The T&T Guardian’s own Arts and Entertainment editor Peter Ray Blood has been awarded the 2015 Sunshine Lifetime Achievement Award. T&T Guardian columnist, BC Pires, speaks to him about his life, work and the award.
Where in Trinidad are you from?
I am a product of Laventille, the Old St Joseph Road. I live on the border of Donkey City, now Wrightson Road. My extended family—the Bloods of Mayaro and Goddards of Barbados—is enormous. One uncle had over 30 acknowledged children. I am twice divorced, have eight children, aged 21 to 41, and 11 grands, aged one to 18.
Were you raised in a faith?
Anglican. At age 11, my ambition was to be a priest. I believe in God and that all humans are connected, regardless of religious indoctrination. I am not a staunch churchgoer but do occasionally attend ceremonies at Orisha shrines.
You worked in computers first?
I retired at a young age as a computer operator/programmer and became a journalist in 1982, at the Express for 13 years and at the Guardian for 22. I have written for regional newspapers and have done TV and radio. As a professional journalist, I have never attended a political rally. I have family in all political parties, two being past PNM AGs, one an NAR and another a UNC cabinet minister.
How did you get into the papers and do you regret leaving computers?
[Former Express publisher & CEO] Ken Gordon gave me my first break but many elders still alive moulded my career, including Owen Baptiste, Mr Brunton, Lennox Grant, Sunity Maraj, Andy Johnson, Nylah Ali, Pat Ganase and Suzanne Lopez. I would not have skipped my computer training [from which] I learned discipline, punctuality and meeting deadlines.
Arts & culture was your only beat?
I have always written on entertainment and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you love what you do, then you are not working. I haven't worked a day in my life for 35 years. And I get paid for it. My column, “Bloodline”, was born over 30 years ago in the Express and became “Pulse” in the Guardian 20 years ago. My job has taken me to Italy, the USA, Canada, South America and across the Caribbean. Of all the places I have travelled to, my favourite city is Toronto, Canada, in the autumn. I love Rome, Italy, too, for its antiquity, especially the Colisseum, where so many Christians were slaughtered so many centuries ago. The spot in the centre where the blood drained still gets damp at nights.
How do you feel about the Sunshine award?
I am grateful for it as [my] being appreciated by experts and luminaries in arts and entertainment, and am especially grateful to be in the company of such eminent recipients [as] Prof Gordon Rohlehr, Winsford “Joker” Devine, pan icon Rudy “Two Leff” Smith, my former QRC mate Leon “Smooth” Edwards, and my cousins Rawle Gibbons and Pelham Goddard.
I have lost some special friends, each having had a profound impact on my journalism career, like Keith Smith, Terry Joseph, Raoul Pantin, Kitty Hannays, Undine Guisseppi, and Zen Jarrette. Had they been alive, Keith would have said, “I discovered him.” Terry would have said, “Let's go and have a beverage to celebrate.” Zen would have just smothered me in hugs and kisses.
Do you have an entertainment highpoint of the last 30 years?
Queen's Park Savannah in 1981, to see calypsonians Blue Boy, Nelson, Chalkdust and Explainer upstage Kool & the Gang. After the calypsonians sang, nobody wanted to hear the American superstars. We were really a nationalistic people back then; not like today when Jamaican dancehall and foreign BS rule the airwaves.
Have you read Raymond Ramcharitar’s historically-grounded dismissal of Canboulay, the supposed foundation of Carnival, as criminality?
I have done cursory reading of Ramcharitar's writings on the Canboulay riots and can't adjudicate on them. What I do believe is, when the riots occurred in 1881, the embers of slavery, which ended a mere 43 years before, were still aglow; so there would have been resentment, mistrust and confrontation between former slaves and colonial masters, inclusive of the French Catholic planters who would have come to Trinidad from the French Antilles. I believe our Carnival has roots from both the French and from West Africa.
A great job negatively affected your personal life?
Indirectly, my matrimonial demises were partially job-related, especially the first marriage, when I devoted most of my waking hours to the job. Nothing is the same after divorce. I have maintained a priceless relationship with most of my children and love each equally, including the estranged ones. Now, seeing (with pride and joy) my first grandchild attend university reinforces just how old I am.
Do you worry about dying?
At my age, I truthfully do not worry about actually dying, but more about having to suffer as I exit. I have a deep phobia of flying, so every flight is a living nightmare. One of my fears is the aircraft crashing and my body never being found to give my loved ones closure.
Which five LPs/CDs does Pulse take to a desert island?
It is difficult to pick five; I would require a crate.
Believe it or not, as a child, my love was rock music. I was really into acts like Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Who, Grand Funk Railroad, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Buddy Miles, Blood Sweat & Tears and Janis Joplin.
I still get goose pimples when I listen Hendrix’s version of the American anthem from Woodstock.
But, if I had to, I’d choose: Santana—Santana (1969): Swamp Dogg—Total Destruction to Your Mind (1970), Rat On (1971) and Cuff, Collared & Tagged (1972); Mighty Sparrow—Hotter Than Ever LP (1972); Steel Pulse—Earth Crisis LP (1984); David Rudder—1990 CD (1990). And any Bob Marley album, if not all. One more thing, I’d squeeze in a Robbie Greenidge pan CD.