On De Scene: TC is 2009 Barbados Party Monarch too?!!

Our very own Corey Graham has been on de scene awaiting the most anticipated Party Monarch results for the past few minutes . Barbados seem to be in soca mode with TC gaining the FIRST ever Crop Over Sweet Soca Competition and tonight she is the Party Monarch for 2009 .


Results :


1. T.C. - Hot Sun N Riddim




2. Nathalee




3. Red Plastic Bag



4. Khiomal


5. Mr. Dale

We're in the dark as to how the same song is permitted to take the title in two seperate competitions. Time to take a closer look at the NCF Rules!

Thanks Corey and we look forward to your review on the competition in the coming days. Congratulations to TC !!!







Peace and Soca



Rochelle

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Booster Shot: TC is inaugural Sweet Soca Champ

Here are the results from The first ever Crop Over Sweet Soca Competition!!!

(Special thanks to our own Corey Graham 2.0 who is at Farley Hill National Park in Barbados awaiting the Party Monarch results)

1. TC - Hot Sun N Riddim

2. Nathalee Burke - What We Do

3. Mikey - I in Dat

4. Mr. Dale - We Come to Party

5. Blood - Back It Up

Congrats to Miss TC. She's been doing this soca thing for a while now. It was my pleasure to finally meet her in person 2 Sundays ago at Caribbean Wet Fete in Bridgetown. We chatted about this season...and the chances of this very thing happening! She edged out Nahtalee Burke by just 1 point!!!


Love and Soca,

Nurse Karen

P.S. Party Monarch results coming any second now!

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Booster Shot: Barbados Party Monarch & Sweet Soca Finalists Announced

Barbados - Party Monarch & Sweet Soca Contestants Announced

The anticipation.. the agony of waiting… feels like it's been a long haul, but finally the results are known. The finalists have been released for two of the most aniticipated competitions on the Crop Over calendar.

The eight finalists in the 98.1 The One Banks Sweet Soca Competition are:

Song Title Artiste

1. All Night Til Morning Statement

2. Back It Up Blood

3. Come Out Mr. Dale

4. Hot Sun and Riddim TC

5. I in Dat Mikey

6. Trouble Khiomal

7. What We Do Nathlee

8. We Come to Party Sir Ruel

RESERVE:

Winin' Zone Brett
----------------------------------

The ten finalists in the Mount Gay and LIME Party Monarch Competition are:

Tent Artiste

1. Bachannal Time Timmy

2. Celebration Time Donella

3. Celebration Time Khiomal

4. Celebration Time Lil Rick

5. De Big Show Nathalee

6. De Big Show Red Plastic Bag

7. De Big Show TC

8. Headliners Blood

9. Headliners Mr. Dale

10. Headliners Mikey

RESERVE:

De Big Show Kirk Brown

Crop Over

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On De Scene: Krosfyah Ventures and Pyramid Entertainment join forces for Crop Over 2K9

(originally written on Friday, June 12, 2009)

Head Table - Mikey of Krosfyah, Mikey, Tony "Rebel" Bailey, Adrian Dutchin, Ingrid, Santia, Tony Hoyos, Ruel Ward

Pyramid Entertainment Management Inc. the company which represents Lil Rick, Peter Ram, Biggie Irie and Mr. Dale, and Krosfyah Ventures Inc. which represents the Krosfyah band (Edwin Yearwood, Khiomal and Adrian Dutchin) have joined forces to create Barbados 246. Yeah people, I was at the press conference yesterday, and I learnt all about Barbados 246.

What is Barbados 246?

"It's a musical production which will showcase the past and present repertoire of the artistes as well as the diverse talents of the island's leading entertainers. Barbados 246 is a cultural business initiative designed to the brand Barbados locally, regionally and internationally."

