IT SEEMS THAT LEBRON isn’t the only James who wants to be a part of the NBA’s newest super-team in Miami. Free agent forward James Jones isn’t ruling out a return to the Heat, even after Miami bought out his contract to clear cap space to assemble their new superstar trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.The sharpshooting, seven-year veteran expressed a great interest to stay in South Beach while conducting his annual JHoops Live basketball camp for Barbados’ best junior players yesterday at the Wildey Gymnasium.“That’s my city, that’s where I grew up,” said the Miami native, who revealed that a return to the Heat was his first option.“I grew up watching Heat basketball and was a part of the Heat family and hopefully something can happen that can become a reality. “If it doesn’t then it doesn’t, [but] I’m happy for the city anyway; I’m just happy for the Heat organisation; I’m happy for my teammates and D-Wade. He’s going to have a supporting cast that can help him win a championship,” he added. A former second-round pick of the Pacers back in 2003, Jones, whose wife Destiny is Bajan-born, has made a name for himself as a specialist three-point shooting forward during a seven-year career that includes stops in Indiana, Phoenix, Portland, and most recently Miami. However, the Heat bought out his contract this off-season as part of a grand plan to create as much salary cap space to keep Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, while surrounding him with other superstar talent. That plan came to fruition when Wade and Bosh announced their intention to sign with Miami on Wednesday, before James made his televised “decision” to join the fellow All-Stars in South Beach just a day later on an hour-long ESPN programme. “This is going to be great for the city,” said Jones’ of Miami’s new superstar signings. “I know everyone down there’s excited and the NBA [as] a whole. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen with those three and [now] they found out. “Now, Miami has a powerhouse team and it’s up to everyone else to try to dethrone the ‘Three Kings’, as they call them.” But the Heat are still in the hunt for complementary players, as their house clearing has left the franchise with just the three All-Stars and point guard Mario Chalmers currently under contract. And one of those players on Miami’s wish list could be the same Jones, whose career 39.5 per cent mark from behind the arc makes him a perfect fit on a roster desperate for three-point shooting to stretch the floor for Wade, James, and Bosh. “I feel everyone wants someone like me, a guy that can make shots and doesn’t need a million touches,” reasoned Jones, before he took the floor to teach some warm-up drills. “There’s always an opportunity to add shooting and I’m pretty sure that they’re going through a list of players and try to make some personnel decisions.” Jones also revealed that there’s been interest from at least seven other teams, one of which is rumoured to be reigning NBA champs Los Angeles Lakers, whose recent signing Steve Blake shares Jones’ agent. “Every player wants to play for a contender, and they’re a team that needs shooting,” Jones said of possibly playing for Los Angeles. “You’d be playing with arguably the best player in the world and who wouldn’t relish that opportunity? “[But] Miami is always my first place [because] that’s the place where I was born, the place where I was raised, and that’s where I left a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” added Jones. This was the second year Jones conducted the JHoops Live camp, which focuses on teaching and reinforcing basic basketball fundamentals.
