Tag Archives: Black Uhuru

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-tober 10, 2022 – 33 Years of Smile Jamaica

October 28, 2022 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

<Autobiography of Reggae & 33 Years of Smile Jamaica; 1 min. 56 sec.>

I ‘n’ I parents are Snowbirds. Winter and Spring in Arizona. Summer and Fall in Fort Benton, Montana. North Central Montana. Along the Highline.

Wheat fields, UFOs, and cattle mutilations

Since they are retired, and Fort Benton has more cows than people, they don’t have a lot to do.

Fort Benton is the birthplace of Montana. Founded in 1846, it is the longest inhabited township in the state. Before the railroads it was the farthest spot where steamboats could haul freight on the Missouri River. About 1200 people live there.

Floated the Missouri River many times, inner tubes, as a youth in Fort Benton

As you might expect, Fort Benton has several good museums and statues. Moms worked as a guide for visitors coming out of their Covid spiderholes after two years of lockdown: Canada, Czech Republic, Japan. France, she told stories to them all.

One day a guy in his mid 50’s approached and introduced himself. Larry C was a classmate of mine. (1983, 36 students.) He was a skinny kid with blond hair who kept to himself. Didn’t really interact much and hadn’t thought of him in about 40 years.

Then he said something incredible: “Does Bob do a radio show in Salt Lake City?” My Mom nearly fell out of her chair. Yes! Larry does some sort of work that takes him to Utah and by some higher serendipity, found I ‘n’ I doing Smile Jamaica.

Mom and I figured it was because I ‘n’ I do mention, quite often, about being from the land of “where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.”*

*Please don’t cancel me!

Fort Benton MT – site of the original 70’s cattle mutilations. Second biggest wheat producing county in America. #3 target when Putin launches his nukes. (Home of America’s Minutemen missiles). Home of the original Shep dog story.

The loyal dog who stayed at the train station awaiting his deceased master whose casket left by train

Now has a hemp processing plant which is the second biggest employer in town after the city. Also a dispensary now that Montana legalized the hippie lettuce!

Author was my high school Biology teacher

I tell this story about the legacy of 33 years of hosting Smile Jamaica, one of the longest running – if not THE longest running Reggae Show in America. A deejay in Florida had 30 plus years before he passed away. The killer Reggae show on KGNU – Boulder, Collierado, Reggae Bloodlines might be longer, but they have had multiple hosts.

Celebrating not a Milestone but a Smilestone! (14 sec.)

I was in The Pie Pizzeria by the U of U campus. They were playing KRCL. My roommate and I heard an ad for new volunteers on the community station that rules the nation! I ‘n’ I was trained and debuted end of June 1988: late Sunday/early Monday graveyard – 3 O’clock Roadblock. (Like Smile Jamaica a Bob Marley jam). Learned the ropes. Entertained the select few night owls, cab drivers, cat burglars, insomniacs and graveyard workers.

Oct. 89, my Reggae mentor, John “Rutabaga” Reese invited me to co-host Smile Jamaica. Then, Sat. 1-4pm. Of course! Rutabaga left Summer of ’90 and I guess I’ll just stay until I ‘n’ I joins Jah’s Heavenly Choir.

<How it all started: Smile Jamaica ’89; 77sec.>

My 45 was a gift from a generous listener!

So I’n’ I thought to celebrate 33 Years with the best recollection of albums and CDs I would have acquired those early years (1986 Black Uhuru Anthem LP to about ’90 prime time). I always knew on the vinyl which are the first, because I would write “Nelson” on round Avery labels and attach to the corner of the LP.

I quickly learned not to do that, because the adhesive on the stickers can leave a round stain on the vinyl, diminishing its value!

<Labeling records; 61 sec.>

Reggae archaeology: I ‘n’ I know the early years of collecting because I used to label all my vinyl with name on stickers. Don’t do that!

Conclusion: Something like Smile Jamaica: Same time, same host for a third of a century? In this chaotic era of failing newspapers, $44 billion for Twitter, podcasts and streaming. It is pretty impressive to be something stable from the Dinosaur Media/Legacy Media era.

