Distribution Schedules are OUT!!!

By now many of you would have received THAT email. Yuh know the email, the email that makes hearts leap...'cause even after yuh went thru the stress/bliss/trauma/begging/pleading/ease of registering to play in THAT section..it's when you check your inbox and that email is there, the one with the date to collect yuh costume....that's when the butterflies take flight, heart rate speeds up, and the adrenaline kicks in. Well that happened for me ok...even though I paid off mih costume already, that email is what brought it all home....gonna collect mih costume in the next few days...sigh

I am scheduled to collect my costume on Saturday February 26th 2011...yippeee!!!
Here's a compilation of the ones that I've seen so far:

  

Lovely...can't wait to collect!

Review 2011 - Panorama Semi-Finals

My rating scale: 0 to 5. 0 means not ever to be repeated EVER, 5 means best ever!

My first time attending Panorama semi-finals in the North Stand.

Anyways here goes.
 Fete/Event details:

• Event: Panorama semi-finals
• Promoter: Pantrinbago Inc.
• Fete/Event Type: Pan competition, semi-final leg, Savannah Party
• Date: February 20th 2011
• Time: 9am till the last band play!
• Venue: Queen's Park Savannah

The flyers: No official flyer, but there were many 'crew' flyers, here's a sample:

I was in North Stands. As mentioned, this was the first year that I've paid to go pan semis... My sis organised me with tickets and hooked me up with a crew. Trinidad Events' pan semis lime was my back-up in case things didn't come thru with my sis. I got there just about 1:30pm, had a little bit of hiccups with transport...but I made it :-)

• First things first: where to park? Did not drive ...roads were blocked off all around d Savannah...People were able to park around the Savannah and inside as well. Not sure what the price was if any, but things looked pretty organised. Rating: n/a
• Entrance: Big signs were posted here and there close to the entrances...BUT some signs directing folks to where things were would have been nice. E.g i entered the Savannah just north of TGI, so I knew I had a bit of a walk westwards and then north before I'd get to the North Stand entrance...but what about the foreigners, how were they to find their way about. Rating: 2.5 could do better
• Layout: I can only speak of the North Stand layout but for this Pantrinbago deserves some credit. I LOVED the layout. Stands, imposing North stands high above the grounds, positioned nicely directly opposite the Grand Stands, close to the stage. Then directly behind the stands was an area for the BIG crews like Bmobile, Red Ants, Suppligen, Caesar's Army etc etc yuh get my drift. Bmobile had a stage setup in d middle where different performers did their do from time to time...I saw Kes, and heard that others were there as well. Bmobile's stage had the Pandigm electric pan folks setup and they provided entertainment. There was also a mechanical bull for those brave enough, or those that had had enough alcohol to not give a crap, to try to hold on. In front Suppligen's tent there was a mini stage as well, Iwer performed there. Bathrooms at both ends of the 'greens'. Soo many tents to visit and crews scattered all over. LOVED LOVED the layout! Rating: 4.5 (0.5 points lost due to the height of the stands...that was a LOT of stairs to be traversing)
• Performances: Pan selections played by your favourite band, rhythm sections, live performances, music blasting from speakers all over ...oh gosh i'm surprised I can still hear at all! Rating: 4
• Food: The spread was never-ending.. crews had pelau, roti and curry, alloo pies, finger foods, wings, friend chicken, there was doubles, geera, snacks from Holiday Foods and others and of course KFC ... oh gosh ah getting hungry! Rating: 5
• Drinks: What wasn't available?! Carib had their Pilsner and Stag on tap, other crews had all kind of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from johnny walker to rum, chasers like crazy, Tequila, even saw Champagne flowing! Rating - 4.5 
• The event itself: this felt like a party, competition, meeting up old friends, former co-workers, meeting new 'friends'..all rolled into one big picnic/lime/party. This was epicness on a whole other level, loved it! Rating: 4

Fete/event rating: 4.5!

If this is how pan semis continues then I will soooooo be there next year and the year after and the year after!

So what's next? Carnival has continued to develop nicely.

p/s:- I have a couple reviews to post from other events... hope to post those soon.

'Carnival Hot Sauce' - Tribute to Saucy Diva

Photo courtesy BitDepth by Mark Lyndersay

Well done Sauce. Over at Trinidad Guardian's BitDepth column , they did an article about the one, the only Saucy Diva.Great article....and some time ago there was an interview.

I've met Sauce in person on more than occasion, and she has always left me with the feeling that with or without readers she would still be blogging, it is about LOVE for Carnival. It continues to impresses me that despite being a part of the crowd in sooo many T&T Carnival events, and then blogging about them, that she has maintained her anonymity. Her blog was part of the inspiration for me to begin blogging...and most of the traffic to my own humble blog  comes from her site. She even has me listed on her 'Carnival Blog Roll'...an honour that boggles the mind sometimes.

Thank you once again Sauce for the dedication and hard-work that you put into doing that each and every day! Hope you keep doing what you've been doing for a long, long time to come.

uhm... Email received this morning.

Got a notification stating that I had two new email messages. Checked, and wta?!!! How did these folks get my email addresses? Yes...this was sent to TWO of my email addresses. (I am not a Karma/Ravi B fan for the record ok)
Who has my email address on a list AND sold it or passed it on...cause I do not know this person's email  address natalie.ja.woods@gmail.com sending mail as 'Energy Entertainment Promotion.'  How, why, when...WTA?!!!
I have since replied, trying to find out how they got my email address in the first place, but take a read of the email that was sent in the meantime.


"hi everyone, the moment is here, the biggest moment of the year for chutney soca, this is YOur chance to see chutney soca continue growing. Is either we going forward to the future or we going backwards to where chutney soca was 2 years ago, if u want to see the future of chutney soca go forward in the hands of the only person in the finals who is actually taking chutney soca to the next level, the flag , the journey, the only person who gets up and get out there, seriously, who puts the image, his life and soul into the passion of chutney soca, SUPPORT RAVI B.

I RAVI B PLEDGE TO CARRY THE FLAG FOR ANOTHER YEAR 2011, OTHERS ONLY WANT THE MONEY AND THE FAME, BUT ASK YOURSELF THIS, CAN THEY CARRY THE RESPONSIBILITY, THE REPRESENTATION, THE PROFESSIONALISM, BEAR THE STRUGGLES THAT I WENT THROUGH,GIVE UP THEIR WHOLE LIFE TO CARRY THE FLAG, CONTINUE WHERE I LEFT OFF, OR WOULD THEY USE THE TITTLE WHEN THEY FEEL TO?

RAVI B BROKE BARRIERS, IN JAPAN, JAMAICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, GUYANA, NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE AND AFRICA, DO YOU THINK ANYONE ELSE CAN RISK ALL HIS LIFE SAVINGS JUST TO SEE CHUTNEY AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN? THAT SHOW IS COSTING 1.5 MILLION USD, DO U THINK ANYONE ELSE HAS THE RANK TO CARRY THIS TITTLE WITH CLASS, DISCIPLINE AND HONOR, RAVI B CARES ABOUT THE CHILDREN, HE IS ACTUALLY DOING A KIDS EVENT ON CARNIVAL SAT AT GUARAKARA PARK JUST SO THE KIDS CAN BE HAPPY TO SEE A CHUTNEY SOCA/ BOLLYWOOD EVENT.

RAVI B IS THE ONLY PERSON TO GO IN WASA FETE OR IN JAMAICA OR ANY PART OF THE WORLD AND REMEMBER TO DO HIS CHUTNEY SOCA SONGS AND BOLLYWOOD SONGS, RAVI B GAVE THE MOST CHARITY IN 2010 OUT OF ALL CHUTNEY SOCA ARTIST AND HAS BEEN GIVING ALL HIS LIFE, SOME WANT TO GIVE NOW, WHY? BECAUSE ITS 2 MIL?, HEY THE CHILDREN AND CANCER FOUNDATION NEEDED OUR HELP LONG TIME AND RAVI B GAVE HIS PERFORMANCES AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT ALL THE TIME, WHERE WERE EVERYONE ELSE? BUT NOW THEY WANT TO SAY THEY GIVING AFTER THE MONARCH.

ON SAT FEB, MAKE THE DIFFERENCE AND LETS CONTINUE TO SEE CHUTNEY SOCA GO FORWARD, THE PLANS FOR 2011 IS OUT OF THIS WORLD...TEXT RAV TO 7622, INTERNATIONALLY, TEXT RAV TO 78247 AND VOTE ONLINE ATWWW.CHUTNEYSOCAMONARCH.COM

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS, KEEP THE THING ON A RISE"

2011 Carnival Route

Found this on d 'Krewe FB page and decided to go look for a bigger version.

Lo and behold, it's on NCBA's website. They have a new website apparently www.NCBAtt.com, and via their Event Calendar link they have a list of dates for Carnival until 2030!

I'm liking the website and ease of navigation...
well done NCBA.