“Why are we allowing our young event planners and tent managers to hit a glass ceiling because government wants to manage Crop Over events…
When we can contract them out and demand what we want in return and also earn something from them and give them the opportunity to be involved in large event management.
we need to give those persons with ideas in our cultural industries an opportunity to execute them”

Those are the words of Prime Minister David Thompson when he debated in parliament last week, they lifted the spirits of this event planner and tent manager aka P.Boyce, and indeed all of cultural industries should rejoice and embrace the PM’s comments.

Finally a Prime Minister who speaks of truly developing the industry and creating opportunities for us instead if the flawed exploitive policy which was transmitted from the previous administration.

I am not saying so just because government has changed, I have expounded this criticism of the BLP government several times in this blog when they were in power.
That’s one of the reasons why Boyce or Madd Entertainment was never given work from the previous Government and why our entrepreneurial efforts to do our own projects i.e. “Euphoria” were always met with opposition from the authorities.

I have always remembered ex PM Arthur making the statement at a consultation I attended, “there is nothing wrong with the government being entrepreneurial!” indicating how it was the prime objective of the government to make money “off” of the cultural industries.
In contrast to that flawed Arthur statement, we should be elated to hear the words of PM David speaking of removing the “glass ceiling” that stood in our way, now giving entertainment entrepreneurs the opportunity not only to make a tangible contribution to our national festival Crop Over also but to benefit from that contribution.

Time for a Boyce Voice flashback!
Click to see the now defunct band Square One featuring Alison Hinds in their first music video back in the 1992. I just spoke to Alison to get the year this one came out and she told me she does not even remember the lyrics to this song.

Attention All Square One Fans, you can wipe your tears away, have you heard about the big Square One reunion show which is happening on 26th July this year?
Thats right, Andy, George, Mexican, Cecil, Alison all the original members reunite for one big massive concert.
Remember you heard it on Boyce Voice first, unless you heard it already which means you heard it here third.
Click to enjoy a young Square One featuring Alison with “This One for the Road”
(check out the fancy editing you dont see this in music videos any more)

I am really looking forward to the Gale Theatre of London and Barbados production of Macbeth opening next month, like Lil Rick I “cann wait”.

From the time I studied Macbeth at Combermere School it was one of my favorite books.
I started out forcing my self to like Macbeth because I needed it to pass my CXC exam and ended up loving it.
So much that since I left school I have read it several times.

I love the story of the rise Macbeth and the part Lady Macbeth played in his quest to be king and his ultimate demise, there is a lesson to be learned in this play for each of us.

When you hear me expounding quotes like “there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face” and “life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury” people mistake me for being intelligent and say “ooh so you read Shakespeare” the truth is I have only read one book, I just make good use of it.

The Macbeth production will feature an impressive and diverse line up of stars Alison Sealy Smith, Varia Williams, Levi King, Jherad Allyene, Anderson Armstrong, Patrick Foster and top British actor Peter Temple as Macbeth.
The thought of seeing a quality production with these local thespians* bring the “political thriller” Macbeth to life at the Frank Collymore Hall next month, fills me with great anticipation…

”I Cann Wait, Cann Wait, Cann Wait!”

(Lyrics compliments Lil Rick)

*thespian; fancy word actors become when they start to appear in big up productions at Frank Collymore Hall, its like the differnce between a “movie” and a “film”

The Plymouth Jazz festival is coming up on 25th April in Tobago, looks like an event not to be missed.

Featuring major acts like Rod Stewart, Shakira, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Peabo Bryson, En Vouge, James Ingram and Steel Pulse.
Whoa, that’s quite a line up!
My first question, what do any of those above mentioned artistes have to do with Jazz?

Rod Stewart with his “if you want my body and you think I am sexy” no jazz there…

I love to see Shakira shaking those hips of hers while she is singing but she don’t do Jazz.

Whitney Houston belting out how I am all the man she will ever need, but no freaking jazz there either.
I challenge you to identify one of those acts that are even remotely connected to Jazz.
Is it that promoters are “selling out” by not booking jazz purists in order to attract more patrons?
At least when Chris Harper of Notes to Note puts on his Jazz events at the Plantations, he features “real” Jazz acts, and so does Gilbert Rowe with our Barbados Jazz Festival.

The next question I would ask is why do they call an event such as this a “Jazz Festival”?
When you to come to Bacchanal Time calypso tent don’t you expect to hear calypso? So when you go to a jazz festival should you not hear jazz?
If you will not be hearing Jazz not even once, why not change the name to more accurately reflect the musical fare offered,So it should be the “Tobago International Music Festival” then every thing would be covered, including Shakira shaking those hips!

The tourists that will stop coming

I hate unmannerly rassole people! Don’t you?
I walked into a mini mart this week and said “good night”, there were several customers and a cashier within ear shot and not one of them unpick their teeth and response. They were unmannerly as ass!

When you are popular you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
If I walk pass people and don’t speak, they say “looka Boyce playing he high up and better off, now he get a lil pick pun cbc board he ent know nobody”. Yet if you speak nobody is not answering.

