Submitted by Napolean Bonaparte

soca_on_the_hillThink it was Ian Webster the calypsonian  who first penned that Barbados is quickly becoming a nation of shows. Why almost every fortnight now, one could hear of regional artists especially from the Land of many rivers and the Land of Iwor who seems to love  a regular weekend trek to this Land of austerities and quick money to be made, bungie-ing. Somehow, not many of our troubadours repatriate with equal fervor.

Bajans as always,  are only too willing to accommodate and pay dearly to hear “put your rag in the air and  jump and wave.” So why should we be complaining, after all Bajans’ new money is being circulated (passing from land to land), Vat is being collected, at 17.5% and most of all much needed spin off employment is being generated from these flings. What about the more farinaceous, the forex? It is a well know fact that these entertainers often ask that they be paid in US currency for ease of transport and whatever else. More so, how about this new silage mentality now well entrenched in the party hearty of spend, spend, spend, even borrow if must?

Very often attendance at these shows  go way beyond a $100 ticket, VIP $300, especially if one has to get their locks ’palm rolled’ and a snazzy new outfit to match. Don’t talk about if you are a female. We looking at in addition to the costs of her financier, nails, hairdo, shoes and  of course ‘big drinks’ money that is a must-have to ‘max out the occasion. We talking about $1,500.00 easy  depending where from the social stratum you belong. Taking note from a certain PS who recently commented in one of her recent free melodic dispatches, this administration is looking on. Eagerly too one can assume given that the Budget coming sometime soon after all the festivities. Iwor, Bungie and the F_in Lyons beware, new washers could very well soon be placed in the green-back tap.

Topping Big Spends will be the Rhianna Show on November 2nd.  If the spend at her last gig is anything to go by, the average middle class female shall be spending $1,500 and her accomplice $900 EZ.

46 responses to “Barbados Has Become a Nation of Shows”


  1. Please note sister blog BajanFlick was updated today.


  2. Why would you expect show to stop when consumption behaviour has become embedded at the core? It is what defines us.

  3. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS

  4. @ If you traverse Barbados by night from Wednesday until the wee hours of Monday foreday morning you will see a new spectacle of soft slavery that is now firmly embedded in our landscape – de parties dem.

    The ploy of entertainment is in fact one of history’s milestones that comes right before the descent of the enemy, for when a nation is in a drunken stupor, when calamity strikes and the enemy over-runs the gates, they are at a loss for two reasons (i) the invading armies have them spellbound and (ii) the stupor of the libations and the fumes of the marijuana and cocaine have them totally entranced and disconnected with the reality.

    Enter the enemy of the nation, Hennessy, Banks, Stag, Guiness Hypa Dogg dennnn all these spawn of the new massa who, much like the Code Noire of the French King Louis, understand how to perpetuate the enslavement of the peeples, SINE THE CHAINS and MANACLES.

    6 Banks for $10 dollars, get here before 12 midnight and the first 100 women are free, happy hours, two for the price of one, and the most insulting advertising ploy for the women, “which one uh wunna cud wuk up de best” who then proceed to skin up dem pokerts and show you what they had for breakfast.

    Sorry, i have insulted the delicacies of the “Saved in the Blood of the Lamb” among you again and shall soon be banned for these words which i have uttered instead of “praying for you all when de madam entrap me to go “shepherd these lambs that have gone astray”

    Life has come full circle.and in a manner befitting the first recorded slave owner in the mighty USofA (where it CONTINUES TO BE LEGAL to kill a black man, because he is chattel), we find ourselves 400 years later, back in slavery, but with one variation, this time black men (and women), the ones who run the Guiness, Hypa Dog and *** half hours perpetuate this hated slavery on our own.using a different name – entertainment

    How many of you know that the first instance of a recorded slave owner in America was a black man?

    Google Anthony Johnson, negro from modern day Angola.

    From dust thou art, unto dust shalt thou return, we cam from slavery and unto said slavery we are doomed to return ruled now by 95% of the new black massa.

    See why some of us, sage Miller, Bush Tea, Old Onions use the words brass bowls when we describe these shallow brained leaders and the fact that we are where we are?

    “Dring a rum and tumble down, drink a rum, it is Xmas morning”

    Inebriated, and intoxicated, young men shall dream dreams and old men shall see visions a la cocaine marijuana and rum.

    The old negro spirituals assuaged the torment that massa inflicted on our enslaved bodies but we have replaced that cadence with a tune, fashionned in our image and likeness, and like dumb sheep we wuk up to it and skin out we private parts to it evey day.

