For the first time since Brian MacFarlane provided an okay enough alternative for Minshall masqueraders, I have withdrawn from his 2012 enterprise. Since 2005 when he competed with The Washing By Fire By Water — that year in the Medium Bands category — his costume designs, though still derivative, have improved, even if the engineering of the costumes — the translation from sketches to three dimensional products — remains wanting. But the last is perhaps an unfair comment since the point of reference is Peter Minshall who was not only a genius designer but who worked with craftspeople to transform Carnival costumes into haute couture; in Minshall's time people on the road would see you in a Minshall costume and say, "You playing in all that clothes!", not knowing that the costumes fit like silk and if you played in Picoplat, for example, you felt as close to being a bird as was humanly possible, such was the technical innovation of the construction.

MacFarlane moved into the virtually empty space left by Minshall; Trini Revellers also absorbed some Minshalities, especially after his Ship of Fools in 2003. Masqueraders who want to actually masquerade rather than have a protracted fete on the road for two days have few options and this gave the MacFarlane enterprise his thousand or so masqueraders needed to qualify for entry into the Large Bands category in 2006, although the costumes were wanting, the music was inadequate — a problem Minshall also encountered after the glory days of David Rudder and Charlie's Roots — and the road experience was torturous.

Masqueraders' relationship to the MacFarlane mas as well as the band is also subsidiary to the Minshall experience. After masquerading with Minshall a few years, one felt part of the enterprise, integrated into a drama for two days that reverberated far beyond Carnival Monday and Tuesday, encouraging meaningful societal and individual reflection. As Minshall's frustration with the official Carnival infrastructure grew, Carnival logisticians also became weary and resentful of the artistic demands of the bandleader and his believers. The tension between the two fuelled a perception that Minshall thought himself bigger than Carnival, bigger than the masquerade, which had then mockingly come to be referred to as "the mouss"; Paul Keens-Douglas captured this mockery in a Carnival routine about a crew looking for a band in which to play mas and deciding, one year, they were going to play with Minshall, they were going to play "concept".

And so we come to this Carnival, 22 years after Minshall staged a production of Santimanitay in the National Stadium, and MacFarlane is making a radical departure — he is sure to say addition rather than departure — from the traditional public parade of the bands, facilitated by the State which has set aside two days for the annual masquerade on the streets.

Consistent and comprehensive official details of MacFarlane's enterprise this year are hard to come by, suggesting that the venture is a work in progress. From what I have pieced together, he intends to leave his Rosalino Street, Woodbrook mas camp about noon (although I was told 1 p.m. two weeks ago), chip along an undetermined route for a few hours — I gather the band will parade where there is no congestion, a curious thing to say the least seeing that there are few areas uncongested at that time, and uncongested streets would likely mean few, if any, spectators — then the band will make its way to the Jean Pierre Complex for a show. The time this is to happen is also unclear; I was earlier told masqueraders will arrive at the Complex at 5 p.m.; later I was told 6.30 p.m. For sure, the band will have to be there in good time to orchestrate its appearance as the main attraction in The Event Mac Mas Monday. Either way, crossing the Savannah stage would be miraculous at best given the tight time constraints and the band's lack of control over what happens at the Big Yard.

The Jean Pierre show is a wholly private enterprise. There is no National Carnival Commission (NCC) involvement or returns. Masqueraders will palance as the main attraction in a show that patrons are paying $300 and $400 to see but masqueraders/performers will not be recompensed; in fact masqueraders are paying thousands of dollars so they can perform before a private audience in a completely private project.

The show will feature some supporting acts but the main attraction are masqueraders who, in order to facilitate a private show, will have to wear full costume on both Monday and Tuesday for the first time in the seven-year history of MacFarlance mas. The inconvenience of this is not to be understated; MacFarlane's costumes cannot be thrown into a washing machine and dryer Monday night.

The 2012 MacFarlane project deserves national discussion. If, say, three other big bands seize the idea next year — and it is potentially an infectious idea given that Carnival Monday night is an open space on the overwhelmed Carnival calendar and that bandleaders get much for little — what will become of the parade of the bands and the corresponding competitions? Are we moving to a time when ordinary people, who historically, if not in practice, own the mas, will be denied mas on the road? Does this enterprise reinforce or challenge the class segregation of contemporary Carnival? What is the NCC's responsibility and do they rise to their mandate? What innovative ideas are there for competent management of the two-day parade? What changes are needed, and what are the important elements of this festival that definitely cannot be sacrificed on the altar of privatisation, profiteering, and on-the-road efficiency? What private enterprise is acceptable on these two precious State-sanctioned days that, no matter what anyone theorises, are necessary to the survival of this country?

And is there need for masqueraders' associations to represent the wishes of people who are the mainstay of the parade of bands? Without masqueraders, there is no annual Carnival parade. Without masqueraders, MacFarlane will have no show. Who represents masqueraders and through what vehicle? In the decades that I have been playing mas, feedback has never been sought once. In this time of social media, there are many opportunities for chat rooms, discussion fora etc.

Obviously Carnival has reached yet another moment when clear thinking and reconsiderations are imperative. For now, I will not be in the Jean Pierre Complex.