Eye Unit: Overdue footage from Obama Soca-rama in DC

I'm on a plane to Miami right now, and I really don't want you missing me too much! So, I decided to share a little video from a trip to the US of A that I took earlier this year. I've been going through my computer only to realize that I've got oodles of show footage that ought to be shared.

In January, shortly after returning home from Cuba, I took a road trip to Washington D.C. to witness the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. I have a feeling I'm going to remember the events of that weekend forever. Some of you followed my day by day blogs as I witnessed history in the making. It was really something.

Well, there was also sweet soca in abundance in Washington that weekend. I ended up at one big fete featuring performances from Jeremy, Jamesy P, Kerwin Du Bois, Cocoa Tea, The Baron, David Rudder and Alison Hinds. How about I FINALLY show you what you missed.

Love and Soca,

Nurse Karen

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Nurse's Lounge: Washington Obama Soca-rama

One thing you oughta know about de Nurse, in case you haven't figured it out:  anywhere I go, soca must find me.  So, I'm here in DC.  No business vibes.  This little roadtrip was strictly vacation.  The plan was to be a part of history in the making.

We did that today at the concert...and I truly can't wait to witness Obama take his oath of office on Tuesday.  Knowing me, ah go cry.  I digress.

So, in my heart of hearts I knew that the Caribbean Community had to be doing something to recognize this occasion.  I shot a few emails to some US DJs and promoter trying to figure out if anything would be popping.  I turned up nothing.  Then this afternoon Jamesy P happens to casually mention something about a show he would be in this very night.  I'm a different kind of exhausted, so let's keep the details short and sweet:

Highlights: 

•  I finally met David Rudder. If you are reading this from Toronto, I'm sure you're wondering how it is that I haven't met the man.  I've seen him perform one-zillion times.  I've shared green rooms a few times.  However, I don't like to bother artistes at all, especially when I get a little case of soca-star-struck-itis. Meeting him was good enough, but when I said...

"My name is Karen. I'm a journalist from Toronto. " 

and he replied, "Are you Nurse Karen?"  I almost tumbled off my heels. 

My little moment with the incomparable David Rudder

• I found out Baron didn't lose ALL his gold.  Earlier this month, I reported on a mishap that led to Baron loosing nearly his entire colleciton of gold jewelry at Piarco Airport in December.  He had on three chains tonight that were never packed in that lost pouch.  He says nothing has been returned.  None the less, his voice is still golden, despite his neck being unusually bare. 

The Baron and me!

 

• International:  You already know, this is what I support.  Kudos for bring up artists from Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Vincent and Trinidad.
  

• Cross Generational:  All eras of soca's development were repped to the fullest with a cast including the likes of Alison Hinds, Jamesy P, David Rudder, The Baron, and Kerwin Du Bois.

Kerwin Du Bois and Nurse Karen

Inclusive:  We all love we soca, but let's not try and fool anybody here.  Reggae is like the rice in allyuh sunday dinner when it comes to the music we appreciate.  You might be salivating over stew chicken, but the rice must be there.  Well, soca children...Cocoa Tea brought offical greetings as the RICE.  De man voice sweet.  The cast also included a newcomer by the name of Jeremy.  The young soca artist came up from T&T for his first US performance.  At this stage, I would like to see a litte more depth to the writing in his songs.  However, he shows some promise as a performer.  When he was on stage, he had the audience...even it if was by removing articles of clothing from his not-so-mature chest. That is no easy task.

Cocoa Tea and Nurse Karen

Energetic:  The Georgia Avenue venue used to be an old Chevy dealership.  The gigantic warehouse was cold as ice inside, unless you were pelting waist, so you know what we had to do!  I think I may have been one of the youngest people in the house.  I saw a few faces old enough to be in class with my Granny.  Quite literally, a woman who knows me mudda from Home came over to say hello.  It was after 5 am.  

Alison was blazing up the stage, and I had my coat on, ready to blaze my trail back to the ranch. This woman was prepared to close out the fete.  The best example of energy is bottled up in the host with the most, NY's MC Wassy.  I think I'll go out on a limb and officially endorse the man.  Promoters, Uncle Wassy would give your money's worth and more.  I've never seen a host sing with the band, wine up in the crowd, do stand up...all in the same show.   Book him!..and when you do, send me a ticket, ah wan reach de show.

Well, I said I would be short.  So there it is.  The variety of the show was an unexpected treat.  Big Up to Jamesy P and Atlanta Carnival's Wasi Philbert for the invitation and hospitality.  You made my night.  

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The Rounds: The Baron robbed at Piarco airport

Good Evening Soca Lovers and Happy two-thousand and wine.  I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds.

Congratulations on arriving in the New year safe and sound.  Now that 2008 is over, let us try and leave all that badmind ting behind.  I'll tell you what I mean. Trinidad's silky voiced veteran crooner Baron, appeared to be the unfortunate victim of theft on December 28^th.  It happened at Trinidad's Piarco airport on his way to Toronto to perform at a New Year's Eve fete.

  If you've ever seen the Baron perform, you know that he likes to sport a treasure trove of gold chains around his neck.   According to his manager, the entertainer placed a pouch containing the items on the counter when visiting the washroom. The lost jewellery is reputed to have a value of $75 Thousand TT, which is about  $15 grand Canadian.  Naturally, the man was NOT too pleased about that. It's real sad, the jewellery represented a personal collection amassed throughout his lifetime in the music business. This year people, take my advice...Don't worry about who have and who does not.  Achieve a little something and get your own.

