The Immigrant’s Journal Legal and Educational Fund, Inc.

UNITED STATES STEELBAND ASSOCIATION

26 Court Street, Suite 709, Brooklyn, NY 11242

PRESS RELEASE

FOR :  GENERAL RELEASE                                                                                           DATE:   APRIL 3, 2002

CONTACT: THE IMMIGRANT’S JOURNAL LEGAL & EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC.

                        (718) 243-9431

_____________________________________________________________________________________

USSA CARNIVAL LAUNCH 2002

United States Steelband Association (USSA), in conjunction with The Immigrant’s Journal Legal & Educational Fund, Inc. (TIJLEF), will unveil plans for the upcoming Carnival Season 2002 during a spectacular launch at the New York Brooklyn Marriott, 333 Adams Street, Brooklyn on Wednesday April 17 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. In addition to the unveiling of events, and an indepth look at plans for Steelband Panorama 2002, Officers and trustees of USSA will be sworn in.

Headlining the flow of pre- and post-Carnival events at the Jefferson High School Complex in East New York this season is the USSA/TIJLEF Steelband Panorama competition featuring USSA’s Brooklyn-based top steel orchestras creating melodic renditions of the hottest music that hit the airwaves in Trinidad and Tobago during the 2002 Carnival season.

USSA’s 19-member-strong steelband movement include Pantonic, Sonatas and Adlib, Steelband Panorama’s 2001 first-, second-, and third-place winners, respectively. Approximately ten or twelve bands will participate in the finals on Panorama night.

The Steelband Panorama Competition attracted up to 8,000 spectators and patrons last year and a CD entitled “USSA Panorama Competition 2001” was released and is now available at various outlets in Brooklyn and Queens, and on the website sweetSOCA.com. This major event will take place on Saturday August 31 this year in commemoration of Trinidad & Tobago’s 40^th Anniversary of Independence.

This year the Calypso Association of America, and Caribbean Bandleaders Action Committee (CLBAC) have joined forces with USSA/TIJLEF to put together much-celebrated cultural events such as a Kiddies’ Carnival, Calypso Monarch and King  & Queen of Carnival competitions, and a Brassorama event.

Invited to attend the USSA/TIJLEEF Carnival Launch 2002 are New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Congressmen Edolphus Towns and Major Owens, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Executive Director (Congressman Owens’s Office) Clyde Griffith; Councilmember Dr. Kendall Stewart, State Senator John Sampson, State Assemblywoman Diane Gordon, Assemblyman Nick Perry, and City Council Members Yvette Clarke and Charles Baron, among others. President and CEO of PetraB Construction Corporation is also among the list of invitees.

You are kindly invited to provide coverage of this major event. For more information call The Immigrant’s Journal Legal & Educational Fund, Inc. at (718) 243-9431, USSA at (718) 495-4977 or contact USSA’s Public Relations Director Anthony “Ike” Hinds at (718) 257-0756.