The Rounds: Soca stars hungry in New York

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds. This weekend Jamaica kisses their 20th anniversary carnival season good-bye. Revellers took to the streets today, for a jump in the hot sun.

Closer to home in New York, it was all things Machel Montano at Madison Square Garden's WaMu theatre on Friday night. (Check we together in Toronto in December)

The HD camp and their international cast of friends entertained 16000 fans between the two sold out shows that evening. What fans saw from the audience was an energy packed performance of chart topping soca hits. Behind the scenes, your nurse discovered the conditions weren't the best for some of the performers. With one show at 8 pm and one show at midnight, it's a long day at work for the entertainers. Unfortunately, organizers failed to provide any food whatsoever for the "and Friends" portion of the cast, quietly waiting back stage. So don't study the vibrant energy and smiling faces you can now see all over YouTube, there were a lot of grumbling bellies balling out with every jump and wave.

One of the next big gigs on the Machel Montano docket will be Miami's longest running Memorial Day Long-Weekend Reggae Concert: Best of the Best. I know Machel is not a reggae artist but lately he's been covering Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain" and he's still performing Dutty Wine in his set, even though most people stopped doing the dance in favour of keeping their insurance policies. So the big concert takes place on Sunday, May twenty five at Bicentennial Park. Mr. Slaughter will be there as a DJ. You know he alway UP IN DAT...here's a shot of the 2 o'we in the Tribe All-Inclusive in Trinidad last month.

...And this is Walshy from Black Chiney. He go be there spinning too. Miami is his home turf.

The reggae acts include Super Cat, Buju, Beenie, Sizzla, Junior Reid, Barrington Levy, Tarrus Riley…ok, lemme stop. Nuff reggae. Nuff said.

While we on that vibe, I thought I'd let you in on some big news in Britain. Reggae artist Maxi Priest just replaced Ali Campbell as the lead singer of the band UB40. They are best known for the 1983 remake of Neil Diamond's "Red, Red Wine" and now they are set to release a modern take on "I Shot the Sheriff" featuring Mr. Maxi Priest.

Soca shares influences with a variety of Caribbean art forms. One such ORAL tradition is that of Rapso, it's a poetic storytelling style that relies heavily on rhythm and rhyme. In Trinidad, and organization called the Rapso fraternity is getting ready to host the 19th annual Rapso festival in April. People who go, will get a chance to take workshops, and even perform! This year the focus is on education….and me being a poet, I decided to do my part by educating you. So there you have it.

I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Leave me a comment at the (Nurse) Karen (Etc) blog, online at triple w dot mustardseeds.net and don't forget to download the podcast. Now back to de docta!

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The Rounds - Machel Montano plays Jingle Jam, etc.

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. First I want to say I’m glad to be back. As you know, last Sunday my voice was sacrificed to the deep Canadian cold. I woke up to nearly a foot of that white stuff…and I was rendered speechless – literally.

So I’m thanking the man upstairs for life, and love and the chance to speak to you each week - even if I got to do it with this HUSKY voice. Sexy right?

Miss Nadia Batson was celebrating life on Friday as she rang in her 31st birthday with family, friends and fellow soca celebrities in Trinidad. She’s got so much to celebrate right now, as she prepares to release her debut album on December 17th.

Mista Vybe was there. Miss Alysha was there. And because of it, the promoter says they couldn't make it to Jingle Jam here in Toronto last night. According to the promoter, Rich Nice, it would have cost him triple the price to fly all those artists in on the same day as his big fete. An option, that just wasn’t possible given the budget. On top of that, he says Cham wasn’t ALLOWED in the building…and Blazer Dan’s management didn’t put in for his work permit on time. But the show must go on. The crowd at the Docks, came out in numbers for performances from Problem Child, Farmer Nappy, Patrice Roberts and Machel Montano.

What the crowd didn’t know is that Problem Child was performing with (what he believes is) a broken bone in his foot. He was injured on Friday in New York, just moments before heading to the airport to fly in for his gig in Toronto. That didn’t stop him from jumping up or stomping down…but Problem, if you’re listening…. as your nurse, please take my advice. Do yourself a favour and go see a doctor, pronto!

Mr. Slaughter has been hanging out in Miami recently. He just shot a video for a song called “Bad Boys” with DMX, Jr. Reid and DJ G.Q.. Complete with fast cars, mansions and sexy ladies. It’s looking like B.E.T. is written all over it.

Little more on Peter C… Better late than never - the reemerging soca singer just joined the MySpace world last week. Not only will he be launching that band I keep talking about, but he’s got his first ever solo album in the works too. Congratulations! The CD will include old hits like Oh Susanna and Tay Lay Lay, plus there’s the new stuff. Over and Over AND two more tracks for Carnival 2008: More Gyul and De Sun.

As for me, I’m celebrating too. December 2007 makes two years of Nurse Karen bringing you Dr. Jay’s Rounds on Soca Therapy. I want to thank you all for the undying support and love I receive from listeners everyday, on MySpace, Hi5, facebook, YouTube, and everywhere else you can find me on the web. To mark the special occasion, I’ve decided to launch a new Soca Blog called (Nurse) Karen (Etc). check it out at http://www.mustardseeds.net/

I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text me your comments at 9-3-5-9-3-5 or post them online on Nurse Karen Etc. at http://www.mustardseeds.net/
Now, back to de docta!

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