From when I was a wee first former in 1999 I had always liked Vybz Kartel/Adidjah Palmer's music. It was de song to look out for when de riddims come out from JA. So when in 2009 I got the opportunity to see him perform live I couldn't pass it up.
Little did I know that what I expected to be a great show, turned out to be all hell brek loose!
- First of all, what is the point of purchasing a ticket when I have to get in the same line as people who are paying money? Come on promoters and organizers this is a problem that has been tried and tested for so many years...have two separate lines and people with tickets should ALWAYS GET PRIORITY.
- Secondly, the ROYAL BARBADOS POLICE FORCE needs training in how to deal with crowd control, and anyone who wants to tell me they have training would have to be absent from this show...the police had NO CONTROL over anything. Standing at a closed gate waiting to get in can make people very agitated and when you send a lone officer to allow THREE people to come in, expect a stampede when its every man woman and child for themselves.
- Thirdly, who genius choose one of the SMALLEST venues in Barbados to bring one of Jamaica's BIGGEST artistes....do you see the problem? Thank God that there wasn't a freak natural disaster cause 3/4 of BIM population was down dey. NOTE TO PROMOTERS: stop playing cheap! We all know full well that a show of that magnitude isn't going to flop...get a venue that is suited to the crowd i.e the Stadium or Kensington Oval. This will allow for a proper general admission and a VIP not elbow room and people in the so called VIP having to duck to look under the make shift tent!
- Fourthly, this starting an stopping to tell people get off de stage is BARE SHITE! Where de security...clearly wanna need task force cause de shitty police an security that bout dey din doing nain! As soon as de man start to perform, 10 seconds cant pass without " could the persons on the stage please move back" to " could the persons on the stage please leave". If dem int wanna move move them! It resulted in a premature end to the show which led patrons to be even more cross
- Lastly, I would like to read the contract between the promoters and the artistes, since I clearly didn't understand that it was more of a GAZA show than a KARTEL show. Its all good that he wants to push his new artistes and I respect that but I cannot deal with some no name on stage singing a song no one knows and taking up the majority of the performance.
All in all I give the show a 3.5/10 and performance only I would rate 7/10. But the promoters in Barbados need to take all of these things into consideration before attempting to hold a show.
This is your girl Risse signing off....even though I had a skeptical experience
GAZA mi seh!
Risse
Y.F.B... the P.R of the Future
It seems that corporate Barbados and the Barbadian government are still on the "Ryan Brathwaite" high even after the golden boy has returned to his normal everyday routine at his overseas university.
Don't get me wrong I am not taking away anything from Ryan's success, I am just as proud as any other Bajan who knows what this young man has done for Barbados but there is no use in being stuck on the facts after so much acknowledgements have been given.
But somehow that has not occurred to the government and corporate Barbados in their recent statements regarding Ms. Barbados World 2009.
Before I start I want to say that Leah Marville deserved to win that title as she has worked tirelessly to promote and make her "Love Campaign" a success and it shows true to her dedication to the cause. However, I don't appreciate the way in which the government and corporate world have suddenly surfaced from nowhere to pledge their undying support for a Ms. Barbados World.
Where was the Barbados government in 2006-2008 when Latoya McDowald and Natalie Olivia Griffith had to pay from their pockets to represent their country in Poland and South Africa respectively. These two young ladies had to carry the majority of their expenses on the love and support of their parents, friends and family.
And this is not a case where they went and didn't achieve anything, these two Barbadian beauties were excellent in representing for Barbados and putting our name out there. Latoya placed 6th in the swim suit and in the top 10 for the gown and talent segments. In 2008, Natalie won the talent segment from a group of over a hundred contestants. I fail to see how these achievements could not warrant the attention of the powers that be.
It must be said that these young ladies, similarly to Ms. Marville seeked support from these same persons in Government and corporate Barbados and did not receive so much as response or call back to the numerous attempts made by them to involve these parties.
I sincerely hope that this message is being interpreted in the correct way....which is there is no pride in being bandwagonist and that its never too late to acknowledge those who have gone before and done Barbados proud.
To end my post...I leave you with a Maya Angelou quote which says "All great achievements require time"
Risse
Y.F.B... the P.R of the Future
