Meet TOBYN PEARSON, magic man

Tobyn Pearson, Canadian magician
(Photo supplied by Tobyn)

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Greenlight Network’s 2nd annual fundraising environmental concert, GREEN CARPET , has been billed as the 'classical, magical, environmental concert' ... and Tobyn Pearson, Canadian magician extraordinaire, will certainly help us to live up to the 'magical' part of the evening on Saturday 18 October 2008. See details at end of post. But first, read his fascinating interview.

1. When and why did you first start practicing magic?
I actually started out juggling first when I was about 13 years old.
Magic was a natural progression from there. I still utilize both art
forms in any shows that I do.

2. Where are some of the places you have you performed?
Canada, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and of
course Trinidad and Tobago. I would love to do shows in China, Russia,
India, Mexico, All of Europe, Iceland, Peru, Chile................ The
world is not that big of a place anymore. It would be a shame to miss
any of it!

3. Tell us about your most memorable magical moment (a) in show (b) in life.
I was in Burkina Faso in a very remote village doing a magic and
juggling show for the community. The show was a tremendous success!!!
After the show a gentleman approached me with his daughter. He asked if
I could heal her as she was deaf and mute. This had a tremendous impact
on how I used to view the world. I have been back to Africa on 2 more
occasions and can't bring myself to do magic again there.

4. What does it take to be a magician?
Misspent youth!! Just kidding. It takes patience more than anything
else. Sometimes you will have to work for months on a simple move that
is only a small part of one trick.

5. What particular magic trick do you most enjoy performing?
Anything close up. I pretty much gave up stage and adult shows about 8
years ago. I strictly focus on charity work now for children's causes
usually. This upcoming show will be my first adult stage show in several
years. Close up Magic does not play well on stage, so it should be
interesting what I can come up with for this event.

6. If there was a magic trick you could do to help the environment, what would that trick be?
OUCH!!! Without getting too political, I would wave my magic wand (which
in truth I have never used or owned one) and educate all humanity on the
destruction we are doing to ourselves via the use of fossil fuels, our
mega agricultural industries, unfair trade practices.....and the list
goes on. I honestly believe that if everyone was educated, the abuse to
ourselves and the planet would stop. Now that would be magic!!!

7. Free flow - anything else you would like to add about yourself, magic and/or the environment ...?
Mostly I would like to thank T&T for being so generous and kind to me
and my family over the last 2 years. We will be leaving shortly with
only good memories and thoughts of all the people we have met and the
places we have been. Trinidad and Tobago like all countries has its
needs and worries. Do not settle for mediocrity. Hold people
accountable!

GREEN CARPET
Date: Saturday 18th October
Time: 5 - 8 p.m.
Venue: La Joya Auditorium, Eastern Main Road, St. Joseph

Tickets: $150
Available from:
Glenford Bhagat - 789-0786
Shivonne DuBarry - 758-7915
Elspeth Duncan - 786-2539


50% of proceeds will go to WORC (Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre).

The other 50% will go toward Greenlight Network’s environmental projects. Have a look at some of our past ones.

Please forward this post to those you think will be interested in learning about our performers, attending the concert and supporting this worthy environmental cause.

Thank you!

Greenlight Network

Meet CAROLINE MAIR, Jazzing it up!

Caroline Mair

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We've asked none other than Caroline Mair to jazz things up the way only she can ... on Saturday 18 October 2008 at GREEN CARPET – Greenlight Network’s 2nd annual fundraising environmental concert. Spend a few moments with us and read what this talented songstress has to say about her journey from singing in showers to the stage.

1. At what age did you start singing?
Well, I’ve been singing in the shower for as long as I can remember, but I’ve been ridiculously shy until this year. I was in and out of choirs, but I hate choirs, and I would sing at university once in a while. But I went through a couple of things last year, and I guess it got me thinking about the things I really wanted out of life. So I jumped up one day and went to Satchmo’s during my lunch break, and waited there every day for three days for as long as I could so they could hear me sing. And they listened, and they liked, and I’ve grown in confidence since then.

