The Story of Lover’s Rock

What is there to say about Lover’s Rock except – if you haven’t made it doing the Lover’s Rock, then you really haven’t done the lover’s rock.

Barbados-born Menelik Shabbaz

Whether you’re smiling at that, or you don’t know what I mean, have a watch of the trailer for Menelik Shabbaz’s new documentary The Story of Lover’s Rock. Contrast Lover’s Rock with some of the things you see happening at Crop Over and you’ll understand the difference between class and crass – between love and something else. I won’t go into the memories because I don’t want to be too self-indulgent, but oh the memories!

Shabbaz, rightly called the Godfather of Black British Film, was born Bajan and left for the U.K. at six years old. His filmography is not as extensive as fans would like it to be, but as he explained in this interview at RiceNpeas.com, in the 80’s and 90’s it was difficult to get backing for films outside of the Eurocentric worldview.

History, music, racism and West Indians making their stand in the UK

The Story of Lover’s Rock sold out on opening last August. When was the last time you saw a documentary do that? I haven’t seen the film, but after seeing the trailer it’s number one on my list.

Cliverton

Film website: The Story of Lover’s Rock

What is the best – and the worst – about our Bajan tourism product?

Typical Bajan wildlife in its natural roadside environment: The not so rare Genus "plasticus baggis trashisus"

Questions about Barbados’ tourism offerings

submitted as a comment by Dawn Best

I think everyone agrees that changes need to be made and need to be made urgently. What are the best things about the Barbados tourism product? What do we do really well that our visitors cannot stop raving about when they go home? What is it that we have/do that nobody else anywhere has/does that is currently translating into massive foreign exchange? How do we make that more prominent in the world?

Once we’ve identified those key areas then how do we duplicate this success in other parts of the island? How do we improve this product by getting the stakeholders (Hoteliers, Government, Workforce, Citizens) involved in the process in meaningful and sustainable ways?

Now turn your heads the other way. What do we do really poorly?