Destra welcomes her baby girl

Islandista and soca mummy Destra Garcia gave birth to her baby girl, Xaiya yesterday, almost exactly at full term.

The Express in Trinidad reported that the baby, who weighed in at 6 lbs and 15 oz, came a day earlier than her due date - wha kinda island baby little Xaiya is, being so prompt?!

Mother and child are doing well after a long labour for Miss Sassiness, who told the Express:

’It was everything I thought it would be. Now I have to learn how to be a good mum. She is so innocent. Right now she is just sleeping a lot.’

Congrats Destra and looking forward to seeing you back out next Carnival!

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Destra welcomes her baby girl

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To Bey or not to Bey?

Ok, ok, that isn't really the question because there is no way in hell that TSTT, Brian Lara and Dwight Yorke are going to give up the big money bound to come in from the Beyonce concert scheduled for two days after Trini Carnival.

Especially not with the US$200 VVIP tickets sold out on the first day.

But with all the bacchanal swirling around the concert in Trinidad, what with concert promoters bawling out that it is going to hurt their business and people querying how the state-owned TSTT could be funding the concert over Carnival, we want to know what islandistas think.

On the one hand, we can definitely see the perspective of the promoters, because the Beyonce concert is going to suck out money that would have been going their way. Lawd knows Carnival is expensive as it is so people are going to have to pick between a fete (or two) and the Beyonce show.

On the other hand, we can also see this being a plus for Trinidad Carnival on the whole by bumping up the number of islandistas (and islandistos) that may decide to fly in for the festivities, since they can take in the concert same time.

And with Machel and Destra being out of Carnival this year and Alternative Concept squashed, this might be the crowd-puller that Carnival needs in these recessionary times...

What says you, islandistas?

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To Bey or not to Bey?

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Another soca mummy - Destra pregnant

Wha de jail...!

How on earth did we at islandista miss this?

Soca songbird Destra Garcia is joining the line of soca mummies as she is pregnant with her first child.

She revealed this in an interview with the Trinidad Express last week.

She told the Express she did not even realise she was pregnant for a while as she "always had a bit of an iregular cycle" and she had no morning sickness.

However, she did notice that she had become a bit more bountiful up top, as she had gone up by two bra cup sizes.

The father to be is her long-time boyfriend, Brian Morris, who is the sound engineer for her band, Atlantik. He says the couple is planning marriage to go with baby in the "not too distant future".

However, like the other soca mummies - Alison Hinds, Denyse Belfon and most recently, Fay-Ann Lyons, Destra does not seem to intend to stop performing.

At a recent show at Adam Smith Square in Woodbrook, Saucy Wow coached Destra on how to do de wickedest preggers wine, much to the delight of all the fans.

The baby is due in January 2010 - right, right before Carnival 2010 and it will be interesting to see how Destra copes with the public pressure that is sure to come to bear on her.

You know how we West Indians like to act like pregnancy is a illness that requires a woman to be bed-ridden.

In the meantime, we at Islandista offer our congrats to the mummy to be!

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Another soca mummy - Destra pregnant

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Queen Fay-Ann!

Tell them that ah tough like iron

When ah done wid dem,

Dey bound to know know why mih name is Fay-Ann Lyons.

What did we say, nuh? Who could beat de lady wid de carnival baby? Not a man - or woman!

As expected, Super-preggy Fay-Ann Lyons won the Road March, sweeping all three soca titles and making her the 'winning-est' woman ever in Trinidad Carnival.

 The news just came through a short while ago.

She now has five titles, including an unprecedented three Road March titles - surpassing the great Calypso Rose's two Road March titles and equalling her for back-to-back wins and a Carnival sweep.

Despite all the talk about Destra Garcia being close, in the end it was a proper cut-ass by Mummy Lyons-Alvarez, with Fay-Ann's 'Meet Super Blue' getting 410 plays to Destra's 'Bacchanal' a distant second with 76 plays.

Congrats Queen Fay-Ann!

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Queen Fay-Ann!

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Fay-Ann and Destra out front & islandistas at Oscar parties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So up to now, we here at Islandista are still not sure who has won the Road March title in Trinidad and Tobago. From all accounts, it seems to be a close battle between Fay-Ann Lyons 'Meet Super Blue' and Destra Garcia's 'Bacchanal'.

Checking Trinidad's major papers isn't helping either.

The Trinidad Express claims, 'Bacchanal hot on Super Blue's tail', while the Guardian says 'Destra, Faye-Ann in tight race for Road March'. At first glance, NewsDay seems to be sure it is Fay-Ann, with their front page proclaiming 'Fay-Ann's Queen of the Road' and their online lead story headlined as 'Fay-Ann leads Road March race'. However, later in the article they caution "Destra Garcia's 'Bacchanal' however is not to be discounted."

