Masqueraders fork out $5,000 - $15,000 to play Mas

[zoom rader]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

Only a few make the big money, small man is a fool to support this nonsense.

[ruffneck_12]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

It making up for the money we supposed to be making if we still exported sugar.

We ain't have extra money for luxuries rn. It all going back into the basics necessities

[shake d livin wake d dead]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

It making up for the money we supposed to be making if we still exported sugar.

We ain't have extra money for luxuries rn. It all going back into the basics necessities

Bounce

[eliteauto]

ITT Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi listeners

[hydroep]

South mas bands brace for dismal season
Sharlene Rampersad

With sev­en weeks to go to Car­ni­val 2019, San Fer­nan­do mas band­lead­ers say it is shap­ing up to be a bleak sea­son which they blame on the clo­sure of Petrotrin and prob­lems with the San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (SFCC).

One of them Michael Ramkissoon, of South­ern Mas As­so­ciates, has gone as far as to de­clare San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val sea­son. He said not a sin­gle per­son has reg­is­tered to play mas with his band.

Ramkissoon’s Fyz­abad-based band has won the city’s medi­um Band of the Year award five out of the sev­en times they com­pet­ed.

“If I tell you, you might not be­lieve, I have been work­ing to get the band on the road for 2019 and I have not re­ceived a cus­tomer as yet, not one,” he said.

“Last year I had about 150 mas­quer­aders. Be­fore I used to have six sec­tions and in 2018 I on­ly came out with four sec­tions and this year, I have plans for six sec­tions again and I don’t think I will even get peo­ple to do four.”

Ramkissoon said most of his reg­u­lar mas­quer­aders are for­mer Petrotrin em­ploy­ees, so the clo­sure has hit him es­pe­cial­ly hard.

“Peo­ple are just not go­ing to spend their mon­ey for mas when they don’t have a job and they are at a point when they need to watch how they are spend­ing,” he said.

How­ev­er, he is most up­set about the fail­ure of the SFCC to pay him and oth­er band­lead­ers out­stand­ing prize mon­ey.

“We were hav­ing prob­lems with the San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee for pay­ments,” Ramkissoon said.

“We were not re­ceiv­ing pay­ments for two years and when we do get pay­ments, they cut our prize mon­ey in half. It has af­fect­ed the bands in pay­ing our bills and so forth be­cause we are bud­get­ing for a cer­tain amount of prize mon­ey. Bands in San Fer­nan­do, es­pe­cial­ly the medi­um and small bands, are strug­gling to make ends meet.”

Ramkissoon, who said he in­curs ex­tra costs to bring his band in­to the city from Fyz­abad, de­clared: “I don’t think south mas is dy­ing, south mas is al­ready dead.”

Ayana Kalicha­ran, daugh­ter of vet­er­an San Fer­nan­do mas man Ivan Kalicha­ran, al­so an­tic­i­pates a slow sea­son.

“It is a very iffy thing,” she said when asked if she be­lieves the band will be sold out this year.

“We had a lot of peo­ple from the oil and gas in­dus­try who would nor­mal­ly play with us but re­mem­ber they have been ma­jor­ly af­fect­ed so we have to wait and see.”

Kalicha­ran, who was at the band’s Har­ris Street, San Fer­nan­do mas camp, ex­pressed con­cern about the SFCC’s fail­ure to launch Car­ni­val.

“There is no feed­back. When­ev­er we call they say they will call back but they nev­er do. There was al­so no launch of Car­ni­val in San Fer­nan­do this year. Nor­mal­ly we would have a meet­ing in prepa­ra­tion for City Week and the launch of Car­ni­val but they had noth­ing for 2018/2019, so we don’t know what is go­ing on,” she said.

How­ev­er, she said, Kalicha­ran’s, which has won the Band of the Year award in San Fer­nan­do 25 times, is press­ing for­ward.

“Be­cause it’s a longer sea­son, we will see the rush at Jan­u­ary month-end in­to Feb­ru­ary. A few peo­ple would have come up front—those who want the front­line cos­tumes—we have peo­ple reg­is­tered al­ready but we have a trend of late­com­ers, so we will get wor­ried if it doesn’t pick up by the end of Jan­u­ary. That will be the point when we know what is re­al­ly hap­pen­ing.”

Kalicha­ran said last year, the band missed it’s 1000 mas­quer­aders tar­get by about 350.

