YorickBrown
01-08-04, - 09:49 AM
I’ll try to be short on this one since a win of the New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade by the Saxons would no doubt be in honour of Christopher Moxey, the goatskin drummer who fell in the heart of battle. (IF WE GET IT)
Let’s make one thing clear: The Shell Saxon Superstars would not win the New Year’s Day parade due to any influence of controversy. We would win the parade simply because we would deserve it. No true Junkanoo fan can dispute the obvious fact that the Saxons went out on Bay Street on January 1, 2004 to perform our hearts out and shed the demons that were haunting us due to Christopher Moxey’s death. (For all those in doubt, I am going to broadcast the New Year’s Day parade on DaBahamianTing.com this weekend. A second look will definitely prove my point.)
Now that the matter of a POTENTIAL Saxon’s win has my voice on the matter, I must turn my attention to the drama of the Junkanoo parade’s location and the bleachers. My opinion on the matter is simple:
If you want to sit your bums on bleachers, GO TO SHIRLEY ST!
You heard that right. The matter of space has only come up because of the bleachers in the first place. They take up most of the space that is available on the streets and render the sidewalks as a limited passageway. All the organizers need to do is take those cumbersome pieces of metal and port them over to Shirley St. where there are several locations where they can erect those structures up to 3 stories high if they wish (in particular the parking lot areas opposite First Caribbean Bank and Zion Baptist). And the fact that you have to pay for one of the few undeniably Bahamian cultural events does bother me to no end.
Bay Street should be standing room only. I’ll say it again - Bay Street should be standing room only. Bahamians are getting far too lazy. Who comes to Junkanoo to sit down? The event is only two days out of the year. If standing for a couple of hours is a problem for you, that is okay – Take your bum over to Shirley St. where you belong :D. Leave the pure Junkanoo’ers in the heart and soul of where our forefathers stood many years before us. As a Junkanoo purist I would have to say that I want to be able to feel the Junkanoo beat coming up from the street, through the soles of my feet. BAHAMIANS TEND TO DISREGARD AND DISPLACE OUR CULTURAL HISTORY SO EASILY. What is wrong with our society?
Ok, I’ll calm down. I must say that the event was more organized than previous years, but I still do not entirely agree with the road that Junkanoo organizers are following. Remember, it will only get worse because we now have a generation who are growing up thinking that having bleachers at Junkanoo is a normal thing. The next step will be moving the locale permanently. And after that probably forgetting why the festival was started in the first place…
Let’s make one thing clear: The Shell Saxon Superstars would not win the New Year’s Day parade due to any influence of controversy. We would win the parade simply because we would deserve it. No true Junkanoo fan can dispute the obvious fact that the Saxons went out on Bay Street on January 1, 2004 to perform our hearts out and shed the demons that were haunting us due to Christopher Moxey’s death. (For all those in doubt, I am going to broadcast the New Year’s Day parade on DaBahamianTing.com this weekend. A second look will definitely prove my point.)
Now that the matter of a POTENTIAL Saxon’s win has my voice on the matter, I must turn my attention to the drama of the Junkanoo parade’s location and the bleachers. My opinion on the matter is simple:
If you want to sit your bums on bleachers, GO TO SHIRLEY ST!
You heard that right. The matter of space has only come up because of the bleachers in the first place. They take up most of the space that is available on the streets and render the sidewalks as a limited passageway. All the organizers need to do is take those cumbersome pieces of metal and port them over to Shirley St. where there are several locations where they can erect those structures up to 3 stories high if they wish (in particular the parking lot areas opposite First Caribbean Bank and Zion Baptist). And the fact that you have to pay for one of the few undeniably Bahamian cultural events does bother me to no end.
Bay Street should be standing room only. I’ll say it again - Bay Street should be standing room only. Bahamians are getting far too lazy. Who comes to Junkanoo to sit down? The event is only two days out of the year. If standing for a couple of hours is a problem for you, that is okay – Take your bum over to Shirley St. where you belong :D. Leave the pure Junkanoo’ers in the heart and soul of where our forefathers stood many years before us. As a Junkanoo purist I would have to say that I want to be able to feel the Junkanoo beat coming up from the street, through the soles of my feet. BAHAMIANS TEND TO DISREGARD AND DISPLACE OUR CULTURAL HISTORY SO EASILY. What is wrong with our society?
Ok, I’ll calm down. I must say that the event was more organized than previous years, but I still do not entirely agree with the road that Junkanoo organizers are following. Remember, it will only get worse because we now have a generation who are growing up thinking that having bleachers at Junkanoo is a normal thing. The next step will be moving the locale permanently. And after that probably forgetting why the festival was started in the first place…