“Stay in tong!” I shouted those words on Sunday last, in appreciation of the scintillating performance of Coffee Street, San Fernando band, Skiffle, in Adam Smith Square, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, at the second event put on by the Music in the Districts programme. This event confirmed that other pan …
Read More »Daly Bread: Fantasia in G; suggestions for Tobago Jazz Festival and the T&T tourism product
Later today at the Tobago Jazz Experience 2018, Fantasia is scheduled to be a headline act. I do not know in what keys Fantasia sings her rhythm and blues, but her appearance in Tobago today is a case of Fantasia in G, because the engagement of such artistes is part …
Read More »Daly Bread: Ignoring what we have, a look at T&T’s positive reviews
Trinidad has twice received rave reviews from the New York Times (NYT) regarding our food and culture. These reviews were published in the travel section of that newspaper. These are travel advisories of a very different kind from the negative ones we receive regarding crime and terrorism. The more recent …
Read More »Daly Bread: Mayaro resumed; problems in paradise
I wrote this column sitting adjacent to Mayaro beach enjoying a slice of the August holidays. It is about two hours to sunset on as glorious a day as it gets in this piece of paradise. A little earlier in the day I had—unusually for me—a daytime snooze, on the …
Read More »Dear Editor: A Tale of Two Critics; why Bourdain’s T&T review was ultimately tasty
“[Anthony] Bourdain doesn’t concern himself about whether the food is too much for his ‘tummy’—as [Megan Ogilvie gripes—he explores and situates the cuisine within Trinidad’s history: doubles, roti, fish, kibbeh, pastelles, souse, callaloo, crab and dumplings… the delicious and unique list goes on.” The following Letter to the Editor was submitted …
Read More »How pro-active approach to marijuana can offer big boost for T&T tourism and agriculture
“If we were to go all the way and legalise marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes, think about the effects it could have on boosting and differentiating our basically still-born tourism product… The potential to revitalise the local economies of rural villages hardest hit by our recession is obvious. …
Read More »OLIVE OIL: Does Govt dare delay diversification action? Brian Harry urges speed
With the election of Donald Trump, the USA is set to leverage vast shale resources to further their energy independence agenda. That means that any reduction in OPEC production will most likely be offset by increased production from the shales. Finance Minister Colm Imbert must be racking his brain and …
Read More »Is Cudjoe’s TDC move a sham? Ex-TIDCO CEO on Govt’s new tourism plan
Government last week announced a decision to dissolve the Tourism Development Company (TDC) and replace it with two, maybe three agencies. It is unclear, to me at least, what the government might have in mind with this move. Minister Shamfa Cudjoe’s announcement made me remember a line from the Eagles’ …
Read More »Tobago trouble: Is anyone listening to the cries of our tourism trade?
It was nine months since my last visit to Tobago. On the occasion of my visit last weekend, I received very troubling accounts of the state of Tobago tourism from persons in the hotel industry, both owners and employees as well as persons involved in real estate. These accounts were …
Read More »Protect Chaguaramas! CDA’s interest in new hotel meets lack of public interest
Vicki Assevero, founder of the Green Market, Santa Cruz, makes an important distinction between different types of interest in her Letter to the Editor about the Chaguaramas peninsula: The Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) has requested expressions of interest for “planning, design, construction and commissioning of a full service hotel at …
Read More »Bush Diary 2: A camera man, a producer and a presenter walk into a forest…
Paolo Kernahan, fresh from completing the second Bush Diary DVD, suggests we take a closer look at our natural environment: Three men, loaded like mules with camera equipment and supplies, stand at the forest’s edge. The romanticism of producing a local nature documentary series in Trinidad and Tobago got them …
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