When yuh tink Christmas, yuh tink food... and we could never get enough pastel, so when we heard that Danclair and Friends were having this party we were real looking forward to it. It was about a year ago that they had their first party (Danclair & Friends Trini Christmas Party). Since then we have been to the Easter Bunny someting and then they had the Trini Luau All Inclusive
on Notting Hill 2007 weekend. The turnout for each event has always been encouraging, however we don't think that they quite fulfill their whole potential in terms of numbers; but we are hoping for nice crowd tonight to keep our cameras busy!

Lots was going on this night, so we got an early start, well by our standards anyway. The advertised time was from 6pm, but as we said before, we know that no self-respecting Trini going to make it there by then, so we strolled in sometime between 8 and 9, and of course we were still among the first batch to come in. There was a lovely reception at the door with sorrel on arrival. The bar itself – The Wall, wasn't that big, but modern and had a trendy feel with a balcony on the top floor overlooking the downstairs area. There was also has an outdoor decked area where we tink people woulda be going to smoke (we love this smoking ban - sorry peeps) and there was a steelpan resting there, presumably to be brought out at some point later in the night. Yuh know how Danclair and them is drop it.... normally at the end they had some live music, tassa or some rhythm section or someting.

As soon as we got in, we were welcomed with some accra with a tamarind sauce... mmmm, followed swiftly by polourie and chutney. Wow, one ting is that the sauces are always sooo tasty... yum! So we mingled a bit and checked out the place, and luckily they ress down the whole platter of Accra next to me. Well lots more food was passing of course - all kinda garlic pork, chicken skewers, mini roti and souse!!! Waaay, it was non-stop. Then they brought out the pastels... man if yuh see people scamper to get to the table. Gooood, everyting was good!! The only thing missing was a bit more people. Well it was still kinda early, maybe about 11-ish but it never seemed to pick up too much. The crowd was described by some as more mature. Well it wasn't like the typical young jammin' fete, and people came out who we don't normally see at the other parties. Other people even said they came here for a change from the norm, or to see what Danclair and Friends really have to offer.

Things were kicking off a bit, there was a group there having a time ball, dancing the most out of everyone there... especially when the 'back in times' session started. And this 'back in times' was not Dub or Soca.... we talking bout, Madonna et al from the 80's and other pop that you woulda here back in the days at Genesis etc. DJs Big Tunes and the Gladiators really seem to hit the right selections for the crowd, of course throwing in some old Kaiso and Christmas tunes too.

Sadly TJJ had to leave early to attend other events that night... as we said, a jam packed night! So we didn't stay to the end. Although the target crowd was not directly in competition with the other events on that night, we're sure other the turnout would have been better if Danclair and Friends chose another day. Anyhow, we'll see if there are any improvements in 2008.

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Related Galleries
Trini Luau All Inclusive (2007)
Danclair & Friends Easter Bunny Party (2007)
Danclair & Friends Trini Christmas Party (2006)