Three crowns were won this week as Lucian Carnival goes into high gear leading up to Carnival Monday and Tuesday.  On Friday July 9th, seven ladies vied for the title of Carnival Queen 2010.  The show was not very well attended justifying the decision to move back to the National Cultural Centre as the venue.  'Queen Show with a difference' started late (which is usual); run long (which is usual); and ended with a queen being crowned (which is usual). There were some differences however, the most notable being the marked improvement in the overall production from the year before.  Having said that, the show still run a little longer than one would have liked.  

At the end of it all, Miss Louise Victor, sponsored by Red Unlimited Carnival Band wears the crown and carries the title of Carnival Queen 2010.  The victory came as part of what has been an unprecedented move by a carnival band to sponsor, endorse and prepare a Carnival Queen.  While carnival bands have always been involved in providing costumes for contestants this may well herald a new trend.  A carnival queen for each carnival band.    

The debate about the merits of the lyrical content of the songs for 2010 will continue long after the last note of this carnival season has faded from our memories.  I will declare right here and now that everything I am about to say is my opinion and that there are many who will not agree with me.  That has never stopped me before so here goes.

I think that many of the songs this year reek of desperation and laziness.  The only reason some of the filth that passes as lyrics is put forward for consumption is that the writers do not trust their ability to get a reaction from the crowd otherwise.  Why else would anyone sing a 'mother corn' song?  Give me a damn break.  Why else is anyone singing about 'Mr Dean Dough'?  For real?  

To make it worse the radio stations, all of them, play that nonsense in the guise of supporting local music.  Seriously.  My son asked me point blank how it was that I could go to a calypso tent to listen to Herb Black sing about everybody including his little niece 'For King' while Vybz Kartel and Movado were banned and their shows cancelled.  To him it was the same thing and in some ways even worse because the government was giving 'dem people money to sing dat nastiness'.

 The following thirty soca artistes will be competing for the final fourteen places during the final soca preliminary to be held on Sunday July 4th at 6:00 p.m. at the National Cultural Centre.

 I have my radio turned on and I listen faithfully to the offerings of the various tents and artistes for the Carnival season.  This year has been somewhat surreal to me because I have been so caught up in other pursuits that there has been some serious lapses in my attention to all things calypso and carnival.

The Cultural Development Foundation held a preliminary session to choose twenty five songs to vie for the Groovy Soca for 2010.