Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 25 June 2011 No.503
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
I wonder what has happened to Sarkis Farchak? We have lost track of him.
Hope he is well.
Can you help the Circular ??? Can you contact him and give us news?.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 20 April 2002. Circular No.23
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
Accompany me in my birthday with the traditional lines, Happy birthday LADISLAO!!!!.
The following lines came from Rafael Echeveria:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman Smith and myself .. together with my brother Gustavo and a Venezuelan friend Enrique Gomez .. formed a rock band in Mount (it was The Beatle's era) ... the band was called "Chains". There was also another band called "The Interpreters" with which I played for some time ... I played the bass-guitar ... as a matter of fact I still do ... I combine my professional practice as a lawyer (International Contracting Law in Oil Industry) with music and running ... I have already ran the New York Marathon TWICE ... the last time in November 2000... can you believe it ? ...
Now I have five children (My second granddaughter is due April 18th). Claudia my eldest daughter (the married one) and my son Rafael live in Florida . I have been a lawyer for 27 years now ... and I have met so many people around the world thanks to my professional practice. And I have lived a wonderful life !!! .... I have a beautiful wife and five great kids ... My profession has reached very satisfactory levels and I feel proud of my work in life ... now ... at 54 !!! ... I am now getting ready for some big business opportunities ... it is time to meet your old friends !!! ... they can be your best partners !!!! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you must have guessed I sent the wrong article from the Mount, so here is last week´s article on the demolition issue.
As to last week´s article it is good to know that the installations for the beauty pageant were at our old School. The class of 1960 did not have the privilege to use the installations of the new dinning hall and the theatre area. If I am not mistaken class of 1962 inaugurated the building. Maybe some one can clarify this????.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here I am continuing the who is where, thanks to Roger Henderson:
12. Jeffrey Gransaull is a pilot/captain with BWIA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger must be very accurate as there has not been any requested changes on his one/two liners, but at the same time we cannot ascertain that these oldboys exist as there has been no report from any of them or any e-mail address forthcoming. Maybe someone can be so kind and confirm with a telephone number or even tell these oldboys about our Web site.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
Here is some information on Calypso in Canada
Pre-OCPA Calypso in Toronto: A Personal Memoir
Here is an axiom that Pythagoras and his mathematical colleagues could never have conceived: “Wherever there are people of Trinidad and Tobago in the Diaspora, there will always be Calypso.”
The History of Calypso in Toronto did not begin with the birth of OCPA in 1980, in the same way as the History of Canada did not begin with the arrival of Europeans to Canada in 1643. The existence of several incarnations and manifestations of calypso in Toronto in the fifties and sixties may indeed have spawned the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes. The calypsonians in Toronto in the fifties and sixties were mainly calypso singers. The majority of them sang songs composed and made popular by calypsonians in Trinidad and Tobago like the Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener and Lord Melody. Very few wrote and sang original songs before the advent of Dave Martins and the Tradewinds. They performed at local nightclubs, West Indian dances and the odd Canadian event that wanted a Caribbean flavour. There were also large shows featuring the Mighty Sparrow, and Harry Belafonte whom Canadians revered as the quintessential calypsonian.
Three hours after my arrival in Canada on a chilly night in September 1960, I went to a night-club in Montreal called The Venus de Milo. There Eddie Edgehill and Dave De Castro were blurting out the lyrics of Jean and Dinah, Mae Mae, P.A.Y.E., and Benwood Dick to a packed audience of Trinbagonians, mainly students who were hungry for a taste of their homeland. They were accompanied by their French-Canadian girlfriends. Meanwhile in Toronto, there were groups like the “Latins” later called “The Debonairs” headed by Eric Minns from The Bahamas. The Tradewinds was headed by Dave Martins from Guyana. The Delmas and the Mahon Brothers had a band which played at the Little Trinidad Club on Yonge Street. Charles Roach was an erstwhile calypso singer. Sello Gomes and his band sang and played at the Calypso Club. Bing Serrao and the Ramblers from Guyana were also part of the calypso scene. Night-clubs such as the Tropics, WE Place, the WIF club used to be hopping with pulsating calypso sounds. In February of 1962, on Carnival Friday night, I went with a steel band to play at a dance at the Lions Club in Timmins, a city about 550 kilometres north of Toronto. It was a snowy, freezing night. In the midst of that arctic desert there were four young men called King Karib and the Calypso Bandits from Trinidad and Tobago belting out calypso lyrics. I am sure Jean and Dinah never thought they would have made it so far north. Many of the bands mentioned above sang and played at the Caribana Festival in 1967.
