The furor being raised by the Swiss police arrest of Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski is in the Boyce focus today. While you often hear about the “price of fame” this situation is showing one of its many benefits.

76 year old Polanski has been on the run from an arrest warrant stemming from a sex charge he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl back in 1977 in the U.S state of California.
He confessed to the deed by fled to his homeland France before he could be sentenced while the case was still in court.
There he stood for decades, still making movies and winning academy awards which he could not set foot back in the U.S to collect.
Now he has been arrested there has been much public proclamations over what a great director he is, the great films he has done and the contribution he has made to the industry.
There has been support for Polanski coming from high ranking French politicians and famous Swiss personalities denouncing the shameful act of their Swiss police of arresting him for the U.S. There has also been support coming out of the United States with major movie stars signing a petition demanding his release led by people like Whoopi Golberg and Woody Allen. ( Well I could see why Woody would support him)

Now here’s the thing, if you take away the fame and film accomplishments from Polanski what do you have? A pedophile that raped a child and then escaped punishment.
If you were to discover your neighbor had done that you would be appalled and any bet you would not want a child molester living next to you, maybe if he was famous, maybe that would be another matter, you tell me.
If we forgive Polanski maybe we should start forgiving all the Priests who interfered with lil boys as well, provided the priest made a tangible contribution to the community since then.
Maybe the fact the victim wants the charges against Polanski dropped is germane to this situation, maybe the fact it happened in 1977 makes continuing with the case a mute point, you be the judge, I am only Boyce Voice.

The BMA nomination meeting happened last night, see the full list of nominees here first on Boyce Voice, we would like to congratulate all the winners, don’t see my name here though, this is the second year I have been omitted, wait till I see Ronnie then… Best wishes to everyone

Soca Up-Tempo Single

Edwin Yearwood- In De Middle A De Road

Mikey- Rhythm Section

Timmy- Tim De Tool Man

Soca Mid-Tempo Single (Male)

Blood- Back It Up

Mikey- I In Dat

RPB- Something’s Happening

Soca Mid- Tempo Single (Female)

Alison Hinds- Chocolate and Vanilla

Natahlee- What We Do

TC- Hot Sun and Rhythm

Best Social Commentary

John King- My Caribbean

RPB- Home Drums

Sheldon Hope- Last Days

Best Collaboration

Alison Hinds & Richie Spice- King and Queen

Ayana John & Elephant Man- Pose

Kirk Brown, Justin King & Tejay- Shawty Get Low

Song of the Year

Edwin Yearwood- In De Middle A De Road

RPB- Something’s Happening

Shontelle- Battle Cry

Album of the Year (Artist / Group)

Ayana John- Ayana John

Krosfyah- Kings of the Groove

Shontelle- Shontelligence

Album of the Year (Compilation)

Monsta Piece- AWOL

Tone Deaf Studios- Chaos

Various- Soca Tite Choonz

Producer of the Year

Anderson “Blood” Armstrong

KB Sharp

Peter Coppin

Songwriter of the Year

Edwin Yearwood

Mr. Dale

RPB

Backing Vocalist of the Year

Indra Rudder

Lisa Howell

Ria Borman

Instrumentalist of the Year

Darien Bailey

James Lovell

John Roett

Best Music Video (Male)

Jaicko- Oh Yeah

Kirk Brown feat. Justin King & Tejay- Shawty Get Low

Philip 7- Looking For

Best Music Video (Female)

Livvi Franc- Now I’m That Chick

Shontelle- Battle Cry

Tarah- Push Back / Love De Carnival

Best New Artist

Cherish Breedy

Ria Borman

Sir Ruel

Reggae Artist of the Year

Buggy

Kirk Brown

Hotta Flames

Jazz Artist of the Year

Kellie CaDogan

Rosemary Phillips

Black Clay Soil

Gospel Artist of the Year

Mya Daniel

Sheldon Hope

Toni Norville

Soca Artist of the Year

TC

RPB

Edwin Yearwood

Pop / Rock / Alternative Artist of the Year

Philip 7

Kite

Rihanna

Rap / Hip- Hop Artist of the Year

Trezay

Nitro

Ruby Tech

Soul / R&B Artist of the Year

Shontelle

Jaicko

Ayana John

Band / Group of the Year

Krosfyah

Strategy

Fully Loaded

Entertainer of the Year (Male)

