So you thought all I knew bout was calypso tents, U feel u know sain bout me? Yuh idiot. At times I have visited the theatre and enjoyed some thespian acting. In fact I realized I am quite a fan of the production company “The Gayle Theatre of London and Barbados” I have seen all the productions they have ever done here “Blithe Spirit” and “Macbeth”. I particularly loved “Macbeth” which you can read elsewhere on Boyce Voice, but they have go a new production coming out soon and I want to encourage you to see it, it’s a Bathable event, which means it’s worth the bath and coming out, lets peruse their press release on “The Memory of Water”.

The Gayle Theatre of London and Barbados presents their 2010 production Is the Olivier award winning comedy called The Memory of Water. This is a ‘dark comedy’ written by the very talented Shelagh Stephenson, who is described by the UK Guardian, as a “mistress of comic anguish”. The play was staged both in the West End and on Broadway, earning the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for best comedy in 2000.

The narrative is simple – three dysfunctional sisters assemble at the family home for the funeral of their mother. They share memories from versions of their past that are both conscious and unconscious forms of memory. But at the heart of the plot are the healing qualities that memory brings in the face of personal trauma or tragedy.
The production will be led by award winning actress Suzan Sylvester amongst its cast and Calypsonian Anderson “Blood” Armstrong.” Other cast members include Barbadians Drew Mckenzie, Nailah Cumberbatch and Endy Mckay and Caroline Gardiner are from the UK. The production will be directed by the Island’s much loved Thom Cross.

When I first heard Ronald Jones warning people to cut out the rubbish trash and foolishness, I thought he was talking to politicians. I was so damn impressed then. Finally a politician with enough balls to speak out against the ridiculous behavior we have been hearing in the Parliamentary debates.

When I realize that Minister of Education Jones was actually referring to Calypsonians I could hardly believe my ears.
First Thing, Jones is the Minister of Education so we Calypsonians don’t fall under his jurisdiction.
What will you do if our lyrics that suit you Jones,Lick we? Are we supposed to be scared? Cause I don’t get it.
You got your hands full handling the school children that you can’t handle anyway further less to want to take on cultural industries.

Also if I was Ronald Jones for the reason I stated in my opening paragraph I would not have the audacity to accost anybody on their behaviour.
I listened to Parliamentary debates recently I was appalled and entertained at the same time. The debate was out of order most times and many petty and nonsensical statements were made. Somebody is “like a blind man looking for a black cat on a dark night”, about “Monkeys playing with guns” which actually turned out apparently to be an accurate description of what was to happen in Parliament later.
Who takes Viagra pills, who doesn’t pay chile support money,
I must admit it was a most entertaining discourse that would probably raise some revenue for the country if it was available for sale on the internet.
I always remember a few years ago a minister debating and mentioning the opposing member had “green chewing gum in her mouth” what the hell does that have to do with fiscal deficit and the state of the economy? Now that is what you call “utter rubbish” Jones.

As for that incident that is alleged to have happened that may have involved a gun.
When the persons who have been charged with the august responsibility of running this country. “Honorable” Ministers that are supposed to be the pillars of our society the backbone of our governance should within the precedents of parliament and get into an alleged fight.
That is a despicable and reprehensible example to the youth of this country.
How can they then go the young people and tell them that what they are doing is wrong when they start shooting and engaging in acts of violence.

So again in closing I reiterate, Who Minister Jones think he is? To go on TV and in an arrogant pompous and bombastic manner threaten “Calypsonians need to clean up our act or else”.He needs to get his “house” in order first.

My parting Boyce shot to Minister Ronald Jones is if he wants to cut out rubbish trash and foolishness, the first thing he has to do, is stop talking!
Like what I am doing now….

P.S I hope i didn’t offend any Ministers, you know how ministers are when they get vex…

Every once in a while an event comes along you feel is worth bathing for, the Coscap Foundation inaugural fund raising Gala is such an event.
It will be a big shin ding with top notch performers and its all in the name of a good cause to raise money for the good people at COSCAP.
If I sound like I am kissing up to somebody you are right, Coscap is the body that determines the liscense fees when you have live events and CroP Over is coming around again, so I would like to sweeten up Erica and Gale and them as much as possible, Erica loves it when I call her name…
I implore you to come out and support the most worthy and honorable event detailed below.

On Saturday, April 24, 2010, the COSCAP Foundation will hold its inaugural annual fundraising Gala at the Hilton. Hosted by Vic Fernandes and Cassandra Crawford, the Gala will be a black tie event with the theme: “Our Music, Our Artists, OurFuture”.

