Señor Gomez Speaks on Mas'

Mr. and Mrs. Gomez

Pages: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

trinisoca.com Staff Article
Interview Recorded: May 15, 2005
Posted: June 12, 2005

Then we had a split

Then we had a split with Cito and Geraldo. It was a kind of misunderstanding about how we were making fruits and flowers. Cito's sister was really the woman behind this thing because she used to make all the angels for the church and so on. The problem that really caused the misunderstanding was with a fella called Noble Williams, who is now deceased, he was a good mas' man, but he was a kind of bossy man and would tell you what to play. He did not want to know about any committee. But I played anything I wanted to play. At that time my father had died and I was working on the field. I started to work but I continued making my mas' on the ship. When I went on vacation, my mas' was already bent in parts and so on. The captain knew I had liked mas' and he would tell me, "Look, bring a man to work, but do not let the office know, you fix up."

We decided to play 'Looking Back Into Retrospect', 'Facinators', 'Like the Clock' and so on. I had the working clocks in the band when we played clocks. There was a guy, Hutchinson, who made sure I had the working clocks. He died, but he had a little store on Henry Street, selling watches and so on. The store is still there. He told me to get some aluminum to buy new clocks and he would extend it and so on. In those days the Yankees used to be at the end of the Dry River, so all the old planes and so on, we used to go there and get it.

Then we went on to play 'Intent of the Common Wealth', and the same Noble, he played 'The Land of the Unicorn', then Garner had just come up, and they had a nice thing, the same Buree made that one for a fella named Rock. I played the back of the dollar. But I made it so big that I could not carry it. In those days we did not have the kind of things we have now, so we used to build a frame. You should have seen the artwork it was real nice.

From there it was no turning back, and then one day Harold Saldenah came and a fella told him, "look it has a little fella down Nelson Street, the man bending wire like it come from a machine or something, why don't you try him and give him a break?" He said, "Give him a break, you say the man good?" Saldenah came in a Volkswagon and he came with a fella who used to do the work for the theatres, do you remember the big posters they used to put up? Saldenah asked me, "Would you like to work for me?" I told him I was working. Well then, I got caught up with Saldenah and it was a beautiful thing, and that was in the early sixties. I worked for him with 'Pacific Paradise', and when he and Sparrow boycott the Savannah and so on. There was no stopping with 'Sally'. Then I did the African, the Antelope, the Baboon and others he had there. Then there was 'A Jewel Fantasy' with which he won Band of the Year. I did all the structure for all the different bands and the butterflies. The Queen of the Band came second Queen. In those days they used to judge together; they did not judge separate like they do it now. It was a colourful Carnival and there was colour in my life with mas'.

Continue...

Pages: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Homepage | Steelpan | Carnival | Features