No mas from Minshall

VETERAN bandleader Peter Minshall has confirmed that he will not be producing a mas band this year. “There will be no mas by Minshall for Carnival 2004,” he said in a brief statement released by his Callaloo Company yesterday. “It is not so much a decision as something that has happened to me, a consequence of all that has occurred in this country and its Carnival and my life in the preceding months and years.” Minshall also offered an apology to supporters of his mas band: “I am aware that our mas over the years could never have happened without the collaboration and loyalty of the many, and I feel your disappointment and pain at this moment. I am truly sorry.” According to the Callaloo statement that was all that Minshall was prepared to say on the matter, although he “may wish to speak further on the matter at a future time.”