Sunday, May 31, 2009

I Am Legend II - The Aftermath

Date: Saturday 30th May 2009
Place: Queen's Park Savannah
Cost: Unknown (I not too sure, scalpers were selling VIP tickets at $200)



It's been AGES since I have been to an outdoor concert. I mean real years, like since my late teen years. But when I heard that big black
dutty Shabba was coming to our shores, I said this was a concert I HAD to be at! I have NEVER before seen Shabba in concert and I was certainly not going to miss this one, and then earlier in the week I was fortunate enough to get an All Access Pass to the concert :)

After being told earlier that the concert was scheduled to start at 9:00pm, we left home just after 10, and got to the venue (Savannah) around 10:30pm. After parking in the VIP/
VVIP area we were told that we had to walk to the “General Admission” entrance which is where we would be ‘banded’ as we had the “All Access” passes.

While parking we heard performances by General Grant and Peter C Lewis, and I was thankful that my timing had allowed me to miss the latter.

Getting into the venue was easy enough, although there could have been some signage at earlier points to identify the parking areas. We produced our tickets at the gate, got banded and then went on our way.

The backstage area was a very big space and we walked through to meet our peeps in the VIP and
VVIP area.


Shortly after making our way to the VIP area, Ziggy Rankin made his was onto the stage and sang some of his tunes for the crowd.



The show moved effortlessly from Ziggy to the overly talkative DJ’s.

I took the time to walk
thorugh the General Admission area which was already filled with people and people were still at that time streaming into the venue.

Shortly before midnight Wayne Wonder (who by the way pronounces his name as Wayne and NOT Wayne-ee as I’ve been accustomed to all these years) took the stage. Dressed in jeans, striped shirt and matching jacket Wayne took the crowd on a Joyride through his many hits, and they were appreciative.


While waiting for
Buju’s band to set up on stage we were err…”entertained” by DJ Dangerous Robin who was another overly talkative DJ. Thankfully, that didn’t go on for too long.

One of Buju’s hype men (whose name I missed) then performed for a brief spell before the man himself graced the stage.



Buju came on at about 1:20am amidst endless screams from the crowd. Dressed in a long sleeved striped shirt and khaki pants, Buju then proceeded to totally destroy the crowd Til Shiloh and back.


Giving a very energetic performance
Buju went from hit after hit after hit, it was like listening to a CD “Best of BujuEver” and the crowd sang along tune after tune after tune.


Buju brought on Wayne Wonder and the two of them sang one of my favorite tunes (that takes me back to Bishop's Form 3 bazaar) Bonafide Love (“But I Love you in every waayyyyy”).

As Buju bid the crowd good night and before you could even take a breather (and go use the bathroom), amidst some Jamaican flag waving stage performers, big black dutty Shabba appeared on stage promptly at 2:30am.

And the crowd went insane.

Coming out in a gold brocade jacket, green fedora and white pants, The Dancehall Emperor took what was left of the crowd after Buju, put them back together just to mash dem up all over again.

The place was wet.
Shabba’s antics had the crowd entertained from beginning to end. From Wicked Inna Bed to Ting a Ling to Mr. Loverman to Housecall and Telephone Love, we got Shabba's Greatest Hits 2009 version. Shabba showed the crowd that his waist was indeed still ready and he was very able.


Shabba performs "Mr. Loverman"


Towards the end of his
performance Mr. Loverman brought on our very own Denise “Saucy Wow” Belfon on stage and together they brought the house down and closed the curtains on the I Am Legend Concert II at about 3:40am.

BAR/FOOD
There were several bars throughout the venue.

The first bar I encountered was the bar in the Backstage/Artiste area which was a pay bar
(which seemed a bit odd to me).
With the All Access band however, you could walk between areas. In the
VVIP area you could access free drink and food (bake and shark and corn flavoured water).


The bar in the VIP area was free food only
(more bake and shark and corn flavoured water).
Decent service form the Angostura bar.

BATHROOMS


For a minute I thought there were Andy Loos in the
VVIP area, but it was just SWMCOL. Hmmm...is this a sign of things to come for Carnival 2010? Unfortunately because of the long lines I was not able to properly macco...err...observe the bathrooms other than from the outside.