2. Why do you sing?
Because I have to. I played piano for about ten years and hated it, but I loved music. I just never knew I was using the wrong instrument. There’s always music in my head. Lyrics bouncing around, melodies. I would hear a blues song, then I would deviate from the tune, think about things to add, try to funk it up in my head with a parang or tassa beat or something. Or a Spanish verse with a clave for the bridge. I’ve been doing this since I was very small, trying to switch things up.

3. What songs do you sing? Originals? Covers?
I sing covers in public, but I think I would like to expand into my own compositions. I have a lot of songs tumbling around in my head, as I said. But I’ve only done one or two things in collaboration with other people. I really want to explore different genres, try to mix what I currently sing with Caribbean genres. I guess I just love fusions, so I want to try to play with that.

4. What styles of singing do you explore? Which is your favourite and why?
I love opera, but you have to be trained to follow that path. Otherwise, you’ll hurt your voice. So now it’s mostly jazz, neo-soul, the blues. I love the blues, harnessing all that emotion into your voice. What I sing in Satchmo’s is purely old school – lovely standard ballards. Other places I make it more contemporary, try to bring some modern neo-soul into the mix. As I said before, I really want to explore fusion, and find ways of blending more Caribbean forms with what I sing right now.

5. Are you a trained singer?
No. I hate choirs and classes. But did do ten years of piano, so at least I know something about music. Well, I’m supposed to know! It’s somewhere filed away in my memory, I’m sure!

6. Do you perform regularly?
I have a regular gig at Satchmo’s, Mondays and Saturdays.

7. Name places (establishments or countries) where you've performed
Satchmo’s, Coco Lounge, and Central Bank in Trinidad; Groove Bar in New York; Victor’s Café (opera) and Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia.

8. What was your most memorable performance ... and why?
For my grandmother’s funeral. I hadn’t officially started to sing in public. I was still too shy. My grandmother was the only one who encouraged me to sing in public, and I never sang, not even for her really. So I decided to sing for her funeral. It was awful, really. Started to cry in the middle of the song. But I meant every word of the song.

9. Who/what inspires you - in singing (specifically) and in life (generally)?
In singing, Billy Holiday has to be my favourite. The quality of her voice is magnetic. She had a very tragic life, and you could hear the pain in her voice. When I heard “Southern Trees” for the first time, I had chills. Nina Simone is another one. “Don’t Explain” is a song that just stops you cold, and you’re there in the moment, in the song, pleading with her lover to “just say you’ll remain.” I like the craziness of Amy Winehouse – she’s the only pop singer I like really. She re-introduces “diva” back into music. I mean, look at what happened to Britney – there’s a price to pay for those exacting standard of beauty and “femininity” that’s put upon women in any field, especially music.

10. This is an environmental concert. What personal statement would you like to share with readers re the environment/your thoughts/feelings, etc...?
As a developing country, we have a lot invested in protecting our environment. There’s a fine line to draw between development and exploitation. Sustainable development – that benefits us, not foreign entities and countries – is really key here. It’s an ongoing battle. How to provide for ourselves and for the future? How to ensure what we do today does not jeopardize tomorrow? We’re a small country, and our resources are limited. It requires everyday people thinking outside the box, being entrepreneurial, finding ways to reduce our waste and develop a market that doesn’t revolve around oil and gas. Because if we leave protecting the environment solely up to the government, it won’t end up getting done. And really, we’ll be just as much to blame.

GREEN CARPET
Date: Saturday 18th October
Time: 5 - 8 p.m.
Venue: La Joya Auditorium, Eastern Main Road, St. Joseph

Tickets: $150
Available from:
Glenford Bhagat - 789-0786
Shivonne DuBarry - 758-7915
Elspeth Duncan - 786-2539

50% of proceeds will go to WORC (Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre).

The other 50% will go toward Greenlight Network’s environmental projects. Have a look at some of our past ones.

Please forward this post to those you think will be interested in learning about our performers, attending the concert and supporting this worthy environmental cause.

Thank you!

Greenlight Network

Meet MICHELLE RUDDER, piano virtuoso

Join us as we feature our GREEN CARPET performers one by one ...