Arrrrghhh! Hopefully, the results should be out before noon and I trust our islandista readers will let us know early o'clock which Islandista is the Road March Queen. The suspense is killing me.

Anyhow, in other news, the Oscar Awards, as you would know, were on Sunday night. While no islandistas won, there were plenty islandistas to be seen at the hot post-Oscar parties such as the Vanity Fair party and Oscar-watch parties, such as the one at Mr. Chow's. Take a look at some of the islandistas who made the scene below.




Alicia Keys came with her mom and inexplicably wore an awful wavy-haired wig that detracted from her gorgeous lilac gown that she wore to the ceremony. See a closer shot of the wigginess below.



[caption id="attachment_677" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Alicia Keys getting wiggy with it."][/caption]



Eh-heh. No.




Haitian-American Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon was gorgeous and statuesque in a cold-shouldered black gown at Mr. Chow's Oscar Watch party (aka the party for the celebs who didn't get invited to the actual ceremony or the hottest ticket, the Vanity Fair party but still have enough wattage to be worth a party.)

Half-Nevisian Mel B was also at the Mr. Chow party with her ridiculously fantastic body. Grrrr...



At the night's hottest party (yes, even hotter than the Oscars which were a bit of a snooze), the gold-ticket Vanity Fair event, islandistas Zoe Saldana (Puerto Rico and Dom. Rep.) and Rosario Dawson (Cuba/Puerto Rico) made appearances.

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Fay-Ann and Destra out front & islandistas at Oscar parties

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Bits & pieces - Machel's rant, Rihanna's statement and more...

So much has been going on these past few days - the Rihanna situation, Trinidad Carnival, New York Fashion Week, that it's hard to get it all in but we're trying!

First off, we have some behind the scenes pics (compliments E-Zone Entertainment - big ups to Lisa Wickham - that woman is everywhere) of Destra's upcoming Bacchanal music video.



 In other Destra-related news, islandistas would have noticed that she has teamed up this season with her former nemesis, Denise 'Saucy Wow' Belfon. Alison Hinds is also in the mix, as the three of them are on a song called Obsessive Winers. They are calling themselves the Three Ss - Saucy, Sassy (for Destra's song Sassiness) and Sexy.

However, in light of Destra and Denise's well-recorded cat fight a few years back, eyebrows might have been raised to see them performing together. However, both Destra and Denise have said that is all water under the bridge and that they are like sisters.

In an interview with Bajanfuhlife, Destra said:

 “The damage has been repaired....“Sometimes, as an artist, tensions run high and you tend to fall into a trap of competition. But that is history now…. You learn from your mistakes and move on.... We live like sisters.... We sleep at each other’s homes and sometimes eat from the same plate. That is how close we are."

Belfon concurred, adding:

"That is water under the bridge as far as I am concerned.... I think we had gone to the extreme. At that time, we were both hyper and were noted for not taking any nonsense. In any relationship, teeth and tongue must clash. That is all part of life. You live and you learn."

  And just as the ladies making up, the fellas getting into this beefing t'ing which is really so un-soca. Islandistas outside of Trinidad who were watching the Soca Monarch finals on Tempo last night may have heard Iwer George refer to a situation with Machel Montano and Shurwayne Winchester that went down at Alternative Concept 7  last weekend and ask the crowd if they feel Machel should apologise to Shurwayne. 

If, like us you were puzzled at first (seriously, where are the Trini gossip sites/blogs anyhow? We've been looking to little avail...), don't worry, here is what went down, courtesy of SourPuss at The Lime:





So ok! Saturday 14th February, 2009 at the Hasely Crawford National Stadium. The Alternative Concept 7, dubbed Heavenly Drums. However, immediately following a stellar performance by Shurwayne Winchester, Prestan, Mastamind, Maxi Priest & Y.O.U., I was witness to some not-so-heavenly behaviour by Mr. HD himself in the backstage area.  They were having a fantastic set in my opinion and I couldn't see anything that went wrong. During the performance Mr. HD was spotted having a time before his appearance on stage and all was well until one point in the set where the band started to play this popular dance/techno track. I can't remember the name now, but anyways. I stood observing as "de boy" stormed to the stage demanding that the performance be stopped.


