Tribal Knights

Dexter Seusahai's Tribal Knights has partnered with Carnival Kicks to provide their masqueraders the convenience of ordering comfortable, fashionable footwear to match their needs.  Visit www.tribalknights.com and click the link "Sections: Footwear" and receive a special discount code to receive a special shipping discount!

FREE SHIPPING within the continental US (Domestic Ground only), or
SHIPPING CREDIT USD$10 on international shipping (DHL Worldwide)

Get ready to palance in style!

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Historical election in Trinidad & Tobago

Once again I digress from our typical Carnival-related blog, however I can always bring any topic around to relate to this beloved festival.  Trinidad & Tobago, my home-land, and home to 'The Greatest Show on Earth" held their general election yesterday and history was made.

The now-former Prime Minister, Mr. Patrick Manning called for an early election in April of this year and lost in a landslide election 1 month later.  On May 24th, 2010 Trinidad & Tobago overwhelmingly voted UNC/COP coalition party into power, thus naming the first female Prime Minister - the honorable Kamela Persad-Bissessar.

I congratulate the now reigning political party and look forward to change and the realization of the vision for our country.

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Jump Promotions - Barbados Crop Over

The first band to launch for the Barbados Crop Over season is Jump Promotions' "Spirit of the Gap".  This year's theme is inspired by the nightlife on the south coast of the island, St. Lawrence Gap.

Band Leader and designer Renee Ratcliffe spoke to the "Bajan Reporter" about this year's presentation.

“We raised our game this year. We wanted to show Barbadians and visitors that there is a lot more Kadooment bands should do for their revellers…that’s why our complete high quality package starts with us being a leader.”

Sections:

1. The Amazon
2. Motion of the Ocean
3. Hot Caliente
4. Irie
5. Luck of the Irish
6. Ship's Ahoy

The band launch was said to be loads of fun, and very well attended.  I would suggest checking out the band for your favorite section as at least one section is already sold out.  The band is catering for 600 masqueraders this year and amongst the features of their "high quality package" is a champagne breakfast.

Photo courtesy Jump Promotions

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Experience Junkanoo & More Summer Festivals - BAHAMAS

The summer months are chock-full of traditional celebrations in the 700 islands of the Bahamas. Tourists will never even have to venture from the pristine beaches to take part in the festivities.  

Photo Courtesy: XanaduResort

Nassau/ Paradise Island - The Nassau Junkanoo Summer Festival (Celebrated July 10 - 31, 2010) will feature live local bands, traditional cuisine, crafts and literature, dancing, cultural competitions and lots more. These festivities will take place on Junkanoo Beach East.  Also taking place on August 2, 2010 is the Foxhill Day Celebration, the annual recognition of the freedom granted to ancestors of the island in 1834.  The day is commemorated with street parties, dancing, sailing, gospel concerts, and of course delicious Bahamian Cuisine.

Grand Bahama Island - Grand Bahama Junkanoo Summer festival will have most of its festivities on Taino Beach Park.  This is a 5-week celebration from July - August, 2010.

Eleuthera/ Harbor Island - June 2-6, 2010 is the annual Pineapple Festival!  In honor local pineapple farmers, there will be Pineapple Eating Contests (of course), Pineapple Cooking Contest, Little Miss Pineapple Princess Pageant and a 40 mile Cycle Classic, to name a few.

Abaco - Abaco Junkanoo Summer Festival.  Go to Marsh Harbor and experience a local display of the arts: skits, live calypso bands and dance performances are a few of the treats you'll witness on any one of the following dates: June 18, June 25, July 2, and July 9.  


Calling all sailing enthusiasts!  The Annual Five Towns Regata is on July 2 -10.

For more islands of the Bahamas Summer Festivals, check out Bahamas Media Center.

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

  

  

Carnival - For Culture Or For Cash?

I recently read an article in the Barbados Advocate on maintaining the historical and cultural meaning of the Crop Over festival in Barbados.  Unlike most carnivals, Barbados' festival heralds back to 1688 from the days of colonial sugar cane production and is the celebration of the cane's harvest - or as the name suggests, the end of that year's crop.

