It was a great cocktail party masquerading as a press conference at the Ritz Carlton ballroom. Open premium bar and butler passed hors d’hoeuvres. We felt like VIPs. Then the MinTour arrived and joined the panel on stage outlining the program for the upcoming Summer Music Festival, June, 24th, 25th & 26th. He talked about ATA’s second annual investment in the concerts and emphasized the ROI, the return on investment. It turned out well in 2015, he said, and he believes it will turn out even better in 2016.
Dear MinTour, it’s your week. I liked everything you did this week, including the marking of our monuments, the directional signs in Oranjestad, the beach policy debut and now the summer concerts.
Incidentally, a few minutes before the MinTour’s arrival I checked with Carolina Voullieme, director of sales at the Marriott Aruba Resort & Stellaris Casino and she mentioned that her resort got some positive action last year from the concerts and that she was expecting to be booked this year as well.
So it’s mid-summer, it’s hot and dry and uneventful. Nothing’s happening. Zero excitement in the air. Then some local promoter, a local bobo, sorry, Loco Lobo, expresses his undying desire to organize a series of concert. Really? It that what you wanna do?? Ok, then I say, go with God! Success to you, although you are a bit related to a certain local newspaper, who might in gratitude for the fat investment of over one million dollars, reserve its best pages every day for the amazing exploits of the MinTour.
Sure, I smell a rat, but I say, go ahead, organize the concert, but it’d better be good, and everyone’d better get paid, and you’d better not run into trouble. Just give us a good time, don’t create any unnecessary drama, and we’ll even let you do it again in 2017.
Why do I say that? 1. Because we really need some star power to spark interest in summer travel to the island. 2. I am not prepared to organize the concerts myself. And I checked with Speed, he doesn’t have any time either.
Line up? Three nights, a young and crazy first at the APA arena, with parking inside: Local celebrity Dj Nutz Beatz, Chino & Nacho, the Venezuelan pop duo, and Wisin the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, then a second Latin dance night with salsa royalty Tito Nieves and the Spanish King of Latin Pop, Enrique Iglesias. Somewhere in between, not sure what night, my favorites, Gente de Zona, the Cuban reggaeton group. The third night, will be a Caribbean extravagance with local bands D’Licious, Tsunami, In’Fusion and Youth Extreme also featuring Destra Garcia, a soca superstar from Trinidad, who will bring down the house says Patrick Melchior, who saw her do that in St Maartin, and Mark Benson adds that her music is already super popular here at all Carnival Queen Elections. That third night, perhaps inspired by the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival, has just been announced at the press conference. Most importantly, the sound and light will be a collaboration of Elite, High Performance and Purple Entertainment group, all three companies working on the event but Eric Clement say the roof is Elite’s.
So here’s the deal: The concerts are organized by Simon Diaz of SD Concerts, from Venezuela. He is the one with showbiz contacts, young, with an attitude, also a blonde girlfriend in a short skirt. Luis Miguel Mansur is the man with the local contacts, at the helm at Diario TV, and naturally related to the newspaper. Raynold Kelly, the son of a local music legend, working full time for Setar, is the third leg of the entrepreneurial triangle. They already did a number of concerts here, the washed out Romeo Santos, and the unforgettable PitBull, Elvis Crespo, Carlos Vives happenings last summer. Suzi Maduro, explains everyone working for Setar should have a hobby, otherwise they go crazy. And Raynold reassured me he takes a week vacation from work when the concerts are on.
So yes, only in Aruba. But what can you do, we are a small island and we are all related somehow.
Tickets are available at Sandra’s garden, I will let you guess why, from April 1st, for $50/$100/$150 & $300 a piece, depending on the distance from the stage. Ticket prices will go up before the concerts. What will you be drinking that night? Old Parr, by Romar Trading and Presidente Beer by the Aruba Trading Company.
