Caesars Army Interview

I am a faithful member of Caesars army!  I recently caught up with Candace G., one of the founders of this entertainment group.  Here is the interview:

1.How long has Caesars army been around ?– Caesar’s Army is an off-spring of the Larger entity, The Julius Caesar Entertainment Company. JCEco is an event management company that has been around for more than 10 years. Caesar’s Army started in 2004 with the birth of the Panorama Semis lime in the North Stand – it started as a small crew hence the coining of “Caesar’s Army” for the Army of Julius Caesar Entertainment 😉

2. What was your reason for starting the band? – So, like I said, Caesar’s Army started as the core crew of the Julius Caesar Entertainment – enjoying the many facets of TnT Carnival together– starting with the Panorama Semis which is one of the MAJOR events for our feting season. Eventually Caesar’s Army grew to be larger than a small crew but still maintained its intimacy and creativity in putting forward a Panorama Lime every year since then. Three years ago, we decided that Uptown J’ouvert was lacking the essence of what J’ouvert is while meshing it with the spirit of the people and the experience of something fresh and creative. We decided to launch our first year of J’ouvert using the concept of Roman Gods and Goddesses to represent our company – the response from home and abroad was phenomenal, the experience was amazing…all in all it was a superb first year as a band. Then came our second year, our theme for 2010 was ‘Make Love Not War’ hence our theme for Panorama and J’ouvert was ‘The Hippie Army’ the vibe and response was again FAR OUT (Not to be corny lol) – our experience that we offered on the road though planned to a T, somehow managed to fall short as a result of factors we could not control – namely, stormers and crowded routes.The route proved to be a difficult one as more and more entities launched J’ouvert bands and the Uptown area became saturated with masqueraders – thus BACKLOG! These problems are all issues that are still overlookedin J’ouvert bands…however we firmly believe in providing a service and if we can’t provide it to the best of our ability, then we won’t… Then there was A.M.Bush 2011…

3. What were the reasons for making A.M.Bush different from “standard” J’ouverts? So the preamble above will lead me to this question. Why did we even come up with A.M.Bush? We needed to provide a sound and exceptional event to our patrons who have been so very loyal over the years. We needed to solve the problem of the stormers, the clogged routes etc.We needed to come up with an alternative J’ouvert concept. We came up with the idea of doing J’ouvert on a different day – and we all laughed. It was funny at first. Then we said it again and again, and it started to make more sense than ever, that the way to go was to AMBush J’ouvert… to revolutionize J’ouvert. Then we made all the cases for and against ‘regular j’ouvert’ and the ‘revolutionary j’ouvert’ and the rest is history!

4. What were the biggest challenges or obstacles in the staging of A.M.Bush?:THE biggest challenge we faced in staging the first ever Carnival Saturday Morning Alternative J’ouvert Concept was convincing our patrons that the only difference they will encounter is J’ouvert on a different day. Changing the perception that tradition at Carnival must stay constant was a huge obstacle – which we believe we have made great strides in changing. Another challenge we faced is ensuring that once we take people out of the ordinary, regular J’ouvert setting … we MUST provide a phenomenal experience! Our patrons MUST NOT leave A.M.Bush feeling as though they need to do J’ouvert on Monday Morning – as this IS J’ouvert and a legitimate ingredient to their Trini Carnival Experience.

5. If money were no object what kind of event would you put on?: We believe that patrons once presented with an amazing product, will pay for it. We have a few things up our sleeve that we hope to bring to life in the near future, but too soon to let the cat out the bag 😉

6. Is A.M.Bush keeping the same location and time?: A.M.Bush will maintain the same time, the location will be revealed when tickets are released – we will however ensure that the experience of the location this year will be kept intact if our location is to be changed.

7. When will tickets be available and how will we be able to get them?: Packages will be available from January 1st and will be available in Jamaica, Barbados, New York and Trinidad from representatives of the Army, of course Leh We Go will be the first to know!

There you go.  

Caesars army is planning to come good again for 2012.  Mai Tai and alternative jouvert are in the works and Candy coated events, an offshoot of the army, will once again be having a party bus to make getting there easier on friday night.

FORWARD MARCH!!!

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