Booster Shot: Your fastest route to the hottest new soca podcast!

I announced the *new* Dr. Jay's Rounds podcast about a month ago, but I realize I've got some "splaining to do". Some of you wander on to (Nurse) Karen (Etc) by complete fluke. You happen to be on Google searching all kinds of stuff like "Go Down Low Lyrics", "Hypa Hoppa" or "Nurse Karen's phone number" and you end up here.
So, you likely don't know what all this podcast talk is all about.

The posts on this blog that are marked "The Rounds" are based on a weekly soca news commentary that I do live on FM radio every Sunday night in Toronto. The station is FLOW 93.5 FM, a hits station with an urban slant, boasting kick @$$ caribbean programming on Sunday nights.

The show is called Soca Therapy. It features one of the world's top Soca DJ's - none other than Dr. Jay de Soca Prince. Well if I work with him, and he's the doctor...then I must be a nurse! You get it now? We come on from 6 pm - 9 pm on Sundays. Check it nah!

After two great years and some months of synthesizing the week's biggest soca happenings into one slick little report, I finally got the go ahead to record the segment as a podcast. I have to big up Toronto's own MP Studios for all the technical support. It's a big step...and it's waving the soca flag higher!

So, if you don't live in Toronto or you just want to be sure that you never miss an episode of Dr. Jay's Rounds with your nurse Karen...make sure to subcribe to the podcast. It's the only one of its kind, featuring artist news, music releases, carnival info and anything else that might matter to the soca music connoiseur.

If you click this link...

Subscribe to Dr. Jay's Rounds

You will open the world`s only international soca radio report it in the iTunes library. Then all you have to do is click subcribe. It will automatically download to your computer, and you'll hear the latest every week.

Here at (Nurse) Karen (Etc) you can look forward to so much more! As Spring unfolds in Soca City, we're looking forward to Band Launchings, Big Fetes, Caribana...etc! Check here often to find out exactly what ETC means: pictures, videos, exclusive interviews, artist profiles...and general bacchanal, etc.

There's a lot going on besides what you hear on the radio each week. I am lucky enough to hear some of it when I'm interviewing artists for the magazine articles I write. I'm excited to spread the word when DJs, and other industry professionals ask my to whip them up a new bio. It's my duty to represent it when mas camps, and studios request my help with press releases, etc.

Until now, you haven't had the chance to show you how many hard working professionals I have the privilege of connecting with in this crazy soca biz! So get ready for more; unpublished interview quotes, profiles, and true life stories, etc

Leave me your comments, suggestions, comments, and tips. I love hearing from you.
It's going to be a HOT CRAZY SUMMER, and I feel blessed to have you along for the ride!

With love,

(Nurse) Karen (etc!)

P.S. If you are in Canada or the US, you can leave me a a voicemail message by clicking the CALL ME icon on the right hand side. I might even post the audio on the blog!

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The Rounds: Canadian music pirates get shut down in RCMP raid

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. If you were snowed in this weekend, you might enjoy knowing what de soca people were doing on the sunny shores of Jamaica! Friday night the pre-carnival fetes continued at the Bacchanal Jamaica Mas Camp with a special performance from Kes the Band. Kes was in Toronto last month. After the show, lead singer Kees came out to lime with us in the crowd. Watch sweat nah!




Over so, the students at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus revved up their OWN carnival celebrations. One of those fetin’ students happens to be Skinny Fabulous from St. Vincent. He’s finishing a degree in - get this - MASS COMMUNICATIONS! Am I the only one who finds that funny? Anyway, he was on hand to premiere a few of his new releases for Vincy Mas 2008. Here I am with Skinny Fabulous and Mr. Vegas at Club Xcape in St. Vincent in 2006.



The other hot ticket in the Caribbean last night was WOMEN POWER in St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles. Ms. Alison Hinds and El a Kru made sure to show dem why DEY hot.

If you were paying attention last week, you’ll remember that I ended the rounds with a charge to go out and LEGALLY purchase soca music. The idea came to me after a conversation with a friend over at Homebase Entertainment in Grenada, who showed me a link to their Soca City Volume One CD, and Da Mastamind Project 3, both being ILLEGALLY sold on a Canadian website called Audiomaxx.com. This week Audiomaxx was finally brought to justice. The Winnipeg based counterfeiting operation was shut down in an RCMP raid on Wednesday after THREE years of duplicating and selling pirated CDs and DVDs. The police seized more than 200 thousand discs to be sold at a dramatic retail discount over the internet. Personally, I can’t believe the nerve of these guys. They actually took the time to superimpose their logo on the cover art to fool shoppers like you and me into believing their product was actually authentic. It is alleged that 30 per cent of all pirated CDs in Toronto were manufactured by the bandits at Audiomaxx. Again, If you WANT soca music, BUY it from a reputable source like Trinidad Tunes or iTunes.

