The Rounds: False alarm, CPF to pay Fay-Ann all she's owed.

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


It's St. Patricks's Day Weekend in Toronto, and Calle Ocho weekend in Miami. So, south Florida’s biggest Latin festival is on and popping with a little soca, mixed in for good measure.
Today, Kevin Lyttle appears on the Power 96 stage alongside Shaggy and Brooke Hogan.

A shot I grabbed of Kevin Lyttle at home in St. Vincent, back in 2006

Kevin’s working to push out a sophomore album for the North American market this year. You can expect guest appearances from man like Pitbull, "Mr. Boombastic" – Shaggy, even Fat Joe. Weird, right?

With Destra in Toronto in '08

While we’re talking about new soca albums. Get your hands on these: Trini Jacobs has got one. Destra's got HOTT. I would STRONGLY recommend "On in 5" by Kes the Band. Oh and for the big people... check calypso vet, David Rudder for "Trinidad Stories." You can download them from Trinidadtunes.com or bug your local music seller and make them stock the music YOU love.

King David Rudder in Washington, D.C., in January 2009.

This was a topsy-turvy week for Trinidad’s reigning soca Queen Fay-Ann Lyons. She received a letter from the organizers of the International Soca Monarch competition informing her that her prize money would be slashed due to the economic down turn. Yes, you heard me right! The Caribbean Prestige Foundation was blaming its main sponsor, the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs for going back on its promise to provide a $1 Million first prize for the winner of the Power Soca Category on Fantastic Friday. Just two days ago, there was a big uproar in Trinidad when the news got out that Fay-Ann would be getting just $750 thousand instead.

The Nurse and Fay-Ann, Toronto 2008

Well, I have some good news for you. Late yesterday, the president of the Caribbean Prestige foundation issued a release apologizing for his very SCHUPID error. Fay-Ann will get the $1 million after all, plus all the cash she’s owed for Groovy Monarch and Peoples Choice. He’s now saying that he mistook the Ministry’s recommendation for a directive. That means, he thought the government wasn’t going to fork out the cash at all. Truth be told, they just well cheap and were HOPING to keep a little extra in their pockets. The wretches.

All’s well that ends well I guess!


I’m Nurse Karen, and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Check out Nurse Karen Etc on facebook or mustard seeds dot net for more juicy soca news. And don’t forget, the only soca news podcast, Dr. jay’s rounds is available for download at soca therapy dot com. Now, back to de docta.

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Booster Shot: Kevin Lyttle to appear at Calle Ocho 2009

Miami's Called Ocho festival is just around the corner, and this time around Kevin Lytlle will be performing on the POWER96 stage.  Called Ocho is considered to be America's largest Latin Carnival, and billed as "the biggest block party in the world"!   Lyttle will be taking his unique falsetto soca sound to the streets of Miami this Sunday, March 15. 

If you've been wondering what Kev's been up to lately, you obviously haven't been visiting (Nurse) Karen (Etc) very often!  Anyhoo, lemme fill you in.  He released a sophomore album in Japan in 2008, but there's an album in production for American album as we speak. He's got a single out called "Anywhere" featuring Flo Rida.  In the near future, you should also be hearing collaborations with the likes of Pitbull, Shaggy and Fat Joe.

If you're in the Miami area, make sure and take in a Lyttle soca  (ha ha ha, i kill me) at the POWER96 stage located on SW 8th Street and 17th Avenue in downtown Miami, from 11am to 7pm on Sunday.  They say Shaggy and Brook Hogan will be there too.  Enjoy the party...and let a girl know how it was!

Love and Soca, 

(Nurse) Karen

With Kevin Lyttle, home for carnival in SVG, June 2008

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The Rounds: Kevin Lyttle mourns the loss of his beloved mother

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

Antigua and Barbuda has a brand new International Music Festival coming June 12 -15. It’s called Romantic Rhythms and it features the likes of Keyshia Cole, Brian McKnight and Kenny Rogers! Shaggy and Maxi Priest will be showing love reggae-style, and in the soca arena, Miss Destra Garcia and Atlantik will balance out the Caribbean vibes. Here's a shot of me with the guys from Atlantik. We were liming at Glow in St. Vincent. You'll notice they aren't wearing the right colour!

