Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  It wasn’t a mistake, and it wasn’t on purpose By Stephen Weir Last week, I wrote a story about the birthday party of the year PanMan Pat, the city’s master of the steelpan, is turning 80! A black-tie celebration is planned, featuring a special guest appearance by the celebrated Winston "Gypsy" Peters, the T&T-based World Extempo Champion. It was set to be a sure sell-out—unless you read my story. I originally stated that the event would take place on April 25 at the Rembrandt Banquet Halls in Scarborough. Right place, wrong date. By the time The Caribbean Camera hit the stands, PanMan Pat had changed the date of the party to May 3! “Because of election fever in T&T and Canada, I was forced to move the event to May 3 at the same Rembrandt Banquet Hall,” Pat McNeilly (a.k.a. PanMan Pat) told me. “Gypsy is a former T&T Minister of Culture and head of the National Carnival Commission. He’s a politician and can’t travel that weekend. I’m awaiting confirmation from hi...

  Hammering home the hits! New Steel Pan Music Radio is Live and Online By Stephen Weir Heck no, don’t bother with Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Radiofor your Canadian pan music fix. As of this month, there’s a new online “radio” station delivering pan music commercial free from right here in Toronto! Well-known pannist Earl LaPierre Jr. has launched Steel Pan Music Radio, and although it’s a few months away from its official launch, the music is already streaming free of charge to pan fans across the nation. Right now, it’s wall-to-wall music when listeners log on to the station at https://steelpanmusicradio.com/_nowplaying/ . The site opens up with the sweet sound of steel, the radio site lists the currently playing tracks, along with the artists and their origins and what has already been played. While listening to the station on Wednesday, we enjoyed music from Canadian and Caribbean artists, including his his Trinidad-based brother Noel! The first song of the day for the p...

Putting Carnival Spice into the Toronto Blue Jays Sagging Game July 28TH   The Blue Jays are about to get a big helping of Carnival Spice this Friday night and with any luck it will give the baseball team the jolt they need to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers.July 28 th  is the Toronto team will be celebrating  the  Blue Jays  Caribbean Carnival!   With performances by Toronto Caribbean Carnival pannists, models and dancers, the fans, and perhaps the players themselves, are expected to be immersed in the pulsating rhythms and colourful spectacles of the carnival. For the second consecutive year, the Sky Dome has invited the renowned Carnival Spice, Canada's top providers of Caribbean dance and Caribbean fitness classes, to elevate the atmosphere and energize the crowd. The festivities aim to bring the essence of Caribbean culture to the baseball diamond, setting the stage for an unforgettable match against the formidable Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays hav...