“Last year we had about 650 to 700 and that was a big drop from 2017 when we had about 1000. We have a cheap sec­tion that might pull in the bulk be­cause a lot of peo­ple who come are go­ing to­wards that sec­tion. There are a lot of peo­ple who want to play so they will take the cheap­er op­tion,” she

Na­tion’s Peo­ple band­leader Michael O’ Bri­an said on­ly 15 mas­quer­aders have ex­pressed in­ter­est in his 2019 pre­sen­ta­tion. The Mara­bel­la-based band­leader said he does not be­lieve the Petrotrin clo­sure will af­fect his band which is usu­al­ly reg­is­tered in the medi­um band cat­e­go­ry.

“We have been putting out a band 14 years and I don’t think Petrotrin’s clo­sure will re­al­ly af­fect us be­cause we don’t re­al­ly have any oil work­ers in the band,” he said.

O’Bri­an said he will vis­it the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion “soon” as he has been try­ing to find out when the city’s Car­ni­val will be launched.

Re­grel­lo: Don’t de­pend on state funds

When con­tact­ed for com­ment on the band­lead­ers’ con­cerns, San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo said the south­ern city’s Car­ni­val is well es­tab­lished and does not need to be launched. He said he is wait­ing on word from the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) be­fore he speaks about Car­ni­val 2019.

“Any may­or and any coun­cil can choose whether or not to launch Car­ni­val. We have not spo­ken about Car­ni­val be­cause there are some out­stand­ing mat­ters with NCC and mon­ey, bills and debts and we need clar­i­fi­ca­tion be­fore we go and launch Car­ni­val,” he said.

Re­grel­lo said the NCC owes the city pay­ments dat­ing back to 2013 for use of Skin­ner’s Park for events.

In re­sponse to Ramkissoon’s com­plaints about non-pay­ment, the may­or said: “They all came in and we ex­plained to them over and over what the is­sues are. Our bud­get was cut from $1.2 mil­lion to $800,000, to $400,000 in 2018.

“There is no way you can run Car­ni­val in San Fer­nan­do with $400,000. We had to can­cel a whole set of events last year be­cause of that and be­fore we can launch Car­ni­val we need to get a state­ment from NCC say­ing what we are al­lo­cat­ed so we can say we are hav­ing Car­ni­val and these are the terms and con­di­tions.”

He said some stake­hold­ers were paid out­stand­ing mon­ey af­ter Car­ni­val 2018 but that was done on a “needs analy­sis.”

“We paid some of the im­me­di­ate debts that we had and dur­ing the year we paid some peo­ple who came in and said they had debts to pay and they couldn’t deal with it and based on that we were able to re­lease some mon­ey,” he said

For this Car­ni­val sea­son, Re­grel­lo said he an­tic­i­pates a fur­ther re­duc­tion in the al­lo­ca­tion to San Fer­nan­do.

“At the rate they are go­ing it could be $200,000 this year,” he said.

How­ev­er, he does not be­lieve South Car­ni­val is dy­ing and said the band lead­ers need to be “smart” to sur­vive with­out any state prize mon­ey.

“If you are a good band leader and you pro­mote your band well, you are not de­pend­ing on NCC prize mon­ey. You build a cos­tume, put a prof­it mar­gin in­side there, you mar­ket your band and you make a prof­it. The mon­ey that NCC is giv­ing is an in­cen­tive to band lead­ers

“Car­ni­val is not as it used to be years ago. Car­ni­val and mas pro­duc­ing is big busi­ness and if you are well or­gan­ised and you pro­mote your mas, you don’t need to go to an NCC com­pe­ti­tion or a Car­ni­val com­pe­ti­tion be­cause your prof­it mar­gin is built in­to the cost of your cos­tume,” he said.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/south-mas-bands-brace-for-dismal-season-6.2.761001.f6b78d313f

[zoom rader]

ITT Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi listeners

Yeah four seasons is fab, that's why those countries are where they are today and their murder rates are low.

[redmanjp]

Carnival generates so much money for our economy it eh funny

hmmm we should have it 3 times ah year and tax costume & fete- economy fix

[l33t2]

Carnival generates so much money for our economy it eh funny

hmmm we should have it 3 times ah year and tax costume & fete- economy fix

Those things are already taxed

[pugboy]

How are they taxed ?

Carnival generates so much money for our economy it eh funny

hmmm we should have it 3 times ah year and tax costume & fete- economy fix

Those things are already taxed

[ruffneck_12]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

It making up for the money we supposed to be making if we still exported sugar.

We ain't have extra money for luxuries rn. It all going back into the basics necessities

Bounce

make caroni great again

[l33t2]

How are they taxed ?

