ALEXANDER McQUEEN: HORN OF PLENTY.2009 ready to wear.

Alexander McQueen presented a theatrical spectacle called “Horn of Plenty”, the show was a recycled remix of his work and that of others in the 20^th century.   

                                                                     

Now I Love the dramatic works of designers such as McQueen, and John Galliano these guys put stuff out there that is so out of the box it seems to me to be MAS.

Imagine if the designers of Tribe, Island People, Spice, or Legacy, dared one year to step out of the boundaries of their comfort zone, put their talents to the test and went where they or their masqueraders never went before...or if the likes of McQueen did a band in Trinidad...

THAT would be a spectacle...

You see these guys are thinkers, constantly challenging their art form, constantly stretching their imaginations and our conceptions of what fashion is, this is what our mas designers should be doing, instead of swapping colours bikini’s and plumes year in year out, while others argue this stagnant or slow moving river of the mundane  can actually keep the culture alive.

Here is another boundary breaker that got my attention.

2009 SOCA VIDEOS ON THE SPECIALIST ENT WEB SITE.

Specialist Entertainment have compiled all the latest soca videos on their website, featuring videos from Blaxx, Destra, Patch and Da Mastermind, to name a few the site also features some background information on the Artist and their careers  thus far.

So take a look at the site you might be surprised by what you learn...

Creative powerhouse

Husband-and-wife team takes art from street to stage

MALISSA LARA | 7:47 PM

Published: March 7th, 2009

Left: Michael Guy-James, left, and wife Paulette.
Centre: Costumes from the section Water, which Michael and Paulette Guy-James designed for the medium Carnival band D’Krewe this year.
Right: A costume from the section People

Photos: Jennifer Watson

With a mischievous grin, designer Michael Guy-James, 39, said he loves his wife because she reminds him of himself. “She is also talented and cute,” he added. His wife of a year-and-a-half, Paulette, 37, looked on in disbelief. On a serious note, though, Paulette described her husband as “committed and talented.” “He’s a hard worker,” she said.

The two artists constitute a creative powerhouse whose skills extend from the streets to the stage. They’ve designed for Carnival kings, individuals and masqueraders, and for theatre, both in T&T and abroad. This year, Michael and Paulette designed five sections for D’Krewe’s Iere—Virgin Paradise, which placed third in the Band of the Year (medium) competition. They also produced two of the sections and designed the band’s king costume portrayed by veteran mas man Roland St George, who is also D’Krewe’s bandleader. “It’s a ‘grinning’ situation most of the time,” Paulette said with a laugh, “but we disagree a lot, probably because we are so similar.” Indeed, it’s easy to think the two are replicas of each other as a love for art and design runs deep in their veins.

Michael worked with T&T’s most prominent artist and bandleader, Peter Minshall, for more than a decade. From there, he took his talents to the World Expo in Germany and to Ohio, USA, where he has designs and constructs sets and props for the Cleveland Public Theatre. One production in particular, Blue Skies Transmission, based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, eventually had a run off Broadway in New York City.

“I am a freelancer and I will design for anyone who asks,” he said. Paulette, meanwhile, does costume and theatre design for the UWI Festival Arts Chorale (The Sound of Music, Oliver!). She also cultivates a desire to continue the design tradition in young people by teaching part-time at the UWI Department of Creative and Festival Arts in St Augustine. They both agree there are many designers in T&T, but believe few can actually produce what they design.

“You have to be very lucky to be successful in this profession,” Michael said. “The ‘small’ people hardly get recognition. You have to stick with it, but a lot of artists don’t do the best they can. Instead, they choose the easy way out.” Paulette believes one has to be aware of the opportunities available in the arts industry, saying one must market oneself—and think outside of the box. “There are opportunities for acting and theatre other than on a stage,” she said.

Guardian

TT designer did Capitol inauguration

A TOBAGO-born textile specialist played a prominent role in decorating the United States Capitol in Washington for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Myrtle Sampson Nora, who is from Moriah, Tobago, did the original design which was viewed by millions around the world during the historic event. Her achievements were highlighted in a recent edition of The Visitor, a publication of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the US, in a story written by Marva Shand McIntosh. The full story follows: 

Although they wouldn’t know Myrtle Nora if they passed her on the street, millions of people all over the world saw her work on Tuesday, January 20. This Allegheny East Conference member of the Metropolitan church in Hyattsville, Md, made all of the brilliant red, white, and blue bunting that adorned the United States Capitol for President Barack Obama’s inauguration. 

