Eye Unit: Sneak performance of unreleased new Jamesy P (video)

Here's a little clip that you won't see anywhere else. Last Sunday, I was in Washington, D.C. at a small private gathering where Jamesy P tested out his newest song. My camera conked out on me, but thankfully my brother was there capturing it all. So here's your chance to see Jamesy P perform Sugar Pan, before he song even gets out of the studio!


Curious about what was going on here, and why you didn't know about it? Read my blog entry from last week.


http://mustardseedmedia.blogspot.com/2009/01/nurses-lounge-friends-family-and.html


P.S. Take the time to browse through the videos on www.jeddiah.net. My brother puts together amazing video collages from all over the world, that's where to find them! Make sure and tell him I sent you!

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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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Nurse’s Lounge: Friends, Family and Football...and Jamesy P

It is cold.  Yes, I do remember that I’m Canadian, but Winter is not usually the time of year that I plan to spend hours at a time standing around outdoors.   After freezing my hands and warming my heart at the HBO concert, my icy toes got moving.  I had received an invitation from Jamesy P’s new manager to check out a private football lime in a posh condo complex in the Capitol Hill region. 

Finding the spot was a chore and a half.  However, I finally got there...not a moment too soon!   The gathering was a big excuse to gather locals and visitors to watch a little football on a Sunday evening.  I know precious little about the NFL, so I was grateful for the other entertainment options: food and drink!  I filled my plate with an array of savoury goodies, while Wasi Philbert, host and resident bar man kept the Nurse Karen contingent jovial with pale green cocktails.

Jamesy P enjoying a game of pool

Wait!  I almost forgot to tell you - Jamesy P was in the house! Throughout the evening his music provided the upbeat soundtrack to AFC and NFC playoff games. (Philly lost. Some said that’s a bad thing.) 

Finally, I figured out why I was invited in the first place!  Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting new people and getting to know people in the business away from the regular performance context, but it’s not everyday I get an invite to watch football at a swanky condo.  Jamesy P was about to give a live performance of an unreleased track for Trinidad Carnival 2009.

The piece is called Sugar Pan, it’s  a humorous mid-tempo soca about horning partners.  He charismatic Vincy, best known for a little chune called “Nookie”, stood atop a bar stool and tested his new ditty out on about 35 guests, all who were eager to join in to sing the chorus. Great response from the first ever audience.

Jamesy P and Nurse Karen in Washington, D.C.

The crowd reacted with unanimous approval.  Some danced. Some held their guts laughing.  Others watched every antic wearing buggy eyes and wide smiles.  Personally, I’m excited to see how it turns out.  I’m told the release will be happening by next week.

Shortly after the impromptu show, Nookieman slipped out to sound check for Obama Soca-rama.  That’s the big Caribbean fete happening later tonight.  I’ll fill you in a little later.  Pardon me, but I’m still in a mild state of shock.  No one told me about this line up!  LOL...change had indeed come to America.

Meet you back here later!

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Nurse's Lounge: Wouldn't miss THIS for the world! HBO We Are One Concert

Even if you have been hiding under a rock, (why do people even say that?) you must have heard that the United States of America collectively flipped the bird to their racist past by electing their first ever African American President, Mr. Barack Obama.  

When the election results rolled in on November 4th, I started making plans for this week.  Guess where I am, soca people?  You better believe, I've been chilling out in the centre of the action in America's nation capital - Washington D.C.  God is real good, and if he spares this humble life till Tuesday, I'm going to see Barack get sworn in!

By the time you've read this, CNN will have given you a better visual rundown of the events than I can at this moment.  So here are a few of my highlights.  

Today I attended the HBO "We Are One" pre-inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial.  I was maybe halfway between there and the Washington Monument, standing shoulder to shoulder with 750,000 other pilgrims all united in our hope for a better day.  We saw performances from e'er-body!  Bonjovi, Tom Hanks, Shakira, Will I Am, Beyonce, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Samuel L. Jackson, Garth Brooks, etc, etc.  However, the real excitment came when president elect Barack Obama took the stage to say a few words.   Is it weird to say that the man is COOL!?!?  He even walks like a bad mofo.  Crazy!  

The entries for this trip will be back-dated, so you can read them in succession.  Please just bear with me.  There haven't been too many pauses in the action.  I'm recovering from a couple of hours shut-eye after the wild soca-filled night that ensued.  Stay-tuned!

