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All set for Rise to the occasion DJ’s clash on Sunday at Umbrella Resort

Twenty three DJ’s are carded to compete for $200,000 winner take all cash prize, the winners trophy and one year bragging rights and  Guyana’s number one Deejay at the Umbrella Resort on Sunday.

But according to promoter Serettee McAllister aka DJ Face there will also be prizes and trophies for the second place finisher and the most consistent DJ while a Mr. Hype will also be crowned.

This publication understands that show time is 16:00hrs but all Deejays are scheduled to arrive at the Umbrella Resort by 13:00hrs, barring which they face elimination from the competition once it gets started.

Eliminations will be done in each round depending on the amount of Deejays in the competition while the emcees are DJ Bevaughn out of stereo Sonics and DJ Gringo of Slingerz.

Round one dubbed anything goes allows each Deejay to play for four minutes and any one who plays back a tune or use of profanity will be eliminated.

In round two the focus will be on consistency in juggling making allowance for each Deejay to play at least four different genres of music during a three minutes period for each DJ. The winner will take home a trophy and a cash prize but it is also an elimination round.

Mr. Hype will be the main focus of round three through which each Deejay will play one song and the one who gets the most forward will receive a cash prize and a trophy and again there will be some elimination.

For round four the women will take the Deejay spotlight and will each be given two minutes to prove themselves the best and elimination will be done.

Round five is a remembrance tribute round that will feature the deejays spinning the music of deceased artistes for two minutes each and another elimination will occur.  The final round is the hyped famous tune for tune clash and each Deejay will play four selections to determine the first, second and third place finishers in the competition.

The list of deejays for the show include Slata, Big Head, Fire House slata, Junior,  Chappy, Moses, Turner, Father Moey, Delon, David Hype, McGregor, Stone, Tyson, Deckie, Famous, Aguard, Magnum, Gaddkid, Long John, Selctor David,  Cheddie and Killer.

Staged by the Full-Bloom entertainment group headed by McAllister the event is sponsored by GT&T, ANSA McAl, Giftland, F&T designs, K&R Auto Spares, White Castle and Wind Jammers as well as HJTV.

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18-year-old finds largest cash amount in Merry Mansion

$1.132M hidden in Manion for next search

Ranole Bourne, age 18, of Durban Street Wortmanville missed a few hours of his prom night last week but has more than 100,000 reasons to celebrate nonetheless. He was one of five who were selected in the first batch to search the Merry Mansion for $1Million cash and managed to find seven envelopes.

In those envelopes his cash totaled $146,000. As the person who found the most cash he qualifies to be in the Merry Mansion for another search next week. A exhausted but beaming Bourne said: “The search was kinda tricky because it was first time search but next week I will be finding much more.” This was minutes before heading off to prepare for his prom. The Richard Ishmael graduate gained passes in seven subjects at the 2009 Caribbean Examinations Council.

Other cash finders were Lynette David who found $105,000 and said she has already topped up with $500 and has also received her message as being in the Digicel pool for likely selection to the top fifteen for the next search.

Kim McCalmont represented her daughter and found $40,000. As she waved the cash she said “I’ll be topping up even more now with my phone cause with Digicel you always win and I want to search this time for me self.”

Berbician Pertab Singh found $65,000 and said he will be using the money to assist with ongoing construction of his house. “Buddy, the search was exciting and me gun be topping up even more cause they got a lot of millions to win and I could do with it to finish me house.”

Winston Gonsalves searched and found $11,000 cash and he said:”This going towards buying credit for sure because I now leave with $11,000 that I did not come with that thanks to Digicel.”

Over all the competitors won in excess of $367, 000 leaving in excess of $632,500 that will be added to next week’s Merry Mansion search.

For the next show, searchers will be looking for $1, 132,500 in the Merry Mansion. Digicel official say that the competition is one of the company’s many ways of giving back to its supporters. In addition to the cash that they found, all five of the participants were presented with new Nokia E63 internet ready cellular phone handsets. Persons qualify for a chance to be in the Merry Mansion simply by topping up their Digicel phones to the value of $500 credit while post paid customers as asked to pay their bills on time to qualify. Fifteen persons are selected randomly through a computerized process via a live show on NCN and qualify to visit the mansion but with the help of Santa clause and his elf only five make it into the mansion where millions of dollars can be found.

