Third World Band returns to Florida this memorial weekend to perform live at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg. The Reggae Ambassadors will share the stage with Marcia Griffiths on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 7:00 pm.
The live concert, which will take place outdoors, is not the only – order of business – that the group will be focusing on this weekend. The band will spend some time in the studio working on a recording with Marcia Griffith for their soon to be released album, Patriots. One of the many artists that will be featured on the album, Marcia is known globally as the Queen of Reggae and for her hit single Electric Boogie which gave birth to the Electric Slide dance. The group also collaborated with Dean Frasier, Damian and Stephen Marley, Junior Reid, Michael Rose, Tarrus Riley and Toots.
(Photo Credit: Triple 7 Entertainment LLC) Bunny Rugs (second left) along with Nadine Sutherland (left) with added energy from Timberlee and D'Angel.
The group will also be working on finalizing the video for single By My Side featuring Tessanne Chin which is currently scheduled for premiere on June 18, 2010. Tessanne Chin and William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke debut their duet for fans during the live rehearsal stream on Saturday, May 8, 2010. The live stream which was viewed by over 7,500 fans from the United States, UK, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean, was streamed on http://www.ination.tv/thirdworldbandlive and http://www.thirdworldband.com. The stream was re-broadcast on May 13, 2010 and continues to be available for viewing on ination.tv. The live stream was also shown on TEMPO Network in the Caribbean. As stated by William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke, “the live stream was such a phenomenal experience. For the fans to be able to watch us rehearse live, ask questions via chat rooms and hear singles from our upcoming album was something that I am still not able to wrap my mind around. It was such an amazing experience that we are in the planning stages to do it again soon.”
The live stream was made possible by the support of The Palmyra Resort, Caribbean Fever, Color Heritage Apparel, Rochmark Security Solutions-Jamaica, Golden Krust Bakery, Serendipity Villas-Jamaica, RAD4U.com, Marcia’s Café, Country Walk Jamaican Restaurant, Steadimage Multimedia, IslandStylee.com, Driven Models Network and VicRae Inc.
What’s next? Third World Band will perform at the 14th Annual St. Kitts Music Festival which takes place June 24-26, 2010. The band will then travel to Europe to perform at the Reggaeland Festival in Poland, Nowa Reggae 2010 Festival in Barcelona, Dour Festival in Belgium and Garance Reggae Festival in France. Upon returning to the U.S. the band will perform in Sky City Sun and Pueblo of Acoma, NM. In August, the band will perform in Monterey Bay Reggae Fest Monterey, CA, Nectar Lounge Seattle, WA, Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, Canada, Reggae Rising Piercy, CA, Keswick Theater, Glenside, PA and Kanawha Plaza Richmond, VA.
This article was submitted by Triple 7 Entertainment LLC
Like Louis Lee Sing, I kept my tongue in check throughout the six-week prelude to Monday’s historic General Election. But, unlike Louis, a boyhood friend from the East-West corridor, I will not be as scathing and vehement as he was last Wednesday morning on his radio station, in his virulent admonition of former prime minister Patrick Manning. Lest I forget, I must say that when I awoke on Tuesday morning I was even more proud of being a native of Trinidad, and Tobago.
I am hard pressed to think of any other country in the world which, given the frenetic pace and highly emotionally charged campaigning, that there was nary an untoward incident. Aside from a couple of unfounded reports of arson, minor assault, car jacking and an attempted kidnapping, this campaign was squeakly clean. On Monday, citizens exercised their franchise, in a civil and dignified manner, free of fear. In this respect no amount of praise is sufficient for the Elections and Boundaries Commission, the people, especially the youth that worked in the polling stations, and every member of our protective services.
In all my adult life I have never experienced an election like this. The campaigning on both sides of the divide was intense and loyalists were being forced to make some seriously hard choices—to vote on one side for a party whose leader they had serious issues with, or stain their fingers for an untried and relatively unknown confederacy. As similar to UNC supporters saying in 2007, and proven then, “if Panday stays we not voting,” and it happened. And thus, coming out of the myriad of complaints over the last two years, the PNM supporters said, “We will vote for PNM, only if Manning go!”
