I added a new Tab up top on the Smile Jamaica Webpage entitled Reggae History Lessons
I’m going through Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive air checks and harvesting the stories that I call Reggae History Lessons. My show for 25 five plus years has been to entertain and maybe do a little dab of educating about the Roots & Culture behind Reggae.
All my knowledge of Reggae and Dub for over 25 years makes its way into the show.
Sound clips plus the Smile Jamaica definition and visual cue.
Here’s a typical day of musical absorption in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
Wake ‘n’ Bake: That time from when the alarm rings til the daily hunt for your car keys: Babylon Central Soudtrack (ESL).Thievery Corporation movie about crate digging, Middle Eastern girlfriends, and peak oil conspiracy theories. Truly, 3 of my favorite things. Listening Apparatus: Sony CD boom box.
Morning Ride: From the garage to the parking lot. Generation X Anthology Box Set; CD 3 (Live). Found this on Record Store Day last Saturday. Would you believe I will be playing Billy Idol on Smile Jamaica this Saturday? Yes indeed I am! Listening Apparatus: Factory Subaru CD desk powered by Kenwood Amp and 10″ 800W Subwoofer. I’m that guy in the parking lot you hear before you see him scream around the corner
Billy Idol makes his Reggae debut on Smile Jamaica: Rockers Do Reggae; May 3, 2014. Selah!
Ipod Playlist: From the Parking Lot to the Office. Because until I get about 3 cups in me, I really don’t want to talk to anyone. Aswad – New Chapter (CBS). UK Roots Reggae group whose name means “black” in Arabic/Amharic. Listening Apparatus: iPhone 4*. Red, Green and Gold Skull Candy Headphones. I must have deep set ears because only the Skull Candy’s (Park City, Utah!) stay put in my ears.
*I am not giving in to Apple’s “creative obsolescence” scam. I’m happy with the 4.
Itunes Harvest: Since I’m moving out of 420 Cannabis Service Month, I have been harvesting a lot of my recent Soundtrack finds: Black Girl (BGP). An Ossie Davis film, a really solid funk, soul and jazz melange. Found this at a great indie shop for soul, electronic and collector labels called Mecca Records in Jah-buquerque
Jim Jarmusch is a guy who puts the same amount of selecting and sequencing in his soundtracks as he does in his films. He isn’t content to slap a Kenny Loggins song on a CD and sell it for $19.99 instead of $18.99 like most Soundtracks. Broken Flowers. Deadpan Bill Murray surrounded by some great Ethiopian jazz rock, Holly Golightly, Dengue Fever. Great little Friday afternoon mix in a state that doesn’t allow for Happy Hour
Listening Apparatus: Imac CD drive
Smile Jamaica Active Listening
Got home late and didn’t have much time before watching the Giants vs. Padres. After work is when I really rinse out music for potential airplay on Smile Jamaica
3 10″s:
Vinyl is Vital rhymes withs Ital 10″ as opposed to 12″. Many of the new dub and lots of Roots Reggae reissues are on the smaller vinyl. Saves precious 1/6 of the petroleum goop that is pressed into the sleek and beautiful black wax.
Although I still prefer the 12″ single. Larger separation of bass from the treble with one song on a side at 45 RPM. Bass is meant to drill into your groin region to keep you on the dance floor with your best gal. The more you dance the more you drink the more they wanna play the bass.
Molara ft. Dubble – Crown of Creation b/w Dubble – South Side Dub (Dub Tunnel)
Earl Sixteen – We Need Justic (Jah Bless)
3 heavy Militant Steppers recent vintage, a sub genre of Mutant Dub. Militant Steppers is the trance like martial sound. Stiff dubble time beats. Relentless bass, space echo, spongy riddims. More contemporary than King Tubby or Lee Perry. Dance melodic with more Rasta lyrics than the more mellow Downtro; with great female vox from Christine and Molara. The Dub Tunnel B-side is a scorching dub instrumental. Love this sound at maximum volume You have to feel the bass, live it, let it pound the sound around the room.
The best thing about the 10″ is that it is extended. 3 minutes of vocal and four minutes of dub echo. Bass bliss.
Smile Jamaica’s Commandment One of “Dub Consumption” clip 10 sec
To listen to Reggae and Dub you must hook your system to a subwoofer. If you have surround sound for your TV you probably already have one connected.
Listening to Reggae and Dub without one is like 2-D versus 3-D. Air Supply versus Ted Nugent. Urkel versus Superfly. Candidate Obama versus President Obama. Don’t be weak sauce!
Bass Necessity (5 sec)
bless, robt
The late great Charlie Ace and his mobile Record Shack
“Get Ready to Rock Steady”. 4 PM Utah Time (Mountain). krcl.org 90.9FM SLC
Here’s some of what I have i cooked up in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive for this afternoon’s show
Wailers Family Tree: Tracking through Bob’s last live show in Pittsburgh, PA 9/23/80; rarities and obscurities from Peter’s dubble disk edition of Equal Rights (’77); Bunny’s Rootsman Skanking ’87
Plus sifting in quality roots from the sistren. Kif I mean Keith Richards niyahbinghi supergroup the Wingless Angels. And a whole heap of good quality Rootical Dubbers
Check it!
bless, robt
2 branches of the Wailers Family Tree “smoke up de ‘sensi!