After dinner, there will be an artist showcase where guests will be entertained by stellar performances by Barbadians in widely varied genres such as gospel, calypso,rock, jazz, folk, hip hop, alternative, reggae, pop, tuk and acoustic. All of the music will be 100% Bajan. Confirmed acts will be a mix of established artists and some of the young up and coming talent including: Kareen Clarke, Sir Ruel, Gabby, John King, J-Storm, Threads of Scarlet, Buggy, TC, The Mike Sealy Quartet, Simon Pipe,Kite, Black Kla Soyl, Mistral Baldeo, Nexcyx, Billy Kincaid, Natahlee, Nicholas Brancker, Blood, Cherish Breedy, The JM Band.
The first annual Coscap Foundation Award of Excellence will be presented that night to the MerryMen in recognition and appreciation of their contribution to music and culture locally and internationally.

This Vybz Kartel Movado issue was not a matter Boyce was planning to write on again but the developments over the last few hours just begs to be addressed. As I write this, the word is the show is off, of course it’s been off before and put back on so in this case you would never know.
The Prime Minister of Barbados being the last person to declare this afternoon that it is off I can only assume that is the case.
I feel for the event promoters of this show they were unfaired and bullied by the authorities.
When I think that they met with government reps got approval then I saw pictures of the promoters at a site meeting with the high ranking Police officers the fact that I should now be hearing that the authorities are stopping the show at this 11th hour just irks me.

And when I irk I write!

In my opinion the mistake the promoters made was going down this “peace” route and saying they had these “good and worthy” objectives to consul peoples children. That irked the minister of education irked the Police and irked some members of the public. If I was them when I saw the furor that caused I would have quickly announced we just gine in Midway Car park wuk up bad with some wicked bashment sing some nasty lyrics and call it night.

Heres a next Irk?
How come when these things are happening how come you does hear the Minister of Education speaking out, I might not agree with what he said but at least he spoke out on behalf of his sector, you does hear the Police Commissioner Speaking but the Minister and institution who have been charged with responsibility of developing and representing culture , you don’t hear a squeek outta them.
The Minister of Culture says nothing, The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) says nothing. You don’t hear the Chairman of the NCF unpick he mouth and say a word. The Culture Minister who in between the lil gun play in Parliament were debating vociferously about how they are for culture the week before, from them you hear a loud NOTHING.

Next Irk,

Since the Police Commissioner and Minister of Education went on the internet and research lyrics and see how nasty Vybz & Movado was and they don’t want to have them because they will threaten our national security and degrade our society.

How come when American Rapper Lil Jon was brought here by the NCF to headline Cohobblopot 2008 nobody did not go and look at his nasty lyrics and say he cant perform? Is it that only NCF can put on shows with artistes who have nasty lyrics?
I remember going on the radio during Crop Over and talking about the disgusting lyrics that I had printed off the net and the Police Commissioner did not phone me appalled saying that man cant come in Barbados, you know why? because it was a NCF show.
More so than stop Lil Jon authorities paid him more than they would pay any of our local artistes,

I am Double Irked….
that the Promoters should meet with authorities negotiate with all good intentions be told yes the show is on! they would have paid down on plane tickets and hotel rooms etc, next you hear different from the Police Commissioner saying his own deputy went against his authority and how he consult with the Police Commissioner of Jamaica and he is against the show.
Let me pause here, do you know why they call him the Police Commissioner of Jamaica? Cause that’s what he is, he controls Jamaica only, he has no jurisdiction here. Am I to assume that our Police takes orders from him now.
Also Jamaica has the highest murder rate in the Caribbean and you taking guidance from their police Dottin? To be quite frank, the crime rate here is so low comparison to Jamaica, he should be taking guidance from you!

The problem is these promoters were good little boys, that’s why they don’t have a show, they were bullied and unfaired. They needed to get some good lawyers to represent them and file some good legal injunctions.
When a cultural event is prevented because of being opposed mainly by the Police that is occurrence we need to pay attention too, are we living in a Police state?
They are so many “negative” mediums which even more influence society, why aren’t the Police and authorities going after these, violent movies, Xbox games and the internet, all play an even more nefarious role in derailing our youth from the path of righteousness, why pick on a team of hapless show promoters whose only crime was looking to achieve good and peaceful intentions.

If you were hoping to have a controversy free Crop Over 2010 you can forget about it, compliments the NCF aka National Cultural Foundation.
Instead of wasting time embarking on matters of cultural development, NCF seems to be quite assiduously seeking to shove proposals down the throats of cultural industries which benefit no one other than themselves and other noncultural entities they are in league with.
I don’t know about you but I for one do not like things being shoved down my throat, so lets take a close look at what’s being shoved.
(1) TEXTING; NCF has proposed they want to take Party Monarch Judging out of the tents and make it a texting competition, so instead of sending judges to see a calypsonian perfecting his stage craft in a tent, they want to listen to cds select who they like and then let the public text to choose who will be Party Monarch finalists.

