TNN 74

Hello folks… back again… an’… (Deep voice)… Dis is TNN……  Heaven knowssssss …..All ah want is Rose…oh Lawd…Oh Lawd! Oh Lawd!….(background music)….

Jumpstation: Party time; Down under; Water, water everywhere......; Musical notes.

Boy, more party dan Carnival dong on dis side.   Yuh know we have de ole PNM, UNC, NAR (in serious danger of extinction) in de brew..  but as we round de corner we seein’ some other horses comin’ on strong an’  intendin’ to kick some dus’ apparently! 

It have one called LOVE…. de Laventille Organization For Vertical Upliftment.  So if you an’ yuh wife join de party, yuh could say “We in LOVE”.. He! He! He!  I tell you ….!  Now de party already have Laventille in dey name, so how it could be ah national party?!  But ah hear dat dey only intend to contest 3 seats.  Well brudder, is bes’ dey go to de store an’ buy dem seats. Because dey eh comin’ in dis elections! 

Den anodder one launch called ERA (Environmental Reform Act).  How ah party go be ah ACT?  Is ah play or what?   But de 30 year old youngster come out in he threads (3/4 denim pants and T-shirt.. obviously a man of de people!) on de Brian Lara Promenade to launch he party (into outer space… because nobody on Earth voting for he..!).   He symbol is ah marijuana leaf (he want it legalized.. de Elections and Boundaries Commission reject him!), he say he stowaway in Canada an’ get deported when he was younger an’ is ah farmer who does buy an’ sell  in de market.  Quite a resume, eh?!    So far two members, he an’ he common law wife (he chile too young to vote!). Part of he strategy is to get farmers to plant Shadon Beni on a large scale an’ to get various prices for it…  Now I eh sure how much seasoning alyuh does cook with, but ah kinda suspicious of  dem “long term plans”.  He hopin’ to get farmers and gardeners to dig up some votes for him.  Ah suppose he hopin’ he ideas fall in “good soil”…!

Yeah, yuh know what tuh expeck.. commentary in ah rage from de Cobra because de WI Cricket Team in Australia now… dey say dey get rid of some bad attitude fellas, had ah training camp an’ dey ready to dance any tune wit’ de Aussies.. including Waltzing Matilda.. but in ah Calypso rhythm…! So we go see.. 

Ah see Laro score 2 consecutive centuries so far in 3 matches… an’ we win one One-Day match, but de real task comin’ next week, when we face de best team in de worl’ …de Australian National Team… I  eh frighten yuh know… ah feel we go give ah good report of weself.  

Ah mus’ admit ah was ah little worried when ah see one of we young bowlers take a ball to he jaw an’ is because de man jaw break, yes! Pressah!  Why one of we bowlers, who suppose to be practisin’ against fast bowlers in de WI side doh know how to get out of de way of a bouncer?! Worryin’ sign indeed.  

But we seem to have ah strong team (well, de strongest we could have) on dis tour, so we go see.   As usual I is de cut man in dey corner, ah willin’ to give advise an’ support dem dong to de end… but if yuh see dey start to play de fool,  go t’row in de towel, leh meh make dat clear!   If we come to fight, we come to fight, so bats up, forward march….!

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE..... BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK!

Dat is de situation on dis side people.. rain fallin’ bucket ah drop, an’ people bawlin’ for water…. roads floodin’ at will, yuh could fish outside yuh house, dey want to declare Port of Spain ah Marine Park, but no water in de taps. 

Seems dat WASA an’ de boys up in arms against dey administration.  Schools close down, hospitals have tuh rely on truck bourne water…. what cause de scandal? 

Well, apparently dey tell de WASA workers dat dey restructuring de company, so dey put some workers on temporary status for 6 months an’ say at de end of dat time, dey go fix t’ings..  well instead of fixing t’ings is like dey mash it up!  

