For three plus decades if you have listened toSmile Jamaica, you know that with the Ark-ives I ‘n’ I have given regular showcases for 420, Jah-loween, Mutant Dub, UFOria, Bobfest, Roots Dawtas, etc.
But not a full show of the Reggae genre called Lovers Rock. This format is very popular in places like the United Kingdom and the Pacific Islands. For me, it’s a little too smooth when I’m going more for grit. Many a Reggae love song won’t make the playlist if I ‘n’ I hear strings overdubbed on the track.
The day before Valentine’s Day was all Lovers Rock Smile Jamaica.
I ‘n’ I subscribe mostly to Big Youth’s “No more songs about girls”. But there are many people in JA UK and worldwide who favor more of the John Holt’s, Beres Hammond’s and Eddie Lovette’s than the Spear’s, Tosh’s and Prince Fari’s.
Me being a Reggae curmudgeon, I ‘n’ I can and will chant down Babylon all the live long day. But in places like mid 70’s UK, in the dancehalls and shebeens around London, if you wanted the dawtas to come down and rub a dub, you better juggle-in some sweet ladies and smooth operators to the mix.
The gals dress up nice, want to go out and have a dread buy her a drink, take her on the dancefloor for a little rub a dub session and see ya later! And they weren’t gonna leave their seat for heavy militant Rasta protest.
Doing the Rub a Dub
Women artists and groups like Brown Sugar, 15 16 17 (2 sisters and a cousin), all the great Mad Professor dawtas like Aisha, Kofi and Sandra Cross ruled the airwaves with smootherReggae focusing mostly on themes of love and love lost.
Aisha – Smile Jamaica’s favorite Roots Dawta
So maybe there is a way, I ‘n’ I can split the difference. Can I keep to the rootsy Reggae riddim accompaniment while blending in a focus of all romance and not have it sound wimpy or soggy?
Started with Gregory Isaac singing about the Night Nurse “only you alone can quench this here dry unproductive cough, cough, cough”. Dubbled up the Roots Dawta quotient, hit the Lovers Rock stalwarts like Barrington Levy, Cornell Campbell and George Faith. End it with a half hour of Mutant Lovers.
Mutant Dub
Listen for yourself. Would this Ark-ive edition get the lovelies on the dancefloor or is it still the Roots head fraternity in the corner burning spliff and plotting revolution?
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Lovers Rock Special Playlist: Feb. 13, 2021
Set 1:
Ronnie Davis – All I Have Is Love; Crucial (Big Mac Soul Power) Can. Vinyl; Gregory Isaacs cover
Jah Shaka – Deliverance – Commandments of Dub Chapter 6 (Jah Shaka) ’87 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse; Night Nurse (Mango) ‘82
15 16 17 – Someone Special; Magic Touch (DEB) ‘79
Toots & the Maytals – My Name Is So Strong; Pass the Pipe (Mango) ‘79
Cornell Campbell – Girl of My Dreams; Natty Dread in a Greenwich Farm (Striker Lee) ‘75
The Silvertones – Take a Little Love; Rare Reggae Grooves From Studio One (Heartbeat/Studio One) ‘79
“Night Nurse, only you alone can quench this dry, unproductive cough, cough cough…..”
Set 2:
June Lodge – Kiss and Say Goodbye; Someone Loves You Honey (Joe Gibbs) ’80 Manhattans cover
Barrington Levy – Loving You; Time Capsule (RAS) ‘82***End of Set 4
Set 5: Vinyl is Vital Lovers Set
The Heptones – Soul Sister; Legends From Studio One (Trenchtown) ’72 Allen Toussaint cover:
Barry Brown – True Love Is the Answer; Step It Up Youthman (Jackpot) ’79 UK
Jah Woosh – Falling in Love; Dreadlocks Affair (Trojan) ’75 UK dj to Midnight Train to Georgia
Honey Boy – Will You Be My Girl; In Dreamland (Taretone) ’81 UK
Sheila Hylton – Breakfast in Bed; 12” (Ballistic) ’79 UK Dusty Springfield cover
Set 6:Wailers Family Tree Lovers Rock
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Turn Your Lights Down Low; Exodus (Tuff Gong) ’78 Peter Tosh feat. Gwen Guthrie – Nothing But Love; Wanted Dread & Alive (EMI America) ’81 US vinyl
Marcia Griffiths – The Way I Feel About You; Steppin’ (Shanachie) ‘79
New Year’s Day. Phoenix airport. I ‘n’ I hate flying, even before The Covid. But SLC to Phoenix to Albuquerque back to Phoenix for Christmas, there is really no alternative.
