Made In Jamaica

I watched this film last night and thought it was pretty good man. 

I liked Elephant Man on stage where he gets a skinny white man up on stage with him, when he is on tour in Europe, to get down and dirty with some women from the audience – one of them he calls “Lady Elephant”. 

Photo by luvey010677

I also liked the shots of Bounty Killer but desperately wanted to hear more from Lady Saw, Tanya Stephens and Vybz Kartel.  There was a bit too much old time reggae for my liking.

The film was a mix between documentary and social commentary on ghetto life and how it fuels the musical talent and also part slick music video staged shots going on. 

I would have filmed a more rough and ready version with a faster turnaround – most the the tracks were old old old – the thing was recorded in 2006 and only just showing now. 

But it had great music including Gregory Isaacs singing Denham Town as a funeral passes by and great scenic shots – cinematography was perfect. 

The start showed Bogle dancing and then how he got shot.

 

I interviewed Elephant Man at a club one time and he was really hating on John Hype before that shooting so there was a lot of animosity going around at that time.  RIP Bogle. 

 

The Cool School Bus

Photo by Jonathan Goldberg

School kids in Spanish Town are waiting around for special cool buses to get to school in the mornings.   These are the buses playing the music they like at loud volume and also have tinted glass so there are fears that there might be sex going on, on there.  It’s causing a log jam in Spanish Town in the mornings, to the extent that the police are involved – trying to get the kids to get on any transport to get them to school.

The so called “sex bus” has been in the headlines on a number of occasions – Vybz Kartel sang a song about it – and there were claims of sexual activity on buses in 2006. The practise of “lapping up” on packed buses where you have to sit on other peoples’ laps might have something to do with it (or not).

I prefer the buses playing the loud music myself, I have to say.   Better atmosphere!

In defense of the reputation of Jamaica’s buses, I would like to post this link to the bashy bus which is about spreading the AIDS awareness message.

Vivian Blake and Corruption

Vivian Blake an old photo

This man, Vivian Blake was in a US federal prison, for eight years for being part of a notorious, violent drug gang called the Shower Posse.  I have written about him on this blog before - see that post here.

Now I’ve come across him a few times today.  Firstly because of the BET programme on him, as part of their American Gangster series – a longer movie is planned.

Blake was released and deported to Jamaica in January 2009.  Here’s an interview he gave then.

Then there were rumours, written up here in The Star that he had been killed.

Vivian Blake more recently

In response to that recent rumour, he talks about how he thinks the police, working on behalf of the politicians in Jamaica want him dead.  Read what he says here.

This guy Blake is really making waves, he was a guest speaker at this ‘breakfast club’ event where the author of the article talks about attending a high level meeting on corruption in Jamaica.

If he is being targetted by the politicians and / or police, that says a lot about corruption in Jamaica but also about society.  Blake is profitting now from his criminal lifestyle, in fame and fortune, his celebrity profile will probably protect him although nobody is untouchable, expecially in JA.

Buju meets gay people

Back row from left: Buju's PR representative Jonathan Mack, , Bevan Dufty, Andrea Shorter, Eric Mar, Rebecca Rolfe and Tracii McGregor of Gargamel Music. Front row, Michael Petrelis and Buju. (Photo courtesy of Michael Petrelis)

Buju met these gay people in San Francisco this week.  He’s on tour at the moment in the US and he’s still getting targetted, his shows are still getting cancelled for that song he wrote when he was just 15 years old. 

According to the Observer, the meeting was ” very civil and productive”.   They are quoting the gay activist Michael Petrelis wrote all about it on his blog.

Look, I think it’s good that Buju is making the effort, even if he’s doing it under pressure, the fact that he will go and talk face to face, I think is definitely a step in the right direction.  

I don’t think he’s ever going to be able to turn things around though, he’s too  good a target for the gay rights campaign to get attention to the very big and very real problem of homophobia in Jamaica.

Made in Jamaica

I’m going to watch this movie next week .. looks good to me!

Jamaican hijacker gets sentenced

Stephen Fray

The fool who decided to hijack a plane at Sangster Airport has been sentenced to 83 years in prison and will probably serve 20, but I feel sorry for him.

It was made clear in the psychology reports and interviews that there was something mentally wrong with him and that before this time, he was a “well mannered child.”

Also he’s now 22 years old and so will be spending the best part of his life behind bars of a not very nice prison.  You gotta feel sorry for the guy as this ruling is more about sending out a message to the tourist community.       Read more on him here.

Dudus Music

These guys have released a song about the Don man, Christopher Dudus Coke aka the President, still wanted by the US on gun and drug trafficking charges.

Read the this blog post and this blog post for more background info on Dudus.

So the twins in the song are saying they are sticking up for the poor people who live in the Kingston ghetto of Tivoli Gardens, according to an interview in the Star.

But looking at the lyrics below, it seems to me that this is a song in support of Dudus, trying to downplay his importance as a criminal, questioning the extradition order as more of a death warrant – which may be the case as there must be men who want to kill Dudus in prison, and that the Americans should waste their time looking for Bin Laden instead.  hmmm not the most informative of social commentaries.

“Which Dudus dem a talk?/ A Couldn’t di president/ The man set the order downtown/ so how all of a sudden government a come frown/ Like dem tek Garden man dem fi clown/ A wonder if dem know what kind of don dem a talk?/ A nuh Don Corleon or Leroy Smart.”

“Think a road dem ago block when the thing start/ From dem seh prezzy might as well dem seh coffin/ It look like dem waan overcrowd down a Madden/ A how dem a look fi Dudus and dem caan find Bin Laden.”

Gaza Gully beef escalating?

876.com are saying that Movado’s Range Rover was shot up and that this shooting follows Kartel’s car being fire bombed – although the entertainer says it was an “electrical fault”.

It also reports that the situation on the Gully side – aka Movado’s home area of Cassava Piece in Kingston is tense right now.

Anyone got any more info on that?

I am hoping that Movado is not going the same way as Sizzla in August Town.  Read more about that in this blog post.

Jamaica is on Obama’s drug list

Barack Obama’s address to Congress sees four Caribbean countries, including Jamaica as among the world’s top drug-transit and illicit drug-producing nations.

The list is the same as before – with others including the Bahamas and Haiti among 20 countries with those designations in 2009.   The others include the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Brazil,  Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela.

In reality, this means that when you see those small planes landing and taking off on the small airstrips like at Bascobel, you gotta think drugs.  When you go out on the docks at Kingston wharf and see all those crates, you’ve gotta think drugs (and guns) and even small boats like these guys who got caught with marijuana in a rowing boat.   Desperate times, desperate measure.

Dancing in the Ghetto

 

I came across this video by a woman called Terry Lynn from Waterhouse, Kingston – a ghetto area I have been to a number of times.

It’s a really good video and I was kind of transfixed by the production, filmed entirely in Waterhouse, the images and shots are really fantastic. 

Very innovative and she has an interesting story to tell about growing up in Waterhouse and trying to make it as an artist when you have to pay money to get your records onto the radio.   Here’s an interview she gave.

more about “Dancing in the Ghetto “, posted with vodpod