Look nah…dey tell some workers who workin’ dey 15 an’ more years, all de time as temporary workers, dat dey eh getting permanence an’ dey also tell de workers who dey give ah 6 months standby, dat dey eh getting’ permanence either.  

Well, like dey say, pressure does bus’ pipe! Or lock it off in dis case!  Man, all over de country de cry is “No water”!  What ah predicament!

How yuh could come now an’ jus’ decide man goin’ home or eh getting permanence?! At de same time, depriving people of water, is not only ah inconvenience but almost criminal.. we eh do alyuh nothing.  Lock off water in WhiteHall, an’ ah bet yuh de PM go take notice!   

Now we have ah health hazard, an’ wit’ all dis rain washing away road, flooding houses, yuh need water to wash out places an’ also to clean out to avoid health hazards.  

Ah see de minister of Agriculture say dat bad drainage was de source of some of de plumbing… Nooooo….?! Yuh mean dat?   Only ah cross eye blind bat cyah see dat!  Man, somet’ing as simple as cleanin’ drains dey eh doin’ in Port of Spain.  When rain fall, water flowin’ OUTTA de drains an’ INTO de streets, t’ings completely reverse!  But why not… dis is sweeeeeet Trinidad!  Dis place nice, ah tell yuh! 

De floodin’ doh need no genius to solve it, jus’ find de person responsible for drain cleaning, etc. an’ fire he tail!  An’ as for WASA, look jus’ sid dong an’ talk about how we go resolve dis… because if ah cyah drink water, ah go have to drink rum, an’ when meh head bad, I eh go be eatin’ easy!

MUSICAL NOTES....

Guess what?  Machel get ah 6 album contract wit’ ah big record company in de US boy.. ah t’ink is EMI (but doh quote meh on dat!). I real happy, leh meh tell yuh. 

Machel an’ Xtatik work for dey money, eh boy.  Dey sing dey soca, dey eh try to imitate nobody, dey push de music an’ now is big times for dem!  Dey only provin’ what we always know… once we music get out dey, it go create havoc!  

If yuh t’ink reggae was bad, wait till de “Soca Soldiers” get into battle.  Ah only hope he try an’ pave de way for men like David Rudder, who have lyrics like Shakespeare, but unfortunately doh have half de worl’ recognition he supposed to have. 

Yuh go see people jumpin’ on de soca bandwagon now… all ah dem who use to consider soca as Carnival music an’ after Ash Wednesday, dey t’row it in de bin, go want to go up US an’ spin soca like dey invent it.  

Anselm Douglas “Who Let The Dogs Outs” gone double platinum….. we comin’ out alyuh, we comin’ out!  Aerobics to “Socarobics” when we drop rhythm an’ rhyme in dey waist!  Rapso already gone to Europe, an’ Brother Resistance already lecturin’ in University on Rapso…. dey love it tooo bad!   An’ where is de Minsitry of Culture or de government in all dis?! Nowhere as usual!  But de minute we boys give de all an’ getting’ some returns dey go want to put dem on tourist brochures, an’ go wonder why dey eh want to come back here an’ live an’ all kinda nonsense…… expeck ah national award sometime too….. to show dat we LOVE UP we music… an’ Minister pushin’ dey mout for kiss!  When ah tell yuh, dat does grind meh!  

Not one black cent for ah cultural centre of museum, not ah penny towards ah proper recording studio, no re-recordings of past greats, no video or any national footage for de archives of Kitchener, Beryl McBurnie, Winston Spree, George Bailey… young people askin’ “Who dem?”.   Dey whole diet is cable….. expeck indigestion some time soon…. an’ remember, yuh go become what yuh eat..!  

Push on, cultural ambassadors, push on, but watch out for de “culture vultures”.. dey circlin’, tryin to get ah piece of de soca body…..

Dat’s all for dis week folks… remember any queries, comments, questions, hail outs, ole talk…. etc. just write to we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com go take it in…….. Peace to alyuh, ah gone!

Natashia, t’anks for de write in… an’ special hail out to Nichia too (courtesy Natts!)