Michelle Rudder
(Photo Courtesy: Michelle Rudder)

Her fingers will thrill you on Saturday 18 October 2008 at GREEN CARPET – Greenlight Network’s 2nd annual fundraising environmental concert. But for now, let's check out this interview to learn a little more about the person behind the piano.

1. When did you start playing piano?
When I was 3 ???? It was a 3 octave electric organ from the 1960s

2.What does music mean to you?
.... Life

3. What inspires you?
.... Emotions ... mostly the less plesant ones. When I am too happy, I can't create.

4.What are your other interests in life?
Art ... I returned to painting after almost 30 years. Also reading .. I am a knowledge seeking infomaniac. I like to think about life .. my own philosophies. I like to read up on medicine, meteorology, all sorts of science and tehcnology. I love reading everything.

5. The songs you will be playing for the concert - (without telling us what they are) - why have you selected those specific ones?
One is an original that I did last year. The others represent my favourite time of the day .... night time.

6. This is a fundraising and awareness raising concert for the environment - what is your take on ' the environment'?
Loving nature is part of loving yourself, loving life and loving God. It cannot be distinguished. Man vs nature? What is see happening in the context of the universe as an organism, what man is doing to nature is almost equivalent to someone coming down with an autoimmune disease .. i.e. when the body attacks/ destroys itself. We are destroying ourselves.

7. Free flow: anything else you want to say about yourself as a person, as a musician and/or about the concert and the environment?
In life, I live by the Kahlil Gibran quote ..."Life is indeed darkness save when there is urge". My urge to create and produce is strong. I live for it. Sometimes, the realities of day to day life as it has become threatens to suppress my creativity. What I have found is that if I can take the energy that I have, and instead of fighting the chaos, embrace it ... I can find ways to be creative and productive in spite of. No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

GREEN CARPET
Date: Saturday 18th October
Time: 5 - 8 p.m.
Venue: La Joya Auditorium, Eastern Main Road, St. Joseph

Tickets: $150
Available from:
Glenford Bhagat - 789-0786
Shivonne DuBarry - 758-7915
Elspeth Duncan - 786-2539


50% of proceeds will go to WORC (Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre).

The other 50% will go toward Greenlight Network’s environmental projects. Have a look at some of our past ones.

Please forward this post to those you think will be interested in learning about our performers, attending the concert and supporting this worthy environmental cause.

Thank you!

Greenlight Network

Meet ANTHONY ROSE of Exodus

Join us as we feature our GREEN CARPET performers one by one ...

X is for Exodus
Location: Exodus Panyard, Eastern Main Road, St. Augustine/Tunapuna
Photo: Elspeth Duncan

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X marks the spot on the stage where Anthony Rose (Exodus pan player/musical director/former band captain) will be standing when he performs classical pan on Saturday 18th October 2008 at GREEN CARPET – Greenlight Network’s 2nd annual fundraising environmental concert.

Anthony’s journey into the world of pan began at the age of 6, as a member of Flamingo Steel Orchestra on St. John Road, the place where he was born and bred.

“Flamingoes and Exodus is like family,” he says. “After the Carnival season of 1981, some past members of Flamingoes decided they wanted to form a steelband. That’s how Exodus started. Exodus … the movement … from one band to another … and of course the scriptural meaning too.”

Photo: Elspeth Duncan

Exodus played their first panorama in 1982 (placing 4th). In 1983, Anthony made his own Exodus, moving over to the band where he was christened as their first captain. He held this position until 1990, when he started to travel with music.

Pan has taken him far and wide:
- studying music education at Akron University, Ohio
- one year in Tokyo, Japan
- musical engagements in USA, Canada, Europe, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Paris, London, Singapore

Looking back to his earlier years, Anthony recalls his days after leaving high school. “I stayed home and played pan every day from 7:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night for four years. It was personal practice and development. I would get the audio and printed music and follow it on my own, teaching myself. My parents said ‘Boy, you’re getting older. Time for you to get a job!’”

