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After getting on de last "stand by" seat with US Airways to Charlotte then comfortably onto St. Maarten (or Saint Martin… depending on which side of the island you from or visiting), the Friday night Crop Over'06 movement was shut down. Well sitting on the beach with a Mango Colada (with umbrella of course) watching the sun set in beautiful St. Maarten, how can one complain??!! Life real nice.

It's Sat Aug 5th and Caribbean Star airlines give meh nuff wood with what seemed like a working website, but still under construction… so it was last minute highway robbery price in meh ras with Liat airlines. Say wha, BIM here TJJ come!! Another set of delays island hopping thru the islands, but I safely touch down around 9 PM in B'dos. Carla thanks for the pick up and for sorting out my stories… now I need to link de rest of the TJJ crew for the big 10-to-10 also known as Insomnia promoted by Berger Boyz, FAS Entertainment, Island Style and ISLANDpeople.

After contemplating taking a five before de fete, Mighty Crown's (big big reggae sound system outta Japan if you didn't know) voice came in my head saying, "Dat na mek it!!" (in a strong Japanese Jamaican accent) So, wap wap, de BIM Jungle Juice with rest of TJJ crew link me and we reach Carlisle Carpark, Bridgetown about midnight. Straight to VIP, organize we stories and we on de inside. VIP was pretty much empty at this time, with the folks liming around the outskirts and under the VIP Tent section (located off to the side on a platform). General admission was pretty much crowded, and getting more ram by the minute. When de Bajan massive come out to wuk up, they come out to wuk up!

The 12-hour fete with 25 of the biggest Crop Over stars for 2006, including five big bands and over ten of the island's top DJs billed to perform meant no sleep and non-stop Soca music!! The cast included Electrik, Jabae, Contone, Pong, Hypersounds, TC, Peter Ram, Biggie Irie, Don Trent, Major Shackie, Bo Bo, Mr Dale, Villain, Malcolm X, Styles P, and Ramases, Natahlee & Shontelle and Spin Pooch Ink. Headliners were Barbados #1 Soca band Edwin Yearwood & Krosfyah, Lil' Rick aka Hypa Dawg and TnT's very own Destra Garcia & Atlantik. Early o'clock it was all the local bands and artists performing, and although we couldn't tell who from who, we can say that the crowd was pretty much complacent … like everyone was either getting their drink on and vibe-zing out or waiting for the bigger name bands and artists to perform. Large up to all new comers that performed for doing their thing for de festival. At one point when we look up on stage because the ladies were making one set of noise, it's because some act have like 10 men bare back wukin' up. Big up de big belly man… the women were entertained!! Haha.

It's only around 3am VIP ram out and it looked like nuff Trinis reach in de fete too. Note, for a 10 to 10 fete, 2-3 AM is a good time to reach if you plan in staying until the end. Cricket star Brian Lara and radio personality Hypa Hoppa from Red 96.7FM were some of the faces in the session. Real socializing going on in VIP, and from what we could see, de serious jam down session going down in general admission. But this was not for long. Edwin Yearwood and Krosfyah hit de main stage and it's now de party start… finally. With Sqaure One no longer, Krosfyah is now holding things down in BIM as the #1 Soca band easily. They give a solid performance singing all their hits, old to new. "Pump Me Up", "Insane", "No Behavior", "Oil Pumping", "Sugar Cane" and "Sak Passe" to their newer releases like "Weekend", "We Ready To Go" and a crowd favorite for 2006 "Welcome To The Band."

Now unfortunately we had to make movements around 6AM, and this meant missing our homeboy, Lil' Rick and our homegirl, Destra performances. We literally were walking out the doors as Destra & band were walking in, but knew we would catch them in Brian Lara All Inclusive fete on Sunday. We did catch trio Rameses, Malcolm X, Stylez P perform their 2k6 hit "Wine Down Low" and Peter Ram had the crowd liking themselves to his big tunes for the season, "Ring Ding Ram" and "Woman By My Side."

Why we leaving 4 hours before de fete done you ask? Well, the MV Harbour Master say they leaving at 10AM and people still need to organize their stories for the Booze Cruise. No sleep for the wicked…. "Gyal, why ya do dat, why ya do dat, why ya do dat, why ya do dat … she was cockin' back on meeee, wukkin' up on meee, pooching back on meeee … she had meh throwin' waist, she had meh throwin' waist… My car brek down cheese don, Paula gone and left me, but I got she dress holding, I got she dress holding..." Contone tell dem how your "Car Brek Down."

Island Style & ISLANDpeople, thanks for the usual love. It was just what the doctor ordered to start our 2006 Crop Over season. We go see everyone on de Booze Cruise.