Ja to Ga Watch di Ride!!

Carnival Without A Home

2007-09-09T00:26:00.000-04:00

Yes folks I am still alive. seems like I only write these days when a carnival issue is at hand.
Anyway Broward Carnival (South Florida) is about 3 weeks away, it is the premier West Indian event is South Florida now surpassing even the original Miami Carnival in both size and entertainment value.
Problem; the event is now homeless. The official launch is tomorrow Sep 9th with Kiddies Carnival on Sep 30th and the big jump-up on Sunday Oct 7th. It was supposed to be held at a park in Miramar this year but at the last minute it seems as if the political powers that control that Miami suburb have have suddenly had a change of heart. Talk of too much garbage, too many people, too much traffic seems to have prevailed. This is quite a big deal down south, the Miami Herald has carried an article on the matter everyday since Thursday. Somehow I get the impression that the paper is elated about the carnival being put out. Maybe I am reading too much into the articles. Here is the latest.
The Kiddies Carnival is safe as it will be a much smaller event held at a park in downtown Fort Lauderdale. But the Oct 7th jump-up is questionable at this point. Maybe the Caribbean carnival model is just not suited for American cities; Atlanta has location problems almost every year, New York always has issues with the NYPD and non-West Indian vendors. Only Toronto seems to have mastered the carnival in the city thing north of Havana, and of course they are not an American city.
Oh well I really hope it comes off I am so looking forward to shooting the pictures.

Some ATL Carnival Shots

2007-07-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

Yes I know, almost two months late. What can I say? I have been busy.
Anyway as promised some of what I shot that weekend back in May.
The carnival was okay, but had its issues; it is now split into three fueding factions. Not enough organization as usual. We need to get it together, its been about 20 years now and mass confusion and greed still reigns supreme. I say no more. Hope you enjoy the pics below........

2007-07-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

The Flames "Heat" up close.

2007-07-05T22:26:00.000-04:00

The real HEAT in the Red Hot Flames!!

Big ting "killing" Bunji's drummer wit wine!!

2007-07-05T22:24:00.000-04:00

2007-07-05T22:21:00.000-04:00

Big ting wining on a cage!

2007-07-05T22:18:00.000-04:00

Nadia Batson, true Caribbean Girl!

2007-07-05T22:13:00.000-04:00

KMC Band warming up the crowd.

Trini Oh Trini!

2007-07-05T22:08:00.000-04:00

2007-07-05T22:04:00.000-04:00

Trini 2 De Bone!!

Rudder shares his message

2007-07-05T21:58:00.000-04:00

2007-07-05T21:56:00.000-04:00

David Rudder singing for the people.

Sparrow Pushes On!

2007-07-05T21:54:00.000-04:00

2007-07-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

Sparrow still going strong!

Faye Shakin What God Gave Her!

2007-07-05T21:47:00.000-04:00

2007-07-05T21:46:00.000-04:00

ATL Carnival

2007-05-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Well the ATL Carnival season is upon us once again. The downtown mas ting is usually a joke, just nuff crowds looking on and about a dozen lame mas bands and music trucks. The route is short and usually ends up in a stadium or park where there is a soca show and West Indian vendors selling island food and other such goodies. Nothing to write home about. However the night fetes and shows (they have nothing to do with the official carnival committee) are always top class with all the popular soca and reggae artists in attendance. In fact we usually end up over-saturated with too many night events during the 3-day weekend.
Since at this time of year I put on my "Press" cap , I get into most of the events free so long as I have the camera equipment in tow. In fact me and a journalist bredrin of mine normally team up to cover the local events worth publishing. He writes I shoot. Clients are Gleaner, Observer, Caribbean Star and various fly-by-night West Indian magazines. Anyway the two flyers attached are the beginning of our coverage this weekend; the Adrenaline is a club gig which is NOT my favourite setting (smoke, overcrowding, dim lighting). The Georgia Music Fest will be outdoors and perfect for me (daylight, open air, huge stage, nuff space). I am really doing the former only because my bredrin want to cover it, but who knows maybe I'll end up having a good time. I'll write a Post Mortem blog later next week with a few of the pics.

Brazilian Soldiers Killed

2007-05-20T16:17:00.000-04:00

Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush
that three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq .
To everyone's amazement, all of the color ran from Bush's face,
then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken,
almost whimpering. Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld,

"Just exactly how many is a brazillion?"

AFTER

2007-05-12T22:55:00.000-04:00

No I didn't forget to post Chewy's "after" shot, it just took me that long to get to trimming him down. He actually got a final trim a little lower than this still, but from these pics you get the general idea of his dread to balhead transformation.

Five Years of No Labor

2007-04-22T18:11:00.000-04:00

Shot a nice wedding on Saturday. The owner of these "claws" was a part of the bridal party. It took me a little while to ask her if I could shoot the nails as I didn't know how she would react. When I finally did she was very cool with the request. Of course she had no idea that her nails would get online. A very nice lady though, took her 5 years to grow these babies. Apparently she has to paint them with a special sort of acrylic to prevent them breaking or splitting a few times a month. Am guessing as a rule she doesn't do much housework.

Goodbye Locks!

2007-04-17T00:08:00.000-04:00

Well its that time of year again. My dog Chewy got a stay of execution as I could not cut off his dreads last week because of the sudden change to cooler weather. But this weekend; goodbye pretty locks, time fi de baldhead Chewy again! He couldn't handle an ATL summer with all of that wool. But don't worry chewy, by Oct- Nov your locks should be back to its full glory and when I walk you in the evenings all the hot young girls will be saying to me "What a lovely dog! What's his name? Does he bite? He's beautiful!".

~ level vibes ~

2007-04-13T21:44:00.000-04:00

Well, finally, inspired by my blogga bredrin Stunner I have started my own photoblog. This was in the back of my mind to do for quite a few months now, but as usual everything concerning yours truly takes forever to implement.
Most of the posts will be just abstract, arbitrary type stuff, some decent some obviously garbage. What I love about this site though is that you are forced to only post shots taken on that same day, therefore you can't jut dig in your stash and post your best shots taken days or years ago. You are forced to pick up that camera and create new material worthy of putting online. I am still torn between linking my official photography website to it or leaving it 100% anonymous. Of course that would also affect revealing my identity on this site also, not that anybody out there really cares about who I am (or who I am not).
Anyway take a look if you will at level vibes , only a few pics are out there so far though.

Its about The Green

2007-04-11T23:37:00.000-04:00

I suppose most of you have now heard of or read about the current uproar in the media about radio (& tv) personality Imus calling the womens basketball team of Rutgers University a bunch of "Nappy headed hoes". (See YouTube video ). Let us keep in mind that Imus is a shock jock, in other words he gets paid to be controversial, it is what keeps his large well educated audience coming back for more. I can't say that he is not a racist SOB as it appears, but he has been using such language on the air for the past ten years. He does the same to Asians, Hispanics, Jews, gays, etc. This is nothing new for Imus. He has been calling blacks "guerrillas" for at least seven years now.
No this does not make what he said okay, just as it is not okay for rap artists to make literally millions of dollars calling black women essentially the same thing. It is sexist, racist and grossly degrading. Doesn't matter if the Rutgers black women are mostly from upper-class families, attending a very prestigious expensive school, and are all future doctors, lawyers, etc. Rich or poor no black woman should be addressed in such a manner.
But that brings me to my main point. This is not about black or white. This is all about green. Imus, as Spike Lee said, "....went to the well one too many times.". He has to keep dipping into this "well" of controversy to keep his audience, and in turn to keep the big advertisers both on his syndicated radio show and the (now cancelled) simulcast on MSNBC tv. The big name politicians and journalists that are frequently his guests on his show could protect him no more. They always appeared to draw more green into their camps also, not necessarily because the agreed with his attitude. Obama was recently one of those guests. Back to the rappers; they all know that the CDs won't sell and the labels won't sign unless they use their gangster speak, (nigger this....my hoes that...), AND sound genuine in the process. The labels are about the green, nothing else. Not the slow denigration of society,and certainly not the short life span of their "artist's" careers who all pretty much spit out the same lyrics to slightly differing beats.
And of course let us not forget the media houses that have wipped this Imus thing up into a silly frenzy just for the sake of ratings which lead to bigger advertising bucks. They know that race is always a powder keg issue in the news headlines so they always grab such stories and run long and hard with them. Watch, those news show producers are going to milk this one dry.
Sad to say, black or white is secondary, its all about the green.

Black & Beautiful

2007-03-26T15:02:00.000-04:00

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!

Chinese Wedding Night

2007-03-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

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...

|
"Yoo wan... Chicken wiff Broccoli?

Mind Control

2007-03-17T01:22:00.000-04:00

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?

The Golding Deal

2007-03-11T00:30:00.000-05:00

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.

Cool Leroy From Port Antonio

2007-02-13T22:41:00.000-05:00

Leroy from Port Antonio always wanted to look cool.
His friend told him that he needed a good designer pair of trainers to
go with his shell suit.
Leroy saved up all his pay slips and all the money he got back from
returning his empty bottles of Red Stripe and finally managed to get
himself a pair of brilliant white trainers to go with his shell suit.
Proudly, he strutted down the street calling out to all the passers by
"See meh new trainers dem? Cool, eh?"
One fine upstanding gentleman pointed out that they were
indeed a fine pair of trainers but was young Leroy aware that
he had a lace undone?
Leroy scornfully retorted that it was part of being cool to have a
trailing lace and that on the bottom of the trainer there were
instructions for the wearer to only have one lace tied.
When asked for proof of this instruction, Leroy took off his
trainer and held it upside down for the disbeliever to read.
"There y'are! It clearly says ..........TAIWAN"

Staying Motivated

2007-01-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

When one is involved in a small, one man shop business as I am, staying motivated can sometimes be a challenge. It is easy to remain motivated when you are pushing (and spending) to get things up and running, but its hard to stay on track when you either don't see immediate results, or returns are much better than anticipated and you start to relax and take things for granted. I tend to fall in both traps with my little photography thing, of course the former a lot more than the latter. For that reason I am always searching for motivational tips, articles, talks, etc so that I can keep pushing forward.
I went to a motivational talk, or rather motivational production, a few weeks ago wit a whole lot of big shot speakers; Zig Ziggler, Ruddy Giuliani, Larry King, Colin Powell and some others. It was an all day affair with literally thousands in attendance. Some of the speakers were quite good, others just spat out the obvious. Then again sometimes its the obvious that we need to understand without ignoring it just because it is "the obvious". What did I take away from it? Here is some of what sank into my porous cavity.....
a) The farmer always wants the land next door to his. Once he is able to buy it, he again wants the land next door to him. It never ends. At some point you have to stop and conclude that you have enough "land" to work with.
b) To say you will "try" at something means you are quite content with failing, and you probably will.
c) Don't be afraid to fail, it can be your biggest motivator. Only CNAs settle for average. (Committed Non Achievers). They are the mediocre around us.
d) Before you go to bed at night think back on your day and honestly ask yourself, "How can I make tomorrow better or worse than today?" Write down your answer(s) and put it somewhere that you will see it first thing in the morning.
Want to know what really made that day for me? One of the presenters, I think it was Zig, stated that legal immigrants are six times more likely to become independently wealthy than the average American. Of course seeking wealth is not simply about excess cash at your disposal, it is really the about building a better and more secure future for your children and their children to come. It is really about their quality of life, not yours.
There is hope for me yet.

New Year, New Tings!

