“I more wanted to gain the players’ trust because every year, no matter where you go, you hear “Oh, my band don’t care ‘bout me; they don’t respect you”....I more wanted to show appreciation this year....I was more for the players; the players and the supporters. We could say the players too, but without the supporters...
“When we had the meeting with the community we came up with an agreement that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - no drums, no rhythm.” “....They didn’t care. There was one lady in the meeting [who] said she don’t want us there; they don’t want us [Despers USA] there; they don’t care.” -- Kernel Simon aka Kern Simon
Watch InterviewAce veteran panist Kernel Simon shares the trials and tribulations he experienced as captain of top-ranking Despers USA Steel Orchestra in New York City in 2024. Following an extremely trying season, Simon takes us through the difficulty of steering the steel orchestra in its panyard in yet another transient location, after more than thirty-five years in a place in Brooklyn (Despers Pan Loft) once called ‘home.’
With special encouragement and assistance from the likes of fellow band captains Candice Andrews-Brumant and Desiree Myers, of Trinidad and Tobago legacy bands Renegades Steel Orchestra and Invaders Steel Orchestra, respectively, and Pan Evolution’s Wayne Bernard - Kernel Simon—manager and administrator in his own right—met the challenge of leading a Panorama-bound organization.
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