The Rounds: How to Keep Warm in a Blizzard

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen, and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Wherever you happen to be right now, I hope you are warm and DRY! Toronto is under mounds of snow…and it’s still falling. So if yuh home, STAY HOME and generate a little heat as you wine yuh waist. Dr. Jay and Soca Sweetness will help you out with that.

When it’s cold outside, any reason is a good one if you’re not feeling up to dashing through the snow. This week, I got a little more information on why SOME artistes weren’t able to fly in for a major gig last weekend. You can check it ALL out online in my blog...Nurse Karen Etc.

Whenever I’m stuck indoors there are two things I love to do. First, I LOVE to curl up with a good book. There’s nothing like a well written story to take your mind off the perils of life in "Icebox Land". Speaking of which, if you haven’t heard yet…Toronto’s own Queen Macoomeh, a columinist with the Share Newspaper, recently published her first collection of short stories. Tales from Icebox Land is a belly-bursting commentary on life here in Toronto – all written in Trini dialect. I just found out it’s a best seller at A Different Booklist…so if you don’t rush and get it once the roads are clear, you might be out of luck.

If you’ve finished reading, and you’re well tired of the sound of your own thoughts, the best solution is to crank up de stereo loud loud…and jam to some good soca music. Nadia Batson’s debut album “Caribbean Girl” drops tomorrow. The collection is jam packed with 13 expertly written and performed chunes. You can find your old faves…and de new ones she’s bringing for carnival this year. So make sure you pick it up.



When I say pick it up…what I mean is…BUY IT. I know it can be hard to get new soca music in the record stores, and even harder to find legal downloads, but things are starting to get a little easier. Until now, Caribbean based web surfers couldn’t buy music from download sites like iTunes. Finally there’s a Caribbean based online music store that is making the music of Trinidad and Tobago available to the world. Trinidad Tunes Dot com offers trini soca, reggae, gospel and more to anyone who wants to buy it. I checked it out and it’s all legal. The music is obtained directly from studios who sign actual contracts governing the sale of their copyrighted materials. So now, those of us here in Canada can look forward to Caribbean releases much faster!

You can pick up The Mastamind Project III right now. That’s the album where you can find Augusta’s Mr. DJ…or dat old Crazy singing Electrician. Tracks are just 99 cents US each. I’m sure you can find more than enough to keep you warm and happy on a blustery winter’s day.

I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text your comments to 9.3.5.9.3.5 or Visit me online at (Nurse)Karen (Etc) on Mustardseeds.net. Now back to de docta!