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The Carnival Doctor TNT 2015 Recap - Part 5 of 6 - "Jouvert" | Dirty Dozens Jouvert
http://www.trinijunglejuice.com/tjjnews/articles/3957/1/The-Carnival-Doctor-TNT-2015-Recap---Part-5-of-6---Jouvert--Dirty-Dozens-Jouvert/Page1.html
By Dr. Rhadi Ferguson aka The Carnival Doctor
Published on 08-Mar-15
 
For me, the best day in TNT is Monday but that’s because I just love, love, love Jouvert. And you have to realize that some people live for Jouvert and to them it is more important than the road on Tuesday. This is not the case for me. I love Monday and it is my favorite day, bar none, BUT, I am in TNT for Tuesday. Please believe that!! I love Monday because i get to do it all in one day. I start Jouvert early in the morning at about 3am all the way until around 9am and then I go back to my residence, shower, eat and get on the road to play Monday Mas and I don't get back to the room until about 10pm.  I love the grind. I just love it. I actually enjoy that feeling when my legs are a little bit sore on Tuesday and somewhat tired. I like it. It really doesn't concern me because I do a 1/2 marathon before carnival and I train for 12 weeks to prep for TNT.  As a former athlete, I know I'm going to be fine and just look at the aching as a welcoming hug from my body with a message that is interpreted as, "Ahhhhh, I'm glad you're back. We've missed you."

=================
Machel's Performance
At The Lara Fete Was
Great!
=================


As I was leaving the Lara fete with my wife Traci, we walked toward the exit with the sweet tunes of Machel playing. He was singing his last song and we were trying to beat the "rush" and we had to leave before the streets started getting partially cut off for Jouvert. 

The plan that we put in place was for Traci to get some rest because she was going to hit the road early on Monday while I recovered from Jouvert and it was our plan for me to hit the road early on Tuesday.  (We do this so that each of us can get some "alone road time" LOL.  The key is to have these conversations early and often so that nobody is upset or that you can talk about the expectations).  Make up time is  a huge preparation experience for women so we decided for me to hit the road early on Tuesday.

Now..... Back to Jouvert.

So, we returned to the domicile and I laid down for about 15 minutes.

Got dressed and then was out.

==============
We reach....
==============


This year I decided to play Jouvert with Dirty Dozens Jouvert. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, I played with Cocoa Devils.  I absolutely LOVE Cocoa Devils.  Most of all because I love the sweet smell of everybody in cocoa and the vibes are superb. Therefore, I was a little bit skeptical when one of my carnival mentors Yolanda Alexander told me that she has played with several jouvert bands and thought that I needed to give Dirty Dozens Jouvert a try.

So I signed up and not only did I sign up, my whole crew signed up.

It was AWESOME!!!

Dirty Dozens Jouvert (DDJ) starts off with a pre-road party, where they have all the jouvert masqueraders in a big sectioned off area that is only accessible to those in DDJ. It's nice. It's cool. It's intimate. And it provides you an opportunity to a little bit more intimate with those that you are sharing the road experience with.

You can actually see the people on the road and run into people before you start. 

So often, there are time when you finish a fete or road experience and you say to yourself, after looking at some pics online, "Man, I didn't know ******* was there?!?!?!"   Well, this happened less because you had an opportunity to party with the people before you got on the road.

The next thing was that the the pre-party got all of the warm-up out of the way. Usually when you get on the road, you gotta get warmed up a little bit and check out the scene and to look and see who is around you (especially at Jouvert) in order to get a somewhat comfortable to start letting loose.  This was handled in the pre-party.

I actually enjoyed the pre-party experience. And although I'm not a drinker, I could definitely understand how those who do drink really enjoyed the ability to get their drinks without any hindrances during the pre-party.

Next up was the road.

We left the pre-party and I really wasn't ready for how turned up the DDJ experience was going to be. 

When we hit the road the bottles and buckets of paint started to flow.  And the vibes were fantastic.

I'm not going to lie. I was tired but I was just waiting for that perfect mix. The right truck. That right song. That little injection that I needed and then I saw him. 

DJ Private Ryan on one of the trucks. 

After that it was a wrap.

My jouvert experience went from super to Superb!!

Unfortunately, I don't really have the words to explain how I feel about Jouvert and I'm not usually at a loss for words.  But jouvert is a different experience from Monday and Tuesday Mas.  It has a huge spiritual, emotional and historical component to it. And even with the way it has changed over the years, there are still some elements that are staples with the jouvert experience. 

I'm going to walk away from this post and come back. I need to put on some soca, look through some pictures and FIND the right words......

(wait for a moment please....)

==============
Lemme Try To
Explain Jouvert
To You In My Own
Way If Possible
===============


Okay, I had to look through pictures and then close my eyes until I found the right thing to say about my Jouvert experience and I found it.

They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words so I will post this picture and allow it to speak and also add some of my own commentary.




Photo credits: Rhadi Ferguson - The Carnival Doctor
Subject: Khalilah Jefferson


This picture is probably one of the best that I took during carnival. It actually captures what most of us go through during carnival. It captured that moment where we all reflect on home, work, school, the bills, the job, the kids, the drama, and life and we think about all of that shit and how we are so thankful to be in this moment at this time with our friends and extended family on the road -- at carnival.

We take a moment and 'take it all in' with the understanding that Monday morning is here and Tuesday is coming and it will all be over soon. But we soak in the euphoria and live in the moment. We know how hard is was to get here and we know life offers no guarantees. It is at this moment that the tears start to flow and before you know it, you are back in the road pelting waist to your favorite tune. This.... this picture captured Jouvert.