At this point I was like, "Ok then! More bacchanal." So after the abrupt end to the Y.O.U. performance, I made my way to the backstage area to grab some refreshments and that's where the real show started. Mr. HD himself came storming demanding to see Mr. Winchester shouting, (and I quote) "Where Mr. Shurwayne Winchester? Where dat disrespectful p***y-hole?" He continued to hurl obscenities down the corridor until he finally caught up with the Y.O.U. head man. At that point he proceeded to verbally abuse his fellow bMobile endorser (and I quote again) "Dat is what yuh go do? Yuh go copy my f***in' ideas and do it before me? On my f***in' show? Yuh f***in' disrespectful! Yuh is ah disrespectful p***y-hole! Dat is what yuh go do? After I give yuh ah f***in' shot?!" He carried on with this for quite a couple minutes, yelling and cursing to Mr. Winchester's face, while the bigger man motioned to his band members to back off and leave Machel alone.Mr. Montano ended his rant saying "F***in' God will deal with allyuh!" One thing though, throughout his entire juvenile tantrum, he was smart enough to not lay a finger on his fellow artiste with his whole band standing there. Mr. Winchester showing true class, let him have his word until he was satisfied and simply gathered his troops and made his exit. 

Well... damn. All uh dat Machel? Fuh one little techno tune? It can't be that serious - you are Machel Montano after all, boss performer - Shurwayne's performance can't detract from yours. Moreover, he lucky Shurwayne tek it so calm because... umm... well Shurwayne coulda burst he tail, easy.

Anyhow, what is Carnival without a little commess? Onward!

Rihanna has been spotted in Los Angeles - she apparently left Bim late last week but is expected back soon. She has also released a statement thanking her fans for their support. It was short and to the point, saying only:

“At the request of the authorities, Rihanna is not commenting about the incident involving Chris Brown. She wants to assure her fans that she remains strong, is doing well, and deeply appreciates the outpouring of support she has received during this difficult time.”

Keep your head up, hon.

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Bits & pieces - Machel's rant, Rihanna's statement and more...

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Carnival coming!

Islandistas, it is that time of year again - as I logged on to the Trinidad Express site this morning I was feeling it! Their front page pic let you know that Carnival is definitely in the air. Of course, our fellow islandistas over at Trinidad Carnival Diary been feeling de Carnival feeling from when and they have lots of useful tips and advice over there where they breathe Carnival.

[caption id="attachment_497" align="aligncenter" width="321" caption="Photo credit: Curtis Chase for the Trinidad Express"][/caption]

Here at Islandista, we LOVE, love, LOVE Trinidad Carnival. Love it!

Unfortunately, we're in the middle of a recession so the likelihood of us making it down to TnT is slim to none - especially with the rampant eye-jooking going on by regional airlines these days. A few years back when we went to play mas, a ticket to TnT, even at Carnival time, was around US$150. When we went last summer, that same ticket was US$300-plus. In other words, more than TWICE as much!

These airline prices really crimping the islandista lifestyle - how can you island-hop, play mas from island to island, attend music festivals and holiday weekend events and watch cricket like a true islandista when LIAT and Bwee (ye ye Caribbean Airlines whatever) charging no less than US$250 for a plane ride that lasts as long as a maxi-taxi ride to town? Stupssseee...

Meanwhile, de eye-jookers are gloating that bookings are strong for them for Carnival. In an interview with the Express, CA CEO Phillip Saunders said:

"We have very strong bookings for Carnival, some flights are even fully booked. It shows whatever the economic situation is, people remain committed to traveling in the Carnival period."

Damn them. Still, do what you got to do islandistas. If I could squeeze out the vacation, I would squeeze out the money for Carnival too. Even in the midst of these hard times, yuh got to play mas - in fact, especially now.

Anyhow, we digress. CARNIVAL IS COMING! And we here at Islandista are determined to get into the vibe of it so any of you who are going to Carnival or living in Trinidad already have to make sure and help us.

The official launch of Carnival was Friday night and there were four big fetes  over the weekend to start the Carnival festivities -  the  St Francois All-Inclusive Fete,  the Soca in Moka All-Inclusive at Trinity College, the Blazing Soca Fire Fete put on by the Fire Services Association and the Amnesia New Inclusive.

In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing some of the Carnival band costumes, the music coming out of Carnival (which we found disappointing last year - hoping for better this year) and of course, reporting any suss and drama coming out Carnival!

Speaking of suss, we forgot to mention this one when we heard it. Apparently a big soca diva got a huge pay cheque for her New Year's Eve performance - the equivalent of ten grand per song! Unfortunately she only got to sing three songs at the swank NYE event at Barbados'  poshest 'platinum coast' resort before the dissatisfaction of the stoosh crowd forced management to ask her to roll out. tsk...

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Carnival coming!

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