I always joke, me and The Simpsons, the only things that don’t change. Sunday Night FOX. Saturday Afternoons – Smile Jamaica

Selah!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-ives: Jah-tober 8, 2022 – 33 Years of Reggae Vinyl

Set 1:

Black Uhuru – What Is Life; Anthem (Island) ’84 US/UK
UB40 – Present Arms in Dub; Present Arms in Dub (DEP) ’81 UK dub album of the hour
The Abyssinians – Forward on to Zion; Forward (Alligator) ‘82 Chicago blues label
Judy Mowatt – Just a Stranger Here; Mellow Mood (Ashandan) ’75 JA
Big Youth – Get On Up; Rock Holy (Nichola Delita) ’80 JA
Jah Lion – Colombia Colly; Colombia Colly (Mango) ’76 UK/US 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Bingy Bunny – Coca-Cola Bad Boy; 12” (12 Star) ’80 JA

Not the first album in the Ark-Ive, but the one that made I ‘n’ I a Reggae Fanatic!

Set 2:

Johnny Nash – Stir It Up; I Can See Clearly Now (CBS) ’72 US Bob Marley cover
Culture – Iron Sharpen Iron; Africa Stand Alone (April) ’78 JA
Dennis Brown – Spellbound; Spellbound (Joe Gibbs) ’80 FL
Bam Bam – Stop the War; EP ’85 LA – Roots Dawta pic sleeve
Third World – Now That We’ve Found Love; 12” (Island) ’85 UK pic sleeve

Bob Marley worked as a songwriter for pop singer. Quit and went back to the Wailers to give us Catch a Fire and Burnin’

Set 3:

Dambala – I Nation Time; Azania (Dada Music) ’83 UK
Lee “Scratch” Perry – Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Cornbread; Roast Fish Collie Weed & Cornbread (Upsetter) ’78 JA
Babatunde Tony Ellis – No Place to Run Sweden; No Place to Run (MNW) ’79 Sweden
Sheila Hylton – Breakfast in Bed; 12” (Ballistic) ’79 UK Dusty Springfield cover
Dr. Alimantado – In the Mix; In the Mix (Keyman) ’85 dub album of the hour

Roast fish, Collie Weed, Cornbread – 3 major food groups

Set 4:

Kwame – Hellhounds on My Trail; Follow I (Polydor) ’80 US
Louise Bennett – Color Bar; Woman Talk (Heartbeat) ’86 Cambridge, MA; female dub poet collection
Misty in Roots; Wandering Wanderer; 12” (People Unite) ’81 UK

Been tracking this Roots Dawta dub poetry collection over the past month or so

Set 5:

Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie; 12” EP (MCA) ’82 UK

<#2 after Peter Tosh, cassette – Spring 1983; 21 sec.>

The Upsetters feat. The Heptones – Zions Blood; Super Ape (Mango) ’76 US/UK Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
Hortense Ellis – Sweetheart; Dance. Hall Session (Studio One/RAS) ’87 DC
Mighty Diamonds – Pass the Knowledge; 12” (Music Works) ’82 JA

Spring ’83 on cassette: #2 addition out of about 1 million items in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Buffalo Soldiers; Legend (Island) ’83 US/UK – E.T. Thorngren rmx: Wailers Family Tree
Peter Tosh – No Sympathy; This Is Reggae Music vol. 3 (Island) ’72 comp. original mix
Marcia Griffiths – Tell Me Now; Marcia At Studio One (Studio One) ’80 JA
Bunny Wailer – Serious Thing; 12” (Solomonic) ’86 JA

Original pressings had 80’s synth remixes. Which have not aged well, unfortunately.

Set 7:

Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – 666; Hey World! (EMI America) ’86 US
Papa Kojie & Blue Riddim – Nancy Reagan Re-Election Remix; 12” EP (ORA International) ’85 UK pic sleeve
John Holt – Police in Helicopter; Police in. Helicopter (Greensleeves) ’82 UK herbtune
Sharon Black – Love Is Overdue; 12” (Clintones) early 80’s Gregory Isaacs cover

“She sit pon the lap of Mr. T, while her husband plans World War III”

Set 8: Mutant Dub

Dub Syndicate – The Show Is Coming; Tunes From the Missing Channel (ON U Sound) ’84 UK
Singers & Players feat. Sister P – Holy Scripture; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’81 UK
The Clash feat. Mikey Dread – Crooked Beat; Sandinista! (Epic) ’80 UK
Keith Levene – If 6 Was a 9; Keith Levene’s Violent Oppostion EP (Taang!) ’88 UK Jimi Hendrix cover
Bim Sherman – Golden Locks; Across the Red Sea (ON U Sound) ’82 UK
Benjamin Zephaniah – Big Boys Don’t Make Girls Cry; 12” (Upright) ’84 UK pic sleeve; dub poet

Crooked Beat would make a great Reggae or Mutant Dub Radio Show name

Words of Wisdom:

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 23, 2022 – Selassie Birthday Tribute!