    We were soldiers once and we too did the gyrations so we too must take blame for not “training up the tree in the way it should go, lest in its old age, it depart from it.”

  5. Michael Allamby Avatar
    Michael Allamby

    Just saying. Analyzed in economic terms, the entertainment industry now comprises numerous major sub-sectors in the informal economy, which is now the the support plank straddling and sustaining the lives of many small entrepreneurs.
    Please leave it alone!


  6. Piece……….funny you should be saying all of the above this morning, i was on a US blog yesterday with some white racist bigots, i had to spit some fire at them and let them know who is what, educate them……….we also have to educate the masses of asses parading around as black folk.


  7. fun and entertainment. a part of caribbean life. if you asked me. this is what this economy needs more of as a boost to reenergize the Tourism Industry Presenting the island as one for fun and relaxation for those who have to endure the rigours of a stressful life in international countries, Hell Yes the island needs more of it Not Less . Where there is Money the lifeline of an economy grows.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    BTW WELL! WELL! why u have to talk sh..t so early in the mawning…….


  8. ac…..the chronic idiot, just be happy you have a brain limited though it is to type something.

  9. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Large and small of it …Bajans DON’T LIKE THEIR OWN…..Check Chobblopot (the finale spectacular of our LOCAL:festival)…..every year an imported artist from T@T Montana…as a crowd please-er….The Ranch newly opened $100 a ticket….a competition Outrageous in Red….Male artists .v. Female artists…guess how many female artists from BIM were on the team? Mind ya we women sound better than most and get less pay…Bajans need to change their mind set….


  10. We are known as the party capital of the Caribbean,
    The Gayest capital of the Caribbean and always denying it,
    The most educated idiots of the Caribbean,
    The most arrogant fools of the Caribbean,
    The most donkey hair wearing capital of the Caribbean,
    The most expensive island in the Caribbean and the world,
    The most lying peoples in the Caribbean claiming no corruption, where a PM can call a well known embezzler his friend.
    The amputee capital in the Caribbean and the world (even Iraq and Afghanistan comes in 2nd and 3rd).
    The most tiefing Lawyers in the Caribbean,
    The slowest courts in the Caribbean,
    The most silent government in the history of the Caribbean
    Having a Fakespear for a PM,
    Having a lying porcine featured MOF
    What do we have?
    We ain’t got FOI!


  11. The Biggest Show of all is in the Parliament of Barbados……


  12. Did you see Ricky Jordan’s article today? A true reflection of our society. To add insult to injury see the advertisement on page 30 of the Nation. 3 Trinis, 2 jamaicans and a St. Lucian. Where is the Bajan?

  13. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @David, Well Well Old Onions and Piece. If I remember from way back, we never used to have entertainment around this time and we lamented the fact that during the summer many tourists did not come to the island. remember when hotels used to close for the summer? Now we have entertainment that brings in people and during which time the economy expands. What would you rather the people do at this time? There are many small businesses and small hotels, households etc that profit from this time. the money that is spent on shows circulates and the economy keeps turning ovr. Why not join in the fun and spend some money yourselves. Add to the GDP.


  14. Alvin………..how are you doing?…………i don’t have a problem with entertainment, the government is the one who cries out for forex yet every week they bring in foreign artistes who take out forex, then they should not be complaining…………….in the 70’s and 80’s people were entertained by local bands with the occasional foreign artistes and were entertained. Now they bring in all the garbage that is now an excuse for music, with occasional good musicians from outside, but forex leaves the island, they cannot have it both ways………..To be honest Alvin, i get more bang for my buck in Trinidad and don’t have to put up with rude, surly customer reps at the gas stations and stores, i will stick with Trinidad they seem to appreciate people more and know how to treat caribbean people with respect. I still pass through Bim, however, but for a very short stay.

  15. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins | July 22, 2013 at 7:02 PM |
    “What would you rather the people do at this time? There are many small businesses and small hotels, households etc that profit from this time. the money that is spent on shows circulates and the economy keeps turning ovr. Why not join in the fun and spend some money yourselves. Add to the GDP.”

    Is this the same Alvin Cummins that blindly supported the DLP in its arrant nonsense in opposing the BLP proposal of a $90 million stimulus package by way of putting money in people’s pockets when the foreign reserves were much, much more healthy than they are now?

    Man/boy, explain yourself even it means explaining the difference between a $90 million stimulus package and one comprised of $600 MILLION.

