FROM THE CHANNEL 7 NEWS NEWS ARCHIVES Smoky Mermaid Hosts Fundraiser for Child Victims of Hurricane Dean posted (November 6, 2007) On Thursday the Smoky Mermaid will host its annual benefit dinner for the Red Cross. The restaurant is hoping to raise $6,000 which it is expected that the Red Cross will use to help make Christmas merry for those children in the north who are still living with the after effects of Hurricane Dean. Angela Gegg is Smoky Mermaid’s manager and she told us how you can help. Angela Gegg, Smoky Mermaid “We do it every year. We’ve been working with the Red Cross annually so we feel its something we could do to help out the community. We are supplying the menu and the food and the menu of choice for the evening is going to be awesome. It’s a Cajun Creole style menu. Our guest chef for the event is Mr. Francis Gegg who was actually trained by Mr. Paul Perdum in Louisiana who is a fantabolous Cajun chef, a lot of people know about his cooking. We’re doing a French onion soup as a starter, spicy fish cakes, we’re doing a blacken fish with dirty Cajun rice which I know has Italian sausage and a bacon in it and we’re also doing veg, glazed plantains, all sorts of stuff. The Red Cross I know is doing a silent auction in the night to try to raise more funds as well. Its $75 a ticket and we’re having two dinner seatings – one will be at 7 and one will be at nine and it’s a ticket – its more a contribution. Support this worthy cause guys at home because we need as much as we can get. Christmas is coming up so I’m sure a lot of those people that suffered or that had detriments could use that help –especially this time of year. So instead of doing something “ Tickets are $75 and you can buy them at either the Red Cross or at Smoky Mermaid on Cork Street. Find this article at:
Category: Media
FROM THE CHANNEL 7 NEWS NEWS ARCHIVES Smoky Mermaid Hosts Fundraiser for Child Victims of Hurricane Dean posted (November 6, 2007) On Thursday the Smoky Mermaid will host its annual benefit dinner for the Red Cross. The restaurant is hoping to raise $6,000 which it is expected that the Red Cross will use to help make Christmas merry for those children in the north who are still living with the after effects of Hurricane Dean. Angela Gegg is Smoky Mermaid’s manager and she told us how you can help. Angela Gegg, Smoky Mermaid “We do it every year. We’ve been working with the Red Cross annually so we feel its something we could do to help out the community. We are supplying the menu and the food and the menu of choice for the evening is going to be awesome. It’s a Cajun Creole style menu. Our guest chef for the event is Mr. Francis Gegg who was actually trained by Mr. Paul Perdum in Louisiana who is a fantabolous Cajun chef, a lot of people know about his cooking. We’re doing a French onion soup as a starter, spicy fish cakes, we’re doing a blacken fish with dirty Cajun rice which I know has Italian sausage and a bacon in it and we’re also doing veg, glazed plantains, all sorts of stuff. The Red Cross I know is doing a silent auction in the night to try to raise more funds as well. Its $75 a ticket and we’re having two dinner seatings – one will be at 7 and one will be at nine and it’s a ticket – its more a contribution. Support this worthy cause guys at home because we need as much as we can get. Christmas is coming up so I’m sure a lot of those people that suffered or that had detriments could use that help –especially this time of year. So instead of doing something “ Tickets are $75 and you can buy them at either the Red Cross or at Smoky Mermaid on Cork Street. Find this article at:
It was delayed by two weeks but the carnival road march will rumble through the streets on Saturday afternoon. There are 5 junior and 7 senior bands participating – amounting to an estimated 1,000 revelers.
Carnival has never been this big and despite the two week delay, we did the rounds at mas camps last night and found the carnival fever at a pitch. Keith Swift Reporting, It was a street fest on McKay Boulevard last night as the 70 plus revelers from the Mahogany Masqueraders took over the street and partied as if carnival was last night. The group’s leader Nadia Avila says she has 75 revelers – the youngest is 4 and the oldest is 16. That is the biggest her group has ever been and she is confident of a win.
