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We arrived at the Elite Ark in Brooklyn much later than we expected to but hey, we are trying to spread ourselves like butter to cover as much as possible for the Labor Day Weekend. So it's after 2 AM and outside the Ark iz real madness... people everywhere! And worse yet, we hear inside done ram! It wasn't too long before NY's finest locked off ticket sales, making sure no man jack could buy a ticket... they were guarding that ticket booth like it was Buckingham Palace, yes! Also, it didn't help the crowd control situation either with a Stone Love dance going on the other side of the building... we go get back to this later.

Now all Alternative Concept (AC) shows TJJ has attended outside of Trini for 2k6 have proved to be totally different to our AC 4 experience. But hey, one was outdoors in de Savannah. Plus the AC show produced by Machel himself is more of a innovative concert than ah big fete. With all of de bad weather, it was ah good thing that de fete was indoors; however, with the huge number of people in the club, the place was a total sweat box!! The TJJ fete-meter almost break, fuss it was heat in de place! Man, as you walk in the door, you start to sweat. As you take two more steps into the party, the drops of sweat start to trickle down your face. As you go further into the crowd, the drops of sweat turn from ah trickle into full drops of water dripping off your face and forming puddles of sweat where yuh standing. And as you tek a lil' wine, well lets just say the puddles start piling up until yuh standing in ah pool of yuh own sweat. De only ting missing was de chlorine for yuh pool, yes! Hehe.

So by now, you should realize that this fete was definitely one of the 'hot spots' (no pun intended) for Labor Day Saturday night. Everyone was packed in like sardines in de Ark and we were seeing friends and family that we haven't seen in ages. Machel Montano & Xtatik hit the stage just minutes to 3 AM and raise de heat... yes, we didn't think it was possible. It was ah solid one hour performance by the band, and was pretty much the exact same set we saw at Jungle Wet Fete earlier on the night EXCEPT for what we believe was the hightlight of the show... Junko 'Bashment' Kudo!! As Machel performed the "Roll It (Remix)", Junko came on stage and took the crowd down memory lane to "Cock Back & Roll" (Buttercup, we still luv ya!). Then she illustrated ah supa dupa fast "Dutty Wine", but Machel didn't let her finish dey. He had Junko buss ah new dance and then give de crowd ah bonus treat. Although we have some boss photos, this was a moment in time that had to be captured [Junko Bashment @ AC NY 2006 Video] on TJJ TV!! Again, thank us later by buying us ah rounds at de next fete!! ;-) Big, big respect to Junko... happy to see you back in action.

4 AM and Antigua's #1 Soca Band Red Hot Flames was setting up on stage to go on, then brrrraaaaappps... fight bruk out on the Stone Love dance side and NYPD shut both parties down at about 4:25 AM. Welcome to the horror stories of throwing ah fete in Brooklyn for Labor Day! Police looking for any likkle excuse they can find to shut down ah party. So, Red Hot Flames had to pack up shop before singing one note. Real non-sense, and they were definitely not happy campers at this time either! We were really looking forward to seeing their performance but we guess we'll have to catch them on de road! The only good news we can offer is dat we have their 2006 CD titled "De Real Deal" and will be posting some of their tunes soon in our 2006 Antigua Soca Releases section. So listen out for their 2006 Road March hit "Trouble"... and of course, be sure to pick up a copy of their CD today online or at your local music stote.

Large up the MCs on the night, rudeboy Dahved Levy (WBLS 107.5FM/TEMPO) and Big C. Shout out to Ricardo (Back to Basics, NYC) and DJ Stephen outta Hotlanta for holding down the musical vibes. Trini South Boyz (TSB), thanks for letting us pass thru. TJJ moving on to the next beat, SocaWeb Beach House Breakfast Party! "After the party is the after-party yo, and after the after-party is the breakfast party yo!"