2007-01-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

Yes massive , mi still de bout.
Been working my ass off for Corporate America as usual. God, I truly pray for the day I can make my escape......without having to move into a homeless shelter of course. As I stated last year, those considering migrating to dis ya country....COME WITH THE INTENTION OF LAUNCHING YOUR OWN BUSINESS!! Yes deal with corporate America for a while to get on your feet and establish yourself, BUT don't get stuck in this rut it will kill you slowly from the inside out, mind and body, and then dash yu wey when dem dun wid yu! The way to succeed in this place is to do your own ting, what ever that might be. Those that own the capital reap the real profits. You can't get independently wealthy by working for someone else unless your are stealing from them.
Just dropped 500 bucks for 2007 advertising for my side-line photography business. Might have to drop 300 more on another outlet to try and guarantee a constant flow of new clients. Last year business was somewhat better than I expected and this year I expect even more as I will be pushing a lot harder.
Weddings are the most work and biggest paycheck, but allow for the least amount of creativity, which is the fun part for me. Model and fashion work allow for almost unlimited creativity, but the pay is usually minimal, for up and coming grubs like me at least. The other stuff in between can pay decent if you know how to work it. Big tings a come though, I can feel it in my blood, and God nah lef mi out! Dat dyam job sucks up so much of my time and energy though!
Anyway, not looking back, I push on in battle for 2007!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!

2006-12-25T01:06:00.000-05:00

A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS to my fellow bloggers and blogger readers. Here's hoping you all spend a quiet quality day with close friends and family.

Peace.

Three Sons

2006-12-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

HAD TO SHARE THIS ONE:

Three Jamaican sons left home, went out on their own and prospered.
Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to
give to their elderly mother:

The first son said, "Mi bill a big house wid land an gi mama." The
second son said, "Mi sen har a cris Benz wid a driver"

The third smiled and said, "Mi beat di 2 a unnu. Yuh memba how Mama
use to love fi read har Bible? An yuh know seh she cyaan see too
good.
Mi sen har a Church parrot dat recite di entire Bible. It tek di
elders inna di church 15 years fi teach im. Im exclusive man. Mama jus ha-fi

name di chapter an di verse, an di parrot wi recite it."

Soon thereafter, Mother sent out her letters of thanks:

"Milton," she wrote one son, "A weh duh yuh bwoy, a chupid yuh chupid

suh.
Di house yuh bill too big. A mi one live inna one room, but mi always

ha fi a clean di whole house."

"Winston," she wrote to another, "Yuh a eediat, yuh dun know mi too
old fi travel. Mi always inna di yard, suh mi nuh use di Mercedes an
di driver im too dyam facey!"

"Dearest Delroy," she wrote to her third son, "you have the good
sense fi know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious."

Move Over Diana...Here Comes Tess

2006-12-09T00:09:00.000-05:00

For years I trumpeted and declared that Diana King was the best female vocalist that Jamaica has produced to date. Diana dethroned Nadine Sutherland back in the 90's, Nadine in turn dethroned Judy Mowatt back in the mid 80's. All still great vocal queens in their own right, but betta mus come. Alas, (yes, a lass) Tessanne Chin (Tami's younger sibling) is now making serious moves at bussing out.
After doing post high school duties with Mile High (J'can Rock-Reggae band) for a few years, and world wide touring as a Jimmy Cliff back-up singer, she (or they) are finally getting serious with her career as a true solo artist. GYAL CAN SING! Penny her single & video "Hideaway", press play nuh!? Yes, mi know, kinda easy on the eyes too. As I stated in this blog last year, she runs circles around her sister Tami Chynn when it comes to singing abilities. Which is really the original family spelling? Chynn or Chin? Who decided the change would be more marketable? which way did it change? By the way she also wrote a lot of Tami's album material for her.
She really has a good wide range of sweet vocal ability. She is (to me) better than Diana King, but only by a small margin though. I have heard her with Mile High and I have some unreleased material she recorded about a year ago, gyal can sing. She can handle a guitar too. Mek sure yu check out her Myspace page to hear some more of her music, especially "Messenger" .
Big tings a come fi dis one!

Foreign Exchange

2006-12-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

Never under estimate the importance of understanding English;

I had a bunch of Canadian dollars I needed to exchange, so I went to
the currency exchange window at the local bank. Short line.

Just one guy in front of me, an Asian guy who was trying to exchange
yen for dollars and he was a little irritated . . .

He asked the teller, "Why it change??
Yestoday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen.
Today I get hunat eighty?? Why it change?"

The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fluctuations".

The Asian guy says, "Fluc you whih people, too!"

Perry Henzell , R.I.P.

2006-11-30T23:12:00.000-05:00

Jamaica's first full length film producer Perry Henzell died today at age 70 of cancer. Probably best known for his production of "The Harder They Come", Perry died a poor man. I read an interview he did earlier this year and he lamented about how much money he lost doing Harder They Come, and how he had in fact given up on film as he would never have enough funds to either finish his projects or get them out to a mass market. He also wrote a novel "Power Game" back in the 80's.
His last film production, "No Place Like Home" was meant to be a follow-up to "Harder" and took many, many years of starting and stopping to complete. At one stage he actually lost the raw footage for many years. It is to be screened at a film festival in Jamaica sometime in December.

Ziggy In Concert

2006-11-27T23:54:00.000-05:00

Went to see Ziggy Marley perform last week (with the wifey). The show was not too bad at all. I would rate it 8 out of 10. It started promptly at 8pm with his opening act Skye. A black British young lady doing some good folk-pop stuff with just an acoustic guitar, she sounded pretty good and just released her debut CD, kind of Tracy Chapman-ish, but sweeter looking.
The wait for Ziggy was a bit long, but when he did hit the stage he got right into it. The sound was nice and clean except for a few mishaps that perhaps only a sound guy like me would notice. The band was tight and it was really great to still see Sticky Thompson out there on percussion. 35+ years of touring and still going strong! Ziggy hit the ATL after canceling his two weekend shows because of Bronchitis.. You could see that he wasn't quite 100% back, but he still put on a top-notch show. He really got deep into the vibes when doing his own personal material, though he just seem to go on auto pilot when he did Bob's and ZMM songs. "Lookin" is really GREAT live, so was "True To Myself" and "Be Free".
For those of you that don’t know (but still care to find out), Ziggy recently married a Jewish young lady and now resides in Israel. It is rumored that he is actually converting to Judaism but keeping the locks. During the entire show there was absolutely NO mention of Jah, Rastafari or Selassie. Very strange for a Marley production, I was however quite happy to get a break from all of that crap.
The wife and I met him briefly after the show, he has lost a lot of weight but claims to be exercising regularly now. We also met Sticky, Erica Newell, and Grandpa (of Morgan Heritage) back stage as well. Decent show, can’t complain.

Another One

2006-11-19T18:11:00.000-05:00

Another yankee excuse for a holiday is upon us, Turkey Day. Giving thanks for slaughtering thousands of Native American Indians and stealing their land with all that comes with it.
All these “holidays” are ALWAYS somehow tied to consumption, the average Joe having to dig into his pocket and make expected purchases. Food in this case, gifts in a few weeks at Xmas, party stuff come New Years, Flowers and Chocolate come Valentines, eggs and bunnies come Easter, BBQ junk come Memorial Day, fireworks and more BBQ stuff come July 4th, even more BBQ stuff come Labor Day in September, Halloween costumes come October.
It just gets to be so sickening year after year. I know the entire economy is totally dependent on the public’s continuous consumption of goods and services and not just a particular industry like say Caribbean countries, but after a while you realize that 90% of your purchases are just dyam garbage. It’s bad enough that some of these “holidays” don’t even give you a day off of work, but you still have to go out and buy de dyam foolishness too?
Yes migrating to Uncle Sam land is a trade off and you do always make the effort to surround yourself with as much of your home country’s trappings as you can so as to at least try and have the best of both worlds, but sometimes you wake up and de cold lik yu and de pickney a beg fi dis and dat because her friends have it, then you wonder to yourself “Was it all worth it? What if I had stayed?”

2006-10-26T19:49:00.000-04:00

Thats it folks, Broward Carnival was WIKID and you can't seh me neva post any pics dis time! Hope to see the bloggas massive there next year!

2006-10-26T19:46:00.001-04:00

Roll It Gyal!

2006-10-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

Tru Di Fence!

2006-10-26T19:45:00.000-04:00

Ride It!

2006-10-16T01:13:00.000-04:00

100% Jamaican

2006-10-16T01:10:00.000-04:00

Wining Sandwich?

2006-10-11T21:48:00.000-04:00

Broward From The Rear!

2006-10-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

On Di Big Truck!

2006-10-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

Flag Girl

If you didn't make it you missed one of the best West Indian Carnivals on North American soil. Since I have been promising to add a lot of pics to this site I am going to continue to add pics (mostly hot gyal of course) from the Broward Carnival 2K6 every few days. I have a few hundred to pick from.

Heading South

2006-10-05T20:37:00.000-04:00

Well me and de wifey head south to Fort Lauderdale early tomorrow morning. I am cursed with a woman that is scared of flying so unless it is overseas (and those are after months of persuading) we have to drive. This one will be 9hours if we go straight thru, but we will stop for an hour or two in Orlando so she can see her sister (and get her hair"done"). Hopefully I can persuade my brother-in-law to drop what he is doing and take a short flight around central Florida with me. That is a long shot though.
I will be taking photos for a private organization involved in some of the production but I do hope to at least get a few that are interesting enough to post on this site. Ketch up wid uno next week!

2006-10-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

From the Rear

Now what is about my Jamaican woman, well to be honest my black woman period? Without a decent amount of bumper they are just not all there. Is me alone or are other men of West Indian persuasion focused on the bumper just as much as the face? Nothing like a good sized ROUND bumper on a black woman. It can practically negate an unattractive face! But then again I am a firm believer in the fact that no woman is truly unattractive, its all relative, just depends ones taste at a particular time and her immediate female environment.
But that bumper! Even the smallish ones can look good, just has to be the right shape on the right woman. Big can also be too big, but when you get around to those beautiful women of dark complexion the rear is the real test that matters. My wife always says the first thing I look at is a woman's ass and I am not ashamed to say its quite true because if dat not saying nuting I will not be taking a second look.

Jamaica # 1 cranberry consumer

2006-09-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

Jamaica Gleaner News - Jamaica number one cranberry consumer - Friday September 22, 2006:

"Nutritious cranberry drink flooded the Jamaican market 10 years ago and, since July of this year, the country has surpassed the United States as its number one consumer per capita based on sales of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice. Ocean Spray is a 100-year-old brand in the U.S., but Jamaica is ahead by 10 per cent in sales. "
________________________________

Now that has got to be one of the strangest facts I have read about in years! Lets think about this: There are 270 million people in the U.S, there are 2.7 million people in Jamaica. That means for every 1 person in Jamaica there exists the equivalent of 100 people in America. How could we consume 110% of anything (non-Caribbean),.. anything at all...., that the U.S. consumes?? Okay I am not being totally fair, I know they said "per capita" but still that is a lot of Cranberry Juice drinking. Is there a glut of bottled Cranberry Juice on the U. S. market that is being exported very cheaply to the third world?
Lets look at this closer still. The Jamaican population is pretty much dominated by a large poor under class. Anything that is heavily consumed has to very cheap and readily available. Ocean Spray products are not bottled in Jamaica and therefore have to be imported. Yes I am sure Mr Mahfood brings it in via multiple trailer loads, but there is no way the price of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice can compare and compete with our local Bigga and other such syrupy sweet stuff that are made to pass for quenching beverages. I won't even go into to fact that Ocean Spray products are LOADED with excess sugar that does no good for anybody young or old. They make two types; the 100% pure juice and then the juice from concentrate. The latter is pictured in the Gleaner article and is, by Ocean Spray's own admission, watered down along with nuff added sugar. Pure Cranberry juice now is a whole different story.
Is that Jamaicans consume a normal amount of this product and the Americans know something that we don't and are staying clear of it?
Is there some local myth associated with Cranberry that makes everyone want to quickly gobble it up in Jamaica?
Can anybody shed any light on this? Really strange.