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The Rounds - October 21, 2007

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m nurse Karen and these are Doctor Jay’s Rounds. It’s another hot Sunday in Toronto, and to mark the occasion, I’ve brought you some equally hot news.
Guyana’s ministry of culture, youth and sport has decided to bring back the Guyana Music Festival that was first started in 1952. Next year, Guyana will play host to the Caribbean’s ideas expo, Carifesta Ten...and the government is praying for a cultural renaissance. The initiative aims to provide more support for the nation’s music industry, and better training for its next generation of entertainers.
St. Lucia’s 2007 groovy soca monarch is not just Goin Down de Road, he’s been jet setting over to gay Paree. Teddyson John and his pan-caribbean performance band, BlueMango just took their act to the 2007 Cibrations Caraibe Jazz festival in Paris France. The band whose members come from Barbados, Martinique, French Guiana and Saint Lucie, received rave reviews after opening for John Legend at the Internationally renowned St. Lucia Jazz festival earlier this year. And now it’s paying off. The group got to take their sound to a festival featuring Caribbean jazz expressions, in Euro’s afro-music mecca!
Another soca artist who’s NO stranger to having his business all over the world, was just invited to speak at Washington D.C.’s historical Howard University. Machel Montano was booked to provide the keynote address at a program called Soca 101, organized by the school’s Caribbean Students’ Organization. Invited, but de big star mussee catch a little stage fright. The educational event went on with no Machel to be seen. He sent his regrets, and I’m told he made an appearance on campus the next day to sign autographs.
When I think of Machel Montano, the last thing that comes to mind is SHYness! Whether he on stage sending a mampie flying in the air, or if he’s just proving dat he’s a real winer man, dat boy oozes confidence. On Friday, Machel and de HD family proved THAT to be true at the ever popular Zen night club, when a couple of bullet proof vested trini cops threatened to shut down de session. Why, you ask? LEWD CONDUCT! Everybody knows, is a regular day in the life of a roadmarch king when the artist gets on stage only to have the girls in the front row INSPECT THE QUALITY OF HIS FAMILY JEWELS. Machel tell de police to lock him up if they want to, but is not he fault de gyal dem getting on scandalous. In the end, the incident produced nothing but hearty laughter from all in attendance…and earned Mr. Montano Nurse Karen’s 2007 award for the King of Commess. Machel, I love you bad jed. You make my job so much easier.
Look out for him in 2008 with a brand new roadmarch contender called Unconditional Love, and a groovy follow up to One More Time that he previewed for the giggling crowd at Zen.
I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text your comments to 9-3-5-9-3-5, now back to de doctor.

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The Rounds - June 24, 2007

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. It’s a steamy Sunday night here in Toronto, and de music -- only makes it hot-ter! Yonge Street was set ablaze all weekend as thousands got together to celebrate PRIDE. And all of us have something to be proud about, ya know.
For the Guyanese listeners, you ought to be proud your nation is celebrating forty-one years of independent rule. For the Washington D.C. posse, yesterday was about displaying your colours on de road for the D.C. Caribbean Carnival.
If you made it to BLACKOUT last night, you MUST be proud you got to see KMC and RED, WHITE and BLACK in their first Toronto performance this year.
And if you were planning to take part in an annual summer tradition called Unite De Nations, you ought to be proud of ME for letting YOU know …it’s moving FROM Markham Fairgrounds TO Wild Water Kingdom. Trust me on dat!
Whatever circumstances you face in life, you have to big up your chest and luv yuhself. A couple a tick tings in Barbados are doing just that - as they fight for the rights of full bodied women who want to play mas. I’m sure you’ve noticed how skimpy carnival costumes have become over the years. Well imagine this. A popular Kadooment band called Baje international is under attack for only providing FIVE costumes for plus sized revellers in each of its eight sections. That’s only 40 costumes out of six-teen-hundred. Which ain’t right AT TALL (unless somebody tink I dotish enough to believe that only two point five percent of west Indian women have a lil extra something to shake.)
So de big girls and dem wont be jumping with Baje, but when they DO hit the road on Kadooment day, there’s no doubt they go take a jump to de sweet sounds of Jabae. This CropOver de Chandler brothers are coming strong as they prepare to release their first album - “Circle Evolution”. It’s a 14-track disc featuring reigning party monarch Barry Chandler and his Brother Bruce…now going by Bruce Wayne. Trinidad’s Mista Vybe is also lending his vocal stylings to de mix with a single called BLAZE IT UP, just released today.
Hundreds of youth in the Eastern Caribbean are vying for a chance to release their own albums as auditions for the third annual Digicel Rising Star competition are underway. Last week was St. Lucia. This week Barbados. And so it begins..the search that brought us Kimberly Inniss and Kyron Baptiste. Once again this winner will take home ten thousand dollars U.S. in cash, a recording contract and lots of fabulous prizes. The organizers say that next year they hope to open the competition to all Caribbean states where their services are offered….crowning a true Caribbean STAR…now that’s something we can ALL take pride in.
I’m nurse Karen and those were Doctor Jay’s rounds. Text me your comments @ 9-3-5-9-3-5. Now back to de docta!


Sparking up de flames!!

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