To all people reading this blog when Peter Boyce or any body for that matter, pass and speak try and open your mouth and respond hear?
It is Barbadian to be polite and we are supposed to be friendly unlike places like New York and them big countries. That’s why the tourists come down here because we are friendly freaking people.

When you stop speaking the tourists will stop coming and that will reduce our gross domestic income and increase the fiscal deficit, next thing you know Barbados is in a financial recession and in the hands of the I.M.F all because you would not open your unmannerly mouth and say “Good Morning”.

I had a meeting with the PM the other day, and I was going to suggest to him the government should try to pass some “speak” legislation and make it a chargeable offence for people to be unmannerly with out just cause.
But all that can be avoided if you just open your mouth and say good morning and good night when spoken too, the financial future of your country depends on it!

To assist you here are some Boyce Voice lessons;

If some one passes and says good morning….

You say: “Good Morning!”

If some one walks into a supermarket and says good night…

You say; “Good Night!”

Practice a few times until you get it right…

Boyce is leaving the computer…. “Good Bye!”

Ashley “Honey Money” Dupre

Do you know who Ashley Alexandra Dupre is?
You soon will, she is on her way to fame and fortune, Ahsley is the 22 year old call girl that Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer paid thousands of dollars for her sexual services, an act which is now costing him his political career.

Lets not digress people, let us stick too Ashley, well as much as we can afford to being she costs thousands of dollars a “stick”. In Barbados and the Caribbean, when you are exposed as woman of dissolute nature who exchanges money for sex, you are known as a whore and people whisper behind your back and call you slutty names.

In America now the same act can get you instant fame and a book and movie deal leading to untold fortunes.
In America selling your “honey” can put you in the money, depending on who you are selling it too.
Since Ahley’s whorish activities have been exposed over 5 million people have visited her MySpace page to view her photos, music and biographical information.
Ashley is not only good on the “mike” in the bedroom (thousands of dollars worth) but she’s also good on the real mike as well (if you can’t figure that out you are an ass).
Ashley also sings and actually went to New York to pursue a musical career, whoring was just to a way to pay the bills at the end of the month. So now the two songs she did are selling like hot cakes on the net. And of course a label is showing an interest in signing her up, next she will sell her side of the story to “The Enquirer” and write a tell all book of which Universal Studios will buy the rights and the movie will be directed by Oliver stone.To show you how famous Ashley is becoming, you are now reading about her on Boyce Voice, last month we would not have given a rat’s ass about her.
The Ahley Dupre situation epitomizes how sexual notoriety can be used in America to achieve instant fame. This reminds me my favorite classic Eddie Murphy comedy sketch where he plays a pimp selling a book on “How to be a prostitute”; Eddie’s pimp punch line was “Be some body …. Be a hoe”

Before I Go, a Boyce Voice Quiz:

Question: What do you call a West Indian Politician who pays money for honey?

Answer; A West Indian Politician! As that sort of thing does not cause a stir down here,

Governor Spitzer; “Damn! why did I spend my money on that young honey?”

I always keep my promises except for when I don’t.
Last week I mentioned how lia deserved her own write up, and here it is.

                                    This is Lia

I first met Lia Gajadhar back in 2004 when Madd was working on a dance idea to the song “Hard Ears”.
It came to me that we could use an idea similar to “Thriller” with ghouls dancing with our lead singer Eric Lewis and choreographer Trevor Priddie recommended Lia and told me she was good, just returned from studying make up in the States.

So Lia came to the Madd office and told her I wanted her to make up dead people to dance with Eric, so she asked exactly how intense to I want them to be as she can do some pretty gruesome stuff.
And I was saying to my self “yeah right” who is this lil girl claiming she can do make up gross people out?”
Well I could not have been more wrong, look at this picture…

Here is Eric with the Trevor Priddie and his dancers made up by Lia, she did some make up that was so horrific that patrons actually scampered from the dancers in horror when they went into the audience.
Even Eric’s own daughters became afraid of him after seeing him performing with the “duppies”.

Lia used a technique where she started with one level of horror make up effects that intensified as the season progressed, so you ended up with the dancers looking like accident victims with chunks of flesh hanging from their body.

I remember once being back stage when lia was finished working on the “dead people” and they looked like bodies that had started to decompose. “It was freaked me out and I had to leave. It reminded me of seeing Ingrid with out make up once.
 

Because of the excellent make up effects from Lia and effective choreography by Trevor Priddie and his dancers “Hard Ears” became one of the most effective live presentations Madd has ever had in Bacchanal Time calypso tent, my only regret was that I was in it as an undertaker and didn’t get to sit in the audience and enjoy the spectacle of it.

Lia making up Soca Queen Alison Hinds

We are always talking about the front line performers and not enough on the talented people behind the scenes, Lia Gajadhar is one of those people.
The ultimate testimony to Lia’s talent how ever is what she did with Ingrid Holder, a make up person that can make Ingrid look beautiful has got to be good!

