Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Good live Caribbean Music coming to Scarborough this month  and Ossie says that is The Truth! By Stephen Weir: Next Saturday night Ossie Gurley wants people to wear costumes to his new gig at Scarborough’s Spades Night Club, but cautions anyone dusting off   and climbing into their Caribana gear.   “Sure come in Mas, but please make sure your costume isn’t too big for the door!” Ossie Gurley and his band, The Truth, have signed up to perform the last Friday and Saturday of every month at Spades.   Their first night is next Friday, October 25 th . Saturday October 26 th is their Halloween costume party! “ There hasn’t been a regular commitment by bands in the city for a longtime,” Ossie Gurley told the Caribbean Camera.”   We are doing this to get the community out, have fun and support the culture. We will do this every month for as long as people come out!” Ossie Gurley and The Truth  has been entertaining audiences across Canada since...

Sponsor-less but Happy.  The Toronto Caribbean Carnival Rolls out a summer of fun, fancy and jammin' By Stephen Weir Lewis and Davis - photo by Anthony Berot OK break out the roti, fire up the air horn, put on the beads and glitter, it is Carnival time in Toronto.  Yesterday the organizer of the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival held a loud fun kick-off to their 52nd year with a press conference at the lakeside Boulevard Yacht Club. While Mas models paraded in costume and steel pan players performed, 30 or so Toronto media came into the club’s ballroom to hear what is new and different about the summer festival that begins in just 42 days.   In 2019 the festival runs from July 9th to August 3rd. E pic Carnival's Sheyenne Persood was a model at the presser - sweirsweir Facing the media were six speakers sitting at a long table, ready to talk about all aspects of the festival.   So what was said? The message from the experts was right to the ...

Creators Cultural Arts  and  De New Regulars and  Foreva Carnival 2018  hold their launches in Toronto By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera Photographs by Don Moreland (Belasco at lunch) and Anthony Berot (model in blue) photo by Anthony Berot Toronto Doubles.    Two Mas Camps hold costume launches on the same Saturday night the second weekend in a row!    This past weekend it was a pair of long established Mas Camps - the  Costume Creators Cultural Arts  and  De New Regulars and Foreva Carnival 2018  holding their launches on the same night. Both events were successful, probably because each launch appealed to different sections of the city. Costume Creators Cultural Arts with Freedom Carnival  is the oldest mas band in the festival and the only that can lay claim to being part of the first parade in 1967.   Founders  Wilfred  and  Calvin Belasco  have turned ove...

Tis The Season And The Caribbean Camera Was There Michael Williams and the Foreva Carnival models in the new Tees By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera With Carnival Season arriving in Toronto, Mas Camps are beginning to introduce their new themes and look.   Michael Williams, the founder of D’New Regulars Foreva Carnival, had a T-shirt photo shoot. Mr. Williams and D’New Regulars are one of the longest running competitive bands in the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival.   This year the band’s theme is based on John John, a part of Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain. On Friday, the band’s Foreva Carnival models posed with Mr. Williams wearing their new signature t-shirt “ Fresh Out of John John. Photographs by Antony Berot.