Carnival generates so much money for our economy it eh funny

hmmm we should have it 3 times ah year and tax costume & fete- economy fix

Those things are already taxed

Are you seriously asking? Have you not heard of corporation tax and VAT? Something all medium to large businesses pay.

[l33t2]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

Only a few make the big money, small man is a fool to support this nonsense.

Not true at all, think of all the people employed in the music industry, fete logistics, alcohol industry, costume industry, the 100s of Monday wear designers, make up artists and beauty industry, security etc. It is literally well over 10,000 'small men' who cleaning up for carnival.

Fete promoters and band owners don't make as nearly as much as you think. Some bands barely break even.

[88sins]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

Only a few make the big money, small man is a fool to support this nonsense.

Not true at all, think of all the people employed in the music industry, fete logistics, alcohol industry, costume industry, the 100s of Monday wear designers, make up artists and beauty industry, security etc. It is literally well over 10,000 'small men' who cleaning up for carnival.

Fete promoters and band owners don't make as nearly as much as you think. Some bands barely break even.

where you pulling all this misinformation from boyo?
yeah, mad bands and fete promoters keep doing it year after year for decades, even taking their chosen craft overseas to the USA, Canada, UK and Europe because they find barely making a living so spiritually and emotionally fulfilling.

whoever sell u that bill of goods lied to you, simple as that.

[l33t2]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

Only a few make the big money, small man is a fool to support this nonsense.

Not true at all, think of all the people employed in the music industry, fete logistics, alcohol industry, costume industry, the 100s of Monday wear designers, make up artists and beauty industry, security etc. It is literally well over 10,000 'small men' who cleaning up for carnival.

Fete promoters and band owners don't make as nearly as much as you think. Some bands barely break even.

where you pulling all this misinformation from boyo?
yeah, mad bands and fete promoters keep doing it year after year for decades, even taking their chosen craft overseas to the USA, Canada, UK and Europe because they find barely making a living so spiritually and emotionally fulfilling.

whoever sell u that bill of goods lied to you, simple as that.

My family are shareholders in one of the largest fete promotion companies and carnival bands. I am HEAVILY involved in the carnival industry. Margins ARE simply not as big as you'd think. Believe it or not some fetes lose money. While some fetes can make millions in profit (5% of fetes will achieve that). But again that is spread across all shareholders. Some of the biggest men in this game will make at most 10m a year from carnival. Sounds good but that is minority of the people involved. Think how much profit a contractor will make off one project. Carnival does not make you super rich. But it's a fun industry to be involved in. Believe it or not some people choose careers/businesses because they love the work.

Many fetes will buss or break even simply because they new and trying to build a brand name. WOW events buss year after year until they re-invented wet fetes with Soaka. And even then I don't think they started really profiting until the 2nd Soaka.

It's a hard game, you only seeing the success stories, you won't believe how much promotion companies close down because the work involved ain't worth the so called 'profits'.

Bottom line: all business men involved in carnival will almost always have other businesses propping up thier income. You simply cannot rely on carnival to make it big.

ZR and people like you thinking is only the 1% making money off carnival when it's the exact opposite. This is an industry where the money is spread across so many supporting businesses, hence why I say Carnival benefits our economy tremendously. Better many benefit than a few.

[pugboy]

Padna this is trinidad and majority of these carnival/feet associated activities are pure cash operated

If you think we believe that every fete and carnival band reporting exactly how many patrons pass through the door then we must be stupid.....

Barbados govt does put a man by the door to count exactly how many pass through

Carnival is a vice, it should be taxed extra like tobacco and alcohol

[shake d livin wake d dead]

All this "morney" carnival seems to contribute to the country yet I doh ever see the benefits...

Only a few make the big money, small man is a fool to support this nonsense.

Not true at all, think of all the people employed in the music industry, fete logistics, alcohol industry, costume industry, the 100s of Monday wear designers, make up artists and beauty industry, security etc. It is literally well over 10,000 'small men' who cleaning up for carnival.

Fete promoters and band owners don't make as nearly as much as you think. Some bands barely break even.

where you pulling all this misinformation from boyo?
yeah, mad bands and fete promoters keep doing it year after year for decades, even taking their chosen craft overseas to the USA, Canada, UK and Europe because they find barely making a living so spiritually and emotionally fulfilling.

whoever sell u that bill of goods lied to you, simple as that.