July 29, 2022 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

Did a search on Discogs.com

Rasta – 8000 titles
Jah – over 35,000! titles
Selassie – 2500 titles

Who is the man Ras Tafari Makonnen?

To millions of devotees Mr. Makonnen became Emperor of Ethiopia and revealed as the embodiment of Christ – Haile Selassie I

The Negusa Negast, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Elect of God ever living God. Earth’s Rightful Ruler. The Head Creator and Power of the Trinity.

Smile Jamaica celebrates his life and legacy in song every week. But especially noted on his birthday: July 23, 1892.

For 34 years, more than half of every song featured on Smile Jamaica are Rastafari* gospel tributes.

*Not Rastafarians – that is an ism and schism

<Happy Birthday Haile Selassie I; 1 min. 43 sec.>

In a far flung province of Harar in Ethiopia a child was born. Ethiopia. Ancient Axum and Abyssinia of antiquity. In the Horn of Africa where Arabia meets Africa.

Selassie’s royal lineage goes all the way back to the Old Testament by virtue of his father’s mother.

<Royal Birth; 32 sec.>

Youthman Ras Tafari Makonnen. Inspired Rasta worship and launched Reggae music into the world

The Hebrew King of the Jews Solomon linked up with an Arabian princess in the ancient province of Sheba. (Most likely in Yemen). Often called the Queen of Sheba, her name was Makeda.

<Haile Selassie – From the line of King Solomon and Queen Makeda of Sheba; 55 sec.>

After some palace intrigues, the young Makonnen commanded an army from the provinces and marched on the capitol of Addis Ababa. The Empress, Zewditu, either “died of diabetes” or was poisoned, making way for the 38 year old prince to become Emperor – Haile Selassie I – Power of the Trinity. First of his name.

Not bad for a governor warrior of a minor province, commanding armies at only 5 foot 2. From victory to rule in two short years (1928-30)

<From Ras Tafari Makonnen to Haile Selassie I; Nov. 2, 1930; 39 sec.>

Nov. 2, 1930 – coronation ceremony of Haile Selassie I

Known as the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, he led his people into modernity. Fought off a cruel invasion and occupation by Fascist Italy from 1935-1941 and eventually became an inspiration to those in Jamaica yearning for a return to the glories of Africa after 400 Years in Babylon.

<Honorifics of His Imperial Majesty; 26 sec.>

And true to his nickname, Selassie had pet lions. Some of which rode in automobiles with HIM (His Imperial Majesty).

<Selassie owned 26 pet lions!; 43 sec.>

***

Wheel it back to Jamaica. The black nationalist, Marcus Garvey, was trying to initiate a movement of impoverished Caribbeans to leave the West and return to Africa. Make reverse passage out of the diaspora to build lives and industry in the Mother Continent.

The prophet Garvey said, “look to Africa where a King will be crowned as the symbol to begin repatriation.” Within years that prophecy was fulfilled.

Jamaicans, especially in the slums around Kingston, took to this notion and merged bedrock Christianity, mixed with Hindu ideals of reincarnation, into a syncretic religion that became known as Rastafarianism or Rastafari worship if we aren’t abiding “isms and schisms”

Jamaican Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey: “Look to the East, where a black King will be crowned”

Why Hindus and reincarnation? After slavery was abolished in 1830 in Jamaica, freed blacks didn’t want to work the plantations. They were content to be small farmers.

So the British plantation owners hired workers from India to do the brutal work of cutting sugar cane. Living by blacks, Hindus brought some important ingredients to Rastafari workship

Collie = cannabis from India venerated the Hindu Goddess Kali. Jamaica’s great soil allowed for a bountiful harvest of the seven leaf. Great after a day of hard labor in the fields.
Reincarnation – Haile Selassie I became the embodiment of Jesus Christ. Instead of a white god, downtrodden Jamaicans had a Black Jesus to worship.
Dreadlocks. The Hindu sadhus wore dreads. Rastas invoked the Nazarite Vow as an Old Testament sign of observed faith.

Drink no wine
Grow the locks upon your head, never cut nor crease the flesh (no piercings, no tattoos)
Avoid anything dead. Vegetarianism and even avoiding funerals.

<Dreadlocks and the Nazarite Vow; 53 sec.>

If you want to read the best book on the Rastas, it is Leonard Barrett’s The Rastafarians.

