to go in order to get out the ditch
them days are not over by a long shot,I do not condone Violence even though I was forced to use my (now retired) right cross a few times I am saying that it takes No nonsense approach to get results, check Ray Holman's "steelband paradise" I was singing Kaiso in the tent and took a night off to participate in a section practice none of the section leaders showed up, so myself and Proffessor Eugene Novetney took over the practice, I made them play the first three bars for 35 minutes till every man jack got it they coperated and look at the result on you tube, it is a science, but sometimes resistance will come that is when leadership have to get rough, I discovered that the voice of athourity is more effective than the rod or hammer of correction,

[S. F. Thomas]

S.E.:

Sweet stories, keep them coming. Brings back memories of the ole time days. Achaiba do that today ... he might end up dead, or sued, depending on who he did to, and where.

I just saw an interview by WST of the captain of Sonatas. Very nice fellow. Judging by results I assume he is an effective captain, but o.n. he is not. Leadership is a miraculous gift for those who have it. The business schools talk a lot about it, and the military understand it quite well, I think. But neither can create a leader out of someone who simply is not cut out for it. And neither is necessary to produce the best. Both can help a little in transforming the ordinary man into a reasonably effective leader, but that's about it. And the really outstanding leaders are cut from many different molds, not all of which are appropriate in any given circumstance. In the area of pan, I suspect the days of the Hammer's and Achaiba's are over. Or maybe not. Are you saying we have to bring back the o.n. ole time days? Or are u just waxing nostalgic?
.
As you mention Ray and Boogsie, it raises another dimension. The born leader always knows. There is an inward hunger (allusion to Eric Williams is intentional) that drives them forward. But then there are also a lot of more mediocre people who have have a big mouth and know how to bully other people, but have not vision. As the dramas of life play themselves out, these things then sort themselves out, either as tragedy, comedy, farce, or success. It's fun to look on from afar, less so sometimes when you're in the middle.

Anyway, keep the little stories coming. You're starting to remind me of my "uncle" Philogene, a blind man who use to show up every so often, and tell us kids some great, great stories, from the real ole time days...

-- Big Sid

[Sweet Eustace]

made atypo its brud up befff like watty watkins

[Sweet Eustace]

one time we trying to get a trini chinee to play kirpalani he laugh so much a man ask him wey yuh get dat i an from dollar rescue, he say nah courts, here is a Bradley crack in the year he went by Starlift, he trying to get the drummer to keep it steady on the hi hat "I told you tup uh chee, tup-uh chee, you playing a pack a sh*t -a pak-a-s#it" some drummers play bur-up befff instead of pax- pax, yeh I had to make Jeanine Remy correct some of her lines when she was writing Ray Holman's Life too short score sheet she come a long way, without the up the hill baccanal don't know how long despers could hold the fort, I remember 1975 comming through the gate in skinner park with Hatters an Achaiba tell a scratcher man he not playing and the man cuss him so achaiba ask him back for the jersey the fella refused " that is my jersey hatters name on it and i am the leader of hatters " said Achaiba and he started to tear the jersey off the man and the two them came tumbling off the float just as the gate open, that helped put everybody in line no scaters every body was on their P's and Q's and the band was unbeatable after that, this is still on topic in order to regenerate growth some licks might have to share, especially with the powers that be, right across the board from Trini to non trini a lot of subversion occurs, fighting down you know how much Boogsies out there have met a Ray holman in a starlift and have to eat dey biscuit and out of this game they must go right now, others have to be like the farmer in the dell become the cheese "stand still, wey the bull pistle