Heaven in Troot!

allyuh!

ah get ah gift of two tix to IP band launching Sunday gone dere. ah call ah partner and ah say lehwe go and maintain ah: maco- i mean, an intense observation of what derek and dem have tuh offer we in '09.

we jump in de car and reach de Oval early-ish. we were like the third and fourth person in line...if yuh want tuh call that a line. see meh looking hoth. see meh negotiate de stairs. see meh hold on de banister for dear life. see meh cough in de smoke (more on that blasted smoke later!) see meh walk straight into the security guard tuh get scan...(that is the second time that i get scan to enter an event...i usually look so innocent that im waved through...hmmm...i might have to call radio shack and get meh halo fix...) and finally, see me intensely observe the venue.

the place look well nice. cloud on string. ah water feature (allyuh get permission to run water on grandad tree?? de ole boys permit that...wow...the things dey doing for money now yes...sad). a lil bmobile siddong ting on de side. pretty stone on de ground...a cracker in de corner..?? (why?? pretty- but wtf, right?) pretty vip area looking like a piece of heaven. ah big orange ting. nice lil backdrop and ting. two crane. a large bar and a food area. wait nah- ah orange ting and two crane? WHAT? ...okay....

...and everything else we have come to expect from IP: bar with expensive drinks and food that too pretty to eat. i especially like the ultimatum posed by the bar man "look, yuh cud get one drink for $35, or yuh cud get de two. choose." even if i had to pour the extra drink on meh foot- yuh really think i woulda pay the same price for one?...right star...

de pretty ppl began arriving. strangely enough, noone complained about the fog that they had to negotiate the stairs on- in de dark. you know the type. the -look-i-too-pretty-to-sweat-and-my-feet-are-killing-me-in-dis-heels-but-i-must-smile-for
-de-camera-everytime-it-pass-nursing-de-same-drink-since-de-ting-start kinda girls. i see some styles that night...Lord put ah hand. allyuh didnt leave home? it ent have ah mirror in dey? look it have on in de pee pee area- go and chek urself luvvin. ah go hold yuh drink. (then you proceed to pour it into the nearest plant. ip will forgive you).

nice. soca playing. ppl wining. good ppl and nice vibes- daize wha i like. skipping ahead...

we got the call that the presentation was gonna start in half an hour, so, i take out meh digicam and went to stand near the orange ting. they try to make it look pretty with cotton and ting. but that thing was far from lookin pretty. one ting tho- de ting start half an hour later on the nose. ip ent stickin with time. nice! dey say de orange ting hadda move...okay....we go step back...two fire officers lookin nonchalant...alright...

looking up, we see two white box with ppl inside it. ppl with costume. de ting start!!....no...de box stick in de air for a while...and everybody stand up watching it. imagine that image: "ooooooooooo. ahhhhhhhhh. pretty blue costume. we see dat in de papers already. wow....arm, dey staying up dey or what?" newais, but once they got on the stage from mid air, the rest of the pres went on without a hitch. the orange thing was a motorised ramp that went back and forth from the stage area to the front and brought the models back to the crowd. it was a nice idea that was poorly executed. if they had only thought to rope off the area where the orange thing had to go back and forth, a lot of cussing and mashing of toes could have been avoided.

the costumes were all...well i've seen them all before in one way or another honestly. but the colours were all vivid and im sure will look incredible in the shining sun carnival tuesday. i've included pics of them all here for allyuh tuh mac- intensely observe! im sorry for some of the pic quality eh, i had to negotiate my way around all that blasted smoke! if the point of us goin to the event was to see the costumes, i ent care what kinda ambiance yuh trying tuh create- is see we come to see. we CANNOT see if every flippin minute mr special fx want to spray down de stage with fog! ah mean come on man! common sense would dictate that....steups...

what stood out for me? Rays of Light. the beading is fantastic. Aphrodisiac. loving that head piece. Heavenly, is it? blue was always a favourite colour of mine. what i will not even bother with? Ocean Whispers. looks too much like Kingfisher(re animal instincts, IP 2008) colours for me. um, caramel and chocolate...oh no no no. carnival? nope...and it pretty much goes downhill from there. i have to mention the section called Love tho...the frontline has a serious bra. all that covering dem 'oman areola from the intense observation of de world is a big (well, as big as it could be) red, heart shaped gem. wow. that is not a bra for everybody- but ah sure most ppl will try for it. ladies ent play dey brave nah...yeesh...

there is ah pink section called Touch that is really pretty but im not a big fan of pink. bad man doh wear pink. seeeeen?

long story short, i generally liked what i saw Sunday night. most of the costumes look like only a fit woman (or man) would look good in them, but then again, which costume is'nt, right? (i think so far, only D'Krewe had a plus sized model @ their launch..correct me if im wrong allyuh). but doh worry, if de bra/pants too small for you once yuh collect- daize wha seamstress for. dey cud wuk ah magic, yuh never know...

Island People looks very newbie friendly. ah arx some ppl (veterans) what they were like on de road and i ent get no complaints from anyone. security? check. food? check. drinks? check. and de big one: service??? check! there is also a pre-registration for old masqueraders with IP...and that is a lil frightening. ah mean, what if *gasp* i dont get my costume of choice??

besides all ah dat tuh worry about, the whole ting that i didnt get ah calendar(i wish i had it so that i can refer to it for the names of the sections- half ah dem i cyah remember dey name)- everyone i asked for one watch me like ah jumbie. a couple of them (ip staff) told me right out that the ones that they were holding were for specific people...*sigh* i thought that everyone was supposed to get one...and i ent pushy...i saw the costumes live, so, i guess for now that will just have to do.

i ent figure out how to post pics yet. when i do, i will. be patient ppl! :-) ah promise ah go post de smoke free pics i managed to take. try to find them HERE. yuh never know...this ratchify ah doing here might actually wrk...if not, let me know and ah go handle it j quick.

IP is definitely an option! now, on to Tribe registration...that is another headache all by itself.