Why is the NCF so committed to removing Party Monarch from the tents and degrade it to a texting competition? the answer is simple, money. Texting revenues generated are split between NCF and the telecommunications provider.
The calypsonian does not benefit or the Tents but the NCF does, which is what they are all about plus of course the phone company.

While the NCF is meeting with stakeholders and going through the motions as though they are only considering this “texting” change and you are a part of the decision, NCF has already informed sponsors that this change will be happening and also given the impression tent managers and Calypsonians are all in agreement. Sounds like a big fat lie to me.

This system of text voting is lacking in transparency and highly open to manipulation, and I know for a fact in one Caribbean territory a telecommunications provider conspired with parties involved in a competition to influence the result. That could quite easily happen here, don’t you think? Hmm maybe it did, or maybe not.

The range of suggestions being put forward by NCF shows a dearth of any true commitment to the development of calypso culture, they are myopic in scope and will serve only to dilute our festival quality and erode our standards.
It is therefore left to the right thinking cultural practitioners who truly have a love for our art form to sit up and pay attention and not allow these flawed and corrupted proposals to slip through like a thief in the night.

Text me back a response, Boyce has left the building…

On the Vybz Kartel Movado issue, I think it is unfortunate that both these artistes came here separate without there being an issue and now that they are doing a joint production that there should be this bureaucratic and public outcry.
On the issue of Gaza vs Gully, there is no war here in Barbados that I am aware of based on this concept, even if there has been some isolated incident or incidents that might have occurred it has not reached national proportions which justify a “peace” effort here. the underlying suggestion that there is this “war” is causing more problems than the event itself.
How ever it is an undeniable reality that gang divisions do exist in Barbados, based on rivalry between various neighborhoods, so high profile persons speaking on quelling these feuds would be a positive thing.
The Royal Barbados Police Force have stated that they have concerns about the two Jamaican acts featured on the show as in their opinion they have negative influences on the Bajan youth. The Commissioner states that we have role models here and I agree with him, it should not be left to only outside acts to mentor our youth but our local entertainers as well should be involved in the effort.
Whether their concerns are justified or not what concerns me is the expeditious manner in which the Police is quick to withdraw their services from an entertainment event they are not in favour of, with the claim “they are busy”.
From what the Police Commissioner is saying it more seems to be a case that the police force should be adhering to their fiduciary responsibility to protect the life and limb of Barbadians by making sure adequate security will be in place at this event to ensure it is incident free.
By making public statements proclaiming the Police will not be in attendance causes more harm than good.
In the finals analysis let us hope cooler heads prevail and Promoters, artistes and Police can combine and achieve the perfect confluence of an entertaining and peaceful show.

It gun be hot up at Greenland Land fill this year, not just with the smells but with the music. NCF has announced that one of the venues they were considering hosting Party Monarch 2010 was the illustrious Greenland Land fill”.

Some would say when it comes to venues this is really reaching the bottom of the barrel, or the bottom of the garbage bin, but is it? Let us explore the opportunities a “Dump” Party Monarch presents to us.

First having Party Monarch at a dump would be a unique attraction, if not for people, at least for flies.

Not only flies but maybe this new location might attract a new breed of sponsors; Party Monarch can now be sponsored by the Sanitation Department and Garbage Masters.

As title sponsors the credit would be The Garbage Masters Party Monarch Finals coming to you from Greenland Dump.
NCF can also change their slogan, “Crop Over Festival Smelly fuh Days”.
Instead of the scenic East coast it would be marketed as a scent-ic location. It ought to be a great day out for the family, Bring the family out and picnic in the dump.

When you tell a calypsonian his party music sounds like garbage it would be a compliment, you would now be saying he sounds like he is headed straight to the Dump Finals.

One of the good things is that the NCF is announcing this early so Calypsonians can make changes to their songs, Edwin can now sing “In de middle of de Dump”

I can hear RPB singing “something’s happening, and it will be stinking”
Bag’s opening line would now be “I see, people jumping with flies,

Lil Rick would sing “wukking up behind the stinking truck”

Salt would be Smell me, smell me and don’t smell me smell me and don’t smelllll me

At least Sanitation wouldn’t have to clean up after the event, because you are at the dump already! you can just walk away and leave all your Garbage there.

We are always complaining NCF doesn’t come up with good ideas and we should give them 100% credit for this one, I am sure regionally and internationally, there has never been a music event that was held in a dump,
If it works out we can look for Freddy Al and Gilbert to follow with their events, soon we will get;

Reggae in the dump, Jazz in the Dump, Soca in the Dump, the possibilities are endless….
P.Boyce will be taking advantage of it listen out for my self penned number, guaranteed to take the Party Monarch by storm entitled “Stinkaroo Ah Coming” I got my goat cologne ready!