If you draw a straight line going east from the Caribbean, you’ll eventually hit the gold coast of Africa. There you’ll find a group called 5Five that’s making a lot of buzz with their song African Gurlz. The local music in Ghana consists of two infectious styles called Highlife and Hiplife. They aren’t all that different from popular Caribbean sounds, because those very African Rhythms are the foundation of OUR modern music. The 5Five hit is a foray into the genre of soca music, and this week the duo is ecstatic to be nominated for FIVE 2008 Ghana Music Awards. We wish them good luck, whether they win Discovery of the Year, Hiplife Artiste of the Year, Song of the Year, Pop Song of the Year, OR Hiplife Album of the Year – Any win is a big forward for Soca Music internationally. And I support dat!

I was fortunate to travel to Africa for the first time last Spring. I was in Ghana during the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of independence from British rule. Here's a picture of me at the Cape Coast slave castle. That was a very emotional day.

The Summer Olympics will be taking place in Beijing this year(if the boycotts are unsuccessful), and today the torch made its circuit through London England. The Royal city made sure the relay acknowledged every element that makes it a world class destination. One of those elements is the annual Notting Hill Carnival. When the torch made its way to Ladbroke Grove at 10 o’clock this morning, a mini-carnival was waiting there for it. That’s the area where Europe’s largest outdoor festival takes place every August. For FOUR hours, Londoners reveled in Caribbean food and music as they looked ahead to the Olympic games.

And this is me, playing mas at the REAL Notting Hill Carnival...

Happy belated birthday greetings go out to a couple of top Caribbean musicians! Kees’s big brother Jon Dieffenthaller turned 29 on Monday. He’s the guitarist from Kes the Band. Over in St. Vincent, Alex “Kubiyashi” Barnwell, was ringing in his Champagne birthday on the very same day. He burst on the scene in 2005, with the Lava Slide Riddim, A production that featured tracks by soca artistes from six different countries. But you probably know him best as the producer of Zoelah’s smash hit Go Down Low.

Last Summer, Kubiyashi was hanging in Toronto for Caribana. Here we are at CIUT 89.5 FM. Kubi's being interviewed on the World Wide Wake Up Show by Jester and Chief.



Lastly, the entire Soca Therapy family wishes to express our deepest sympathy to Kevin Lyttle and his family in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and abroad on the passing of his mother earlier in the week. The mother and son shared a unique bond…and she will definitely be missed. Here's a shot I snapped of Kevin in happier days. He had just performed at Maddzart's Wild Out in Wred party in SVG in 2006.

I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please send me your comments online at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple w dot mustardseeds dot net. And don’t forget to download the podcast. Now back to de docta!

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

Have you ever felt the pain of heart break? Ever wished you could get something back that you know is gone forever. Around here, we does call dat Tabanca! And last night a few hundred people who vex with winter and missing the soca riddims of T&T crammed into Islandmix in Pickering for Dr. Jay's remedy. Before there was any reason for the tabanca to kick in. Dr. Jay, a big Toronto posse and yours truly were soaking up the oil and music in Trinidad last month. Check we!




When you feel that way, there's nothing better than a good celebration to get you by. So let me tell you what has other people smiling…And if yuh still working through allyuh Carnival Tabanca, you'll soon realize there's plenty more love to go around.

First off, New York's Ma$tamind Productions, the husband and wife duo that's responsible for bring you all those Mastamind Projects and Christmas albums celebrated 3 years in the business on Monday. Three years, five albums, collaborations with artists from all over; including Rikki Jai, Bomani, Sheldon Douglas, Adrian Dutchin, and Maximus Dan to name a few. We say congrats to dem …and keep making that music! This is me with Shawn "Mastamind" Noel, and Natasha Andrews-Noel in Trinidad last month.




Now down in Trinidad, everybody's favourite loverboy was doing a little celebrating he-self. Kees Dieffenthaller of Kes the Band rang in a birthday on Wednesday. In case you're curious, that little baby face and fit body now boasts 27 years on this earth. God bless us all!

In Miami, they are spreading the love Cuban style today with their annual Calle Ocho street fair. It started off 30 years ago as celebration of La Cultura Cubana, but nowadays it incorporates musical elements from thoughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It spans twenty-three city blocks with sixteen concert stages and the best part is, it's FREE. This year Shaggy, Wyclef and Chaka Khan join the action at Carnaval Miami's big Latin-Caribbean party…that features soca music too!