  St. Kitts and Nevis chipped its way into 2009 by closing out their carnival season with a bang.  For the second year in a row, Grand Master's band copped the road march prize with the song "A Want Whale" from its 2008 album "Whaling Season".  You could bet there's some kinda double meaning in THAT.  Last year's road march was Boom Bam Bam. That song received a soca awards nomination in the Best Uptempo - Male Category. This is the sixth road march for Grand Master's Band.

If one of your resolutions is to finally make that trip to the mecca of Caribbean carnival next month or even to save a little money, boy have I got some bad news for you.  In spite of the global economic crisis beginning to rear its ugly head in these parts, the cost of carnival fetes is actually going up.  Many suspected that ticket prices would be made available at a discounted rate, however in most cases, they have either stayed the same or increased in price.  One example would be the popular Beach House All-inclusive which has gone up from $600 TT to $800 in 2009.  (That's One hundred and $160 CDN for one fete. )  I don't care how open the bar is...I don't even think Dr. Jay could drink his money's worth.

Before I go, I promised that I'd let you know what happened at Crucian Christmas Festival Party Monarch Competition in December.  Personally, I resolve to always keep my promises.  So here goes...Toby Dee successfully defended his title with  "Hands High" and he continues to be the Party Monarch of St. Croix.  But remember that anything is truly possible with a brand new year ahead.  Over in Montserrat, Rondell Meade managed to flatten his more experienced competition by capturing the Soca Monarch crown on his very first attempt.  He got the crowd hyped and happy with his performance of My Festival, placing him ahead of former Road March King Flying Dove and US-based crossover artist Kulcha Don.  

I'm Nurse Karen and that was your first edition of Dr. Jay's Rounds for 2009.  Why not start something new this year, and follow the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple w dot mustard seeds dot net for more juicy soca-related information.  You'll be happy you did.  Now back to de docta!

Karen L. Richardson
a.k.a "Nurse Karen"
Entertainment Writer

Visit my soca blog (Nurse) Karen (Etc) at http://mustardseedmedia.blogspot.com

Subscribe to "The Rounds Podcast" http://www.socatherapy.com/podcast/therounds.xml
Got iTunes?  click http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=278264462 to subscribe to The Rounds in iTunes!

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The Rounds: 2008 COTT Awards highlight round-up

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's rounds. What a truly impactful week...in the soca world, and the WORLD in general. Yes, we can and yes we did! Before we get to that, let's go to Jamaica. Just last Sunday, I closed The Rounds by dispelling the rumours circulating about the medical condition of Jamaican soca bandleader Byron Lee. Lee's suffering came to a peaceful end on Tuesday morning. We at Soca Therapy send our heart felt condolences to the Lee family, the all those affiliated with the Dragonaires band, and anyone touched by his musical legacy.

Next, I want to send some birthday love to some WOMEN who are making their mark on soca music in their respective homes. St. Vincent's Tabia and Juliette Mills of St. Kitts both rang in b-days on Friday, and Trinidad's Destra Garcia marks her big day tomorrow. (November 10th)

Nurse Karen and Tabia (St. Vincent 2008)

Speaking of births, and new band was born, just in time for Trini Carnival 2009. It's called Shurwayne Winchester and Y.O.U. The award-winning frontline vocalist from Caribbean Traffik Jam wasted no time getting mobilized for the next stage of his highly decorated career. The band is called Y.O.U....Yes, One Unit. It's all about unity. Around this time last year, I told you about Shurwayne meeting a producer called Alton Bertie at the Puerto Rico Airport. That first meeting led to the production of Carnival Please Stay, which won Mr. Winchester his International Groovy Soca Crown. Well, Bertie is an accomplished musician from a band called Showtime out of Tortola. He joins Y.O.U. as the keyboardist. From the discussions I've had, the sound will be refreshingly new. DJ Kamau joins the team, not only to handle samples, but he'll be manning turntables too. Definitely a new look in soca. Listen for their new track called "All I Need" featuring Serani.

Shurwayne and YOU made their first public performance on Halloween night, but the word really started circulating this past Thursday when they performed with raggae star Maxi Priest at the 10th annual COTT awards in Trinidad. COTT stands for the Copyright Organization of Trinidad and Tobago. The awards show recognizes songwriters, and composers. Here are a few highlights: Faye-Ann Lyons copped two of the top honours, winning Soca of the Year and Song of the Year for Get On. Machel took songwriter of the year. Others in his camp where celebrating too. Bajan producers Dwain Antrobus took home hardware for writing and producing "Wukking up" for Patrice Roberts, and Farmer Nappy was all smiles at the news that his song "Chippin" would earn he and songwriter Ginger kudos as "Groovy Soca of the Year". The veterans scored big too. The Mighty Sparrow was recognized with an International Achievement Award. The Baron was honoured as Pioneer of the Year.

Nurse Karen and Machel Montano in Miami

That's the kind of week it's been in soca. But everyone knows the biggest news anywhere is Barack Obama's US Election Victory on Tuesday. What a message of hope for anyone who is willing to listen. I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Please visit me online at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple W dot Mustard Seeds dot Net. In celebration of Obama's win, I've compiled a links to a list of Calypso songs about Obama from Antigua, St. Kitts, Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad. Be sure to take a look. And if you haven't already subscribed to the Rounds podcast, start today. Download it now at Soca Therapy dot com. Now back to de Docta.

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