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Well we reach Saturday now and for some of the crew, sleep is faint memory in a cloudy brain. De real action start since Thursday at TRIBE Ignite and Girl Power, and for some who touchdown in FLL or MIA on Friday they were making up for lost time. It was reported that one TJJ crew member who serves double duty as a C.I.Dee Sound DJ, showed up for system setup and sound check at 11am Saturday morning having gone straight from the airport to a lime, to Scruples Block-O, to Int'l Flag Night Block Party. Madness is gladness oui!

The guys at SocaWeb.com & sixAxis Ent have been doing their thing the 1st Saturday of each month since April ("The Easter Episode") and doing it nicely too we might add, so we looked forward to what they had in store since Carnival weekend fell on the first Saturday of October... like lady luck shined upon them! Things were looking okay weather wise throughout the day, though almost every fete had been rained on without much setback. In terms of them being able to draw a crowd, now that was another story because Mr. HD himself scheduled his Alternative Concept Miami concert at the same time and there was the Annual Soca Fest Convention Center party happening.

We reach Sosta Lounge bout 1am, as per our usual, but this time is cause we coming from which ever Day Fete and the TJJ crew is large and bout 12 deep on the guest list for FRIENDS. The joke on the night was, "How many TJJ reps it takes to cover an event?" .... fuss we were full force! The first thing we notice upon arriving at the venue is that they have erected a wall of fabric outside the lounge, effectively shielding off the sidewalk area from the street and the general public. So an outdoor 'chill zone' was created to accommodate the extra massive for the Carnival weekend. Also, we saw that the promoters created a queue out of barricades so that everyone would have to line up nice, nice and behave demselves to get inside. So far so good.

On the inside now (which was still outside), we see an extra bar, tables, chairs and even some couches.... yuh could rell like yuhself outside in this 'chill zone'. Also, music was being pumped from the inside via a well placed speaker and Walshy Killa aka Walshy Fire was on the 1s and 2s nice-ing up the dance in the early session. Around this time we also noticed that a crowd was forming in the queue as folks arrived from DV8, Miami Fly Girls' TAO and University Fete, as well as trays of food being brought in through the back, so we eased ourselves over to be first in line for the Chinese style fried rice and chicken (photo) when the foil finally come off! Later in the night, both corn soup (photo) - which get buss up before we could get ah taste - and doubles (photos) were served.

So belly full.... yes, we were still hungry even though we came from All Inclusive fetes! Drinks have been drunk, and the TJJ crew has dispersed to mingle and socialize... and take photos of course. Both outside and inside have considerably more folks now, the line is steady at the door, and the price gone up of course. Sorry for those who did not buy pre-sold tkts online or get on a guestlist of some sort. Resident FRIENDS deejays Major Links and CIDee Sound have taken over for Walshy Killa and through the gate comes de Soca Prince himself, Dr. Jay who landed that afternoon direct from Toronto. After reuniting with the cell phone and whipping out the laptop, Dr. Jay then takes the dance to another level. Not long into his set he throws on a new track for the 2008 Carnival season, "Desire" by Skhi which the folks seemed to take an instant liking too. Then with a quick wheeeel of the track, it comes back on again, but this time non other that SKHI himself emerges from the V.I.P area - mic in hand - to hit us with a live rendition of his song. Even with ah lil' bit of mic feedback, he still sound real good live! As Skhi was finishing up, coming through the crowd were Mr. Slaughter, Hollywood Sachy and the other members of X-Caliber Disco.

Slaughter was ready to get rollin' one time! Since FRIENDS is more of an intimate setting, Mr. Slaughter proceeded to rip the mic and mash up the dance right smack in the middle of the dance floor. All ah tell ya, all dem ladies - including the TJJ girls - took advantage of the situation to well wine & jump up on Slaughter during his performance! Dawg E had to run for cover at times, yes! Slaughter gave the crowd ah quick Hitalotathon®, including his new release for 2008 "Admire You", but the highlight for the night was listening the the entire crowd inside Sosta Lounge sing word for word to "Spread The Love" as they jumped and waved like it was Carnival Tuesday on de Savannah stage! No matter how many times we hear.... "duuum dummm da dum... give dem a lil' something to make dem dance....", our pores raise everytime!! Ah tell ya, soca definitely in we veins and we blood!! After Slaughter finished his performance, both him and Sachy got on the DJ set to show yet another side of their talent.... man, X-Caliber Disco had the dance on fyahhhh!!

By this time, inside and outside full and doors lock off. Partygoers were having such ah good time, that promoters had to extended to party past 4:30AM to 5AM. Yeah man, dance was nice! FRIENDS for Miami Carnival is a mus! Like a few folks mentioned, it had that same vibe as a classic TJJ backyard BBQ bashment many of you may have attended in Atlanta back in de day. See you all in 2008!

ps. It's 6am... would the promoters please take poor Dr. Jay (see photo) to the airport, de man have Soca Therapy on Sundays in the T-DOT!

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Related Galleries
Back In Times (Sept 2007)
FRIENDS ... "The Ladies Nite Out Episode" (Aug 2007)
FRIENDS ... "The Crazy, Sexy, Cool Episode" (Jul 2007)
FRIENDS ... "June Summer Jump Off Episode" (Jun 2007)
FRIENDS ... "The Soca de Mayo Episode" (May 2007)
FRIENDS ... "The Easter Episode" (Apr 2007)