Despite the ongoing myth of only negativity coming out of Laventille, this East Port-of-Spain suburb continues to produce luminaries doing positive things to enrich the national community. Coming out of the bowels of Laventille is artist cum author Patrick Roberts.
The son of Mark and Hilda, Patrick was nurtured in the warm bosom of Laventille and Desperadoes Steel Orchestra and is the author of a landmark 215-page publication - Iron Love: A Book of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra.
An alumnus of Queen's Royal College and The University of the West Indies, St Augustine,, Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick is a gifted multimedia creative. A critically acclaimed artist, he paints and designs, and is a prize-winning Carnival designer. He is also a veteran pannist and archivist.
Iron Love: A Book of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra tells the history, development, achievements and saga of both Desperadoes Steel Orchestra and Laventille.
Walk Like a Dragon is the book's first chapter and, in ensuing chapters, it meanders from its Piccadilly Street western boundary lifting its reader on a mesmerizing and riveting journey through Laventille to the top of the Hill.
The book is further embellished by more than two dozen paintings by Patrick of iconic, historic sites and edifices along the journey.
Iron Love: A Book of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra is a must-read publication, especially for students, pannists, pan-lovers and academics. Its author must be lauded, especially in this time of a pandemic to write and produce such a masterpiece of a publication.