What an eventful weekend this was! This weekend we had cricket on both Saturday and Sunday, live DJ's playing music on the grounds of Joy's Roti Shop in Lauderhill which is conveniently placed across the street from where the cricket games were held. Then there was the band launch of Generation X that featured Florida's own Sizwe and Kes!!!
I got to the venue and had to wait quite a while to get in and after finally getting in, the models were already on stage, modeling the costumes and were walking off!!! PISSED!!! From what I saw, I liked. I wasn't able to see a brochure/booklet until after the live display of costumes and later on placed names to the 'colors' I saw prior.
After the models were off the ground floor, I was escorted to the VERY much needed air conditioned 3rd floor to speak with Gregory. That's where the explanations of Generation X's Tremors began. . . Gregory, is a very charming person that clearly enjoys what he does. Full of smiles, hugs, kisses and character during what I would imagine to be a VERY stressful time for him. I asked him a series of questions to get a further understanding of what the masqueraders who played with him should expect for 2012. Gregory (Antoni) came together with the Generation X committee to find a theme. The theme they came up with was natural disasters but wanted to stick to the one word effect that they thought would have a stronger impact. That's when Tremors was born. Tremors has a total of 10 sections, of which will ALL have an individual, section leader, frontline, backline and male. The booklet/brochure only shows 9 so you'd have to see them all when the website is updated. Prices range from $180.00 *male and $495.00 *individual. As far as a complete band, Gregory said he will DEFINITELY have a queen and is working on a King. The King isn't definite because there was no incentive for people to play king because the Miami Broward Carnival Committee didn't give a substantial amount of prize money for the king. The amount of money rewarded for king wasn't high enough in previous years to cover the costs of making the piece. So finding one to play it was slim but the prize money has raised for 2012, so he is hopeful that someone will. On the road, Generation X will have 2 music trucks. The truck will have some of the biggest names in the business. The main DJ's will be Alicia D Duchess, Genesis and Private Ryan. There will be a drinks truck, a food truck and portable/mobile restrooms. I asked about the production of costumes, he said that it was funny I asked because every year, prior to this year, ALL Gen X costumes were designed and produced in Trinidad but for 2012 only the designs and prototypes will be done in Trinidad but the 'mass production' will be done in China. He explained that Trinidad *to put it plainly, hasn't kept up with the times. That China is more competitive and has a better quality so ultimately both Gen X and their masqueraders would get more for their money by having the costumes done in China.
I got the feeling during this informal interview of ours that Gregory had his masqueraders best interest at heart. So I asked him, what is THE most important thing for him to get out of all this and like expected, he said that he has to put forth endless effort to produce value for his masqueraders' money. That he felt 'sick' that the band consisted of 1,000 people last year and had to turn people away, for that he has catered for 1,500 people this year and believes once he treats everyone with love and respect it will ensure good karma.
The blog on Kes the fete, will come shortly.
After the models were off the ground floor, I was escorted to the VERY much needed air conditioned 3rd floor to speak with Gregory. That's where the explanations of Generation X's Tremors began. . . Gregory, is a very charming person that clearly enjoys what he does. Full of smiles, hugs, kisses and character during what I would imagine to be a VERY stressful time for him. I asked him a series of questions to get a further understanding of what the masqueraders who played with him should expect for 2012. Gregory (Antoni) came together with the Generation X committee to find a theme. The theme they came up with was natural disasters but wanted to stick to the one word effect that they thought would have a stronger impact. That's when Tremors was born. Tremors has a total of 10 sections, of which will ALL have an individual, section leader, frontline, backline and male. The booklet/brochure only shows 9 so you'd have to see them all when the website is updated. Prices range from $180.00 *male and $495.00 *individual. As far as a complete band, Gregory said he will DEFINITELY have a queen and is working on a King. The King isn't definite because there was no incentive for people to play king because the Miami Broward Carnival Committee didn't give a substantial amount of prize money for the king. The amount of money rewarded for king wasn't high enough in previous years to cover the costs of making the piece. So finding one to play it was slim but the prize money has raised for 2012, so he is hopeful that someone will. On the road, Generation X will have 2 music trucks. The truck will have some of the biggest names in the business. The main DJ's will be Alicia D Duchess, Genesis and Private Ryan. There will be a drinks truck, a food truck and portable/mobile restrooms. I asked about the production of costumes, he said that it was funny I asked because every year, prior to this year, ALL Gen X costumes were designed and produced in Trinidad but for 2012 only the designs and prototypes will be done in Trinidad but the 'mass production' will be done in China. He explained that Trinidad *to put it plainly, hasn't kept up with the times. That China is more competitive and has a better quality so ultimately both Gen X and their masqueraders would get more for their money by having the costumes done in China.
I got the feeling during this informal interview of ours that Gregory had his masqueraders best interest at heart. So I asked him, what is THE most important thing for him to get out of all this and like expected, he said that he has to put forth endless effort to produce value for his masqueraders' money. That he felt 'sick' that the band consisted of 1,000 people last year and had to turn people away, for that he has catered for 1,500 people this year and believes once he treats everyone with love and respect it will ensure good karma.
The blog on Kes the fete, will come shortly.
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