It’s my responsibility to help out my retired parents. Mom doesn’t drive. Pops is recovering (splendidly, thanks for asking) from a horrible brain condition which made Xmas 2019 the worst ever. From wet, wobbly and whacky, to splitting up some of the drive on I-40 and I-17.
Two weeks living out of a suitcase. Good weather. My sister and her family, two goats, two dogs and two donkeys. Covid be damned!
Mom’s birthday is New Year’s eve, so after a bash at the Sun City West Outback Steakhouse (mostly deserted), time to wheel it back to Salt Lake.
An hour waiting in our car to eat in a mostly empty restaurant on New Year’s Eve
I ‘n’ I love to fly Southwest, if I have to fly. I pay $15 extra for the Early Bird check in to jump the queue into the A boarding section. I grab my Burning Spear tote bag/man purse and head for the back corner of the plane. One row from the very back. Window seat. Strap in, hunker down.
They just kept coming. All the other Covid flights I have been on (SLC to Phoenix; May), (SLC to Denver to Great Falls, MT; Oct.) were mostly empty. The flight attendant comes on the intercom. “We have a completely full flight. That’s the first time I’ve said that since March!”.
Lovely.
As soon as we were airborne, the young guy wedged next to me slept on his seat tray and they had to wake him upon arrival. Needless to say, in the 9th month of AC Year 1, (After Covid) , I’m thinking raging infection not New Year hangover.
Is the streak about to come to an end? Bobbylon 25 – The Covid 0?
The scorecard is 25 live Smile Jamaica’s from the KRCL studio
I ‘n’ I survived cratedigging at Thanksgiving in Vegas. Six feet apart from drunken Green Bay Packer fans, only to catch a dose of the Wuhan Flu wheeling it back from Cratedigging in a Pandemic 2.0?
Oh, the irony….
I ‘n’ I have had great luck in Phoenix/Tempe cratedigging since my parents relocated there in 2016. I try to get two days taking the car. Phoenix is a huge valley and my parents live in a record wasteland that is Sun City West retirement area.
Grab a thermos full of coffee, my trusty vape pen with some Strawberry Cough. I entered all the addresses in my parents’ Buick Enclave, Deep Tracks on Sirius XM at max volume and let the adventure begin.
I ‘n’ I could have gone back to Utah and sat on the couch waiting for The Covid to come down my chimney or I could be mobile and bob and weave around it in the shops. I’m sure Fauci would approve of my strategy; not!
The Pandemic 2.0 cratedig got off to a rough start. It’s about a 40 minute drive to my first cluster, downtown Phoenix. Roll up to the first spot, shuttered and boarded up. Didn’t survive the lockdowns*.
*Lockdowns are what they do to unruly prisoners, btw.
Second spot – (Stinkweeds Records). Curbside and by appointment shopping only. Eff that. You don’t cratedig by appointment. Open up, dammit! I ‘n’ I have no problem waiting outside if it is an occupancy issue, but enough with the Karen’s! Gimme my black wax! First world problem or fighting against Covid induced depression?
Remember: 99% recover from the Rona. Stop watching CNN – The Coronavirus Nonsense Nutwork. I ‘n’ I wear my Bob Marley or Alien mask, I ‘n’ I wait my turn in the aisle, I ‘n’ I wash my hands before I start digging through the crates — at the beginning I used to wear gloves while flipping records.