The first Calypso Competition was held in 1969 at the Maple Leaf Gardens. It was a Caribana-sponsored event. There were about 3000 people at the event, more than I have ever seen at any Calypso Competition in Toronto. There was a “Dimanche Gras” atmosphere at the Gardens. In the competition there were seven contestants. Each contestant sang one song. All the songs were original compositions. The music band was led by Sello Gomes. Contestant Number 5 was Dave De Castro with the sobriquet of “The Bandit”. He came out dressed up in a bandit costume, with a decorated Mexican hat and two cap guns smoking. He was totally inebriated, drunk like the fish he was going to play in the Caribana Parade the next day. He sang a song that he composed himself. It was titled “Caribana, The Big Fete”. The Bandit literally “mash up de place”. Even before the final two contestants performed, the large crowd was chanting in unison, “The Bandit win, the white fellow win”. After the last contestant performed, the judges took a long time to make their decision. The crowd was very restless, all the while chanting, “The Bandit win, the white boy win”. Finally, the judges confirmed what the crowd was chanting. The Bandit was crowned the first Calypso King in Toronto. He was crowned with a gold silk crown made out of cardboard. He was also awarded a prize of $250. When I was leaving the Gardens I heard a guy say, “Ah never see nothing like dat in my life, a white fellow win Calypso King”.
Throughout the seventies the calypso singers and other pretenders dominated the calypso scene in Toronto. There were no more calypso competitions until the organization that is now known as OCPA was formed. The organization was registered as the Calypso Association of Canada in 1982. It was renamed and registered as OCPA in 1991. In 1980 Lord Smokey was crowned the first Calypso King of the incipient organization. Since that time many calypsonians were born, not just from Trinidad and Tobago, but from other Caribbean islands. There is a vigorous, sustainable calypso industry in Toronto with excellent lyricists, musicians, arrangers and singers, both male and female, who have distinguished themselves here, in the United States, in the Caribbean and even in China and Japan. The current list is voluminous. Their compositions are original. Many of them are producing high quality CDs. The calypso tents are thriving. There have been other groups promoting Calypso such as the Kaiso Breakfast Lime and the Calypso College. Calypso is alive and well in Toronto.
Lennox Borel
Toronto 2011.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 21:52:06 +0000
Dear Clive,
My brother, a long time ago, when I was a younger man, having a drink at Scarlet Ibis, a little hotel in Trinidad, in the late 70's,
A boy who was starting his first year at the Abbey remembered me in my last year on the mount.
He came over and introduced himself, and we shared some memories, laughs, and a couple of drinks.
He then leaned closer and asked me, who are the Knights of White Stones?
I said to him, it’s an alter-reality, it’s another Realm, a beautiful Legend, a secret, sacred circle, The Club, where a boy becomes a Man.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB MI AMIGOS / JUNE/2011. Long Live the Knights -
Have a good day - Glen McKoy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Subject: FW: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 13:05:01 +0000
Dear Prada,
Thank you for your kind words, will pass on to Jon, a true friend and brother to Kenny, my heart goes out to him and all the brothers of Kenny's circle.
Have a good day mi amigo.
--------------------------------------------------------------.
From: manjosepra@hotmail.es
Subject: RE: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2011 07:21:30 -0400
Hola: Shocking news.
Remember him well when last in TT.
May he rest in peace.
Death is the only sure outcome in our short lives and many times we are not prepared for it i.e. why I firmly believe in the Samurai´s code of life...live this day as it were the last day of your life...
The our father implicitly states the same.
God bless Mount and each and everyone that in one way or another lived, studied or had anything to do with that noble institution.
Prada
-------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Subject: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 14:12:16 +0000
Dear Nigel,
It’s sad to read this, as another brother leaves us.
I remember reading an email from Jon, it seemed helpless at the time, where only pray was left, we all come from our own little circles, that makes this great Club.
