Culture: "Jamerican Marshals Miami Carnival

A Jamaican-born actress who is currently on the HBO hit series “Ballers,” is set to help lead off this year’s Miami Broward Caribbean Carnival – that is if Hurricane Matthew does not force the event to the canned.

Stacy-Ann Rose(left), who plays Dr. Robbins, a neurologist turned therapist and close friend of lead star of ‘Ballers’ Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, is set to join thousands of masqueraders at the Miami Broward Carnival on October 9, 2016 at the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds as this year’s Celebrity Grand Marshall.

“Although I’ve never been to a Caribbean carnival, just knowing how exciting and inviting the Caribbean culture is, I know it will be a life-changing experience,” Rose recently commented.

Rose was born in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to South Florida at age of 15 to join her parents who had gone ahead years prior to pave the way for her and her younger brother Andrew to have every chance at realizing the American Dream. She went on to attend Miami Dade Community College and Florida State University where she obtained a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in International Business and Marketing and began pursuing acting immediately after.

Rose has previously appeared in TV and film roles in “Dolphin Tale,” “Hoot” and “Burn Notice.” The actress has also taken her talents behind the camera as a producer on her second full length feature film, “Break The Stage,” which profiles a young girl coming to terms with personal challenges in life while leading her step team to a national championship. This film will hit screens in 2017.

The Miami-Broward Carnival, now in its 32^nd year, is set to go on despite Hurricane Matthew. It will wrap up on Sunday with a Grand Parade and Concert. The Kings/Queens and Individual panorama competition is set for Saturday, October 8, 2016 from 3 -11 p.m. at Central Broward Regional Park (3700 NW 11th Pl, Lauderhill, FL 33311) while the MBC J’ouvert is set for October 8, 2016 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Performers this year include Kes the Band, Edwin Yearwood and Alison Hinds.

Culture: 50 Years 'on the Hill"

Davina Hamilton writes about Notting Hill Carnival's 50th year celebration, assuring the public that “Yes, this is Notting Hill Carnival's 50th year,” as Debora Alleyne De Gazon, creative director of the London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust, clears up the confusion about the year the event began. Here are excerpts; please read full article in The Voice:

THERE has been considerable dispute about the year Notting Hill Carnival began, calling into question whether 2016 does – as many insist – mark the event’s 50th anniversary. Trinidadian activist and newspaper editor, Claudia Jones is often credited as the ‘Mother of Carnival,’ thanks to her well-documented Caribbean Carnival – an indoor event that she organised, which took place in London’s St Pancras Town Hall in 1959.

The event is often heralded as spearheading the Notting Hill Carnival we know and love today. But for many historians and carnival aficionados, it’s not Jones that deserves the credit for the famed west London festival, but a lesser-known pioneer – Rhaune Laslett (read more about her on page 18), who organised the Notting Hill Fayre in 1966.

“When we talk about Notting Hill Carnival, we need to be geographically specific,” says Debora Alleyne De Gazon, creative director of the London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust. “Yes, in 1959, we had Claudia Jones fighting the cause against racial inequality, and one of the ways she approached that was with an indoor event that had elements of carnival, like the steel bands and calypsonians. But that wasn’t the same as Notting Hill Carnival. In 1966, Rhaune Laslett used the power of the arts and the idea of bringing cultures together as the basis for her idea. She engaged the steel pan group, the Russell Henderson Trio, who really made their presence known in 1964 when they began an impromptu march through the streets, which created a nostalgic moment. [. . .] So when it comes to the actual establishment, where you had a team putting together a programme for a carnival, Rhaune Laslett started that with her Notting Hill Fayre in 1966. In being geographically specific – as opposed to saying, ‘I was in Brixton and I started a carnival, which then moved to Notting Hill’ – you recognise that Notting Hill Carnival was born in 1966. So this is our 50th year.”

While De Gazon credits London-born Laslett as Notting Hill Carnival’s true founder, she says acknowledgement must also be given to many others for their involvement in the event’s development.

“Rhaune Laslett definitely put things in place,” De Gazon affirms. “When Rhaune left, [pioneer] Merle Major sustained the same elements of the event by continuing to involve Russ Henderson. That is why we also reconginse Russ Henderson [and fellow steel pan musicians] Ralph Cherrie and Sterling Betancourt as the fathers of the carnival. We would also tag [former carnival director] Leslie Palmer, who, in 1973, put a hell of a lot of work into the event. Leslie was supported by Westway Trust, which was known back then as the North Kensington Amenity Trust, and that trust was headed by Anthony Perry. So there are a lot of people to recognise when it comes to Notting Hill Carnival.”

Hailing from Trinidad, De Gazon’s role is integral to the London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust, which works to transform perceptions of carnival and educate audiences about the event. [. . .]

What would De Gazon say to the carnival traditionalists, who feel that through its evolution, Notting Hill Carnival has lost its Caribbean flair? “I don’t think it has lost its flair,” she says. “The Caribbean roots are still evident through the music, the food and the presence of the steel bands. But we need to remember that we live in a cosmopolitan society and when cultures come together, there will be overlapping.

“So now, we have many cultures participating, but I don’t think we’ve lost anything. What we now have is a hybrid that still has its roots in tact. If you take the roots out, that is when Notting Hill Carnival will die.” [. . .]