Why do they always mention infections, hospitalizations and deaths but NEVER Covid recovery stats?
Third shop was my fault. Closed on Monday. Like many one man operations, Wax Trax owner is there 5 days a week and usually needs Sunday and Monday to do things like go to the bank or do laundry, whatnot.
Fourth shop is Phoenix’s major chain store, Zia Records. 40 years in business. Interesting dynamic: All the under 30’s in the vinyl racks. The over 40’s still perusing CDs. I ‘n’ I love these types of shops: Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, books, T-shirts. It’s a department store of roots ‘n’ culture.
Throughout my cratedig in Vegas and Phoenix, there was a noticeable lack of rock ‘n’ roll masks. I wear my T-shirt and baseball cap. We’re going to be wearing masks til the end of time, so why not showcase your favorite bands on your mandatory face diaper?
Phoenix has about half a dozen boutique vinyl shops spread throughout the city: Record Room, In Groove, Record High in addition to Zia shops in place like Tempe and Mesa.
I ‘n’ I rely on an app called The Vinyl District to find shops, maps and hours. They need to update their Covid imposed shopping changes though:
I ‘n’ I usually chat up the owner at Record High, but he was closed for appointment only as well. But I ‘n’ I hit the motherlode at In Groove.
I ‘n’ I don’t like when shops combine their World and Reggae together. Both genres have plenty to offer as individual categories. The one good thing was it appeared that the World/Reggae section was three racks full.
Let’s dig….I ‘n’ I just started pulling gems out of the rack. All rare 12″ singles. They had a whole bunch of other collectible Reggae that I already possessed. I haven’t hit a “seam” of Reggae like that in over a decade. I dropped about $300 there and left at least $500 more collector quality dupes in the rack.
I ‘n’ I told the guy ringing me up how impressed I was with their Reggae section. He was nonplussed, “oh thanks whoever you are.” That’s not how they treat “whales” on the casino floor in Vegas!
All killer, no filler!
So, I ‘n’ I sitting on that plane feeling that, in spite of The Covid, if that punk passed out next to me gave me a hot dose, at least I went down doing what I ‘n’ I liked — cratedigging and front running AC Year 2 (After Covid) with some fresh roots Reggae for the Smile Jamaica masses.
<Cratedig vs. The Covid; 38 sec.>
And as I compose this blog entry, Friday AM, two weeks past my infection window, I can say that lack of common sense balanced with risks versus reward was worth it. This Vinyl New Year show, rinses out my record haul from Pandemic Cratedig 2.0.
Because it’s Bobbylon 27, The Covid 0
Selah!
bless, Bobbylon
99% recover
*Phoenix 2021 cratedig
Set 1:
The Abyssinians – Praise Him; Forward (Alligator) ’82 Chicago blues label/vinyl – Vinyl New Year
UB40 – Present Arms in Dub; Present Arms in Dub (Virgin/DEP) ’81 CD Dub album of the hour
Trinity – Bad Card; Bard Card (Joe Gibbs) ’81 Miami
Yabby You & Michael Prophet Meet Scientist – Starvation and Sufferation; At the Dub Station (King Tubbys) (Yabby You) ’81 JA
Ranking Ann – Dangerous M.C.; Something Fishy Going On (Ariwa) ’84 UK
Tribesman – Chant of Wisdom; Street Level (BOA) ’79 UK
Toyan – Irie Feeling; Nice Time (Jam Rock) ’82 Miami; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Still Cool – Insane Love; 12” (Hitrun) ’79 UK *$28
$28
Set 2:
Dillinger – Rock to the Music; Funky Punk/Rock to the Music; (If) ’79 Fr. *$10
Third World – Saturday Evening; Arise in Harmony (Island) ’80 US
Horace Andy – Show and Tell; Pirates Choice (Studio One) ’81 JA Al Wilson soul cover
Sandra Cross – Children of the Night; Lovers Delight (Ariwa) ’93 UK Stylistics cover
Hopeton Lindo – Side Walk Traveller; 12” (Music Works) ’83 FL *$9
$9
Set 3:
Jennifer Lara – Rocking Tonight; Presenting (Studio One) ’81 JA
Prince Junior – Dread Knows; On Top (Black Ovation) ’80 Plainfield, NJ
I Roy – Black Cinderella; Best of (GG’s) ’77 JA
Dennis Brown – Fire; Wake Up (Natty Congo) ’85 UK
Sowell Radix – Give Me Your Love; 12” (Dread at the Controls) ’81 *$9
$9
Set 4:
Kayawah & the Movement Band – Shame and Scandal; Culture Rock (Only Roots) ’80 Fr.