Basically these entities are coming together to produce a full stage show that showcases the best of the artistes involved. Krosfyah's band will be bringing the full musical backing to the live performances by Lil Rick, Peter Ram, Biggie Irie and Mr. Dale. They are planning to include choreographed dancers and special effects into their performances. The interesting thing for me is that they have also stated that "each show will have a separate and distinct theme setting it apart from all the others". I find this interesting. I know any carnival is a very busy time and I am wondering if the Barbados 246 cast will be able to change their set from performance to performance. I mean they have said that they will be at select events over the Crop Over Season 2009.

19th June 2009 - Official Launch Event in Association with Brewster's Road - Return of the Burn
27th June 2009 - Plantation and Barbados 246 present "Boogie Nights" - Back In Time - Plantation
5th July 2009 - Soca Splash - Ultimate Beach Party - Carlisle Bay Centre
18th July 2009 - Fete - TBA - Plantation Theatre
25th July 2009 - Brewster's Road Fete - TBA - Tim's On The Highway
30th July 2009 - Glow - All White Party - Party Stand
31st July 2009 - Ten to Ten - All Night Event - Carlisle Car Park

To top it off they will be unveiling a Barbados 246 bus on Wednesday 17th June 2009! I will try to bring this to you. There will also be Barbados 246 Merchandising with T-Shirts along with a Barbados 246 Compliation CD which will be available on CD Baby, Got Rhythm.com, Trinidad Tunes, more on that as the season unfolds.

Mikey of Krosyah, Corey Graham 2.0 and Santia Bradshaw of Pyramid Entertainment

My 2 cents on this issue is that this effort is long overdue and I believe it is important that Bajan Entertainers step up to the plate and put on well produced stage shows.

Corey Graham 2.0

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Booster Shot: "Soca Junkiez" fashion line straight from Yard!

There's a new t-shirt line called Soca Junkiez, and it may surprize you where it's from!

JAMAICA!!!! That's right.  Don't underestimate the land of reggae, jerk and Blue Mountain coffee!  They've got love for Soca Music too.

The line was created by a youth called Neil Davis, a Jamaican with a passion for soca music.  He told the Jamaica Gleaner, he found that soca did not have such a strong foundation in Jamaica and the soca music being played left much for real soca lovers to desire. 

A facebook group called Bacchanal Soca Junkiez was created to give these young people a place to express themselves.  Davis then decided to cash in on what he refers to as the Soca Lifestyle...by creating something to help those music lovers identify themselves.

He bigs up Mr. Dale's chune "Soka Junkie", saying that the lyrics embody everything he wanted a line to represent.

"I set out to develop a brand that would revive soca culture in Jamaica by reuniting self-proclaimed soca junkies who are living life, celebrating the soca lifestyle and who just genuinely love soca music," says Davis.

Jamaica Carnival is just around the corner and Davis' timing couldn't be better...

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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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The Rounds: Khiomal is new Barbados Party Monarch!

Good Evening Soca Lovers,


I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds.


The Caribbean bade farewell to yet another Carnival this past week. St. Lucia was ablaze on Monday and Tuesday with Ricky T taking his 3rd roadmarch in a row. If you've been keeping score, that was Container in '06....

, Pressure Boom in '07

and Wheel and Come Again swept everything in '08. That's right my people. He managed to win Lucian Power Soca and Caribbean Soca Monarch too.

So let's recap:

St. Lucia Roadmarch goes to Ricky T, Herb Black's Suzette ranked number 2 and Ilah Man's "Mad So" rounds out 3rd place.

As for the Caribbean Soca Monarch, Bajan Soca Junkie, Mr. Dale grabbed the trophy for 3rd. Lucian Wildman, Ilah Man came second, and Ricky T - number one again! Ricky's girlfriend is expecting their first little one in a matter of weeks. At the Power Soca finals, she told me that the baby started kicking as soon as daddy's victory was announced. Sounds like the whole family will be jumping for joy for a very long time.

Today Barbados corwned a Party Monarch and it's not 2007 defending champion Lil Rick the Hypa Dog. So Congrats goes out to Khiomal Nurse. The Crown looks good on you Babes. In second place was Mikey, and 3rd place goes to the lovely lady Nathalee Burke.

