Eustace/Ward win again!
Posted: Tuesday, February 24, 2004

By Sean Douglas, Newsday TT

CURTIS EUSTACE and Alana Ward have again won the King and Queen of Carnival at the Finals at the Dimanche Gras show on Sunday night at the Queen's Park Savannah.

Eustace proved that winning is all about what happens on the night itself. He had not begun as favourite, having twice lost to Geraldo Vieira Junior and his "Alladin's Last Ride" in the preliminaries and semi-finals. But incredibly, on Sunday despite being first on-stage everything came together perfectly for Eustace . . . and fell apart for Vieira! Eustace's outfit was not especially inspiring. It borrowed heavily from two past Peter Minshall Kings — Saga Boy's lanky limbs and another character's artificial-looking dread locks. But Eustace has perfected the polish of presenting his portrayals. He came on slowly to an African soundtrack which created a spiritual mood. Wearing a newly-added African face-mask, he threw back his head and stretched out his arms in a pleading dance.

Still in the half-light, he suddenly released a burst of pyrotechnics to wow the crowd. The lights hit full, Destra blasted, and Eustace jumped to life. All unleashed in one instant! He wined cheekily. The crowd loved it. One woman viewer remarked: "He win already!" Portraying "Alladin's Last Ride," Geraldo Vieira Junior faced a hard act to follow. He came on with a tassa group. To their beat, he made the huge "Roc" bird bob up and down in perfect time. Atop the bird, Alladin's turbaned head also kept rhythm. But that was it. From then on the presentation fell apart. There was a messy switch over from tassa to sound-system. He had the misfortune of also selecting Destra's "Bonnie and Clyde" which sounded stale after Eustace. For some reason, it was played at only half the volume as played for Eustace. The bird amused all when he snapped at photographers stage-side, but it was not enough. Vieira came third. Roland St George with "Bling Bling Lamassu — The Wishmaster" made an impressive entrance. This huge glittering genie was brought to life by a plume of smoke rising to give him a mystical if not evil mood. But the genie was unable to move his various body parts, unlike the preliminaries when he had tilted forward both his head and torso. He placed second.

Also improving his impact was Fareid Carvalho with "Dreamscape — Limbo of the Lost." In a disturbing purple, this fearsome beast personified a man's torment. It was a compact costume, totally carried by Carvalho. But stalking on-stage to nightmarish music, he moved it to great effect by rotating its huge head. Lending support to the presentation was Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin, with his flaming hand and his frenzied "Fire Brigade." Carvalho placed fifth, up from eighth in the semi-finals. The Queens of Carnival failed to impress. As in the preliminaries and semi-finals, viewers were clearly unmoved by any of the offerings. First on was Alana Ward. She strode on stage in dimmed light to the rousing voice of "live" Shurwayne Winchester adapting his hit to sing "Look Alana Coming." But after five paces on stage, crisis hit. Her sound system conked out. She backed up her costume to start again. All flowed smoothly then, with her huge lilac-and-white bird "If You Love Something Set it Free." Ward came first among the queens.

Next on was Inez Gould's "The Enchanted Tree." This had a huge pot with a character emerging. But most striking were the wings which glistened in the light as Gould rotated. In these wings layer over layer over layer of silver stripes each caught the light, to great effect overall. Gould placed second. Third on was Rosemarie Kuru-Jagessar with a fancy Indian "D Mystic Dancer." She bounced along at a slow stride to the steady beat of Shadow's "Pirates." She placed third. Susan Low with "The Man in the Moon is a Lady" was really moving and very upbeat. With the moon and the stars she was light and lively. Although the costume was not really designed for segments to move relative to each other, she worked it to the max. Strangely Low slipped from her second-place rank in the semis to sixth.

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