All I ever read about Gerald, was good, a true gentleman may God bless our brother.
As the Eagles, flies over "white Stones" today, so does his spirit into the Light.
May God Bless us all, Long Live the Mount,
Best regards,
Glen McKoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
2011/6/1 Gerald Kenny <ggkenny@gmail.com>
I regret to inform that Gerald Kenny lost his battle to Glioblastoma Multiforme on Wednesday May 11th, 2011.
Thank you for deleting his e.mail ggkenny@gmail.com from the group.
Best regards
Ysaely Godoy-Kenny
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Remembering Gerald Kenny
From: Nigel Boos nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
That's Gerald for you, Che Che.
A real gentleman, always ready to listen, to empathize, to chat and to welcome you into his circle of friends.
A great friend has gone home now.
We'll miss him.
May his soul rest in peace.
Nigel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
On 2011-06-02, at 12:11 PM, Rafael Echeverría wrote:
Dear Ysaely,
It was September 2007 and - after 40 years - I went up to Mount with Gerald Kenny and Dennis Gurley.
My camera's battery died out.
So Gerald gave me his and took his photos with his Cell.
He told me not to worry, that I could even keep the battery so that I could take my pictures to share them with my family back home I remember feeling "what a kind and great guy this man is".
OK ... it was a small gesture of human sharing that meant a GREAT gesture of kindness towards me.
After 40 years.
We were just Mount Boys meeting again.
We shared our thoughts and experiences about music and he ended up giving me a couple of calypso cd's which I have treasured since then.
I am so shocked and saddened.
But I do want you to know that in that September of 2007 Gerald Kenny was a good friend to me and that I will always have him in my memories and prayers.
God Bless you all !!!
Un Abrazo a Todos !!! .... Siempre Amigo !!!
Rafael / CheChe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Ladislao Kertesz at kertesz11@yahoo.com,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos:
Mount Inside No. 10 page 23
11PQ0001PQU, Paul Quesnel
10RD0001RDA, Ronald D´Ábadie
08UN1515CKNGMI, Christopher Knowles and Gordon Mitchell
Caracas, 25 June 2011 No.503
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
I wonder what has happened to Sarkis Farchak? We have lost track of him.
Hope he is well.
Can you help the Circular ??? Can you contact him and give us news?.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 20 April 2002. Circular No.23
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
Accompany me in my birthday with the traditional lines, Happy birthday LADISLAO!!!!.
The following lines came from Rafael Echeveria:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman Smith and myself .. together with my brother Gustavo and a Venezuelan friend Enrique Gomez .. formed a rock band in Mount (it was The Beatle's era) ... the band was called "Chains". There was also another band called "The Interpreters" with which I played for some time ... I played the bass-guitar ... as a matter of fact I still do ... I combine my professional practice as a lawyer (International Contracting Law in Oil Industry) with music and running ... I have already ran the New York Marathon TWICE ... the last time in November 2000... can you believe it ? ...
Now I have five children (My second granddaughter is due April 18th). Claudia my eldest daughter (the married one) and my son Rafael live in Florida . I have been a lawyer for 27 years now ... and I have met so many people around the world thanks to my professional practice. And I have lived a wonderful life !!! .... I have a beautiful wife and five great kids ... My profession has reached very satisfactory levels and I feel proud of my work in life ... now ... at 54 !!! ... I am now getting ready for some big business opportunities ... it is time to meet your old friends !!! ... they can be your best partners !!!! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you must have guessed I sent the wrong article from the Mount, so here is last week´s article on the demolition issue.
As to last week´s article it is good to know that the installations for the beauty pageant were at our old School. The class of 1960 did not have the privilege to use the installations of the new dinning hall and the theatre area. If I am not mistaken class of 1962 inaugurated the building. Maybe some one can clarify this????.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here I am continuing the who is where, thanks to Roger Henderson:
12. Jeffrey Gransaull is a pilot/captain with BWIA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger must be very accurate as there has not been any requested changes on his one/two liners, but at the same time we cannot ascertain that these oldboys exist as there has been no report from any of them or any e-mail address forthcoming. Maybe someone can be so kind and confirm with a telephone number or even tell these oldboys about our Web site.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
Here is some information on Calypso in Canada
Pre-OCPA Calypso in Toronto: A Personal Memoir
Here is an axiom that Pythagoras and his mathematical colleagues could never have conceived: “Wherever there are people of Trinidad and Tobago in the Diaspora, there will always be Calypso.”