While Nora says this was her proudest career accomplishment, it was not her first. In January 2005, she also made similar patriotic drapery decoration for the inauguration of President George W Bush. Nora is a textile specialist in the textile division of the Rayburn Building on the campus of the Capitol. This position, which she has held for nine years, allows her to add her inspired touch to the creation of colourful backdrops for many preeminent national events and occasions. 

In 2004 the Tobago native, who has lived in the US for 30 years, received an award from the chief office of administration in the House of Representatives. She was singled out for her diligence in sewing the black velvet covering for the Lincoln catafalque that supported the caskets of President Ronald W. Reagan in 2004 and President Gerald R. Ford in 2006. 

This 143-year-old catafalque is a plain wooden box that supports and raises the caskets of prominent Americans whose bodies lie in state in the United States Capitol Rotunda. It was named for President Abraham Lincoln whose casket was the first to rest on it. 

Another high point of Nora’s career came in November 2005 when she worked on the catafalque for Rosa Parks’ casket and the accompanying draperies in the Capitol Rotunda. She was honoured with a certificate of appreciation and received two days off from work. 

In addition to all of that, Nora gets excited whenever a new set of lawmakers comes to Washington, DC. This hardworking, naturalised US citizen, makes all the window treatments that decorate the offices and committee rooms in the United States House of Representatives. She is quick to say how much she loves her work and to share the enjoyment she had working with the silk fabric that drapes the windows in the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. 

When she is not at work, Nora mentors five children and volunteers as the coordinator for the community service programme at the Metropolitan church where she has been a member for 30 years. This programme distributes more than 100 baskets of food to the Hyattsville community twice each month. 

In a church service on the Sabbath before President Obama’s inauguration, Nora’s minister, Pastor Brenda Billingy, who is Trinidadian, publicly acknowledged her contribution to this historic event. 

“It’s truly an honour to be able to share Nora’s talents with the world, and she did that in an exquisite fashion for the President’s inauguration,” said Pastor Billingy. “We are very proud of her, and together we celebrate the honour she receives.” 

Nora was acknowledged by the Trinidad and Tobago ambassador to the US, Her Excellency Glenda Morean-Phillip. The Ambassador hosted a meeting of nationals of Trinidad and Tobago at the Embassy on Wednesday evening. Myrtle was asked to share her work experience with the group.

