Eye Unit: Happy Birthday Juliette Mills

Nurse Karen and Juliette Mills in Miami, October 2008

So there are 3 artists in the game that are celebrating today.  Next up we're acknowledging US-based St. Kitts Soca Diva Juliette Mills.   In Fort Myers, Florida there's going to be a big birthday fete thrown on her behalf tonight at The Lions Den.

Nurse Karen Etc is wishing you all the best in blessings for your birthday and upcoming nuptials as well! Looks like it's going to be a big year!

Here's a shot of Juliette performing her song "Riding", shot in September.






Love and Soca,

Nurse Karen

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The Rounds: Shurwayne Winchester and Y.O.U celebrated 1 year, etc!

Originally aired on Flow 93.5 FM in Toronto "Soca Therapy"

In this edition:

- Shurwayne and Y.O.U. celebrate one year (Trinidad and Tobago)
- SVG goverment promises money to artists (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
- Problem Child's Mad House Tour Reality Show (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
- December carnivals: St. Kitts, St. Croix, Montserrat
- Soca or Die (Canada)
- This week's soca birthdays: B.V.I, St. Kitts and Nevis

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Last Tuesday, Shurwayne Winchester and YOU celebrated their 1st anniversary together as a band. The event took place at Woodford Cafe in Trinidad, the same place they held their very first performance just one year before. Since then, they have the have grown as a cohesive unit, opened their own band room, produced the ABX Riddim for Carnival 2k10, and recorded 18 of their own songs. Shurwayne announced that Y.O.U. would be releasing a new album on the 1st of December.
The very same date marked the 30th anniversary of independence for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. There’s all kinds of reasons why something like that is important news for the rounds, but allow me to give you one more. To mark the occasion, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced the government’s plans for an economic stimulus package that includes 1 million dollars in grant money to be doled out to its cultural entrepreneurs. It plain English, the soca artists are getting cheques in the mail just for being creative. Boyyyy, nothing says happy Indy like free money.

Speaking of SVG, I’m not sure how many of you knew that St. Vincent’s Roadmarch king, Problem Child has his very own reality show. It’s called the Madhouse Tour and it launched on St. Vincent’s K45, Iktv channel in the fall. I never mentioned it to you before, because there were no videos online. Well now there are. If you surf over to youtube, You can see funny clips of the artist’s adventures all over the place, including....TORONTO.
We all know that Trinidad Carnival is coming in February. But there are actually several other Carnivals before then. In December three other Caribbean Islands will heat up with the sounds of soca, and theatre of mas; St. Kitts, St. Croix (USVI), and Montserrat. The 2009 Montserrat Festival calendar was just released this past week, with a packed agenda of activities from December 4th through January 1st.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today is only November 1st. So, happy birthday goes out to soca artist, Lincoln Ward in the British Virgin Island. Then on Saturday, the Parade of Scorpio b-days continues. That night will be the 1st ever Soca or Die Surprise Birthday party for Dr. Jay and friends. Hope you got your tickets! But it’s also the birthday of Juliette Mills from St. Kitts, Tabia from St. Vincent, and Scarface from Trinidad. Don’t look surprised, we already told you November is the month of the Soca Baby!

Before I go...good news. Knycky Cordner performed again with her band Ventures for the 1st time since her hip surgery earlier this year. Happy to see the girl back in action!
I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. To get the news first, be sure to visit nurse dash Karen dot com or follow me, nursekaren on Twitter. Now back to de Docta!

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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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Eye Unit: Happy Birthday Juliette Mills and Tabia!

In my line of work, the best gift I can offer an emerging artiste is a little bit of exposure. Here are two talented young ladies that don't have professionally produced music videos to their names as yet, but their voices are well-known in their home countries. Take a look and listen to the birthday girls!

Happy Birthday Juliette Mills of St. Kitts and Nevis!

Happy 21st B-Day to Tabia of St. Vincent and the Grenadines!

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Booster Shot: Ruckshun Caribbean Music Festival Cancelled

OK...lemme tell you something.  I was really wanting to go to Calgary this weekend.  After Miami Carnival, that was the number one destination that artists were whispering in my ear.

"So, we seeing you in Calgary Nurse?"

"Karen, I guess we would meet up in Calgary next!"

" Girl, why you not going Calgary again?"

"Why don't you just come to Calgary?"

Call it peer pressure, but I was actually trying to work a ting to make it out west for the Ruckshun Caribbean Music Festival.

The event was set to be a two-night all Caribbean showcase featuring performances by (Check the lineup):

• Destra and Atlantik
• Junior Kelly
• Edwin Yearwood and Kosfyah
• Jamesy P
• Lil Rick
• Problem Child
• Mr. Dale
• Zoelah
• Juliette Mills
• Ragga
• Harella
• Maffie and Crew
• music by Barrie Hype, Top Gunners

Sounds like a great lime right?

Well BAD NEWS.  Really bad news.  The whole thing just got scrapped.  

Believe it!  This is not public knowledge, so if you're a ticket holder you might wanna go back to wherever you got it and figure out how to get a refund.  Just doing a public service.  

