Blondie Bird and Friends, still making waves at 23

He’s been on the Carnival scene since he was a youngster, working hand-in-glove with the late Roy “Dragon” Ralph.

And in 1995, when he went solo, Elroy “Blondie Bird” Boyd may not have meticulously plotted each step of success over the 23 years as leader of Blondie Bird and Friends mas camp, but he is certainly not surprised at the achievements.

Nine King of the Band titles, including a hat-trick from 2011 to 2013 with Ricardo Adams, now chair of the Carnval Development Corporation; a winning formula from Semone Richardson, who has bagged the Queen of the Bands title on seven occasions; and five times taking the Band of the Year title, in addition to other accolades among the juniors.

‘Blondie’, a tailor by trade, recalls that he honed his mas skills at the feet of “the best artist the country ever see in terms of building costume,” and is in no doubt that “right now we the top band in the country, and one of the top band in the Caribbean.”

The public seems to have agreed with this assessment, naming Blondie Bird and Friends the best mas band in the 2017 Best of SVG Awards, a decision which the veteran mas man thinks was “beautiful”.

The Queen of the Bands and Junior Band of the Year are among the titles which the band secured at Vincy Mas 2017, with a presentation “It is what it is,” but the Band of the Year title went to another competitor.

In his inimitable style, ‘Blondie’ contends that while “another band win this year, if you go down the road and ask…everybody know what mas Bird play – they can’t tell you way the other band play.”

Two concepts have already been formulated from which to choose the 2018 presentation and Bird figures that designer Ossie Constance “must be done on the drawing board right now, because we done kind of settle on one.”

For the past two years, the band has operated from the former residence of the late Anglican Archbishop, Sir Cuthbert Woodroofe, at Beachmont, now owned by the state, and the leadership has worked so cohesively over the years that ‘Blondie’ now needs only put in an occasional visit, leaving the day-to-day running of the tent to persons like his son Chatoyer, and Garth Niles, among others.

‘Blondie’ sees this synergy and camaraderie among the strengths of the band, which for the past few years have catered for 450-500 masqueraders, including a Trinidad ‘posse’.

In his usual opinionated style, ‘Blondie’ has let it be known that he feels the mas bands were deprived of their stage when the parade of bands at Mardi Gras was shifted to ‘Little Tokyo’ rather than Victoria Park for Vincy Mas 2017.

My band “could be going down the road and look ordinary; wait till we reach park, is there we going perform, is a drama, is a theatre, that is my theatre, just like Hollywood…” a passionate ‘Blondie’ contends.

While this remains a talking point in Carnival circles, the band’s leadership is grappling with the issue of how traditional bands like theirs can continue to thrive in the face of “feather mas” and declining sponsorship from businesses engaging in commercial mas.

“That is our biggest problem next year…how we going and market our band now to suit that thing, because I can’t go down [that ] road… and I can’t compete with the commercial band. I will never be able to compete with them,” ‘Blondie’ argues.

“…A girl will still owe me sometimes $100, $200 – but a girl will now pay $1,500 to play the other mas… that is how the mas gone, one big party…. but somebody has to hold the fort…cause, where we going come like all them things Roy Ralph and them come from and do, come like them, do them in vain.”

Blondie Bird can be contacted at his tailoring shop at Kingstown Hill or at telephone 593-5645.