Nadia Avila, Leader – Mahogany Masqueraders “We are ready and we are doing some final touches on the costumes. That is basically what we are doing.” Keith Swift, What can we expect this year? Nadia Avila, “Something bigger, better, overall because the main theme for this year is much better and its something that everybody could enjoy. It’s a lot of and a lot of hard work. You have to love it to be in it.” Make that a lot of hard work for the designers working on the 75 costumes. While the revelers partied outside – designers such as Jacklyn Meighan were inside hard at work – gluing and stitching. She’s been at for three months. Jacklyn Meighan, Costume Designer “I will come on a daily basis. I will put in some time, two to three hours. Sometimes we are here until two in the morning.” Keith Swift, How many costumes have you made?
Jacklyn Meighan, “Numerous.” Keith Swift, I saw earlier that you had hurt your hand or something like that. Jacklyn Meighan, “Yeah it burns because the glue gun gets very hot sometimes and I suffered a lot of burns. I’ve been doing this for the past 5 years.” Keith Swift, Why do you do it? Jacklyn Meighan, “I love it.” Nadia Avila, “The joy for me is seeing the kids happy on that day and the way they dance, they do beautiful dancing and you can take anything and put on them and they enjoy that. The beauty for me is the kids. I love the kids and the look on their faces.” Two of those children are 14-year-old Melissa Williams and 11-year-old Claudia Martin. This will be Melissa’s fifth year in carnival and Claudia’s first. Both have spent months preparing for the road march. Melissa Williams, Mahogany Masqueraders “Well I prepared for carnival by practicing, running, and working out.” Keith Swift, My friend yuh di bust a sweat. You sure you’ll be ready for Saturday? Claudia Martin, Mahogany Masqueraders “Yes. I can handle it.” 19-year-old Samantha Soberanis has also spent months preparing. She will be one of the 40 revelers dancing for the Eternity Senior Mas Band. Samantha Soberanis, Eternity Mas Band “This is my first time in a senior group.” Keith Swift, You ready for carnival? Samantha Soberanis, “Of course. We work hard for this and we are just waiting for carnival morning come.” Keith Swift, What type of hard work? Samantha Soberanis, “You leave work and come to try and make costumes, you try and call everyone to come for their costumes and you still have a hard time finding money to make the costumes, you have to make several trips to Chetumal and back and it is still not finished. But carnival maaning come, we will be ready.” At Eternity’s Mas Camp on Ring Road the crowd was smaller but the energy was about the same. This is the group’s first year in carnival and Dorothy Williams is the bandleader. Dorothy Williams, Bandleader – Eternity Mas Band “We have like about forty something and everyday we are getting people. We just got two more tonight.” Keith Swift, So what will you guys be depicting? Dorothy Williams, “We will depict the sky; the moon, the sun, and the stars.” Keith Swift, Are all your costumes ready? Dorothy Williams, “Basically yes. Only some little finishing like lining and thing. We will finish. We will finish for Saturday.” And that is what it will all come down to for these groups: Saturday on Central American Boulevard. Mas camps continue tonight. J’ouvert is scheduled for Saturday morning at 4 and the road march is at 1 pm. Join Neil Hall, Angela Gegg and Linda Blease for coverage of the road march on Channel 7 beginning at 1.