For Us Married Guys........

2006-09-19T22:46:00.000-04:00

A man took his wife to the rodeo and one of the first exhibits they stopped at covered breeding bulls. They went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said, "This bull mated 50 times last year." The wife playfully nudged her husband in the ribs and said, "He mated 50 times last year."

They walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said, "This bull mated 120 times last year." The wife gave her husband a healthy jab and said, "That's more than twice a week! You could learn a lot from him."

They walked to the third pen and it had a sign attached that said, in capital letters, "This bull mated 365 times last year." The wife, so excited that her elbow nearly broke her husband's ribs, said, "That's once a day. You could REALLY learn something from this one."
The husband looked at her and said, "Go up and ask him if it was with the same old cow."

2006-09-17T02:36:00.000-04:00

"Out Of Many One"

The Tami Chynn album “Out Of Many One” is out at last,…well sort of. Seems to be some sort of distribution problem here in the U.S. It is available now in Europe but hasn’t “officially” been launched on this side of the pond. Strange? Universal couldn’t be crazy enough to not release it here. I know they have been disappointed with the lack of excitement for the single releases generated over the past 10 months, but to cut their losses and move on now would be very cruel to Tami’s camp. But then again such is the music business, they love you then abandon you. Maybe they will just push back the real U.S. release another few weeks, hoping some sort of buzz will pick up between now and then.

Anyway back to the album; I got to hear a copy from England last night and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I thought that given the height of the bar that Tanya Stephens just set last week with her Rebelution release that this listen would be a waste of time. But no, it wasn’t bad at all. Light,fluffy material yes, but still quite impressive. Yes 6 out of the 17 tracks have already been released and just put out there for John Public to hitch on to (that never quite happened), but as is the norm with Jamaican debut albums, half of the material is past singles that we the local audience have already proven as road worthy. That is an accepted practice and is expected as our music basically thrives on a singles-based market.

Besides the fact that Tami is very easy on the eyes (and photographs very well), the album is well composed and written. Time was put into this production. It still does sound quite Pro Tools ish, meaning it sounds somewhat like a mic and a Mac production. Anyway still a good effort by new production duo South Soul and Tami’s sister Tesanne. “Hyperventilating”, “Looky Looky”, “Hot!”, “Tell mi Seh” we all know and are decent songs. The first should have been a real hit for her. Universal’s tight pockets are to blame for that. The latest single 1-2-3-4 also has hit potential, but they will probably put a minimum effort behind that also, only depending on the Tami camp to beat the street and b-grade concert circuit to death. Either the big five companies don’t know how to or simply don’t want to market Caribbean music, and I think it is a combination of both. They just prefer to piggy back on an obvious hit that needs no real money to push it forward. That is what they were hoping to get from Tami during the past year. There is also an album “Intro” that really is slick in a good way and reminiscent of 70’s soul album instrumental themes. “Bliss Is” is a good laid back track, “Can U Feel Me” is good easy reggae and so is “Till U Come”. There are two remixes that of course sound much catchier than their originals: Looky, Looky (Tony Kelly remix) that has to be released on a single, that will sell!! And then there is Hyperventilating (TOK remix) that sounds pretty good too, but I think it might be too late to try and resurrect that one..

Overall we all know her voice is not anything to write home about. But the good thing about that is they have sort of produced and written “around” that fact and made her vocals sound good enough for the given task. It is a fairly good debut. Unless a single really takes off from this CD though it will only be known to us in reggae circles. Universal is looking for another Rihanna or a female Sean Paul from from Tami, but she is cutting another path. If they start acting as though she can walk on water again, like they were doing 18 months ago, AND put some real funds behind her release, that path can become very lucrative for them.

2006-09-16T01:53:00.000-04:00

Broward Carnival 2K6 !!

Broward Caribbean Carnival

2006-09-16T01:24:00.000-04:00

Massive don't forget to check out the Broward Caribbean Carnival , there is still time to plan for the trip. You have a good three weeks left. Miami Carnival is now way too expensive ($45) and over-crowded. Check out Broward's just 30 minutes upstate. It is at the stage now where it is just the right size, reasonably priced, and safe, with all the West Indian entertainment and food you could ever desire. Once again I have nothing to do with the production. I just want to spread the good news so you can come and enjoy the good vibes. SEE YU THERE!!

What the??

2006-09-08T22:30:00.000-04:00

Funny how sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees. Went on a photo shoot last Sunday afternoon. This young lady (Tonya) hired me to shoot some pictures, both formal and candid, at her mother’s 65th birthday party. No problem, got there at about 3:30 set up some lights even though the shots were all outside on the front lawn. She had previously made a fuss about seeing some of my past work that she thought were a little too dark. I wasn’t taking any chances, that complaint she would not be able to level on this go around. There were about 35 people at the house, mostly the birthday lady’s grown children with their young children and some neighbours. I readied the equipment and kind of observed the folks at the same time. Watching groups of associated people has always interested me.

Anyway I am now ready to shoot, I shoot all the grandkids together in one big group first, different poses and lots of kidding around. Then I shoot Tonya’s Mom and sister, Tonya’s aunt. Take a few formal portraits of the mom, then I am shooting and shooting different groups that present themselves in fron of the lighting setup. I don’t know the details of the different family units so I am just shooting whoever wants pics and portraits. Usually couples and kids, moms and kids, dads and sons, etc. No problem I shoot as needed, they pay for the ones they want to keep when they see the product.

During the shooting session Tonya comes up with two boys (teen & pre teen), I shoot them. A little later Tonya comes up with another young (HOT!!) lady, I shoot them. I casually ask: “Sisters?” , no just a girl friend Tonya says. A little later Tonya, “girlfriend”, and the two boys come to pose for a couple shots. I take them, think nothing of it, just shoot away.

Now Monday night I am home going thru and editing and generally cleaning up the shots on photoshop. I start to notice Tonya’s two boys look just like her girlfriend. Tonya , girlfriend, and boys are posing like a close family unit. Tonya (a nice looking black girl in her early 30’s) dresses rather masculine, hair obviously a male cut (sort of a straightened Fonz look). I also notice Tonya’s girlfriend has breast implants, WOW they look good! But that is another story, couldn’t keep my eyes off of her that Sunday.
I also notice that in all the huge group pictures of 30+ people Tonya’s girlfriend is always right up against her. I also notice they left together with the boys in tow. I would not have noticed them leaving but there was this nice black H3 Humvee parked there and I wanted to see which one of the siblings owned it. Guys are just like that, all attention is on the nice gyal dem and sweet vehicles. They left in the H3 and I didn’t really think anything it at the time. But now I am looking back at all the photos and thinking “What the??”. Not that there is anything wrong with it (well really there is), but its just that I have never come across a”family” like that before. You see two guys or two women every now and then, but a seemingly happy family? What do the two boys think? How do they explain mom and “dad” to their peers? How will they be when they grow up? A wha de r*ss really a gwan in dis yah world now??

The Rebelution has Begun

2006-09-06T22:42:00.000-04:00

Drop what you are doing (after reading my blog) and go and get the new Tanya Stephens CD “Rebelution” . If you know little or nothing of Reggae this is a good place to start. If you are into Reggae this CD is an ESSENTIAL addition to your collection. No it didn’t open in the Billboard top ten like Junior Gong, Sean Paul or Shaggy, but it is just as good and in some cases better than them. In fact to be honest Sean Paul ‘s latest production is GARBAGE compared to this Tanya Stephens release (and the last one, come to think of it). She actually topped 2004’s “Gangsta Blues” which many say was the best DJ album ever out of Jamaica. Lady Saw time to hang it up.

The release is actually a double disc, the second being a 45 minute DVD of interviews, music videos and a long acoustic (unplugged) set. The actual audio CD is 20 tracks strong with at least 15 of them being very strong, the type you will want to listen to again 20 years from now. Put together by Tanya and just two other obscure producers this easily is up there with Buju’s “Til Siloh” and Damien Marley’s “Jamrock” as the best DJ albums ever to come out of Jamaica. But I kind of said that already, so you now go and get the CD, don’t burn it, get it from a legit established music outlet so the sale can be counted for charting and radio rotation potential. I hope VP doesn't put this one on the back burner like they did in 2004, betting on Lady Saw's flop of a CD and Elephant Man's ranting. They really need to put some cash behind Tanya's marketing this time.
I have absolutely nothing to do with the Tanya Stephens camp or VP Records, but a solid album out of JA is rare these days so I have to gwarn and big it up all I can.

Back From Ja.

2006-08-07T22:47:00.000-04:00

Back from Yard. Sorry I missed the Bloggers lyme, I wish I had been visiting Bloggersville in the days leading up to my departure from ATL then I would have somehow known of it and squeezed it in. Next time Dr D!
The visit was basically for a neighourhood reunion of sorts, it happens every five years, but since we are all aging quite fast now we are going to cut it to three. We also try to squeeze in a Miami Carnival type of reunion also when we can. Also had to experience my 10 year jinx with the wifey…..but we will save that for another time. The one week itinerary was very tight, lyme after lyme with nuff parties in between. Got to see many old friends, most that live in foreign (the JA ones I see all the time) and only appear during reunion time. Some very successful, others just getting by. Took about 300 shots but unfortunately for the small handful of folks that will ever read this, they were practically all of old friends from the reunion.
My poor 8 yr old daughter, her first impression of Kingston had to be Spanish Town Road! We had to jump all kind of hoops to get a car rental. After the bandoolo yute that was supposed to meet me at Norman Manley was a total no-show I was forced to deal with my wife’s ex-boyfriend (lets call him Mr, Chin) and his own version of bandoolo renting. Chin dragged us out to Spanish Town road from the airport in hot persuit of this vehicle (whose owner was abroad for a few weeks) that could be discreetly “borrowed” by Chin for our one week visit. My poor daughter got to see police & soldier with long gun kicking a desolate yute, threatening anyone that dared to come to his aid, and two separate car accidents as they happened, not to mention the general chaotic atmosphere that is everyday at Three Miles, nothing compared to the serene Atlanta suburbs she has known for the past eight years of her life. I had to keep reminding her that “we soon go uptown, its not all like this doan fret yourself!”.
Got to check out Jamaica’s new highways, they still have a long way to go before they can be compared to even T&T or Puerto Rico, but dem sweet for yard still. They should have done like Port Of Spain and ran some expressways thru the city to ease the massive traffic congestion. We could do with some over-passes above Liguanea, Half-Way-Tree and Crossroads. Even Manor Park. And what about a bridge over the harbour to the airport?? That should be a straight elevated highway from HWT, thru Crossroads straight out to Palisadoes. That Portmore bridge should be an elevated highway going straight out to 3 Miles (with an arm connecting the Mandela highway), HWT (with an arm up to Liguanea ), New Kingston, Crossroads and Downtown, then hooking up with the bridge out to Norman Manley! Those are way more urgent than what they have currently built and would have probably cost about the same money.
Am I the only one dreaming about bringing Kingston out of the pot-hole & crime infested rut it is currently stuck in??

