The Carnival Doctor TNT 2015 Recap - Part 3 of 6 - "D'Original Vale Breakfast Fete" - De Vybz Cyah Done
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Dr. Rhadi Ferguson aka The Carnival Doctor
By Dr. Rhadi Ferguson aka The Carnival Doctor
Published on 27-Feb-15
When
you go to Vale you can actually see the evolution of a fete. You can
see the romantic foreplay of the fete. The major selling point with
Vale is what Vale calls, "The Vale Vibe." I'm not sure if I could do
this justice by explaining it but its like the feeling that you get when
you step under the jets of a pulsating shower and it hits your back and
massages you. Or that feeling that you get when you finally ease your
whole body into a jacuzzi. That is was Vale feels like the whole time.
It's just.....
That's it....
It's a SOUL MASSAGE.
Vale massages your soul.
Soca Brainwash was a pleasant dichotomous
experience to Ambush. When the music shut off and the fete was done, I
walked over to one of the organizers of the fete and told him that he
did an amazing job.
And then one of my carnival virgins ran into Kes and finally got her picture with him.
It was a phenomenal day…. uh evening.
Quite honestly, if they would have done another 2 hours, nobody would have complained. Not at all!!!!
I walked out the fete.
My driver picked me up.
Took me back to my room and then I took a fresh and slept until…….. D’Original Vale Breakfast Fete!!!
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On The Way To Vale
=============
Going
to Vale was an exciting experience. It's always a great experience and
its one that I enjoy experiencing the same way since being coached by my
Carnival Vet, Winston "Ironman" Williams.
Most fetes start
late. They do. Most fetes, bus rides, etc.,. start late. Boat rides even
start late but you won't chance it because you don't want to get left.
Most start late and the vibes are so rampage that many forget about it.
Vale.....
in Miami, in Trinidad and I understand, even in New York.... STARTS ON
TIME.... ALL THE TIME. Now.... Here is one of the main reasons why I like Vale.
At
Vale you can actually enjoy and see the evolution of a fete. Because
Ambush is NOT a fete but a Jouvert-style, paint party you cannot see
this evolution. Ambush goes from limp to real-damn-hard in the blink of
an eye and before you know it....... (as Caesar would say....."Boom"
LOL!!!!)
I'm sorry, I keep trying to stay focused but that damn Ambush was, as my latino folks say, "A fuera la cadena!"
Okay... I'm back!
When
you go to Vale you can actually see the evolution of a fete. You can
see the romantic foreplay of the fete. The major selling point with
Vale is what Vale calls, "The Vale Vibe." I'm not sure if I could do
this justice by explaining it but its like the feeling that you get when
you step under the jets of a pulsating shower and it hits your back and
massages you. Or that feeling that you get when you finally ease your
whole body into a jacuzzi. That is was Vale feels like the whole time.
It's just.....
That's it....
It's a SOUL MASSAGE.
Vale massages your soul.
You
just feel good and even with the length of time that you are on your
feet dancing and wining, you never leave Vale feeling completely tired.
You definitely feel like a quick nap is necessary but you don't feel
exhausted. You feel just like your soul has been massaged.
===========
How It Started
===========
Luckily,
because I've been coached properly, I do everything super early to
account for unforeseen circumstances. I had my carnival virgins with me
and in order to coach them properly I allowed them to set up the travel
for us to get to Vale. We all rounded up together early and the the
driver dropped us off to our location. Unfortunately when we got out the
car and started walking, I knew something was not right. But the
driver had already left and was headed to the airport to get somebody else.
The
driver dropped us off in front of the Sunnyside Up fete location. Now,
don't get me wrong, I've done Sunnyside Up before and it is a damn good
fete, but I had tickets for Vale and was in the wrong place. Luckily, I
was on pace because I decided to go super early. My mind was racing
and I had to spring into action because I didn't have the address or location to Vale.
I
also had to stay cool because I had my virgins with me and in the
coaching business, when you panic, the athlete panics. So the key is,
NEVER panic. Panicking gets nothing done.
I told my people don't worry, lets just hail another cab.
