Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera Jamaica is the new kid on the international Carnival block and this year, thanks to big Canadian visitor numbers, the child has suddenly grown up. Although there have been carnivals in Jamaica since 1989 it has only been in the last three or four years that carnival fans from North America and other Caribbean countries have sat up and taken notice of what is going on in the One Love island nation. The annual festival in Jamaica kicked off in January this year and ended last Sunday with a mas parade of 6,000 costumed revellers through the streets of Kingston.   What made Sunday’s parade different from the past parades was the number of Canadians and other international visitors who were on the road in costume, and in the crowds of spectators that lined the streets of Kingston. Celena Seusahai is one of the driving forces behind the Tribal Carnival mas band in Toronto.   She took time off work to join fellow Canadians taking...

Canadian debut at Toronto’s Royal Cinema By Stephen Weir It took four years and a worldwide Kickstarter project for the Jamaica Dance Hall documentary Bruk Out to Break Out in Toronto. On Friday night the movie was given its Canadian premiere to a wildly cheering audience at the downtown Royal Cinema. The Caribbean Camera Bruk Out – starts with the real thing. Men and women dancing in the streets and steamy dance halls of Kingston, Jamaica with reckless abandon.   Men and women flaunt their sexuality, on the dance floor, in the streets of Kingston and even on the hoods of slow moving cars.   Wining? That is too tame for Dance Hall – this is where the term daggering was born. The camera rolls with a clubber’s point of view of the hot hot dancing, while notable dancehall artists including Beenie Man and Elephant Man explain how the music and dancing feed off each other. The 69-minute movie moves from the ghetto to America, Poland and Spain, f...

  Brockville's Brand New Riverside Attraction for Divers and Shipwreck Fans! It only makes sense that Dave Sheridan, diver, underwater sculptor and educational Programmer at Brockville’s Aquatarium , would use the word anchor when talking about the new riverside shipwreck museum and aquarium called the Aquatarium . “ This is the city’s anchor attraction – not just for divers but for all tourists who have an interest in history, aquatic life and, of course, shipwrecks” said Dave Sheridan. “The new Aquatarium has the look and feel of the Thousand Island.    Anyone who has taken a island tour will have seen the historic Bolt Castle   - the Castle’s boat house is the   architectural inspiration for what we have here.”   Dave Sheridan by Otter Tank  - Weir The $25-million, 27,000+ sq. ft attraction is a learning and discovery centre located on the waterfront in the heart of Brockville.   There are fresh water fish filled aquariu...