In the PR Week magazine of June 21, 1999, one of the 40 Public Relations Stars under 40 was a Trinidadian Abenaa Hayes. She was just 27 years old, and at the time employed by Rowland Wang Healthcare as an account supervisor: “Not a very big firm”, says Abenaa, “about 25 people only, specialised in pharmaceutical PR.”

The daughter of the late Dr John Hayes, founder of the John Hayes Kidney Foundation, and the late Justice Cynthia Riley-Hayes, attended both Bishop Anstey Junior and High Schools before going to Mc Gill University in Montreal where she graduated with a first degree in English, with a concentration on film and communications. She then obtained a Master’s in broadcast journalism from the Aanenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. Abenaa started off wanting to be a television reporter, but while pursuing her degree realised that the course offered not only print and broadcast journalism but also a degree in public relations which she says is “one of those fields that journalists know they cannot live without PR people, but on the side make fun of them as they are not really considered true news people. But at the end of the day most journalists do acknowledge that if it were not for the people in PR they would not have half the stories they get, especially in the field I work in.”

What is Abenaa’s specialised field of Pharmaceutical Public Relations all about? “It is one in which publicity is given when different clinical trials or a new drug discovery gets published in the medical journals. We co-ordinate the publicity effort for print and broadcast media, which involves interviews with doctors and dissemination of all information.” The Trinidad-born PR practitioner was at the time of her nomination in PR Week, the only practitioner whom Mike Waldholz of the Wall Street Journal had ever complimented on her “helpfulness”. Waldholz, one of the top reporters focuses on health care and bio-technology, but, says Abenaa, “the thing he is most famous for is all the reporting done in the past 20 years on HIV and AIDS. He is one of those people who doesn’t always like PR people and is not always very nice to you on the phone when you call. “The reason I think I got along with him is that I believe you are always as good as your next story and when you deal with people like Mike Waldholz of the Wall Street Journal you have to know when to call them, what to give them and when to be persistent. When I worked with him, he called my client and congratulated them on having me as their PR person because he said if I were not persistent with the story he would never have written it, and he was glad that I was (persistent) because the product actually changed the way they treat HIV patients medically. That was the beginning of my working relationship with him.”

At the start of her career, Abenaa thought she could become a local television reporter in a place like New York or Los Angeles — two big media markets in the United States. “When you make it that is where you want to work. And that is what I wanted to do, but at the time the economy was as it is now in the States, not so good. Jobs were not so easy to come by so I thought how can I use my skills and still be able to carve out a career, and that is how I chose PR.” She considers herself lucky “because when I actually started looking for the job in PR, all the companies at the time were hiring former journalists or people who had journalism degrees because they saw that there was value in having  them on staff. “I had worked for about four months at a television station in Los Angeles and then my grandfather, the late Frank Hercules, a Trinidadian living in New York, called me and said why don’t you come to New York, it is the centre of the universe, we have all the media centres here. So I said I will go and try it for one year.” That year has stretched to almost nine years. Abenaa started off with the same firm with which she now works — Manning Selvage & Lee, a full service Public Relations company in Manhattan. “I was working in their travel PR group but really wanted to do health care, something that would help people since apart from all the direct publicity we also do a lot of patient education, could have been the family history of having a father as a doctor who started the Kidney Foundation in Trinidad and did a lot of grassroots work here. So I do a lot of health care PR, particularly with aids and cancer.”

Abenaa is considered something of a science guru as with no medical training whatever, she is able to read and think scientifically for her job. “It could also be part of having my father as a doctor and listening to all of his friends I was able to pick it up quite quickly.” In her spare time, she is a member of the Junior Committee of HELP USA — a volunteer group which provides shelter and does job training for the homeless. She has chosen “pilates”— a combination of yoga and strength training — a sport. Her one-week visit to Trinidad was to be mother-giver to her younger brother, Dr John Hayes, who married Camille Boodoo last Saturday at Holy Trinity Cathedral.

What could possibly separate Noel La Pierre from his two pan sticks and his  steel drum? He knew what couldn’t.  “No woman,” he smiled coyly, “could get meh away from it.” It was indisputable.