Which I was ALSO worried about because we were at the fete so early that there wasn't a lot of drivers or cabs available.
After
a few moments we found a driver and went to the Hyatt. At the Hyatt I
ran into Winston and the rest of the main crew. They rented a maxi bus
which we all pitched in on and we were on our way to Vale.
I
figured this....If I didn't know how to get to Vale, somebody outside of
the Hyatt would know or would be going. Or if worst came to worst, I
could go to the front desk and call Sauce Concierge Services and ask for
them to get me a ride to Vale.
So, we were on our way. The bus ride was about 40 minutes.
When we got there I had a ticket that I had to hand off to a friend so I waited outside.
Now there were many GREAT parts to Vale. I will give you one of them.
===============
Khalilah Jefferson
===============
The
person who I was awaiting my arrival at Vale, and I hers, in order to
provide her with her ticket was Khalilah Jefferson. I've known Khalilah
for about, well, it will be 20 years this October. I met her when she
came to Howard University and we lost contact for some years and then
were able to re-establish contact after her grandmother passed away.
She is not only one of my best friends but was also one of my health and
wellness clients this year as she dropped 25lbs in preparation for Carnival.
Quite
honestly, I love my friends. And carnival more than anything is about
your friends, family and your extended family. It is about spending
time, moments and memories with loved ones. One of the best parts of my
carnival experience was being able to hang with Khalilah. We had not
partied together or even hung out since college. Life just gets in the
way.
Confession: I'm probably one of the toughest cry babies you
know. I will breakdown in a moment and its because, I've lived. I've
been all over the world and have met thousands of people in my life and I
realize how precious life it and how precious moments are and I value
the TIME that I spend with people and the time that people spend with
me.
With
that being said, it was cool to spend time with Khalilah and what's
even more cool is to be able to look back on the pictures and the
moments and relive the experience. I still have the picture where my
wife and I visited her years ago when she had her daughter Amani. I
remember holding Amani as a baby and its wild to see that she will
graduate from High School in just a few short months. But.... those are
the things that you hold dear during carnival time. The time with
friends. That is what you appreciate the most. And as we get older our
"circles" diminish in number. They shrink. It's just what happens. All I
can encourage all of you all to do is strengthen the bond and hold on a
little bit tighter and link more often.
Khalilah with the Queen of Soca, Alison Hinds
The Fellas In The Crew and Extended Crew - The Circle
===============
The Beginning -
The Excitement Phase
===============
When
you walk into Vale in the morning it is still dark. The music is turned
up, the people are in lines eating breakfast and the shots are being
served.... at 4am. I remember last year when my wife attended Vale that
she started drinking at 4am. I asked her, "Have you ever started
drinking alcohol this early?" She laughed and replied, "No" as she
tilted her head back and slammed down the coffee flavored Patron. I
just said to her, "Pace."
Well this year in 2015 it was no
different. The vibes were nice. The food was spectacular and the drinks
were flowing all day long.
It's difficult to not start
immediately chipping as soon as you hit the inside of Vale. Its such an
inviting atmosphere that you just can't help but start dancing. And most
people are coming off of a good night's sleep and Vale is a great way
to start off your morning.
You can't help but be excited when you
reach Vale but you have to keep your emotions in check because it's a
long fete and quite honestly you can't go super hard just yet. Vale has
its own evolution and the dark of the morning actually keeps you at bay
and makes you pace yourself. As the sun starts to come out the
excitement gradually increases.
After about an hour, things turn up.....
Seriously turn up!!
===============
The Plateau Phase
===============
When
the sun comes up, things jump into high gear. It is at this moment that
you look up in the DJ Booth and see Alicia "The Duchess." I love
watching Alicia DJ and ever since I was introduced to her mixtapes
through Marisol Figueroa I have been an instant fan.
When sun
comes up, this is when you can see who is going to perform at the Vale
Breakfast fete because it is always a surprise. This year Farmer Nappy
blessed the stage with his presence and turned the place out.
The best part of the morning was when he paused after to the sun came up to have morning prayer.
All the music turned off. He led everyone in the Lord's Prayer and then the party resumed.