Since the early 1900's this festival has moved more into the mainstream Roman-Carnival festival, mirroring neighboring Trinidad & Tobago's festivities and moving away from the Crop-Harvest festival that it once was.  It was recently suggested that the Grand Kadooment street parade be extended to 2 days (as is Trinidad's and Brazil's Carnivals) and there was also the recent addition of the "Fore Day Morning Jam" which is a take on traditional J'ouvert.

So, the question is this...does the move towards a more commercial Carnival mean the loss of culture?  Or is it just a smart strategy to gain market share over the hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of tourists that travel to participate in global Carnival celebrations.  For that matter...have Trinidad, Brazil and Mardi Gras (the more popular Carnivals) also lost their cultural affiliation, and is Carnival now only a lucrative business model to beef up tourism?

Information on Crop Over
Image Courtesy: http://www.GoCaribbean.about.com

    

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Batabano 2010

Cayman Islands Carnival - Batabano 2010 was recently held at the beginning of this month.  Trini Jungle Juice, always on location has brought us many beautiful people, beautiful bodies, beautiful costumes, diligently covering the parade and capturing the true feeling of Batabano.

Congratulations to Mask-a-Raid for copping the 2010 Band of the Year title!

Carnival Kicks is looking forward to seeing less white sneakers and more glamorously dressed feet on the road for Batabano 2011.

View More Pictures: Trinijunglejuice.com

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

San Francisco, CA Carnaval

San Francisco's annual Carnaval Festival and Grand Parade takes over the Mission District during Memorial Day weekend.  There will be food, music, dance, arts & crafts and other fun-filled activities and events for everyone to participate in and enjoy!

This festival started over 30 years ago by a group of local artists, performers and residents that wanted to bring the Caribbean and Latin festival flavor to the Bay Area and Mission District.  It is a full out cultural celebration lasting 2 days, complete with masqueraders in dazzling costumes, live performances and vendors selling their fare.  This year's festival will include Ninolandia - a special area just for kids; Zona Verde - Eco Green Village; and a Health Pavillion; 2 main stages, featuring live performances.

Saturday, May 29th, 2010
Festival - Harrison St. between 16th & 23rd Streets
10:00 am - 6:00pm

Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Grand Parade - Starting at the corner of 24th and Bryant Streets, proceeding West to Mission St.
9:30am - 6:00pm

Photos courtesy of Flikr: Marcy Medelson

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

St. Lucia's Red...seeing double?

Very interesting comparison done by fellow blogger Sweet 7 on the similarities between St. Lucia's Red & Tribe's 2010's costumes. You know what they say... "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" (there's also a lot to be said for originality).

Photos Courtesy Sweet7

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Rum Renaissance Review

This weekend I attended the Miami Rum Renaissance Tasting for the first time.  It definitely did not disappoint.  The sun was blazing hot, the rum was flowing, and for those that fancy...there were lots of sexy rum models to ogle at.

There were about 20 manufacturers on location sampling their fare.  I was very disappointed not to see (my) Trinidad's Angostura Rums at the festival, although every booth made good use out of Angostura Bitters in all of their tasty concoctions.

You could opt to sample one of 3 ways (or all ways if you wanted): on the rocks, neat, or in a cocktail (and at the Leblon Cachaca booth, you could even have an icee).

My favorite by a landslide - Zacapa 23.  I received an education, this rum is made from virgin-crushed cane, and not molasses as several other rums.  It's also matured at 2300m above sea level, and like Blue Mountain coffee, I really think the altitude has some altering effect on it's flavor.  It's a frequent winner of Awards, and the only way I can think to describe this Guatemalan Rum is satiny, smooth and sexy.  Definitely drink only on the rocks or neat, to mix this with anything else would not be right.

So in closing...if you were hemming and hawing this year, I would definitely recommend a visit to next year's tasting!

Click Miami New Times for more pictures.