AmJam feat. Leisha Salesman – Want It Want It; Live Off the Soundboard (Celluloid) ’87 live from CBGB
Freddie McGregor – Never Get Away; 12” (Spider Man) *$28 UK
Bullwackies All Stars – Black Heart Dub; Dub Unlimited (Senrab) ’76 Dub CD of the Hour
$28
Set 5:
Tony Brown Band – Prisoners in Paradise; Prisoners in Paradise (Mountain Lion) ’81 Madison Wisconsin
Hortense Ellis – You Done Me Wrong; Family Album (Jah Life) ’80 Brooklyn
Michigan & Smiley – We Need a One Love; Strictly Reggae (Omni) ’81 Can.
Barrington Levy – Mini Bus (On the Telephone); 12” (Kingdom) ’84 UK *$16
$16
Set 6:
The Gladiators – Rocking Vibration; 1983 U.S. Tour EP (Nighthawk) ’83 St. Louis clear vinyl
Marcia Griffiths & The Reggaes – Work & Slave; The Reggaes With Marcia Griffiths (Sparerib) ‘72
Shinehead – Billie Jean; Rough & Rugged (African Love) ’86 NY Michael Jackson cover
Steel Pulse – Steppin’ Out; 12” (Wise Man Doctrine) ’84 UK *$16
$16f
Set 7:
Peter Tosh – Bush Doctor; Dealing With the Shytstem (bootleg) herbtune
Garland Jeffreys – No Woman, No Cry; One-Eyed Jack (A & M) ’76 NY biracial rocker; Marley cover
Johnny Clarke – Can’t Get Enough; 12” (Art & Craft) ’81 UK red vinyl *$8
Aswad – New Chapter of Dub (Mango) ’82 Dub Cd of the hour
$8 red vinyl
Set 8:
Sister Frica – One in the Spirit; Rockers All-Star Explosion (Alligator) ’85 US blues label
Singers & Players feat. Sister P – Holy Scripture; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’89 UK
Tippa Lee – Herbs Intersect; Dub Them With Reality (Stones Throw) 2016 US *$9
Saturday head to Las Vegas for a week of cratedigging. vaping and gambling. Pretty much in that order.
Let’s get those triglyceride counts out of the way before a week of hedonism.
2020 Pandemic version.
Virtual physical. WTF? My doc had technical problems and had to use my Iphone for the “exam”. I guess I check my own glands? What now, you say? Turn my head and cough?
Whatever, just get me a flu shot and take a pint of blood. I head over to the Redwood Clinic at 9am. In and out…..
The usually deserted parking lot was jammed full. Oh yeah. Covid. I get spritzed with sanitizer and have my temperature at the door (97.6). Queue up to the lab line. The place is packed. I’m waiting for my turn and look over to the Covid spot.
“I caught Covid waiting on line to be tested for Covid”
It was eerie. People waiting their turn sequestered in these wooden boxes. It looked like these infected wretches were sitting in upright coffins. People all looked miserable.
Covid waiting room. Seat yourself in an upright coffin while you ponder your fate
It certainly wasn’t helping my mood. I could just see the waiting room walls teeming with Covid. Like that scene out of The Shining where blood gushes out of the elevator.
Get me out of here! I ‘n’ I want to drop off a pint of red stuff and go have a massive breakfast, six cups of coffee and pack up and leave 4000 Covid victims a day (Utah) to only 2000 a day (Nevada.)
