Stuff: Ecnalap

Yow!

I'm back! And I'm Black! Okay I'm in a generally better disposition, but right now I'm actually quite perturbed, because I just typed up a whole heap of STUFF and accidentally deleted it. So, I'll try to make this quick (ain't happening). Few things to tell you about, but of course, first things first:

Predictions

I actually did pretty good I think, out of the top 8 spots in the competitions, I literally got four correct and I technically got 5 correct. In Groovy, my predictions were:

#1. Patrice Roberts

#2. Faye-Ann Lyons

#3. Shurwayne Winchester

#4. Zoelah

The actual results were:

#1. Shurwayne Winchester

#2. Faye-Ann Lyons

#3. Rikki Jai

#4. Patrice Roberts

I think that's pretty good! The main thing here is that he who deserved to win - Won. Shurwayne has done better in my opinion in the past ('Carnival Please Stayyyyyy'), but this performance were he was actually KILLED, was definitely one of his best and he deserved it. As far as how I would've ranked it, I have no problems with Faye-Ann in 2nd, although a lot of people seemed to think Rikki Jai (who did EXCELLENT) deserved that place (wouldn't have had a problem there either) and Patrice DEFINITELY did well. I've said it in the past and I'm sticking to it - if continues to compete, Patrice will take Groovy Monarch one year and I'll actually cap it by saying sometime in the next 2-3 years yeah. Oh and my Dark Horse, Nnika, also did very good and I THINK she actually took 5th position which makes me kinda right don't???

In Power my predictions were:

#1. Faye-Ann

#2. Blaxx

#3. Skinny Fabulous

#4. Iwer George

The actual results were:

#1. JW & Blaze

#2. Faye-Ann

#3. Shal & Screws

#4. Tallpree

Okay. As is the case with Road March (in a second), I had NO IDEA that 'Palance' was as big as it was. The tune has certainly grown on me (after hearing it about a billion times), but I just didn't know the tune was destroying TnT like that and. . . DAMN! Had I known that, I would've at least slotted them in the top four. ALSO, I didn't know that Blaxx was going to have the worse performance of the evening basically and I didn't know that Iwer George was going to get sick (I THINK) and not perform. But, you can hold me to Blaxx and Skinny (who did very good in my opinion), but since Iwer didn't reach, you can go ahead and bump up my Dark Horse which was Tallpree and there you go! I'm going to give myself credit for that one. So that's 5 out of 8 and 2 actually in their correct spot and I don't think that's too bad! Again, like in the Groovy, in Power THEY who deserved to win - Won. The performance of 'Palance' (which you can see up there at the top, along with the video for the tune) was a beautifully done light show and it was really the crowd response that gave it the win in my opinion. Other people did better (biggup the Transformer) (aka the Silver Surfer) (aka Faya-Ann) in terms of demonstration, but the winning tune probably had more crowd response than about 4-5 other performances put together.

Okay and in terms of Road March. I don't think they've announced it just yet, but there's no way in hell JW & Blaze aren't taking the road. GUARANTEED!

And just in general about the competition and this'll be the last thing I say about it - A lot of people thought it was bad and one of the worst ever. I won't go that far, I thought Groovy was VERY good, Zoelah did well, Chuckie did well and you had a dominant performance in both and I think that's the best thing - that who deserved to win actually won. No controversy. You can, of course, argue about the placing was incorrect, but you can't argue about the winners, so well done. And we had a great time, so I don't give a damn!

And on the trip in general. Biggup my Family! Actually got a pretty nice shock when going to see my recently moved Grandmother in Arouca and who do we see just kind of. . . like hanging out around her house? MY FATHER! Just decided to up and stop by. So biggup the greatest man on earth. And biggup my Cousin Tia who had twins like two months ago (Nigel & Noelle) and her boyfriend Nicky who told me he played in a band in Guyana (more on that real quick).

Oh and BIG BIG BIG BIG respect goes to my Brother in-law who taught me a nice little computer trick that worked EXCELLENT running the emails through (most of which I didn't answer anyway) (sorry), but I had no problems there and I actually had it going pretty fast too. The man is a GENIUS, new school (legal) hack yeah.

