Alison Wants An Apology – And She Deserves It!!
Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee has issued an “official” statement as to why Alison Hinds didn’t perform at Miami Carnival on Sunday, October 11 (click through for full statement). I’m not sure exactly what happened but I saw Alison backstage around 9pm standing outside of her tent and she didn’t look happy. A consummate professional, she posed for the picture shown here however, I didn’t pursue an interview opportunity as it was clear that she was visibly upset. As such, I kept it moving!!! Didn’t want to get my butt professionally whooped cuz she was hot, hot, hot!!!!!!! My informed assumption is that Miami Carnival didn’t have the money to pay the Caribbean Queen and this would make anyone upset.
Alison commented to Barbados’ newspaper Nation News “I havent had any kind of communication with the organizers since I left Miami (Monday). They have not reached out to me, she said. I want a personal and public apology because this wasnt good enough, especially since I did all I was asked to do, including every piece of media. I was punctual everything, so Im not at fault at all. There was a total lack of control. Backstage there was one tent in the corner with no light, no drinks or anything, she said. As you can see from the picture above it was dark inside! The Miami Broward One Carnival needs to do better, Hinds said.
At the time I had no idea of the drama that was going on and that Alison Hinds, the Miami Carnival headline act , would not take the stage for her much anticipated performance. At 10pm Alison was still standing around and I found this odd especially as less popular performers kept taking the stage. At that point, I knew something had gone awry and it had to be something financial. Alison Hinds did take the stage but only to apologize to her fans. I spoke with David, a carnival goer, and he felt that some of the other acts should have been pre-empted so that Alison could have performed but clearly it was more of a financial issue which was only exacerbated by the time schedule. By the way, Burning Flames only got five minutes on stage….
Here’s the statement from the Carnival Committee:
We the members of the Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee value the integrity of our community event and the many people and entities that have supported us since our inception in South Florida. We want to apologize for not being able to deliver the complete entertainment lineup that our patrons were looking forward to and expected on Carnival Sunday. Our headline act Alison Hinds was unable to perform due to contractual obligations to the stadium and the financial repercussions that would follow any extensions of the event schedule. We were unable to permit a time extension.
The inclement tropical weather in South Florida on Carnival weekend was one of the stormiest weekends experienced in months. Despite these challenges with the preceding inclement weather, we did not adjust our scheduled line up appropriately as a result of the rain delays. This resulted in a show that extended its planned time. We take full responsibility for the logistic and presentation quality of all the cultural elements of the Carnival. Since the onset of these disappointments, we have communicated with all parties to express our sincere apologies.
In looking forward to the planning for 2012, we are listening to all feedback and will be making all best efforts to ensure improvements are made.
We appreciate the support of all bandleaders, patrons, entertainers, sponsors, elected officials, and volunteers for a festive Carnival 2011 season and look forward to a greater and more improved Miami Broward One Carnival in 2012.