Vegas cancelled me in May. I ‘n’ I was bound to go in November. Eff the Covid. I’d rather dodge it on the road than wait for it to come get me down the chimney in SLC.
That’s why they call it gambling. I ‘n’ I was checking the Vegas paper headlines like a fiend waiting to see any response from Nevada’s Karen governor. Checking my Hotels.com app for casino shut down notices.
Saturday, Nov. 21:
Wake ‘n’ Bake. Check the news headlines. Check my Hotels.com app. Nothing. It’s on!
Had breakfast with my bredrin Chris at Left Fork Grill. Six more cups of coffee. Jump on I-15. Beautiful day to dodge Covid.
Vegas vacation starts here…
From my garage in the Sugarhood to the first dispensary shop in North Las Vegas is exactly 420 miles. I ‘n’ I usually like to listen to a box set on the road. Recently scored a complete Doors box at Graywhale in SLC. Break on through to the other side!
Every road trip deserves a soundtrack.
Loud tunes, dodging Covid at 80 MPH on a spectacular sunny Fall day, nuff caffeine fly down I-15. First stop on the cratedig: Groovacious Records. Cedar City, Utah.
First stop in Vegas. Reef Dispensary used a credit to buy a couple disposables for running around town. (Key Lime Pie!, Super Lemon Haze!). Pick up a bottle of bourbon at Lee’s Liquors. Head on over to Circus Circus.
No different than going to the liquor store
I like Circus Circus. Nice rooms dirt cheap. It’s on the right end of the Strip so it’s easy to maneuver when the city fills up. Close to the freeways. A lot of record shops on Sahara.
Wow, walk right up to check in. On a Saturday afternoon? Fear of Covid keeping people home. I ‘n’ I have boarded and de-planed six times since Covid. But what I hadn’t experienced since March was riding in an elevator.
I ‘n’ I with the herd immunity of 22 successful live Smile Jamaica‘s with my Bob Marley mask. Two women get on the elevator and see me wedged into the corner. “Oh yeah, my mask. I hate wearing these things.” My response as I got off on the 15th floor: “We’ll be wearing masks til the end of time.”
Herd immunity: Bobbylon 22, The Covid 0
Sunday, Nov. 22
I ‘n’ I Thanksgiving tradition is to watch my beloved Green Bay Packers play in a Green Bay bar. So my “pre game” was to hit a dispensary. What better place for a Green Bay fan than The Green Dispensary in Vegas.
Green for Green Bay
20% new customer discount. (Strawberry Cough! Purple Punch!). Spun the wheel, won a $50 gift card. Nice. Won a grand in Mesquite in October. $50 in November too!
$1000 for I ‘n’ I. Take that Covid!
Vape pen well charged, New Subaru kinda cloudy, head on over to The Rum Runner bar to watch Green Bay play like they all had the Covid losing against the Colts.
This was probably the biggest risk of the trip. A Packer bar at six feet apart. That’s why they call it gambling.
Nevada Governor was lustily booed when he announced clampdown as opposed to lockdowns at halftime. 50% restaurants to 25% with mandated reservations for contact tracing. I ‘n ‘ I ordered another beer and kept watching football with my fellow diehards.
I ‘n’ I am staying until Circus Circus kicks me out.
I’d rather get the Covid watching Green Bay in Las Vegas than staying at home on the couch waiting for the Covid to come down my chimney
Monday, Nov. 23rd
One of my musings when contemplating how things would be impacted by Covid Thanksgiving. Will they still have ice machines? (Yes!). Can I get popcorn at the movies? (Yes!).
Went into the Orleans casino. Surreptitiously vaped (Sour Apple!) while dropping two twenties on video poker. Always like to catch a matinee while in town. Saw the Last Vermeer. Me and two other people. Popcorn, soda, and Medical Milk Duds (10 mg of THC per Dud).
