Monday, March 26, 2007

Black & Beautiful


Who is this beautiful lass you are probably asking. Man I tell you, when a black woman looks good it is practically intoxicating. This young lady is well educated, ambitious, in charge of a very important cultural project. Though she was educated in the U.S. and Canada she has not forgotten her Jamaican roots and is determined to play her part in setting her bornlan' back on the right track.
She has her mother's eyes for sure, and oh that smile! Who her father really is has been what has dominated most public discussions about her. I know with certainty who that gentleman actually is but who cares! She is financially secure and all the woman she can possibly be.
She is Stephanie Marley, born to Rita while she and Bob were still married, but not necessarily fathered by him. Maybe not, but he "adopted" her and she gets her annual Marley Estate funds wired into her bank account as with his other offspring. She is also overseeing the development of the new multi-million dollar Bob Marley Resort in the Bahamas. YOU GO GIRL!
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Saturday, March 17, 2007

Chinese Wedding Night

First let me state that I have complete respect for all my
bredrin & sistrin of Asian decent , this is simply a joke.......


A Chinese couple gets married - and she's a
virgin. Truth be told, he is not too experienced either.

On their wedding night, she cowers naked under the

sheets as her husband undresses He climbs in next to
her and tries to be reassuring.
"My darring" he says, "I know dis yoo firss
time and you berry frighten. I pwamis yoo,

I gib yoo anyting you wan, I do anyting - juss
ask...Anyting yoo wan. Whatchoo wan?" he
says, trying to sound experienced, which he hopes

will impress his virgin bride.
A thoughtful silence follows and he waits
patiently (and eagerly) for her request.

She eventually replies shyly and unsure, "I wan try
someping I have hear about... Numbaa 69."
More thoughtful silence, this time from him.
Eventually, in a puzzled tone he queries...

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"Yoo wan... Chicken wiff Broccoli?

Mind Control



Well March 20th is almost here. After approximately seven release postponements dating back to April of 2005, Stephen Marley's "Mind Control" (formerly titled "Got Music") hits record stores. For those of us that live beyond dancehall and truly crave real quality Caribbean music this has been a long wait. In fact in popular music circles period it is one of the most anticipated releases of 2007. He was the main force behind Damian's "Jamrock" album of 2005 (producing, writing, singing). He has done a lot of successful writing and producing over the past ten tears, but now it it his turn to take the spotlight. He has obviously been quite reluctant to play this role but I suppose he has finally run out of excuses to postpone the inevitable.
Anybody familiar with the music careers of these second generation Marleys will tell you that Stephen is the true heir to his father's throne. By far he is the most talented of the lot. But that has not phased him, his productions go well beyond Reggae. This CD is heavily influenced by hip-hop beats, though it remains quite mellow throughout. Except for "Traffic Jam" and a few other tracks it is very laid back. The last five tracks are my favourites, especially "Fed Up" and "Inna De Red". Keep in mind there are only two real reggae tracks on this CD, (well three if you count Traffic Jam as Reggae). Overall I would give it 4 out of 5, with CDs like Tanya Stephens "Rebelution" and Jr Gong's "Jamrock" getting a full 5, and Tami Chynn's "Out Of Many One" getting a 3 out of 5. My two disappointments with this disc are that there is not enough REAL reggae, and there are only thirteen tracks (really 12 if you exclude the 14 second "Officer Jimmy" interlude). After working on this for THREE years surely he could have included more than just 13 songs.
The full CD (minus the 2 bonus tracks) can be sampled on his MySpace page, but that does not do it justice as that is REAL LOW fidelity sound. It is definitely worth buying so go out and get it next week nuh?
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Sunday, March 11, 2007

The Golding Deal

Well Bruce and some of his top (JLP) party people roll tru town de other day. Came to share with us southern yardies his "Vision Of Jamaica". No problem still. Is 20 years now the other party in power and dem still can't get the country running right. I don't care if dem is green or orange, Laborite or Socialist, de country nah run good and is TWENTY years now yu get a chance fi fix it. If it cannot be done in 20 years move aside and mek somebody else try a ting!
Anyway I am asked by a certain popular West Indian newspaper to take and send them a number of photos capturing the essence of his visit. No problem, I was going to attend at least the townhall meeting, but now I will just get up early and attend the Business Leaders Breakfast also. I go dutifully to both events, shoot some nice shots of Golding, his finance minister - Audley Shaw, others in his posse, and the NCB top dogs that came along with him begging for our ATL dollars. There are a few amateurs on hand also shooting which is quite normal for big events. No problem, they can do their thing so long as they don't get in my way.
I go home after the Townhall meeting, get a phone call from the newspaper's head cook and bottle washer saying she wants the photos ASAP because the publishing deadline is approaching fast. No problem. I edit/clean up, email them out. No response for two days. I call making sure all is well, she says they are arranging the article and choosing pictures as we speak. No problem. I wait another two to three days. No response. I say okay I will simply go and buy the paper and see exactly what is going on as it should be hitting the streets about now. The article on Bruce's visit is there. The front page has an OLD picture of Mr Golding. Not one of mine, an old picture they probably used some time ago. The article continues on page 3; there I find a picture taken during the Golding visit, with about 10 Atlanta dignitaries and the Golding posse in it. NOT ONE OF MINE. Now this could have been a good photograph. It was nicely composed, BUT you can't make out a single face in the picture. NOT EVEN ONE! Too much lighting, no where near enough contrast. She opts for an old picture on the front and an amateur's piece of GARBAGE for the inside. All of that sacrifice just to get out of paying my already heavily discounted rate for my photography.
I was really disappointed in them. No wonder the paper is struggling and has half the amount of pages it had five years ago. Me nah seh nuttin else. Life goes on for me, I won't slowly run my little business into the ground just to save a buck or two.
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