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Hits and Jams gets Tourism award

“This is both a privilege and an honour to us as a young group and it will certainly serve as a motivator to us. We hope other entertainment providers will be motivated to up their game to make Guyana a Tourism/Entertainment hub.”

These were the words of Hits and Jams Director Kerwin Bollers after he joined his brother Dwight, and good friend Kerwin Bollers, to receive the award for “Mega Entertainment Promoters” at this year’s Tourism Awards ceremony.

The event was held recently at the Guyana International Conference Centre.

The group is high in praise for corporate Guyana and the thousands of local fans who believe in their ventures and continually support them.

“Like every other group we started promoting to make money and even when we did not make any we were heartened that the people were happy and satisfied from the heart.

“We promoted then for everyone and will continue to offer entertainment and tourism attractions and opportunities to develop the entertainment industry for everyone and at the same time show that there is more to Guyana than negativity,” said Rawle Fergusson.

Remaining humble, the group said years ago “if we were told that we would be receiving a Guyana Tourism Ministry award we would have laugh but here we are and are even more motivated with this recognition.”

Over the years aside from promoting  international stage shows featuring the crème de la crème of international acts they have also  served as brokers for many other promoters to access  international artistes.  Further the group is also the lone promotions outfit that manages a television station that provides 24 hours of local and international entertainment.

Hits and Jams has also produced and maintained probably the most lucrative and largest mass-based supported tourism event – the Jamzone Summer Break Weekend and the Miss Jamzone pageant.

The rationale behind the award is that Hits and James group from a private perspective has organized and promoted mega events locally at levels that are yet to be paralleled by any other local promotions group.

Tourism Ministry officials recognise Hits and Jams as being the most innovative and creative international/local organizers who continue to churn out international events on the local shores.

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‘Infatuation’ proves a true fashion season opener

John Lewis Styles and the Pegasus Hotel have started off the Holiday season by pulling off an almost perfect fashion show that featured pieces from the clothing store’s 2009 Christmas Fashion Collection. The fashion show dubbed ‘Infatuation’ was held at the Pegasus Hotel’s pool side last Saturday evening.

A minor lack of accommodation caused small discomfort for some, and this was due to the obviously unexpected crowd turn out. A few onlookers were forced to stand to catch a glimpse of the models on stage, while some craned their necks to see the runway from behind the hotels foliage.

On the other hand, the 120 pieces were superbly put together by the lovely Jerrylee Lewis, wife of John Lewis. The outfits were selected from newly arrived pieces before being donned by the 10 models.

The fashion show was separated into four segments: casual wear, formal wear, club wear and office wear. The 10 models showed off three pieces each, strutting down a green carpeted runway, which was highlighted with excellent lighting and fog effects.

A slight hiccup occurred with the runway, as at the very front of the models’ walkway, a section of the carpeting became loose and could have proven to be a major disaster for the models in three to four inch heels.

The unruly carpet was then fastened with a few staples during the show, right before a model took to the stage by a swift handyman. The models and crowd could then breathe freely.

Mrs. Lewis arrangements ranged from sultry and sexy evening and party wear to prim and suave office-wear. The casual wear was as the name suggests – casual as most of the garments that fell under casual wear were well suited for a day out on the town.

The event was scheduled to start at 19:30 hrs at the Pegasus Hotel Pool side, and this marks the second time that the two business entities have collaborated. The event was labelled “Infatuation” because “the word infatuation highlights one of life’s most sought after emotions; love and the adrenaline of being infatuated,” said a press statement from John Lewis Styles.

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Kross Kolor Records already in Mashramani mode

Set to release Wine Till Yuh Drop 5

KKR KrewWhile everyone is thinking Christmas, the people at Kross Kolor Records are thinking of Guyana’s premier festival- Mashramani 2010.

This publication has learnt from inside sources that the KKR crew will be pre-releasing four tracks off of their just completed ‘Wine till yuh Drop 5′ Album on the Devil Doer Rhythm.

Here again producer Burchmore Simon continues to name this series of releases after the various roots and herbs of his beloved Guyana.

First there was Sarsperilla, then Koction, followed by Kapadulla, then last year Teasam and now Devil Doer.

This year’s album features Vanilla, Adrian Dutchin, Compton Hodge, Big Red, Jumo, B 52, G Money and Passion.