So, in 1982, he started working with the Ministry of Works as an accounts clerk. By 1985, realising that we ‘wasn’t getting time’ with his music, he decided it was time to leave. “In June 1985, I woke up and told my mother I’m not going back to the job and that was it. I never looked back. From then I went into music full time.”

Following his heart with dedication and passion has led Anthony down a fulfilling road. Today he teaches music “to anybody who wants to learn.” Interested in piano, drums, singing, jazz theory, arranging? He can give you a good foundation through Steeldrum Excel, his music school.

“Music is what I do, it’s what I have, it’s my life. Everything I have comes from playing pan, It’s how I live, it’s a hobby, it’s professional, it’s fun, it’s business.”

And what does this man with the passion for pan have to say about the environment?

“My whole thing is scriptural because of creation, earth … the environment isn’t supposed to be as it is now because everything was made perfect. It’s because of disobedience that we are where we are today. I think to get back to that state, we human beings have to undergo renewal of thinking and appreciation. Look outside and see how it is now and how it is supposed to be. Look at the flooding. When you see the amount of water and the amount of tins and plastic and old fridges and stoves … It’s a whole breakdown in discipline. No one appreciates anything or anyone anymore. We are brainwashed, but we have to do another brainwash in a positive way.”

During Anthony’s year-long stay in Japan, he was struck by the positive way in which the Japanese people related to their environment.

“In Japan they call seeing about the environment ‘public art’ … instead of ‘landscaping’. When you want to study landscaping, you go to the School of Public Art. Everything is art to them. If you see how these people take care of the land, the animals, plants, human beings. It’s love. They have an old age problem too, since they are among the people who live the longest. You see the elders in different groups on a morning transplanting trees. Imagine I was talking to a woman age 75 one morning and she’s down in a hole removing a tree. They understand and appreciate the environment. Everything is a contributing factor to each other. We need the trees, we need the oxygen. When you have no greenery, then what? Human life will be at stake. Anyone working on the environment and trying to help is doing a good thing.

Man was given a garden and he was given a job to take care of it.”

See more of Anthony online here ... and stay tuned! Spread the word as we feature other performers in this concert you do not want to miss!

GREEN CARPET
Date: Saturday 18th October
Time: 5 - 8 p.m.
Venue: La Joya Auditorium, Eastern Main Road, St. Joseph

Tickets: $150
Available from:
Glenford Bhagat - 789-0786
Shivonne DuBarry - 758-7915
Elspeth Duncan - 786-2539

50% of proceeds will go to WORC (Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre).

The other 50% will go toward Greenlight Network’s environmental projects. Have a look at some of our past ones.

Please forward this post to those you think will be interested in learning about our performers, attending the concert and supporting this worthy environmental cause.

Thank you!

Greenlight Network

"Green Carpet" ( Greenlight's Environmental Concert 2008)

The time has come again for Greenlight Network to stage our (second) annual fundraising concert. Last year at the JFK, U.W.I., our first annual environmental concert (Live the Pledge) was all about alternative music, featuring some of T & T's hottest local talent in that genre. Money was raised for Greenlight Network's environmental projects. Please explore the archives in this website to see what kinds of ventures we have embarked upon over time.

This year we are going classical, magical and environmental ... with "Green Carpet" ... the concert you don't want to miss: Saturday 18 October, La Joya Auditorium, Curepe, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Tickets $150.

50% of the proceeds will go to Greenlight Network for our environmental projects. The balance 50% will go to Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre (WORC) to assist with vital work being done for the injured and orphaned wild animals of Trinidad and Tobago.

This one-of-a-kind evening will feature unforgettable performances by:
Caroline Mair - with her smoky, husky, alluring classic jazz style
Michelle Rudder - her nimble fingers have thrilled audiences with everything from rock and roll to Beethoven and beyond
Tobyn Pearson - this Canadian magician who will blow you away with the unbelievable tricks he's got up his sleeve

... and others! Pan, sitar, tabla, classical orchestra, limbo and more.

We hope we've tickled your fancy. Stay tuned for:
- updates on concert information and planning progress
- details on ticket sales and availability
- interviews with the performers and those behind the scenes
- ways in which you can volunteer to help

Come. We invite you to walk the Green Carpet with us.