Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I. Caracas, 12 of October 2002. Circular No. 48 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, Here is an appropriate response to a Circular from Rafael Echeverría CHECHE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Ladislao, I was SO inspired by your latest Circular No. 46 and reading the story by Robert Huggins ... you know .... he described IN A VERY PRECISE MANNER how we all feel about the long lasting marks The Abbey School of Mt. St. Benedict left in all of us ... deep in our hearts ... . I remember how we use to complain all the time ... "Gosh ... this is jail man ... " ... The food stinks ... it's terrible" .... "All the Fathers are dictators" .. and so forth ... but the truth is that we ALL miss those days ...any of us would give anything just to go back to one normal mount day .... just for one day .... wouldn't we ???? .. I know I would ... any time .. The Music .. I remember how much I admired John Abraham and Jeremy with their band "The Interpreters" ... They were The Mount Musical Band ... The Mount Boys Band ... they used to play a lot of calypso songs and instrumentals from The Shadows who were very famous at the time ... somehow parallel to era of The Beatles who came up with their revolutionary "rock with voice harmonies" ....which was a "revelation" compared with the unison rock of Elvis Presley, Little Richard and all those. I used to sit and listen to The Interpreters in their Mount Hall backstage rehearsals... I remember a guy by the name of Ferreira who use to sing.... I envied them so much that I would give anything to become a part of that band ... one day I remember that I started to give my opinions ... and that really "pissed" John ...he told me to GET OUT !!!! .... with time John and I became great friends ....I started to learn how to play the guitar ...Jeremy was my informal professor .. I bought a cheap guitar in down town Port of Spain ... and I didn't have the slightest idea of how to form a chord ... but Jeremy taught me ... I will always thank him for that .... with time... Norman Smith (The Interpreters bass player) left the band for some reason and I picked up the bass guitar which became my passion .... I will always remember the day I spent at John Abraham's home in Port of Spain ... he invited me to practice his songs and after I was playing for some time he softly said .... "boy ... you are good!" ... MY GOD THAT WAS A REVELATION TO ME !!!! ... I was earning the respect and recognition from the person I so much admired ... and respected .... and we had some "Kalaloo" .... "it's missing the crab though" ... John said ... that was the first time in my life I had "Kalaloo" ... didn't like it much .. but I ate it !!! ...I preferred Roti ... Then afterwards ... as I have said in past reports ... I formed the Band "Chains" .... playing Beatles ... with Norman Smith who took the Rhythm Guitar ... My brother Gustavo (they use to call him "small CheChe") ... he played a VOX 12 string guitar which John Abraham loved .... (I still have it up in my room) ... and Enrique Gomez ( Departamento de Tira-Coñazos )... played the drums .... and we made a presentation at the Mount's Hall and it was WILD !!!! ... It was great ..we became very popular among a group of friends in Port of Spain ... for sometime ... we also played at St. Joseph's Convent (girls school in Port of Spain) ... boy... we felt like stars !!!! .... girls were nice !!!! .... AND ... we came to Caracas ... and we were the first Rock Group that played at La Casona ... The Venezuelan Presidential Residence ... CHAINS !!!! ... a Mount Boy's Rock Group ... Venezuelan Mount Boys ... we were invited by Raul Leoni's son (Raul) who was also a Mount Boy at the time ... to celebrate Menca de Leoni's birthday .... I will never forget that ... how can one ever forget ???? ... we were in heaven ... The Basketball .... I became .. with a lot of effort ... a member of Abbey's A Team ... I remember Harry Laughlin ... great player !!!! ... good guy ... Our walks to White Stones .. digging out spiders and putting them to fight .... tarantulas .... the Scout Trips ... walking ... to Maracas Bay .... I don't remember the name of our Coach ... he was our guide ... that was the first time I ate Baby Shark .... our guide prepared it .. with curry ... I remember that bad night we had ... sleeping on the sand ... it was raining ... Just last night I was at a friend's house and I met a guy from Trinidad ... Jimmy Brennan ... he is the General Manager for Venezuela for Tucker Services (and Oil Service Co.) ... the "Tuckers" are all Trinidadians .. they now live in Texas .... and I told them about my days in Mount and we had a great talk .. he also started remembering his good times in Trinidad ... I have in fact met lots of people from Trinidad over the years ... all the time ...as a International Lawyer in my practice in the Oil Industry ... and I have a great time with all of them ... I even met a group one at an Opus Day Retreat near Caracas ... and we played Calypsos ... I picked a guitar and played a calypso ( RinTinTin ) I remembered from The Merrymen ( A group from Barbados ) I wonder if it still exists ... I guess not ... they were really good ... they played "Yesterday" (Beatles) but with calypso tempo .. it was great ... when I went to England to continue my studies I played "Yesterday" as a calypso and the Brits just would not believe it !!! HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rin Tin Tin ... Everybody hear this tin ... Ma' galfriend promis' to gimme sometin... and the bells won't ring ... and the birds won't sing... 'caus she promis' to gimme some tin tin tin Ev'ry year is the same tin ... all she do is promissin ... well she promise me a house and a motor car ... Ev'ry year is the same tin .. all you do is promissin gal ... bu' so help me God I'm gonna catch yu 'dis carnival !!! Yes !!! ... Yes !!! ... That's Mount St. Benedict ... AND WE ARE ALL BLESSED for ever being a part of that "jail" .... it was heaven !!!! .... but it's only now that we realize it ... so please extend my best regards to Robert and convey to him my best feelings .... he has made me "revive" my best times .... and I still have sooooo many more memories ... it's incredible .... how important can a life experience be .... God Bless Mount !!!! ... for ever !!!! ... and The Mount Boys of whom I feel so proud to be a part of .... and I feel so proud of Trinidad ... their people ... I still have so many friends from there ... I have to go back one day !!!! .... HOPEFULLY NEXT YEAR .. FOR THE MOUNT BOYS GATHERING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... Please Ladislao ... tell all how much I love them and miss them .... The be a Mount Boy ... is an old experience transformed into a culture ... almost a philosophy about life ... BLESSINGS TO ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rafael Echeverría (CheChe) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Continuing the Who is Where, 30. Anthony Farfan formed a Company called, and I stand to be corrected on this, Air Cargo Services. Again, no phone number. I will ask my boys to try and get one, as they are always talking to his daughter. Small world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now this is getting out off hand, I am glad to have passed for the time being two pages. But good news cannot last long if you, 1. Do not write articles, 2. Do not participate, 3. Do not promote by adding new friends, 4. Send photos or articles. God Bless Ladislao -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listado: C48 .xls Photos: msb volleyball 020107dan ( who can recognize the kid) 14 Japan Band Column: 020901 wvb home on the wing --------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTACHMENTS
Listado C48.xls
| Names | Form V | Contact | Nickname | business address | business phone | |
| Mata, Pedro Jose | glen | YV | ||||
| Mathas, Trevor | roge | |||||
| Mathieu, Ronald | roge | TT | ||||
| McCartney, Richard | ||||||
| McCoy, Michael | Mickey | |||||
| McIntosh, Lewin | Teacher | jgioannetti | Calypso Singer Short Pants | |||
| McKoy, Vincent | roge | |||||
| McLean, Hugh | roge | |||||
| Mechdessies, Joseph | roge | |||||
| Mechdessies, Raymond | roge | |||||
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment