Thursday, August 09, 2007

Ronnie and Caro Band Launch: The Aftermath...

Date: Wednesday 1st August 2008
Place: Club Ambassador
Cost: $50 with invites and $100 without

Having played with Ronnie and Caro's section "Chutney" in Legacy this year, and having a fantastic time, I was glad to hear that they were coming with there own band for Carnival 2008.
So I made my way to Ambassador to take in the their presentation for C2K8 "De Gulf"

“De Gulf”The Gulf of Paria is a body of water located east of Venezuela and west of Trinidad. It is here that we find the “Five Islands,” known affectionately as “Down de Islands,” – Carera, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande and Chacachacare. To visit one of these islands, you must pass through “De Bocas” ferociously turbulent water that has been known to turn the burliest seaman into a whimpering landlubber.

It is here that you will see “Wildfish” Manta Rays that can seat four men as comfortably as a couch, sharks galore, grouper, and of course “Jellyfish.” Along “De Gulf” the “De Mang” (Mangrove) protects the coastline with its gnarly roots and dense marshland. A little inward you will also find the Caroni Swamp, one of our wildlife sanctuaries where you’re sure to see “Scarlet Ibis in flight,” one of our national birds whose resplendent plumes get their fiery colour from the shrimp on which they feast. The dragonfly or “Battimamzelle” of local parlance abounds here too.It was in the calm waters of “De Gulf,” legend tells us, that daring “Pirates
of old have their anchors laden with seaweed sought refuge for their ships and a
convenient place to bury their “
Treasures.”

Today “De Gulf” gives us treasure of a different kind: black gold – oil. Join Ronnie and Caro in celebrating “De Gulf.”

Getting to Club Ambassador at about 8:15pm, I found that the turnout for the launch was pretty good. The actual showing of the costumes began just after 9:00pm and we were treated to views of the nine sections (7 of Ronnie & Caro's and 2 outside sections).

My favorite section was De Mang.
I LOVE a blue costume, and the combination of the bronze/brown colour and the blue, as well as the detail on the costumes, had me very interested.

Other sections that I liked/caught my attention were:
Down De Islands: Turquoise blue and silver! Hot! I like the bra and belt for this costume.

Moonlight in de Bocas: Blue, green, purple and gold. I don't like how they executed the headpiece...it seems a bit slapped together, but it is a nice costume.

Treasures: Gold and yellow. Never played in that colour combo before, not sure how good it would look on me.

Jellyfish: Pink and silver. I like the shade of pink, the backpack of the frontline go humbug yuh from tiefing a lil wine.

Batimamzelle: Bronze, gold and brown. I LOVE the colours. The wings on the frontline...not so much. That will be difficult to manoeuvre through town with dem wings. But it will look nice on the road.

The remaining sections: Wildfish, Pirates and Scarlet Ibis were okay, they just didn't appeal to me. I like the colours of Wildfish (orange, yellow and green) but I don't like how they are put together on the costume.

For more costume pics, you can check out Ronnie and Caro's website. (which was up and running the night of the launch!) and of course, Saucy's blog.
Right now I'm about 90% sure that I'm playing with Ronnie and Caro, if only because I played with them this year and know they provide good service and great costumes.
But I'm still leaving that 10% for anything else that may catch my eye and suit my pocket.

3 comments:

D Trini in Me said...

Are you playing with them next year? There costumes are nice and the band looks like its well organzied.

afro chic said...

MOST likely I'm playing with them. The section was very organised, I'll see how organised they keep they band.

Anonymous said...

Good words.