When you think of music in Belize, jazz is certainly not the first thing that comes to mind. But if one legendary musician has his way, jazz will one day be as Belizean as Brukdown and Punta Rock. Janelle Chanona, Reporting On Friday night, the third annual Jazz Festival will take centre stage at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. Gerald “Lord” Rhaburn “Man for me, it’s like a dream coming true. I noh put this for one year; this is for all the time. Whether I get transfer or not, this wah still go on. It start small dah Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica and dem place have deh own jazz festival right, Bermuda. Belize have eh own jazz festival now. This is small, but I promise you it’s going to get bigger and the reason for this, is that we have what you call international jazz star abroad right.” Both Norman Ysaguirre and John Moody found musical inspiration when the Lord Rhaburn Combo dominated the local entertainment scene. Norman Ysaguirre, Trumpet “I love to entertain people.” Janelle Chanona “How do you feel when you are playing the trumpet?” Norman Ysaguirre “At first I feel excited, but once I get on stage and start to blow, I just blow, you know, and just play.” Janelle Chanona “So you go somewhere else?” Norman Ysaguirre “Yeah, I go somewhere else and I feel it and it’s good, it’s beautiful.” Janelle Chanona “What would you like to say to people about making sure that the young people get into this?” John Moody, Soprano Saxophone “Well this is what we here for, to let them know that this music is good and it’s like—jazz, people think about jazz like it’s something that you must run away from. It’s not that, jazz is a music that’s educational, it’s something you got to study and the more you study the more you get. And the kids them, for instance in school the kids that do music or play music, they are so much brighter than the other kids. Music opens their mind, make them think, cause it’s a thinking music. You can’t just play music, you have to think to do it.” Gerald “Lord” Rhaburn “But for all the jazz fans, I want you all to turn out so we could kept this thing alive. This dah no rap, dis dah jazz.” Tickets are twenty dollars general, forty reserve. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona. The Jazz Festival starts at nine on Friday night. Other international performers are expected to arrive in Belize tomorrow and include two Japanese pianists. Other entertainers on stage during the show will include poet Angela Gegg and comedian Dillon Jones. http://www.channel5belize.com/
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FROM THE CHANNEL 7 NEWS NEWS ARCHIVES Maggie Turner’s ‘Made In Belize’ posted (July 23, 2007) In ten years 200 exhibitions have been opened, 75 publications have been printed, and hundreds of artists have been featured at the Image Factory. This morning the factory launched what just might its definitive publication. Keith Swift has more. Keith Swift Reporting, Its entitled: Made in Belize and the book contains artworks from 33 contemporary Belizean artists. From Richard Holder’s epic ‘Last Supper,’ George Gabb’s historic ‘Sleeping Giant,’ and Angela Gegg’s ‘Mixed Media.’ Angela Gegg, Featured Artist “This piece was actually my 2004 Subconscious Works of Art Exhibit. One of my buyers owns it. It is a gigantic piece. It is very big and pretty much represents me as an abstract, surrealist artist.” The book, which was released in three covers, was compiled by Maggie Turner. She says it began as a class project 4 years ago. Maggie Turner, Author “It started with a paper that I wrote four years ago and I interviewed nine of the artists for that paper and then decided that what good would the paper do for Belize; Belize needed something a little more tangible, a resource, a book. So I came up with that idea to come back and do more research for something a little bit more complex with Yasser. He invited me back for the summer to start working on the book.” These 33 images from 33 artists were chosen from among a pool of hundreds but Turner says making the selections were easy. Maggie Turner, With each artist I brought my camera and just took a lot of different photographs and picking the portrait of them was pretty easy and then I just really picked which works struck an interest with me.” And apart from picture – the book also details a “whose who” in art in Belize. Maggie Turner, “There is a picture of