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Tomayto Tomahto

Want to try a different festival?  Plan for Valencia, Spain on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010.  It's the annual La Tomatina festival that attracts between 20,000 - 50,000 revelers each year, squishing, pelting and mashing over 200,000 lbs of large, red tomatoes.


It's the world's largest food fight!  The festival got it's start in 1945 and there are several stories regarding it's origination.  Possible theories include a friendly food fight that turned into a village war; a practical joke on a bad musician; launching of the fruit during a typical carnival parade.  But whatever the start, it's now the best reason to visit the small town of Bunol outside of Valencia.

It's a week of festivities, and you'd dress almost as you would for a typical Carnival J'ouvert. The ladies don white t-shirts and the men go shirtless...but don't forget your goggles.

More information: http://www.tomatina.net/

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Carnavale di Venezia 2010

Photos courtesy of Fotoflock:

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

  

Montreal's Carifest Cancelled & St. Lucia Carnival In Jeopardy

Montreal
There is a war waging between the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association and the Montreal Carnival Development.  As such the city has cancelled the Carifiesta parade due to this legal feud between the two competing committees.

Last year, although they were still at odds with each other, the city split its $20,000 contribution between the two, hoping they would play nice.  But last year was the 35th Anniversary of Carifest and the same niceties are not to be extended this year.

Mary Deros, the executive committee member for cultural diversity:

"The city has been asking them to work together and come to terms," she said.

"At this point, the closer we get to the date, neither can they produce the costumes and prepare the floats, nor can the city organize the logistics and get the personnel."

Last month the CCFA sought an injunction against the MCDF.  Since 1974 the CCFA has said to have had authority over the parade and they want to keep it this way.


The Quebec Superior Court will hear the case on June 28th.


Read more


St. Lucia
The official launch of St. Lucia's Carnival is scheduled for May 30th, however issues with securing a venue and funding woes is making this year's carnival looks less likely as the days roll by.
Video

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

   

When I think Rum...I think Carnival

Today's topic is not really carnival specific.  However, when I think Carnival, I think drinks, I think Caribbean (only because I'm from the Caribbean)...when I think Caribbean + drinks, I think RUM!  

The Rum Renaissance Miami Festival is drawing near.  Commencing on May 5th and running until May 9th, this festival promises Rum enthusiasts a variety of tastings, competitions, and fun rum-filled activities.

Where:  
The Rum Renaissance takes place at the beautiful Raleigh South Beach Resort, Miami Beach.

When: 
May 8 -9, 2010

What: 
Grand Tasting Event  - VIP & General Tasting tickets available
Seminars & Lectures -  Rum Distillers, Manufacturers, Mixologists, and basically anybody with Rum know-how will be available to teach us rum lovers a thing or two.
Competition - Rum Tasting, Tiki Face Off, Best Ginger Beer Cocktail

Why:
Why not??

How:
By plane, car, bike, rickshaw...no matter how you get there, you'll be guaranteed a great time!

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

        

Carnival Interferes with World Cup preparations

It's been reported that Brazil has been blowing through deadlines set for their preparations for the world's largest sporting spectacle.  FIFA has criticized Brazil's preparations for 2014 World Cup, General Secretary Jerome Valcke asked cheekily if they had to wait until Carnival of next year was over before they would start preparing in earnest for the games.

"It's incredible how late Brazil is, and I'm talking about all the stadiums. A lot of deadlines have passed and nothing has happened. Brazil is not on the right path."

"This year, there's a presidential election so almost nothing will happen. Next year, Carnival comes along. So everything's only going to start after Carnival?" 

Brazil, 5-time World Cup winners, was awarded as host of the 2014 games in 2007.  The 2014 games was earmarked for South America and nine other South American countries backed Brazil as the host.  Now it's time for action, there are stadiums to bring up to par and transportation options to work out.

Brazil will be host to 32-team tournaments in 12 cities, and critics are saying, they may be overambitious in thinking they'll be ready in time.

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!

Crop Over 2010 Calendar

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!