What's Happening  by Todd Mangatal

todd@ariousentertainment.com

Greetings to my on-line family:

I would like to begin by saying a special thank you to everyone who made it out in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel and attended the Trans Africa Poetry Fest on Saturday, September 20th.  You helped make this event a great success.  We are very happy to have been a sponsor for this event.  For those of you who couldn't make it out or are not in this area I have included a review of the event by one of the organizers "Changamire".  See below!

Also, this weekend the Original Baltimore Carnival Extravaganza was suppose to take place, but due to Hurricane Isabel it was canceled until next year.  I must say Isabel did do some major damage to Baltimore, lots of flooding and down trees.  Our  favorite place in Baltimore Fells Point was completely under water, which was an amazing sight because this has not happened (to this extent) in over 100 years.  So with all of this there was no way this Carnival could have taken place, and I thought this was an acceptable explanation for the cancellation.  However, to my surprise it wasn't a good explanation to some folks out of Baltimore (well, I guess I'm not really surprised).  This week I received some disturbing e-mails about certain reasons why it canceled, and was accused for relaying False Information regarding the Carnival.  The most disturbing was from a DJ who later explained to me after I addressed his concerns that he needed to talk, and to let me know the truth about some of the problems, and then thanked me for listening to his concerns.  Because of him I was inspired to write my feelings about Baltimore Carnival, and to explain the situation that has been occurring in Baltimore regarding their many Carnivals. 

A few years ago Baltimore had a very successful and growing Carnival which took place in September, this carnival was made up with members of the community who are leaders, and have a strong passion for Carnival and exposing the culture.  However, somewhere along the way, something happened with the organizers of this event, and the Carnival split.  As usual when we as a people get together and try to do something positive, for some reason or another we cannot get along, which seems to be a trend in Carnivals around the US.  First, the Baltimore Carnival split in two directions, then 3, now back to 2, along with the split the "hating" began, with name calling, and unnecessary accusations which has been very unproductive and hindered the growth of Carnival in Baltimore.  At present Baltimore has had one Carnival which takes place in July and it's coordinated by Elaine Simon (who was one of the original members of the first Carnival) and her Committee who I have great respect for, and who works very hard.  I know first hand it is very difficult for a woman to succeed in this Carnival thing, because it is dominated by men.  I know this because my wife is a part of the DC Carnival organizing committee which is made up of 8 men and 2 women (actually a few years ago my wife had the opportunity to speak on the issue of women and Carnival at the Smithsonian Institute Folk Life Festival which featured Carnival in DC.)  Anyway, since the split some other members of the first Carnival have been working very hard to try and bring life back to the Original Carnival, but for some reason or another this has not occurred due to 911 in 2001, lateness in obtaining insurance in 2002 and Isabel in 2003 (which is all public knowledge).  I know the members of this organization have a strong passion about bringing the flavor of this first Carnival back to life in it's original date.  Ultimately, the best thing for both Carnivals is to come together as one, but obviously they can not see eye to eye on issues, so this is unrealistic.  Therefore, I personally don't see a problem with both groups trying to do their thing, because there is room for both events, and they are not in direct competition with each other since one takes place in July and the other in September. (Unlike the problem that is currently occurring in Miami where there is 2 and 3 Carnivals taking place on the same day, this is unproductive and candidly they are "cutting each others throat" which result in failure.) Well, ultimately the people in Baltimore will be the judge of who/which Carnival will be successful, and no one should be held back from achieving what they believe in.  What needs to happen in Baltimore is the members and supporters of the July and September Carnivals need to do the best they can to make each event a success, and the "hating" and "Mud slinging" must stop, because it is childish, stupid and slanderous, and beginning to aggravate people (who are beginning to loose faith in both events.)

All this was said to explain to the passionate members that contacted me this week with their concerns about falsely advertising the September Carnival event.  Please realize and understand that Arious Entertainment will not take sides or get involved in this fight (that is obviously personal).  We extend the same courtesy to both parties to promote their event because that is what we are here for, to promote music and culture.  I have a good relationship with all parties involved, and I know they all are tying their best to spread the culture, and they all have our full support.  We will continue to support Carnival or Carnivals in Baltimore.  

This Friday evening join us as we support a fellow entertainment company on their launching of their entertainment website.  Spiceradio.com will be launching in DC at Club Ooh La La, located at 1800 M Street, N.W.  Come out and see what this entertainment site has to offer.  If you are into hip hop, R&B or modeling I think this is an event you will enjoy.  They have special out of town guest DJ's, Giveaways and surprises.  So let's meet and greet this Friday at the Spiceradio.com launch.   Scroll below for more details or log on to www.spiceradio.com.   I am especially happy to support spiceradio.com because we both are on the ground floor of this internet marketing thing, and we are basically trying to promote the music.  It's going to take all of us to achieve this goal, because the internet has lots of marketing potential and limitless boundaries.  

Please remember to log on to our message board - to add, read and respond to our many topics.  Let us know your thoughts on these topics, and what's happened in your town/area over the weekend.

"Peace Out" to all of you!

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