Machel Montano Takes Over Queens: House of Cards Ignites New York Carnival Weekend 2014
Machel Montano Takes Over Queens: House of Cards Ignites New York Carnival Weekend 2014
New York Carnival Weekend reached another level on Saturday, August 30, 2014, when TriniFly Promotions brought House of Cards to Resorts World Casino New York City in Queens for a major Soca concert headlined by Machel Montano.
The event landed at one of the busiest moments on New York’s Caribbean calendar, with thousands of visitors arriving in the city for Labor Day Weekend and the West Indian American Carnival celebrations. House of Cards added a major live-concert experience to that weekend, bringing together artists from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados just months after their respective 2014 Carnival seasons.
Julianspromos was there documenting the night, with media coverage by Julian C. Hackett and Intrigue Lane. All Julianspromos video footage from the event was shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett, preserving performances and scenes from one of the larger Soca concerts on the 2014 New York Carnival Weekend calendar.
House of Cards Comes to Resorts World Casino
Presented by TriniFly Promotions, House of Cards was staged inside Resorts World Casino New York City at 110-00 Rockaway Boulevard in Queens.
The casino itself was still relatively new to New York. Resorts World had opened at the Aqueduct Racetrack property in October 2011 as New York City’s first casino, combining gaming with restaurants, shows and live entertainment.
By 2014, the property was increasingly being used for concerts and large-scale entertainment events, making it an unusual setting for a Caribbean concert during New York Carnival Weekend.
House of Cards was marketed as a full live concert rather than simply a nightclub fete.
Doors were advertised to open at 8 PM, with showtime beginning at 10 PM. Advance general admission was promoted at $40, while the $100 VIP package included front-stage access, a full bar and expedited entry.
The combination of a casino setting, VIP experience and major Soca lineup positioned House of Cards as one of the weekend’s more ambitious Caribbean entertainment offerings.
Machel Montano Arrives as Trinidad’s 2014 Road March King
At the center of House of Cards was Machel Montano, who arrived in New York following another dominant Trinidad Carnival season.
Earlier that year, Montano had won the 2014 International Power Soca Monarch title with “Ministry of Road.”
He then carried the same song to Road March victory, where “Ministry of Road” was played an extraordinary 374 times at official judging points, overwhelmingly defeating the competition.
The performance established Machel once again at the top of Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca landscape.
By the time he reached Resorts World Casino in August, “Ministry of Road” had already become one of the defining Soca records of the year.
The song’s success continued beyond Carnival. Later in 2014, “Ministry of Road” would earn Montano the Soul Train Award for Best International Performance, extending the record’s reach beyond the Caribbean Carnival circuit.
House of Cards therefore brought New York audiences a Machel Montano who was not simply appearing as an established superstar. He was arriving as the reigning Power Soca Monarch and Road March champion during one of his strongest Carnival years.
Lead Pipe Carries Barbados Crop Over Momentum to New York
The lineup also connected New York Carnival Weekend with another major Caribbean festival season.
Lead Pipe arrived in New York directly following Barbados Crop Over 2014, where he and longtime musical partner Saddis had enjoyed a major year with “Ah Feeling.”
The song became one of the biggest records of the Crop Over season and captured Barbados’ Tune of De Crop title.
Lead Pipe and Saddis were also gaining wider attention at the time through their alter egos Porgie & Murda, whose comedy and music had developed a substantial following in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean diaspora.
That made Lead Pipe’s appearance at House of Cards especially timely.
Only weeks after Barbados’ Crop Over climax, music that had been dominating the Bajan summer festival was now being carried directly into New York’s own Caribbean Carnival weekend.
Lyrikal and the Rise of “Conquer Meh”
New York-based Trinidadian Soca artist Lyrikal was another important part of the House of Cards cast.
His song “Conquer Meh,” produced by GBM Studios, had emerged during New York’s 2013 Labor Day season before carrying forward into Trinidad Carnival 2014.
The record became one of the important songs in Lyrikal’s growing catalogue and took him into the 2014 International Groovy Soca Monarch semifinals.
There was also an important Julianspromos connection.
Julianspromos had been among the platforms helping circulate “Conquer Meh” online as the song built momentum heading into Trinidad Carnival.
