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NOTTING
HILL CARNIVAL 2008 COVERAGE
Welcome to the TJJ Notting Hill 2008 Fete-lympics®
It was a feeling of dêja vu from the minute I touched down in Gatwick International Airport, except this time I had a better clue of where I was going. South terminal to over ground train, transfer at Blackfrairs, and onto Mill Hill Broadway stop to link up TJJ UK Dre. It's pretty much the same agenda as last year ... kicking things off at Next Level PoisonUK's Press Conference at the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission. Now it was a BIG miss not catching proper sleep on the flight over .... talk bout jet lag setting in! So I'm running behind time (literally), and arrived at the press conference after all the formalities were over. And worse yet, all the artists, with a big weekend ahead of them, were getting ready to head out the door. No scene ... the local TJJ UK team had things covered.
When I tell allya that I must have slept from the time meh head hit the pillow until it was time to get ready for The Carnival Concert featuring Machel Montano HD and Friends ... ah not joking! Heh, it's only Day 2 of the TJJ Notting Hill 2008 Fete-lympics® ... and we still have 3 more days to go! The concert took place at a new venue this year, The Forum, but once inside ... it felt almost the same as the Hammersmith Apollo. Both upstairs and downstairs ram out, and the HD excitement was definitely in the air.
Like last year, the Official Concert After Party at SE1 had people lined up in the street outside the club as far as the eye could see. And even though inside was ram, we never caught a vibe. Last year's After Party was definitely a lot better ... and I feel the new layout of the venue had a lot to do with it. So on my way home (around 6am or so) ... I'm thinking to myself, would this year's Notting Hill Carnival live up to my expectations? So far, it's lagging a bit...
We got through Day 3 with only one hiccup in our plan, and that was missing Next Level PoisonUK's Ultimate All Inclusive fete featuring 3canal. Sorry guys, we dey next year fuh sure!! A quick stop at Gummy's pad for some paleau with some friends of the juice (around 5-6am ... again) and it was back to homebase for some zzzzzz. We not only in Chocolate Mas tomorrow, but heard that our good frens Babash Events have a section in the band too called "Abir". As Mr. Slaughter says, "Trini Jungle Juice ... We Up In Dat!!"
Moving along ... it's Sunday night and we have two fetes to chose from.... Busspepper's Annual J'Ouvert Business 5.0 and Babash Events' Abir After Party. The solution was simply, deploy two TJJ teams. But apparently partygoers had the same plan ... with 1/2 ending up in one fete and the other 1/2 in the other (and we think some people didn't even bother to leave their yard that night)! Usually it's a good thing to have choices, but in this case, it was somewhat apparent that both promoters were competing for the same crowd.
The TJJ Blue Team were up and about early o'clock and with Lagniappe Mas Band, while the TJJ Red Team (which I was apart of) obviously didn't hear the gun ... getting off the starting blocks late! I've said it before and I'll say it again folks, "CARNIVAL NEVER WAITS ON ANYONE!!!" Who stick, lose!
So we started in PoisonUK and made our way through the parade in seach for Lagniappe. If you see bands we had to pass .... wowie ... by the time we finally found out where Lagniappe was, their truck was already locked off and parked up, and their masqueraders were in search for other mas bands still jumpin' up. Ah didn't believe it (or just refused too)!!! And in two two's, the TJJ Notting Hill 2008 Fete-lympics® was a wrap! No Las Lap jump up ... no Las Lap fete!! Just some tasty Caribbean food with some friends (that curry goat .... wow) and it was homebound. Stick ah folk in it folks ... Notting Hill Carnival 2008 is DONE!
Chooks signing out from London |
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After
having ah ball last year 
Next
stop, 
At
the end of the concert ... we got mixed reviews from folks. Although
everyone enjoyed the concert for the most, some felt that HD's performance
was way too short, with too much crammed into a little space of time.
Other folks felt that Machel performed too much of his new songs, saying
that the UK crowd is not as up to date and ready for all the new stuff.
But for me, no matter how many times I see Machel perform, it's absolutely
amazing to see the energy he brings everytime he hits a stage - and the
crowd's reaction is always insane!
Carnival
Saturday is the 'hump day" of the Fete-lympics®. With
Danclair and Friends throwing their 
It's
Day 5 .... the grand finale of the TJJ Notting Hill 2008 Fete-lympics®.
We on the road again, but this time it's for 'pretty mas'. Although
it's still a far cry (like any Carnival outside of TnT) from a Carnival
Tuesday display of costumes ... it wasn't the dutty 
By
the time we got to the parade, luckily for us, we ran right into Next
Level PoisonUK. Well actually we bounced up
the "Soca Police Force" first ... where one of our TJJ crew
members was accosted and searched!! Real jokes!! See 