So he did not leave and what happened? In 2010, Panday is not there and UNC folk voted in all their glory; while Manning stubbornly stayed on as the ship’s captain, and the PNM folk partied, had a good time, took the money, wore the jerseys, limed, got the hugs, yet did not vote. Angeli, my sister in Orlando, and a staunch PNM supporter, yet another voice in the sea of protest against Manning for calling an election after a mere two-year term in office, told me on the morning after election day, “Complacency is never a good thing. When we become too complacent we begin to take things for granted. We stop hearing, feeling and seeing. We see, hear and feel ourselves. We actually become dead!!! “This loss could be a great thing for PNM as friction causes edges to sharpen, and PNM has lots of edges to sharpen. “Nothing good lasts forever. Nothing stays up forever. The higher you soar the harder you fall. “You fall hard, get up, brush off the dust, lick your wounds and climb again or, you can bus up like a peewah.” “Change is good—for the better or worse?—only time will tell it’s mobility and longevity.”
BLOODNOTES
The members of Witco Desperadoes have been coming in for some unfair criticisms these days, especially since the band performed at a function at TCL Group Skiffle Bunch pan theatre earlier this month, sans uniforms. Pan folk have commented negatively on the band performing at major events in recent times without its members wearing uniforms. Apparently the new Tobacco Bill prevents Desperadoes from displaying or advertising its sponsors name and logo. Witco (West Indian Tobacco Co Ltd) is the country’s major cigarette-producing company and has sponsored the Laventille band for over 40 years. An official of Desperadoes last week apologised for the band’s appearance,and assured that new uniforms are being tailored.
Article was written by Peter Ray Blood and carried in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.
After attempts to arrest him in Kingston turned into urban warfare that left dozens dead, Coke began negotiating with U.S. authorities, federal sources said.
The 41-year-old alleged head of the notorious Shower Posse could be in custody in Manhattan by the end of the weekend. He is wanted in New York on multiple counts of drug-running and gun-running.
The Jamaican Observer newspaper quoted sources close to Coke saying he “feels it is in his best interest to be taken to the U.S., rather than to a Jamaican jail.”
Meanwhile, the death toll from the street battles that failed to bring him in jumped to 73 – twice the original government estimate.
EDWARD Seaga, former leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Member of Parliament for West Kingston is calling for the resignation of his successor, Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
The man who built the community of Tivoli Gardens, Seaga is accusing Golding of mismanaging the United States extradition request for local area don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who is wanted on gun and drug trafficking charges.
“Frankly that is my view because he is showing day by day that he cannot cope,” Seaga said in an interview aired on TVJ last night.
He said that Golding should not have intervened in the extradition process and should seek another constituency. During a tour of the community yesterday residents strongly expressed their opposition to their MP whom they accuse of abandoning them to the assault by security forces that began Sunday.
The assault began after gunmen aligned to Coke attacked police. 73 people have been confirmed killed so far amid allegations that the death toll could be much higher. Just four guns have been seized together with more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition.
Seaga has said that an atrocity took place. He is also calling for Coke to surrender himself to authorities.
[Article update Jamaica Observer]
A new chapter of Trinidad and Tobago history was completed at Knowsley Building, Queen’s Park West, this afternoon, when Kamla Persad-Bissessar was sworn in as the nation’s first female Prime Minister.
- OATH OF OFFICE: Trinidad and Tobago’s new Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, left, takes her oath of office, at Knowsley Building, Queen’s Park West, on May 26, 2010 while President George Maxwell Richards looks on (PHOTO CREDIT: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK/ Trinidad Express)
“The challenge ahead is for us to remain as one people,” the new PM declared, following the swearing in ceremony.
“One of my first acts as Prime Minister is to meet with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to treat with the issue of flooding.
“Tomorrow (today),” Persad-Bissessar continued, “all Members of Parliament will be on the ground visiting the various constituencies to deal with the people’s issues, and on Friday the new Cabinet will be sworn in.”
Following her speech, Persad-Bissessar called on President George Maxwell Richards to swear in attorney-at-law Anand Ramlogan as the country’s new Attorney General.
[Post update via Trinidad Express]
Facebook’s privacy settings and users’ concerns have been debated and analyzed ad nauseum over the past several weeks. With today’s announcement, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company hope to put the talk — and the fear and mistrust — to rest.
“We made a lot of changes at the same time,” Zuckerberg said regarding his company’s announcements of the Open Graph API and other new Facebook features. “A lot of what we were trying to do got lost. We really need to simplify the controls… The feedback we got from users really resonated with us.”
Facebook’s new privacy controls are dead simple, as simple as a single button-click for sharing or restricting all your information — from your birthday and contact information to your posts and photos.
Now, Facebook will give users one simple control for all sharing. In a couple clicks, you can change all your settings, and the changes will apply retroactively as well. And of course, changes will apply to any new products that might be released in the future.
When you first open the new privacy settings page, your current privacy settings will appear; you won’t be automatically switched to the recommended settings.