Edwin Yearwood

Kirk Brown

RPB

Blood

Buggy

Entertainer of the Year (Female)

Alison Hinds

Shontelle

Rihanna

Ayana John

TC

Song of the Decade

Rupee- Tempted To Touch

Edwin and Khiomal- Sak Passe

Biggie Irie- Nah Going Home

Alison Hinds- Roll

Rihanna- Umbrella

Band / Group of the Decade

Krosfyah

Strategy

Massala

Fully Loaded

The Merrymen

Entertainer of the Decade (Male)

Edwin Yearwood

RPB

Rupee

Anderson “Blood” Armstrong

L’il Rick

Entertainer of the Decade (Female)

Alison Hinds

Rihanna

Toni Norville

TC

Natahlee

2010 BMA HONOUREES

Cornerstone Awards

Arturo Valentino

JoAnne Sealey

Andrea Gollop- Greenidge

ANTHONY BRYAN

Natahlee

Herring

Biggie Irie

John Sealy

John Roett

Tony Thompson

Lifetime Achievement Award

Tony Hoyos

Living Legend

Marvo Manning

BMA Award of Excellence

Terencia “TC” Coward

BMA Platinum Award

Shontelle- (Shontelligence, T Shirt)

International Award of Excellence

Toni Braxton

Fantasia Barrino

International Lifetime Achievement Award (In Memoriam)

Michael Jackson

Those of you that thought that all the NCF was bout was making money , shame on you NCF haters! Allow me to bring your attention to this fantastic workshop opportunity that the National Cultural Foundation is organizing.

It’s a Song Writing Workshop that commences from 15^th September, bare big names are presenting at it and the best part is, its absolutely free!

So if you feel you have potential to write a song but didn’t know how this is what you have been looking for, if you already write, there’s nothing wrong with listening to others who have excelled in the artform and getting some tips on how to improve your skills.

Otherwise you might end up like me; I obviously need a writing workshop myself.

Look who in it (told you I needed writing lessons) calypsonian Chalkdust from Trinidad and our own Red Plastic Bag, so what are you waiting for? Did I mention it is free?

Check the official email below sent out by NCF for more information.

You are invited to the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Community Development & Culture and The National Cultural Foundation presents The Song Writing Workshop. September 15, 2009                                                        Public Lecture by Dr. Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool September 16 – 18, 2009                                              Workshop sessions with Dr. Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool September 19, 2009 (10:00 am – 3:00 pm)             Special Workshop Session for Junior Calypsonians with Dr. Hollis “Chalkdust” LiverpoolSeptember 23 – 25, 2009                                              Workshop sessions with Mr. Stedson “Red Plastic Bag” Wiltshire September 19, 2009 (10:00 am – 3:00 pm)             Special Workshop Session for Junior Calypsonians with Mr. Stedson “Red Plastic Bag” Wiltshire October 1, 2009                                                                Workshop for Arrangers with Mr. Roger Gittens.

If I were Rihanna Fenty I would run like hell when I heard the statements that Chris Brown made while speaking out on the now infamous assualt incident on the CNN Larry King show.

Brown is quoted as saying that his relationship with Rihanna was similar to that of Romeo and Juliet, well I don’t know if that is supposed to strike some romantic chord or bring some level of comfort, but as I recalled, in the classic Shakespeare story both Romeo and Juliet ended up dead.

Despite the several other beatings which Chris inflicted on Rihanna he says he still loves her. That’s so damn romantic then it almost brings a tear to my freaking eye.
I am sick and tired as ass of this flawed concept where a bouts of vicious abuse inflicted from one person to a next is misconstrued as love.
Sick of reading in the media of some deranged “lover” in a bout of passion kill his partner and sometimes themselves in a fit of passion and it is then romanticly said that “love drove them to it”.
“Love” my ass!…
I have no problem with you killing yourself, if you stupid enough to kill yourself over a woman that’s your bewitch business, it’s when you decide to take others with you I have an issue.
So to digress back to my original point, if Chris Brown want to describe himself as Romeo and dispatch himself in the name of love that is his business.
But if I were Rihanna and I hear my ex man talking bout we like Romeo and Juliet, I would pick up my foot and run run run.
There is nothing romantic about relationships which ends in death.