Boyce is leaving the computer before Ingrid finds me ….

It is a picture of a Rock you idiot, you don’t know what a Bajan rock look like? I had to caption it…? cheese don bread..

When I first started writing Boyce voice I had a couple of ideas as to how it could be an interesting site that people would want to visit.
One of the ideas I put to Darron was to have an element of “gossip” where you give readers some glimpses into the personal lives of bajan personalities similar to the drivel publications I criticized yesterday.

So Boyce Voice would have done some bits about Lil Rick’s personal life, who Jon Doe is seeing on the side and about DJ Dave Smooth’s “play ground”.
Would have gotten some hot news on Alison Hinds and dug up something about Edwin not about who is the “Voice in his head” but who is the new voice whispering in his ear.
Then I would have done a piece on Peter Ram and where he got his last name from.

I was all fired up and ready to go, then it dawned on me how big Jon doe is, Could you imagine dropping a remark about Jon Doe and having him come to look for you?
Not to mention Peter Ram, Ram is a serious man when it comes to those things,
As for Lil Rick the Hypa Dog, I don’t think it would be any fun being attacked by a dog. Believe me, Rick and ram are people you do not want to get on the wrong side of.
I was going to do a piece on who Santia is seeing now since she is too small to attack me, then I realize she was a lawyer and could sue my ass to kingdom come

Then I realized people like Dave Smooth are on the radio constantly and would just take an afternoon and castigate me on the air, or Alison Hinds would just meet me and knock me down with her behind.
When I started to consider the dangers of being attacked physically and verbally by enraged entertainers I decided it would be safer to stick to attacking the Government, NCF and the Police.
I also remembered the saying’s ‘people who live in glass houses should not pelt rocks” and “let him who is with out sin throw the first boulder”, take those wise words with you as you go through your day.

Boyce is leaving the computer as a Rock comes flying through screen….

I am often in a quandary when I read the drivel which masquerades as entertainment news which pretty much equates to just old fashion “lick mout” gossip.
Am I suppose to care who Brad Pitt is going out with?
Or that Jennifer Lopez is having twins? whoopie!
or that Paris Hilton has new man?
I mean, who gives a Rats Ass?!…

Britney checking into rehab or out, so many times we have lost count

And the latest news now out, Am I suppose to care that Britney spears has lost her child visitation rights?
Or how much times she has been in rehab and how her father is now taking care of her again?
Who gives a rat’s ass…!

I would like some one to explain to me why I should care,
When I read entertainment news I like to read about the box office business generated by a movie or the behind the scenes of the making of the movie, not who the star is bonking might be bonking or is about to bonk.
If that is what you are interests you, you need to get a life!
Am I suppose to care who Rihanna is going out with?
Or that she and Chris Brown are supposed to be engaged? …
……….Wait a minute, I do care about that!

If our Rihanna is getting hitched we need to know about it so we can approve it, I mean is Chris Brown good enough for our Rihanna? (Darron will put up a poll that will allow you to vote on that soon)

But when it comes to the other celebrities, who gives a rat’s ass?!

Does Chris Brown have life guard ambitions or what?

Guyanese Timeka and our Rihanna in Jamaica

Here is a bio on Timeka Marshall hailing from Guyana, she is one on the artistes represented by Pyramid Entertainment which is managed by the irresistible Santia Bradshaw. With the coming of CSME we need to know about our regional neighbours, so read on, you are not busy ..

Who would have thought that a simple jingle for a local company would be the start of a music career that seems destined for success? Well that is exactly how young Guyanese singer Timeka Marshall got her break. In 2006
a local telecommunications company staged a competition for their new jingle. Timeka entered and won. This became the springboard for recording her first R&B Single “We Should Separate”, which was released and quickly followed by the music video. Produced by Muzikmedia and shot on location in Jamaica both the track and the video gained popularity on the Caribbean music scene and held their own in heavy rotation on radio and television stations across the region.

Yet there was much more to unearth in the way of Timeka’s talents. Timeka After performing “We Should Celebrate” on the Guyanese entertainment circuit to appreciative audiences,Timeka was keen to cultivate her songwriting talents and attended the Barbados Music seminar and Showcase in February 2007. There she blew regional and international music executives away with her obvious talent and enticing sensuality. With just one performance of the gritty dancehall track “Nothing At All”, Timeka was immediately signed to a developmental deal which would see her working with some of Jamaica’s top producers.Timeka’s commitment and hard work in the months she spent in Jamaica has paid off, with the release of two singles – “Free” and “Ice-cream Boy” (a fresh taste on a classic) produced by international reggae producer
Clive Hunt and his team of talented musicians. Her relationship with Jamaica and the treasure trove of musicians, directors and producers there continues to grow. As soon as the two singles were in heavy rotation on Guyana’s airwaves, Timeka returned to Jamaica to continue recording. This dedication is a clear indication of her intention
to take her music throughout the region and beyond and add to the growing list of Caribbean artistes who now rank among the international superstars of the entertainment industry.