Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago - Let's just say someone dropped the ball on this one.  It would be all too easy to point fingers at Pan Trinbago, the events organizers, on this one. They indeed would be a natural choice for the whipping boy. Let's face it - the honoring of Clive Bradley at this year's event was poor.  Okay - they failed miserably.  Trinidad failed on this one.  Obviously an opportunity to show the world how it honors its own - was missed.  And indeed a society is judged on how it honors and remembers its heroes. But let's give Pan Trinbago credit for successfully putting on this mammoth event every year.  This is no small feat.

Was I expecting to see something along the lines of the opening of the Olympic games in Italy Yes!  And why not? This is Trinidad and Tobago - the home and birthplace of the steelpan.  Yes. I naively expected the panorama to open with splendid fireworks.  And thousands of panmen and women crossing the big stage at the Savannah representing every steelband in Trinbago and the world, in honor of Master arranger Clive Bradley (CB).  Obviously CB commands that kind of respect in the international community.  So was an invitation extended?

The Trinidad media messed up royally for not alerting the international community of the importance of such an occasion.

Clive Bradley's place in the annals of music history is safe.  From the New York Times to the Korean Times have already documented this man's importance and contribution to humanity, and his uplifting of the human sprit through his work.  No mater what language you speak, there are two universal words among steelpan music players and fans that everyone understands globally "Clive Bradley".

Here is the good thing:  there is another panorama next year - so all the parties involved can try again next year to get it right.