each artist and a picture of each of their work so its nice to be able to put a name to a face. But the text is the important part. All these artists have such amazing stories about how they started drawing or painting and how what they are working on right now. So I think the text is the most important part.” Turner worked closely on the project with Image Factory Curator Gilvano Swasey. Gilvano Swasey, Curator – Image Factory “This whole book is a very unique experience and it’s a great combination to anything you have in your home, even if you don’t collect art and you just love it. It shows how creative we are.” For Image Factory boss Yasser Musa, Made in Belize is more than just a book of pictures – it is an important piece of Belizean cultural history. Yasser Musa, Image Factory “The book is an important record for Belize. Since our independence the role of the artist has become an important one in the identity building of our nation. Our national identity is constantly under attack and the role of the artist in 2007 is even more significant today. This publication adds to the image of Belize. It catalogues and documents cultural workers doing their thing.” The book is available widely for $25. Find this article at: http://www.7newsbelize.com/archive/07230707.html
As the popularity of poetry grows, so does the number of local enthusiasts who will no doubt welcome the new C.D. launched today. The disc samples the work of some of the best already in the business and newcomers hoping to make a name for themselves. This morning News Five’s Kendra Griffith enjoyed a preview of the performances. Angela Gegg, Poet [Reading Poem] “I saw it proud and I say it loud, just listen to me cause I’m a massive unstoppable force. Take the time, hear me now and listen to my voice because I’m from this land of the free, that’s B to the E to the L to I to the Z and E. So not because of the fact that I am blonde, beautiful and Caucasian, that **** don’t make me not from this nation because I’m one hundred percent Belizean.” Kendra Griffith, Reporting One Hundred Percent Belizean is just one of the ten poems on the C.D., “Spoken Word from Belize Vol. 1” which was released this morning at the Image Factory. Yasser Musa, Executive Producer, Spoken Word From Bz “In December 2006, this spoken word poetry compilation was conceived by the poets Angela Gegg and Leroy Grandmaster Young, who started a show, the G2 show on Positive Vibes Radio.” Angela Gegg “Well we’ve been doing the show on the radio station and we’ve had numerous different guests on and so many people have so much to say; everybody’s voice needs to be heard. So we all sat down one day and it just kind of just came out. We said why don’t we do a C.D.? Invite some of people that have been on the show and let them express themselves with their poetry, their feelings, their writings, their emotions.” Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young, Poet [Reading Poem] “I see many face of different race been displace due to malignorant haste to manipulize the little space, disgrace. I see the majority living in poverty, becoming their own enemy while the minority are upper society living lavishly, wealthy and healthy. Everything is just for awhile. When I’m in pain how can I smile? Do you see what I see?” Aside from Gegg and Young, the disc also features a newcomer named Gentle Giant and well-known poets Kalilah Enriquez, Dan Man, and Adele Ramos. Adele Ramos, Poet “So He Should Have Penned It really is saying that before you go and hurt somebody, pick up a pen, write a poem, because all of us can do it really, there is nothing really different about us than you. Just as we can write, you can write. You just need to challenge yourself.” Angela Gegg “There’s a few other artists that we would love to have involved in future projects so we’ll get them involved definitely but for the first one I think we got a great set of people and the variety of what’s on there is awesome.” Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young [Reading Poem] “Tomorrow may never come, could never be. Tomorrow is uncertainty. Today I’m alive, kicking and healthy. Tomorrow deh could have, right now, today, dah fi we. Tomorrow we wah wait and see, until tomorrow. I say later will be greater.” [crows] Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five. Spoken Word from Belize Vol. 1 is available from the artists and at the Image Factory for fifteen dollars.