Alas, Haile Selassie I met an unfortunate end. During the 70’s a terrible famine took hold in East Africa. The 80 year old Emperor was out of touch in the capitol, while thousands were starving to death in the provinces. Even though his governors and courtiers told him everything was fine. Plenty of food. “Two negative growth cycles in a row are not a recession”

That sort of gaslighting doesn’t work now and didn’t work then. In an era of world wide revolutionary movements, Ethiopian Communists – armed to the teeth by the Soviet Union – overthrew HIM in 1974.

Imprisoned in the basement of the palace, never to be seen again. And Ethiopia has been at constant war ever since. Right now a war in Ethiopia, every bit as vicious as Russia v. Ukraine, is killings thousands.

<The Communists – The Dergue overthrow HIM; 62 sec.>

The Dergue – Ethiopian Marxists who unleashed a brutal dictatorship in place of Imperial rule

Of course, to Rastas in the early years of Reggae, were devastated and refused to believe the news. “You can’t kill God!”.

Through that I ‘n’ I celebrate that legacy through Bob Marley’s “Jah Live” to Burning Spear’s “Jah No Dead”

bless, Bobbylon

Jah Live – 7″ commentary on Selassie’s demise.

Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah
Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah

The truth is an offense but not a sin
Is he who laugh last, children, is he who win
Is a foolish dog, bark at a flying bird
One sheep must learn, children, to respect the shepherd

Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah
Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah, Jah

Fools saying in their heart
Rasta, your God is dead
But I and I know Jah Jah
Dreaded it shall be dreaded and dread

Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah
Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah

Let Jah a-rise
Now that the enemies are scattered
Let Jah a-rise
The enemies, the enemies are scattered

Jah live! Children yeah
Jah Jah live! Children yeah

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: July 23, 2022 – Haile Selassie Birthday

Set 1:

Black Uhuru – I Love King Selassie; 10″ (Jammy$) ’77
Culture – Calling Rastafari; Calling Rastafari (Nighthawk) ’82 comp.
Rita Marley – Thank You Jah; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ’80
Gideon Jah Rubbaal – Love Rasta; Free Us Now (ACL) ’77
Chalawa – Jah Collie Weed; Capture Land (Green Weenie) ’78 Oshawa, Ont. Canada 4:20 vinyl
Jacob Miller – Who Say Jah No Dread; Who Say Jah No Dread (Greensleeves)
Jah Shaka – In the Beginning Dub; Jah Dub Creator: Commandments of Dub Part 5 (Jah Shaka) ’85 UK vinyl dub album of the hour

Set 2:

Aisha Morrison – Ethiopia; Stay Red (Esoldun) ’77? Lee “Scratch” Perry Black Ark prod’n
Linval Thompson – Jah Jah the Conqueror; Cool Down (Culture Press) ’75
Diego & the Sons of Jah – Jah Jah Ital; Babylon a Fall Down (Trojan) ’77 comp.
Keith Hudson – Rasta Country; Rasta Communication (Greensleeves) ’78
Mikey Dread – The Voice of Jah; Dread at the Controls (Dread at the Controls) ’79
Leroy Smart – Jahovah; Channel One Hitbound (Heartbeat) ’77 comp.

Set 3:

Althea & Donna – If You Don’t Love Jah; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78
Barrington Levy – Jah Life; Bounty Hunter (Cactus) ’79
Hugh Mundell – Jah Fire; Jah Fire (Black Arrow) ’80
Johnny Osbourne – Jah Promise; Truths & Rights (Studio One) ’80
Bim Sherman – Lamb of Judah; Bim Sherman Meets Horace Andy & U Black in a Rub-a-Dub Style (Original) ’79
Aggrovators – None Shall Escape the Dub; Rasta ’76 (Attack) Dub Album of the Hour

Set 4:

Judy Mowatt – King of Kings; Only a Woman (Shanachie) ’82
The Morwells – Jah Lion; Best of (Nighthawk) ’81
Freddie McGregor – Rastaman Camp; Bobby Bobylon (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’75 comp.

