Over the last month, I have had the pleasure of working with Byron Lee in the planning of the physical aspects (venue related) of the Jamaica Carnival Countdown, to be held at
Although our paths have crossed many times over the years, this is my first opportunity to work with the legendary producer/bandleader in his capacity primarily as a producer. His innate civility and courteous disposition is charming and conducive to an open, frank and creative working environment.
Secondly, while I do not possess his even temperament and could therefore never dare to compare, I now realise that as a fellow producer, I have cultivated and share many common working traits and business techniques with the “Dragon” (as his intimate friends call him). I admire how he approaches his task as a producer because he leaves nothing up to chance. He has acquainted himself with all aspects of the event- from public relations and promotion, to the physical layout and security, to his forte- the technical inputs. Byron applies this vast knowledge in organising his very tight team of senior managers in the Lee Enterprise and their sponsors and suppliers.
Byron is meticulous and a stickler for details. He along with his aide de camp, Errol Gayle, preliminarily met with me to discuss conceptually the broad outlines for the venue arrangements. He based his pre-design on his experience at the venue last year and the restrictions attendant on new infrastructure now in place at the venue. Once these were agreed to, I was next visited by his technical team led by Lenworth ‘Squeeze’ Samuels. Jointly, being guided by the physical and technical requirements of the event, the precise locations and areas of the various structures and infrastructure were defined and a preliminary layout created. Also, other organisational tasks were examined such as garbage, sanitation, electrical needs, supply and distribution of lighting, plumbing, front of house, temporary fencing and the installation of additional access points.
When the next meeting was convened, this time Byron had brought along additional members of his team. This included his daughter Julian Lee-Samuels, whose focus is the administrative portfolio. She is the quintessential chief operating officer of Lee’s enterprises. She had legitimate concerns relating to the initial layout submitted, based on her intimate knowledge of what the sponsors and suppliers required, and was trenchant in her demands for the appropriate modifications. Byron and Julian huddled, while we all retreated to a discrete distance, and soon the Dragon had a suitable compromise to resolve the issue while maintaining the integrity of the initial concept. You see, Byron has designed the venue layout to accommodate 5000 patrons and he does not want any ‘dead’ space, either at the back or to the side of his audience. Most Jamaican promoters have this fear because to our local journalists, free space implies failure and none of us want negative media reviews. As you well know, I challenge this notion because I wish all Jamaicans to experience how exhilarating and liberating it feels to stand alone in a very large wide open field. I think our national leaders understand the psychology behind this notion too. At various points in time, both the Hon. Edward Seaga and the Hon. P.J. Patterson as prime ministers have attempted to implement programmes to pull down the zinc fences in the ghettos that keep our people and their minds enclosed.
The next step in Byron’s implementation programme was a staggered meeting on location. On Thursday, March 13, he brought in the sponsors and suppliers at 11:30 am and went through the physical plan in great detail. Slight adjustments were conceded based on the peculiarities of some participants operations. By 1:30 pm when the media arrived, all outstanding issues had been resolved and one united Jamaica Carnival team met and briefed the press.
Clearly, what I have recorded here are merely snippets based on my observations. For these meetings to be successful, a lot of organisational work has to take place in between each meeting as the programme develops. In his comments at the media briefing Squeeze told us that Byron’s credo is, “if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, and he obviously abides very closely by the philosophy.
The words rang home to me because just the Saturday before, we had organised one of our Rock Away parties. We had carefully projected and planned for 600 patrons, but over 1000 turned up and the cashiers selling food and beverage tickets were overwhelmed. This caused people to wait an inordinately long time in line to acquire a drink ticket, leaving us with some disgruntled patrons and significantly reduced potential sales at our bar and restaurant.
In her opening remarks, Byron’s daughter Julian made a profound observation. She pointed out that in the 1960’s Byron Lee introduced uptown to Ska music, which was up to then created and played almost exclusively downtown. Ironically, thirty years later in the 1990’s he popularised the Soca music, which was mainly played uptown, among the downtown masses. Byron then added to her comment that he has written a clause in his will, mandating that as long as Jamaica Carnival continues to exist, the free concerts must remain an essential and integral feature, including the street parades – play mas!
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