Nurse Karen with Khiomal in Toronto

Lil Rick had to settle for 5th. Word on the ground is that Peter Ram gave and excellent performance. It's clear that the Pyramid entertainment camp put a lot of energy into staging "Carnival Praise" complete with a gospel-style choir led by Biggie Irie. Ram is pretty unhappy about what was reported to be a 14th place finish, as evidenced by his refusal to give interviews following the release of the results.




Closer to home, ScotiaBank Caribana is off to a very positive start, right here in Toronto. Last night's Calypso Monarch competition was a sold out affair. And by sold out I mean patrons turned away at the door and ting. So, let this be a lesson to everybody. Buy up your tickets in advance. Caribana events a sell off!...and make a profit.

Congratulations to Toronto's new Calypso queen. Macomere Fifi dethroned 2007 Monarch, Structure. Fifi's song "Barrack Obama" ( a very popular theme for Calypsoes this year) was also awarded honours for Best Presentation and Best Vocal Rendition. Her other selection Take Back we country earned recognition for Best Melody and Best Arrangement. She can thank Winston Maingot and Oswald James for that.

Congrats also to De Carra for an impressive second place finish and Structure, you're still on the boards! Kudos on third place.

I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Please check out the Nurse Karen Etc blog at mustardseeds dot net for more information on any of the news you've heard here. And remember you can always get the Rounds to go at Soca Therapy dot com. Now back to de Docta!

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Booster Shot: 2008 Caribbean Soca Monarch Results

Ricky T added another notch to his belt last night at St. Lucia's Caribbean Soca Monarch held in Castries. The 2-time road march King was able to add 2008 Soca Monarch and 2008Caribbean Soca Monarch to his list of titles in just 8 days.

Caribbean Soca Monarch Results:

1. St Lucia - Ricky T (Wheel and Come Again)

2. St. Lucia - Ilah Man (Mad So)

3. Barbados - Mr. Dale (Soca Junkie)

Congratulations to all competitors!

Now that the competitions are out of the way, St. Lucia's carnival is in full swing. J'ouvert wrapped up a few hours ago...and it's officially Carnival Monday. Lucian posse! Take a jump for me!

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The Rounds: Red Hot Flames album about to drop...SCYATTAH!!!!

Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds. The calendar says it's summer now, and all attention focuses on the Caribbean. If you're looking for me this time next week I will be in sweet St. Vincent and the Grenadines preparing the place for Dr. Jay's arrival.


Belated birthday greetings to Sheldon "Shel Shok" Benjamin. of the big band Atlantik. I missed you last rounds, but we'll catch up next weekend at Insomnia in SVG.

Some of Atlantik liming at GLOW SVG last year.

(Shel Shok is the long one in the back!)

Last week's ragga soca monarch competition proved to be a big upset at Victoria Park. Zoelah fans: if you haven't heard by now, your girl's performance of Wine Up On Me simply did not cut it for the judges, leaving her out of the top 3. From all accounts Zoelah, who had performed at Wet Fete (in the rain) the night before was sounding PRETTY hoarse. So top marks went to Dani-O instead, who shocked onlookers with a stellar performance of Gimme Mo. Next up was Skarypon with Forever, and Galanaire in third place with "Do YOU"


Summer time means summer music, so if you haven't already picked up your copy of Soca Gold 2008, now would be the time to make that happen. It's currently ranked #1 on the Billboard Reggae charts (Dah don't really make sense to ME, but whatever!) VP records chose big tracks from Big Artistes like Mr. Dale's Soka Junkie, Faye-Ann Lyons – Get On, and Ricky T "Pressure Boom!"

2008 TT Road March Queen Faye-Ann in Toronto last month

Right around Caribana time, our friends in Antigua will jumping up in the hot sun as well. So, naturally, that means a new batch of jam band music is cooking up as we speak. Look out from a new album from Red Hot Flames. Oungku is real excited about the CD. The title will either be called SHAOLIN TEMPO (you know how West Indians love dey Kung Fu) OR it may be called "SCYATTAH"! He says this album is going to be a musical bomb – A weapon of Mas' disruption, so that's what people will do when it drops! Look for it the first week of July!