Speaking of iTunes, Soca Therapy has a brand new podcast available free of change for soca fans everywhere. Thanks to MP studios. Now you can subscribe to Dr. Jay’s Rounds…download it your computer…and I’ll keep you up to date with your weekly dose of soca news, artiste gossip and carnival info.

I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text your comments to 9-3-5-9-35, or post them online at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple W dot Mustard Seeds dot Net. Now back to de docta!

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**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT** The Rounds podcast is now available!

Great News!!!

You asked for it, and it's finally here...

Now you can get your weekly dose of Soca and carnival news from around the world downloaded directly to your computer. THE ROUNDS podcast is now available. So now matter where you live in the world, you can hear the only radio segment dedicated to reporting on soca music from an international perspective.

Nurse Karen's brand new podcast of DR. JAY'S ROUNDS is a 3 minute recap of the most important happenings in the world of soca. Each segment is recorded live from Toronto every Sunday from Dr. Jay's Soca Therapy radio program on Flow 93.5 FM.

Stay up to date with new releases, world carnivals, celebrity gossip, and music trends...all on your own schedule.

Subscribe today!

Podcast:

http://www.socatherapy.com/podcast/therounds.xml

iTunes:

itpc://www.socatherapy.com/podcast/therounds.xml

Manual Mp3 Download:

http://www.socatherapy.com/podcast/therounds.mp3

Streaming Audio - Listen (M3u):

http://socatherapy.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&task=view&catid=2&id=2

...And don't forget to add the (Nurse)Karen(Etc) blog to your favourites. Visit regularly for additional info; articles, news, pictures, video and more...

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The Rounds: How to Keep Warm in a Blizzard

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I’m Nurse Karen, and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Wherever you happen to be right now, I hope you are warm and DRY! Toronto is under mounds of snow…and it’s still falling. So if yuh home, STAY HOME and generate a little heat as you wine yuh waist. Dr. Jay and Soca Sweetness will help you out with that.

When it’s cold outside, any reason is a good one if you’re not feeling up to dashing through the snow. This week, I got a little more information on why SOME artistes weren’t able to fly in for a major gig last weekend. You can check it ALL out online in my blog...Nurse Karen Etc.

Whenever I’m stuck indoors there are two things I love to do. First, I LOVE to curl up with a good book. There’s nothing like a well written story to take your mind off the perils of life in "Icebox Land". Speaking of which, if you haven’t heard yet…Toronto’s own Queen Macoomeh, a columinist with the Share Newspaper, recently published her first collection of short stories. Tales from Icebox Land is a belly-bursting commentary on life here in Toronto – all written in Trini dialect. I just found out it’s a best seller at A Different Booklist…so if you don’t rush and get it once the roads are clear, you might be out of luck.

If you’ve finished reading, and you’re well tired of the sound of your own thoughts, the best solution is to crank up de stereo loud loud…and jam to some good soca music. Nadia Batson’s debut album “Caribbean Girl” drops tomorrow. The collection is jam packed with 13 expertly written and performed chunes. You can find your old faves…and de new ones she’s bringing for carnival this year. So make sure you pick it up.



When I say pick it up…what I mean is…BUY IT. I know it can be hard to get new soca music in the record stores, and even harder to find legal downloads, but things are starting to get a little easier. Until now, Caribbean based web surfers couldn’t buy music from download sites like iTunes. Finally there’s a Caribbean based online music store that is making the music of Trinidad and Tobago available to the world. Trinidad Tunes Dot com offers trini soca, reggae, gospel and more to anyone who wants to buy it. I checked it out and it’s all legal. The music is obtained directly from studios who sign actual contracts governing the sale of their copyrighted materials. So now, those of us here in Canada can look forward to Caribbean releases much faster!

You can pick up The Mastamind Project III right now. That’s the album where you can find Augusta’s Mr. DJ…or dat old Crazy singing Electrician. Tracks are just 99 cents US each. I’m sure you can find more than enough to keep you warm and happy on a blustery winter’s day.

I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text your comments to 9.3.5.9.3.5 or Visit me online at (Nurse)Karen (Etc) on Mustardseeds.net. Now back to de docta!