Chris with his mummy on CNN

*Pboyce Note; the Court also ordered Chris to stay at least 100 yards away from Rihanna, so if anything happens it would have to be long distance love

Michael Jackson would have been 51 today had he been alive. Instead his death is now being ruled on as a homicide and police are now looking to charge the doctor who administered the deadly cocktail of sleep drugs that lead to MJ’s untimely demise.

When I hear of Jackson’s challenges with sleeping and the amount drugs it took to “take him down” I am in somewhat of a quandary, sleep like is the easiest thing for me to do, I would be writing this blog here and the next minute, fall asleep.

It however is a serious condition that mj and other “insomniacs” have where sleep can only be induced by some form of drugs which can lead to being addicted or the worst case scenario of what happened to Michael.

From what I have read about the sleep cocktail of drugs administered to Jackson it was not that he was put to sleep, it’s more like he was made unconscious. The question is who takes the ultimate blame?
It appears Jackson sought out and intentionally acquired a personal doctor whose job it would be to give him these “sleep” drugs.
Despite what Jackson demanded the doctor had a fiduciary responsibility that should have adhered to that would have prevented him from injecting drugs that ultimately proved deadly to his patient.
Now the doctor will pay the ultimate price as now he is liable to be charged with the death of Michael Jackson.
The irony of it is, maybe he is being charged for doing his job too well, for now Michael Jackson is sleeping, but permanently.
Happy Birthday Michael Jackson, had he lived, he would have been 51 today…R.I.P

When I heard what Trevor Marshall said at the Crop Over awards I realise he is better on historical topics than on talking about the future.
In fact, after hearing him doing the feature address at the NCF Crop Over awards, I would implore him as an acknowledged historian to stick to the history ting and leave the future to the futurians.
At the awards Trevor said the National Cultural Foundation should hold on to Crop Over and not allow it to fall into the hands of the capitalistic Private Sector who would put cultural objectives behind and have money making objectives as a priority.

Little did Trevor know that the same NCF who had invited him to speak had already put in place an entity to do the same things he dreaded.
The same people who had invited him and afterwards would be “skinning their teet” and eating fishcakes with him, has already adamantly proclaimed their objective to commence with the “Festival Events Bureau” with the stated objectives to exploit and milk the cultural industry dry.

I am sure the Chairman probably had to stifle a laugh when Trevor made his comment.

As for Trevor’s other comments about bringing 70’s “Back in time” dressing back into Crop Over and having cheerleaders competitions. Hmm I don’t think so.
When it comes to “Back in time” that’s what happens at the Plantations Garden theatre every month, and as for cheer leading competitions, sounds more like you are fantasising.
You might be an excellent historian Trevor but when it comes to advice on current trends, I think I will pass…

Did you read about the Zombie movie made with the mind boggling price of $70 that is now about to be released in cinemas? you are probably saying “Boyce you are such a nasty liar then”, but it’s true. “Colin” is the name of the movie made by a 30 year old British director Marc Price and he shot the movie during the day while working nights at a Taxi company.
To make a movie at $70 is dirt cheap, even years ago when I produced the “Best of Barbados Go Madd” DVD series which featured songs and skits which were shot on location the budget for one would be over $10,000 and that’s still low budget.
The good news is that Marc will be releasing a behind the scenes featurette on how he did it so that’s something we all need to see.
The success of Marc with his cheap movie making it big means that we here in the Caribbean stand a chance that one of these days we can pick up a camcorder and start shooting and possibly find our way on to international screens.
So if a $70 u.s dollar movie can make it, why not our Bongo Lights “Tek Dem Out” or “Hit for Six” starring Andrew Pilgrim.

What is amazing that not only Marc made the movie, but that he was able to get the attention of the powers that be to get his movie screened at the Cannes Film festival which give him break he needed. Getting those breaks are usually what most challenges the Caribbean film makers so lucky for Marc, he knew somebody.