Seeing Lyrikal later appear on the House of Cards stage connected Julianspromos’ digital Soca promotion with the platform’s expanding live-event documentation.
5Star Akil Brings “To Meh Heart”
5Star Akil was also enjoying a strong 2014 season.
His Precision Productions collaboration “To Meh Heart” had been released as a Carnival anthem aimed directly at people whose lives revolved around Soca, fetes and the Carnival experience.
The song gained enough visibility to appear on VP Records’ Soca Gold 2014, alongside major records including Bunji Garlin’s “Carnival Tabanca,” Farmer Nappy’s “Big People Party” and Kerwin Du Bois and Lil Rick’s “Monster Winer.”
5Star Akil had also been active throughout Trinidad Carnival with performances of “To Meh Heart,” his earlier hit “Partier” and his Nadia Batson collaboration “Never Done.”
His appearance at House of Cards placed another current Trinidad Carnival performer on the Resorts World stage during New York’s own Carnival season.
A Caribbean Concert in the Middle of New York Carnival Weekend
The timing of House of Cards was as important as its lineup.
August 30 fell in the heart of New York Labor Day Weekend, when Brooklyn and surrounding parts of New York become a gathering point for Caribbean communities from across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and beyond.
The weekend traditionally builds toward J’Ouvert and the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade on Eastern Parkway, but the surrounding days are filled with concerts, fetes, breakfast parties and cultural events across the city.
House of Cards expanded that activity beyond Brooklyn into Queens, offering a major Soca concert at Resorts World Casino.
Its lineup also reflected the regional nature of Carnival culture.
Machel Montano, Lyrikal and 5Star Akil represented Trinidad and Tobago’s 2014 Soca season, while Lead Pipe carried momentum from Barbados Crop Over into New York.
Within one night, the concert connected multiple Caribbean Carnival markets through music.
TriniFly Promotions and Resorts World
House of Cards also formed part of a wider relationship between TriniFly Promotions and Resorts World Casino New York City.
Although surviving online documentation is not strong enough to describe House of Cards itself as a long-running annual series, TriniFly continued producing major Caribbean Labor Day Weekend concerts at Resorts World in later years.
That relationship can still be documented years later.
In 2019, Resorts World officially announced TriniFly Promotions’ Klimax 2019, again staged during Labor Day Weekend and again featuring Machel Montano, this time alongside Nailah Blackman, Ding Dong, Ravi B and Raymond Ramnarine.
That later event helps place House of Cards within a broader period when TriniFly was using Resorts World as a home for large Caribbean concerts during New York Carnival Weekend.
Julianspromos at House of Cards
Julianspromos’ media coverage team for House of Cards included Julian C. Hackett and Intrigue Lane.
Their presence placed the platform inside another major New York Carnival Weekend event during a period when Julianspromos was rapidly expanding the scope of its Caribbean media coverage.
All Julianspromos footage from House of Cards was shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett.
By 2014, Julianspromos was documenting substantially more than isolated artist performances.
The archive from this period includes fetes, concerts, artist interviews, Carnival events, mas-band experiences and Caribbean entertainment activity across New York and other markets.
House of Cards fits directly into that evolution.
The footage captured some of Soca’s important performers of the year while simultaneously documenting the scale and variety of Caribbean entertainment taking place around New York Carnival.
Looking Back
More than a decade later, the House of Cards footage captures a particularly strong snapshot of Soca in 2014.
Machel Montano stood at the top of Trinidad Carnival after winning both Power Soca Monarch and Road March with “Ministry of Road.”
Lead Pipe was coming directly out of a triumphant Barbados Crop Over season with “Ah Feeling.”
Lyrikal was building momentum around “Conquer Meh,” while 5Star Akil’s “To Meh Heart” had become part of the international Soca soundtrack of the year.
Then, during one New York Carnival Weekend night, those different strands of Caribbean music converged inside Resorts World Casino in Queens.
For Julianspromos, House of Cards represents another piece of the platform’s expanding 2014 media archive.
With Julian C. Hackett and Intrigue Lane covering the event, and all video footage shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett, the surviving highlights preserve not simply a concert, but a moment when Trinidad Carnival, Barbados Crop Over and New York Carnival culture came together under one roof.
