Trinidad Carnival 2k9 - Which band gets my pittance?!

Folks, I need help!

Beyond the fact that I am no Sir Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey, just looking at stacks of money and wondering what to do next, I am perplexed about which expensive Carnival Costume I should choose, and which band I should play with, if I do. There are just too many bands around this year -at least 4 are strong possibilities - and all are overpriced in my opinion.

Here's the scene. So Island People Mas with their presentation of 'Heaven on Earth' is already sort of a no-no for me, because of their multitude of issues: they just treat their masqueraders too poorly, their costumes ain't all that, and they're always nursing some behind-the-scenes bacchanal that somehow manages to seep out into the whole band.

Tribe with 'Birds of a Feather' is really a strong possibility for 2009, but all of their uber-expensive sections are booking up so damn fast, that I'm hoping my last few options don't go off the shelf by the time I've gathered up my pennies.

Then there are the others. Spice mas' 'The Missing Ingredient' is very, very appealing for a newbie, but their designs don't warrant the prices of the costumes in all instances, and I feel as if it's going to be a huge gamble, putting my aforementioned pennies on them.

The other newbies, such as Elements (portraying Casino), Evolution (Temptations), Kaotic (Can't recall), and whichever other band, don't move me enough to even put the links to their sites.

Another relative newbie who's a dark horse in the race is Ronnie & Caro with 'Bakkanal'; their launch is on August 29th and their designs are simple but pack a serious punch!

Brian MacFarlane - whose band has not officially launched, and whom we shall no longer refer to as a pseudo Peter Minshall, as he is attempting to do his own design thing these days - is a sure bet. But in reality, I can only wholeheartedly devote myself to playing mas' in yardage upon yardage of cloth and theatrics, if it is with Peter Minshall!

So what shall I do? I've put up the pics of my possibilities thus far. Kindly peruse and tell me what you think...

LMN Harris