Bake & Shark, Bake & Shark, BAKE AND SHARK!

Well folks, I finally got a trip to Maracas in this afternoon. All the hype you may have noticed Bake and Shark getting? IT'S ALL TRUE! Hats off to Richard's Bake and Shark, for what is perhaps one of the best things I've had this trip! For those of you who don't know what Bake and Shark is, picture this: a piece of fried bake is cut open to make a sandwich, in which two pieces of lightly fried or breaded shark meat is put inside. Then you go and pile on toppings like pepper sauce, mango, pineapple, and all sorts of sauces. Delicious! Maracas is also a beautiful place, with an incredibly beautiful drive to get there.

I mentioned the other day that I had been invited to play with Woodbrook Playboyz and I was not sure if I would play with them or not. Well their arranger, Karon Valentine (spelling?) asked that I at least play for the preliminaries this weekend. Even though I am still worried about having time to do my research and to get around and experience the country, I have to be honest and say I really want to play with them. Not only do I really like the single pan category, but this band has a lot of really nice things going for it. Their yard always has people liming, playing cards, watching football (or soccer for us Yankees), etc. Everyone there seems really nice and welcoming, and there seems to be no issues between people. Then musically... WOW. Mr. Valentine is incredible to watch as an arranger. He has all of the music in his head, so when he's going over new parts, he's creating them in his head. The man will be counting the band off to play, looking off into space, when all of a sudden the counting turns to a bunch of phrases. Then he'll grab whatever pan he's thinking of, doesn't get behind it, but plays the part from the front of the pan. The arrangement he has created is a really good one as well! The players in the band are gifted to suit. Passages that I have to focus on to play in time, some of the other leads are playing with doubled octaves, and are already ‘gallerying’ in all sorts of ways. I'm not sure if I'll play past this weekend, but to be honest I would really like to. (I also really want to do the research and experience things that playing with them might inhibit...)

Today I am going to sit in on a steelband history and development course at UWI, in which the class will be on Skype with Ellie Mannette. I've never met Ellie, and I have been meaning to meet the instructor for a while, so this should be good. Tomorrow I plan on seeing the National Steel Symphony rehearse, and on Friday I plan on spending the day up on the North Coast, followed hopefully by panyard visits. Saturday is the single pan prelims, and the Sunday I will be making a trip to Tobago! I'll have lots to update you all on, but with the added work to do, it may be every few days or so.

Thank you all for following!

Life for Pan,

PS. It was brought to my attention that I spelled Trinidad's cricket record holder, Brian Lara's name incorrectly. It is Lara, not Laura, as I apparently wrote it.