Señor Gomez Speaks on Mas'

Mr. and Mrs. Gomez

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

There was one disappointment

There was a disappointment in mas' I had in my lifetime; I believe it was the only disappointment I ever had. Simon the Clown Man, when we played signs of the Zodiac, I wanted him to make two lions for me. They were charging you twenty-five dollars in that time; you are talking about real money. When you talk twenty-five dollars, that was a man's month pay. The first time I started to work was for sixty cents. Then I started to work at Trinidad Agency for five dollars a week. So twenty-five dollars was a lot of money. When I went to collect the costumes he said, "Look back your money", so I took my money. The fellas were buying imitation thing and I went and I bought nice material and we played.

Something came up with Simon and a fella who used to chip and paint. Simon came on the boat. He said, "What happening partner?" He was looking for me at lunchtime and I was hiding and peeping. He said, "Give the fella the thing to make." When I asked him, "Who bend this one?" He told me Simon. I said I would make it on one condition and that is if you take mine and Simon's, and when I am finished bending mine, throw his own in the yard. He said, "That's no problem."

That time I was an expert in wire. When they called out to Simon he came and said, "Boy you know Carnival near, see what you could do, I cannot do anything there." I said, "You cannot do anything. Come and see something here." He said, "What is that?" I said, "Come, watch that." He asked, "Who made that?" I replied, "The little fella you disappoint and anytime you want a good collar made, I will make it for you free." He asked, "You will make it free?" I replied, "Remember I came for you to make two lions when Facinators was playing 'Signs of the Zodiac' and you disappointed me." He said, "So you will kill me for that?" I said, "No, but you mustn't hurt people, because Carnival is a thing that is once a year."

Coming back to all these different things and making mas' for people, I started to bring my own little band which was Blue Diamonds. Even the fella who organized the band, I used to take him there as a little boy to play in Tokyo. He was one of the founders with Bob. They went on and that is how the birth of 'Blue Diamonds' came about. My family with the band from since the first name. That same Blue Diamonds, was born below our window, everybody with their little old pan and so on. Thank God they reached somewhere. From there I started bringing my band, which is Blue Diamonds. I had some wonderful productions, I did some Fancy Sailors and the first band I brought out was Red Nose Sailor. In those days you had Steelband King and Queen and Steelband Competition Band of the Year. I won it four straight years for the different productions like the 'Red Nose', 'Tribal Africa', 'A Window View of China' and 'Looking Back Into Retrospect'. At the same time I was working for people and I thank the Lord, he gave me these two hands and I could never finish praising him for the amount of things and the amount of places I could go, the different walks of life and the different kinds of people.

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