http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=18487
FROM THE CHANNEL 7 NEWS NEWS ARCHIVES The Spoken Word, Celebrity Edition posted (May 9, 2007) The experts say poetry was made to be read more than spoken but today a new disc was released which hopes to challenge that notion. To coincide with poetry month, the Image Factory Art Foundation has released a compilation of spoken word poems from Belize’s most well known poets. The projected is spearheaded by Angela Gegg and the Grandmaster who host the G2 Poetry Show on Positive Vibes Radio. Today they told us why the spoken word is where it’s at right now. Khalilah Enriquez, Poet “There are two different types of poetry. There is poetry that is intended to be read and there is poetry that is intended to be heard. When I write I both types of poetry. Some poems you don’t get the full essence of it by reading it on paper. When you perform it, you realize that certain words are meant to be emphasized, there are certain breaks that should be taken at certain places. You get a better sense and feel of the poem.” Angela Gegg, Poet “You can read it on paper and perceive it in one way and maybe get one way from it, you don’t really understand or feel the emotions that the poet is to trying to express and like what they’re feeling. You read it and you may perceive it as something completely different as it is. When we put it on CD, we incorporate music, we have different tempos in our voice, different tones – the emotions and the passions of the poetry really comes out.” Grandmaster, Poet “Really is a big problem for a lot of our Belizean people, no disrespect, but it is more effective when they listening to it, listening to it and feel it and digest it and so and its 2007, stepping into the other millennium and high tech and all that so you got to present what is presentable at the moment. We have some poets, they have their style, but it is their way. It starts from heart Jules.” Khalilah Enriquez, “Poetry reflects culture, reflects what people feel at the time, it reflects sentiments about politics, it reflects sentiments about violence, it reflects sentiments about love, and it is a way of capturing a moment in time. It is a way of capturing the expressing of a people. A hundred years from now, you look at history books, you might look at newspaper clippings, but if you really want to get the feeling of how people felt at a moment in time, you can look back at the poetry.” The disc called spoken word poetry from Belize Vol.1 features ten tracks from those poets as well as Adele Ramos and newcomer Gentle Giant. Find this article at: http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=5141&frmsrch=1
Angela Gegg is the new star of the G2 show on Positive Vibes Radio, along with her co-host the Grandmaster. The pair brings an entirely new vibe to the airwaves. It’s a show that has never been done before as the pair put a unique twist on poetry, the spoken word, rhyme and rhythm – verse will never be the same. At 7pm every Thursday’s you hear Angela’s intro the show with a rhythmical piece, where the hype begins, “…it’s a hip-hop generation show; in case ya’ll didn’t know; to promote; the spoken word; to re-arrange; the use of verbs; to uplift artists of out time; past, future and present; those who shine; and ultimately; drop lyrics in a rhyme… It’s the Grandmaster and me; the A to the G; just keeping it real; bringing it to you; genuine and true; this show called the G2; right here on Positive Vibes; 90.5”. The promo gives an idea of the wild things that will come. It’s obvious that Miss Gegg is used to pioneering the way – the trend-master in the entertainment/art world in Belize. For example her trailblazing series, “Cooking with the Smoky Mermaid”, was the very first live televised series (that wasn’t a newscast) done on weekly basis. The show paved the way for other televised shows to follow, starting a new era of Belizean television.
And after being refreshed by the waters, it was back out into the streets. As we mentioned, the J’Ourvet was only the primer for the road march which began at 1 pm from Ceasar Ridge Road. There were four junior and three senior bands.
The road march was aired live right here on Channel Seven with hosts Neil Hall and Angela Gegg.
Here are some highlights. Keith Swift Reporting,
On Saturday the carnival bands got into position on Caesar Ridge Road for the road march. The march hadn’t started yet but the judging had already began. Road March Judge, “This is the road march section of the judging and so we are looking at punctuality, quality of the costume, appearance and design, and its creativity overall, organization, grouping in sections, and overall impact in the organization of the group.” Including her King Bambino, Marina Welcome’s Jump Street Posse had 60 dancers spread out in three sections. Welcome was feeling confident.
Marina Welcome, Jump Street Posse
“I have a little feeling. I don’t like to brag but I have a little feeling. From I am seeing, I think I will take home something.” And while the juniors stood politely, even nervously, in line – the seniors had already started to party. Reveler #1, “Oh I feel so great. I have been dancing carnival for sixteen years…I will make it to the Marion Jones and I will enjoy myself and if I live to see next year, I am going again.” As is the tradition – the road march was led by the Minorettes Marching Band. Video Montage of Carnival Road March. See it: On Demand First place in the senior category went to Erotic Mas Band. Mother Nature’s placed second followed by Fantaxia. For the juniors, Mahogany Masqueraders came out on top. Black Pearl followed in second place and defending champs Jump Street Posse placed third.
The senior king competition was held at 11 am on Saturday and that was won by erotic which also won senior queen. We can’t tell you what any of the prizes are because the cash strapped Carnival Committee is still searching for funds to cover the prizes.