Jamaica dissolves Anti-doping Board
KINGSTON – The board of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) has been dissolved, the Jamaica Gleaner understands.The 15 members of the two-year-old board have reportedly received letters terminating their services.Jamaica Olympic Association President Mike Fennell confirmed that the members of the board were asked to resign.“The minister just said that based on the review that was done by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), she would like to restructure the board and therefore, she was asking everybody to resign and then she would reappoint those that they wanted to reappoint,” Fennell said.Members of WADA visited the island in May on the invitation of Minister of Sport Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange to conduct an audit of the two-year-old anti-doping body. During the visit, WADA’s director, General David Howman, who led the delegation, raised the issue of conflict of interest, as there were members of the Professor Errol Morrison-chaired board – namely Howard Aris, president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, and Paul Campbell, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, currently heading sports associations on the island.During his visit, Howman, who praised JADCO for the advancements made since its inception, suggested that the issues of conflict with regard to the make-up of the board did not suggest that anyone was running afoul of the code but the perception that there could be conflict took precedence. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Gay pulls back Powell
GATESHEAD – The first big 100-metre clash of the year was won by Tyson Gay by 0.02 seconds against Asafa Powell at the British Grand Prix yesterday.American Gay timed 9.94 seconds in the Diamond League meet, finishing ahead of Jamaican Powell, who clocked 9.96.“I didn’t know I’d won, I wasn’t sure,” Gay said as he walked back across the track, nursing his right hamstring. “I’m still a bit rusty.”Powell, fastest out of the blocks, said: “I eased a bit too much.”Powell was disappointed more with being passed than his time into a healthy headwind. He’d hyped a good time in the buildup in his first return to the Gateshead track where he equalled his then world record of 9.77 four years ago.Year’s bestLast month in Rome he clocked the year’s best time of 9.82, which was equalled by countryman Usain Bolt on Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland.Powell and world record-holder Bolt are set to meet in Paris on Friday.Gay was pleasantly surprised to chase down Powell in the American’s first competitive 100 of the season, a week after winning the 200 at Eugene, Oregon.“I feel good,” Gay said. “He’s one of my favourite competitors and I managed to get him today. I really had to stretch at the finish line and he did not see me coming so I got the victory. The hamstring is still tight and that is something I am going to have to work on.“The wind maybe affected times slightly, but not too much.”Better startPowell, in Lane 3, got the better start and at 30 metres he had a half-metre lead on Gay in Lane 4. But at the 50 Gay had drawn level and with just five metres remaining forced his body past the big Jamaican.“I don’t feel that bad,” Powell said. “I think I forgot it was Tyson Gay out there. In the last 20-30 metres I should have run differently. But he’s a great sprinter and I gave him a chance. I didn’t see him coming, but next time I will.“I got a great start, but I need a strong finish, too. I relaxed too soon. It’s no setback though because I know what shape I’m in. I know I’ll be ready for Bolt next week.” (AP)
Germany take third
PORT ELIZABETH – Sami Khedira scored a late goal yesterday to give Germany a 3-2 victory over Uruguay and third place for the second straight World Cup.Khedira scored with a header in the 82nd minute for his first international goal after the Uruguay defence failed to clear a corner from Mesut Oezil. The goal ended Uruguay’s hopes of beating Germany for the first time in 82 years, while the Germans finished in the top three for the 11th time.“We had hoped for more, and we did everything for it,” Khedira said. “This was some kind of final and we did everything for it. We have a young team and set an exclamation mark here and can reach more.”Diego Forlan hit the crossbar with the last kick of the match in injury time, a free kick from the edge of the area.“Obviously it’s something spectacular to be among the top four,” Forlan said. “If someone would’ve asked us at the beginning, we would’ve liked it. It’s something positive.”Uruguay had come from behind into a 2-1 lead when Forlan volleyed in Egidio Arevalo’s 51st-minute cross for his fifth goal of the tournament. Germany defender Marcell Jansen levelled five minutes later with a header after goalkeeper Fernanando Muslera misjudged a cross.Thomas Mueller gave Germany the lead in the 18th minute, his fifth goal in the tournament, sweeping the ball home after Bastian Schweinsteiger’s swerving shot had been stopped by Muslera, who was at fault in Germany’s first two goals.Edinson Cavani equalised for Uruguay in the 28th when he slid a shot past goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt.Uruguay have beaten Germany only once in ten matches, in 1928. Germany beat Uruguay in the third-place match in 1970 – the last time Uruguay reached the semi-finals.“I don’t think it’s too much vanity to think that if we improve a little we can aspire to certain prominence in future international tournaments,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said.Mueller and Forlan are now even at five goals with David Villa of Spain and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands, both of whom can raise their total in today’s final.Germany’s young team had five regulars absent through injury and illness; one was striker Miroslav Klose who missed a chance to match or beat the World Cup scoring record of 15 goals, held by Brazil striker Ronaldo. (AP)Line-upsUruguay – Fernando Muslera, Diego Lugano, Diego Godin, Jorge Fucile, Edinson Cavani (Sebastian Abreu, 88), Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan, Diego Perez (Walter Gargano, 77), Maximiliano Pereira, Egidio Arevalo Rios, Martin Caceres.Germany – Hans-Joerg Butt, Jerome Boateng, Arne Friedrich, Per Mertesacker, Dennis Aogo, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marcell Jansen (Toni Kroos, 81), Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil (Serdar Tasci, 90), Cacau (Stefan Kiessling, 73).
