Sunday, October 10, 2010

GEMS 2011 - Band Launch

Saturday night saw me at Gems band launch...one of the new bands on the block for 2011.
Venue was 'Callallo Mas Camp', Chaguaramas.

Now, i don't know if anyone has ever gone to an event being held there, but this venue in my experience does NOT bode well for the success of the event. Every single event that I've attended at that venue has failed, and failed badly. Sooo with that in mind as a warning, we went on down.

Got there about 9.30 or so, chilled around outside for a few to collect our tickets and made our way in. The sign at the entrance, that proclaimed admission and registration at a special deal of $150, was my first sign.I should not have ignored that...and dammit I didn't take a pic of it...sigh!!
We went on in... and for something that had a listed start time of 8pm the place was EMPTY! Aight, we decided..time to look around scope the crowd, check the bar.
The bar, ohhh the bar...where do I start. No juices to go with the Vodka, no coconut water to go with the scotch, no water at all! Nope , we'll not dwell on the bar.
The food, there were options, but I'd eaten so did not partake...looked like sales were brisk though.
The presentation was originally scheduled to begin at 10pm. Then I heard 11pm, then 11:30pm...stopped checking the time after that. The pre-show included Synergy Soca Start contestants (that I'd never heard of from season 3 and 4) and Hunter. Then finally the presentation began, well one false start with the video clip being messed up...and THEN the presentation began. Made my way stage-side, met Carnival dude of Trinidad Events and took in the costumes up close. Check out the video clip on Trinidad Events(also available on Sauce's blog)
Here are pics that stood out to me
Merciless Macedonia
Granicus River


 Greek Guardians

I also liked 'India Punjabi Clan' and 'Pleasures of Babylon' but for some reason my pics of those sections are not uploading properly at all. 
All in all, the costumes aren't awful. The models all seemed to enjoy themselves parading in these costumes, one of them did not have on the bikini/thong and us in the front saw too much, the music that the djs played was appropriate...but oh gosh to have the mc come on right after the presentation and say that things have to shut down (at 1:30am!!!) not good, not good at all.

I wish them luck...especially after learning that another new band is struggling to sell costumes from a presentation of five (5) sections. Aww well, people must still think that they're just a reincarnation of a former venture. C'est la vie...

Good Luck Gems.