newsday

MEET THE QUEEN OF CARNIVAL, KADAFFI ROMNEY

Kadaffi in flight By Cedriann J Martin Saturday, February 28th 2009

Kadaffi Romney PHOTO: DEXTER PHILIP Brian MacFarlane needed a special masquerader-someone to embody Manzandaba, an African woman who mounts a magic bird and time travels in search of her continent's stories. At first Kadaffi Romney seems an unlikely pick. After working on Mac Farlane's 2007 offering "India: the Story of Boyie", she forwent the complimentary costume. Though she has come from a mas-playing family she's "never ever been interested in playing". "I'm sort of a nomadic type," she says en route to the band's Ash Wednesday celebration of their third consecutive band of the year win. "I like my freedom.I love Carnival but I like to walk freely in the street, look at what I want, chip with whom I want and move on." She'd never donned an individual costume, let alone assume the massive constraint and responsibility of portraying a queen. Yet she immediately agreed to the challenge after a unanimous decision that she should be the one. Someone on the team knew of her on-stage experience. Since age five she trained in dance, moving from the tuition of the legendary Beryl Mc Burnie to the Caribbean School of Dance. Richard Young's theatrical take on modelling enthralled her for several years. In 1984 she won the Miss Port of Spain title. When she was a girl she dreamed of becoming an actress and guesses, wrongly, that everyone else does. Ultimately the drama and challenge of becoming Manzandaba trumped her inner nomad. "Your dreams don't ever die," she said. "For me it was about being on-stage. I knew it was going to be something theatrical. I don't know if anybody else could have gotten me to be their queen." Like other queens she intensified her workouts in order to drum up the physical strength that carrying the weight of a towering headpiece, golden wings in the posture of full flight and a wide, wonderful skirt of tapestry would require. Romney's 5'11" frame is deceptively petite. An active life (she works as a sub contractor and joins her employees in painting buildings and climbing everything from 30' scaffolds to trees) and more intense workouts prepared her 150 lb frame to carry the weight of a wheel-less costume across the Savannah stage. But unlike other queens, she had an intimate knowledge of the piece she would portray by merit of having worked on it. "I was working on the queen and king. Of course it's hard work. Many times we overnighted at the camp, stopping work at five in the morning. Sometimes you do something and it has to be undone because Brian is not quite pleased with it or sees something else. As it goes on you get a clearer vision. The mechanisms might not be balanced. They might look that way on paper but when you're doing it you have to add more or take away," she explains. A team of six others worked on the evolving designs and she credits them with realising the final product. And that wasn't the sum of her contribution. Romney was also responsible for much of the metal work that went into the masqueraders' head pieces, skirts and chains. These she toiled on at home. She honed the skills of working with brass, aluminum and silver while operating a jewelry business many years ago. Because of her training in dance perfecting Manzandaba's movements wasn't difficult. The big stage experience was exhilarating. After the preliminary round they agreed that she would start slowly but then build speed, which she preferred. "When you do slower movements it's actually more taxing," she reveals. "I felt like I wanted to speed up and break away. And when I did that I didn't feel the weight as much." By Carnival Tuesday she was exhausted and a little sick but wouldn't let on. The wheels added for her on-the-road portrayal introduced an element of constraint. The heat and bustle of enthusiastic photographers and audiences made her feel a little claustrophobic. But the labour of love was almost over and Romney didn't complain or disappoint. Would she do it all again? "If Mr MacFarlane asks me I would. I don't know about any other band but once I'm in good health and strength, I'd most likely say yes," she says. EXPRESS

Soca Queen' Fay-Ann gives birth

IT'S A GIRL!

Aabida Allaham Sunday, March 1st 2009

FLASHBACK: "Soca Queen" Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez, during her winning performance at the Soca Monarch Finals on Carnival Friday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. Fay-Ann became the proud mother of a bouncing baby girl yesterday. -Photo: MICHEAL BRUCE IT'S a girl! Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez has delivered again-this time a bouncing baby girl. Minutes after noon yesterday, the four-crown 2009 "Soca Queen"-Soca Monarch, Groovy Monarch, People's Choice and Road March-successfully gave birth to her firstborn at the Mount Hope Maternity Hospital via caesarean section. Husband and three-time International Power Soca Monarch Ian "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez missed the greatest show of his wife's life, only managing to arrive at her bedside later in the evening from Tobago where he had gone to fulfill contractual obligations. In the days leading up to the birth, both parents had said they did not know the gender of the baby. But there was some indication when, during Lyons-Alvarez's winning performances at the Soca Monarch finals last weekend, she placed the microphone to her belly, and a digitally-created voice of a baby was heard chanting that (she, the baby) and her mommy were putting a lyrical beating on Bunji. Lyons-Alvarez was admitted to the hospital on Friday, suffering from pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia usually results in the swelling of the feet, hands and the face. Ten per cent of women experiencing their first pregnancy may develop this condition, and studies have indicated that this is often very dangerous for mother and child, but especially so for the mother. Fay-Ann's manager, Ian Pantin, told the Sunday Express yesterday that both mother and child were doing just fine. Security was tight at the hospital, with guards assigned at all entrance-ways to the ward, as well as to the door to Lyons-Alvarez's private room. Only family were allowed entry. Lyons-Alvarez performed throughout the Carnival season, stopping only last weekend after winning the Groovy and Power Soca Monarch titles and the bmobile People's Choice, and then picking up the Road March title over the two days of Carnival. Daughter of the legendary soca icon Austin "SuperBlue", Lyons-Alvarez won the Road March title singing "Meet SuperBlue", a tribute to her father and unborn child. EXPRESS

'The next Minshall'