Going to JA & Puerto Rico

2006-07-25T22:51:00.000-04:00

Well its down to Kingston tomorrow for me and the fam. I was there last year, but this the first time I will actually be visiting WITH the wife in tow. Yikes!
Tried in vain to get a free car to drive and had to settle with a bandoolo rental. Don't know how I am going to spot the bredda at the airport though because we have never seen each other and him seh him nah whole up any sign. I will probably have to beg a call when I reach down and try to link up that way. I have my bredrin coming to meet me too just in case that falls thru. I hate being stranded at that airport! Worse with wife and pickney in tow.
Hope to get in some decent photography as this will be the first trip with the DSLR. I know I will get lots of shots with old friends as we are going to a neighbourhood reunion ting, but I want some of what I call "Real Jamaica" also. Come to think of it I have been so preoccupied with photographing people for money up here that I have hardly done any artistic shots. Just a few when I first got the camera in December. Took some in Puerto Rico and Antigua that turned out pretty decent though.

Speakin of PR, do you know that they are actually still debating what status they want for the near future?? Dem mad or what?? Dem nuh know how fi enjoy freeness?? They are still debating, statehood, independence, or the status quo (colony). If they went for statehood they would have to pay taxes and earn their own way. Right know they have less than 50 % of the earning capacity of the poorest state in the union, Mississippi, so that would be disasterous. they would also get to vote in preseidential elections, but that would really amount to just one electorial vote for the island out of over 200 in total.
Independence; they need to spend a month in Ja and then rethink that.
Status quo; okay so you can't vote and you have no real identity, BUT you have free room and board, excellent freeways and highways, a metro subway system, 1st class airport, all the consumer goods you could ever desire, etc, etc. (and even your own flag). In this 2006, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, it is not nice outa street on your own.

Gi We A Break Nuh!!

2006-07-06T23:58:00.000-04:00

Its the night of July 4th, I am taking my one pickney, my 8 yr old daughter out to see some fireworks, that great U.S. independence tradition. We normally go and see the Stone Mountain Park display every year as the park is 2 minutes from my house and their fireworks (at least for the 4th) are really fantastic.
Now we don't actually drive into the park (its a couple thousand acres, huge), we go to a Target (department store) parking lot which is just next door to the park and pretty close to where they set off the fireworks, as there is usually a traffic jam to just get into the park on any holiday from early a morning. Now you have to understand this Target parking lot thing has become quite the tradition for most of us folk that live close to the park. Therefore the lot is packed to the gills with cars, people, loud music, lawn chairs, blankets, kids, dogs, etc.
Now naturally once the lot got full people start to park on the side of the road, not on the road (a busy 4 lane road) but all for wheels off the road and on the grass and sidewalk. Imagine as soon as the fireworks start de dyam cops dem come with dem power hungry self a threaten to tow all cars parked on the side of the road! Nobody is blocking traffic! My car and at least 30 others all parked OFF the road, not troubling nobody. Yes we were straddling the sidewalk, but that is no big deal, the sidewalk is just for style as nobody ever walks anywhere in Atlanta, worse the suburbs like Stone Mountain. Nobody ever uses that sidewalk or even missed it for one nano-second! Yet de dyam cop dem come with loudspeaker, interupting the good fireworks just to remind us that they are still in charge. Now don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the men in blue (they are saints compared to those in JA!), but a man fi know when to stop or when we have reached "too much" - cop or not.
I never did and had no intention of moving my car. Afta mi a nu idiat. No tow truck in sight, just two fool a drive up and down shouting on their loud speakers. Most of the crowd were immigrants just like myself trying to appreciate a little American culture. Who knows, maybe that would have even brought me one step closer to deciding to become a citizen had they not tried to spoil it for us. The sad thing is that it totally distracted my daughter who constantly asked me if I was absolutely sure that they weren't going to get my car. We have just a handful of things that we traditionally do alone together with no wifey around, and I kind of look forward to just me and her hanging out together to have a good father and daughter time. After all when I am old and in the rocking chair those are the times I will look back on and smile about.
Well I guess that is one less smile for me and one more reason why my daughter had better not ever date or marry a cop.

European Cup Now!

2006-07-05T23:01:00.000-04:00

Yes I know European Cup is really a club ting, but we may as well call the World Cup that now. I know like me, half the world was well dissapointed when Brazil got kicked out. Don't even talk bout Argentina! Maybe Quarter finals should be a best of three ting so no foolishness decides the games. What uno think?
Well it look like France going win this ting now, dem must can handle Italy, and it would be good to see some black youts take centre stage for a change.
I tried to order the official FIFA T&T world cup shirt,.... dem run out!!

Sweden down! England Next!!

2006-06-10T18:55:00.000-04:00

Congrats Soca Warriors!! You make us West Indians proud!! You have shown that you are indeed a force to be reckoned with! Yorke and Hislop must get two BIWI plane name after dem now!

Desmond Dekker, R.I.P.

2006-05-30T23:55:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite vocalists from the late sixties Desmond Dekker passed away last weekend at age 65 from a heart attack. A Rocksteady pioneer, he was one of the earlier exporters of the Jamaican sound. He will surely be missed.Here he is singing his huge British hit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_613xl11w

Jamaican Ambush

2006-05-29T22:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks, could not resist this one! I know some of you have read it already, but here goes.........

Two Jamaican badmen are walking through the country side. They haven't eaten for days and are starving. They see a tree in the distance. As they get nearer, they notice it's draped with rashers of bacon, smoked bacon, crispy bacon, boiled bacon, grilled bacon, all sorts of bacon.'Look deh!', says the first badman, 'a bacon tree! And we ah dead fe ungry! So he runs up to the tree. As he gets close, he's gunned down in a hail of bullets. His friend shouts, 'What appen? What appen?' The first badman replies, 'No come yah man! A no bacon tree, is a hambush! hambush!!'

Not An Easy Road -Pt 2.

2006-05-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

Been to their home twice since shooting the "wedding". First time to deliver the pics and collect the balance of my money. No problem there, she loved the pics even though the groom's sour attitude was obvious in 80% of them. She had my cash put aside in an envelope for me. Cash is always good. Second time to arrange to shoot her 13 year old daughter who is trying to get into modelling. Good looking girl, very eager to start shooting.
Both times Mr. Groom was nowhere to be seen. First time he was out "working" second time he was just out. In fact I did pass there a third time to give he a CD with all her digital images, but ended up just leaving it in the mailbox. His car was again not in the driveway and this was at 10pm on a Tuesday night. I have asked no questions as it is really none of my business. But on one hand I am hoping they end up living happily ever after, but on the other hand I keep on thinking she can do so much better than that idiat yout.

Is Not An Easy Road!

2006-05-03T23:58:00.000-04:00

Okay massive, I am back.
I have been so busy on the "9-5" and trying to get my newly resurrected photography hustlin’s up and running as it should.
Been doing a few weddings here and there and some portrait work also. Whoring out my prized artistic skills, but what the hell, I need the cash.
Did a Wedding last weekend out in Augusta, Ga. In my 15 years (off and on) of shooting Wedding Photography this was a FIRST for me…. The groom stormed away from the wedding twice during the evening. TWICE!!! I mean got in his car and left!! Drove away!
First time was after the ceremony, before the reception, when I usually start setting up and shooting the formal poses. After two shots this guy suddenly says "I’m tired, lets stop this and continue later". I say okay, fine, I understand, big stressful day, maybe a foot injury that needs some relief, probably up from well early, probably partying all night, whatever.. Fine I’ll shoot some poses that don’t involve him, give him ten minutes off his feet to catch himself. Dude marches to his car, mumbling about how poorly organized the event was and drives off!! Now you have to understand via contract I am required to produce a minimum amount of photographs or I don’t get the rest of my money. This guy’s antics were seriously cutting into my quota!
Half an hour later he shows up again. By this time everyone was in the reception hall chatting (probably about him) and generally waiting for the wedding continue as one would normally expect, you know dancing, food, cake cutting, speeches, garter, etc. Problem: the caterer never shows up. No food. Apparently he was never paid what he asked for. Groom starts acting up again, mumbles about his new wife’s lack of organizational skills and is GONE AGAIN!! They order some party platters (toothpick food) from a nearby Super Market. Not bad, better than nothing at all. At least there was enough finger food for everybody.
Now I am starting to wonder!?! Is this guy in some dark corner feeding a bad crack habit? Is this woman so desperate as to really see a future with this immature fool? Why is the bestman (his brother) continuing to make excuses for his behavior? Why was he 50 minutes late for the rehearsal without explanation? The bride should have stormed out then!! She kept apologizing to me throughout the wedding day, does she think it is going to get any better in years to come?
Maybe she can set him straight. You know marriage is another one of God’s great inventions; Soon all the emotional infatuation, love and lust starts subside after about a year of being married, and that curtain is drawn back, and couples start to see who they REALLY got married to. Our faults that we so carefully hid and buried start to rise to the surface again, and your new spouse, usually in the form of arguments, confronts you with them. These faults are usually traits and habits you can and should live without. A smart couple, or I should say a determined couple, will try to change for the better acknowledging faults with each party working to improve themselves. In time your soulmate molds you into a better, more whole (and more compatible) person. You eventually become a BETTER person period as your marriage progresses, IF you let it progress and admit and are willing to change your ways. Yes marriage is a good thing if one is strong enough to endure and MAKE IT WORK.
There is hope for that poor idiot, but he will have to be willing to change. In the meantime I just want to get paid for the great pictures I had to squeeze out of that shaky event.

Another Weekend Joke...

2006-04-14T00:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, I obviously don't have the time to sit and write blogs these days so a lickle joke now and then will have to do for now...............

A mother is in the kitchen making dinner for her family when her daughter walks in."Mommy, where do babies come from?"The mother thinks for a few seconds and says, "Well dear, Mommy andDaddy fall in love and get married. One night they go into their bedroom,they kiss and hug and have sex."The daughter looks puzzled so the mother continues, "That means the daddy puts his penis in the mommy's vagina. That's how you get a baby,honey."The child seems to comprehend."Oh, I see, but the other night when I came into your room you had daddy's penis in your mouth. What do you get when you do that?"
"Jewelry, my dear. Jewelry."

Your Weekend Joke.....

2006-04-01T01:38:00.000-05:00

A tour bus driver is driving with a bus load of seniors down a highway when he is tapped on his shoulder by a little old lady. She offers him a handful of peanuts, which he gratefully munches up. After about 15 minutes, she taps him on his shoulder again and she hands him another handful of peanuts. She repeats this gesture about five more times. When she is about to hand him another batch again he asks the little old lady,"Why don't you eat the peanuts yourself?" "We can't chew them because we've no teeth", she replied. The puzzled driver asks, "Why do you buy them then?" The old lady replied, "We just love the chocolate around them."
It pays to be careful around old people.

Get Real Nuh!!

2006-03-30T21:48:00.000-05:00

They are here, get real.. Maybe they should not be, but they are and we have come to depend on them so we need to face reality and make the best of a not so bad situation.. 12+ million illegals of which 78% are Mexican. In my opinion the 12 million are not the problem, it’s the countries that they are coming from. America will always look more attractive to the disadvantaged poor in the countries that surround her. Their well-off don’t really care for "us", we are just a huge shopping mall to them, but their poor do not want to die poor so they will always come. You can build all the walls and install all the fancy surveillance equipment you want, they will find a way to come and keep coming.
Pull their cheap labour out of our economic equation and the consequences are gravely obvious; food will go way up, housing will go way up, the cost of maintaining and building roads will go way up, restaurant food will go way up, clothing will go way up, etc, etc. The remittances they send home ARE NOT a drain on our economy, in most cases we are their main importers therefore those same remittances are the cash used to by U.S. goods exported to the said countries. What about the OTM’s (Other Than Mexicans) living in places like New York and DC that have been in the U.S. for 20-30 years and just never bothered to get legalized because it was quite easy to just live and survive quite well in their own "Chinatowns"? Hundreds of thousands of such people exist in this country, do we put them out too?
No its not the Blacks fault. They are not sitting around on welfare refusing to do hard work. The vast majority of people on welfare in this country are white Americans period.
Who says when we should suddenly shut off the migration pipeline anyway? This country overwhelmingly consists of migrants and their descendants, whether they came of their own free will or not. Who decides when that stops and why??
For once I agree with GW; give the 12+ million amnesty, and then give others that still come illegally temporary work visas that last for a few years. Keep track of the latter and tax their income or remittances. Anyway the 12+ million don’t have to worry, this is an election year and neither party is going to risk loosing the second largest voting block in this country. So whatever the Immigration Bill outcome, we all know it will be a rather mild slap on the wrist.
Just my 2 cents!