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital Set

Jah Mel – Jah Is My King; Watchful Eyes (Iroko) ’83 Fr. vinyl:
Reggae Regular – Praise Jah Love; Ghetto Rock (Greensleeves) ’84 UK
Vivian Jones – Who Is On Jah Side; Jah Works (Jah Shaka) ’87 UK
African Princess – Jah Children Cry; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka) ’80 UK

Set 6:

Zion Family – Jesus is a Nazarite;
Cedric Myton & the Congos – Where He Leads Me; Face the Music (VP) ’81
Wailing Souls – They Don’t Know Jah; Very Best of (Greensleeves) ’82 comp.
Bad Brains – Rally Round Jah Throne; Rock for Light (Caroline) ’83
Don Carlos – Jah Jah Hear My Plea; Prophecy (Blue Moon)

Set 7:

Jimmy Cliff – The Lion Awakes; Club Paradise Soundtrack (Sony) ’86
The Love Joys – Wherever Jah Send Me; Reggae Vibes (Wackies) ’81
Haile Selassie I – War; War Album (Culture Press) UN speech = Bob Marley War

Set 8:

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Jah Live; Songs of Freedom (Tuff Gong) ’75
Twinkle Brothers – Since I Threw the Comb Away; Countrymen (Virgin Frontline) ’80
Aisha – The Creator; High Priestess (Ariwa) ‘88
Cocoa Tea – Jah Made Them All; Rocking Dolly (RAS) ’83 to Michael Jackson’s Human Nature
Sister Carol – Jah Is Mine; Black Cinderella (Jah Life/Heartbeat) ’84 to Jackson & McCarney The Girl is Mine
Burning Spear – Jah No Dead (Discomix); Spear Burning (Pressure Sounds) ’79 comp.

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 2, 2022 – 34 Years of Reggae Vinyl!

July 8, 2022 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

Imagine a time long ago. Before Facebook, Netflix and Itunes. Ronald Wilson Reagan in the White House.

Last Sunday of June 1988. Salt Lake City, Utah. Hot summer. Middle of the Night. A callow youth from Montana debuted on the late night airwaves of community radio station KRCL.

The show was called: 3 O’clock Roadblock – after the Bob Marley tune. Reggae with a mix of Ska and World Beat.

I ‘n’ I had been doing a little Reggae show on the Univ. of Utah campus station called Positive Vibrations (also Bob Marley). My roommate and I were in the Pie Pizzeria and they had KRCL on the Hi Fi. We heard a call out for new volunteers. And they were looking for a late night Reggae mix show. I ‘n’ I was selected, six weeks of trainings and started fumbling on the airwaves for late night insomniacs, cab drivers, graveyard shifters, cat burglars and night owls.

Thirty four years later. Trodding on prime time with Smile Jamaica

<34 Years of Reggae Radio: on KRCL; 2 min.>

I ‘n’ I had discovered the gem that is KRCL. Non commercial music. No commercials. No slick presentation. (Early 1987). And the station had two really great Reggae shows: Smile Jamaica, with my mentor, Rutabaga Reese. And Nite Roots with Papa Pilgrim. I ‘n’ I would listen intently, especially on Saturdays (1 to 4pm in those days; not 4-7). Great roots gems spun by Rutabaga. He taught I ‘n I about ON U Sound – What I ‘n’ I re-invented as the music genre Mutant Dub.

I ‘n’ I would keep a notebook of classic albums to fill up my collection before I could ever think of committing to a weekly radio show.

<Reggae Radio mentors at KRCL; 40 sec.>

The original KRCL radio Reggae thank you gift

Fall 1986 I moved from Bozeman, MT to SLC to attend the Univ. of Utah. I ‘n’ I had always been a music collector. And in 1986 I discovered the compact disk.

In the dorms I met a Jewish engineering student named Neal. He had a rich kid’s stereo and in the concrete block dorm rooms, sound really reverberated. We traded disks back and forth. One night we listened to the group Black Uhuru.

Heavy electronic 80’s era Sly & Robbie; Michael Rose’s Afro-Arab vocals and balanced harmonies: Puma Jones (roots dawta) and Ducky Simpson (Rasta dread.)

I ‘n’ I had about a dozen Reggae CDs but Black Uhuru “Anthem” was the epiphany moment. I became a Reggae obsessive after that!

In gratitude to Black Uhuru, I used to start each late night 3 O’clock Roadblock with a Black Uhuru tune.

<Black Uhuru and Reggae Fanaticism; 63 sec.>

Not the first Reggae album for I ‘n’ I. But THE one that made me a Reggae Fanatic for life.

Now that I ‘n’ I had the show, I needed to expand my Reggae collection through the unintended, and probably unwilling President at the time:

Ronald

Wilson

Reagan – 666 as the Rastas say.

<Funder of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Ronald Wilson Reagan; 37 sec.>

Hey, I ‘n I bear no grudges against the man. Back in the mid 80’s there were more grants that loans. I would take a big fat Ronnie check and deposit into savings. Then either around the Holidays or Summer I would scour the Bay Area record shops. Dozens of them, large and small, back before digital killed the record hut.