My family are shareholders in one of the largest fete promotion companies and carnival bands. I am HEAVILY involved in the carnival industry. Margins ARE simply not as big as you'd think. Believe it or not some fetes lose money. While some fetes can make millions in profit (5% of fetes will achieve that). But again that is spread across all shareholders. Some of the biggest men in this game will make at most 10m a year from carnival. Sounds good but that is minority of the people involved. Think how much profit a contractor will make off one project. Carnival does not make you super rich. But it's a fun industry to be involved in. Believe it or not some people choose careers/businesses because they love the work.

Many fetes will buss or break even simply because they new and trying to build a brand name. WOW events buss year after year until they re-invented wet fetes with Soaka. And even then I don't think they started really profiting until the 2nd Soaka.

It's a hard game, you only seeing the success stories, you won't believe how much promotion companies close down because the work involved ain't worth the so called 'profits'.

Bottom line: all business men involved in carnival will almost always have other businesses propping up thier income. You simply cannot rely on carnival to make it big.

ZR and people like you thinking is only the 1% making money off carnival when it's the exact opposite. This is an industry where the money is spread across so many supporting businesses, hence why I say Carnival benefits our economy tremendously. Better many benefit than a few.

still doh see the benefits to the econonamee according to you....life is not improved, cost of living remains the same, quality of essential goods and services remain the same etc etc...

I still trying to come to terms with spending 129mil on carnival

[pugboy]

the carnival economy is all private sector based profits
no problem with that but they should be treated as such and subject to any extra vice taxes etc that limpbert like to hit us with

and not be beggars for govt funding like soca/chutney monarch every year

[Chimera]

Carnival time does bring in real money to endless small businesses eh

Make up artists, sign shops, security companies, fellas getting hire to work for security companies, food places, the people who get license to sell alco along the roads for carnival, truck drivers, truck companies, scaffold companies, music suppliers, water truck owners,

And the fire and police service does collect realllĺllllllll money that timing

[88sins]

My family are shareholders in one of the largest fete promotion companies and carnival bands. I am HEAVILY involved in the carnival industry. Margins ARE simply not as big as you'd think. Believe it or not some fetes lose money. While some fetes can make millions in profit (5% of fetes will achieve that). But again that is spread across all shareholders. Some of the biggest men in this game will make at most 10m a year from carnival. Sounds good but that is minority of the people involved. Think how much profit a contractor will make off one project. Carnival does not make you super rich. But it's a fun industry to be involved in. Believe it or not some people choose careers/businesses because they love the work.

Many fetes will buss or break even simply because they new and trying to build a brand name. WOW events buss year after year until they re-invented wet fetes with Soaka. And even then I don't think they started really profiting until the 2nd Soaka.

It's a hard game, you only seeing the success stories, you won't believe how much promotion companies close down because the work involved ain't worth the so called 'profits'.

Bottom line: all business men involved in carnival will almost always have other businesses propping up their income. You simply cannot rely on carnival to make it big.

ZR and people like you thinking is only the 1% making money off carnival when it's the exact opposite. This is an industry where the money is spread across so many supporting businesses, hence why I say Carnival benefits our economy tremendously. Better many benefit than a few.

well, since your "family" is only a "share holder", & I used to actually manage the accounts & expenses of one of the largest mas bands in the northern region of the island that is fully owned & operated by my father in law, & that I'm familiar with quite a few other large band leaders up north, I believe I know what I saying a bit more than you think you know.
I'll admit tho, fete promoters having a hard time in recent years since there's plenty rigid competition, many talented newcomers lowballing themselves to get a piece of the action & work decreasing because of many fete organizers starting to do their own promotions & marketing

but whatever. me eh come out to debate carnival logistics & stats

[l33t2]

Padna this is trinidad and majority of these carnival/feet associated activities are pure cash operated

If you think we believe that every fete and carnival band reporting exactly how many patrons pass through the door then we must be stupid.....

Barbados govt does put a man by the door to count exactly how many pass through

Carnival is a vice, it should be taxed extra like tobacco and alcohol

Just @ lmao at this. You think is small men operating these companies? We have professional accountants and tax lawyers involved. Under reporting does go on but it's relatively insignificant. Just know that amongst carnival bands alone, in corporation and income tax, we maybe paying 20M-40M in taxes.

Just to put something in perspective, teachers giving after school lessons generating similar revenue and paying zero taxes. Landlords without registered commercial businesses in total are earning far more revenue, and are paying zero business taxes.

Carnival is a mature industry down here, anyone doing illegal sheit is called out quickly.

