DCARNIVALBABY

The Miami Broward Carnival Committee announced that there will be a carnival in Miami for 2021 and the world went crazy! After we, the masqueraders haven't had a carnival in what felt like forever we were all here for it. Along with the carnival there were two stipulations put in place that I think were necessary to have a safe and healthy carnival season. Although the intentions were good, I don't think it was foolproof. I mean, nothing ever is but it was executed poorly.

The idea of "no mask, no mas" sounded nice. I'll leave that right there and move on. Attendees of anything related to the events held by the Miami Broward Carnival Committee was to have proof of a negative Covid test. Tests were to have been taken no later than the 7th of October and all entrance points would have only accepted a PCR test.

Again, in a perfect world this would have been ideal but in a perfect world we are not. To be able to make it to the first event which was Panorama, you would have had to take and receive your negative PCR test by October 8th which in some cases was not enough time. Although many of us do enjoy the Pan Finals competition, with the mele of the PCR test, the untimely death of dear Miya Marcano in addition to the drive to Doral, many of us decided to skip it this year.

Now, I do think it was a great plan but just wasn't executed well.

*****POSITIVES*****

The carnival committee did post as much as they could on their website and social media. Both Instagram and Facebook.
There was MAJOR help getting the word out from the South Florida Carnival Band Leaders Association Committee. Some (myself included) would say that they have done even more in getting the word out than the Carnival Committee seeing as they are a younger group of individuals who are more connected with social media and did an amazing job at getting the word out to 'the people'. They actively and consistently answered questions on Facebook and Instagram lives that gave people a better idea of what to expect and what to do closer to when the time came.
There were multiple ways for 'the checkers' to check PCR results. Whether it be by email, numerous telephone applications and checking ID's against printed results.
If negative PCR tests couldn't be retrieved in time for an event, there were Rapid Covid tests readily available on site.

*****NEGATIVES*****

I felt as though the committee could have done more in every aspect. There was no reason that another group of people should have been more active than the committee itself. IMO, that's wrong because this is your event and they, just like you only do it for the love of the carnival culture. That IS why you're doing it right?
Although there were many ways of checking PCR results, there was no way to accurately check any of them. There was no one who was trained to handle the multiple ways for the amount of people on top of the scammers. (The scammers were not only ready to scam the mas bands and event organizers/promoters but that's another blog post).
I can not speak on the entry for Panorama nor Jouvert as I did not go but can speak from what I KNOW of the carnival. Attendees fought tooth and nail to get PCR tests done in time to attend. Many hadn't been checked by security. I would say maybe 10 (if so much) out of 100 people that were granted entrance to the park were being checked for their test results. Personally, I wasn't asked for a paper, an email, an app, a nothing.
The personal hand sanitizer that was to be given out, was nonexistent.
The committee requested that no test be done prior to the 7th of October. That's when many people were flying in and it had MANY of them who tested on that day who received their results the day after the carnival. Yes, on Monday and some even Tuesday. I know of one case that the person has yet to receive anything.
If PCR tests were mandatory, why were they accepting Rapid Tests onsite? Guess that was more of one of my many unanswered questions...

The point of this particular blog post isn't to bash ANY side, group or organization so I will stop there because it has many more negatives that I could have listed. What I am trying to say is that the committee tried. The South Florida Carnival Band Leaders Association Committee also tried. They had things in place but again, we are not in a perfect world. Everyone was in the spirit of GLAD an were just happy to be really outside. Many of the people I know who went to a particular location that I will not mention on Thursday night were compliant but what is one to do when they believe that they are doing the right thing but the staff of the testing at that particular site didn't have a quick enough turn-around time? Would you forfeit all monies spent on your jouvert or carnival mas costume? Now, if you were following the rules and the guidelines, your answer should have been yes BUT I know my people. I know myself. I know what those who didn't get their tests back would have done or did do. Now, can you imagine going through all of this and when you get to the gate NO ONE IS EVEN CHECKING YOUR NEGATIVE PCR TEST? Real or not...

