So honored to be asked by the Carnival Doctor – Rhadi Bullard Ferguson Phd
to give a quick interview about my carnival lifestyle for Trini Jungle
Juice.Rhadi is such a great guy, so
easy to talk to.I was just speaking
extra freely that afterwards I worried that I came off as an arrogant mad
oooman.
Rhadi asked if there was ever a time that I missed a
carnival that I was supposed to attend and my answer was flat out NO!Now there are circumstances that should have
had me missing carnival, but I wasn’t going to let that happen, carnival is my
life.
1)I am in school at Georgia State University and
have been forever,I have had to drop
out because there were tests that conflicted with carnival and missing the
tests would have caused me to fail the class.Yes DROPPED school vs. skipping carnival.
2)When trying to decide on a wedding date my best
friend picked the weekend of Miami carnival.Her wedding was in Jamaica, I told her I would fly in wedding morning
and fly out that very same night.I wouldn’t
dare ask her to change her wedding date, but 1 day away from carnival is all I
can give her. She ended up picking another date.
3)My brother Paco said if his job ever told him
that he couldn’t take leave for carnival he would quit his job.His resume is a lot more impressive than mine
so I don’t know if I could go as far as to immediately quit.But I surely would start looking for a new
job in hopes that I found something that would allow me to still attend
carnival.
I want to introduce you to a very extraordinary
young man, Myles Kingston Sadler aka lil Bob Marley.
Myles Kingston Sadler (born 19 December
2012 in Atlanta, GA) was born to a Haitian & Cuban mother and a
Jamaican & American father.His
parents have a deep love of Caribbean music and Myles has been listening to Bob
Marley since he was in the womb.His hobbies
include watching Barney, eating saltine crackers, touching things he is not
supposed to touch, playing peak a boo with his little brother, and reenacting
Bob Marley performances (as seen below).
Myles Kingston Sadler = Rudeboi from birth
Myles attended his first Marley concert before he was even born and he even got to meet Stephen Marley after the show (kinda sorta). Can you spot Myles under his momma's pink shirt???
Since taking his love of Bob Marley online, Myles has made lots of new friends that love
Bob Marley as much as he does.I invite
you to follow the chronicles of Myles Kingston Sadler on Instagram at:
What can I say about Miami Carnival that I haven’t already
said in years past???Its my favorite
North American carnival, I call it the Caribbean Reunion because so many of my
friends fly in from everywhere to attend.It’s the carnival with the most familiar faces.
Did a slightly condensed version of Miami this year, we
landed late Thursday, hit up the liquor and grocery store and checked into our
condo.Rented a condo in the same
building we rented last year, great location off Biscayne for a fabulous price.
Because I have already rented my condo
for 2015 I can go ahead and let you guys in on my secret.There is a condo called The Grand in which
Hilton runs a portion of it as a hotel.So you can rent a condo without having to pay all the extra fees that
you pay when you rent from an owner.And
if you know me you know I almost NEVER pay rack rate for a hotel room. I will
scour the internet looking for the best discount rate.www.hiltonfamilymvp.comended up being like
$100off EACH night for a bad ass 1,2, or 3 bedroom condo.
Anywho, upon checking in we immediately got it
crack-a-lackin and went into party mode.Some other friends stopped by and we had a pregame fete.When putting together our fete schedule it
took us a while to decide which fete to hit Thursday night.Didn’t have that much fun at Tribe Ignite in
2013 (miss the days of it being held at the Hard Rock) so we joined some other
friends at New Yorkers.The only people
that like partyin with New Yorkers is other New Yorkers, so needless to say I
didn’t have fun.Half of us left and the
other half stayed. We did manage to have fun Thursday, so it’s all good.
Around noon Friday we headed to Rise / Shine (always my
favorite fete of the weekend). The event is held on Historic Virginia Key
Beach, nothing beats a beach fete. 2012
we almost died of a heat stroke so we learned that it’s best to do the VIP
route for this fete.Tents with plenty
shade, seating, open bar, cool air mists, etc.The attire for this event is white, so it’s like a Caribbean Diddy
party.
DJ Private Ryan
Friday evening we were supposed to have a beach fete on South Beach, but
we stopped by the One Island Mas camp to pick up our costumes and that ate up
all our time.Mas camp was a hot azz mess,
definitely need more staff.Because I
had so much fun with them on the road I am willing to forgive it.I will say it was not as bad as Generation X
mas camp 2012 when there were like 200 ppl in the parking lot about to fight and
the cops were called out. After the One Island mas camp fiasco we ended up
getting some grub and headed to bed around 10pm.