Well Boyce is looking to go home pick up his camcorder and start shooting, in fact, I would like to start shooting with my cell and become the first person to release a $20 movie shot entirely on a Blackberry, Wish me luck!

The latest word to come out of National Cultural Foundation (NCF) in their “developmental” objectives is that no monetary assistance will be given to the calypso tents from next Crop Over.
However, I wish to emphatically state I do not blame NCF in this particular instance.
The blame lies wholly and solely on the shoulders of the Barbados Association of Tent Managers aka Batman.
At many Batman meetings I touted to our illustrious President St Clair Gittens, I beseeched him in the name of the lord to change the name of the organization to the Trinidad Tent Managers Association and register in neighboring T&T.
But Batman President Gittens was so hard ears then.
He thought the contribution that the calypso tents had made to building Crop Over would have made a difference to the NCF.

He thought that Tents being “stake holders” who had sat at the negotiation tables with NCF, worked on rules, selected judges and invested time and money into the festival and culture that somebody would cared for their well being.

He thought that just as how some of Corporate Barbados were willing to take money and sponsor Bajan calypso tents NCF would lead by example and look to do the same.
Well Mr. President of Batman you were wrong, NCF needs to be able to finance paying $30,000 to one Jamaican to fly down here and do 2 dub songs at we Crop Over,
Why pay Bajan Tents $100,000 when you could just spend that money on Machel show and done.

But like I said, I blame Batman; they refused to put Trinidad in their name and are now paying for it. They should now change from Barbados Association of Tents to “Barbados Asses” and done!

Speaking of Done, so am I!

Was I experiencing Déjà Vu?!….I could not believe my ears when I heard the announcement of the Chairman of National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Ken Knight.

Ken’s big announcement was that the NCF had gotten the novel idea to form a Festival Events Bureau to run Crop Over with a view to making a profit.
Why did Boyce think he went back in time?

That same Festival Events Bureau had been proposed by the NCF under the previous administration.
I remember being at a consultation on August 21st 2007 where the then PM and Minister of Culture Owen Arthur touted the so called benefits of this Festival Bureau with the same commercial objectives.
I am therefore at a loss how the existing government who had stated that they would divest Crop Over events and encourage entrepreneur participation should now turn around and adopt the same flawed policy document.

The actions of the NCF remind me of a book I read while at Combermere School.
In the George Orwell classic “Animal Farm”, led by the Pigs the animals take over the farm from the humans and at the end of the book the pigs become the exact copy of the same humans they had overthrown. Go and study that!

What the Festival Events Bureau seeks to do is drop the “burden mandate” of developing artistes and instead set up a draconian entity which seeks instead to generating a profit through exploitation of our cultural industries.

The “Festival Events” documents speaks of government producing music, supplying sound services and producing even more shows to compete against local promoters.
Is that something that we want?

Congrats to “The General Edwin”!
The National Cultural Foundation must feel like dogs then, after they over look Edwin and Krosfyah for Cohobblopot in favour of foreign acts.
Edwin was able to prove his worth by winning not only the People’s Monarch title but also the 2009 Tune of the Crop Road March Title.
From its release the song “De Middle of the Road was tearing up the airwaves and mashing up the venues around Barbados and in Celebration Time calypso tent.

All of Barbados and Facebook people had identified that Edwin was the man to beat on the road kadooment day and he did not disappoint.
He allowed Celebration Time calypso tent in its inaugural year of operation to be able to already boast of having 2 titles.

The Question is why was all of Barbados able to see the worth in Edwin and Krosfyah while the NCF could not.

The NCF said they could not find money in their budget to pay Edwin, never wanted Krosfyah on the show as they had Machel’s HD band.
But they could pay u.s $30,000 to Trini Bands and u.s $15,000.00 to one Jamaican artiste to do 2 songs at Cohobblopot.
Fortunately local entertainment entity Barbados 246 was able to save the day with their “Climax” event at Plantation Garden theatre.
There you would have seen not only locals Lil Rick, Mr. Dale & Krosfyah, but also the Man who from 1995 when he first entered the calypso arena continues the prove he is unmatchable, Congrats again to General Edwin!!