Cook rises in the ranks
Can the son of a hardworking Bajan family rise from being a cook, the lowest rung of the Umited States Armed forces ladder, to a full Colonel in the world’s most powerful Air Force?Just look at the career of Emerson Bascomb, a product of Roberts Land in St Michael who attended Barbados’ St Giles Boy’s School and Harrison College before immigrating to Massachusetts in the 1960s and it would become clear why the answer is an emphatic yes.For when Colonel Bascomb retired last May after 35 years and nine days in the Air Force he was the Chief, Director’s Action Group, a part of the staff of the Manpower and Personnel Directorate on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon in Washington. With a personal staff of 84, the 58-year old Bajan ended his career in charge of services in the entire Air Force.
Services profession
“The profession is services, because that’s what we do, the profession is service,” he explained. “I was in charge of all of the dining facilities, the restaurants, all of the hotels, the child development centres, the sports programmes, the golf courses, the swimming pools, the tennis courts, all of those things. “What we say in the services profession is, we take care of people from the cradle to the grave – from the newborn babies, the youth programmes and those for the parents as well as recreation. All of those things fell under me.”He summed up his rise through the ranks.“The values my parents taught me and my experiences in Barbados, especially the importance of a good education, the need to respect others, and the desire to function as a professional and to extend a helping hand to those with whom you come into contact, they all helped me during my career,” the retired Colonel explained. “Although I have lived in the United States much longer than in Barbados where I was born, the Bajan values have remained with me every step of the way,” he said.He retraced his steps, dating back to the days when his parents worked long hours at the Bell Plantation and factory in St Michael to raise their children. Of course, when he spoke about the classroom experiences in Barbados and in Massachusetts, the birthplace of his mother, Doris Bascomb, not to mention his days and nights working at a full time job and going to college after enlisting in the Air Force in May 1975, the details inspire admiration.That’s particularly true when he spoke of his time as a cook in the Air Force. There, he was carrying out onerous duties and studying at the University of Guam, which awarded him a Bachelor’s degree in political science. Next was a stint at an Air Force Officer’s Training School culminating in his commission as a Second Lieutenant on graduation in 1980. The rest, as they say, is history.
Well-educated
“As an enlisted man, I felt that I was being under-utilised and I realised that in order to be able to use my skills, knowledge, and other qualities, I had to become an officer,” he explained. “That’s when I went to the Officers Training School and decided to make it career. The Air Force has been very good to me. It allowed me to get the education I needed, to assume considerable responsibility, and to see the world.”Along the way, he earned a Master’s degree in human resources management from Central Michigan University and a Master’s in hotel management and food service management from Florida International University. Added to that was his military education and training at various armed forces universities and colleges.
World traveller
That extensive training put him in a good position to accomplish his various assignments and command positions at Air Force bases throughout the United States, in Europe – Germany, Turkey, Spain, the Netherlands – South Korea and in England. At one stage he was an assistant professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio.Naturally, he was awarded an array of medals and decorations for his services. The father of three adult daughters – Patricia, Joi, and Lia – Bascomb is now in Hawaii with his wife, Diana Roberson.“I owe a lot to Barbados,” he said. He singled out Major Sam Headley, a teacher at Harrison College, and Bentley Hunt, a retired Barbadian Air Force Sergeant in the United States, as mentors.