Celebrating his 5-4 victory over Al Gore on Airforce One Love
Greetings,
Hope everyone came out of the Holiday weekend okay. One last 420 before I move on in another musical direction.
Things you may not know and I didn’t tell you during the 20 Days of Cannabis
Adolph Hitler’s birthday – Apr. 20th (1889)
Bay of Pigs attack – Apr. 20th (1961)
Columbine High School Massacre – Apr. 20th (1999)
Deep Water Horizon catastrophe – Apr. 20th (2010)
Nevermind…
I have been doing Smile Jamaica Reggae Radio since Oct. ’89; under George “Ganja” Bush the Elder’s term. History degrees and working in a Research Library also from about ’88’-89.
So I combine my “vocation with my avocation” through little segments I like to call Reggae History Lessons. I am going to add a category of these short sound clips from the Ark-Ive Edition podcasts and a description.
Here is what I “harvested” (pun intended) from the Apr. 19: 20th Annual Cannabis Service Show:
Cannabis History Lessons (4/19/2014 Ark-Ive of Smile Jamaica) ; #1
Kif – Author Paul Bowles, who lived in North Africa, talks to the kif seller. I said, “Kif. From the Arabic kayaf. “To make high”. The sticky trichomes that shake loose from buds and are pressed into bricks of hash in Morocco and North Africa” (53:46-54:31 on sound file)
Kif – Morocco hash
Kif – Paul Bowles clip & Smile Jamaica explanation (45 sec.)
Sensimilla – From the Spanish “without seeds”. Buds without seeds have higher potency or so I’ve heard. I laugh sometimes at the grocery store when I see watermelon labeling in spanish “Sandia sinsemillas”. Seedless. Makes sensi to me! (54:56 in sound file)
I said, “a type of flavor in Jamaica so called because of the fluffy nature of the buds on the stalk looked like a lamb’s tail. From lamb’s tail to lamb’s breath to lambsbread.
All the love from devotees of the Seven Leaf. That sensi salutation above arrived in my text box bright and early.
Glad tidings to you and yours as well. Good luck to Collie-rado and Washington. Let’s tally up more state victories in 2014, 2016 and beyond. Selah!
Abolitionists need to make it as simple as possible in their public messaging: “it’s a plant not a drug”
2016 is gonna be another knock down drag out. “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here (we are) stuck in the middle with you.”
A
As I promised on Smile Jamaica yesterday: I did get up to post my Mutant Dub Canna-bass show on Mixcloud and on this blog. I let Mixcloud do their magic and then I made sure all the blog and twitter posts were good to go. Went do bed around midnight. I set the alarm for 4:10.
Here is my alarm clock ringer:
I stumbled to my computer and put a hawk eye on the clock. Exactly at 4:20 AM, I cracked my knuckles and hit send. 4 hours and 20 minutes of Canna-bass at 4:20 AM on 4/20
When I put this Mutant Dub 420 together in my studio with all the sound bytes and clips, I knew that the last song I was going to play was a Peter Tosh (Dub Club) remix of “Legalize It”.
That brought the whole file to 4 hours 19 minutes and 12 seconds. Easy squeeze: I just tacked on a few more cannabinoidal sound bytes to bring the mix to 4 hours 19 minutes and 56 seconds.
Lately I have been ending with a little clip from the Whitest Kids U Know. “Keep safe and keep blazing”. That byte is 3 seconds long.
So by stitching music and dialogue together I was basically 1 second off my original target goal of the 4 hr 20 min and 00 second.
So I had to “cheat” by one second to make it work. 1 second off out of 15,600 seconds. Better rate than the Atomic Clock. Wow Sensi simpatico.
I took a look at the stats on Mixcloud and it looks like 19 people have been taking me up on my advice for their 420 Sensi Soundtrack today. Kool breeze!
As promised, here is the KRCL Live edition of the 20th Annual 420 Cannabis Service Show without commercial interruptions.
Been a subscriber to Vice Magazine for over a decade now. Their non-corporate journalism is on a par with Al Jazeera or Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.
Uruguay is the first nation to legalize the Seven Leaf. They want to make it a dollar a spliff. Totally take any organized criminal element out. A sack of weed would be cheaper than a Pizza
Let my bredrin the 420 Bunny and myself wish you a wondrous 420 spent with family and friends for Easter, Puff Puff Passover and other compelling purposes for randomized encounters and barbecue excursions. Enjoy your libations responsibly. Otherwise, Johnny Law is gonna give you the hairy eyeball:
<Johnny Law 1 min>
I want to be the Soundtrack to your celebration with all the Mutant Dub I am fascinated by. 50 Canna-bass tunes from the likes of Thievery Corporation, Primal Scream and Dub Syndicate.