He’s a one-man band, an entertainer and true pan lover; and his listeners can easily sense that in his music. When playing at Hi-Lo Glencoe, one of  the venues where he was booked for performances for the season, children “would stop their parents just to stand and listen to the music”. What he witnessed was heady. This was a man who had been honoured by the mayor of Le Tampon of La R?union, an isle off the coast of South Africa on the final day of the week-long cultural event, Floril?ges. He had travelled the world with his pan including the Caribbean, Japan, Canada, the USA and was special guest at the 2000 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In 2001, he was invited to perform at  the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions in St Maarten. “I had to play 18 national anthems. To pull that off, that feeling was great.” Come July he will be doing it again in Aruba. “The foreigners embraced the music,” he said. However, the locals’ response to pan, he said, was disheartening. Introducing the pan to those who had never heard of it abroad, perfecting  his talent at every chance he got came with devoting a lot of time and hard work. “It’s hard trying to develop a professional attitude, and something that is worth selling when our people don’t feel the same,” said Noel. His experiences are rarely short of obstacles. He told People: “People are not committed. Prominent people would call and book you and secure your time, and the day you show up they tell you they don’t need you. Or when you’re on the way they call and cancel.

“Another thing is you have to fight to get your money. They wait three,  four, five weeks after you already give service to pay you, not forgetting  that they call you same day for same day performance. “They figure an artist don’t have a light bill to pay, or TSTT to pay and I have to stand all these additional charges when I call back for the accountant to tell me to call back next hour. “That is my disappointment. I feel society loves to deceive. They way I know it, your word is your bond.” He cited another grievance: “They don’t accommodate you. I am my own roadie,  transport, engineer, arranger and performer. When somebody books you for  8-10 I can’t come for eight to start. I have to come early to set up,  prepare myself mentally to perform and they don’t provide place for that.” Noel believes that local acts were seen as “problematic”…(by some). “Our  people don’t love up their own, they chase their own… If you don’t want to pay attention to your history because of false pride, I don’t know. Nobody  teaches that form of history. “Your past is your present. I love it to the metal, not to the bone.” A pan/music assistant at Maple Leaf School, he didn’t purport to know  everything about pan but felt that encouraging it “will depreciate the high level of crime in this country.” Other countries are teaching about the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. Here we want it free. The pan is  yours, mine, ours. Not because you cannot play means you have to run away from it, not because it has a stigma of hooliganism or it was made from a drum. The stigma was then, this is now.”

In 1975, from age 11, Noel made a natural gravitation towards pan. His  father, Earl La Pierre at the time was arranger for Invaders steelband of  Woodbrook and Metronomes of Newtown. Earl was also one of the country’s  leading ping pong soloists. “I always wanted to be like my father,” he said. To the chagrin of his grandmother, he persisted in learning and playing pan.  “They used to call me ‘boom’ because I used to collect panmen sticks. I  remember that same year (1975), when I reached the pan yard they say ‘look  Earl La Pierre son, what yuh playing?’ and I said tenor. Before the band started to play at 7.30 that night I already knew three songs. “I was the first student from Newtown Boys to play pan. They used to send me home to sleep to play for Panorama.” He was steelband captain at Belmont Boys’ Secondary where he learned his first formal training in music theory from his teachers Roland Gordon and  Desmond Waithe. He then moved on to playing with Invaders Steel Orchestra and later Phase II Pan Groove. He enjoyed a four-year stint playing on cruise ships and at clubs nightly  with the “Coca-Cola Steelband” when he moved to Bermuda in 1987. He currently works on board cruise ships as a solo pannist. For Carnival 2003, he teamed up with calypsonians Hollis Wright, Valentino, Mudada, D Diamond, Twiggy, Princess Monique and Shinaqua at Kaiso House.  In 2000, Noel released his first CD album Waterflow.

His song “Kick it Way” is doing just that with the competition this year. Extremely busy for the 2003 season, he longs for a chance to get a little extra sleep. Last year was no different, when his  song “War” was the cry. Later in 2002, we grooved with the Divali Riddim collaboration between himself and Renee Castle called “Feeling Now”. With all that under his belt, the young fella who made his debut as part of Robert Amar’s Kiskedee Karavan back in the 90s as Maga Dan, grew with all of us, and now he’s a household name on the party circuit.

Now everybody wants to know what’s up with his new name, Maximus Dan de Gladiator. “Everything really ties into one another,” explains Maximus (his real moniker is under wraps). “It’s really about the role that Russell Crowe played in the movie Gladiator. Maximus is Latin for great, so it’s a powerful meaning behind the name as well. I didn’t just want to be another artiste. I don’t categorise myself; if I want to sing or do a chant I do it. I’m an entertainer, not a follower, but a leader, just like the character Maximus. When I saw the movie in Toronto in 2000, I came back to T&T with a ‘Maximus’ mentality… I just  needed to change my name. There is  no other reason. It had nothing to do with my physical size… yuh know  how people like to talk foolishness sometimes (laughs).”