Caricom failure
THE 31st regular annual Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) concluded in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Wednesday with a low offering of optimism for the immediate future progress of the now 37-year-old regional economic integration movementHaving initially raised hope midway of the four-day event for a new approach to ensure realistic management appropriate for today’s challenges from the global economic and political crisis, the leaders were to back off by closing time.Not surprisingly, they adjourned for another “special meeting”, scheduled for September this year when they will consider likely alternative governance models for better management.In its normally lively “discussion forum”, the BBC Caribbean Service has been encouraging responses to the provocative question: Does CARICOM have a future?Even before the final communique was released, comments flowing from an end-of-summit Press conference on Wednesday clearly signalled that the elusive governance issue had once again emerged as a barrier the leaders are yet to scale.
Diminishing credibility
It is a failure that could only deepen concerns over the leaders’ credibility to make a reality of the Community’s flagship project – either in the remaining years of this decade or the next – of a single economic space in a region that constitutes a microcosm of the world’s peoples, cultures and varying levels of social and economic development.Often viewed, among Latin American, African, and Asian blocs of countries, as a cohesive and productive experiment in regiional economic intregration, CARICOM has clearly done reasonably well in wide-ranging areas of functional cooperation and foreign policy coordination.When, however, it comes down to implementation of decisions on major issues involving critical segments of its treaty-based arrangements for inauguration of a single, market and economy, there lies the rub. Their failures are rooted in lack of collective political will to overcome parochialism and a narrow sense of nationalism in favour of a shared vision of one people, one market, one Caribbean – to which they all claim commitment. The consequence is a spreading sense of alienation and defeatism, if not the “despair” alluded to in the BBC Caribbean discussion forum on CARICOM’s future.The announcement by Prime Minister Golding in his capacity as CARICOM’s new chairman, that a committee of prime ministers has been identified to come forward with proposals for the forthcoming “special meeting of Heads” in September to address alternative forms of governance, cannot seriously be considered as anything of significance.The Community has gone that way before with “Prime Ministerial Working Groups” and high-level Committees of regional technocrats. The upcoming meeting seems destined to do what Trinidadians like to describe as “spinning top in mud”.Amid the expanding word games on CARICOM’s future governance, more heads of government, are now complaining against “talk” and urging “action”.They may be simply reprimanding themselves, but in the current circumstances, the self-rebuke is welcome.
Boy survives kidnapping
PORT OF SPAIN – With only salted biscuits and snacks to eat, and sandflies and mosquitoes as companions, kidnapped 13-year-old Neil Ramsubhag survived three nights and two days in the Valencia forest.The abductors, he said, planned to bury him.A day after his rescue by police, Ramsubhag was already back at work in the watermelon field yesterday, helping his father pick the fruits planted near their home at Cascadoux Trace, Manzanilla. Acting Prime Minister Jack Warner has promised to visit the family today. The boy was snatched last Monday night during a robbery at the family’s home. He was found wandering on the forest road at around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Police have held five men and two women in connection with the crime, and seized two shotguns, 20 rounds of ammunition and two vehicles. Ramsubhag, a second orm pupil of the Mayaro Composite School, gave an account of his ordeal yesterday. “I didn’t think I would see my family again from the way I heard the guys talking. I am really happy to be back home now,” he said.Ramsubhag said he was forced into a panel van where he was blindfolded. “They took my cellphone. I was in the back seat with two men. There was a woman and another man in front. I thought they were going to kill me and I was thinking about my parents all the time.” Ramsubhag said he was transferred to another vehicle, “something resembling a jeep”. Nearing the Valencia forest, the driver stopped to fix a flat tyre. Ramsubhag was led into the forest and joined later by the rest of the gang. He said his blindfold was then removed. He described his journey into the forest as long and tiring.Ramsubhag said the food he was given was stolen from his parents’ parlour. Mosquito coils, bug spray, lighters, snacks and a carton of cigarettes were also taken and used by the kidnappers, said Ramsubhag. He believes he was abandoned in the forest Wednesday night when his abductors heard what sounded like a gunshot.Ramsubhag’s father praised police for their efforts as they “worked feverishly around the clock” to ensure the safety of his son.