World War II art forgery law room drama. Guy Pearce was excellent. Nice way to wait for the Milk Duds to work its magic. After two months of eating like a wrestler trying to make weight class, fooling the Grim Reaper at the lab clinic and bobbing and weaving against the Covid, salty buttered popcorn was munchies heaven!
I don’t care. I ‘n’ I am vacationing during the worst pandemic in 100 years. That’s why they call it gambling!
Tuesday, Nov. 24th
First day of the Holiday Week restrictions in Nevada. Take out for lunch (In ‘n’ Out Burger), sat outside. Weather was ideal.
Killed some time at head shops. Always looking for Marley and Alien smoking apparatuses. Found a boss Marley grinder!
Hit the Nevada Dispensary. First time waiting on line during the trip. What do I ‘n’ I care? Buy two get one free new customer. (Wedding Cake!) (Fruity Pebblez!) Sour apple Chewz! Vacation time for I ‘n’ I. No watches, no zoom meetings. Took a drive over by the new Raiders stadium. Looking for hotels if Green Bay plays in Vegas….Someday with fans in the seats.
Sucker for a discount
Wed. Nov. 25th
On the hunt for Bob Dylan’s specialty whiskey. Heaven’s Door. Mission accomplished!
Thursday Nov. 26th
Back to the Green to spend my $50 winnings. No buffets of course. But I ‘n’ I had made reservations ahead of time at Big Dog Brewery which is where I go to watch Green Bay play. Excellent Turkey and trimmings. Place was deserted. Covid restrictions really affected just how many people were in town. I wonder how much longer the service industry can absorb take out and delivery as opposed to in house and bar tab. I ‘n’ I double my usual 20% gratuity.
Friday Nov. 27 – Black Friday
From 10am til sundown. Hit all of Vegas record shops. One was curbside. (I ‘n’ I have a curbside record store, it’s called Amazon.) Another shop was not open. Come on! You gotta make the effort even during Covid. This is about the third year in a row I have found more Reggae vinyl than CDs.
Always nice when the shop owner remembers the Reggae guy from Utah with his stack of rare black wax singles and obscure LP’s. Always wear my Smile Jamaica tee on a dig.
I ‘n’ I gonna rinse out the haul fresh on Smile Jamaica.
Is it Jamaican ska or Midwestern polka made to sound like ska. Tune in to Smile Jamaica while I ‘n’ I drop the needle pon the record!
Saturday, Nov. 28th
All good things must come to an end. Pack all my stuff. Drive through coffee and grind 420 miles back to home base; at 75 MPH just in case…
Considering how nip and tuck the whole excursion was from mid October til I ‘n ‘ left, I got to do a bout 90% of what I normally do in Vegas. Monday AM my dentist was carping about what a drag Covid Thanksgiving was under quarantine.
I ‘n’ I shrugged and said, I had a great week. Covid free to cavity free, let’s do it all over next November!
bless, Bobbylon
Coronavirus slip mats for your turntable. .That’s sick ‘n’ twisted
Smile Jamaica December Roots Digital Dubplate
Akabu – Africans United; Akabu (ON U Sound) ’89 UK root dawta group
Gladiators – See and Blind; Country Living (Heartbeat) ‘85
Orange Daddy vs. Qtip? Didn’t care. Cannabis, legalization to rule the nation? That I n’ I care about.
In the Congressional and Presidential, the negativity is so disgusting, I ‘n’ I fall back on the Rasta notion of isms and schisms. Demopublicans vs. Republicrats. Fiyah bu’n!
I’m on the Wailers Party! (400 Years lyrics)
<Peter Tosh – 400 Years of the same philosophy>
We sick an’ tired of-a your ism-skism game Dyin’ ‘n’ goin’ to heaven in-a Jesus’ name, lord.
On election night, I ‘n’ I was sitting on the couch watching an X-Files rerun and dialing up my dispensary route for my Vegas vacation next week. (Cratedigging in a pandemic? Better than staying home waiting for The Covid to tag me in Utah. Rona Rage, let’s get on the road!)