I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Take a moment to check out (Nurse) Karen (Etc) at Mustard Seeds dot net over the next three weeks, as I keep you up to date with my Vincy Mas diary. I'll also be taking in St. Lucia's soca monarch finals, to stay tuned for pictures and video from that! Now, back to de docta...

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The Rounds: Big Fetes, Big Fun!

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's rounds. It's one hot weekend here in Toronto and that makes me think about Car-ni-val! Over at Queen's Park the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival is wrapping up its 2008 Year of the Steel Drum. There's only about two hours to go, so if you missed it, you missed two days of amazing performance from Afropan, Silhouettes, Pan Fantasy , Symphonyx and the Toronto All Stars…plus individual performances from some of the city's top pan men and women!

Drum Roll Please! last week the nominees were announced for the SAO Soca Awards. The event will take place in picturesque St. Kitts on October 18th. Congrats to our own Dr. Jay for his 5th straight nomination…and big up to Ms. Boomerang for being the first female to make the international DJ category. Jester, I see you too.

Nurse Karen with Jester at Tribe Ignite (Trinidad 2K8)

He earned X-caliber International a nod for his 2008 groovy soca mix. Voting is open…Log on to socaawards dot com, and make your mark, then hit me up online and let me know what you think.

Last night, "X" marked the Spot on the Palazzo patio for the KOS official start to the soca summer. This is we time soca people, so get out and enjoy it.

Down in Bermuda there was an all out Bajan Invasion last night with a big show featuring the likes of Mr. Dale, Lil Rick, Peter Ram, Biggie Irie and Krosfyah. Very big show for a nation of 65 thousand people.

Nurse Karen with Mr. Dale at Soca or Die 7, (Toronto 2007)

Meanwhile over in the big fog -- London, England got its turn to experience de Gyal Farm Fete. The UK version featured Patrice Roberts, Problem Child (Yes dahlin...I can see you blushing from here), Rupee…and of course Shal Marshall & Kerwin Du Bois.

Problem Child and Nurse Karen out for pizza (St. Vincent, 2006)

Speaking of Kerwin Du Bois….be sure to pick up the June issue of WE magazine. Kerwin's between the covers…and your Nurse Karen wrote the article. I got you lots of juicy info about the artiste-producer, both inside and outside of the music.

Nurse Karen and Kerwin Du Bois at the Return Fete (Toronto, 2008)

If you're planning to make a trip to Barbados for Crop Over, you'll be happy to hear that top Kadooment Band, Baje International FINALLY launched their 2008 presentation on Friday. The costumes are looking lovely…but the prices have soared this year…starting at more than $210 US, which is an increase of about 50 bucks.

In Trindad there's a little talk about a new mas band for 2009. The presentation is called Spice! I can't tell you much, as the identities of the collaborators are being kept quiet…but I can tell you one this: This band is entirely headed and managed by woman: 8 sisters in mas who will be revealed in a local REALITY TV SHOW.

Interesting...! I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Please drop me a line at the Nurse Karen Etc blog @ Triple W Dot Mustard Seeds Dot Net. Check out the recap of my interview yesterday on Barbados' Mix 96.9 and of course, grab the rounds podcast for yourself. Now, back to de docta!

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The Rounds: Original Square One to Release a new tune for Crop Over

