CARNIVAL 2009 (Feb 21 & 24 )

Mas': Sonia Mack (Island People)
Mas: Tribe

J'ouvert: Section 8

Event Line Up: See all flyers here

Thur: Beach House (All Inclusive day), Normandie (Machel)
Fri: Break Biche (All Inclusive day), Soca Monarch, Girl Power
Sat: Eclipze (All Inclusiveday)/Insomnia (video)/Diamond Vale Bkfast Fete(All Inclusive)
Sun: Lara Fete(All Inclusive)/Section 8 J'ouvert
Mon&Tues: Island People Mas/Tribe Mas

Getting to Trinidad & Tobago:

Caribbean Airlines
Air Jamaica
Universal Airlines
American Airlines
Caribbean Star
Liat

Good prices for carnival:
EC Worldwide Travel in Miami:
1-800-235-9292.

Island Soul Promotions Specials

Sharri Byron Recommends

for food: chinese - kam wa,
indian either hot
shoppe or patraj
de roti there so
soft it melts in
your mouth.

Photo by Geoffrey Chuk, Trinidad.

Jouvay.com Carnival Pics
2007: Carnival Tuesday; Monday
2004:Carnival Tuesday; Monday/Jouvay
2003: Carnival Monday; Isomnia

More Trinidad Pictures

VisitTNT
TNTisland
Triniscene
T&Tdirectory
Trinidad Express
Trinidad Guardian
HomeviewTNT.com
95FM
Caribbean Beat

Carnival Bands/Promoters

Sonia Mack (IP frontline)
Section 8 J'ouvert Band
Islandevents
Pulse
Poison Mascamp (not for 2007)
Galvanizeent.com
3CANAL
Minshall/Callaloo Company
Barbarossa International Mascamp
Genesis
Harts Carnival Mascamp
IslandStyle
Legacy
Legends Mascamp
Masquerade
Skandulus
Tribe
Trini Revellers
The Project
Skandal
Mac Farlane
Signal to Noise
Vandeveer Promotions

RUM: Angostura, Fernandes
Local Beer: Carib

Steel Pan Links

Pan On the Net

Jouvay.com Videos of TNT:

Insomnia 2K4
UWI Splash 2K4
Carnival Monday 2K3

3Canal
Bunji Garlin
Calypso Rose
Crazy
David Rudder
Denise Belfon
Destra Garcia
Drupatee
Fay Ann Lyons
Ghetto Flex
Imij & Co
Iwer George
KES
KMC
Leon Caldero & Code 868
Leroy Clarke (painter)
Machel Montanto & XTATIK
Oscar B
Maximus Dan
Naya George
Ray Holman
Rikki Jai
Roger George
Ronnie McIntosh
Scrunter
Shadow
Shurwayne Winchester
Sparrow
Surface
ThreeSuns

Photo by Amira Jackmon

Maya's Log (Carnival 2K4, Carnival 2003, Carnival 1999, Carifesta 1992):

Wednesday ..2003
My good friend and colleague Alesia had just successfully defended her phd thesis and two weeks prior to carnival felt we deserved a trip to Trinidad. In a mad rush we surfed for airfares and found Guyana’s Universal airlines, a company started by two sisters that operates flights from NY to Trinidad and Guyana with headquarters in Richmond Hill, Queen’s otherwise known as Little Guyana. When the company started the Washington Post reported that the airline left at 10:55 pm to cater for folks who had to work, served curry and roti to satiate the Guyanese appetite, and cost under $400 US. Though we were flying for $690 US and entertained by non broadway favorites from another era, we were high just from the Trini accents that kept going through the night…obviously they had not been flying from San Franciso for over 12 hours already. We spotted, as though by divine intervention, Ronald. Swiftly we changed our accommodation plans and reasoned to pitch our mattress in the most conveniently located and hospitable house in Woodbrook (three of us had already done this in 1999). Many thanks to Ragoo, Gary, Cookie and Ronald for being such sports and encouraging us to plug jouvay.com as much as possible even if it meant painting red nailpolish on our bodies on carnival Tuesday.

Thursday
By 10 am we had to meet the Miami Fly Girls crew to head to our first party in Toco. Lucky for us we had arranged the $75 US tickets before arriving in Trinidad for they were sold out. After waiting for the Fly girls to look fly, the bus ride was a little over an hour. Specialty drinks were abundant, food stalls lined Michael Headley’s (owner of Poison) lawns serving Chinese, Shark and Bake, Curry, Creole, Indian sweets, and fruits. The venue was spectacular and there were live performances by Militant, Rupee, Oscar B, Jason Benn, Horyzon, and a live rhythm section. By ten pm it was nearly over and we had two more parties for that night; Madhatters and UWI Splash. Jet lag could not set in for another week. See pictures here.