I won't be telling you my source, because only a few of us know right now.  

Thank God I didn't drop nearly $700 on a flight.

So, sorry Calgary.  I sure hope you get a big show like that some time soon.  I especially feel bad for the seven different acts on the bill who spoke to me about this.  Fill me in when you do...cause I want to be there.    

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Nurse's Lounge: Broward Carnival, and more Fyah!

Soca people. You know I'm gonna tell you the truth right. Here it is. Broward was better! Organizing a carnival is serious hard work. It doesn't help when a faction breaks away to do their own thing. So, this is not a criticism...just a comparison. Broward, TO ME, felt more like carnival. More space. More people behind the bands. More variety of cuisine. More people as a whole. More Fyah!

Met up with some of the Vincy crew to take a jump, now that was wild!

When we arrived, I was not about to let the rain dampen my spirits. After seeking shelter a couple times I thought to myself....what's the worst that could happen? My lil stick-on ponytail gets wet. Boo hoo. Exactly...who cares? It's carnival.

According to organizers, Broward Carnival had more then 13 thousand paying patrons. If you include vendors, mas bands, performers and media ( LIKE ME!!!) That number mushrooms to 20 thousand people attending. I think some of those extra people stormed the gate, but that's just between you and me.

Backstage with Rikki Jai, Trinidad's Soca Chutney General

You should have seen people going mad behind Red Hot Flames on the road. That band has real energy, and the crowd sought it, caught it and threw it back. The main stage boasted a very international line-up with performances from the likes of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (Jamaica), Rikki Jai (Trinidad), Traffik (Trinidad),and Krosfyah (Barbados).

Krosfyah posing, just before they brutalized up the stage!

Big dutty big up to the drummer. He actually smashed his snare in the middle of the performance. He kept playing the kit with one hand as the drum was replaced. No one had a clue. I have video of that. So check for it soon on Nurse Karen TV

It was a personal pleasure to meet Jumo Primo. He sings lead for Byron Lee. If you don't know...he and Adrian Dutchin are partners in a group called X2 (Times Two) outta Guyana. Both of them are busy touring with accomplished bands based in Jamaica and Bimshire respectively. But they continue to be great friends, and still work together to mash up Mashramani Carnival in Guyana.

Nurse Karen and X2 at Broward Carnival

That show was mad. Thank you to the Broward Carnival Committee for showing me such great hospitality. Before I go, I wanna send some love to Miss Juliette Mills outta St. Kitts. It was a pleasure for me to catch her live for the first time. She's got a few impressive tracks under her belt and I really look forward to hear more in the upcoming year.

Nurse Karen and Juliette Mills

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The Rounds: Biggie Irie to Release his first album

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds.

If you ask any true soca afficionado why this music hasn't hit big in the mainstream, most of them will tell you this: soca is extremely seasonal and often never gets the chance to grace the sandy shores of neighbouring islands. Well, good news soca lovers, it's beginning to look like that might change!

The Caribbean is growing smaller now that two West Indies produced music TV programs have been licensed to air across the region. About two months ago, Barbados-based ALT entertainment announced that it's 5-year old music video countdown program called "Roamin" would begin to air in 25 new territories, after striking a deal with a CBS affiliate station. The show features reggae and soca music videos, and showcases the local youth-culture of the islands they visit. Every Thursday night viewers in the States, Central America and the Spanish and French Caribbean will finally have a chance to find out what WE ting is all about!

This week, little-old Montserrat celebrated a similar milestone.... The Warren Cassell show will focus on live performances by Caribbean artistes. Claudette Peters, The Mighty Sparrow, Edwin Yearwood and Kevin Lyttle are all slated to appear in season one. The program will air in 17 countries.

Looks like Caribbean integration is happening all around. When it comes to the music, you can't help but notice that regional differences aren't quite so simple to pick out on first listen. That even extends to themes. Earlier this year, Bunji and Hunter had a big hit in Bring It…and I recently found out that two Bajan artistes plan to celebrate the virtues of RUM this year too.

Contone is one of them. He has big TINGs up his sleeve with a song that samples Rehab by Amy Winehouse.

Biggie Irie brought the Caribbean together in 2007 when he became the first foreigner to win the Groovy Soca Monarch crown in Trinidad. Right now he's busy compiling his first ever soca album. For Crop Over he will release 5 new songs. "Break Away" and "Bigg Girlz" are two groovy tunes produced by Dwain Antrobus, the guy who brought us Wining Season and Assume De Position last year. The last 3 songs in production with Chris Allman. Biggie's songs will start to hit the airwaves by the end of May.

South of the border the month of June is National Caribbean American Heritage Month. So, the community of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida will be getting together to celebrate the 14th anniversary of UNIFEST. It's a pan-Caribbean festival organized by the Greater Caribbean American Cultural Coalition. On June 1st, Leon Coldero, Nigel Lewis and Juliette Mills will be bring the soca vibrations.I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Leave me your comments at the Nurse Karen Etc Blog at triple W dot mustardseeds dot net. Now back to de docta!

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