4am
Saturday we headed to Vale Breakfast Fete on Jungle Island.We skipped Vale last year to do Jouvert and
decided this year to just be GANGSTA and do both #BOOM.Vale is too great of a fete to miss, they
bring the Trinidad vibesup to Miami and
it’s a dayym good time.Free breakfast buffet and endless juice aka
chasers for the rum in my flasks (cause I’m on a budget).
DJ Private Ryan for President
Left Vale around 9am and headed to Jouvert. I really cant
speak too deeply on jouvert cause its all a blur. FOR THE RECORD I was NOT
driving so… !!!Looking at the pix I can
tell that we had a DAYYM good time.I
said it before and I shall say it again, I LOVE LOVE LOVE jouvert!!!I
shall just share some pix from jouvert and move on. OH!I do
remember wanting to cry after jouvert as I walked past McDonalds and I had no
$$$, but REALLY REALLY wanted some chicken nuggets.
After jouvert we headed back to the condo for a quick nap
to give us the energy to handle Saturday Part 3 and 4.Guinness sponsored a Caribbean themed event
Saturday called Live It Up which I convinced the crew to throw in our already hectic
schedule.When I’m back home in Atlanta,
I live for sponsored alcohol events ( like I said, I’m on a budget).We only stayed at the Guinness event for
about 2 hours cause the Big Kahuna Scorch was up next.
Guinness Live It Up
Scorch was a hot dayym blast!!The event was held at Solare Garden, I was
initially fearful of bathroom situation there cause last year those bathrooms
made you want to slit ur wrists.The
bathrooms were under control this year and that was a good thing cause Good
Gawd drinks were flowing, did I mention the event was All Inclusive? I am
confident that the crew enjoyed their jam packed Saturday, I know I did!!!
The fellas aka my international bodyguards
Sunday it was time for the Big Show.Lemme just say that all my fun caught up with
me on Sunday and I woke up In Ah MESS!!!I did however eventually get my life together in the early afternoon and
had the time of my frekkin life.The new
Miami carnival parade route was a WIN WIN WIN!!!It was so much better Sun Life Stadium, funny
how fate made us switch locations but gave us something 10x better.We were out there bout 1pm-9pm and had
nonstop fun.One Island Mas Band for the
win.Like Rupee said, “Look at PEOPLE!!”By the end of the day One island was an
endless sea of people.” The liquor never ran out, the food was late as hell,
but its all good.The DJs were amazing,
the sound system was superb, the masqueraders Came Out To Fete and the stormers
were well behaved and just wanted to havefun!Carnival Sunday was too much fun, I’m not even sure if that level of fun
is legal.Better keep this on the
low
CraigChung.com
Trini Jungle Juice = The Boss
Madd Colors
Sunday evening we were beyond exhausted from 8 hours of Bend
Ups, pelvic thrusts, 6:30s, jooks, jump & waves, etc, etc, etc. So you
already know that the only place we went Sunday night was to bed!!!We did
however manage to get up around 6am Monday and head to a party at King of
Diamonds. If you know anything about Miami you know that King of Diamonds is a
massive compound for people who love strippers and if you know me you know I
despise strip clubs, what a conundrum. Luckily the strippers were all home
resting and we had the venue to ourselves.The party was aiite, we only stayed a couple hours.
Back
to our condo to check out and then off to S. Beach to have some Fat Tuesday,
whip out the Bose speakers and have a Beach Fete. Relaxing afternoon on the
beach before we headed to the airport and parted ways.Last year we stayed till Tuesday, but Monday
ended up being a BLA party day as well.Unless we find something awesome to do on Monday near year we will
probably depart early again.
So our fete schedule looked like this...
It was 5 days of nonstop good times, Caribbean chunes, champagne,
rum, and wotlessness. See you in 2015 Miami, carnival not missing me!!!Of course I leave you with a recap
video.Sorry for the low quality,
YouTube is being a hater of my awesomeness.
My American friend (who is not really into carnival) attended her first Miami Carnival and this was her thoughts on it.
Little 5 Points Halloween Festival
and Parade is one of my favorite annual events in ATL.Little 5 Points aka L5P is a very eclectic
part of ATL where regardless of the day or time you will see some very unique
crowds.The Halloween parade is usually
held 2 weeks before Halloween on a Saturday afternoon.Most onlookers come in costume and have a
good time with friends and family.I go
every year and wanted to share some pix from the 14th annual
parade.