The History of Calypso in Toronto did not begin with the birth of OCPA in 1980, in the same way as the History of Canada did not begin with the arrival of Europeans to Canada in 1643. The existence of several incarnations and manifestations of calypso in Toronto in the fifties and sixties may indeed have spawned the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes. The calypsonians in Toronto in the fifties and sixties were mainly calypso singers. The majority of them sang songs composed and made popular by calypsonians in Trinidad and Tobago like the Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener and Lord Melody. Very few wrote and sang original songs before the advent of Dave Martins and the Tradewinds. They performed at local nightclubs, West Indian dances and the odd Canadian event that wanted a Caribbean flavour. There were also large shows featuring the Mighty Sparrow, and Harry Belafonte whom Canadians revered as the quintessential calypsonian.
Three hours after my arrival in Canada on a chilly night in September 1960, I went to a night-club in Montreal called The Venus de Milo. There Eddie Edgehill and Dave De Castro were blurting out the lyrics of Jean and Dinah, Mae Mae, P.A.Y.E., and Benwood Dick to a packed audience of Trinbagonians, mainly students who were hungry for a taste of their homeland. They were accompanied by their French-Canadian girlfriends. Meanwhile in Toronto, there were groups like the “Latins” later called “The Debonairs” headed by Eric Minns from The Bahamas. The Tradewinds was headed by Dave Martins from Guyana. The Delmas and the Mahon Brothers had a band which played at the Little Trinidad Club on Yonge Street. Charles Roach was an erstwhile calypso singer. Sello Gomes and his band sang and played at the Calypso Club. Bing Serrao and the Ramblers from Guyana were also part of the calypso scene. Night-clubs such as the Tropics, WE Place, the WIF club used to be hopping with pulsating calypso sounds. In February of 1962, on Carnival Friday night, I went with a steel band to play at a dance at the Lions Club in Timmins, a city about 550 kilometres north of Toronto. It was a snowy, freezing night. In the midst of that arctic desert there were four young men called King Karib and the Calypso Bandits from Trinidad and Tobago belting out calypso lyrics. I am sure Jean and Dinah never thought they would have made it so far north. Many of the bands mentioned above sang and played at the Caribana Festival in 1967.
The first Calypso Competition was held in 1969 at the Maple Leaf Gardens. It was a Caribana-sponsored event. There were about 3000 people at the event, more than I have ever seen at any Calypso Competition in Toronto. There was a “Dimanche Gras” atmosphere at the Gardens. In the competition there were seven contestants. Each contestant sang one song. All the songs were original compositions. The music band was led by Sello Gomes. Contestant Number 5 was Dave De Castro with the sobriquet of “The Bandit”. He came out dressed up in a bandit costume, with a decorated Mexican hat and two cap guns smoking. He was totally inebriated, drunk like the fish he was going to play in the Caribana Parade the next day. He sang a song that he composed himself. It was titled “Caribana, The Big Fete”. The Bandit literally “mash up de place”. Even before the final two contestants performed, the large crowd was chanting in unison, “The Bandit win, the white fellow win”. After the last contestant performed, the judges took a long time to make their decision. The crowd was very restless, all the while chanting, “The Bandit win, the white boy win”. Finally, the judges confirmed what the crowd was chanting. The Bandit was crowned the first Calypso King in Toronto. He was crowned with a gold silk crown made out of cardboard. He was also awarded a prize of $250. When I was leaving the Gardens I heard a guy say, “Ah never see nothing like dat in my life, a white fellow win Calypso King”.
Throughout the seventies the calypso singers and other pretenders dominated the calypso scene in Toronto. There were no more calypso competitions until the organization that is now known as OCPA was formed. The organization was registered as the Calypso Association of Canada in 1982. It was renamed and registered as OCPA in 1991. In 1980 Lord Smokey was crowned the first Calypso King of the incipient organization. Since that time many calypsonians were born, not just from Trinidad and Tobago, but from other Caribbean islands. There is a vigorous, sustainable calypso industry in Toronto with excellent lyricists, musicians, arrangers and singers, both male and female, who have distinguished themselves here, in the United States, in the Caribbean and even in China and Japan. The current list is voluminous. Their compositions are original. Many of them are producing high quality CDs. The calypso tents are thriving. There have been other groups promoting Calypso such as the Kaiso Breakfast Lime and the Calypso College. Calypso is alive and well in Toronto.