The only other actual stop we're making for Carnival will be in May I believe. We WILL be at Vincy Monarch this year. Missed it last year and it was RIDICULOUS! Of course Sunshine City in April and speaking of which, Regatta is in like two weeks and apparently Maxi Priest will be on so, probably will be there also. And that is it for 2010.

That means that we won't be in Guyana this weekend when Achis Reggae favourite SHELLY G defends he crown and I read an article with her saying her competition was essentially some shit, so I'm expecting her to take the crown again (no Dutchin, no Malo), with the only fight figuring to come from reigning Road March Queen, Vanilla. Shelly G's tune, 'All Dat', doesn't really sound like a Monarch winner, but I thought the same thing about 'Work It' and everybody knows what happened there:

She performed the hell out of that song and won the crown and on Saturday she should do the same thing again.

Okay! With Soca and Carnival business out of the way (kinda sorta), we still have blog business to deal with and I'm BACK, which means every damn day so what's coming up?:

• The first bit of business, I'll be dealing with for tomorrow (Thursday), is a big ass Check It/Coming Soon feature. I'm going to try it get it as close to twenty as I can, but if I don't, forgive me! Nothing too major happened in the last couple of weeks (although apparently Junior Kelly's new album was pushed back to the first week of April) (which is fine), but definitely there're a few nice releases you should know about.

• I did a bit of writing so I have some old stuff mostly on reviews, a Modern Classic and a vault review (which I haven't done since November) of a damn near Modern Classic. The Vault Review will be on Tuesday and I may mix in another review or two on off days as well.

• You can definitely expect some Soca reviews through the rest of February and March. Machel has a new album, as does ALISON HINDS which I'm trying to get my hands on (both of which are available right over there>>>>> at Trinidadmusicstore.com) and hopefully Bunji drops the new album pretty soon also (could that be a VP???).

• Monday will mark one year on the blog and I'm sure I'll do something (equally corny and lame) about something to mark the occasion so stay tuned for that.

• I have a LIST that's kind of mean, but I think I'm going to veto my better judgment and do it anyway, so you can expect that sometime next week also and of course if you have any suggestions for a list, definitely pass on a recommendation.

• Have a look at My Favourite Places because I'm going to add Trace because I couldn't find a damn thing worth writing about for Zouk, so go over there and fill all of your Zouk-ish needs!

• And there'll be a Video Drop at some point, my first five star album review of 2010 will be next week I believe and just the general stuff yeah! I got like 5 emails from people that thought I was never coming back, well I'm back! {And on that note, if/when I decide to stop blogging, I WILL NOT tell ANYONE so that I may continue to receive free stuff for doing nothing at that point} And appreciate the love sameway. Biggup Junior Kelly's newest fan and Buggy's biggest fan Dale Cooper, and Nico, and JC (nice piece JC) and Marcus sameway and that girl Stacie on the predictions post too.

• COOL New Artist this month. It'll be up on the last day of the month but definitely watch for that one, I already wrote the piece too. She's VERY interesting. And speaking of New Artists, my last one, Naptali (more on him tomorrow I'm sure) has gotten a lot of response. Besides on the actual post the feature is also on Naptali's website so you can also check my favourite links for him also (just as soon as I finish here).

I think that's it! Uhmmmm. Yeah. Okay, I have to say one more Socafied thing. My actual favourite tune from this season proved to be 'Brave' from Bunji Garlin. Bunji did not do what I thought he might at Monarch, but he reached anyway very nicely (and biggup Ronnie McIntosh!) (and Daddy Chess). And interestingly enough, he also dropped a video for the tune which I think is his first in quite awhile actually so, check it, here. VERY lyrical and the video synchs up BEAUTIFULLY!

I'M BACK WHAT!

Wait wait wait!

Two things I forgot!

#1. I got Bunji Garlin for Soca Monarch 2011, saying it right now.

#2. Faye-Ann. . . You didn't win the crown, but DAMN! Bunji is a lucky guy, not as lucky as am I, but lucky still yeah!

oh and #3. Biggup some dude name Taylor Radke, used my Marcus Garvey article in a paper he did apparently that Bredz sent me, so let me see if I can find that. . . yeah Check It.