Now over in Jamaica, the carnival surprises keep on flowing. We usually don't expect a lot of new soca music from JamDown, but up and coming reggae star Da'Ville is adding his voice to the mix. He's making the ladies swoon with a SOCA release called none-other-than TURN ME ON! This soca track was produced by Trinidad's Sheldon "Shel Shok" Benjamin. If you didn't know, he the midi guy in Atlantik... and he produced Roll for Alison Hinds…plus a slew of other very big tracks! Here I am with the boys from Atlantik in St. Vincent last July. Shel Shok is the one standing behind me!

So there's no reason to feel sad and lonely when is out there celebrating life. So forget de Tabanca, cuz it go be Spring before you hear my voice next.

I'm Nurse Karen, and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Don't forget to subscribe to my podcast, or leave me a comment online at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple W dot Mustard Seeds dot Net. Now back to de docta!

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The Rounds - April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007
Dr. Jay’s Rounds
By “Nurse Karen”
Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. We’ve entered Spring and I’m actually starting to believe it.
As Easter rolls around, Jamaica is gearing up for carnival again. Last Saturday, Bacchanal Jamaica founder Byron Lee got the people of Clarendon in the mood at the Supreme Venture Carnival Blowout. The night featured covers of soca songs by Biggie Irie and Alison Hinds, plus the popular annual Tiney Winey competition.
St. Lucia is ushering in the new season by coaxing the big tourist money. There’s a new star studded celebrity event at the Rodney Bay Village Music bash, April 23 to April 25th. The inaugural festival will feature Destra, David Rudder, Beres Hammond, Sean Paul, Maxi Priest and Shaggy. With tickets set at $60 US, it’s obvious that they prefer foreign money to the local kind. For Lucians wanting to check out their favourite artistes, $160 EC is not much of a welcome mat…if you know what I’m saying.
The next big North American street party happens in Atlanta next month. DJ Tony Tempo tells me he will be bringing a mas band this year, which is guaranteed to encourage more participation from the youth. So, if you want to join the action, the parade of the bands takes place on May 26th.
T and T police are out to capture the true pirates of the Caribbean. Perhaps you know of them, you know the kind of people who try to get rich selling things that don’t belong to them in the first place. I have to hand it to the copyright organization of Trinidad and Tobago. Last week they nabbed a couple of street entrepreneurs who were selling bootleg soca CDs for which they don’t own the license. If you’ve ever traveled to the West Indies…or Brooklyn for that matter, you know how much of a problem that is. These guys selling bootlegs on street corners with no shame….and you have to remember, soca music is still an emerging industry. The artists have a short window to win the ears of fans during the carnival season and once it’s done, marketing and promotion is often done at a grass roots level. While I think the fine ought to be much higher then $3000 TT ( about $700 Canadian), I’m happy the cops are finally teaching a them a lesson. Since February of this year they’ve made more than ten arrests. The only people who should be making money off the sale of the music…are the people who are making the music.
In Antigua, spirits were low this week as West Indies fans witnessed their team tek some serious licks from Australia. A rain cancellation pushed the date back one day, which led to lower attendance. Some would say the only highlight of Wednesday’s game was a lunchtime performance by El a Kru. When tizzy hit the stage singing Expose, the crowd got together to jump and wave…which really couldn’t save the team anyway.
And according to Marxman Sri Lanka done knock de West Indies back to 1957. This week I asked Dr. Jay to run a little cricket set to encourage these guys to step it up… I thought I’d better ask the kingdom of soca to give our boys a little inspiration…but inspiration could never substitute for runs….i think I going and cry.
I’m nurse Karen and those were Dr. jay’s Rounds. Send your comments to soca a Flow 935 dot com. Now back to the doctor!