*****MY $0.02*****

When coming to the negative PCR tests... I believe that that responsibility should fall on the mas bands. This way the Carnival association is still in compliance with the CDC guidelines and all attendees affiliated with a mas band are complying with the Miami Broward Carnival guidelines/stipulations. This year there were a few bands (maybe two *that I know of) that did that but I believe that every masquerader, every band member, all security and staff member should be screened by their band/section leader. Unfortunately, this isn't foolproof either BUT once you prove to be Covid negative, you get your CDC wristband PLACED ON YOUR HAND ONE TIME WITH NO EXCEPTIONS! This way Liz can't give hers to Kim and John can't sell his to Paul. Let's be real, it has multiple people who actively work in multiple bands. Once the wristband is placed on the hand, HONEST PEOPLE will not need a second one to sell or give away. Let the people who are non masqueraders or who do not belong beat up at the gate. This is something I'd consider a luxury that we paid for. Let the anxiety end for masqueraders once they receive their costumes as well as their CDC clearance and be done with that. This wristband should be something readily available to mas bands straight from the Miami Broward Carnival Committee once the band leaders collect their bands from them. Once you've paid for 100 masqueraders, you should receive 200 bands. One to get into the park and the other is the CDC band. An because I know the tricks of the trade, do one color for carnival and one for jouvert. If necessary, one color clearance for each event. Did you understand that? Does that make sense? If not, maybe that's why I'm not on the committee.

All in all, my wish is that all who attended the carnival whether you flew in or not has gotten home safely and Covid free. My belief is that it we all would like to see another carnival in Miami. Let's do better as a people. Let's try abiding by the people rules so we can have years of carnivals to come even in a pandemic because Covid is very much real. Miami Broward Carnival Committee, you need to help us help you because believe it or not, both sides of the coin want a fun, safe and effortless carnival.

Now to gather my thoughts on some of these fetes.

Bless.

HEY EVERYBOOODYYYYY!!

IT'S BEEN QUITE SOME TIME HUH?

Since the last time I've written on this platform we've had a whole pandemic and I think I've gained about 10 pounds! We as a people have learned quite a few things in the last what.... year and a half? I've learned to make every day and every single person count. *The one's who've proven themselves to be decent human beings anyway. I've learned to live in the moment but definitely prepare for uncertain times, to further appreciate what I have and work hard for the things I do not (if wanted). I've seen many people struggle in silence and I've seen people win. I commend those who took their Covid time to rehumanize.... to those who used their time wisely to start a business. Last year has been the highest of Small Business openings and many of them were black/brown owned. All we needed was time to think and limitless opportunity and Covid gave us just that! Big ups to those who used Covid time wisely by investing in themselves, rebranding and coming out to kick ass for 2021 and beyond!!!

To the fallen soldiers, smh. We will sincerely miss you and as cliche as it sounds, they truly are in a better place and my prayer is that we make them proud.

Now for the reason I am here.

After making a conscious decision to walk away from Trinidad and Tobago carnival for personal reasons and what seemed like 10 years, a team of us were fortunate enough to experience the last Trinidad and Tobago carnival pre-serious Covid in 2020. Then came the shut down...

I vowed that when the world did open back up, I was going to play mas WHEREVER I could then boom! Without warning, came good old Miami. The first in the shits. As promised, I will play mas but I'd like to hear some thoughts. As the first major city to bring back their carnival, what are your thoughts on it? Will you be in attendance? Is it too soon? Will you be going to any fetes? Will you go to all the ones you normally go to or just a select few? Which ones are they? Will you play mas with your new Covid bodies or sitting this one out? What do you think of the pricing of some of these 2021 costumes?

Hopefully I get the urge to consistantly write again. With everyone able to sit home and restrategize, I feel like the world will be bigger and badder. Along with bigger and badder, comes new material...

Due to this,

the jumbie raise.

😈

When the flyer for Sorrel came out, I was interested as I saw some of my favorite Christmastime delicacies and thought it would be a nice Christmas party to go to.

The event was scheduled from 11-5 so figured 1pm would be an ideal time to arrive. This gives me time to eat without rushing and another 4/5 hours to party and drink. Driving up, the parking looked sketchy but there was a parking lot right across the street and it was free. Double win!

After the short walk from the parking garage to what looked like a little clubhouse that we'd have to fight one another for breathing room, we walked right in. Inside was beautifully decorated. Not too much, not too little and gave me a very different look than what I initially thought from outside. Inside was very spacious and I was pleasantly surprised. Once ticked and given a band, to the immediate left was where I could have stayed. It was the food station. The first thing I saw were the cheese paste sandwiches. There was bread, I could also tell that the bread was homemade. There were cupcakes, cake, sweet bread, eggs and my favorite, HAM! Listen, I have no shame in saying that I think I singlehandedly ate all of the cheese paste sandwiches as I stayed in that little room stuffing my face for about an hour. *rolls eyes cause I don't care.

Once I ate til my belly nearly buss, it was time to attend to my drinks. The bartenders were very attentive and weren't overwhelmed. There were just the right amount of bartenders to keep the crowd flowing and they made the drinks very well. I actually tasted the alcohol and they didn't put too much ice the way many of these bartenders like to do. That was appreciated and encouraged me to purchase more. I felt like it was worth it.