Friday
For the next few days our world revolved around eating in Woodbrook, trying to get a costume for carnival and feting. At the last minute bay area promoter of Angelmagik had arranged costumes for us with his mom, Sonia Mack. We are most grateful to Johnathan and forgive his mathematical miscalculation on the costume discount/coversion rate given that he’s a Cal Berkeley student and the costume (~ $275 US instead of $200 US) was in fact very pretty (it is possible to organize a costume at the last minute for much cheaper with other sections…just ask around to find a deal). Soca Monarch was at the oval that Friday night with vibrant and creative performances of 20 contestants on stage, magnified on three large screens. I heard that the chutney soca monarch was even more spectacular...Bollywood style. Rolling with Ragoo I made it backstage where he introduced me to singers like Iwer George, KMC (I don’t want to know if I getting horn), Destra Garcia (It’s carnival), Machel Montano, Giselle (Miami’s Mad House), and Chinese Laundry (Homeviewtnt.com). It was past midnight, the competition was only midway, but it was time to fete. Luckily we had advanced VIP tickets for Girl Power, which meant you had a hassle free entrance with food and drinks included. The event was sold out, but scalpers sold regular tickets for twice the cost of ours.

Saturday was curry day at Patraj on Tragrette road and then a quick walk to Long Circular mall to collect our finished costumes (Trinis will advise you that the place "farr" when in fact it's no more than a 15 minute walk). By 5 pm we were at the Allcarnivals.com all inclusive at the Trinidad country club ($50 US) with an abundance of food and booze. The turn out was not huge, but folks were dressed up and the performances by Imij and Co., Square One, Rupee and Scrunter made the evening quite lovely. A quick stop home to change into sneakers and shorts and we were off to MOBS 2 for Insomnia. By 10 am the next morning we were just heading home, Krosfyah still had the crowd pumping and we had seen most of the big bands and singers in one venue. Our friends returned around 3 pm that afternoon praising the breakfast fete in Diamond Vale which many refer to as the original breakfast fete. See pictures here.

Sunday
By 4 pm that afternoon we were headed to the Lara all inclusive Fete ($60 US) at the house of infamous West Indian cricketer, Brian Lara. Patrons could take shuttle busses from the gate up to the house (a 2 minute walk) where they were welcomed by body painted dancers. Folks were dressed up for this party and started to pour in as the sun set. Again it was an abundance of great food and specialty drinks and the stage was graced by Bunji and Sahmmi, Rupee, Destra, Ronnie McIntosh and Atlantik, Machel, Iwer, Fay Ann, Maximus Dan, and Alison Hinds. The venue was intimate and the crowd definitely loosened up as the evening progressed. See Pictures here.

Monday
After taking a 3 hour nap it was time for J’ouvert with 3 Canal. Actually, we got there a little early (2:45 am). Their registration package included condoms and a note that said call the 3Canal hotline to find out the point of assembly since it was a secret to keep non registered revelers from joining in the frenzy. The hotline never worked and luckily we had played j’ouvert with them in 1999 (Black Indian Nation) and they were assembled in the same spot behind the stadium. Whilst most people walked with their bottle of paint we had plastered ourselves in the grey that was given to us when we registered for the band ($30 US) thinking that we had to arrive in “costume”. As folks gathered the mood was somber because long time 3 Canal collaborator, producer Andre Tanker had suddenly died at Soca Monarch that Friday night. The Laventille rhythm section started to play and 3 Canal got on the mics to get people on the road. For the first 6 blocks down Tragrette road Andre Tanker’s creations played. Alcohol stalls lined the dark streets, paint and more paint was distributed, Militant was on the truck singing with 3 Canal, bay area friend Peter and Amira were in the crowd, the followers grew and by mid morning it was difficult to recognize anyone we jumped with.

After barely making it home and scrubbing away at the paint (someone suggested oiling yourself with petroleum jelly to make this task easier) we were dressed off in our partial costumes and out combing the streets looking for Poison with its 10,000 masqueraders. Rumor was that the band was on the highway behind the stadium, charting a course of its own. In the front you'll find designer Sonia Mack and a few trucks back will be the islandevents.com section with Machel Montano who's got enough wines for all the women in the band.

Carnival Tuesday. By 8 am we were dressed, drinking, and at the corner of Rosalina and Arapita avenue waiting for Poison to pass (it took us about an hour to figure out that we were watching Poison and the front section was way ahead). Lucky for us we soon found our lawyer, Peter Balogh, who had his personal drink cart close to the front. The day just disappeared and ended at midnight after the last song played at the last lap jam at the Oval.

Ash Wednesday. The two cool down beach fetes were at Maracas and Manzanilla. Rather than heed the advice of DJ Back to Basics to head to Maracas before 9 am, we spent about 3 hours in traffic from 3 pm and arrived at sunset to find a restless crowd. Good company, great views, roasted corn and pickled fruits saved the afternoon. Finding a good lime that night proved difficult. Many folks had already hit Tobago for real R&R.

Pitch Lake, Tobago beaches (photos courtesy of Amira Jackmon)

Much thanks to Ruel Ward, Francis Ragoo, and Myrtle Malcolm for arranging tickets for us and Johnathan Mack for hooking us up with LA Violeta...if we decide once again at the last minute that we must go to carnival we sure hope to be in the POISON Retromania front section as a Solid Gold dancer with a Cleopatra headpiece and beaded skirt. And again thanks to Ronald, Cookie, Gary and Ragoo for the hospitality.

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