The rough-voiced Petit Valley native has been steadily ascending up the musical ladder since he was just 12, chanting for his friends and family (yes, the voice was deep even then) and as a member of the Petit Valley RC School choir. In Diego Martin Junior Secondary, he was driven to perfect his skill. “When you young, you want to fit in with the crowd, so that I when I was chanting hell hard, because you want to be macho and fit in, if you don’t; you feel left out. But as I got older and more mature, I started going back to the Bob Marley and Jacob Miller tunes, the foundation artistes if you will. They had the conscious vibes.” But it was never an easy road for him. His close friend Kerry Maynard (they were best friends since school days) was instrumental in getting him to the Kiskedee Karavan audition, which he did with $hel $hok (the two are close to this day) and also doing some networking of his own.

His very first song was called “Only Gun” back in 1996. It received a lot of airplay on the stations 96.1FM and 98.9FM, which at the time were the main stations that played that particular type of music. At a time when new artistes heavily depended on getting that much needed airplay, Maximus Dan made his rounds to the bands themselves, just as he started recording. “Bands serve the same purpose as the DJ’s do in the radio stations,” he says. “I made sure that the bands got to know me and my music. You can’t always wait for the apple to fall from the tree… sometimes you have to climb it, or get the fruit with a stick.”
“Kick it Way” (the rhythm came from Keith Israel)  has been misunderstood by a few, simply due to the chorus. According to him, his lyrics are not violent; he listed things in society that people should kick away, rather than telling everyone to “kick up dust”. One young lady had walked up to him and told him point blank that she didn’t like the song, because to her it incited violence. He convinced her to come to hear the song performed live, which she did. Of course, she came back to him and apologised. “You see, I had told the lady that she wasn’t listening to the lyrics, she was listening to the rhythm and hearing the kick it way, like it was going to start a riot.

Now, nobody dances to the lyrics, they dance to the rhythm. People get confused in a party when they head ‘bad’ and they just hearing the chorus and figure that the tune inciting violence. But, not much people taking time out to listen to what the artiste has to say. This is why I love reggae so much, because it’s a powerful music. People listen. The lyrics are plain for you to hear. It’s not a music to jump to and prance about, so you hear it better and it reaches you mentally, rather than our music, which is a physical thing rather than mental. As you hear a rhythm, what you want to do is dance, you not listening to what the artiste has to say. After two three times, then you get the lyrics of the song and you say, ‘A-a, that is what he was saying? Yeah, yeah, I get it now’.”’

He believes that his success comes from his ability to stay current and focused on delivering the message in the music. As it sometimes happens with success, it’s bittersweet, due to the fact that he is extremely busy. After belting out songs night after night in the many fetes and all-inclusive parties, he hardly gets to rest in the morning. Sometimes the phone rings as early as 8:30 a.m. when he “killing sleep”, but he answers, saying yes to this appearance at a school’s carnival party, or to that appearance at a company gathering. Sometimes family calls and much as he’d like to sit and talk, he will promise to call back later, but as it goes in this business, he can’t, due to commitments. But he takes it all with a smile. “When I look back at when I told my teachers and them that I wanted to be an artiste, a singer, they were like, ‘A siiiinger?!?’, and they saying it in this kinda way, you know? Like, ‘That is what you want to do?’ Because you going to school to get your passes  and it’s like I want to do something else. Now that they see how things are, and how busy I get and the little recognition, they glad fuh so! All I hearing is, ‘Boy, ah real proud of you.’ But I must say that when you are busy like that, it just shows what you are worth, and the blessings come. My father used to say, ‘If a tree is laden and nobody pelting it, something is wrong’.”

Once the Carnival season is over, the touring to North America begins… of course Maximus Dan de Gladiator  is ready. He leaves our shores for a concert in late March, giving him a little time to take care of business and possibly do his two favourite relaxation activities; watching a little TV and getting some much needed sleep. In the meantime, he will continue to give us the music and find time to enjoy his favourite meal of grilled fish with veggies, scalloped potatoes and red beans. And no, he doesn’t cook. “I think I know where my talent is,” he laughs.

