SAN­DRA L BLOOD

When Carl Ja­cobs, di­rec­tor of live-en­ter­tain­ment in­ti­mate space Kafe Blue, and Louis “Mag­ic Fin­gers” Nurse, di­rec­tor of mu­si­cal out­fit Louis and the Lynx, en­tered Saint Mary’s Col­lege (CIC), nei­ther imag­ined that more than six decades lat­er they would still be bond­ed through mu­sic.

Both men be­gan play­ing mu­sic dur­ing their school years and, af­ter grad­u­a­tion, took dif­fer­ent pro­fes­sion­al paths. Mu­sic and en­ter­tain­ment, how­ev­er, re­mained cen­tral to their lives.

On New Year’s Day 57 years ago, vo­cal­ist Ja­cobs mar­ried fel­low vo­cal­ist Car­ol, and to­geth­er they be­came the per­form­ing duo Carl & Car­ol. Over the years, the cou­ple built a loy­al fol­low­ing and gained wide recog­ni­tion for songs, in­clud­ing their 2009 re­lease Love Up. Nurse, mean­while, be­came “mar­ried” to his pi­ano more than 50 years ago, earn­ing the so­bri­quet “Mag­ic Fin­gers” from the pub­lic for his dis­tinc­tive play­ing style.

Re­flect­ing on the sea­son, Nurse said, “Christ­mas sea­son is the love we share to sup­port joy in each oth­er.”

In keep­ing with that spir­it, he has made it a tra­di­tion to cel­e­brate his ac­com­plish­ments on Old Year’s Night with mu­sic, guest artistes and spe­cial fea­tures — in­clud­ing ring­ing in the New Year while cel­e­brat­ing the Ja­cobs’ wed­ding an­niver­sary.

This year’s cel­e­bra­tion takes place from 8 pm to­day at Kafe Blue, Wright­son Road, Port-of-Spain. Ad­mis­sion is $200. Nurse will host an an­niver­sary cock­tail par­ty fea­tur­ing live mu­sic and danc­ing. En­ter­tain­ment will be pro­vid­ed by Louis and the Lynx, with vo­cal­ists Kadi­jah Je­re­mi­ah, Sherisse Col­ly­more and Wayne Wal­dron; sax­o­phon­ist A Jay St Louis; One-da The Band; and DJs JR In­ter­na­tion­al and FGM.

In ad­di­tion to spe­cial drinks, cut­ters through­out the night, el­e­gant dé­cor and styl­ish­ly dressed pa­trons, the event will fea­ture the launch of Nurse’s new body of work, The Hap­py Song. A toast will al­so be made in cel­e­bra­tion of Carl and Car­ol’s 57th wed­ding an­niver­sary.

Pa­trons will have the op­por­tu­ni­ty not on­ly to hear The Hap­py Song, but to ex­pe­ri­ence and par­tic­i­pate in its in­spi­ra­tion—the award-win­ning Hap­py Dance, chore­o­graphed by Michelle Her­nan­dez.

“It will be a hap­py night to Luv Up with Carl and Car­ol stand­ing to­geth­er in uni­ty and with per­se­ver­ance,” Nurse said.

For reser­va­tions, call 290-2950. For tick­ets or fur­ther de­tails, call 477-2262.