Yelp for potheads
Two fingers of Jim Beam, strawberry cough and my Ipad. Ding! Since I was scoping out Weedmaps, I got notifications.
Ding! New Jersey puff puff passes adult use Cannabis (12 down, 38 to go)
Ding! Mississippi puff puff passes medical marijuana (36 states including DC)
Ding! South Dakota puff puff passes medical and recreational marijuana (13 down, 37 to go)
Ding! Montana, my birthplace, puff puff passes recreational marijuana (14 down, 36 to go)
Ding! Arizona (where my Snowbird parents live half the year) puff puff passes marijuana (15 down, 35 to go)
My parents – Trump voters who also voted for the hippie lettuce.
Add DC legal and 16 of 51. Almost 1/3 of the nation states/entities. The 100 year American war against nature is crumbling! Like I ‘n’ crumble Sour Diesel inna mi Bob Marley grinder!
When you look at the map, the West is mostly covered. Even in the Mormon Triangle states of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, Utah has medical. 4 dispensaries according to Weedmaps!
Utah’s first dispensary
For I ‘n’ I, it is 1300 miles from Fort Benton Montana (home) to Sun City West, AZ (parents winter home). Except for that stretch through Idaho and Utah, I’m not a criminal.
Selah!
Bobbylon
Don’t get complacent, tokers. Joe Biden is the ultimate drug warrior. Not a fan of the Seven Leaf. Neither is his VP. Be vigilant!
Set 1: Legalize Herb Set
The Heptones – Mr. President; Party Time (Mango) ’76 US vinyl; Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
Jah Lloyd – Herbs of Dub (Teem) ’74 UK blue vinyl dub album of the hour
Johnny Clarke – Legalize It; Authorized Rockers (Virgin Front Line) Peter Tosh cover: 15 down, 35 to go election weed set!
Black Slate – Legalise Collie Herb; Amigo (Ensign) ’80 UK
King Kong – Legalize It; Rumble Jumble Life (Massive B) 2005
Kid Loco – Here Comes the Munchies; Kill Your Darling (Division 1) 2001 Fr. Dubber
Gracy & the Herbman Band – Forward Up; See Mi Yah (Funfundvierzig) ’91 Germany dawta on the vox
Smile Jamaica loves Jah-loween. Here is the Monster Menagerie from the Ark-ives:
Anti-christ/Mark of the Beast/666 – 7
Bats – 2
Bermuda Triangle – 1
Black magic – 9
Cemeteries & graveyards – 7
Demons – 6
Devil, Lucifer, Satan – 59
Dungeons – 6
Duppies & Jumbies (Jamaican ghosts) – 14
Exorcist – 1
Frankenstein – 5
Ghosts – 19
Halloween holiday – 5
Haunted houses – 2
Hell hounds -1
Loch Ness Monster – 1
Monsters – 4
Mr. Brown who rides around Trenchtown in a motorized coffin – 2
Mummies – 2
Obeah (Jamaican Black Magic) – 13
Skeletons – 2
Undertakers – 3
Vampires, Dracula and soap opera vampire Barnabas Collins – 63
Voodoo – 5
Werewolves – 4
Witches – 4
Zombies – 14
By my Liberal Arts math, that tallies up to over 260 Jah-loween gems. Plus all my horror soundbytes and movie trailers. (New additions in between the horrorfest such as The Exorcist, Planet of the Vampires,nNight of the Living Dead, Phantasm).
All mixed into one bubbling cauldron of grimness. Perfect for this era of The Covid. I don’t listen to a lot of new Reggae releases but next year I’m sure to add some ghouly Covid delights.
There was once upon a time when I ‘n’ I never said a word and only played station ID’s during the 3 hours. It was truly 180 minutes of drum, bass and Afternoon of the Living Dead.
