Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Poster for Swiss Caribana Music Festival By any other name would Caribana smell so sweet? By Stephen Weir Toronto’s annual Carnival has had many names since it burst out of the gate in 1967as Caribana.   Since then the summer street festival has been called, Scotiabank Caribana, Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Peeks Caribbean Carnival and the current Toronto Caribbean Carnival. No matter what you might see on the official logo, for the past 52 years the citizens of Toronto and visiting carnival tourists call this amazing festival and parade simply Caribana. Caribana Swimsuit Caribana is the name that just won’t go away. So embedded is the name in our collective psyche the first Monday in August is always been called the Caribana holiday.   There are Caribana parties, cruises and concerts.   Stores have Caribana specials; hair dresses have stay open late for Caribana treatments. There are even Caribana porno movies! So pervasive is the ...

Toronto Carnival Is Losing One Of Its Originals. Roger Gibbs Sings Goodbye. By Stephen Weir When September rolls around the Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Festival Management Committee (FMC) will lose one of its original members. Bajan-Canadian Calypsonian Roger Gibbs has reached the end of his formal board term.  After years of giving sage advice to Carnival, Gibbs will no longer be part of the management team and will not be involved with the 2020 Festival in an official capacity. “ It's been 14 years!” Gibbs told reporter Stephen Weir. “I was invited to join in 2005 by (the late) Charles Roach.” Gibbs grew up in a musical family and began his career in Barbados singing with Caribbean dance bands in the 1970’s. He joined as lead singer of the Sandpebbles and toured extensively throughout the Caribbean, Canada and the USA. He came to Canada in 1986, and since then Gibbs has worked non-stop within the arts industry. From 1993 until 2013 he was a performing member of COB...

Don’t Cry For Me Caribana by Stephen Weir Just because the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival is now official over there are some amazing events still taking place around Toronto featuring the Carnival Arts.   Switch on your What’s App and mark the following must attend events down. David Rudder – The Toronto Exhibition is in full swing. Walking the midway it is hard to remember that there was a parade here two weeks ago!   Listen to David Rudder giving a rare outdoor concert may having you wining on the CNE grounds one more time.   Expect King David to be Trini to the Bone and still wondering where his Hammer has Gone next Wednesday night August 28th when he performs at the CNE Bandshell.   Ossie Gurley and Truth was the back-up band at many Caribana events this summer, they will be providing the music for Rudder at the free concert (with admission to the CNE). Show starts at 7.30. Plantain Canada ’s first Afro-Caribbean music festival takes pla...

Grab your popcorn. CTFF About to Open. Annual Filmfest has Snakes on the Brain for Gala Night By Stephen Weir When the  Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF)  opens in a couple weeks, the first film of the annual flickfest will have the audience thinking they have snakes on the brain when the theatre lights come back on.   Rattlesnakes  is a full- length feature that has rattlers not just in the personalities of the principal actors but literally on camera too.  The Canadian debut takes place September 4th, right on College Street in Toronto’s Little Italy.    The film will be feted at the festival’s early evening 2019 kick-off and street party, followed by an 8pm VIP filled screening across the street at the Royal Cinema! This is probably going to be the first movie an audience will ever see where they will see the names of three snakes in the final credits! Slash and Strike don’t get much screen time or any lines to speak, but they d...

WRAP UP OF CARNIVAL 2019 - GREAT FESTIVAL BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PARADE ANYWAY? By Stephen Weir (for the Caribbean Camera) Three months ago, plans for the 2019 Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana for all us old timers) had all the makings of a plan for a funeral parade. The festival had lost Peeks, its name-sponsor, and behind the scene sources said that the Smart Phone App had not ponied up the total monies promised for 2018 – meaning the Festival was already in the hole before the first Mas camp opened its doors. With no new major sponsors infusing big dollars into their empty piggy bank the FMC was broke. The owners of the festival were also hit by staffing issues early in 2019. The new CEO, Richard DeLima, only 6-months into the job, was dismissed even though he had been brought in to save the festival. Shortly thereafter, the number two man, Trinidad’s Gerard Weekes suddenly left the organization and the country (but he did come back to Toronto in time to be a spec...