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Big week my people! It’s carnival time in St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles and they plan to turn up the heat until May 3rd. Last night, Destra and Ziggy Ranking met Keyshia Cole for R&B meets Soca. ON Friday, it’s time for, Faye-Ann, Bunji, Bomani and the Small Axe Band to get the locals in the mood at the Senior Road March Competition.
On your the last edition of the rounds I gave you a peak at America’s upcoming Spring Carnival, so I figured it would only be fair to deliver some Summer Carnival scoop from the Eastern Caribbean.
St. Lucia’s SLU Records tells me that we definitely have not seen the last of Ricky T. He’s just signed on to a summer long U.S. performance tour that will be marketed to 30 million Americans. But the real hype out of Studio 758 is a new Lucian artist who goes by the name of ILAH Man. Irvin Ace Loctar describes him as a cross between Bunji and Sizzla, but still soca. Can’t wait to hear it mehself!
One Island down in St. Vincent, I’m starting to think that 2008 will be the year of the woman! 18-year-old Danielle Veira just released her solo carnival debut called J’ouvert. You might know Danielle from the second season of Digicel Rising Star, you know the competition that brought us Kimberly Inniss, and Kyron Baptiste? Well, jouvert has all the essentials, bass, brass and flawless vocals. Kinda takes me back to a time I’m too young to even remember. Speaking of age, Tortola’s songbird Jalena flew in to SVG today to celebrate her birthday with friends. This former Da Bhann vocalist of German ancestry is excited about the popularity of her new song Boring Flex featuring Problem Child.
Crop Over is finally back on my radar! On Wednesday the National Carnival Foundation held their press breakfast to announce a slew of changes to the festival. The most significant being a change in the route for the Kadooment Day Jump-Up. Mr. Dale attended the press launch after being commissioned to produce an official jingle called We Ready.
While all of them were enjoying free breakfast, poor Barry Chandler had to skip the bacon and eggs. The Jabae frontline vocalist told me that he’s on a strict vegetarian diet to lose a few lovable lumps in time for Crop Over.
When I was in high school, I was on a strict diet called Square One. That band literally MELTED fat with their waist -pelting rhythms. Great News! Alison Hinds, Andy “Blood” Amstrong and Oshaka will be getting together for a special reunion concert on July 26th. They were on air Thursday morning leaking the news that they will be releasing a new song together this season. Oh, and by the way Blood’s got a new album!
I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Be sure to download the podcast from SocaTherapy.com and leave me your comments at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple w dot mustardseeds dot net

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The Rounds: Getting ready for the final soca showdown

Good Evening Spex and Good Evening Soca Lovers,

I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's rounds. I'm sure you've figured it out by now. Dr. Jay is off in Trinidad for his annual pilgrimage to the soca mecca. Last week the Caribbean Prestige Foundation released the finalists for this Friday's soca monarch competition.

As predicted it will be a truly international competition with entries from six different Caribbean nations among just 20 contested spots. Unfortunately, Zoelah did not make it. But Problem Child will be there to represent SVG. St. Lucia's Ricky T is having a great season in Trinidad. The lehgo me riddim can be heard pumping from every sound system…given some extra stamina by Machel's "Jamishness". So it's no surprise that Ricky will be doing it big for Saint Lucie come fantastic Friday.

For Antigua, Tizzy will be in the groovy category showing them why she's hot. Grenada's reigning soca monarchs Luni Sparks and Electrify are in power along with Carricou's sexy Nnika Francis.

Barbados posse…Biggie Irie will be defending his groovy monarch crown against the Soka Junkie hesself, Mr. Dale.

As for Trinidad's contigent. Toronto's own Kerwin Dubois, scored at the very top of the groovy category. Kerwin is a Trini Artist, but he living here now…so we claiming him now. Especially since he's got two smash hits in Gyal Farm and Hear me now. Always, a solid artist and producer, it warms my frigid canuck heart to see him gettin his shine.

Some of you might not remember that this is the traditional carnival season all over the world. In the Caribbean, it's party time in Aruba, Martinique, and Dominica as well. Dominica held it's soca monarch competition just last night!

This weekend, the Carnival prizes were finally handed out from St. Kitts Christmas Carnival. As a smaller carnival in a smaller island the money isn't quite as impressive as what Trinidad's winner's can expect. But I'm sure King Konris was happy to get his meagre four grand for winning soca monarch anyway.