But since this is Smile Jamaica, I ‘n’ I tell you some stories to embellish the tunes:
Annie Palmer – the evil Jamaican wife of a slave plantation owner who used to whip her slaves mercilessly and continued to haunt them after she died
<Annie Palmer; 26 sec.>
In Jamaica police informers were referred to as Vampires:
<Vampire = informer; 27 sec.>
Peter Tosh always felt there were hell hounds on his trail. One night he was paralyzed from the forces of a demon. He prayed to Jah to save. Jah told him, “son, use the word and you will be as free as a bird.
That word? Bumba klaat. In Jamaica, that is as rude as saying Mother F’er in the US. Bum for vagina. Klaat = cloth. Rastas want nothing to do with their queen’s “monthly visitor”. So the epithet shocked the duppy (Jamaican ghost) out of Peter’s soul.
<Oh Bumba Klaat; 1 min. 22 sec.>
And how about the corpse who put a transmission, engine and four wheels on his coffin to terrorize the denizens of Trenchtown ghetto. His names was Mr. Brown.
<Mr. Brown rides around in a coffin; 21 sec.>
curse, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Jah-loween Monster Bash, 10/31/2020 Annotated Playlist: 85 sec.
Set 1:
Ini Kamoze – Hole in the Pumpkin; Shocking Out (RAS) ’87 3 Hours of Jah-loween
Scientist – The Voodoo Curse; Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (Greensleeves) ‘81
Black Uhuru – Anthem; Anthem (Island) ‘83
Ijahman Levi – Devil Disciple; Forward Rastaman (Jahmani) ‘87
The Toyes – Monster Hash; The Toyes (CD Tunes) ‘96
GG All-Stars – Haunted House; 12” (GG’s Hit!) ‘78
Set 2:
Crucial Bee – Mark of the Beast; Just a Sting (All-Starr) US Virgin Islands vinyl
Sinead O’Connor – Vampire; Throw Down Your Arms (That’s Why There’s Chocolate & Vanilla) 2005 Devon Irons cover
The Ethiopians – Obeah Book; Slave Call (Rohit) ’74 Obeah – Jamaican black magic
Ghetto Priest – Dungeon; Vulture Culture (ON U Sound) 2003 Singers & Players cover
Clint Eastwood & General Saint – Talk About Run; 12” (Greensleeves) ’81 UK duppies in the cemetery
Set 3:
Lone Ranger – Annie Palmer; Barnabas in Collins Wood (Wave) ’79 JA vinyl: Jamaican witch/ghost
Pablo Gad – Blood Suckers; Blood Suckers (Celluloid) ‘78
Chalice – Back Weh Evil Forces; Stand Up! (CSA) ’85 UK vinyl
Sky High & the Mau Mau – Cemetery Robbery; Origination (Sky High) 70’s
Moses – When the Vampire Comes to Your Neighborhood; 12” (Wackies) ’82 Bronx
Leo Graham – Voodooism; Magnetic Mirror Master Mix (Anachron) 70’s Dutch vinyl; Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n
Set 4:
Capleton & Big Youth – Mark of the Beast; I-Testament (Def Jam) ‘97
Jimmy Cliff – Satan’s Kingdom; I am the Living (MCA) ’80 US vinyl
Easy Star All-Stars feat. Mikey General & Spragga Benz – Thrillah (Easy Star) 2012 Michael Jackson/Vincent Prince
Carl McDonald – Satan Soldiers on the Run; 12” (Makdon) ’87 Brooklyn
Set 5:
Peter Tosh – Oh Bumba Klaat; 12” EP (Rolling Stone) ’81 UK fight off demonic possession
David Lindley – Werewolves of London; Very Greasy (Elektra) ’88 Warren Zevon cover
Dennis Brown – Black Magic Woman; Black Magic Reggae (Trojan) ’72 Fleetwood Mac/Santana cover
Don Carlos – Night Rider (In Danger); Deeply Concerned (RAS) ’87 DC vinyl
The Wailing Souls – Face the Devil; Face the Devil (Jah Guidance) ’81 JA vinyl
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Mr. Brown; Black Magic Reggae (Trojan) ’70 rides around in a coffin
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 