So it's Thursday night in London and for those of us in the TJJ Crew who have only just touched down in the UK for their Notting Hill Carnival 1st time experience, it seems to be a typical night - dark cloudy and chilly. It’s my first time ever across the pond, and ah jonesing for a lime, and PoisonUK had just the fix ah needed!

Earlier in the day TJJ was present and accounted for at the UK Press Conference for Machel Montano HD & Friends, and now it was time to move on to Masque Bar, Kings Cross. Before getting there, the event had been described as a bunch of Trini's liming outside ah bar drinkin' and talkin' loud..... hmmm. Reminds us of some other place in St. James, with a rather English Pub sounding name. So we get there before midnight and so said so done, there is a bunch of Trini's limin' outside the bar, some folks still in work clothes, others obviously went home and dan it up before stepping out again.

So after a few introductions and pounds we stepped inside, past the rather large bouncer with the scowl on his face, to see what was the happenings inside. First thing we noticed was the bar that occupied the center of the venue made a complete square with drinks being ordered all around. Actually that was the 2nd thing we noticed.... the 1st was the bevy of beautiful young ladies gathered on one side of Masque all wearing sashes. These were the contestants of the 2007 Miss Carib-African Queen pageant. It seemed to be a well contested pageant because there was no less than a dozen young ladies representing different parts of Africa and the Caribbean such as Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Angola and Ivory Coast. Once we had an eyeful of that eye candy, we made our way to the back of the bar and ordered up some drinks, and since somebody went through the trouble to ensure that there was nuff Carib stocked in the fridge (photo), we had to do our best to make sure none went to waste!

Nice so we take up a position and one eye on the ladies, and one eye on the door because all night folks continued to filter in. It got more and more crowed in the bar, and the crowd outside got larger and larger as well. On the inside, DJ Markee and the Gladiators kept the tempo high and the waist them moving with an array of new and old school Soca hits.

There was one corner in the back of the bar, close to the DJ, that seemed to have a lot of activity all night long. So we made a lap around the bar to take a look see, and why not??!! It was only then we noticed that it was the man of the hour himself Mr. HD holding court and occupying this corner with his entourage, which included the likes of Zan, Kernel Roberts and Benjai. Is now we feeling like we in the place to be self!! On the way over, we also ran into the original Mix Tape King, and long time fren of the Jungle, Mr. Chinese Laundry. Does Tony still go by that name or did we just date ourselves?? :-) So the night going real nice, music good, there is even food on sale outside, nuff talk of the upcoming Rezzarek Concert (next night) and which other parties happening for the weekend. “Where yuh going Saturday night? Yuh going to The Ultimate All Inclusive or the Trini Luau All Inclusive and yuh playing Chocolate Mas on Sunday?" Decisions, decisions!

From our position by the bar, we notice that Machel and entourage have moved outside to joined de limers. And again, we find is like real action going on round dey so! So we take another stroll to see what goes on, and why not??!!! As we approach the small crowd gathered round Montano, we notice plenty people have their phones in their hands, holding them up. Is not till we reach closer, we see an impromptu unchained concert going on right there on the pavement outside of Masque Bar. Machel backed up by Zan and Benjai was treating the folks to acapella versions of some of his hits, and even some tunes we did not even recognize ourselves. We're pretty sure some of that exclusive entertainment has made its way to YouTube by now!

Spudz McKenzie for the TJJ fam

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2007 Notting Hill Carnival Coverage