  16. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Alvin
    Man I am confused….either you are loosing all senses of judgement or you just set out to OPPOSE the Miller,, Well Well and yours truly at all occasions.So what you saying now…that we can afford the forex drain and we should shut up, do nothing and enjoy ourselves while we at it? By the way how will this add to the GDP? Alvin you seem to be doting or you forgetting which side of the fence to launch this attack…..nxt time ask ac first for directions.
    Look no one is against having some artists at Crop Ova time…by all means but this jump n wind madness continues ALL THRU the year…and for years now…ask yourself how come Bajan artists are unable to do the same in their country….Is it that our artist are not as good as theirs?….many of our artist have to go to Miami Germany, Stockholm, and the USA for gigs….as it is not that ez for them to be that successful in their neighbors back door.. AGAIN ask yourself why…Bajans need to wake up to these facts….


  17. look onions just don’t upset the apple cart . so we have a problem with barbadian artist not getting action out of these gigs.home drum beats first, so what . sit around and do nothing. because of in house politics in the entertainment industry . no one group should stop others from beneftting. because of in house politics and all the mess that goes along in the entertainment industry. why should the economy suffer because of a few,.the music industry have a problem and so does the economy and .the economy takes precedent above everything else.
    nobody got time to sit around and wait for the industry to figure their problems out, all this is nothing new ,

  18. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Good grief……either Alvin Cummings is ac’s brother or they drinking the same koolaid… Entertainers politics nuh .what a load of crap…..Talk to Biggie Irie when he won his contest in T&T from among Caribbean participants ask him about the local response…
    .I bet your apple cart in this instance is the $80 Mil your people hope to make this Crop Ova…..and your job is to see that their is nothing negative on this blog to stop it from materializing….true to form Alvin.


  19. pnions like I say that is nothing new! and the beat goes on!

  20. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    The Royal Baby

    Today 22nd July, the world waited for the birth of the royal child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. Crowds gathered outside the hospital, where the Duchess was admitted to deliver her first born child. There is media frenzy in the immediate vicinity of the hospital, throughout the British Isles and all over the world. The best hospital had been chosen and a team of well trained and competent nurses and doctors had the coveted privilege of delivering this Royal Child; a boy; a prince; heir to the Throne. The medical personnel on hand shall never forget this day. This shall give them fame for years to come and they will remind their children at their breakfast table that they were in attendance when this child was born. Though many babies have been and shall be born today, they shall never be counted by the world as important as this Royal Child; though their parents may inform them when they are of age that they had the coveted distinction of being born on the same day as this Prince. Gifts of all kinds have been given and promised to the Royal Child. The parents of this Royal Child shall be showered with universal praise and adoration and the media will closely follow the life and development of this Prince. Conception and delivery are both divine Miracles and whether the child is born in the remote hinterlands or in the comforts of a Royal Palace, it is a biological testimony of God’s power and process.

    Let me take you to the birth of another Royal Child. The greatest Royal Child ever to be born. Let us go to Bethlehem and let me introduce you to young virgin name Mary and to a man by her side named Joseph. They are from Nazareth, a city of poor reputation. Such was its reputation that someone asked the question “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Or “Can a Royal Child come out of Nazareth?” This young virgin is pregnant; she is carrying a Royal Child in her womb. A virgin, you ask? Yes a virgin. One day an Angel said to her “And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call His Name JESUS. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David and He shall reign over the House of Jacob forever and of His Kingdom there shall be no end” Lu.1:31-33. So here we are at Bethlehem. Here we meet Mary and Joseph her husband. They have travelled the dusty roads from Nazareth. With such a child in her womb one would have thought that she would be given the choicest accommodation in Bethlehem but instead we read “ and she brought forth her first-born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE IN” LU.2:7. What a travesty of social justice! First there was no room for Him in the Inn and secondly his first crib was a feeding trough. Let me remind you that while Britain and the rest of the world have welcomed with joy the birth of this new Prince, Herod’s world surely did not welcome the birth of God’s Royal Child. He tried to kill Him. Mt.2:13. So let us see some marked distinctions.