My Dilemma, Part 2

2006-03-26T23:55:00.000-05:00

Well I was to start shooting the Escorts (ho’s) a few weeks ago, (Yu hafi read "My Dilemma" fi know ‘ow dis come to be), but it is not quite working out.
The first chick is a really nice looking Filipino lady that does nursing. She want to switch over to the Escort thing to triple her income, but not let go of the legit nursing for now. She is a single mother and some times has to pull the night shift at the hospital. All that creates a problem; she can’t commit enough time to get the escort "job" off and running. She can’t even find a couple of hours to come and get her pictures done.
The second chick is a nice tall leggy blonde that just got a boob job. Seems like in the industry getting those "done" is quite common place. She says her doctor said she would be up and around in a week so she had big plans to have Mr. Pimp (sorry, her manager, and my customer) drive her over for the shoot. Her Doctor was obviously BS'ing her. Of course the real recovery time for a breast job is at least six weeks. I went to see her about a week ago; swelling, bruising, and drainage tubes everywhere. She won’t be in front of my camera for now, if ever.
Why do I say "if ever"? Well Mr. Pimp has all of a sudden disappeared (jail, hiding? who knows). I haven’t seen or heard from him in two weeks, neither has Miss new boobs. So glad I got a small deposit from him! He can "disappear" all he wants now. They say he does that sometimes. I don’t really care, its dirty money anyway, the less I have of it the better I sleep at night. Problem is I was to shoot these ladies in an empty condo I am supposed to be readying for rent, and its probably soon going to be occupied. Of course I definitely CANNOT bring that crowd to my home!! The girls, yeah maybe, but Mr. Pimp, HELL NO. Just can’t trust his kind. Well if something does not materialize in the next two weeks then this gig is as good as over. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I had no business fooling with those folks anyway. Got a couple Weddings coming up….a good, clean living.

I Don't Get This

2006-03-22T22:54:00.000-05:00

I am one of those people that really scorns shared restrooms. I won’t say public because we should all obviously scorn those! By shared I mean in particular those at work. Whether #1 or #2 I always religiously scrub my hands, I try to touch as little as possible not only before, but after I wash my hands, and I use a paper towel to open the door on the way out. As you probably know that internal door handle is the nastiest thing in there as all who neva wash dem hand grab dat first! I also never flush the urinal or toilet until the stall door is open and I can make a mad dash away from the unit as I push the lever. Why you ask? Well what ever is in the bowl is sprayed at least 20 feet outwards because of the splash created by the flush. And you know those heavy traffic units have a much stronger flush than our units at home!
What really pisses me off though is how many people (is it only the men?) actually head straight for the door without any washing of hands. And I don’t know if is me alone notice this, and I don’t want to insert any type of racial bias, BUT how come 99% of the black man dem wash and about 80% of our Caucasian bredrin don’t. What de r*ss is up with dat?? I actually did a sort of poll or test over a few weeks and asked an office mate to do the same. SAME CONCLUSION! Are they in such a hurry to leave because a black man is in there with them? (joke mi a mek people). Why don’t they wash? Do blacks just want to waste as much time in the restroom as they can possibly justify (joke again). I don’t get it. One race is not any more tidy or healthier than the other. I know urine is supposed to actually be sterile, but still nobody wants to touch another man’s piss, let alone your own! An as for de other ting that is definitely a no-no!! Is it just the men?
All the female Caucasians that I have come into intimate contact with over the years (just a few!) have been quite clean and hygienic. About equally so with the black women. Can some female out there run a bathroom spy poll and tell me if the same applies? Are they rushing out of the restrooms too?
I really cannot figure this one out.

No Surprise Here

2006-03-18T00:34:00.000-05:00

A good weekend laugh. No surprise for us guys, but it well funny still....

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband.
Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE !
There are six floors and the attributes of the men
increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There
is, however, a catch .
. .. you may choose any man from
a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a
floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit
the building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to
find a husband . .
On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.
The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and
love kids.
The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love
kids, and are extremely good looking..
"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep
going.
She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love
kids, are drop- dead good looking and help with the
housework.
"Oh, mercy me!"she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love
kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the
housework, and have a strong romantic streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth
floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor.
There are no men on this floor. This floor exists
solely as proof that women are impossible to please.
Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.
Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Hillary, Condi & Yanksville

2006-03-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

Looks like it fast becoming Woman’s Time fi true! Portia is about to become Prime Minister of Ja, a woman (well at least a girl) might inherit Japan’s monarchy, and Hillary will probably head up the Democratic ticket for 2008.
The Clinton camp has now gone from denial, to saying nothing, on to subtle hints such as the one dropped at Corretta King’s funeral. Sounds like she’s gonna run to me! Question is, can she win? Personally I doubt it. There is however one scenario that COULD ACTUALLY give Hillary a strong chance at winning and that concerns Condi. Senator John "Wayne" McCain of Arizona will obviously emerge as the front runner for the Republican Party, if he picks Dr. Condoleezza Rice as his running mate (VP) then Hillary will stand a good chance of snagging the White House. How come you ask ? DI is full of BS you say?
Well I probably am since Condi has said time and time again that she would never run for elected office. She is now in the habit of stating that as soon as this Bush term is over she is in fact going back to Stanford University to continue as a professor of political science. Sure hope not, 2008 will then be a really dull affair.
But think about the scenario mentioned above; Hillary is running as the Democratic Candidate with say a John Edwards as deputy, and McCain is on the Republican ticket with Condi as deputy. How would that play out in 2K USA?? Think about it. First of all Hillary’s presence alone would really polarize things, either people love her or really hate her. McCain is the republican tough guy, and in these times of terrorist dis and terrorist dat Americans are really looking for that tough guy image to "protect" them. And of course behind John Wayne McCain would stand smart and diplomatic Condi. BUT WAIT A MINUTE!! Condi is still black isn’t she?? How many Americans will actually have the nerve to put a black person so close to the White House, yes one heart beat away from becoming President of the USA. A BLACK WOMAN! I don’t think so. Yes she will get ALL the outward support and praises; little girl from rural Alabama rises straight to the top! Intelligent, smart, healthy (she works out at 4am every morning), says all the right things at the right time to the right people. Perfect candidate if she were a white male,…..but she is not, …she is a negro woman. That is what it will boil down to. Once in the privacy of that voting booth white America will be white America. That 80% of the nation will stop and say "Hold on, what on earth did I almost do?" They will either not vote for President and just do the local races or hold their noses and vote Hillary. Nobody will know about their change of heart. No fingers pointing "Racist!".
And it won’t be about racism either, it will simply be a lack of trust.
Lets say there are two families in a town called Yanksville. The Jones’s and the Smiths, along with all their offspring and descendants. The Smiths are the majority, they are simply just more of them. They always get to be town mayor because Smiths generally vote for Smiths. Some Jones folks vote Smith too and vica versa, but there are simply more Smiths so they always run tings. The Jones’s don’t really mind though, just so long as whoever is running tings is fair and does a decent job. They can live with the Smiths always being in charge because they do still get a say here and there and life is generally good overall. BUT looong time ago when the town of Yanksville was just being founded the ancestors of the Smiths really screwed over the ancestors of the Joneses. They stole stuff and raped some of the hottest Jones women of the day. But like I said that was a really looong time ago, and both the criminals and victims are now dead, buried and looong gone. Problem is the issue involving this screwing over of the Joneses was never really resolved. The older folks tried not to ever talk about it and glossed over the facts whenever the younger kids inquired as to how and why it happened. Today in Yanksville everyone still stays clear of that ancient incident. You are just not supposed to bring it up. The Joneses for the most part get along just dandy with the Smiths, they hang out together, their kids are in class together, they BBQ together, they fish together, they cry together, they laugh together, hell… they even have sex together. But nobody mentions that long unresolved stealing and raping incident looong time ago. Now and then when a Jones and a Smith get in a real heated argument the incident is briefly and cautiously resurrected, but only in the heat of that moment then you are expected to drop it.
One year when a new mayor was being elected a Jones somehow managed to muster up enough Smith support to possibly actually get a real chance at being elected Mayor of Yanksville. The Smiths really didn’t mind. The Jones folks were overall good people and really cared for and loved their town of Yanksville. " A Jones for mayor ? Why not" they thought. " Why should any of us Smiths really have a problem with that? The Joneses helped build this great town of ours!". But once in the privacy of that voting booth another thought took over, "Suppose they use this new found power to try and right that screwing over they got from my great, great, great grand pappy hundreds of years ago?? I personally had nothing to do with that! Suppose they take our tax money and try and somehow repay themselves for what their ancestors lost?? I don’t think so buddy, I can’t risk that!".
The Jones guy lost that election, but the folks of Yanksville still managed to live happily, but cautiously, ever after.

Taping a Video stream

2006-03-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

I caught the last 45 minutes of the MARLEYFEST as I had a function to attend earlier. From what I saw it was pretty good. It was actually from somewhere in downtown Miami. Wish I could have somehow taped the video stream. Taping an audio stream for me is quite simple, that is right up my alley. Anyone have any suggestions or know of software that would allow one to capture streaming video for later replay seperate from the computer? I am more of an end user than a techie when it comes on to PC stuff.

MARLEY FEST TONITE!

2006-02-25T11:54:00.000-05:00

Don’t miss MSN’s MarleyFest tonite live via webcast on MSN 7pm EST. Performers include Damian Marley, Maxi Priest, Toots & The Maytals. Check http://www.bobmarleymovement.com for more info if you can get thru to it. Apparently they have been overwhelmed with hits and are experiencing bandwidth problems. You can also check MSN’s home page. If reggae is so popular in North America how come it nuh bus’ out already?? Hmmm.

Another Scottish Joke

2006-02-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

In Scotland, the most important time for a young lad is when he "comes of age" and is allowed to purchase and wear his first kilt. A couple of weeks before, his important birthday, a young lad went to a tailor shop and found the material he wanted for his first kilt. He took the material to the tailor and said, "I'd like ye to make me a kilt with this material here and, if ye don't mind, I'd like ye to make me a pair of matching underwear for it. I hear it gets a might drafty up dem tings!" So the tailor took the material and promised to call the young lad when the order was completed. A few days later, the tailor called the lad back to the shop. "Here's ye kilt, and here's ye matching underwear, and here's five yards of the material left over. Ye might want to take it home and keep it in case you want anything else made of it." So the lad rushed home with his order, threw the material in his room, and donned his kilt. In his excitement, he decided to run to his girlfriend's house to show off his new purchase. Unfortunately, in his excitement, he forgot to don his underwear. When his girlfriend answered the door, he pointed to his kilt and said, "well, what'd ye think?" "Ah, but dat's a fine looking kilt," she exclaimed. "Aye, and if ye like it, ye'll really like what's underneath," he stated as he lifted his kilt to show here. ;Oh, but dat's a dandy," his girlfriend shouted admiringly. Still not realizing that he didn't have his underwear on he exclaimed quite proudly, "aye, and if ye like it, I've got five more yards of it at home!"

Wifey Coming!!