A word to the wise, when you singing soca, whether big or small…earnings are earnings. And this is the time of year when our favourite artists need to be careful about putting away some cash to pay their taxes. If you think about it, when Machel Montano HD commands one hundred twenty five THOUSAND TT dollars per gig. And he's performing nearly every night. You better believe the tax man is paying attention. I had to laugh when I read an article in a Trinidad newspaper warning self-employed persons of their responsibility to report their income. Self-Employed is really just a code word for "Allyuh big balling, stinkin rich, superstars making me cough up 100 US Dollars for an all-inclusive fete." Not too often that I empathize with tax collectors…but after buying all my fete tickets. I tend to agree.

I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's rounds. Please text me your comments to 9-3-5-9-3-5 or leave them online at (Nurse) Karen (Etc) at triple w dot mustardseeds dot net

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The Rounds - December 2, 2007 (2nd Anniversary of Nurse Karen)

Great news, now you can find The Rounds online. Here's your chance to catch up on the latest soca news, chat with the nurse, and post your comments on what's hot in the world of soca. Check out Nurse Karen
Etc. today at mustardseedmedia.blogspot.com , or go to Mustard Seed Media and click "Nurse Karen Etc"

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jays Rounds. First I'd like to offer my sincere apologies for not giving you The Rounds live on Soca Therapy tonight. Last night, the heavens opened...and an angel took my breath away. Not so, but meh voice gone...and ah sounding like a crapaud on crack. So I'm resting...and I would fix you up next week!

Bajan Posse, Happy Independence Day to you. Over in Barbados, it was a much needed long weekend to celebrate their nationhood. The work force got Friday off to prepare for a fun-filled weekend of shows and bamsee rolling fetes.

Dance floors weren't the only things shaking in the West Indies this week. On Thursday, they had the first eathquake in nearly 250 Years! ...and a quake of SEISMIC proportions ( pun intended, most definitely). Measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, the largest of two quakes to hit the region was felt EVERYWHERE: Puerto Rico, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Montserrat.

in Barbados, Mr. Dale says he was busy filming the video for Soka Junkie when suddenly he felt like his head was spinning. He's getting over a bout of the Flu, so at first he just thought he was feeling sick. Imagine that, Mr. Dale sang and the earth moved. Well, good news is they got all the footage for the
video, and it's expected to be completed in just two weeks.

Speaking of videos, Realvibez.com will be helping Caribbean entertainers to market their music videos via the internet. A new web distribution service was launched by the company this week, making OUR music easier to find online. So far, several Dancehall artists have jumped on board..but the company is hoping to make inroads with artistes from other genres in the coming months.

Last week I gave you some exlusive information about a new band in the works for former Xtatik vocalist, Peter C. Lewis. I promised you more, and here it is. First, Lewis' band is SO NEW that the members have still not agreed on a name. So until that happens, he's staying tight lipped about WHO else is involved. What I do know is that they have 12 songs to release for carnival 2008 ( and ah get a sneaking hunch dat we've heard a few of them already by other artists). Peter says he likes the name "Orchestra". He asked my opinion about it...so I thought I'd throw the question back to you. What would you name the
newest Soca band out of Trinidad and Tobago?

Leave your suggestions below, and your nurse will send them to Peter C. Lewis. How's that for democracy?

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(Nurse) Karen (Etc): The Rounds - November 4, 2007

(Nurse) Karen (Etc): The Rounds - November 4, 2007

Scenes from November 4th in studio...and Soca or Die 7

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The Rounds - August 12, 2007