San Francisco
East Bay: Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito
Mill Valley – Marin county
Sacramento and Reno if I ‘n’ I was driving.

<Bay Area cratedig circuit; 44 sec.>

Village Music – Mill Walley, CA. North on the Golden Gate Bridge

I used to stay at a Travelodge on Columbus and Bay. Right across from the Tower Records. Or couch surf at an Aunt’s apartment over by San Francisco State U.

I would descend like a plague of locusts in the shops. CDs (new). LPs bargains as people sold vinyl for the CDs. Cheap and plentiful.

$4 dollar records cast off in 1989 can go for hundreds today on Ebay and Discogs.

<That effort became the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives; 51 sec>

Jews have the Wailing Wall. Muslims have the Kaaba. I ‘n’ I had Tower Records San Francisco

Salt Lake City was well represented in good record stores, before digital set in, during the mid 80’s. I used to deliver mail and had to use my own car. So the gas reimbursement was usually enough to buy two new disks every two weeks at the late lamented Smokey’s Records. Other gems at places like Randy’s (still in business) and Cosmic Aeroplane, Raspberry Records and Mad Platter (all gone to that record hut in the sky)

Quick Smokey’s story: Near the end of the store’s life, the owner Smokey Koelsch, started giving me the hairy eyeball. Why? Thieves kept breaking to Smokey’s shop to steal all the Reggae cds.

And those are the stories I ‘n’ I collect and share for 34 years.

Forward ever, backwards never1

bless, Bobbylon

<Cratedigging in SLC; 47 sec.>

Used to spend my Post Office gas reimbursement here, Summer 1987

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: July 2, 2022 – 34 Years of Reggae Radio (Vinyl)

Set 1

Prince Far I & the Arabs – The Message; Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 (ROIR) ’78 Dub album of the hour
Black Uhuru – Party Next Door; Anthem (Island) ’84 US
I Roy – Deck of Love Many Moods of I Roy (Trojan0 ’74 UK
Inner Circle – Burial; Blame It on the Sun (Trojan) ’75 UK Peter Tosh Cover
Arthur Louis – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; This Is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Island) ’75 US comp.
Burning Spear – Lion; Man in the Hills (Mango) ’76 US
Rita Marley – One Draw; 12″ (Shanachie) ’82 US – 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement

Teacher Rita schooled about the One Draw by students: Herbie, Smokey, Little Milla (as in Sensimilla!)

Set 2:

Marcia Griffiths – Feel Like Jumping; Feel Like Jumping (Receiver) ’68 UK comp.
The Heptones – Cool Rasta; Cool Rasta (Trojan) ’76 UK
Lion Zion – Gas Guzzler; Reggae in America (House of Natty) ’76 Oakland; Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n
Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus – Rasta Liveth; Tribute to the Emperor (Trojan) ’76 UK
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Punky Reggae Party; 12″ (Tuff Gong) ’77 JA

No boring old farts at the Punky Reggae Party

Set 3:

Judy Mowatt – Mr. Dee Jay; Mr. Dee Jay (Ashandan) ’75 JA
Big Youth – Hurting Inside; Progress (Nichola Delita) ’78 JA Bob Marley cover
Dennis Brown – Malcolm X; Visions (Blue Moon) ’78 UK
Keith Hudson – Musicology; Rasta Communication (Greensleeves) ’78
The Gayladds – Little Candle; Love & Understanding (Ballistic) ’79 UK

Autobiographical – Mr. Dee-J for 34 years!

Set 4:

Matumbi – Music in the Air; Seven Seals (Harvest) ’79 UK green vinyl
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Inglan Is a Bitch; Bass Culture
Soul Syndicate – There’s a Fire; Was, Is & Always (Epiphany) ’80 Santa Cruz, CA; Gaylads cover
African Princess – Jah Children Cry; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka) ’85 UK

Set 5:

Bunny Wailer – Mellow Mood; Sings the Wailers (Mango) ’80 US – rock steady covers
Desmond Dekker – Moving On; Black & Dekker (Stiff) ’81 UK
Akimbo – So Long Trouble; So Long Trouble EP (Forward Sounds) ’85 UK
Johnnie Osbourne – Love Comes and Goes; Reggae on Broadway (Cha Cha) ’81 UK

Set 6:

Peter Tosh – Reggae Myelitis; Wanted, Dread & Alive (EMI America) ’81 US
Toots & the Maytals – Beautiful Woman; Knock Out! (Mango) ’81 US
Casselberry & DuPree – Take It to the Limit; City Down (Icebergg) ’86 Milwaukee, Wi; two women cover the Eagles

Very first addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Xmas ’81. Thanks Mom!

