Survival
Four
The
4th staging of Sting Miami was launched this past
weekend on Sunday, Aug. 27th in Miami with a press conference in
Miami that boasted some of the top Caribbean media personnel
based in the US and Jamaica. West
Indian Times thanks Survival Four Inc and Sting Miami
for their hospitality over the weekend and for taking such great
care of West Indian Times.
Survival Four Inc. are the promoters and will be
staging STING Miami on
September 24, 2006 at the Bi-Centennial
Park, Florida. The line-up for
STING Miami boasts an
excellent roster of Reggae/Dancehall and Hip Hop artistes who
are guaranteed to attract fans of different nationalities from
communities in Florida, New York, Virginia, Atlanta, Boston,
Connecticut and the Caribbean.
Lady
Cham on the beach
I arrived in Miami on Saturday
and of course spent time on the beach and walking around South
Beach. On Saturday night I tuned into Tanto Irie and Lady
English on Reggae Runnins on Hot 105.1 fm and called into the
show to hail them up. I was actually surprised to find out
that they didn't know about the Sting media launch and so of
course I had to connect them and their listeners to what was
going on.
Lady
Cham and Squeeze from Linkup Media
Sunday was a day of mingling
with producers, promoters, writers, photographers, video camera
personnel, directors and radio personalities. Louie Grant
from Irie Jamboree (Irie fm New York) called into our show the
Caribbean Connection to speak to Princess Ann and Imeka about
the wonderful upcoming Irie Jamboree taking place on Sunday,
Sept 3rd in New York. Also I personally spoke to DJ Ninja
man on the phone courtesy of one of his managers Chris Thomas of
Powermix records. Ninja man said he is excited and ready
to come back to the United States 'very soon'.
Isaiah
Laing - Founder of Sting
At the media launch the first
speaker was Isaiah Laing who was there to endorse Sting Miami.
He said he expects no less than 43,000 patrons to come out on
September 24th. STING
had its largest crowd of over 42,000 in 1991 and it’s
been recorded as the biggest turnout for any one day reggae
event in Jamaica. That record still stands but Mr. Laing said
he's looking for Sting Miami '06 to beat the record!
MC
- Howard 'Big Mac' McIntosh
‘All
For One ... One For All’ is the
theme for the event which appropriately fits the cultural
consciousness of the artistes booked for
Sting Miami - Wyclef
Jean, Beenie Man, Capleton, Ying Yang Twins, Avant, Richie
Spice, Trina, Little Hero, Spice, Gyptian, Cherine, Busta Rhymes
and Ninja man among others were mentioned and
pictured at the launch. However when the photo of Ninja
man came up on the slide show it up for a good 5 seconds and
then rushed off. What I wondered was why the MC asked how
that picture got in the mix? The MC then with a smile said
he had personally spoken to Ninja man the previous Friday and
said "the deportee soon come back."
The Launch continued with
performances by various artists which included Reggae/Soca
artist 'Mama Lu Lu', 'Cherine' of Dancehall Queen and One Love
fame and new Dancehall DJ 'Reagan'.
Mama
Lu Lu
Cherine
Reagan
We were informed that
donations from the event will be made to three charitable
organizations - Jefferson Reaves House
USA, Yele Haiti, USA,
and Mustard Seed HIV
Hospice-Jamaica. The Jefferson Reaves House is based in
South Florida. It has been successful in rehabilitating over
200 alcohol and drug abusers and sexually molested women who are
now living normal lives, getting college degrees and have been
reunited with their families. The Yele Haiti Charity was
founded by
Haitian-born hip-hop artiste Wyclef Jean who announced a food
distribution program aimed at two of Haiti’s poorest
neighborhoods. And Mustard Seed supports a variety of
social programs in Jamaica, Dominica Republic, Nicaragua and
Zimbabwe, especially abandoned and orphaned children affected
with HIV/AIDS. Security is a
priority as Sting Miami 2006 is a family oriented event
and we learnt that security will be marshaled by the
Bi-Centennial Park, Miami-Dade Police and other private
security firms.
All in all the media
launch was enjoyable but disappointing in that there was no
question answer session for the media but that's OK, I met up
with some wonderful media personnel and must also thank Tracy
our Limousine driver from GL Limo Svc. in Miami.
CONFUSION
REGARDING ADVERTISED ARTIST NINJA MAN
Chris
Thomas and Isaiah Laing
Today it's Wednesday, August 30th and yesterday we received a
press release from Sting Launch which again mentioned Ninja man
in the line up and so of course, today, we sent out a mass email
to connect the masses to what's going on and the fact that Ninja
man was in the line up for Sting, however, we at West
Indian Times received word from Ninja's management that Ninja
Man is NOT signed to Sting
Miami. Ninja man is co-managed in the US by Ewart 'Jr' Burton
and Chris Thomas. Today Chris was heated as he said he had
just received our email on his Blackberry and he wanted to set
the record straight regarding Ninja Man.
Chris
Thomas - Ninja Man Management
Chris stated that he and Jr. Burton traveled to the Sting Miami
Launch to make final negotiations regarding the booking of their
artist. Prior to them landing in Miami all the terms of
the contract were laid out and it was just left to finalize the
contract with a monetary agreement and a retainer. But
Chris said once they reached Miami they saw all the promoters
but were given the run around with promises of someone speaking
to them, promises which Chris said never came to fruition.
Jr
Burton - Ninja Man Management
Both Jr and Chris returned to New York without finalizing
booking of Ninja Man for the show. When they returned
Chris said they received a call from Nerissa Toney, the CEO of
Survival Four Inc. who wanted to do a three way call with them,
Isaiah Laing and herself with regards to booking Ninja Man.
Chris said he has no interest in doing a three way call because
he does business best face to face and they were all together at
the Sting Miami launch and it should have been done then.
In fact, to quote Chris "all mi interested in is when mi
ah guh get mi money, mi come down deh and yuh bat yuh eye two
time and tink everyting all right?”
As far as the false promotion of Ninja Man, Chris says Survival
Four will receive a letter from his lawyer today asking them to
cease and desist from using Ninja Man's name until the deal is
formalized.
SURVIVAL FOUR INC. RESPONSE TO
CHRIS THOMAS STATEMENTS
Pamela Powell from Survival Four has informed West Indian Times
that the information that Chris Thomas gave to us is incorrect
and premature and they do not appreciate his statements.
Survival Four say the Media Launch was not
supposed to be the setting for finalizing Ninja Man's contract
and they are working closely with Mr. Jr. Burton to
complete the negotiations by the end of the week. Pamela
said that Mr. Desmond 'Ninja Man' Ballentyne's appearance has
long been awaited and he will
be at Sting Miami!