The worst part of the concert was afterwards in trying to leave the venue.
It was a free for all with people driving on the pavement of the Savannah to leave! Real ridiculous. It took us about 40 minutes to get out of the Savannah and I think if there was better traffic control/police
presence this could have been much better.


Overall this concert was GREAT! The flow of this concert was smooth and clean. No long waits between performances and EXCELLENT performers.

Friday, May 22, 2009

"About John" - The Media Launch

Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Location: The Coco Lounge – Private Lounge


Well I sure allyuh know by now that John Legend will be coming to Trinidad on Thursday 18th June 2009. (the night before the Labour Day holiday). And well, if yuh didn't know, now yuh do.

I attended the media launch for the John Legend concert, "about John" on Thursday of this week. The launch was good. The media release indicated a time of 6:00 to 9:00pm and shortly after half 6 the MC, Adrian Don Mora started the proceedings.


We were introduced to the sponsors B-mobile and Toyota. B-mobile has given the concert the "Green Light" (haha) and hinted that there will be ticket giveaways. (keeping fingers crossed that I win a ticket, or two)

We were then introduced to Mr. Ivan Berry, a native of St. Kitts who is also working with Mr. Ian Wiltshire (the "Glow" and "Mad Hatters " man).

Mr. Ivan Berry

Mr. Berry spoke about Caribbean artistes having an experience outside of the typical Calypso, Soca music. To this end Krystal Khane, a local artist will be opening for John Legend.

Another artist who will be performing on the night is Shazelle. Shazelle may not be known to many, but I remember seeing her on Synergy nights when she debuted "Elevator" and "Pick Me Up". Take the time and check her out on My Space and Facebook.

Mr. Robert Souza

Up next was Mr. Robert Souza, Endorsement Lawyer to John Legend who spoke about John Legend's charity work with the Show Me Campaign.

There was a ticket giveaway and one lucky person
(not me) won two VIP Gold tickets to the concert.

Tickets for the show are available at the following locations:
General Admission tickets cost $180 and are available from:
Francis Fashion and Shoe Locker outlets nationwide
Just Cds, Port of Spain
Limited Edition, Arima
Bobby's Bar, Curepe

VIP Gold tickets cost $350 and are available from:
Bootlegger's, Trincity Mall
T.G.I. Fridays, nationwide
Select Francis Fashion and Shoe Locker outlets

Cloud 9 VVIP tickets will be available strictly from Committee Members. (Rumour has it that these are going for $800 or thereabouts)


Mr. Ivan Berry and Mr. Ian Wiltshire

This will be John's second visit to Trinidad, the first being sometime that I cannot remember now, but I do remember that he put Rhianna in the shade and that I didn't go then.
I am definitely NOT missing this one!

For more information you can check out the Facebook group for the concert.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Niala Maharaj - Like Heaven: The Review

In my downtime, I am a very avid reader.

I like books that are an easy nice read with plenty pictures (I keed).

Some of the authors who are in my very exclusive mini library are John Grisham, James Patterson, Eric Jerome Dickey (who I met in September 2007), Nora Roberts, Sophie Kinsella (I hated the movie version of Confessions of a Shopaholic), Dan Brown (his books got kinda predictable on me and I fell asleep on Da Vinci Code 3 times), J.K Rowling (of course), Marfie ;) and I could go on but I'll stop.

I am not a huge fan of West Indian literature, but when I came across this copy of "Like Heaven" by Niala Maharaj I read the inside cover and thought I'd give it a borrow.



This is the story of Ved Sant, an Indian from Port of Spain, Trinidad — a ramshackle carnival culture, which is suddenly becoming oil and gas rich. Sant has a gift for business, and is an enlightened boss. But, inevitably, the pressures of family and success have an impact on his personal life, and lead to tragedy.



This book was EXCELLENT! I laughed, sniffled and was at the edge of my seat (bed) at times. I read the book in its entirety in no time at all. I am usually a fast reader and this book was no exception. It did not drag at all.

I lent it to my mom who only recently finished it (and now I need to pay late fees) but she too enjoyed the book.

This book gets 5 stars out of 5 from me (and the readers on Amazon as well) and I would recommend this book to anyone.