In the Caribbean, Barbadian Peter Ram of “White Pants Tight” and “Pumping” fame is working on his track and Qupid of St Lucia is completing hers.

Guyana Baboo Terry Gajraj is also excited about the Devil Doer and may be using it for some of his music.  Like the previous rhythms a video medley will compliment the release of the album.

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‘Karmaholics’ brace yourself! Karma returns for two shows

It seems that Guyana cannot get enough of the hottest Trinidad chutney crossover sensations band. With a show dubbed ‘The return of Karma’ the Band with lead singers Ravi and Neisha B is headed Guyana’s way for two shows on December 4 and 5 at the Providence Stadium and the Albion ground.

DJ Stress is the promoter with sponsorship from Gizmos and gadgets, GT and T and Caribbean Airlines.

The band last entertained at the stadium on August 27 at the Jamzone Summer Break Chutney invasion. As they did then the band members are promising that “fans can expect a mind blowing performance that will leave them spellbound.”
The group from the Twin Island Republic is promising old and new hits and noted that “the band constantly churns out new stuff because of the high demand for them across Trinidad and North America.”
Encouraging all despite of ethnic origin to come out for both shows, band officials said Guyanese should not miss the opportunity to witness this spectacular performance, which includes genres of music such as chutney, soca, hip hop, reggae, urban, pop, and Bollywood all presented in true Caribbean style.
Since its inauguration Karma has produce nine albums, namely Evolution, A.B.C (Another Bad Creation) Party Mix, Secret 48, Karma Mangalam, Destiny, Karmasutra, Destiny 2, Destiny 3 and Karmasutra 2.0.

They have secured a place in the chutney and soca industry with hits such as Jepp Singh, Gul Yuh Start Meh, Rum is Meh Lover, Wine on Meh, and Dularie Nanny.

Ravi B is the live wire of the band. He is one of the most popular Indian male artistes in Trinidad and Tobago because of his versatility and charming personality. He is the youngest musical producer, director, arranger, singer and one of the most sought after musical programmer.

Ravi started singing at the age of 13 and ever since this young artiste has just kept on aspiring. He attended the Sangre Grande Hindu School, North Eastern College, University of the West Indies and he is attempting to complete his degree in Business Administration (A.B.E.). Currently at the age of 25, he is the lead vocalist, music director, producer and arranger for the popular Caribbean fused music band. He is also a top radio personality with Trinidad and Tobago’s leading East Indian radio station, 90.5fm.

This young superstar was always inspired by international artistes like Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam, Eminem and Machel Montano, but what inspires him the most is his parents, his brother Anil, sisters Nalini and Nisha,his love for music and most importantly God. Ravi has toured the Caribbean, North America, Canada, Guyana, Europe and Suriname; representing Trinidad and Tobago’s culture, chutney and soca.

Some of his greatest achievements includes performing along side Nitin Mukesh in 1996, Shah Rukh Khan in 1999, forming Karma in 2002 together with his Father, Brother, and Sister (“Jeewanlal, Anil, and Nisha Bissambhar”), joining the 90.5 FM family in 2002, played music for Kumar Sanu at the 90.5 FM cook out competition in 2004, the 3rd of December 2005 where he was chosen to open the Bollywood Music Awards, the Bollywood Movie Awards 2006, received Best Sounding Band at Unifest 2006 in Miami, having his own concert for Father’s day annually and singing with Babul Supriyo on the same stage at Zen.

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Miss Guyana World on a safari and on the catwalk

Miss GuyanaMiss Guyana World Imarah Radix is on the hunt for a chance among the finalists in the Miss World competition which is just a week away

This week, she participated in the Top Model competition but didn’t place; that prize went to Miss Mexico.  So, she has not been fast-tracked to the list of finalists, but she stands in the same position as 90-plus other delegates; so it’s not the end of the world.

While she is at it, she might as well enjoy the bliss that comes with being a Miss World contestant. And what is Africa without a safari?

Miss World contestant’s spent two days at Legend Safari Resort and got to experience the wild African bush in the luxury golf resort. The 22,000 hectare game reserve has the ‘Big Five’ and is in Waterberg Biosphere. The contestants spent the days on safari seeing animals in the wild as well as getting up close with some of the younger animals reared on the reserve.

