The Rounds: Machel Mania...

Good Evening Soca Lovers,



I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds.



As the countdown to Caribana continues, a delegation of Toronto’s Carnival Elite are packing their bags to represent our city at Chicago’s Sister Cities Festival, tomorrow through Wednesday. In the crew you’ll find the likes of Steel Panist Earl La Pierre Jr, Calypsonian Macoomeh Fifi and Tribal Knights Bandleader Dexter Seusahai. They will be taking to the stage for three days hoping to urge our friends to make the trip north for North America’s Largest Outdoor Festival.




Trinidad’s Mr. Slaughter celebrated his 31st birthday last Wednesday after a memorable weekend at the best of the best show in Miami. The DJ turned soca artiste has also been trying his hand at reggae in recent months, lending his voice to the Devil’s Angel rhythm on a track called Highest Grade. Sticking to his original DJ roots, you can look forward to hearing DAWG-E on the 1’s and 2’s in Toronto on June 14th at the next edition of Soca Sweetness’ signature party – THE BUZZ.

In Toronto, we're wishing a happy belated b-day to soca artiste Slammer Cutter, whose big day was yesterday. Also celebrating a birthday TODAY, is the lovely and talented Alison Hinds. Now 38, she’s showing no signs of slowing down as she prepares for the Square One Reunion Concert in Barbados on July 26th.

Farm P, Nurse Karen and Slammer Cutter at the Flow 93.5 studios in Toronto.

For those of you Machel fans out there. He seems to be focused on Barbados these days too. Mr. Montano was heard on a popular bajan radio station announcing his plans to perform on the road with the Kadooment Band - Cable and Wireless Contact for the next 3 years. Most likely, that means there’s pretty much no chance that HD will be gracing any stages for Caribana any time soon. Speaking of HD...time for a new lingo. Caribbean Planet! You heard it here first, High Definition is soon to be a thing of the past. The Xtatik family are setting their sights on world domination with a brand new theme for 2009.

Still didn’t get your Machel Montano fix? Well last week, the trial finally began for that alleged assault incident at Zen night club involving Machel, Zan, Benjai and Kernal Roberts. It was delayed a few days due to his engagements in Miami. And boy were the courts unhappy about that, even though Montano’s lawyer says that a letter was issued on March 5th saying that he would not be available for the scheduled date. So, it finally kicked off on Thursday and continues throughout this week. I’ll be keeping an ear to the ground as until we can finally lay this thing to rest.




I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please send me your comments at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple w dot mustard seeds dot net. And don’t forget to grab the Rounds podcast at soca therapy dot com. Now, back to de docta!