[Chimera]

Just to put something in perspective, teachers giving after school lessons generating similar revenue and paying zero taxes. .

boyyyyy one of my cousins who going lessons the other day was showing me THAT scene

he in a class of 60 people on an evening, each paying $50 for 2 hours
and it have one class full everyday monday to friday (different students diff days)
and 2 classes each on saturday and sunday

108k a month........
no tax

[pugboy]

Yep, same with casinos and churches

[zoom rader]

Carnival is the biggest con job in Trini, it bigger than the trini bank and PNM con job

Yet still clowns support Carnival, especially men folk who get fooled by women. Dumb arse men paying for women to fetes & drinks ect.

Then again it's a time for women to advertise their goods in order to catch a beta male.

Carnival is really a toatee tax season 9 months after .

Carnival is really for men to suffer and leave them broke .

[88sins]

Carnival is the biggest con job in Trini, it bigger than the trini bank and PNM con job

Yet still clowns support Carnival, especially men folk who get fooled my women. Dumb arse men paying for women to fetes & drinks ect.

Then again it's a time for women to advertise their goods in order to catch a beta male.

Carnival is really a toatee tax season 9 months after .

Carnival is really for men to suffer and leave them broke .

zr bai yuh aight?

[zoom rader]

Carnival is the biggest con job in Trini, it bigger than the trini bank and PNM con job

Yet still clowns support Carnival, especially men folk who get fooled my women. Dumb arse men paying for women to fetes & drinks ect.

Then again it's a time for women to advertise their goods in order to catch a beta male.

Carnival is really a toatee tax season 9 months after .

Carnival is really for men to suffer and leave them broke .

zr bai yuh aight?

Awaiting for someone to prove me wrong.

[dean_spleen09]

Just to put something in perspective, teachers giving after school lessons generating similar revenue and paying zero taxes. .

boyyyyy one of my cousins who going lessons the other day was showing me THAT scene

he in a class of 60 people on an evening, each paying $50 for 2 hours
and it have one class full everyday monday to friday (different students diff days)
and 2 classes each on saturday and sunday

108k a month........
no tax

so your cousin so smart to figure this out , yet still need lessons ?

[Dizzy28]

Just to put something in perspective, teachers giving after school lessons generating similar revenue and paying zero taxes. .

boyyyyy one of my cousins who going lessons the other day was showing me THAT scene

he in a class of 60 people on an evening, each paying $50 for 2 hours
and it have one class full everyday monday to friday (different students diff days)
and 2 classes each on saturday and sunday

108k a month........
no tax

Parents need to put their foot down on this lessons BS.
My brother in law enrolled his son in Specialist in St Augustine last Sep and was told at registration paid extra lessons are compulsory in standard 4 and 5 and optional in standard 3.
Why the fack then are you paying to send the child to a pay school when they hitting you lessons like a public school?

[hydroep]

Not to de-rail the thread too much, but I have to agree with the lessons thing.

My own experience with certain teachers was that the quality of their instruction was far better in "lessons" than in "school". Still, it was an option.

Fast forward to today and several parents have complained (privately) at what they see is a form of extortion because they are afraid that their children will be victimized (e.g teachers giving low grades in SBAs) if they do not commit to the extra lessons (SEA).

The teachers "justify" it by saying they cannot finish the entire syllabus during regular class time, so apparently that automatically becomes the parents' problem...

BTW ah see PEA resurface. He say they go get rid of SEA and make all schools into 10-year schools...

https://newsday.co.tt/2019/01/22/abolish-sea-fire-none-performers/

[Slartibartfast]

cyar hate people for doing what they want to enjoy themselves na


one person might enjoy using that money and flying out for the week and shopping/relax

a next one might enjoy gambling or drinking that money

these enjoy spending it on carnival

one man might buy a benz and live in he mother house his whole life...and he happy

a next one might buy a b14 and build a house/rent instead.....he happy

if it not affecting yuh

doh hate...hymc

Quoted for truth
Everyone has their bread..

I could spend 100k on a music system real easy...people would watch me like wtf...I have a brethren who spent 50k on ah gearbox easy easy...to each his own...difference with hobbies like these and carnival is....you cya sell back a costume

You don`t understand. We are in a recession. You are no longer allowed to have hobbies. Please provide, to your nearest clown imbert, a list of the non-essential items that you are still able to afford so that the appropriate taxes can be applied to them.

[l33t2]

I can't even understand how a UNC man like ZR doh support carnival. Clearly ZR is out of touch with which party supports carnival more.