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STRANDED!  NYC Bands Marooned

2009 Harbor View Festival Steelbands Reign

   

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Delicious bake, saltfish & string beans -
dish of the day...

 

 


Members of Utopia Pan Soul waiting to be transported to festival

Brooklyn, New York - The bake and salt fish (another great Caribbean dish) was simply awesome.  Just writing about it - is making me yearn for some more right now.  The weather and ambience were spectacular.  Location - central Brooklyn, New York outside Utopia Pan Soul - The Next Generation’s panyard.  And therein lies the problem.  The geographical locator for this story was suppose to say ‘Baltimore, Maryland.’

This year When Steel Talks bummed a ride with part of the New York contingent of steel bands participating in Baltimore’s annual Harbor View Festival.  As in the past the event featured groups from the Northeast region of the USA - D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.  The groups were competing for the Carlos Lezama Challenge Trophy and the Pan Trinbago People’s Choice Award.

Scheduled to perform at this year’s event were DC’s Steel Sensation, NYC’s Crossfire, NJ’s Oasis Youth, NYC’s Tropical Vibes, VA’s Rhythm Project, NYC’s Women in Steel, DC Pan Jammers, NYC’s Higher Levin, MD’s St. Veronica’s Youth, NYC’s Utopia Pan Soul, DC’s Pan Masters and NYC’s Natural Expression.


Utopia Pan Soul contingent awaiting buses -
instruments are in background, stacked and ready to go

This was indeed an ironically shocking twist - LOL - for When Steel Talks (WST), considering it was only a year ago  WST accused the NY bands of having serious issues in time management as it relates to this very same event.  Well, we can report that all the New York bands were on time and ready to go.  By 9:00 a.m. the New York orchestras were all packed and dropped a communication network among each other that would have had NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) blushing.  The operative question then became - where are the buses??!!

Unfortunately, for reasons that are unclear to WST up to press time, the buses - which were contracted by the show’s promoters - never showed up.  The communiqués went from “the buses are on their way” - to “the buses are lost - to “there are no buses available.”  It was now about 12:30 p.m. eastern standard time.  Speaking with Women In Steel’s manager Claudette Baptiste, WST understands that festival organizer Carl Merez expressed immense shock and disbelief when told after 1:00 p.m. the NY bands were not on their way down to Baltimore, and that the buses were a no-show.


Utopia Pan Soul’s musicians discuss the dilemma
while awaiting transportation to the Baltimore pan festival

Regardless, WST and the members of Utopia Pan Soul had a great time.  One has to love the panman’s ability to deal with adversity and convert it into a positive.

Indeed New York city is well known for its roadside cafés; and on this beautiful Summer morning outside Utopia’s yard, another great one - although impromptu and temporary - was born, as the Utopia musicians, family, friends and children enjoyed the day while awaiting the buses which would eventually never come.

And we are not even addressing the immense musical preparation and hours of practice, and financial outlay for the bands involved, who were prepared to depart NYC for the Baltimore festival.  By all accounts however, the 2009 Harbor View Festival itself went down very well.  But if you are going to get marooned in New York City - make sure it is with Utopia Pan Soul.

Again - great bake and saltfish - wonderful breakfast...


Press coverage on past Harbor View Festivals
 

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