(Trinidad Express)
Successful search for ‘lost’ dad
Forty-Year-old Ian Swanston’s search for the father he never knew is over.It was an emotional moment when the two spoke for the first time last month, one in Barbados, the other in New York.Swanston, an Englishman, and the relatives of his father Cameron Darcy Greenidge finally got to share in all the things he missed out on while growing up unintentionally cut off from his paternal family.And just before he returned to his Manchester, England home, Swanston enjoyed the warmth, hugs and kisses in the setting of a good old-fashioned Bajan family gathering mid-June. He spoke with his father, who now resides in New York, and the two made arrangements to meet.But the special moments would not have been possible were it not for the help of a good Samaritan – another Cameron D. Greenidge. The young man’s quest to find his father started on the online social network site Facebook about a year ago. His mother, a Kittitian living in England, had lost touch with Greenidge for decades and failed to locate him when she visited the island eight years ago. Swanston, armed with only the name of his father, one Cameron D. Greenidge, posted the name on the site and was excited when there was a match. His joy was short-lived after he found out that the Cameron D. he found was DeCourcey and not Darcy. “He contacted me via Facebook. He saw that I had the same name and middle initial as his father, and he was hoping I was [Swanston’s] brother,” said Greenidge.As it turned out, they weren’t even related, but Greenidge was more than willing to help Swanston gather information on his family. He opened his home to Swanston upon his visit to the island and spent days tracking the “lost father”.“We had very little information to work with. The only piece of information Ian had at the time was the name of his grandmother and her address,” he said.“Prior to the publishing of the story in the June 13 Sunday Sun we went to the Barbados Registry on the morning of June 9 to seek whatever information we could. “We were told that there was nothing except the date of birth, the birth mother’s address and the baptismal church. They added that if there was no information on his father, he was either not living in Barbados or he might not be alive,” he recalled.Their hopes started to dwindle but they never gave up.“That same day I called the Archives Department and the James Street Methodist Church and had no luck. On June 10, we went to the deaths division at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to seek information on whether his father was dead or alive and we were assured he wasn’t dead as there was no death certificate.”But there was one last glimmer of hope.The morning after the story was published, the two received a call from a woman saying she had seen the story and knew the family. She gave them a telephone number, which turned out to be that of an aunt. Greenidge said throughout the day they got numerous calls from other family members. Later that day Swanston spoke to his dad in New York and on Thursday, June 17, he finally met his relatives.“We really want to thank the Sunday Sun for highlighting the story. Smiles have been brought to everyone’s faces. Ian has gone back home having spoken to his dad. They have made arrangements to meet each other. “Ian now knows his family and his Bajan roots. Everyone involved is grateful. I will remain in contact with him even though we’re not blood relatives,” said an elated Greenidge.