Lennox Borel
Toronto 2011.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 21:52:06 +0000
Dear Clive,
My brother, a long time ago, when I was a younger man, having a drink at Scarlet Ibis, a little hotel in Trinidad, in the late 70's,
A boy who was starting his first year at the Abbey remembered me in my last year on the mount.
He came over and introduced himself, and we shared some memories, laughs, and a couple of drinks.
He then leaned closer and asked me, who are the Knights of White Stones?
I said to him, it’s an alter-reality, it’s another Realm, a beautiful Legend, a secret, sacred circle, The Club, where a boy becomes a Man.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB MI AMIGOS / JUNE/2011. Long Live the Knights -
Have a good day - Glen McKoy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Subject: FW: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 13:05:01 +0000
Dear Prada,
Thank you for your kind words, will pass on to Jon, a true friend and brother to Kenny, my heart goes out to him and all the brothers of Kenny's circle.
Have a good day mi amigo.
--------------------------------------------------------------.
From: manjosepra@hotmail.es
Subject: RE: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2011 07:21:30 -0400
Hola: Shocking news.
Remember him well when last in TT.
May he rest in peace.
Death is the only sure outcome in our short lives and many times we are not prepared for it i.e. why I firmly believe in the Samurai´s code of life...live this day as it were the last day of your life...
The our father implicitly states the same.
God bless Mount and each and everyone that in one way or another lived, studied or had anything to do with that noble institution.
Prada
-------------------------------------------------------------.
From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Subject: Remembering Gerald Kenny
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 14:12:16 +0000
Dear Nigel,
It’s sad to read this, as another brother leaves us.
I remember reading an email from Jon, it seemed helpless at the time, where only pray was left, we all come from our own little circles, that makes this great Club.
All I ever read about Gerald, was good, a true gentleman may God bless our brother.
As the Eagles, flies over "white Stones" today, so does his spirit into the Light.
May God Bless us all, Long Live the Mount,
Best regards,
Glen McKoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
2011/6/1 Gerald Kenny <ggkenny@gmail.com>
I regret to inform that Gerald Kenny lost his battle to Glioblastoma Multiforme on Wednesday May 11th, 2011.
Thank you for deleting his e.mail ggkenny@gmail.com from the group.
Best regards
Ysaely Godoy-Kenny
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Remembering Gerald Kenny
From: Nigel Boos nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
That's Gerald for you, Che Che.
A real gentleman, always ready to listen, to empathize, to chat and to welcome you into his circle of friends.
A great friend has gone home now.
We'll miss him.
May his soul rest in peace.
Nigel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
On 2011-06-02, at 12:11 PM, Rafael Echeverría wrote:
Dear Ysaely,
It was September 2007 and - after 40 years - I went up to Mount with Gerald Kenny and Dennis Gurley.
My camera's battery died out.
So Gerald gave me his and took his photos with his Cell.
He told me not to worry, that I could even keep the battery so that I could take my pictures to share them with my family back home I remember feeling "what a kind and great guy this man is".
OK ... it was a small gesture of human sharing that meant a GREAT gesture of kindness towards me.
After 40 years.
We were just Mount Boys meeting again.
We shared our thoughts and experiences about music and he ended up giving me a couple of calypso cd's which I have treasured since then.
I am so shocked and saddened.
But I do want you to know that in that September of 2007 Gerald Kenny was a good friend to me and that I will always have him in my memories and prayers.
God Bless you all !!!
Un Abrazo a Todos !!! .... Siempre Amigo !!!
Rafael / CheChe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Ladislao Kertesz at kertesz11@yahoo.com,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos:
Mount Inside No. 10 page 23
11PQ0001PQU, Paul Quesnel
10RD0001RDA, Ronald D´Ábadie
08UN1515CKNGMI, Christopher Knowles and Gordon Mitchell
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.