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Play de Mas
Miami Carnival 2013
If you have never been to Miami for Carnival, you don’t know what you’ve been missing! I will try to keep this review short, but there is so much to say. The fetes are amazing, the atmosphere is electric, and all of the true West Indian feters come out for one last break away before winter. This time Miami-Broward finally got their act together and informed city employees what was happening, more artists came from all over the Caribbean, and the deejays and promoters worked over time to put together so many events that you would think we were all moving to Miami. Yes, this year all of Miami knew it was time to play a mas!
Me Two Hand in the Air
Long Island Carnival
“This should probably only take about three hours. There are only two mas bands on the road, so I’m sure I will be back home by 5pm.” I had to eat those words when I returned home close to midnight on September 7th after attending Long Island Carnival. Why did I even bother to go? Well, as Brooklyn Carnival was just one week prior, I still had the carnival jumbie in me and Long Island Carnival offered a quick fix.
De Stage Open
Carnival Mania at the Barclays Center
Just one week after hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, the Barclays Center welcomed Grenada's Tallpree, St. Vincent's Skinny Fabulous, Barbados' Edwin Yearwood and Alison Hinds, and of course, Trinidad and Tobago's soca power couple Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons! For the first time ever on this site, DyChick not only got to enjoy the stage show but I had an opportunity to talk to the artists behind the scenes!
I Find Mehself in A Jouvay Band
Boston Carnival
The last time I attempted to experience the Carnival, Hurricane Irene blew through the east coast and forced me to return to New York prior to the parade. I took that as a sign. Two years later, I made a second attempt. Luckily, the air was cool and sunny skies blanketed the massive festival that began at 5am with j’ouvert and ended some twelve hours later. Fine. I am converted. Boston Carnival, ah comin’ again!
Ah Tell You I Have It
Toronto Caribbean Carnival
Every August Toronto comes alive with the sights and sounds of Carnival. This year was no different. From the moment I landed at the Billy Bishop Airport downtown, I could hear steelpan playing in the distance. This was what I had been waiting for. I paid the entrance fee ready to get up close and personal with the masqueraders. Unfortunately, the entrance fee got me as far as the 8-foot-high fence. Although I enjoyed my visit, I have to admit that it did not compare to the carnival experience I had last year.
Wettin' after Wettin'
Memorial Day Weekend
I suppose the Brooklyn Carnival gods heard my cry last year about there being so few parties that I ended up barely feting that summer. This year, the summer party season kicked off with many fetes and events. While many Americans celebrated Memorial Weekend with parades and barbecues, I spent the weekend jumping up in clubs and fetes.
If Memorial weekend was any indication of what is to come this summer in New York, DysChick will be fetin' after fetin' all the way to Labor Day. Leh we go!
Anti-stush vs. Vikings
Got PCD at Latin Quarters
A quiet Palm Sunday evening in Manhattan was interrupted by an epic soca event starring the Viking and the Viqueen, Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons. The posh Latin Quarters on 47th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan is not known for hosting powder-flinging soca fetes, but with the city's West Indian community suffering from PCD (Post Carnival Depression), that's what they got.
Fogging Up the Place
A DRAMATIC CARNIVAL SEASON
The music of Carnival is usually the basis for the drama that accompanies Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. However, this year, the drama is happening behind the music. With Machel Montano being found guilty of various assault charges right before the season began and soca power couple Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons choosing to bow out of the Soca Monarch competition, the battle is not just on the stage.