Fully charged
Ever since he charged up the local party scene with his Vincy Mas’ hit for 2010, soca lovers region-wide want to get the skinny on the artiste. Firstly, he is the hat-trick winner of St Vincent’s Party Monarch competition, having won with Head Bad in 2008, then De Beast Leh Go in 2009, and last weekend with Charge Up. Many of his fans and associates know Gamal Skinny Fabulous-The Boom Doyle for his heavy dancehall influence. The “Boom” attached to his sobriquet immediately conjures up all the qualities that make Skinny such a fabulous performer to watch.Pace-loving soca connoisseurs simply went gaga during the week over clips that appeared on youtube.com of his riveting crown defence, complete with oversized white bunnies playfully mocking the Duracell battery commercial. How did he manage to pull it off for the third year in a row?“The key for me was, I was trying to outdo myself without paying attention to the competition. I’ve developed a habit of competing with myself and that’s not in any arrogant way but I always try to be better than I was the previous year. Each year it becomes more challenging than the previous year.“This year I wanted the performance to be humorous and at the same time adventurous; hence, I went for Duracell mascots,” he told the SUNDAY SUN this week, also expressing uncertainty about whether he would defend the crown for a fourth year. He attributes his success to his Barbadian management team Pyramid Entertainment as well as his home team in St Vincent. And to think it all started with a little poem he composed at secondary school that turned into his first performance poetry session.“I started beating on the tables and chanting my little poem about wanting to become a pilot and the whole class went mad,” he said, laughing hoarsely, a reminder that he was recovering from laryngitis and playing on the truck during the carnival parade. “Skinny was slated to perform with the Berger Boyz two weeks ago but had to cancel the event because he was having problems with his voice.From his school days Skinny had been a huge fan of Jamaican dancehall heavyweight Rodney Price aka Bounty Killa, whose gruff, booming baritone influences are part of what makes Skinny stand out among others in the region who tend towards the heavy chanting deejay style over soca rhythms.That he started his career as an entertainer in the genre comes as no surprise.“Admittedly, I was a dancehall man from the beginning who eventually got into soca over the years,” he said, much like Barbados’ Kid Site, Li’l Rick and Peter Ram. But geographical location heavily influenced the direction his music would take over time, he said, recalling his earlier years when he opened for Price and Beenie Man at stage shows in St Vincent. “Your territory defines what is expected of you. And eventually you’re going to find yourself giving in to those expectations. But for me I managed to hold on [to] the elements of dancehall in my soca, but it was a better career decision for me to cross over full-fledged into soca,” he said. Fell in loveAlthough it was initially a business decision, he quickly fell in love with the genre once he understood how to stay true to his own creative persona. At first he had been drawn to representations of the gritty hard knocks life present in reggae and dancehall, elements which are not present in contemporary soca, he indicated, saying that in fact it was the contrary.Making the distinction, he said: “Soca is about euphoria and release, not pensive. Soca music is not supposed to take you there. It is supposed to make you forget about the bills you have to pay.”He won the award for St Vincent & The Grenadines’ Entertainer Of The Year, was the first runner-up in the OECS Soca Monarch Competition, and was adjudged Best New Male Artiste at the Soca Music Awards. In 2009 he placed fifth at the International Soca Monarch Competition but gained the top prize for presentation. Skinny has also collaborated with an eclectic range of artistes, including Vincy’s own Jamesy P and recording sensation Kevin Lyttle, Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Montano (who performed on the remix of Charge Up) Bunji Garlin and Faye Anne Lyons, Barbados’ Peter Ram and Kimberley Inniss, Guyana’s Tameka Marshall, Europe’s Matter Fix among others, and admits having learnt valuable lessons in recording and performing from each. But he also believes he has something to pass on in terms of good energy hype.While there are not many fêtes for Vincy Mas’, Skinny felt that the few that existed had a uniqueness about them as, according to him, Vincentians partied with an aggressive abandonment that did not exist in Barbados and Trinidad. “I’ll show you all how we do it for Vincy Mas’,” he said, vowing good-naturedly to teach Bajans a thing or two about partying when he performs next week at the Plantation Garden Theatre as he starts his international tour.