Set 7:

Singers & Players feat. Prince Far I – Quante Jubila; War of Words (ON U Sound) ’81 UK
Twinkle Brothers – Since I Threw the Comb Away (Sunsplash) 8/7/82 Montego Bay
Don Carlos – Lazer Beam; Spread Out (Burning Sounds) ’83 UK
Lilian Allen – Conditions Critical; Conditions Critical (Redwood) ’87 Emeryville, CA; Toronto dub poet

Reggae mentor Rutabaga Reese hyped me to Adrian Sherwood/ON U Sound. The dub/electronic crossover I started calling Mutant Dub

Set 8:

Singers & Players feat. Sister P – Holy Scripture; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’88 UK
Caribbean All Stars – Snake in de Grass; Live & Direct (Raw Life) ’84 Oakland
Krieger-Densmore Reggae Bonanza – Get Up Stand Up; 12″ (Rhino) ’83 US Wailers cover
Ruffy & Tuffy – Third World War Is a Must; Climax (Black Star) ’88 Finland

First live Reggae concert: Summer 1987. Caribbean Allstars open for Third World

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: June 26, 2021 – 33 Years of Reggae Radio!

July 2, 2021 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

Everyone has an origin story. Here is mine. I ‘n’ I had moved to Salt Lake City, Fall of 1986 to attend the University of Utah. Left Bozeman, Montana (Montana State) and brought with me a good stereo system. Laser turntable, Bose 301 speakers, cassette deck and amp.

I also brought with me this new fangled gadget called the CD player. In Montana I had always been a music obsessive and I ‘n’ I was probably the first on the block to purchase a CD player. Well, Mom got it for me Xmas 1985. Fisher model you would get at Montgomery Wards. So low frills all it displayed was the track number.

Salt Lake City had great independent record stores when I arrived in 1986. (Most are gone today). I had switched over from vinyl to the aluminum coaster thingees that were pretty expensive. $18 in 80’s money must be about $30 dollars today.

I had met some people in the dorms and one of them was a Jewish trust fund kid named Neil Copperman. I was in that sort of mid 80’s rut where all my favorite groups were flogging a synth drum excess that I wasn’t into. The Clash fell apart. My favorite college rock band was Minutemen and their frontman, D. Boon died in a car accident.

I ‘n’ I was looking for a new genre to collect. Bought some blues. Dabbled in world. Nothing really sunk in. Neil and I would trade disks and make cassette copies. One day we were in his room: small concrete bunkers. His stereo was better than mine. He brought out a CD by a group that looked like Prince with dreadlocks: Michael Rose, Ducky Simpson and black beauty Puma Jones.

Dropped the disk in the player, itched up the volume and BLAM. The heavens parted, trumpets blared. It was Black Uhuru meets Sly & Robbie. That synth drum crap I hated on the Rolling Stones records was massive on this Reggae outing.

Anthem. Indeed!

80’s fashion meets synth drum bombast inna rub a dub style!

That disk lit the fuse and I ‘n’ I never looked back. Spring of 1987 I was involved in a campus radio station called K-UTE. I programmed, if you could call it that, a Reggae show called Positive Vibration named after the Bob Marley tune.

Spring 1988 my college roommate and I were in the Pie Pizzeria. They were listening to the community station called KRCL. I had discovered their two mainstay programs devoted to Reggae: Smile Jamaica (Sat. 1-4pm) hosted by Rutabaga Reese. Wednesday nights was Nite Roots with Papa Pilgrim.

I ‘n’ I would listen to Smile Jamaica with a note pad and jot down all these great albums that Rutabaga was playing: Ini Kamoze, Don Carlos, Wailing Souls, Mighty Diamonds. Bliss. Saturday afternoons became “my college for musical knowledge” with the Dub Professor, Rutabaga Reese.

That night in the pizza joint we heard a call out for new volunteers. Roomie wanted to do 80’s college rock (they were set for that.) I was selected to do a late night/early morning show called 3 O’clock Roadblock (another Bob tune.) The weekend before I debuted, June 26, 1988 I ‘n’ I roadtripped to San Francisco and scoured the city spending my student loan cash to front music for the new show: night owls, insomniacs, 7-11 workers and cat burglars.