So now I'm set. Walking into where the party was actually taking place... the atmosphere was different. There were large white curtains that separated the eating/social area from what I call the party area. CinCity had a large, single white table set up (which I called the V.I.P. because some very important people sat there) and many standing tables which were on two ends of the 'dancefloor'. The set up was dimly lit with red lighting. I must say, there was certainly a 'mood'. Throughout the party, people complained that the a/c gave out and that they were hot but I was quite comfortable and glad that I didn't experience that. It could also be because I was never stationed indoors throughout the event and kept making trips outside.

The music took me on a musical journey. There was parang, old school and new music of all genres which I also appreciated. We even got some Whitney Houston and New Edition!

This Sorrel will be an annual event brought to us by CinCity Entertainment and although this was only the 2nd Sorrel, I see this being one of the events that you can not miss once you're in South Florida for Christmas. It was an amazing event and I have no complaints.

The food was finger licking worthy *and I did lick my fingers, the drinks and bar service was A-1 and we all know how I feel about music. If the music isn't right, I am sour. Man, we even got a sexy Santa. Man an woman alike sat on Santa's lap! He was one of the Sorrel highlights.

(the cheese paste)

(more treats)

Not one of the best pictures as lighting was dim but one of the most talked about 'things' at Sorrel. Santa look like he could break me in two right?!

Should you be interested in having your next event catered by the catering service that catered Sorrel, you can call or message Tieesha from Not A Tie Catering food is ALWAYS on point! Click the link to check out the IG page or just take my word for it (cause I'm a little fatty) and call direct 305.724.4971.

I'd love to think that it was solely my opinion on last years Junior carnival that prompted the 2019 band leaders to show out this year but it's safer to say that it was just that more people felt the same way I did. This year we had (in no specific order):

BREAK AWAE KRU
CHINA KIDS
D'JUNCTION MAS JR.
EUPHORIA MINIS
FUN GENERATION TOO
LA FAMILIA
MAJOR PLAYERS INC.
NATURAL DISASTERS
PARTY ROOM SQUAD
ROYALTY KIDS and
WASSI BABES and

That was quite the improvement! Cause last year, I was too ashamed to post a list.

We got to Broward Regional Park around 3:20 but between the car line, finding a place to park and walking to the entrance I walked into the park after 4pm. This was still a good time as my son's band was band number last. (That's been the running joke all day because we have yet to know what the numeric number was).

Walking in looked strange.
There were no children.
None.
After asking security, I was told that the children were all the way in the back. After walking toward the back, I found them all. I didn't understand whey none of the trucks were moving. Nor do I know the time they actually started the parade but I was already annoyed.

After finding Wassi Babes we began to enjoy ourselves.

Overall, I liked the costumes on the road. What can I say...it was Kiddies Carnival and I enjoyed it.

Looking into the stands, I was impressed as there were more people to support the children than last year and although it rained, they stayed. This year, unlike any other year (that I've attended) it rained cats and dogs on those children. Wassi Babes took that rain like little bosses. Because of when the rain fell, I know that other children were in it as well BUT I can only speak of the babies I was with. They were band number last and understood that they had to stay in that rain to STILL wait to cross the stage. None of them complained nor cried. The rain did ease up but guess when it rained again.... Just as they were to cross the stage. The excitement on their young faces and the ENERGY that they crossed the stage with made me cry. My heart was so full! My son, who vowed the entire time that he would not dance on stage, was one of the most energetic children on that stage.

The time, the energy and love that the Wassi Babes Team put into those children Saturday was worth it. I did nothing but show up and I felt overwhelmed with emotion. I can imagine how that team felt! That feeling is what this Junior Carnival is all about. That feeling is what each and every child should experience and every adult should feel proud the same way. This is what makes the children fall in love with carnival, that feeling is what makes them yearn for more. For the sake of the culture, I hope we, the parents continue to put the same energy into these children as they did on Saturday.

It starts with us.
Pass the torch.
Teach them while they are willing and their minds can be easily molded.

As for the Miami Broward Carnival Association: I have one major issue. Is there are valid reason the carnival started and ended so late? Please understand, more than half of these children are young. There is absolutely NO REASON to have those children out there in the hot sun (and this year in the rain) for so long. I find that the carnival is dragged out unnecessarily and lots of what is done, doesn't need to be. Aside from the long waits caused by the constant stopping, I have no complaints.

Let's keep this going.
Please and thanks!

