By Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner WriterNEW YORK:
DOVECAKES, IT'S that time of the year again - you know when most members of snob-society are either getting back from annual vacations, while others are getting set to take off.
Whatever the reason for flying at this time of the year, a bit of advice here to the battle-weary traveller if you plan on travelling now or way into mid-September, it's best if you call the airlines directly to make reservations. This is because the standard line coming out of most of the travel agencies in and around Kingston is that the airlines are fully booked through to mid-September. And sadly, whilst travel agents are busy telling prospective flyers that the airlines are fully booked, this is not the case for those wishing to fly premium class!
Anyway sweet things, in this the day of al-Qaida, travelling is not as comfortable as it used to be as indeed when one does travel the international skies on public aircraft these days, one is more than ones brother's keeper as indeed one has to act as a kind of auxiliary police and or security deputy to the airline, just to make sure that none of these political zealots, hiding behind their religion, is not on the aircraft with the intention of teaching the 'infidels' Americans a
lesson and making victims of
innocent travellers.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Anyway daahlings, it is the season of the US Open, the final Grand Slam event on the international tennis calendar, and so, naturally all roads would lead to Flushing Meadows, New York, for one of tennis' hot international affairs! And the fact that this weekend just passed was also the American Labour Day weekend, you all know that it is the summer closing party season in the Big Apple. And so the Big Apple, it is!
Daahlings, New York is cooking and how!
Now, y'all would be forgiven for thinking that New York and New Yorkers are one traumatised society and people, on the verge of mass xenophobia as a protective response, owing to the fact that they really suffered the brunt of attacks on September 11, 2003! This is really not the case as indeed, as on this, one's first visit to the city since those attacks, the society has not lost its edge; if anything has become more aware of the value of life and its bounties. And perhaps, and understandably so, a little more jaded!
Doves, arrived in the Big Apple, over the weekend and was immediately charmed by the gung-ho hospitality of New Yorkers! From the Immigration and Customs officials at JFK International Airport, through to the taxi drivers and the many New Yorkers with whom one came in contact in restaurants, bistros, and in private homes - New Yorkers are still enjoying that New York High and frame of mind that has made this fab city of over eight million immigrants, the legendary place it is!
RAINING CATS AND DOGS
It rained intermittently all day Monday and way into the night as well, but this little fact, had no bearing on Mondays staging of the annual West Indian Day Parade - the-mother-of-all-reggae/soca/pan shindig, any side of the globe!
Luvs, we are talking about the absolute celebration of the West Indian way of life, its music, culture and its people! You see, whilst political leaders in the Caribbean haggle and grapple about the necessity of becoming a United States of the Caribbean, the people of the Caribbean that reside in the melting pot that is New York have become a united people, embracing each other's foods, music, greater understanding of differences and religions and uniting around the common bonds of the region.
FETE IN BROOKLYN
And so it was that on Monday, Luvs, it was one almighty West Indian fete on Eastern Park of the New York Borough of Brooklyn that was a three-day two nights celebration that was as colourful as it was fabulous, with the best of the islands on display!
Luvs, New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg was just one of the political bigwigs in attendance and giving the world's greatest reggae/soca celebrations his blessings whilst among those journeying from Kingston to add just a touch more musical hotness to an affaire already bustling with the raw pulsating energy of reggae, dancehall, pan and soca, included Elephant Man, who is simply the toast of the subculture that has become mainstream of the tri-state area of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. And dears, aam-a-telling-yuh, Elephant Man is not only the flavour of the month in these states at the moment; his every song is like unto anthems in clubs, street corners and parties.
On Monday, however, he shared the spotlight with such reggae icons as Bounty Killer, Vybz Cartel and a number of others as they not only took their music to the people but partied up a tsunami and then some as nostalgia reigned supreme in a people clearly a little schizophrenic in that they revel in the celebrations of the homes and culture they left behind, but not willing to leave the Big Apple and the dream of making it here!