    1. Britain’s Prince was born a sinner… …………….Jesus was born sinless” Lu.1:31-37

    2. Britain’s Prince was born of affluent parents…….Jesus was born of poor parents: Lu.2:24

    3. Britain’s Prince has earthly riches………………..Jesus was rich but made Himself poor 2Cor.8:9

    4. Britain’s Prince was born a Prince………………..Jesus was born King: Mt. 2:2

    5. Britain’s Prince was born at a hospital……………Jesus was born in a stable: Lu.2:7

    6. Britain’s prince shall have V.I.P visits…………….Jesus was visited by Shepherds: Lu.2:15-16

    7. Britain’s Prince has a Palace………………………Jesus owned no earthly home. Mt. 8:20

    8. Britain’s Prince needs a Saviour………………….Jesus is the Saviour: Lu.2:10

    9. Britain’s Prince shall rule in time………………….Jesus has a permanent Throne Lu.1:32-33

    10. Britain’s prince shall head one Church…………Jesus is Head of the Church: Col.1:18

    11: Britain’s Prince was born to live…………………Jesus was born to die Mk.10:45

    This contrast needs no explanation but is it not amazing that in spite of being so divinely and distinctly different that the Lord Jesus could be so despised in this domain he has made? If Jesus was born today, there would be no media and social frenzy for Him as we see for Britain’s Prince. He would be born in obscurity as He was then. He would be just as despised and rejected as He was the first time. Man’s heart has not changed and so the world has not changed. One things is sure and that is, the Lord Jesus shall return to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev.19:16 and that every knee shall bow and ever tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that includes every Prince and Princess President and Prime Minister; every King and Queen; every Priest and Pope. Phil. 2:10-11.

    In the mean time we thank God for bringing this little Prince into the world and pray for His growth and development in this world and that at a tender age He will come to know the Lord Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Let us also pray that his parents will also know the Lord as their Saviour, as queen Victoria did many years ago.


  21. Man GP you does come and spoil a good lime. Who the hell want to hear bout yuh Jesus God man? There is a time and a place for everything and YOU of ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW BETTER! Stupse!


  22. islandgirl you forget obseity barbados


  23. A Fakespear
    I love that
    Going Forward , this is the name I will use


  24. GP………..in the US and other places and i agree, the latest addition to the house of windsor is seen as nothing more than another welfare rat born to the house of civil servants who have been nothing more than parasites and welfare rats to the world at large for centuries and british taxpayers who have to pay for the upkeep of buckingham palace, a colossal burden, welfare freeloaders who spend their whole lives doing nothing and getting paid for it, again i tend to agree.


  25. A very large portion of brits are rightly upset by all the pomp and crap.
    ____________________________________________

    “Pardon my frustrations, but I feel like venting some of them right now. I live in England at the moment. Every single day I hear people complaining about the Monarchy and how corrupt they are, while the British media tells people in other countries that ‘we are proud to still have one of the longest reigning monarchy’s in history.’ Those are LIES. They DO NOT speak for most Brits just like the American media does not speak for most Americans.

    Even knowing that, I still find it amazing how the British media and Government LOVE to bitch and complain about some people being ‘benefit scroungers’ for getting a little financial assistance from the taxpayer purse. Meanwhile, they act like a bunch of sycophants with the Royals and have no problem flashing their extravagant, taxpayer funded lifestyle in front of millions of people that can barely even afford food right now. Even if you negate the widespread corruption for a moment, the Royals are FAR WORSE scroungers than ALL the people that claim benefits COMBINED. (Including the ones that sign up fraudulently) And yet, people keep obsessing over them because they wish they had the same luxurious lifestyle. Who cares about the fact that yet another leech on our society has been born into their inbred bloodline?! Why the hell should we care about their baby, while the people they control slaughter hundreds of children weekly overseas? I don’t know about you, but I’m so sick of this crap. It’s time to ditch the monarchy, their hierarchy and the rest of their bullshit system. ”

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=563625963694553&set=a.434569209933563.103142.432632306793920&type=1

  26. Polly wants a Pit Bull Avatar
    Polly wants a Pit Bull

    Who gives a drivel about a baby from a monarchy that exploited from Asia minor to Europe. He probably will be doing like rest of the family come another 20 years from now.Who can forget Lady Diana and Prince Fergi’s en sungs.Dynasty my bot bot people who believe they not ordinary but rich as hell by those being ordinary.

  27. Colonel Buggy Avatar

    Pieceuhderockyeahright!!! | July 22, 2013 at 4:47 AM |
    @ If you traverse Barbados by night from Wednesday until the wee hours of Monday foreday morning you will see a new spectacle of soft slavery that is now firmly embedded in our landscape – de parties dem.
    ………………………………………………………………………….
    And what makes Bruggadung Johnson think that after all of this early ,long long weekend -end partying that Bajans have time to mix more that a couple pints of paint in is factory,and in general be more productive in industries island wide. Trinidadians, like Samaroos and others, have the best ideas for new industries in Barbados.