August 12, 2007
Dr. Jay’s Rounds
Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Everytime time Caribana finish, I feel as though summer nearly done. Once my skin get bun up from playing mas, I figure it’s time to roll over and await the inevitable cold season. Well, not so on the sunny shores of the Caribbean. De hottest time of the year, NOW start!
Monday was the Grand Kadooment in Barbados, the final climax on the Crop Over calendar. Mas players were a little upset that the big parade was soaked with rain, but they made the most of it anyway. The soppy weather slowed down the pace from a jump to a chip, and Mr. Dale went home as road march king for Soka Junkie.
Over in Antigua Lord Satalyte made up for his second place finish at soca monarch...by leaving all competition in his dust come Carnival Tuesday. Antigua’s new road march is a chune called OK Papi. It’s one them songs nobody knows the right words for, but they love it bad!
For all the carnivals this year, we got to enjoy seeing a few new faces in the limelight. Seems like the people have spoken and it’s time for something new. Down at Spice mas they tried something new LAST week, when they held the first ever Village soca monarch competition. Ten soca artists were selected to represent their home towns, competing for soca supremacy. The inaugural Village Soca King is Lavaman with his smash hit Ah Cyah Hear. He beat out Tallpree’s “Trees” and Berbice with “Traffic”.
Gouyave posse, I hate to say it, but you weren’t placing in the village show, and the luck wasn’t THAT much better on the national stage. Mr. Killa has been officially dethroned of both his soca monarch titles. At the Groovy competition, Wednesday , Killa had to give his crown to last year’s Calypso King, Finley “Scholar” Jeffrey. Landing himself with a measely 8th place finish for his country-style soca tune, Rider.
This weekend, insult was added to injury as Killa had to settle for third place in Power Soca behind Luni Sparks and Eliectrify and Inspector.
Up here in Ontario, some of us continued to jump up at Hamilton Caribbean carnival yesterday. Glue guns and safety pins gave last week’s Caribana mas a last hurrah in the sunlight. If your feet, still have a little bounce left next weekend…head over to Ottawa for the grand finale of Caribe-Expo…The parade is on Saturday, just be sure and dry clean yuh costume!
I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text me your comments at 9-3-5-9-3-5. Now back to de docta!

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The Rounds - June 29, 2007

Good Evening Soca Lovers,
I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. With one week to go till Caribana, the city is on fire with hot events blazing soca. All the entertainers are packing their bags, checking their passports and boarding their planes…because Toronto is THE place to be.
Last week, Trinidad was home to some major soca action. When radio station Soca 919, hosted their annual Soca for Summer Showcase. About a month ago I mentioned to you that this year’s concert marks the 20th anniversary of Iwer George’s career in soca. He’s the reigning soca monarch…AND the owner of that radio station. Well…after 20 years in the business, IWER GEORGE has called it quits…well…not HIM, but his name. The big man has retired his government name in favour of…THE BOSS. Ah hope de odda BOSS, Bruce Springstein is OK with DAT choice. Personally, I kinda like Iwer betta.(under my breath)
Since last Fall, the soca world has been mesmerized under the enigmatic spell of Machel Montano HD. Even die hard fans agree that this year’s stage show AND music showed a marked improvement over some pretty amazing years gone by. So next week, the HD posse will be on the road, At Lamport stadium AND at Fire Fete 6, but after that? who can be sure? What I do know is that the band has already finished writing and recording about EIGHTY percent of their NEXT album. Yeah, I’m talking about 2008. So, be sure and lap up the last of this year’s presentation…because before you know it, it will be time for something new.
Carnival vibrations sweep through the Caribbean all Summer long. So THIS weekend would have been a great time for a get-away. Whether in Antigua, Grenada or Barbados, Friday and Saturday were all about moving one step closer to crowning the next Monarch. Antigua’s groovy competitors have been narrowed down to 9. Claudette Peters leads the pack with “Go Claudette”.
On the UpTempo side, El A Kru’s Tizzy, is making another attempt to BOUNCE she way to that crown. At Grenada’s soca semi’s on Friday, the show mostly gave newcomers and emerging artists a chance to expose their music to a wider audience. But, some of my greenz posse will be happy to hear that favourites like Nnika Francis, Boogie B and Inspector are back in the running THIS year.
BIM is looking for a Party Monarch too and Barry Chandler has got some stiff competition. The 2007 music is sweet fuh so. So whether it goes to Khiomal, Hypasounds, Lil Rick, or Mr. Dale, All my Bajans can rest assured de title will be in good hands.
Well Toronto posse…this is we time. So save up your pennies and support the culture. Friday we going to KOS J’ouvert…and then it’s no sleep at all till Tuesday morning.
I’m nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds . Please text me your comments at 9-3-5-9-3-5. now back to de doctor.

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