Members of the Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires band performing in St Thomas.

Fresh from the massive turnout of the central-island tour the weekend before, the Supreme Ventures Jamaica Carnival 2K4 trampoozed into Colonel Cove, Morant Bay, last Saturday night, much to the delight and excitement of the ready and willing St Thomas patrons.

The affair, which could easily be described as a mixture of 'Passa Passa' and a Kingston Carnival blowout, represented a true union of jumping and dancing bodies, screaming and energetic rag-waving. It was hosted by promoter Denroy Morgan, father of the Rastafari-influenced Morgan Heritage clan.

"Carnival is Caribbean and I support that. It's about people coming out to enjoy themselves and have good, clean fun. There's nothing wrong with that," Morgan commented.

Denroy Morgan

And there certainly wasn't. The Cove was alive with the energies of the patrons who feted equally to the soca sounds of Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires and the dancehall tunes provided by Peter Phillips Disco. Byron Lee commented that this particular session ranked third in terms of the high level of vibes.

"The young people are really into the soca music and they are really enjoying themselves," Lee said.

The delivery of high-energy sets from the Dragonnaires with lead vocalists Oscar B, Jomo and newest member, Keisha, extracted the explosive yells and whistles from the audience who was in tune to the entertainers' every command, whether it was to twist, jump, 'mash potato', 'signal the plane', 'wave yuh rag' or 'push back'. The St Thomas massive proved tireless. Even when the band took breaks and the hardcore juggling of the disco started, they continued to 'dance the crazy hype', 'scooby doo', 'thunder clap', 'play guitar', 'mad run'and 'mad walk'.

Communications and public relations person for Supreme Ventures - an amalgamation of Jamaica Lottery Company, Dollarz, Lucky 5 and Cash Pot - Sonia Davidson, endorsed her company's involvement in the nationwide events, stating that, "Everyone has an opportunity to come out and enjoy themselves, as you can see. It also offers economic viability to the community and Jamaica at large, as the local community vendors come out and are able to sell their goods."

Throughout the night, patrons were treated with games of chance provided by the title sponsors, which included a kind of 'wheel of fortune', which gave opportunities to win a variety of prizes. Patrons also had the opportunity to win cell phones courtesy of Cable and Wireless.

Radio disc jock, Jerry D, riled up the crowd with onstage antics, which included demonstrations of the 'heart beat dance' and a one-on-one 'whining' fiasco with a few female patrons.

Just past 2:00 am heralded the arrival of the 'Dollar Wine Man', Colin Lucas, to the stage. He proceeded to lead the crowd through a series of warm-up exercises, which included gyrating, rotating and oscillating the pelvis. By the time his set was through, and the Dragonnaires resumed their place on the stage, patrons were more participatory than ever. This led to a 45-minute set, which was more energy-induced than the first three hours. By the time the Dragonnaires left the stage, signalling the end of the event at minutes to 4: 00 am, many patrons' faces showed signs of disappointment that 'di party dun a reddy'. However, many others, obviously spent from the experience, showed signs of satisfaction on their faces. One patron commented with a big grin that, 'Mi wouldn't mind if we have dis twice a year."

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