He sang some nice tunes and had a great performance and then the Queen of Soca, Alison Hinds graced the stage.
===============
The Orgasmic Phase
And The Wine of The
Century
===============
When
I saw Alison Hinds on the stage I was DETERMINED to get a wine with
she. When she was performing I had a laser like focus on her and just
knew that I had to meet her. I am a Alison Hinds FAN!!!! Please
believe it. When I saw her, I went up the steps to the staging/DJ area,
spoke to Andre "The Giant" Choo Quan and asked him if Ms. Hinds and I
could get a picture. He said, "Just ask her."
Man, I felt like
a 10 year old kid trying to pass a note to a girl in elementary
school. I put both my hands behind my back, bowed my head a little bit
and kind of dragged my feet and said........ "Ms. Hinds... Ah can get ah
wine?"
Before I knew it, the best wine of the century was thrown on me. That woman there bwoy!!!!!
This
wine wasn't no jokey, joke wine. This wine was the real deal. It was
an uninterrupted wine. Not one of those 10 seconds and go wines. She da
give de WHOLE song dred!!!!
I had to talk to myself during the wine. I said, "Please self. Please do not allow your faluma to ding, ding, ding."
After the "wine of the century" I went back down to the party area and continued to experience the vibes. I also went to the food area and threw back some corn soup and a bake & shark which were both delicious. For the most part, my day was complete. I spent it with my friends and my family and I had an awesome time in doing so.
Well, I thought it was complete until they broke out the World Famous water hose that D'Original Vale Breakfast Party is known for. They started playing Iwer George's "Water" and the party reached another level of madness. Even if you weren't by the water hose.
================
The Resolution Phase
================
Vale is a great party. It reaches its orgasmic height but it isn't a "swinging from the chandeliers" type of experience like Ambush. It's more of an upscale feel than Soca Brainwash, but it isn't as uptown-uptown as the Lara Fete (which is THE GREATEST fete for carnival. Maybe not the best but for damn sure THE GREATEST). Vale is all about the vibes and more so than any fete that I've been to, the vibes at Vale are KING!
From the time you enter Vale until the time you leave, you are injected with the Vale Vibe experience.
Vale massages your soul, heightens your emotionally and spiritually and then allows the soca and the vibes to help you erupt.
If there is one fete that I just cannot see myself ever missing, it is Vale. Vale was awesome.
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Closing
=============
Personal thank you to Khalilah for carving some time out of her fete schedule to hang with an old friend. Big thanks to Winston Williams for showing me the ropes. I still use the advice to this day. Big thanks to the jackass cab driver who dropped us off at the wrong fete, it allowed us to ride the Maxi to and from Vale with the crew which was another great set of memories. Big, huge thanks to Alison Hinds for the wine and for Andre "The Giant" Choo Quan for orchestrating the pictures and the video of the Alison Hinds Experience. Thanks so much. I'm greatly appreciative.
Next up The Carnival Doctor's TNT Recap Part 4 of 6...... The Brian Lara Fete
If you missed Part 1 of 6 CLICK HERE
If you missed Part 2 of 6 CLICK HERE
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Closing
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It is the desire of TriniJungleJuice.com
and The Carnival Doctor to get a ground level and grassroots approach
to Carnival. For us to have you, not only get a feel for Carnival, but
also a feel for the people that attend carnival. Behind every picture
and video is a story but the story that you make up in your mind is not
necessarily the truth. After all the jumping up, and winin' and
bacchanal is done -- we all have real lives to return to. It is our
desire for you to know the other people that you share the carnival
community with.
Love, Peace and Soca.
(If you've enjoyed this, you will most certainly enjoy The Ultimate Road Ready Guide)
Blessings From Here To There,
Rhadi Ferguson, PhD
"The Carnival Doctor"
P.S. For the best information in the world concerning carnivals please visit www.TriniJungleJuice.com For the most comprehensive site available for fete tickets and masquerader costumes, please visit www.MyCarnivalBands.com
P.P.S. For more information on how to properly prepare for carnival like a true veteran, please visit www.CarnivalPrep.com