DISCLAIMER: I love a good brunch which is what peaked my interest in it. (As well as the unlimited food). So the day came. I've made it no secret that I am a part of the SocaDemons family but this blog will be the real, how I've always done in the past and will continue to do once God gives me health and strength and I do hope that everyone can/will respect that.

ARRIVAL:
A friend and I got to the venue around 1:50pm. Parking was a breeze and right on the side of the venue but it wasn't free. For the 7 hours that I put on the parking app, I'd say the parking was very affordable. It was $10.83. There was no line by the time we finished with parking and walked to the event. By now it was about 2pm. Got inside and it was a little empty. I won't lie, it wasn't what I was expecting. I expected to see tables set with knives and forks, signature glasses and some type of decor that screamed BRUNCH but it didn't. However, there were tables set up in the middle for people to sit down and enjoy their food.

BAR:
It was early, I know... but am I not to take advantage of the unlimited Mimosa's? We got white tickets that said "Mimosa" and this is what we were to use until the official Mimosa bands came. The bartender saw that it was 3 of us who had the tickets but she brought us 1 pitcher. She allowed all three of us to drink from the one pitcher which made no sense as we ran through that one pitcher quickly. It was later when one of my friends had to tell her that we EACH had unlimited drinks and he'd like for us each to have our own pitchers which only made sense rather than us having to call her every 15 minutes. I thought the Mimosa's were tasty, I had no complaints and by the time we were on pitcher number 2 our wristbands came. To now get a wristband, we had to surrender our Mimosa ticket. I can tell this was an unforseen hiccup but it was handled quickly enough so that once others came they would not have known. It's not always the hiccup but how it is handled that I pay attention to.

THE FOOD:
The food was served in portions. I was under the impresson that we would be eating everything as we walked through the door but there was a little more order to it. To start, there was pholourie, accra (fish cake), pone, a sauce for both the pholourie and accra, coconut bake, fried bake and saltfish buljol. I didn't see them advertise pone on the flyer but I was appreciative. I took a plate of only accra and the sauce for myself and my friend took pholourie and accra. I didn't care for the accra. Although it was flavorful, they were really hard. I want to believe that is was because of the size and maybe if they were bigger they would have been softer. My friend said that he didn't care for neither the pholourie nor the accra for the same reason as I. By now I'm panicked because after all, this is a brunch and this was the first thing we were tasting. Because of that, I didn't bother with any of the bake or buljol. I stuck to drinking. After becoming hungry (because before I was just going to eat for the hell of it/ greed), I got some fried rice, Chinese styled chicken, potato salad, Creole shrimp and some type of chicken. It looked like a barbeque but I wasn't sure, I had to taste it. EVERYTHING was ON POINT! The chicken that I didn't recognize turned out to actually be a sesame barbeque but it had a Chinese finish to it. I don't know what it was exactly because this was the only thing I saw that I wasn't expecting and it was a pleasant surprise. The Creole shrimp was cooked to perfection. Shrimp has to be cooked perfectly (like most seafood) and usually never is. This is something that's just accepted as most people don't know how to properly cook seafood but that shrimp, was very very well done. Kudos. The Chinese chicken didn't have the oyster sauce that I am accustomed to. It was a sauce that looked kind of redish. Because I'm a creature of habit, I put the sauce to the side. When I dipped the chicken into the sauce it didn't taste aweful but I rather oyster sauce BUT the chicken without sauce was actually a win so I was good. The picture quality was not of the best because Kona Lounge was dimly lit and flash would have ruined the entire thing.

ENTERTAINMENT:
As usual, once I'm entertained I don't really know who is playing. It's when I don't like musical selections or how songs are being mixed that I make it my business to know who's on the 1's and 2's. There were a handful of DJ's and they did their thing. ALL OF THEM! There was no pause inbetween, there was no unnecessary chatter on the mic, most genres were played, tunes from 'way back when' brought right up to today. Hearing songs that made my pores raise is a wonderful night for Kim. I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't realize just how many people ended up inside Kona Lounge. The turnout was amazing! Big up to all the DJ's..... there was DJ Exquisite, DJ J Rocca, DJ Mistic and DJ GlamaaFyah. Job VERY well done guys!

I mixed and mingled with so many different people at the SocaDemons Brunch. I met people I've never seen before and seeing faces that I haven't seen in a while was refreshing. The crowd was mature, not old and everyone was there to have a good time. There were no stush vibes and I lived for every minute of it. Hopefully there will be others and I won't have to wait around until Bubbles n Brunch.