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The Rounds - June 17, 2007

June 17, 2007

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds for Father’s Day 2007.
It’s another hot weekend in the city. And when it’s hot, you have to find creative ways to keep that temperature in check. For some, that meant strolling down to Barbados on the water to see Rupee. While others preferred to chill out in they short pants on the Palazzo Patio for another soapy foam fete. No matter how allyuh stay cool…is good once you doing it with soca.
The coolest thing out of St. LUCIA right now is the Lehgo Me Riddim. This infectious production is the work of a guy named ACE who managed to get Bunji, Faye Ann, Qpid, Skinny Fabulous and Zoelah each to give it their own special touch. My personal favourite is a track called “Presha Boom” by St. Lucia’s own Ricky T. And is not just me who feel de chune wikkked, yah kna. EVEN though Lucian carnival is just barely underway, VP records is already in talks with Ace and Ricky T about putting that bad boy on the next soca gold compilation. If it dey dey…guess who go be first in line to buy it?
In case you ARE looking for new music to buy, you might want to consider the new Scrappy Album. In 2005/2006 Scrappy earned himself the Montserrat Soca Monarch Crown, but I’m sure some of my Montserratian crew would remember him as a two-time JUNIOR CALYPSO monarch. Well he’s all grown up now, and he’s celebrating his 25th birthday with the release of his third album “Soca Is Life”, out on Faluma Digital in Europe…and through iTunes everywhere else.
Speaking of Europe…Trinidadian Fireman Bunji Garlin is packing his bags for a seven city European tour alongside Germany’s biggest soca sound system…The Soca Twins. From June 28th -- July 10th Bunji will be racking up the air miles from Germany to France, Sweden to Italy. And iWayne ( you know - the reggae artist who said soca is devil music)…he go be home ..wid he Mummah.
On a more serious note, a budding soca artist died tragically on Thursday night in Trinidad. Eric Cyril Stephenson otherwise known as Sphinx was gunned down at home in Petit Bourg. You may remember Sphinx from songs like “Wine on You” from 2004 and his 2005 duet with Kes called “Doh Buss No Gun”. The talk is…that Sphinx was known to local police for drug trafficking, and witnesses of the shooting death say that he seemed to know his killer.
On thing I know – dat kinda schupitness has got to stop! Just turn up de sweet soca music and stay cool. Don’t let a little sunshine give you a hot head!
I’m nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Text me your comments at 9-3-5-9-3-5, now back to de Docta!

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The Rounds - January 28, 2007

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

It’s been a fun week in the world of soca music, let ME tell YOU. With several islands throughout the Caribbean preparing for carnival, there’s no shortage of great new music…and a healthy dose of competition to keep the quality at its best.

Down in Martinique it’s all about mizik veeday. That’s quite literally the music of mas. For those of us more familiar with the music of the English Caribbean, the best way to describe it…,is Super fast zouk - filled with sexually charged lyrics, kinda like soca, but all sung in Creole.

Dominica’s carnival is now in full swing too. Mas Domnik is touted as the most orginial carnival in the Caribbean celebrating Soca, Zouk and Bouyon. It also gives special attention to the islands indigenous carib people.

Guyana’s soca monarch contenders are vying for the chance to steal the crown right off Adrian Dutchin’s head…but not if I have anything to say about Dat!

More news from the Mastamind camp. Music man Shawn Noel just announced that he’s doing his part to bring soca to a broader audience. Now, fans of the various Mastamind projects will be able to purchase their favourite songs from itunes. And If you’ve ever searched itunes for soca - you’ll know it’s long overdue. Until now, the most you could get is…the SOCA THERAPY podcast. Not that I complaining….but I’m happy to see something that will put some money directly in the pockets of Caribbean artists.

Speaking of the soca audience…a popular Caribbean web community will soon be the subject of a song by Problem Child. This past week a discussion about the new song by Kevin Lyttle and Problem Child, turned ugly. One poster decided to get personal making comments about the artist and his sister. Sources say Problem Child is fighting fire with the fire he knows best. He’s already been in studio recording a tune making reference to certain commess loving forum posters using their screenames. So allyuh who love gossip...let that be a lesson to yuh.

Woy…like I said, this week is pure kicks. Allyuh know that I enjoy working with the doctor…but not just that, I respect the man as a person. Lots of people respect him, yes…and I mean everywhere. They damn well just wan’ be de man. The longer I bring you the rounds, the more I realize it. In 2005, it was a radio show in St. Kitts with a segment called Pan Moments. In 2006, it was a radio show in Antigua called Soca Therapy. In 2007, they’re taking it out the studio and into the dancehall...and its getting closer to home. A group of promoters in Brooklyn New York are in the midst of organizing a fete called “Doh Cry Ah Leaving”…and it’s not even the first time. I thought that was funny enough in itself…but what was even madder is that one of Dem Boys and Dem messaged me on MySpace asking me if Dr. Jay would mind if I post his bootleg flyer on MY PAGE!!!! Cheeez!

I’m nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please send your comments to soca at flow 935 dot com. Now back to de doctor.

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