Echosighting Vol 1, GOD TREE

Through the hill-fringed city
The people carry
umbrellas like
Dandelions on metallic poles - twisting and contorting skittishly in the
Wind - to
Beat
The heat of the day

Commercial Barons and other
Nobles cavort in the
Shade 'cept
For Carnival Day
When inhibitions are laid
bare as the St Andrew hills
in May
Only the peasants
feel the heat daring
On occasion
to steal cover and more so
fruit
From trees taken captive by
Developers and the not-so-captive
Middle class
Anxious to guard their sylvan
bounty
despite the protestations
That what they hold to so
Earnestly
Is in truth
"God tree"

Entertainment: Carnival Waves into Negril through "Magic Wand"

inaugural Negril Carnival Gets underway April 14 - scenes from the launch at Jungle Negril, March 18

With the aim of "showcasing a Caribbean cultural artform with mass appeal within the natural environment" that is Negril, organizers  Magic Wand Syndicate will stage the first Negril Carnival in the western resort town between April 14 and 19.

At the media launch, held at popular nightclub The Jungle,  representing the promoters said the event was conceived as a "multi-stakeholder partnership to create a vehicle for promoting culture and tourism, to boost employment and to generate significant revenues for the manifold interest groups in the community."

Whilst promotions will be vigorous in the weeks preceding, there is a diverse week-long calendar of events leading up to the climactic Road March and After Fete on April 19. The week of activity will begin April 14 with the first Socarobics session, a two-hour dance/exercise event designed to help patrons get into the shape and vibe for the later festivities. featuring lead instructions by the renowned Oscar B, aided by personnel from Express Fitness, Socarobics will segue into a grand Lyme party. This event will be repeated on April 15th

April 16 will see the staging of "Ole Mas'" aimed at more mature revellers. Headliners will include Fab 5 Band, Mr "Soca Butterfly" himself, Admiral Bailey, Lovindeer, Oscar B and, from Trinidad, Lima Calbio. Andrew 'Renegades' Henry will provide recorded entertainment, while the Silver Birds and Hummingbirds bands will provide the obligatory pan music.

The revelry gets into high gear On April 17 and 18, with the introduction of Kolours  J'ouvert (April 17) and the H2o Water Party and Champagne Catamaran Cruise respectively. As stated, the Champagne party will be an upscale but no less vibrant Carnival experience, with Lima Calbio bringing the vibes that made for smash hits in Dubai and the Seychelles Islands, while the legendary Merritone and Renegades will provide recorded entertainment on board. The Water Party will be headlined by Bounty Killer, Busy Signal and Oscar B, with DJs Squeeze, Kurt Riley, and Jordon manning the consoles.

The revelry comes to a head early on the morning of April 19, with the giant Road March, in which Junkanoo dancers, stilt walkers, marching bands and more will join the revellers behind the trucks. leading on this grand parade will be  soca sensation Skinny Fabulous, as well as Lima Calbio and DJs Kurt Riley, Jordon Andrew Henry of Renegades and others.  The march will culminate in a Last jump across the stage at Waves beach and the Final Fete.

The event venue partners for Negril Carnival are The Jungle nightclub and Waves beach.

Love Is For The Birds: Rio Trailer 2011

As the only legitimate major studio contender to Pixar in the animation business, Blue Sky Studios has been wont to expand beyond its proven Ice Age franchise, for  which a new instlament is, in fact,  due next year. Its taken a few creditable steps in the direction, with the Dr Seuss adaptation, "Horton Hears A Hoo" and "Robots"

But this tropical-flavoured comedy-romance is its surest step yet out of the Ice Age mold. Snatched from his amazonian homeland almost at birth, Blu, a rare blue macaw (Jesse Eisenberg) is transported to the frozen north of Minnesota, there to spend his days in comfort and luxury courtesy of bookshop owner Linda (Leslie Mann). The "chance" visit of a Brazilian ornithologist (famed Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro) sets the story in motion and in Brazil Blu, who by virtue of his cushy upbringing has never had to fly, meets his match in the feisty hardscrabble Jewel (Ann Hathaway).

Along their perilous course to love and freedom they encounter a "henpecked" toucan (George Lopez), a rockin' robin and a slick canary(soundtrack contributor will. i. am and Jamie Foxx respectively), a sloshy bulldog (Tracy Morgan), a gang of poachers and a gleefully cruel cockatoo named Nigel (Jermaine Clement) who does the lead poacher's evil bidding. There's lots of music, including the obligatory nod to Sergio Mendes, "Mas Que Nada" and some terrific shots of the city of the title

Rio's packed agenda belies it's short title: culture shock (especially the conventional closed-in Midwestener in the land of samba), environmental protection, social inequality, the centrality of Carnival to Brazilian life and - of course - love and adventure - are all on the narrative slate. Give director (and native Brazilian) Carlos Saldanha credit for juggling them so expertly within the framework of the overall plot.

Of course, the voice acting and  animation are first-rate and - especially in the beach and Carnival scenes - lightly sprinkled with a few adult touches (a bikini bottom here, a suggestive swing there), but nothing that should leave parents feeling their kids can't watch this one with them.

Carnival time may be past in both Rio and Port-of-Spain (Trinidad) but there's no reason why you shouldn't take this cinematic revelling trip.