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GT Road march Queen Vanilla does it again

VanillaIt seems that there are simply no boundaries for young Guyanese daughter Melissa Vanilla Roberts. The two times Road March Queen and second place winner in this year’s Soca Monarch competition is now a Certified “International Sports Science Association” trainer with an outstanding 86% in her final exams. This is the latest in a series of successes for Vanilla this year.

She has been pretty low profile after Mashramani and with good reason too. Thanking her supporters, she successfully completed her first aid and Adult CPR courses, placed second in this year’s Miss Body Fitness competition and has established ‘V Fitness,’ an entity dedicated to providing personal training services.

Vanilla also completed The University of Guyana/ Ohio University Television production Workshop a three week programme hosted by the two Universities and saw attendance by many media operatives.

The question that has been asked often enough is whether she was still pursuing a singer career? The answer is yes. She has recently released a single titled ‘Pressure’ which is played regularly on local radio and is receiving steady rotation in the Caribbean. In addition Vanilla will be releasing three new songs and supporting videos for Mash 2010. She also has five songs on an album “Tropical Caribbean Party” featuring fifteen tracks produced by Kross Kolor Artistes and released in Amsterdam/ Holland September 2009.

What’s next for this lady? She is eagerly looking forward to entering the Soca Monarch and Road March competitions come 2010. She is also enjoying applying her skills she recently acquired to filming and editing the new video releases by KKR and generally getting set to pursue her many and varied ambitions.

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GT Road march Queen Vanilla does it again

It seems that there are simply no boundaries for young Guyanese daughter Melissa Vanilla Roberts. The two times Road March Queen and second place winner in this year’s Soca Monarch competition is now a Certified “International Sports Science Association” trainer with an outstanding 86% in her final exams. This is the latest in a series of successes for Vanilla this year.

She has been pretty low profile after Mashramani and with good reason too. Thanking her supporters, she successfully completed her first aid and Adult CPR courses, placed second in this year’s Miss Body Fitness competition and has established ‘V Fitness,’ an entity dedicated to providing personal training services.

Vanilla also completed The University of Guyana/ Ohio University Television production Workshop a three week programme hosted by the two Universities and saw attendance by many media operatives.

The question that has been asked often enough is whether she was still pursuing a singer career? The answer is yes. She has recently released a single titled ‘Pressure’ which is played regularly on local radio and is receiving steady rotation in the Caribbean. In addition Vanilla will be releasing three new songs and supporting videos for Mash 2010. She also has five songs on an album “Tropical Caribbean Party” featuring fifteen tracks produced by Kross Kolor Artistes and released in Amsterdam/ Holland September 2009.

What’s next for this lady? She is eagerly looking forward to entering the Soca Monarch and Road March competitions come 2010. She is also enjoying applying her skills she recently acquired to filming and editing the new video releases by KKR and generally getting set to pursue her many and varied ambitions.

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Car and Bike: from the sleek to the ridiculous

The Ninth Annual Hits and Jam (HJ) Car and Bike show proved to be a spectacle as participants turned out in moderate number for the yearly event held at the Everest Cricket ground.

Most vehicles were more or less similar to those of last year with huge sound systems, a number of flat screen TVs and spinning rims; same trends, different year. Some cars however took the cake and went overboard when their owners decided to put odd twists to their outrageous vehicles.

One in particular, PEE 1820, chose to place his sound system above the engine of his car, in front of the windscreen. The layers upon layers of speakers of varying sizes totally blocked the view of the driver, who had to be assisted onto the stage at the show.

However onto results.

After being crowned Car Show King, PLL 2679 drove away with the second place prizes in the categories of Best Car and Cleanest Car.

First places for the Best Car and Cleanest Car categories went to PKK 1262. The Best Antique Car and Cleanest Antique Car first place prizes went P 6834, while CF 2152 took second place in the Best Antique Car category.

A yellow SSR Chevrolet was given first place for the Super Car or SUV category, while first place for Best SUV went to PKK 9891 and second place to GKK 2220 won second place for Cleanest SUV, the only prizes for the three vehicles. PKK 7183 won second place in the Best SUV category, but copped first prize in the category for Cleanest SUV.

CF 3371 was a clear favorite as it took away all the first place prizes in the Best Antique Bike, Best Bike, Cleanest Bike and Cleanest Antique Bike categories, while CF 2152 came second in each of the Best Bike, Cleanest Bike and Cleanest Antique Bike categories.