All in all, he is thankful for his many blessings and always tells people that the only way to success is through the Almighty. So you can rest assured that Maximus Dan de Gladiator will continue to lead the way in trying to bring the right message across. “If you keep telling a child ‘yuh good for nothing’ they will keep it in their mind until they get big. That is not my way. My way is to uplift, educate the people at the same time. At the end of the day you must know if you doing something wrong or not, the message must reach you. You can’t stop goodness.”

You might think you know all that there is to calypsonian Skatie, but you’d be wrong.

For starters, Skatie (born Carlos James) doesn’t put on any airs, even though he has recently been crowned Young King for 2003. Ask this Arima native about his now fourth entry into the Big Yard… “Boy, I just so glad to be part of that final nine,” he smiled. “Is over 3,000 calypsonians that come in to get chosen for this competition, so you must feel like you win already! I just going to really enjoy myself on that stage, because the winning really comes secondary to me… it’s an accomplishment on its own just being chosen for that show.”

Skatie’s career began in 1986; back then he was known as an entertainer. (“That is how I support my family,” he quipped.) His foray into calypso began as a member of the TUCO East Zone’s Kaiso Caravan (a roving tent) before eventually ending up at Kitch’s Revue, where he presently performs to a packed house. His singing takes him abroad throughout the year, visiting New York, London and other parts of the Caribbean to do shows, but once that is over he takes a good rest. When it comes to his two main compositions for the Big Yard, Skatie just tells it like it is. His first offering, “In Just Six Years” is a rather satirical yet humorous take on what “Panday and them do while they was there,” according to the bard. “But I not worried about people saying is a anti-UNC tune,” he admitted.

“You’ll always get that kind of thing, regardless of what you sing. Look right now, if you go in the chutney tent, you could hear them how they bashing the PNM government raw, raw… and is every night! And they not even cleaning it up like how I clean up my tune neither. I just basically highlighting what Panday do the country for the six years they were there, that is all. And it making people laugh.” The song was written by Skatie and composer Stephen Rabathali, who gets full writing credits for his second offering, “One man and One Man Alone”, a song that has already gleaned heaps of positive accolades. Their musical union began a few years ago, when Skatie had decided to enter the Political Monarch contest. He placed fourth, and their friendship was cemented. “Back in the day, the first Monarch competition I entered, I wrote my own tune, you know? But Stephen is a great writer and this tune is one that I consider as something patriotic,” said Skatie. “I like to think of it as my international song. I sing about the trials, tribulations and contributions that one man (alone) can make and have made in history. People like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, even Moses from the Bible, these are people that have made many sacrifices, but they stand alone and make a difference. Even our own Dr Eric Williams and Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro have been mentioned in this song too, and everybody saying how much they like it, it’s a positive song.”

Skatie gave his most rousing performance at the Young Kings competition last February 24, where he tied with Roger George for first place. He had entered the Young Kings contest before (on three separate occasions), but he admitted that he felt like he had ‘it’ after doing just his first tune. “I couldn’t have done better,” he said, beaming. “I know I came off powerful in the first rendition and I could just feel it. My songwriter Stephen was backstage and when I finish singing the first one, I came backstage and tell him, ‘Boy ah reaaaal perform!’ I could feel it inside, man. I really feel proud.” Skatie even has a CD available, entitled One of a Kind, which contains seven tracks. The sixth song is a political one, the seventh is his Soca Parang composition. “I had done a soca parang tune called ‘Old Fowl Sweet’ either last year or year before… Well, you could find it on the CD too. Plus a next tune I have called Trini Posse, it’s a really nice jump up song.”

Preparing for the stage comes like ‘nutting’ for Skatie. Having gotten used to travelling and performing abroad, he admitted he no longer has stage fright. “All I do now is to relax myself, then sing. I don’t get frightened again like long time, when I now starting out. What really prepares you for the stage is doing other shows, so you get accustomed to all kinds of crowds. I even perform at the Mas Camp Pub from time to time, so is nutting, man. I good.” So how does he feel going against stalwarts like Singing Sandra and Chalkdust at the upcoming Dimanche Gras? “Well, let me put it like this. I feel that everybody has great songs to begin with, so I know the show will be nice. Whatever turn up in the results, I happy with that. If I win, I happy. If I lose I happy. But like I said before, being in that nine, I done accomplish something. So in my mind, I know I win already, just by being there.”