It captures everything. You can see the person is super pensive. The eyes speak to the fatigue of the week of activities, fetes, costume pick up, cab rides, drinking, wining, laughing, and work prior and a lack of sleep.

But there's no lack of focus or engagement on the experience. 

She's dirty, messed up, but pretty and beautiful as ever. Every reveller and carnivalian has their own story. You can see hers here. She is appreciative of where she is and how she got here. The beautiful thing about this picture when I look at it is the benefit that I had to be with this person on the road. I was able to sit back and watch her and the process of how she got from her own personal starting point to here.  I was there taking shifts with another one of my fraternity brothers, watching her while she was asleep by a tree before we got on the road.  She partied until her body could handle no more. She shut down, recharged her battery and then was content to drain it again to maximize the experience.  I was a small distance away from her at the moment of this picture. I actually zoomed in, in order to take this shot because I said, "That's it!!!! That what THIS is supposed to look like." 

See, when you go home and try explain to your family and friends why you can listen to the same 3 or 4 or 10 or 15 songs over and over again -- they don't get it. They CANNOT understand that 1 song - YES 1 SONG - has several different experiences with it. I can listen to "Like Ah Boss" and think about Ambush, Jouvert, the Lara Fete, my cardio sessions before carnival, it's position on Private Ryan's Soca Brainwash mix, the cab ride with my crew, carnival monday, carnival tuesday, the Soca Brainwash fete, the Fete-a-thon bus, etc.,.  And then I can listen to the roadmix and have 20 other different experiences.  So when we listen to a song over and over, they don't realize that every time we listen to it we hear something totally different. We see a different experience in our minds. 

We laugh for different reasons.

We cry for different reasons.

We go into our zone for a different reason.

You try to explain to your friends why you party without sleep. Night after night, day after day, fete after fete, and they see ABSOLUTELY nothing exciting or enticing about it.  And they never will because, until you've had this moment in this picture above -- one that we've all had, you won't get it.  Its not until you just stop in the middle of a Breakfast Fete and pull your sunglasses off your face for a moment so that you can look at the beauty of this time and this experience with your own eyes -- that you will ever understand.

You......you get it. You understand the richness, the depth, the breadth, the seriousness and the pregnancy of this picture. This picture shows a person who has been hurt. Who knows heartache. Who knows death, life, sacrifice, fun, fear, anger, joy, laughter, crying, pain, pride, passion and love. This picture show the experience of all of us during carnival. During Jouvert.

During OUR TIME.

This is a true we kinda ting.

It's not about the wining and the dancing. It NEVER IS AND IT NEVER WAS. Only those on the "outside" that never get past that superficial level of carnival get stuck on that bullshit. That's just something that we do, if that's your thing. That's not who we are. This experience is about THE ABILITY to take a step back and look at life in all of its splendor.... and dirtiness..... and confusion.....and beauty..... and shit.... and grime..... and having the ability and the desire to find the melody and harmony amongst the human cacophony. 

At carnival.... At jouvert.... it is NOISY but your spirit is calm -- silent.

Its silent here.  In this picture, you can see that she has found her place, her quiet place within the noise. Her sanctity and little slice of heaven on earth, on this day, at this moment. It's a beautiful picture and it captures the beautiful time that we all share with each other. When I look at this picture for a while it breaks me down.  It takes me back to THAT moment where I was free.  It takes me back to Jouvert.

(that's the best explanation I could provide.)

=============
Monday Is My
Favorite Day
=============


For me, the best day in TNT is Monday but that’s because I just love, love, love Jouvert. And you have to realize that some people live for Jouvert and to them it is more important than the road on Tuesday. This is not the case for me. I love Monday and it is my favorite day, bar none, BUT, I am in TNT for Tuesday. Please believe that!! I love Monday because i get to do it all in one day. I start Jouvert early in the morning at about 3am all the way until around 9am and then I go back to my residence, shower, eat and get on the road to play Monday Mas and I don't get back to the room until about 10pm.  I love the grind. I just love it. I actually enjoy that feeling when my legs are a little bit sore on Tuesday and somewhat tired. I like it. It really doesn't concern me because I do a 1/2 marathon before carnival and I train for 12 weeks to prep for TNT.  As a former athlete, I know I'm going to be fine and just look at the aching as a welcoming hug from my body with a message that is interpreted as, "Ahhhhh, I'm glad you're back. We've missed you."

Let bring this post to a close by saying this: 


Dirty Dozen Jouvert was AWESOME.

Check out this video of Dirty Dozen Jouvert by Flavor TV


The experience was welcoming and I can most certainly see myself playing Jouvert with them next year. The jouvert pre-party experience was awesome and so was the experience on the road. I enjoyed the paint but after Ambush I was all "painted out." I did miss the sweet smell of "cocoa."  The one big reason that I can see myself doing Dirty Dozens again is that they also have a post Jouvert party. So you have a pre-party, the road and then after you go back to the same location and do the post-party. I did NOT do the post-party.  Because I went to Jouvert after the Brian Lara fete, I was HURTING and needed to get just a little bit of rest for Monday.  I enjoy a long Monday but because I did Lara and my wife and I agreed to do some road time by ourselves as I mentioned, my LONG Monday was meted out between Lara and Jouvert more so than Jouvert and the Road. I got on the road about 11 am. on Monday but..... that's another story.

In my next post I will discuss The Best Carnival Experience Ever...... TRIBE!!!!

=============
Closing
=============


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