The league’s top drawing player could miss additional time, but the Fever seem more capable of winning without Clark this season after using the offseason to bring in a large group of veteran players with championship experience.
“You just pay attention to the director,” Gomes said. “You have to pay attention — there’s a way to show every groove.”The drum section plays throughout a school’s entire parade, lasting between 70 and 80 minutes, striving to lose neither tempo nor flair. Carnival judges
for various categories, including drumming; it is assessed based on creativity, consistency and how well it suits each samba school’s theme and lyrics.A performer from the Mocidade samba school directs a float alongside artificial intelligence images of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)A performer from the Mocidade samba school directs a float alongside artificial intelligence images of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Drum queen Erika Januza, from the Viradouro samba school, performs during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)Drum queen Erika Januza, from the Viradouro samba school, performs during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
“Only God knows if we will win the title, but once again our drummers delivered a great performance,” an exhausted Mestre Dudu, covered in sweat, told journalists after Mocidade’s parade. The school’s drummers, who had flashing green lights on their hats, celebrated as if Mocidade had already won its 7th title in Rio’s Carnival parade league.
Classical music critic Irineu Franco Perpétuo said that artists like Mestre Dudu are indeed maestros, no less talented than those guiding orchestras. He noted that the drums section is the tiebreaking category whenever two samba schools have tallied the same total number of points.Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor of a more naturally flowing up-and-down journey that basks in beautiful moments like a slice-of-life story. Whether it’s banter at the bar Freya’s working or a leaking roof that is simply one more thing than she can possibly handle right now, the characters and their experiences are so real and pure that their joys and sorrows are amplified tenfold.
As the novel progresses and Freya starts to rebuild her life in Somers, we learn bit by bit the horrific events that led to her departure.Reconnecting with childhood friends, avoiding the demons of her past, and navigating an entirely new level of adulthood via being thrust into homeownership, “Home of the American Circus” is Freya’s journey of empowerment, to reclaim her life and the people and things she holds most dear; to recognize her own resilience and inherent self-worth. Larkin builds a robust picture of Freya’s life, her family, and a small American town home to a circus elephant.
It takes more than a little verve to write a story based on the iconic characters created byin perhaps the 20th century’s most famous American novel, but Claire Anderson-Wheeler has done just that with “The Gatsby Gambit.” And, say, old sport, it’s delightful.