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The year is 1977 I turned 16 years old we moved away from Avenue D to Nostrand Avenue Brooklyn
New York. My freinds Steven, John,Patata, Chino, Nicky kind of faded away due to the distance I saw my
girlfreind Cathy one last time before we move. Nostrand avenue, my new home I had
to adjust looking good a big afro, nice bell bottom jeans, disco time, my brothers Yves, Rodrigue, playing in bands one
particular band called Cheva Cheva, then Les Diplomats, so my little brother Erick and I just kind stayed to ourselfs
and got into karate since the big boom of Martial Arts came out, Ohh yeah "Everybody loves kunfu fighting". Below the apartment
where we lived was a Haitian store owned by two Bisexual men, that store would become the hangout for the guys on the block,
I can remember Richard (Deasesd), Guy, Henry De Brefechine, Eddy, Ti Mulu, Ti Gerard, Chin and his brother Ti Eli, Ti
Mitou,Boulou, who are all Haitian, all would hang out in front of the store after school and on the weekends, while hanging
out, we could hear the owner of the store playing the Haitian music, he would play the latest bands from Haiti, at that time
the band that was in vogue in the US was Tabou Combo, Gipsy De PetionVille, DJet-X,the guys would talk about the bands
and rate them, my brother Rodrigue had left for the Army, my brother Yves had got married, so i would go skating
at Empire Roller Derome on Empire Blvd every tuesday 8:00 PM sharp, when WBLS played the song "There I Go there I go" I knew
it was 8:00 PM and I had to go skating, so the money that I saved from erans I would go skating, when I did not have money
I would hang with the guys in front of the store. One day while we were standing in front of the store the guys started
an arguement about who is the better musician and at what instruments, well after I had heard the percussion section from
those records that the store owner was playing, I knew right away that I could out do those guys any time, well, I told the
guys that I was better then those guys playing in Tabou, and the other bands, henry said he was gonna take me to rehersal
in the band Gypsy the Queens in the Queens Community, I went, there I met gary resil AKA: Brezo,who was the lead
guitarist of the band, when the guys began play I started to play the conga drums, every body was in shock, they could
not beleive that I was playing just like the Latin drummers, Brezo quickly took me to a club in queens called Le Chalait, when
we got there I was kind pase because I wanted to be a Star and right away I knew this was going to lead to no where but,
because all the guys were excited to meet this new conga player I kind of went along with the program so, there were seating
the band members of Skah-Shah the conga player Mark Edme had left the band for some reason. Everyone greeted me Cobano,
Ti Frere, Coco,Ti Crane,Zouzoule,Loubert,Mario(Deaceased)Arcene, after I told the guys my name Arcene quickly asked
me are you one of Laventure the kids of the Commisioner Laventure you guys live on Rue Montailais I know all of your
brothers and family, I replied yes and I knew right there and then that I needed to adjust my attitude and behave as best
as I could because these guys knew my family and I could possibly get in trouble, so the guys said let's play a song, we played
"Matin" after the song was over the guys quickly fell in love with what they heard, Loubert decided that they would name me
"Calipso" a name that I still rezent till today, I would began to play in front of the croud that evening in Le Chalet, we
played from 10:00PM untill 3:00 AM sometimes the party would go on untill 4:30 AM. after I would play my hands
were killing me very painfull, beating on a pair of conga drums for that many hours without a microphone is tortue on a humans
body, as for pay , the guys decided they would pay me $100.00 for playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, right away I knew the
money was not even close to what I should be getting but, I kind of accept it and kept quiet, pay days would be on tuesdays
at Either Chateau Royal or Le Chalait in Queens NY. on several occasions I decided in my mind that I should just
quit the band, but the guys would always give a kind of moral talk like my real brothers would do, so I decided to choose
the part of this new responsibility that I've inherited that I liked and make the best of it which was the Crowd, I remember
seeing couples very well dressed and the would seat at the table which were well groomed with white table cloths,flower,and
a small night lanp lit just right, the waiters and waitresses dressed in black and white, the band would play on as the
music got intense the guys who came to the party without a girl would come up in front of the stage as Loubert would go into
his solo, Coubano standing there shaking his head, Zouzoule moving his body to the beat, Mario (Deaceased) with his head down
and lost in the music,Coco in the back of all of us just mellowed out as he maintain a steady one two on the bass, Ti Frere
scrolling his fingers on the guitar kind of making it talk, Arcene with his tong comming out of his mouth hands sweating
like crazy looking at me and Ticrane as he is mezmarized by us, because at that moment the crowd that had form in front of
the stage had groupped themselfs in front of me and Ti Crane because not only were we maintaining the beat but also dancing and
jumping and spinning around in syncronization to the music, when it was my turn to do a solo some times the people who
were dancing acctually stop to come and see if this was a reallity, some time they would clap, one old man I can remember
comming up on the stage and putting a dollar in my shirt pocket to show the public how he love me, I would also see some people
who actually knew my family one in particular Ti Pat, Gladis, I saw them seating one of the tables at Coconut Groove on New
Years Eve, this was one of the big parties, and of course in all of this music money,alcohol there has to be romance,
most of the guys had their girlfreinds some three or more one particular girlfreind of the guys that I will never forget was
Ti Crane's Girl "Guilda" that New Years eve would change my life for ever, that evening, when the band took
it's break at 1:00AM there in front of the stage was the table that Gladis and Ti Pat were seating I kind of did not
noticed any body else untill I stepped off the stage and walked by the table Ti Pat was so excited to see me and so was
Gladis and her brother they told me to seat down, at the table I noticed some
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