2006-02-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

No, not to the photo shoots......read on.....

Sooo good to have Monday off of work. Today is Presidents Day, and for those like yours truly that depend heavily on Federal services to get my daily job done its NO WORK today! I know this attitude is kind of childish, but I am truly sick of my Corporate America "9-5" grind.
Guess what!? DE wifey is coming to work at the same job as me! Same company, same complex, different building – five minutes walk. I don’t know how to deal with this. Not that I was up to any "wrong doings" at work (thank God!), but I just feel that my worlds are about to collide. There is the work world and the home world and they are always to be kept totally separate. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad she found a job, and I did get the resume to the "right" people in order for her to be seriously considered. But this is kinda too close for comfort. Her present employers are actually moving their offices to Arizona so her last day with them was April 30th, and she was promised a bonus if she stuck around until then.. But you know what they say, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". The bonus just wasn’t worth turning down solid offers.
She does have a knack of finding jobs quite quickly and easily though. I tell you dat CAST graduate has really gotten far in dis country! When she first came to Atlanta she picked up a permanent 9-5 in three days! Took me five months! Takes most foreigners at least 3 to 6 months. This time around she got three job offers in two weeks! Not that she is not talented and knows her stuff, but I think it’s the pretty face that is opening the doors. She is still quite a beautiful woman, by American standards, though put her back in JA and she will still be above average, but nuff tings will be around just like her.

My Dilemma

2006-02-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks all of my spare time has been spent trying to get my brand-new, second time around,, photo business up and running again. Since the last time I was in the business was about ten years ago I have had to play catch up with technology, especially where the pro-digital stuff is concerned. I am spending nuff, nuff money (at least to me anyway) on new, or almost new, studio lighting , props, etc. The plan, or part of the plan, is to back up the wedding income with a lot of in-house portrait work.
Anyway to the dilemma. I have been really pushing my services, any opportunity I get, as these funds being spent have to be quickly replenished (before wifey gets wind of what is going on!). I have been offering a few free family and individual portraits here and there so as to modernize my portfolio, but de freeness ting cannot become habit. I have therefore been financially pressured to accept quite a lucrative paying job; shooting promo portraits for local escorts….okay, okay, Ho’s ! Escorts sounds a lot more decent, and that is what they prefer to be called anyway. According to their manager (aka pimp) they will need at least a few provocative (that means semi-nude) shots each, and at last count it was about 18 of them (females of course). As I firmly told him "DON’T bring no gay or shemale crap around me! Mi nuh deal wit dat!"
What is the dilemma you ask? Well I don’t want to do anything to encourage young girls to sell themselves for a living. I don’t want to condone prostitution, but I really do need the quick cash. But if I don’t do it some other photographer will, so my hesitation nah stop nuttin. I have NO problem shooting semi-nude material, I did tons of that back in the 90’s, but it was very artsy and tasteful. But knowing what this material is going to be used for doesn’t sit too well with me. But then again, why don’t I make use of the opportunity and council (in a non-obvious type of way) the girls in getting a plan together to turn around their lives for the better. For most of them, they will probably never have the chance to hear what I have to say again. Most of the sessions will just be me and them, one on one, so they will have no choice but to hear me out . It would probably make a difference to some of them , and even one changed would be worth all the effort.
Am I just making excuses so I can go ahead and grab the fast cash? What do you think? Do I turn down the sessions, or do I shoot and try to talk some hope into these young ladies, getting them focused on tomorrow and not just the Ho $$ here and now?

I'm Back!!

2006-02-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

I'm back. Well I've actually been back for over a week now, but anyway promise to get back to blogging this weekend. Meantime enjoy this one...........

THE DENTIST & THE SCOTSMAN
A Scotsman asks the dentist the cost for a tooth extraction.
"$85 for an extraction sir," was the dentist's reply.
"$85!!! Huv ye no' got anythin' cheaper?"
"That's the normal charge," said the dentist.
"Whit aboot if ye didnae use any anesthetic?"
"That's unusual, sir, but I could do it and knock $15 off."
"Whit aboot if ye used one of your dentist trainees and still without an anesthetic?"
"I can't guarantee their professionalism and it'll be painful. But the price could drop to $40."
"How aboot if ye make it a trainin' session, ave yer student dothe extraction with the other students watchin' and learnin?"
"It'll be good for the students," mulled the dentist. "I'll charge you $5. But it will be traumatic."
"Och now yer talkin' laddie! It's a deal," said the Scotsman.
"Can ye confirm an appointment for the wife next Tuesday then?"

Soon Come!

2006-01-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

Going way, way down south (San Juan & St Johns) for about a week to tie up some lose ends. I know that I will have little web access if any so don't think I have given up blogging when you don't hear from me, just taking a longer break than usual.
So folks next week still, God willing.

Wet Foot – Dry Foot??

2006-01-11T23:36:00.000-05:00

I will admit I have always had a strange sort of fascination with Cuba and all that is Cuban. Since Joshua’s experimenting with Democratic Socialism in the 70’s (I was a yout then!) I have become quite aware of our large "Scary" neighbour to the North (well south now). When I was old enough, or rather able to earn the cash, I of course had to go and check it out for myself a couple of times. Beautiful yet strange country. That whole Gitmo thing too, weird! Forget the politics involved in current development, the place and people nuh normal! But de gyal dem KRIS!!
Anyway I am sure most of you recently heard about the 15 would-be Cuban immigrants that got sent back to Havana after ending their 90 mile "cruise" on a piece of the old Florida Keys causeway bridge (that runs parallel to the newer one), and not actually on U.S soil. Apparently the section that they climbed on to does not connect with actual dry land any longer, therefore a US judge ruled that they had not actually reached and set foot on US territory and had to be sent back. He invoked the current policy for Cuban refugees that stated simply says, once you are caught at sea you are promptly returned to Cuba, but if you touch US soil you can stay. The Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy; a way to appease Miami’s Cuban voters, yet control any potential flood of Cuban boat people. A soft hand with a firm line drawn in the sand. Boy! Last week that line did get kind of murky!
I really sat and pondered the situation as most issues regarding immigration always quickly get my attention. Were any of the local police and/or Coast Guard personnel that discovered them Cuban-American (or even descendants)? They must have been!! Who isn’t in South Florida? Couldn’t they have given their people a bligh (break)? Could they have just said, "Okay guys just for the record, if anybody asks, we actually found you guys on the REAL causeway bridge and not the old broken down one okay? Only just in case it ever comes up". But no they had to dig for that one little loophole; the Cubans could not actually become dry feet unless they went back in the water, just for a few yards, in order to actually walk on US soil. Do they not want any new Cubans to land in Florida? Does the judge not want anymore green Cubans either? He could have easily ruled in their favour and nobody would have questioned his judgement. The bridge, but for a few yards, no longer connected to actual US soil, WOW! Mi woulda vex! Woman and children! That had to be heart-breaking for the children. I don’t care about the adults, but when it comes to kids, cut dem a break nuh?? Well at least the kids will get a much better education in Cuba, they can add to the island’s 71,000 doctors, but no PSP2, Xbox, iPods, etc. They will have to learn Fidel’s speeches by heart too, but that’s a small sacrifice to pay.
Of course this incident also brought to light the fact that the US Coast Guard turned back over 150 "wet feet" to Cuba in December alone, tings a gwarn and we don’t even know!

This will END THE STORY FOREVER.

2006-01-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table.
He looks into his small bowl. It is empty.
"Who's been eating my porridge?!!" he squeaks.
Papa Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair.
He looks into his bowl, and it is also empty.
"A who eat mi porridge?!!", he roars.
Momma Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells at the top of her voice,
"Ah me get up first and wake everybody else ina de house. A me mek de coffee, ah me unload de dishwasher from las night and put weh everyting."
"Ah me go hout ina de cold morning hair and fetch de newspaper.Ah me set de table.An ah me put out de pus,clean de litter tray and fill de water and food dish."
"An now unuh decide fe drag unuh sorry bear-hasses downstairs and grace mi kitchen wid unuh grumpy self!
Let me tell you dis once an for all."
"NUH RAAS PORRIDGE NO MEK YET!!"

Mi Still De Bout!

2006-01-03T22:33:00.000-05:00

Massive mi still de bout. Tings just continue to be well hectic. I was going to get to blogging last nite but spent 3 hours trying to set up my wife's iPod. 3 hours!! Dat dyam piece of crap!! (I mean the iPod of course). After 3 hours I discover one simple lickle foolishness a stop it from work! Work is also crazy & making me grey before my time.
Later in de week still....Peace.

Is It Wrong?

2005-12-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

Is it wrong for me to continue convincing my 8 year old daughter that Santa really exists? Some kids in school have been trying to convince her otherwise, and of course she came to me seeking the truth. I of course told her that the ones in the malls are definetly fake BUT the real Santa truly exists and only very few people have actually seen him. From what I can tell she seems to still believe, or is she just fooling me so that she can get extra gifts??
For me, I suppose I just want to "delay" her growing up as long as possible. They are so fun and loving at this age, but I know that in about four years time she is not going to want to see or hear from me unless she needs money. I don't even want to start thinking about the boys ting ! I guess, to an extent we try and re-live our childhood thru them, letting them enjoy what we remember enjoying, letting them have more of what was lacking in our childhoods, and trying to make sure they succeed in areas where we failed. Her quality of life is definetly a lot better than mine was at her age. A pastor friend of mine said he quickly told his kids that Santa did not exist because he didn't want them to one day think that he might be fooling them on the Jesus/God thing too. I am pretty sure my daughter is firmly grounded spiritually so I shoudn't have to worry about that.
Yep, I think Santa will stick around for at least Xmas 2006 or longer, if she wants him to.

De DAWG!

2005-12-24T21:34:00.000-05:00

De Dawg! a.k.a.; Chewy

Him cyan NYAM a food yu see! I should go easy on him still, he is the only "person" in the house that has any real respect for me.

If you take a look at his right front leg you can see where the hair hasn't quite grown back from the shaving he got a few months ago when it was infected. The $183 infection (see the DAWG post from September 2005).

Jus' A Quick Lickle Ting

2005-12-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

Really been very busy this week! Not much time to write or even read blogs.
Work is is going full throttle, running around at lunch time looking for gifts (mostly kids stuff), taking care of a massive audio duplication job that has to be done this week, helping my daughter learn her Xmas play lines, running audio for special productions during the week at church, etc.
Two plane crashes in Florida in one week, kinda scary! Oh well some people like to take shortcuts in maintenance, I am sure that will be the root cause for both. I am not discouraged, I still wanna fly.
Got the new camera today so now I have to read up on all of its bells & whistles.
Later still, got audio work crying out to me to get off by lazy ass and start copying! Hey drink and be merry for tomorrow we all die!

"Thanks for the $1.3million, now listen up......"

2005-12-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

At the risk of getting deported (just kidding!) I thought I would let you guys read some exerpts of Harold Pinter's Nobel acceptance speech. Without tainting the waters by giving my opinion of his views, let me ask my fellow bloggers (and anyone else that would care to comment); What do you think of his views on American foreign policy, The Iraq invasion, American political rhetoric, etc?

LONDON, Dec. 7 - The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Wednesday into a furious howl of outrage against American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship" in the last 50 years.
"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," Mr. Pinter said. "You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.".................
Mr. Pinter attacked American foreign policy since World War II, saying that while the crimes of the Soviet Union had been well documented, those of the United States had not. "I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road," he said. "Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self-love."
He returned to the theme of language as an obscurer of reality, saying that American leaders use it to anesthetize the public. "It's a scintillating stratagem," Mr. Pinter said. "Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable."

Strong words,...the truth or just left-wing ramblings?

The Ugly Revisited

2005-12-12T22:47:00.000-05:00

I knew it! Smelt it miles away! The camera site was using cheap prices to try and "bait and switch" potential customers. To cut a long story short I cancelled the digital SLR order. "Best Price Cameras", STAY AWAY FROM DEM!! DYAM TIEF!!
I called Friday for the status of my order, I was put on hold for a insulting amount of time, ended up hanging up.
Called Saturday and was told to look out for an email with an update on the transaction. Fine. Get an email Saturday nite just confirming that I had placed an order.
Called Monday morning pissed nuh r*ss! Demanded to know what was going on only to be told that the camera doesn't come with half the accessories that are supposed to be in the FACTORY-SEALED box, and then comes: "So do ya still wannit?". I ponder, it is still a decent deal, I say "Yes send it and email me the UPS tracking number."
"Hold on one minute sir,..........(3 minutes pass)...................well looks like that one is out of stock, however we have blah blah whatever ....." that is obviously a lot more inferior and WAY overpriced. I tell him to cancel immediately and stop trying to screw people up the a**s, after all it is Christmas.
Anyway, fear not, I intend to order another before the week is out. As an eBay veteran I will probably go and see what kinds of deals they have. I sold heaps of reggae records there so I am very familiar with the ins and outs, tricks and scams that tend to accompany e-auctions. Then again I will probably break down and just pay full price for the thing.
Pics soon come!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2005-12-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

THE GOOD; In my previous blog I had mentioned that had hit somebody (no, another car-not a pedestrian) while driving. It was my fault, well kind of, she could have avoided me but she panicked and literally let go of the steering wheel letting her car veer straight into mine. She was a Jamaican lady with kids in the car. Yes I felt very guilty about the whole incident, especially since I got my car repaired very quickly and they gave her hell to fix hers. Anyway it happened weeks ago so I am over it. Good thing (for now) is the insurance company actually sent me a check! I was at fault and they sent me money. The car cost $1,900 to fix, I ran up a rental bill for a week which they paid for, paid my $500 deductible, and they sent me money back! Hundreds and hundreds of $$ back! They said it was the loss in value of the car since it was hit. Born 2004, she was previously a virgin.
Of course I man quickly cash it before dem change dem mind. If dem want it back now dem hafi tek it lickle lickle! Pickney shut a go fit me though when I see the new premiums next year, if they don’t just drop me all together.
THE BAD: Went to the pharmacy at my HMO today to fill a new prescription for the kid. She has really bad headaches every now and then. When I go up to the counter I think I am just going to pay the standard $15 for all medications bought through them. De woman say $155!!! Mi say "WHA!! Yu musi mad!!". She gave some story about how that drug is not covered by the HMO. $155 for twenty pills! Nat me! Nat in dis yah lifetime! Dem a try cut into mi plane money! Dr D a wha inna dem ? Gold? Anyway the doc is supposed to be looking into a cheaper alternative. Betta!
THE UGLY: Took the plunge and ordered a new digital SLR (camera) today. I used to do a lot of Wedding and Portrait photography back in the 80’s and 90’s both here and in Jamaica, and since I now have a plane to save for (unoo tink mi a joke!) I am going to get back into professional photography again. Besides I need to start putting a lot more photos on this blog. I have a really basic digital and a couple of Olympus professional 35mm SLR’s that I used to use back in the day and they still work quite well. But to be taken seriously I have to enter the market place with a good digital tool. Know anybody getting married in 2006? I can send you my portfolio via CD, fi real.
Anyway The Ugly, ordered the new camera from the web of course, hundreds of $ cheaper. The price displayed online was less the rebate that the customer had to mail in. I kind of new that, but wanted to call to confirm. Called the 800 number, the guy answers, "yea, whats da question?". I am cool, Ireally want the camera, it is a good deal, I can put up with his attitude for the camera. I ask about the rebate, he replies "Of course, what did ya think?". I bite my tongue, tell him okay, thanks I will now order online. I order online, as he described to me the webpage is supposed to add back the $100 rebate to their "false" advertising price (it was still a good deal) while you go thru the whole credit card process. It never did add on the $100. I call him back after ordering online. Ask him how come it never added back the $100 and how much would my card actually be charged for. Him get really feisty, " What is it with you? Somebody will call you okay". I ask when will they call me? " I dunno! In couple of days I guess". One thing I do know if Saturday morning comes and this is not a done deal with a UPS tracking number in my email box, I am doing a chargeback! Cancel de whole transaction! What yu hafi go tru just to save a couple hundred dollars in dis place!

I Believe I Can Fly!

2005-12-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

Okay I know I am late with my Thanksgiving piece but I am going to spit it out anyway. I think I need about 4 more hours to my week day because once corporate America sends me home, I spend an hour in traffic, then half hour walking the dawg, then another hour or two with the kid, and a little time with de wifey , It is practically bedtime and I haven’t even gotten a chance to relax, read some blogs, write a lickle someting, etc.
Anyway I digress. I WANT TO FLY, I believe even with my lickle bit of common sense I can actually learn to fly. It doesn’t seem that complicated. If I can dip and dodge in and out of Atlanta traffic, while talking on my phone, while playing with the cd player, while admiring girls and other cars, than I can be taught how to fly. I did hit somebody a few weeks ago though. You got to understand, coming up in school (and UWI) in JA I was not what you would call the sharpest knife in the drawer. I got by, just barely, but with a lot more effort than most others had to put in.
Anyway back to the Thanksgiving piece; we drove down to Orlando, wifey, kid and dawg on the Wednesday to hang with some in-laws. Thursday we had the usual nuff food, turkey, etc. Friday me and my brother in-law went flying in his single engine turbo prop. We flew out to Cedar Key about 100 miles north of Tampa on the Gulf Of Mexico. I had flown with him last year December, but that was just a little half hour spin around and come back ting. This time it was about an hour to Cedar Key and an hour back. Somehow from last year’s experience the whole process seemed so complicated; all the buttons, instruments, and constantly talking to air traffic control, but this year it all seemed to just come together!
It now seems so logical! Of course he was constantly explaining what he was doing and why. I think I can do it! (Or die trying!).
Anyway, fun & joke aside, Cedar Key was quaint yet beautiful, peaceful yet alive with hundreds of (wealthy looking) tourists. We had some good seafood, bought some stuff for the wives (they are both too scared to fly in the small plane or with the pilot in question, probably both). In about 2 hours we flew back to Orlando like it was no big deal. Next day, Saturday, we flew down to Miami. There are a lot of Jamaican pilots down that way. Got a courtesy car, got some food at a yard shop and then went to hang out at South Beach for an hour or two. By evening we were back in Orlando. What freedom! I have to get one of those things! Let me see…..If I rob 3 banks a week for around four months I should at least be able to get a used one, or a downpayment on a new one. If I only pay the mortgage every other month then I should be able to pay for the lessons. I have been bitten by the bug. I have to fly. Well there is nothing wrong with dreaming, it might happen one day!

Ready to think? Great debate!

2005-11-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

HAD TO SHARE THIS ONE WITH Y'ALL........

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problemscience has with God, The Almighty.He asks one of his new Muslim students to stand.....

Professor: You are a Muslim, aren't you, son?

Student : Yes, sir.

Prof: So you believe in God?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?

Student : Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student : Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't.How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student :Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student : No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from ?

Student : From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?

Student :Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe theworld around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?

Student : No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student : No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student : No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, megaheat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold.We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness,isn't it?In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darknessdarker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality.You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity andmagnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at workand cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain,felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so.So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his faceunfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it Sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

2005-11-23T00:04:00.000-05:00

Getting his $$ worth
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$200 million Georgia Aquarium

2005-11-22T23:20:00.000-05:00

The big deal here in Atlanta now is the opening of the Georgia Aquarium. $200+ million for over 100,000 fish, a bunch of sharks and a few whales. It is supposed to be the largest aquarium in the world, with its largest tank (sorry, "marine habitat") holding over 6 million gallons of water with glass two feet thick. The plastic latex that lines the glass costs $8 million alone! Imagine people a dead fi ‘ungry in a dis ya America and hundreds of homeless in downtown Atlanta, and dis is what dem bring come gi we?!?
The founder of Home Depot, Arthur Blank, came up with the plan and most of the money. Him must really love fish! It was on the Today Show this morning, and even though it is kind of pricey it is apparently sold out for the next few weeks. I can’t even log on to their website now because they are receiving too much traffic.
Don’t get me wrong, I man love watch (and eat) fish too, and from what I hear the place suppose to well kris, with nuff educational dis and dat for the kids. But dat is some serious money!
Anyway for those of us in Uncle Sam country, enjoy the Thanksgiving Holidays, stuff yourself, and stay lazy as Monday will be back sooner than you think!

Jr Gong @ the Vibes Awards

2005-11-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

Anybody catch Damien Marley’s performance on the Vibe Awards earlier tonite on UPN? Fairly decent rendition of his hit "Welcome to Jamrock", his backing band was tight, his vocals were on target. One factor stood starkly out though; This one-drop reggae song did not quite fit in with the vibes of what was basically a Hip-Hop awards show. Yes it was a fairly well known hit in African American (I hate that term!!) circles, and yes half the audience was sort of dancing to the reggae music, but the other half had a look of "What the hell is this?".
I’m sorry they didn’t, or couldn’t, pull on Sean Paul for the show. Hip-Hop and Dancehall are much closer cousins and obviously would have fit in quite well together. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to see Junior Gong get the national exposure, I have nuff respek for him and especially for the real talent behind him, Stephen Marley. Damien needs the exposure a lot more than Sean, but the one-drop just did not fit in, didn’t sit right, round object in a square hole. He had one Bobo Dread behind him constantly prancing and waving an Ites, Green and Gold flag as is now common on the Jamaican stage, and about three dready looking types just standing stationery wrinching up dem screw face, looking as vex as possible. That I know most of the audience just did not get.
Good performance still, just on the wrong stage.

Paint Ball Day

2005-11-11T23:44:00.000-05:00

Had an office "Outing" today. Instead of dutifully reporting to our offices and cubicles we went to Pain, I mean Paint Ball. At first I was very skeptical. I thought this it would be a childish waste of time, and my plan was to humor them for about an hour or so and then find an excuse to try and cut out early.
I was quite wrong, that was the most fun I have had in years (well with those guys anyway). Tense!! But fun!! The Co2 guns shoot the little paint pellets really hard (they actually have a kick), and far too so that once you get out there you are having fun BUT you really don’t want to get shot! And the folks I work with are really very competitive! Not to mention there are a couple ex-marines in the group also. They took the games so seriously!
It was about 15 of us, we split into two teams, and battled each other on large fields (football size) with all sorts of contraptions that one could hide behind. They had refs and all. We "played" at least six or seven games. Once you were shot you would raise your gun in the air and be escorted off by a ref. The team with the last man, (or woman), standing won.
Ever seen "Private Ryan"? Even though it was all in fun it had this Private Ryan kind of feel to it. Sometimes you were pinned down surrounded by two or three of the enemy moving in closer and closer to you, most of the time you just stick you gun out and shoot without even looking because you don’t want to get hit. Did I mention that those balls REALLY hurt? We had to wear protective masks while fighting and always point the gun down with the safety on once out of the game.
Had a good time, had a surprisingly good time! Didn’t get a chance to really get the boss good though as she was always on my team.