(The Kisha and The Kischa)

(DJ Exquisite)

(Army Boyz Clem)

Initially, some friends and I were going to Bonjour just to see what it was all about. We liked the idea of partying on an island because it seems that the soca community had outgrown the majority of venues on the mainland. Then boom, the team gets an official invitation to attend. How can we NOT go?

So yeah.... This is me publicly saying that I am a proud member of the SocaDemons but that in itself is another blog.

The big day gets here. The plan was on getting down to the docks for 1 am. This was when the shuttles were to start shuttling people over to the island. Knowing my people the way I do, I agreed to 1am expecting it to be 2am. As expected, we got to the shuttle line at exactly 1:43. The amount of people waiting to get a shuttle ride was ridiculous. After asking security, I found out why. The shuttle held 12 people at a time. There were over 200 people waiting and the line just wasn't moving. The panic set in when we started to see that we were sinking. The water started to come on the platform that we were on and everyone started to make noise and move closer toward the middle. Just after this we made it to the front but then heard an announcement at 2:17am. The announcement was that if you had a a physical or electronic ticket, we could get our tickets scanned and walk over. After leaving that line and reaching to the front, we were then told (at 2:19) that we had a cabana and those in cabanas were actually NOT allowed to walk over and had to get back in the line that we just left.

TALK BOUT PISSED!

At this point, the people who have now moved up would not want to hear that a team of our size were now coming to skip them, so it was to the back of the line we had to go. Now, some of the team weren't registered as being in the cabana, so they elected to walk as it would be a 10 minute walk. We made it back to the front of the line where we got drinking cups, meal chits and cabana wristbands. The time was now 2:23.

We got on the boat FINALLY and I happened to watch the time. It was now 3:10am. So in total, we waited approximately an hour and a half to get into this party. The saving grace at this point was that the party was not going to be over at the normal 4am and we still had a significant amount of time to enjoy ourselves.

So, after making it to the island, we found the rest of the team, got the cabana and bottles. This was done fairly easy and quickly. The part of our team who walked over saw our drinking cups and wanted to know where we got them. Appararently those who didn't wait, never got cups or meal chits when they entered the party which I didn't find to be fair at all. Although they didn't wait as long as we, they still paid their money but that was not my position so I continued to mind my business.

I won't get into the how's or why's but I had about 8 meal chits. All of you ( friends and loyal readers) know that I'm always about my belly so the second order of business was to get food. I asked which booth honored the meal chit and I was directed to Soca Ranch. When you got to Soca Ranch's booth, there was a menu that I forgot to take a picture of. There was bake, buljol, tomato choka, bhaji, eggs, turkey bacon and ham. Again, because I think of only my belly at times I didn't think to capture photos until we were already eating but everything tasted great. I appreciate that the eggs weren't just scrambled but had sweet peppers in it just as if you'd make at home. It made me feel like they actually cared about what they were giving people to eat and not just giving food to us to say they fed us. The turkey sausage was actually the only thing I didn't care for and that's just a personal preference.

Since we're on the food, I can say that I went back multiple times. No questions asked. Once I gave my chit, I got how much ever I wanted. When I went for my last sets of food (I wasn't only feeding myself, others who walked over were able to eat off those meal chits. I'm not THAT greedy) I noticed the time. It was around 6:30am. On the way, I rememer thinking that nah.....the food would be finished but no. They still had food serving. They were properly prepared for the amount of people coming, the staff changed a little with each visit but Camilla and her huband Jerrod were always there. They served with smiles and had slight humor. It was a pleasure.

I can't speak on each DJ separately as the blog would be too long but the music was good and I enjoyed every bit of that fete. As promised, the fete finished well after the sun raised and I want to believe it was around 8am. What more could a party pyoung want? I think they did an amazing job.

Click HERE for one of my live videos.

The ONLY changes I would make would be to get at least 3 shuttles. The amount of people waiting for that shuttle service was overbearing and I may add not pleasant to we short people who's noses are right at people's armpits. In the future, something should be put in place on the island for cabana ticketed people and have the same things distributed to those who choose to walk ie: drinking cups and meal chits. The crowd was a little younger than I'm used to partying with BUT it worked (for me) because there was enough space for everyone to have their own space (excluding the cabana areas) and once your team is ready to fete, how can you not have a good time.

How good of a time do you think we had? A pair of shoes were lost. Not a shoe was lost. Not a shoe got broken or destroyed but A PAIR OF SHOES were lost. Would I do this party again. HELL YES!

And a special shout out to Sinistar for inviting us. I will be back!

It would be even MORE AMAZING if you gave me a call. I THINK YOU FOUND MY KEYS!

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