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The Rounds - February 25, 2007

Good evening Soca Lovers,
I’m nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. The best part (as you already know) is Dr. Jay is back in de building!
The ICC Cricket World Cup gets underway in two weeks. Naturally, the price of plane tickets has risen to the occasion. So, if you’re upset that you won’t be there to watch our boys bat that ball to victory, you might want to check your favourite record store for the Official Soundtrack. Out on VP records, the CD entitled “Caribbean Party” features songs by TOK, Morgan Heritage, Tanya Stephens, Beres, Buju, Elephant Man…and “The Game of Love and Unity” by Rupee, Faye-Ann Lyons-Alvarez and Shaggy.
On January 21st, 2007. Doctor Jay de Soca Prince made a prediction. It had a little something to do with a man named Machel Montano and a tune called Jumbie. Well Soca people, whether you owe de man a beer or a plate of pelau – it is now time to pay up! Machel Montano was able to secure his third ever Roadmarch win on Tuesday, beating out all other competitors by a landslide. According to the official count, “Jumbie” was played 388 times, whereas Shurwayne’s “Open De Gate” came second with only 34 plays. Imagine dat! Sugar Boy by Patrice Roberts managed to sneak in for third with 33 spins.
This Carnival, revelers had to display their costumes on the road in front of Queen’s Park Savannah rather than on stage. Remember, I’ve been telling you about the new cultural centre they’re building for that. Well my friends, it wasn’t ready for Carnival 2007, and it looks like it may not be ready for next year either. Trinidad’s Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams let the cat out of the bag on Friday. There’s a possibility that part of the centre may be ready for next February, but definitely not all.
So I done tell you that Biggie Irie is the new groovy soca monarch in Trinidad, right? His winning composition “Nah Going Home” has been a hit since Crop Over 2006, but it may be hitting in more ways than one. Hitting him with a copyright infringement lawsuit that is. I know I can’t be the ONLY soca fan who also loves the classic Irish rock band “U2”. Ever since I first heard Biggie’s song, I’ve been looking through my cassettes from elementary school. “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for!” As it turns out, when Biggie Irie borrowed that melody to create the chorus for Nah going home, he didn’t bother to clear samples. The monarch crown will not be affected by this infringement, but Irie’s pocket book COULD be cleared out if the mega band decides to take up the breach of their copyright in court.
I’m nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s rounds. Send me your comments at soca at FLOW 935 dot com…and don’t forget to buy your Return Fete tickets starting this Tuesday. Now, back to de docta!

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The Rounds - December 3, 2006

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s rounds. Well friends, It’s December and I guess we can’t deny that the only thing you can expect from Canadian weather is change.

Last week, I let you all know about some possible changes for Trinidad carnival next year. It looks like the Piccadilly Greens, just east of Port-of-Spain are being considered as a new judging point for the parade of the bands. The change is coming because of the $400 million Carnival Cultural Centre that should be going up at Queen’s Park Savannah, one of the original mandatory big stages. Since the Savannah is out of the question for 2007…a new location has to be found. If you ask me..they betta hurry up!

After Trini Carnival, there’s only one other event that has the entire Caribbean pumped for 2007. Say it with me now…WORLD CUP…OF CRICKET!!! Preparations have been underway for a long time now. When I was in Grenada this summer I couldn’t believe the size of the new stadium they had going up. You could fit the whole of St. Georges inside it twice.

When the West Indies cricket team hosts the rest of the world for an internationally televised backside whooping…yuh know we hadda have the right music for the occasion. World Cup 2007 organizers announced that Rupee, Faye-Ann and Shaggy will be collaborating on the official song for the tournament. The tune is called "The Game of Love and Unity". It’s got a pan-Caribbean sound that combines soca, reggae and r&b. Some kinda groovy someting that should pull together influences from across the region.

As 2006 comes to a close, you can’t help but look forward to all the great new soca for 2007. Last month, I was the first to tell you that Nu Vybes out of St. Kitts was no more. If you remember that far back, I also speculated that the keyboardist Steve Dublin mighta had a new band in the works. Well, I’m confirming that news for you NOW. A media launch was held in Bassterre last week to announce the arrival of “D’Vybz Band International….headed up by none other than Mr. Steve Dublin. Kittitian Carnival takes place over the Christmas holidays, So the launch came right in time to put an end to all rumours and get down to the business… of fete!

In Barbados, super band Krosfyah is using their soca sense to make some soca dollars. For the third consecutive year Krosfyah has signed an endorsement deal with the B-mobile branch of Cable and Wireless. A slew of other major artistes have enjoyed the added exposure bmobile brings, including the likes of Rihanna, Beenie Man, Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin, Ninja Dan and Shurwayne Winchester.

As the band looks forward to celebrating its 16th anniversary in 2007, they are ecstatic to do so in partnership with the telecommunications giant.

I’m nurse Karen and those were Doctor Jay’s Rounds. Please send me your comments at Soca at Flow 935 dot com. Now back to de docta.

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