Enjoy this Secret Stash from the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. 4 hr and 20 min worth. You will be running to theSevwith Musical Munchies Selah!
Getting Red I (I mean ready) for Smile Jamaica’s 20th Annual Cannabis Service Show
For the next 3 hours it will include trying to “pack” about 350 songs into 35 rinsed out on air; at most;
Smile Jamaica 420 Ark-Ives 2014 edition: 20th Cannabis Service Show
Including canna-spired soundbytes, movie clips, Reefer Madness cautionary PSA’s and Jah knows what else.
This show is either my highest (no pun or maybe pun intended) show or the lowest. Either way it’s on. Gonna celebrate some free speech while we still can in this country.
To quote Dry and Heavy:“Whenever I get low I get high”
I will link the Ark-Ive here and on Mixcloud for pot-sterity, I mean posterity.
Plus tomorrow at 4:20 AM start your easter celebration right with Smile Jamaica’s What Is Mutant Dub? Episode 4: Space Dust.
4 hours and 20 minutes of Mutant Dub at 4:20 AM on 4/20. Linked here on the Smile Jamaica blog and Mixcloud
I always start these annual 420 shows with Jah Woosh – Marijuana World Tour
I also play Sly & the Revolutionaries – Black Ash Dub as my Dub Album of the Week. Which has all the great Jah Thomas soundbytes like “Pass me the Rizla, pass me the herb”.
From Jah Woosh:
The Marijuana World Tour taking you to the four corners of the Earth. Buying and smoking the herb and the products there of.
My World Tour starts in Hong Kong where I met a lickle Chinaman. He gimme some opium. Then I trod forth to a place called Pakistan and there I met a lickle Paki man. Him gimme Paki Black
Taking you to the four corners of the Earth. My World Tour takes you to: Germany, Holland, Lebanon, Colombia, England, Thail and Jamaica.
Coming down the home stretch of the 20 Days of Cannabis. So the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives has filled you in on Jah-maican Reggae Herbtunes and 4 hr 20 min of Mutant Dub: a high-ly world and Euro phenoemon.
Good ole Americans love the Seven Leaf too. Here is Smile Jamaica’s Top Ten American Herbalists
1. The Toyes – Smoke Two Joints and Monster Hash; The Toyes (CD Tunes). All killer novelty classic. The former awards video game stalwarts two joints for every 10,000 points. The latter works on 4/20 and Halloween. Boris Pickett would be proud.
2. Future Pigeon – The Mummy; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collection) . Out of Los Jahngeles, this is another ditty that works in April or All Hallow’s Eve. “Roll a lickle spliff wif de papyrus while we smoke Sensemeenia inna Mesopotamia”
3. Ben Harper – Burn One Down; Reggae Sampler (Virgin). If Smile Jamaica tracked requests over the past two decades or so this gentle acoustic niyahbinghi number would be near the top. “Let us burn one from end to end. Pass it over to me my friend.”
4. Dub Lounge international – Dub Hangover; Dub Lounge International (Ancient Vessel). Seattle: usually the dub is blissed out riffing on the original vocal. In this case dub rid dims pump out a gravity-free mix with vocals straight no chaser. “I’ve got an Herb hangover and I don’t wanna let it go”
5. Collie Buddz – Come Around; Collie Buddz (Colombia). New Orleans by way of Bermuda. With his name you would think he was in league with the Seven Leaf. Ragga vocal style with a hint of Autotune. Thick and sticky Roots Riddim updating an old Zap Pow Reggae lick.
6. 10 Ft. Ganja Plant – Walkey Walk Tall; Presents (ROIR) Upstate New York, like #4 another truth in advertising group. They are good for one or more herbtunes on nearly all their releases.
7. Natural Roots – For My Sensi (extended); CD Single (Rock da Joint). Homegrown in Utah. Nice horn licks, rub a dub riddim and winsome female backing vox. Drum and the bass mashes up nicely with the Sensi ride. Bliss at nearly 7 minutes
8. Mystic Roots Band – Pass the Marijuana; Constant Struggle (Stay Positive). Chico, Collie-fornya. Nuff herbal meditations from this group. Features special guest intro
<SOUNDCLIP>
9. Rootz Underground – Herb Fields; Movement (Riverstone) Nice slinky one drop tribute to guerrilla growing the Ganja crop.
10. Easy Star All Stars – One Likkle Draw; First Light (Easy Star). The label and collective out of New York. They brought us two volumes of dubadelic Dub Side of the Moon. This groover features Junior Jazz and Daddy Lion on the vox.
Gonna play a set of American Herbalists in 2 hours: Smile Jamaica 90.9FM KRCL.org. 420 Cannabis Service Show
bless,robt
Smile Jamaica is hosted by Robert Nelson on 90.9 FM KRCL in Salt Lake City, Utah (Saturdays, 4-7 p.m. MT). Ark-ives available weekly here at the Smile Jamaica blog.
Smile Jamaica 