Fetes bring culture alive
Night life during this year’s Crop-Over Festival is busier than it has ever been. There is no doubt an increase in fêtes and limes on this year’s party calendar, which some stakeholders say is contributing to the season’s and Barbados’ overall cultural development.Recently, queries have been raised on the call-in programmes about whether these parties are indeed adding to the festival and the industry as a whole.On any given night during the week, there are events put on by Wadadah, Norsemen, Berger Boyz, Brewster’s Road Crew, Plantations Garden Theatre, Party Animalz and Scrawl Up, Power X 4, Passion Network Inc., Kings and Queens, to name a few. Some promoters of nightly entertainment consider that these fêtes have a larger role to play in developing the domestic economy and forging community ties. One popular party group, The East Coast Limers (ECL) made their debut promoting pre-Crop-Over limes just before the start of the official season. A founding member, Fidel Holder, had a background in organising old-fashioned bus excursions for community members, in the Bajan tradition, specifically for the Party Monarch competition with another association called the Beer Lime Crew. The group was responsible for catering, transportation, bar and toilet facilities for that event.Weekly camaraderieHe told the SUNDAY SUN that the East Coast Limers, so named after this tradition, were developing this custom with their Sunday evening limes, where friends reunite on a weekly basis during the season in the spirit of camaraderie.This is part of a current trend that sees the weekly fêtes being held by groups of friends who either went to school together and have maintained friendships or who knew each other socially and have maintained those ties.Baje International started out in this vein in the 1990s, and today the tradition is continued by Brewster’s Road Crew, Passion Network Inc., and Party Central, among others. One constant element among the newer groups and which they shared with the Sunday Sun, is the respect they show for each other’s event by coming out and supporting them.Scrawl Up, whose Saturday night limes in an auto-body mechanic’s garage which developed from a group of friends has now been opened to the wider community.Rodney Mason, one of the group, said that while they did not have any sponsorship they were continuing to provide entertainment through old-fashioned means.“We don’t have to pay for the venue since it belongs to one of the guys in the group. For everything else, we put together our own money to pay for drinks, deejays and so on, to make sure our friends have a good time,” he said.Strengthening community ties also overlaps into the informal business sector and boosts revenue for ECL and similar companies which have developed into fully-fledged entertainment entities, having created niche markets in popular culture events.Holder said: “We are responsible for about 20 per cent of the posters from events you see advertised on [facebook.com] and BlackBerry Messenger. We have a roster with about 30 bartenders, and we also have deejays on roster. “We’re a full package,” he said, pointing out that ECL was a year-round event-planning group that would take care of marketing for both large and small businesses. The fêtes also create business for other smaller entities,” Holder added.Some like Passion Network use the popularity gained from fêtes to fund and launch their community outreach programmes.Chetwyn Stewart of Power X 4, one of the most experienced fête promoters on the scene, believes that weekly fêtes create a release from pressure for people stressed by the current economic climate.With 16 years’ experience staging band fêtes, he has seen that more people patronise the parties when they are economically depressed.He said: “People are definitely coming out this year. But it’s like a release for them. The more hard times there are, the more people will party.”Stewart added: “All these events make the festival what . . . . Different people look forward to having different experiences during Crop-Over.”
He further indicated that there was entertainment for people of varying ages and tastes.
The fêtes, Stewart said, also helped to enhance the tourism product. He spoke about his band having 400 overseas members flying in for the event. Similarly, Baje International reported an additional two sections for their outfit with revellers from Trinidad and Tobago.“Our members who come in from Trinidad tell me that while Carnival for them is grander, they have a wider experience coming to Crop-Over,” Stewart said. He also noted that there were patrons who were not interested in “jumping” for Grand Kadooment but who looked forward to partying and celebrating every week during the festival, and the fêtes provide that alternative for them.Help the recessionHolder, like Stewart, also pointed to ways in which the packed party calendar could benefit the tourism sector.“To my knowledge Crop-Over is one of the biggest money-making events for Barbados . . . with the encouragement for tourism development. The increase in events not only makes Grand Kadooment a wonderful day but also encourages visitors to come in and stay longer,” Holder added.Stewart also added that, handled properly, the Crop-Over Festival could be used to help bring Barbados out of the current recession, especially as it was recently reported that the island’s recovery rate is expected to be slower than previously anticipated.Corporate communications specialist for the National Cultural Foundation, Wayne Simmons, emphasised there were several cultural events outside the fêtes to engage people during Crop-Over. However, he agreed that the fêtes helped to reunite some elements of the local society.“For a society such as Barbados, which is a fractured society, whether determined by classism or even which school you went to, Crop-Over is a great [reuniting agent]. During Crop-Over, everyone comes together. For a period, everyone is equal and Barbados seems unified.” Simmons also highlighted the opportunities for enterprising endeavours the season afforded for artistes as well as for the informal sector.