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The City of St. Petersburg came alive on Saturday June 9th and Sunday June 10th at the 15th Annual Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival, held in Tampa Florida. Much respect goes out to George Carrington and the Tampa Bay Carnival Committee for their hospitality. They not only handled the Jungle Juice crew well, but it seems as if the entertainers and fans alike were all on "Joy-Juice" as every performance was well received by the Tampa crowd. Whether it was the sweet songs of the "Spirit of Steel-Pan Groove" pan side on one end of Vinoy Park or the Soca chunes being played by DJ Stephen from ATL on the other end, patrons of the event had one ting in common....... everybody came "wit ah rubber waist."

Though the street parade lasted only a couple of hours on Sunday and the bands were small, band members were looking forward to the festivities culminating at the park.... and they would not be disappointed. The Jamaican crew represented in full strength, posting their posse right in from of the stage...... getting on rel bad..... and the two Jamaican darlings in their twin outfit, were a hit...... turning eyes every which way. Even the Tassa group had people jamming.

Code 868 started the blaze as Leon Coldero and Eddie Charles had the crowd pumping and looking for more. Uncle Sam surprised the massive crowd, showing them that this whiteboy could wine like ah true Trini..... but after he took the microphone from Leon and gave a rendition of "Frenzy", Uncle Sam became an instant hit with the crowd. Even the coconut vendor put down de blade for a few minutes to take ah wine.

The colorful Carnival atmosphere was represented and George and his crew did a fantastic job in the organization of the event. The park was surrounded with hundreds of vendors selling from snow cones to key chains to jerk chicken to towels to hats to handbags. As Machel said a few years ago in his song "Vendors", "How do you know the party sweet, vendors outside the street." Well these vendors were inside de dance, and made the entire Carnival atmosphere come to life.

As the night progressed, the crowd patiently anticipated the headline act. But if you feel that a Fireman suppose to out ah fire, well not always..... this particular Fireman and his 'firefighters' added more wood to it. Bunji Garlin and the Asylum band heated up Vinoy Park, performing for just about two hours in-front a Carnival thirsty audience. Bunji demonstrated his prowess in the industry as he gave rendition after rendition. And when the crowd thought he was through.... Fay Ann Lyons picked up the slack and kept the crowd rolling and begging for more. But all good things come to an end.

A big up goes out to vendors Ross and Georgia, and to the ex QRC posse Kerry, Andre and the Ras...... and to "Golden Child" from Orlando who was present as well.... nuff respect. MC for the night, Tony Bourne from 104.7 and WIRA 1400 am, did a good job keeping the crowd on their feet. And for those of you who want to keep it pumping, look me up in DC Carnival where Trini Jungle Juice will keep the juice flowing.

-- JoyJuice