  28. Colonel Buggy Avatar

    Roverp | July 22, 2013 at 8:06 AM |
    The Biggest Show of all is in the Parliament of Barbados……
    …………………………………………………
    Should that not be The Biggest No Show ?


  29. @ DJ on Brass Tacks

    Interesting point put forward on Brass Tacks….a local entertainer working at
    Cohobblopot for $83,000 BDS. whereas a regional artist for $30,000 US in contrast……do tell us more Dennis Johnson…..in BIm ? ….come again breds


  30. @GP

    Excellent! ( and absolutely true)


  31. blacks folks at least the newer generation don’t worship them kings and queens no more, look they even have their own black jesus .all this pomp and pageantry when millions of people are going hungry I find insulting. when these people show up on my TV I quickly change the channel..

  32. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    @ Silly Thee:
    Yes Sir/Madam; the information I received quoted a Bajan artiste receiving BD$ 80,000.00 for a Cohobblopot appearance last year. The caller made reference to a foreign artiste receiving $40,000.00 [he did not state the currency]. So I posed the question: If a foreign artiste received US20,000 – I support his argument about forex leaving. But if a local artiste did receive $80,000.00, then home drums did beat first!
    p.s. and it was Fireworks …. not Brasstacks [just keeping my appearances separate]

  33. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    @ Silly Thee:
    You may also enquire as to the fee paid Shontelle [a Bajan] for her appearance at Cohobblopot.


  34. @ DJ

    Shontelle yes is a bajan so is Rihanna and.both ARE international.One would have believed we were talking of artists like Mikey and Bag and TC if you see what I mean.If Shontelle got $83,000 .v. $ 40,000 for “the F_in Lyons”much more understandable.The norm bout here though, is the on par regional artist gets more.

  35. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    @Silly Thee: It was NOT Shontelle, nor Rihanna. The artiste was MALE!
    and BTW, I am not in favor of the scale used to measure local vs foreign artistes anyway.


  36. DJ
    You got me…..fellow readers help a fellow here,who was the major local act last year at the Cohobblopot that DJ is so silent about ( and for good reason)..anybody? DJ the scale is a reality as you dun know. Mike now had some serious gigs in Qtar, yet he is not placed on the scale of a Shontelle…do you agrove?

  37. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    @Silly Thee: I believe an artiste should [note the word] a fee commensurate with his or her appeal. So if Mikey can get an audience of 20,000 to pay $100.00 each to see him perform … pay him accordingly. However, artistes usually [note word again] get what they [or their management] negotiate. Or sometimes what they accept from a promoter. So the artiste with the more skillful negotiator as manager, gets the bigger purse; or the artiste whom the promoter feels will draw a larger crowd, is made a more generous offer. That’s business. So the question is: who [in the promoter’s opinion] draws the larger crowd in Qatar; Mikey or Shontelle?
    Dunno.

  38. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    should read “earn a fee or be paid a fee commensurate ….”


  39. Dennis Johnson (I am fearless)

    Always ’bout here. Why he don’ do more to advertise what has been happening ’bout here for more than half of a decade ..? I for one could use a hell of a lot more local input. These overseas ppl getting me tired now (… practically a campaign of wishful thinkers), but with a WIDER tap-in, David, the academic deviant that he is, would actually be enabled as being part of the “dream come true” batch of misfits .. (which actually includes me … but wah ..)


  40. DJ
    Such is the way it should be, however, we all know how it works around here esp. @ Crop Over time and with the NCF. Artists begin on a pre-set scale regardless of who is their manager. Think TC or a Sir Ruel could demand $100,000 on a Cohobblopot gig? (even if they had Estein
    Vesse).

  41. Dennis Johnson Avatar
    Dennis Johnson

    @Silly Thee: sadly, no!


  42. Barbados has become a nation of dumb ass selfish people with so much pride they don`t even smell their own stinking fart. Too busy getting drunk, watching car racing, partying and cutting show with nuff bling


  43. TriniBajan our stinking fart is harboring YOUR dumb–ass .Yes we are suckers welcoming all like you wid open arms. But rest assured if I were representative of ALL Bajans, all wunna so would be sent packing to Crepe Junction on the next express.


  44. these shows are a rip off and drunken ,evil ,wickedness,may the lord make it rain on each one.the music is plain disguising and lyrics sexual and morel less.


  45. not to mention noise pollution that goes on pestering and not allowing decent people to sleep.if i had a rocket launcher.ha-ha

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