The National Cultural foundation recently made the proclamation that they will be doing some major cutting for Crop Over, my focus is not what will be cut but more what they will NOT cut.
For some time now our Crop Over has been characterised by regional acts being brought in to lord over the climax of our festival since NCF does not believe in the capabilities of Barbadian acts.
For the last two years thousands of u.s dollars have been paid to regional and international acts to headline Cohobblopot, so I wait to see what will happen this year under these new budgetary restrictions.

Cavalcades for instance we know will be affected as that is a free event design to “jump start” Crop Over and highlight established and upcoming Bajan calypso acts.
Chances are the performer’s fees will be cut and probably the amount of these events themselves might be reduced. So Bajans who look forward to partying for free will have to brace themselves for changes.

Next up who have to worry are the calypso tents, for some years now there has been a line of thought that government should not be subsidizing the tents.
Even under better economic conditions this funding has been questioned, from last year the cultural authorities had made statements which seem to indicate tent funding might be coming to an end.

So as Crop Over fast approaches we wait to see how the budget cuts will affect our national festival, which by the way generates millions of dollars in foreign exchange for the country.
So by instigating drastic budget cuts which affect the quality of events, NCF could end up shooting themselves in the foot.
So will it be the local Bajan cultural industries which face the cuts while big money is paid to outside performers, let we wait and see…

Here’s a release Boyce received from Pyramid entertainment, they are a local show business power broker who controls such artistes as Peter Ram, Philip 7 and Lil Rick who by the way was just adjudged Male entertainer of the Decade by the Barbados Music Awards. Lets take a read and see what they are saying about their French adventure at MIDEM.
Pyramid Entertainment is currently at MIDEM, the world’s largest music industry trade fair at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. The entertainment company took the decision to be present at MIDEM this year, although not a part of the Barbados delegation, as the benefits from participation in the event over the years have proven to be innumerable and always provides new perspectives for furthering the company’s goal of bringing its artistes into mainstream music.
From January 23-27, the Pyramid contingent will be taking part in both MidemNet, which focuses on monetising music, and the main MIDEM exhibition. As MIDEM offers music professionals from across the industry the chance to network with potential business partners and identify new business opportunities, Pyramid’s representatives already have several meetings with agents and promoters lined up and will participate in several conference workshops including those on digital licensing and new media.
Started in 1967, MIDEM now attracts close to 9,000 of the world’s largest music recording labels, agents, publishers, promoters, online and traditional distributors, live music professionals and artiste managers. This year’s key note line up includes a speaker session with Grammy award winning singer, songwriter and producer Pharell Williams and for the first time the tradeshow introduces the MIDEM Managers’ Village.

Wow that’s some great stuff they did there, kudos to Pyramid, I was hoping they would say something about if what they say about the French women is true, and if its true French men don’t like to bathe and is that why they are known as great lovers, but the entertainment update I can live with.
Darron the admin of Boyce Voice blog is down there, maybe he can investigate the other stuff for cultural purposes and send a report.

It is “time” for Rihanna to do a Soca song and put the genre on the international map”, that’s the “Timeless” position being put out by Ronnie Morris from the Barbados Music Awards.
Ronnie has been getting quite a bit of heat for this on my Facebook page and my FB friends Joyann and Marva insist I must make a comment so I am Boycing it.

I admire what Ronnie has done with the BMA’s and recognizing the contribution of Bajan artistes both old & new, Obviously he has a passion for our Soca music and would wish to see it grow and that is why he would have made his comment.
However I do not agree that Rihanna an obligation to do Soca music or any other Bajan genre.
The point was well made by Mark on FB, why should Rihanna target 3 million people in the Caribbean when you can target 300 million internationally.
She will release a Soca song and do what, try to win “Tune of the Crop”? When instead she could be on the top of the Billboard charts.

I think we should all be extremely proud of Rihanna and how she promotes Barbados.
She was on Rick Dee’s the other day and guess what? She shouted out Barbados and let Rick know that we listen to him here.
That is the kind of publicity you can’t buy.

When she wins awards and international attention is on her, she shouts “Barbados!!” Christ, what more do you want!?

It is noteworthy that many of the international potentials who perform at B.M.A’s do not do Soca.
The reason they choose ballads is because that’s what the international scouts are looking for.
So it’s therefore unfair for us to expect Rihanna to sing a “come and wine pun my bumpa“ song.
What Rihanna needs to do is keep on being successful and hailing Barbados and as Bajans we need to appreciate it more.
Kudos again to Ronnie and the great job he has been doing with the B.M.A’s helping to also put Barbados entertainment on the international map.

Boyce Note; if Rihanna ever does decide to do a Soca collaboration, there’s a popular artiste known as “Ali Singh” that might try a thing with her…