NAZMA MULLER Sunday, March 1st 2009

don't let the mas die: Brian McFarlane Q: How do you feel about being called an imitation Minshall? Just this morning, Rachel Price was on the radio talking about you. She said, "Ah not ponging Mac Farlane, eh, but we've seen all this before " and she talked about Minshall's "Tiger Tiger Burning Bright" and A: Well, you can't escape that. I didn't think the lion looked anything like "Tiger Tiger". However, everybody has their own view on a topic. Yes, we may have had Africa in 1967 from George Bailey. But a lot of people haven't seen it. I was only three or four years old myself. The time was right for it again, what with Obama becoming the first black president. And it was right for me because while all the other bands were suffering with low sales, we had no problems. This was our biggest year ever. So you made some money then? Making money off of this band is extremely difficult, and I haven't really made money. A lot of people think, "How could that be true, and you continue doing it?" My brother and I argue about this all the time-he's the financial person in the ongoing business of MacFarlane Designs. In 2007, we lost a lot of money with India-it cost more than $4 million to produce that band. This year's band took about $2.8 million to produce. The market that wants to play full-costume theatrical mas is a very limited one-maybe 1,000 to 1,400 people.... Last year was the first year we kind of broke even with Earth. I'm hoping we make a little money this year. Maybe, as a people, we're dying for some theatre in our lives I think we are. There're so many people who are playing with the other bands who come through here prior to Carnival, and they will say, I not playing in this, you know. I like my skimpy costume. But I have to come and see what you doing. I'll never forget last year when we came out from behind Piccadilly, I think it was either Tribe or Island People, and we had to wait for them to pass. And as they were passing, they kept stopping and congregating in front of us, and out of their bikini bottoms or wherever they were pulling out their cameras and taking pictures of us, and their security had to keep pushing them to get them to go. Just to go back to Rachel Price, who is my good friend: You say you've seen the mas with Minshall. You've seen theatre with Minshall . I don't think anybody could have looked at the band and said they saw Minshall's costumes. The band was not repetitious of Minshall at all. And they were very true to form and authentic of Africa. [He relates the story of meeting a contingent from the South Africa 2010 World Cup committee, who were here to do research on making mas for the opening ceremony. They had heard about his band and came to the mas camp ] One of the men wouldn't let go of my hand. He kept saying, "You have honoured Africa so much." I met some African women on the road, and they had tears in their eyes. They said, "You have done Africa so proud. Everything is so authentic, so correct." I think the criticism of you as a Minshall rip-off may be just ignorance, in a sense, because what Minshall was doing was theatre, and now you're doing theatre, and people just put the both of you in a category. If he was still bringing out mas, they wouldn't call you a Minshall wannabe; they would be seeing the both of you side by side, and that would just be fantastic. Correct. And I often say it would be wonderful if one year Minshall and I did do something together. I think it would be incredible for the art and culture of Trinidad and Tobago, and I think the people would respect it so much. Has Minshall ever said anything to you about carrying on the theatre tradition, doing his kind of mas? No. actually, no. However, I continue to always give him the greatest honour and respect. He has put so much into the mas, and injected so much into the culture. I haven't heard from him for quite a while, actually. But Wayne Berkeley came to visit my camp just before Carnival and congratulated me. And then I met him backstage at the Kings and Queens (competition), and he complimented me on the king and queen. And I felt very humbled and honoured by that. But really, there's no competition in your category Well, it starts to look like there's no competition at this rate. I was told last night by a very good friend to stop knocking the beads and the bikinis. I'm not against people having a fun time-that's wonderful. Sometimes, in school you have somebody to make jokes off their head. I find that while we're doing that, we're having fun at our own expense. Because our culture is dying. [He describes Barbados' different festivals, and suggests we should follow their example of separating "bikini mas" from their traditional carnival.] So it's not that I'm against the people with the beads-and-bikini mas-I have a lot of friends who play in beads and bikinis. But I just feel, maybe, it should be at another time. Or, maybe, there should be more incentives put in by the Government for the people who really project the mas, so there will be more incentives for those who want to put out more. Maybe more money, a couple million dollars as the first prize What's your background in design and art? Nil. I went to St Anthony's College. I left in Form 3, just totally frustrated. I was quite sickly as a child. I suffered with serious allergy attacks which would keep me at least a week, a month away from school, with extremely high fever. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me, and my parents took me away. I never had any formal training. When I came out of school-I left at the age of 15-I immediately applied through some friends to Miami Dade College to do design. I sent a few pieces of art that I had done. I was accepted, but unfortunately, my parents couldn't afford to send me. So that was out. I just tried on my own. I got involved working voluntarily with Raoul Garib's mas camp, and after two weeks, the designer, Chris Santos, who is a good friend of mine, said, "You know, you have such a great talent for colours and fabric and a good eye for design," and they put me to work with the kings and queens and bigger costumes. I met someone at the mas camp who used to do wedding cakes. I used to lime by them after hours, and after three months-he never showed me how to ice a cake, but I picked it up and I did my sister's wedding cake which was fabulous. And then I started a whole career doing wedding cakes and that also took off in a great way. I hosted an exhibition in 1993, in West Mall, of wedding cakes. Everybody was overwhelmed by the whole setting, and the management asked me to put in a proposal for Christmas the following year, and since then, I've never stopped. Every year I've been doing malls. Not only in Trinidad but in Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Lucia. I just went from one thing to the other, so it was all self-taught, from books But I keep saying it is a God-given talent, and I'm aware of that. There's no doubt about it. What's happened to your past kings and queens? They've all been dismantled. There's nowhere to store them. It is a tragedy. By now, Trinidad and Tobago should be hosting a huge warehouse/museum-type thing that holds these things. Well, there are a lot of things that are sad about our culture. I am longing to have a meeting with Mr Chin Lee and the minister of Culture-she seemed very enthused by a lot of my ideas when we met before Carnival. And we need to come off the street. Actually, you will be the first person to hear this, but I have no intention of going back around the Savannah like we did this year. I've done it, I've made the hat-trick, I'm not doing it again because I think it is deplorable. I think it is an insult to the art and culture. When I came off the stage, I was so angry, so irate. All the media from all over the world and the local media were all around me, and I just let loose about how ridiculous this facility is, and what an insult it is-not only to me but to everybody. The man in the street can't see properly, only a select few get the seats to see it. All this media and they had nowhere to go. We're told we're not allowed to go back in the Savannah. But I'm saying now, we want the Savannah back. The Savannah was given to the people by the Pasche family. It was not given to the Government-it was given to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. And this is our art form, and we want to go back in the Savannah . And if they don't give us it back, I will find somewhere else to project my mas. What are you coming up with to wow Obama? We're doing the cultural opening and closing ceremony at the Summit of the Americas. The cultural part speaks of us as a people and a nation, and it all speaks of the Caribbean as a unit. So I'm hoping to involve artistes from the Caribbean as well, once the budget permits. You've had an inspiration for next year's band? Oh yes, yes, yes. I'm not going to tell you [he laughs] but it's coming back home. It's going to be local. I always try to do a very unique and different launch. This year, our launch was at 5.30 in the morning in Chaguaramas, and people came out. We had 120-something media from all over the world-it was excellent, fabulous. I'm thinking of doing it next year in Tobago. Not as early as 5.30 .[he smiles] We did it on San Fernando Hill last year for global warming because I wanted to bring recognition to what had happened to that hill since the 1800s when it was being destroyed. And taking it to South, I think it's only fitting that I should take it to Tobago. You are so different in the sense that you take on this culture, and you pushing it and you fighting for it... [He laughs] That's funny. It's a bit unusual in that sense. Same thing with Minshall. Which is why I think people also compare you. Coming back to the Minshall thing people compare, and you asked me if it bothers me to be dubbed another Minshall. There are two ways to look at that. It's a great honour to be called another Minshall. But at the same time, it's always nice to know that you are your own person. And people are beginning to recognise me for who I am. Yes, you may say I'm another Minshall because there's nobody else doing what Minshall did. And who else do you compare me with? You can't compare me with Tribe or Island People and Harts. So who else you compare me with? I'm not saying I'm the only person doing the theatre. Frank Reid is still doing the Red Indians and Jab Molassies. I remember seeing five Indians coming off the stage and I went and shook their hands. I told them, "Don't ever let it die." We need that to continue. That is what Carnival is. express