Users simply click one button (“Everyone,” “Friends of Friends” or “Friends Only”) in the left column to restrict or open all their information to those groups. They can also choose to make certain types of information open to certain groups, as per the recommended settings you see above.
“You can think of ‘Everyone,’ ‘Friends of Friends’ and ‘Friends Only’ as big buckets containing different groups of information,” the new controls page reads. “With our recommended settings, your information is distributed across all three buckets.”
While Facebook does recommend leaving certain information, such as your bio or status, open to everyone, other data should probably be more private, such as photos or videos.
The recommended settings ask users to make their status, photos, posts, bio, favorite quotations, family and relationships viewable to everyone. They also recommend making personal contact information viewable by friends only.
Granular sharing for wall posts will remain the same, and sharing information with applications will become even more granular than what we’re used to seeing now. Users will still be able to remove tags from posts, images or videos posted by others. Finally, more granular, specific controls will exist for what information is shared and discoverable through Facebook’s directory.
With controls this simple, it’s hard to imagine users being confused or pundits throwing fits; yet we’re sure not everyone will be totally pleased with these changes.
What do you think: Are Facebook’s new privacy controls simple — and thorough — enough for the average user?
[Update made via Mashable]
In a Press Brief today in Washington D.C., Assistant Secretary Phillip J. Crowley stated that he was not familiar with evidence claimed in the ABC Network alleged report the Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding was a ‘criminal affiliated of Christopher Coke’. An article carried on the US-based ABC Network website referred to a U.S government document to sustain its position.
Mr. Crowley had the follow responses:
“I am not familiar with the report cited in that story. We certainly support the efforts of the Government of Jamaica to strengthen the rule of law and arrest Christopher Coke. The Government of Jamaica and the prime minister have taken bold steps in the last few days and we continue to work closely with the Government of Jamaica to counter illicit trafficking. I would just simply say we here at the State Department have no information to substantiate that report.
But to us, actions speak louder than words. It is the prime minister that signed the arrest decree and it is under his leadership that the government is aggressively pursuing the arrest of Mr. Coke.”
Mr. Crowley was responding to a question posed asking if the Prime Minister was considered a Criminal. The question was pose verbatim: “There is an ABC report that cited a U.S. document referring to the Jamaican prime minister as a criminal affiliate of Christopher Coke. Does the U.S. consider the prime minister a criminal?“
Click to Read U.S. State Department Press Brief
The controversial article brought in the U.S.-based ABC Network and another in the UK-based The Independent prompted widespread talks in media and amount citizens. In an immediate release to the media, available on the Office of the Prime Minister’s website, the follow statement was posted:
“Prime Minister Bruce Golding has categorically denied and dismissed as extremely offensive, reports on the US -ABC network which describe him as ‘a known criminal affiliate of hunted drug lord’, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Mr Golding says he is also outraged by an article in The Independent, a UK newspaper, that the ‘drug gang was on (the) payroll of Jamaican Prime Minister’. He said both publications, by seeking to link him personally with the alleged drug kingpin, were clearly part of a conspiracy to undermine the duly elected government of Jamaica.
The Prime Minister said the reports have made damaging and libellous assertions and he repudiated the scurrilous and malicious reporting, which he said must be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves.”
Jamaicans aren’t the only ones mounting concerns about students being asked to do exams in unstable condition. Prime Minister of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, in an interview with RJR News stated he was concerned about students in Jamaica being asked to sit exams in wake of the violent unrest associated with the invasion of Tivoli Gardens to extradited alleged strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
The Eastern Caribbean island Prime Minister in the interview with the RJR’s Earl Moxam said he had began making inquiries on this issue.
“In fact this morning I was trying to get on to the University authorities…I haven’t been able to get them as yet. I read also in the press that the Minister of Education in Barbados is concerned, of course students have now finished writing the exams some should be on their way home but one has to be very worried about that,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
He also voiced great concern about the wider impact of the ongoing situation on the Jamaican society.
Some materials were provided by feeds from Radio Jamaica
O’niel Edwards, a member of the popular Dancehall group Voicemail is dead.
Edwards had been admitted to hospital on May 10 after he received serious injuries to his head after he was attacked by gunmen at his Duhaney Park, St. Andrew home.
After undergoing several operations, the artiste earlier this evening succumbed to injuries he received at the Kingston Public Hospital.
VoiceMail member O'Neil Edwards center.
The deejay has been at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) since the shooting never regained consciousness. The main suspect in Edwards’ shooting was found dead in the Chancery Hall community two days after the robbery, after Police had failed to arrest the man earlier. A second suspect later that week was picked up in Manchester and taken to Kingston.
Dexter Communications expresses condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Dexter Communications Inc Blog 