Rough Sunday

2005-11-06T20:15:00.000-05:00

Rough day at church today. I run the sound board, and let me put it this way, it ran me today. Problem is during the week the musicians and singers fiddle with the levels on the mixing board when practicing. Come Sunday now I have to be fighting hums, feedback, floor monitor level problems etc. I don’t think many of them realize how hard I actually work every Sunday so they can sound good. Its basically like staging a live concert with over 30 channels to juggle in three hours every week. It leaves you mentally drained ! You see this Christianity thing is all about spreading God’s Word (before him come back an wipe de slate clean as promised), but there are those who do that directly and upfront and there are others like me that work behind the scenes to make sure the upfront ting can run smooth and seamless. Is a wholeap a work (and money) go into putting on de church ting every week, if only you sitting in the congregation knew!
Which brings me to another tangent; This other behind the scenes guy, David Roberts, that mainly works the video and slide set ups, and is up early working hard to make sure everything is right on Sunday morning was finally sitting in the audience listening to the Preacher preach in the second row as all he had to do was done. Poor David start to dose off, him tired. De Pastor/Preacher notice and while preaching suddenly bawl out loud loud ….."and DAVID ROBERTS THERE WILL BE NO SLEEPING IN HERE!! That’s right if you doze off I will scream out your name!". David just wake up and neva feel no way, but him wife did well vex at de preacher! If it was me mi woulda cuss him. Wake me up and embarrass me! Me woulda sey "A whadi R*SS do yu bwoy!! yu tink a school dis!!". He over stepped his boundary. David and I have been in church for many, many years now and there is no sermon that anybody can preach that we haven’t heard already in some other shape or form. We work tirelessly every Sunday to make sure The Gospel get presented without a hitch, I guess after a while people begin to just take you for granted.

A Word Of Advice

2005-11-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

A word of advice to those of you even considering coming to live with Uncle Sam permanently. Get a plan of action and try yu best to keep Corporate America OUTof it. The institution will chew you up until no taste is left and the spit you out once you are no longer needed.
I work with a fairly large financial organization and they just sold off one of their divisions to a company in South Carolina. They let go a whole side of people that had been faithfully with them for 15 to 20+ years. Gave them some monkey money for severance and just put dem outa street like dem a nuh nutting. Good people too, real nice, good, warm southern folks. They work their asses off for years, got so good and knowledgable at what they did that the company refused to change their duties significantly over the years. Just kept them in that rut doing what they do best and nothing else. Pure folly (not the word I really want to use!).
Don’t get me wrong America is irie still BUT use it for what it is; a place where you have the greatest opportunities to start YOUR OWN ting and succeed at it. No one can complain; all the resources are available; the knowledge if you don’t have it, whatever tools etc you will need, the huge middle class customer base, tons of marketing channels, working capital to borrow, and I could go on and on. Unoo listen: don’t get stuck in an office job in this country. Do it only with a solid plan to get out after a few years. Always work at setting up your own lickle hustlings and just keeping building on it. That is the main advantage this USA provides. That is the way to make SERIOUS money in this land, and thts why we are all here right? If I wanted some b*mbo hole to pushing me around day after day I could have stayed in Kingston and got that. You will NEVER make real money working for someone else unless you are stealing from that person or organization. Professional or not, THE OWNER is the person that makes the real money, period, full stop, end of post.

Dozing Off

2005-11-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

Just dozed off watching the BET 25th anniversary thing on tv…YAWN…I think I missed about half of it. Saw who I really wanted to see though; New Edition, crazy Bobby Brown & poor old druggy Whitney. What was wrong with her voice?? She could barely talk!! Really watched it just to get a little time in with the Missus as we really don’t spend much time together during the week. We watched, commented on people, I dozed in and out of consciousness, …..until towards the end she started passing some SERIOUS gas. Dat wake mi up fi real ! I was outa there!!
(No,... she does not ever, ever read this blog or I would be dead!).

Mi Deh Yah!

2005-10-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

Mi deh yah ah tink and realize seh, dere are sometings yuh
woulda neva see we a do, hear we ah seh or even attempt fi try...
Tek fir instance...Yuh eva see Jamaicans a climb mountain wid flag and claim victory when dem reach di top?
Yuh ever see we ah hang out inna di miggle of di Amazon jungle?
Fi wa reason??? Yuh ever see we a jump outta plane wid one parachute or a
boast seh we going bungee jumping next Sunday?
Yuh eva see we inna sea bout we looking fi di Great White
Sharks? No sah we wi watch it pon TV.
Yuh eva hear a J'can man seh, "My best friend is a batty
man, and mi nuh shame fi seh so??????"
Yuh eva hear a J'can in ah Search & Rescue pan mountain.
A mi sen dem up mountain? Dem find dem way up, dem fe find dem way
dung again. Idiat dem! A nature way fe feed de weak and any hungry
animal up deh!
Yuh eva see a Jamaican acting pon big screen going nto a haunted
house and asking..."Trevah yuh in deh?" If him foolish
enuf fi go ina di haunted house him an di duppy dem caang fight it out
in deh.
Yuh eva hear a Jamaican man seh.."no honey...no need
to cook rice and peas wid oxtail and a little chicken pon a Sunday......
mek we order in a pizzza nuh?" Try yu best.....not pon yu life.
Yuh eva si a J'can man wearing tight pants or speedos on the
beach???? ahhhmm, errr, heeem.. yes .. ah tink dem call dem
chi chi man?
Yuh eva si a jamaican come a work an tell everbaddy dem bizniz
how dem neva bade dis mawning, jus brush teet and wash face....
Yuh eva si a jamaican wey luv talk ova ppl food, put dem face
inna it an sey dat looks and smell good. No sah! Dat wi cause a
fight.
Yuh ever see a Jamaican go inna di company fridge, and go
tek weh next person sangwige and nyam it off?
Yuh ever hear Jamaican pickney tel! l dem madda fi shut up,
and di madda go tek seat inna kitchen, tek out cigarette start smoke
and seh she nuh know wah fi do wid di pickney? NO! One bax crass
him face fi sure. An if dem live in New Yaak dem sen dem to Jamaica
fi di Summer and den di adda relatives fix dem bizniz and dem
go back wid mannaz.
Yuh eva see Jamaican tek meat outta fridge and stick it inna
oven widout lickle seasoning?
Yuh eva hear Jamaican inna di werkplace ah talk bout how much
tiyme him wife mek him sleep pan di couch? Crazy tings dat, cause
even if she shut di door she expect im fi kick it half.
(Had to share this with those of us "exiled" in foreign, GOOD STUFF!)

Shameless Plug

2005-10-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

I am selling these for anyone interested. Only $4 each (8"x3", magnetic), free shipping for the U.S and Canada. Email me at SoundsandPressure@email.com I man affi eat too!

Reggae's Return

2005-10-19T23:09:00.000-04:00

Been reading stuff here and there about the return of real reggae music, AKA the return to conscious type, roots reggae. Recently read MadBull’s Oct 16 piece and also a bit by one Ms Leach in the Ja Observer about Conscious artists not really being genuine along with Jah Cure’s wanting out of GP.
Is it only me, or does "True Reflection" by Cure not sound like an indirect admission of guilt? Not exact quotes of the lyrics (but you get the idea) "…I was young and unwise…", "…I swear I can be a better man…", "…I’m oh so sorry..", "…all they see is the boy they left behind…". Is it just me? Should he have had some serious legal council before having Down Sound release this? As Ms Leach wondered, why are people now pushing for his early release (from GP that is) just because he has had a string of local hits? Though he probably will get it because money talks LOUD in Kingston town and it opens locked doors in our justice shystem. Nah fight down Cure still, but his rape victim, (alleged, but wait can no longer be alleged, he was actually convicted of the crime), must feel a way. Not saying he did or did not do it, not a lawyer, was not in the court room, I have seen no evidence for or against, but if he did….she must really be suffering and re-living the act daily now.
Anyway lets get off the Cure tangent (luv de song still!). Me, like most aging idlers of my era, are glad to see the studios putting out real music again for a change. The sequencer/Protools thing was really losing all sense of credibility with less and less of it being able to pass under the label of "Dancehall" as the months and years slipped by. In my opinion dancehall music really peaked back in 96/97 and has been sliding down hill ever since. Yes in this conscious oasis a lot of crap is still being put on the market, but a lot of crap gets released in all markets and genres of music both locally and in foreign. Studios probably release about 85% garbage and only 15% songs that can truly stand the test of time.
Some great stuff is really coming out on the reggae scene now though! I mean dem man de really a get wicked!! A lot of "filler" on the riddim series, but usually about one third of the singles on any particular riddim are worth the (recycled) wax they are printed on. Good thing is it is making the diehard dancehall producers work much harder at putting out much better quality music just to compete for air time in dances and radio.
But what am I talking about radio?? WHEN IS THIS CORRUPT PAYOLA BS GOING TO STOP IN JAMAICA?????? He who pays the most to the disc jockeys gets his music played on the air, no matter how good or bad the production is. EVEN THE CHRISTIAN STATIONS do it now!! Also he who pays the most $$ gets his song moved up high on the many bogus charts around.
Speaking of charts, yes MadBull "Serious Times" is a wicked tune and obviously deserves all the attention it has been getting. The producer needs to now try and get back his $$ for the initial push out the door that he had to "let off a lickle ting" for.
Enough ranting for one nite, Later massive.

Broward/Fort Lauderdale Carnival

2005-10-10T21:45:00.000-04:00

Just got back from this South Florida lyme. Had a great 3 days away from my real world. Guess what? Had to take the dawg....as far as Orlando to stay with in-laws so as to avoid wasting good carnival dollars on boarding fees. De ting is like another dyam picknee! What has life come to?!?
Anyway lets get back on de Soca track. I used to frequently support the actual Miami Carnival back in the 90's, taking the nine hour drive down faithfully every year from the Atl. But I had to go and marry a 100% Soca-dissing Jamaican woman who migrated from the island just before the Jamaica Carinval really got off and running, leaving her with no real appreciation of the other major force of music that we West Indians have birthed and nurtured over the years. It was hard to persuade her that it was a trip worth making. Fortunately for me I grew up fairly close to the UWI campus at Mona so the whole Ring Road jump up ting was always an annual event I grew to appreciate and love over the years. Not to mention the few trips to T&T every now and then to tek in de real ting! Once you go to T&T and experience that there is no looking back, you are hooked, period, end of all resistance.
Okay, back on track again...the wife and I, (still can't figure out what made her want to make the trip this time), took the drive down, dropped off the dependent baggage in Orlando, and headed south for some fun. Why the Broward and not the Miami? Well these North American carnivals are all born in the actual downtown areas of their host cities, and as the years go by and they begin to grow in magnitude (along with the "noise" and garbage, etc). They eventually fall victim to tougher restrictions from city officials that are basically trying to protect the cities image externally. The usual case is 15 to 20 years ago they thought they were just getting a colourful exotic parade with the occasional noisy float and a few "rowdy" guys having a good time. But in a few years that quickly morphs into a real bachanal jam, leaving blue-blooded American officials muttering "Who the hell let so many of these people in the country anyway? This wasn't what we signed up for!". The result: a carnival, quite crowded, but also leashed and muzzled by too many roving cops and very limited noise ordinances, etc. Net result: It splinters off to the suburbs where West Indians have grown in political and social influence, yes, where wi a run tings now! As with South Florida it is not long before prodigal carnival out in the suburbs actually fast becomes the sweeter lyme; more ethnic respect from law enforcement and politicians goes a long way. The economic injection of literally millions of dollars over a few days doesn't hurt either.
Anyway, went to a couple fetes, went to the street & park thing on Sunday, had a GREAT time. Hats off to the Broward Carnival Committee for a great 2005 production, top notch! Incident free, unlike its Miami sister. This is the one to attend folks, not too small and not yet too big, in clean civilized Fort Lauderdale.
And guess what? The wife that hated Soca was humming all the 2005 soca hits during the nine hours back to Atlanta, and planning for 2006!