Super hot summer. Great way to learn the ropes.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, as the Rastas remind us: The founder of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives via the Student Loan program

I programmed late nights from end of June 1988 to August 1989. A couple months later I went from the minor leagues to prime time, Saturday afternoons, Oct. 1989 to share Smile Jamaica with Rutabaga. But that’s a story for another day…

Thank you KRCL for granting me the privilege to juggle the black wax and spin the aluminum for the masses for an incredible 1/3 of a century. In media that streak is almost unheard of.

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives June 26, 2021 Playlist – 33 Years of Reggae Radio

Set 1:

Black Uhuru – Party Next Door; Anthem (Island) ’83 – E.T. Thorngren rmx
I Roy – Heart Don’t Leap; Keep on Coming Through the Door (Trojan) ’71 comp.
Phyllis Dillon – Midnight Confessions; Midnight Confessions (Treasure Isle) ‘72
Dr. Alimantado – Oil Crisis; Born For a Purpose (Greensleeves) ’73 comp.
Jimmy Cliff – No Woman No Cry; Music For My Mind (Warner Bros.) ’74 Bob Marley cover
Peter Tosh – Legalize It; Legalize It (Columbai) ’76 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement

18 down, 32 to go! Welcome Connecticut to the Seven Leaf Club!

Set 2:

Judy Mowatt – Black Woman; Black Woman (Shanachie) ‘76
Lambert Douglas – Jah Jah No New; Babylon a Fall Down (Trojan) ‘77
Wailing Souls – War; Very Best of (Greensleeves) ‘78
Aswad – Playing Games; Hulet (Mango) ‘79
Culture – Natty Dread Naw Run (Shanachie) ‘79
Carlton & the Shoes – Love Me Forever + version (Studio One) ‘79

Set 3:

Marcia Griffiths – Steppin’ Out of Babylon; Steppin’ (Shanachie) ‘79
Junior Delgado – Row Fisherman Row; Sisters and Brothers (Magnum) ‘79
I Kong – Life’s Road; The Way It Is (VP) ‘79
Misty in Roots – See Them a Come; Live at the Counter Eurovision (Kaz) ‘79
The Morwells feat. Bingy Bunny – Cut Them Down; Kingston 12 Toughie (RAS) ‘79
Mikey Dread – Barber Saloon; Evolutionary Rockers (Dread at the Controls) ‘79

Set 4:

Rita Marley – Who Feels It Knows It; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ’80 Bunny Wailer cover
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Coming in From the Cold; Uprising (Tuff Gong) ‘80
Bunny Wailer – Mellow Mood; Sings the Wailers (Mango) ’80 Bob Marley cover
Steel Pulse – Jah Pickney (R.A.R.); Tribute to the Martyrs (Mango) ‘80
Sisters Jam – People of This World; Rockers International (Greensleeves) ’80 female duo
The Skulls & the Mercenarys – Third World + Third World Shuffle; Black Slavery Days (Clappers) ’80 comp.

Set 5:

The Love Joys – Wherever Jah Send Me; Reggae Vibes (Wackies) ’81 female duo
Cedric Myton & the Congos – Where He Leads Me; Face the Music (VP) ‘81
Garland Jeffreys – We the People; Escape Artist (Epic) ’81 NY rocker
Twinkle Brothers – Longing For You; Me No You (Twinkle) ‘81
African Head Charge – Stebeni’s Theme; My Life in a Hole in the Ground (ON U Sound) ’81 Afro-dub w/ female vox
Lacksley Castell – Government Man; Morning Glory (Negus Roots) ’82
Gregory Isaacs – Cool Down the Pace; Night Nurse (Mango) ‘82

Set 6:

Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie; 12” (MCA) ‘82
Bad Brains – The Meek; Rock For Light (Caroline) ’83 DC punk/reggae
Sister Carol – Jah Is Mine; Black Cinderella (Jah Life) ’84 update of McCartney & Jackson Girl is Mine
Burning Spear – Jah Is My Driver; Farover (Heartbeat) ‘83
Peter Tosh – Reggaemyelitis; Wanted Dread & Alive (Rolling Stone) ‘81

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives June 5, 2021 – Beware the Mainstreaming of UFO’s!

June 11, 2021 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Because they’re here! And they are coming!

Greetings,

You heard it here first….on a community radio Reggae program of all places!

On June 25, 2021, Congress is going to announce a reckoning on UFO’s and their obvious legitimacy.

No more bullshit about weather balloons, swamp gas or ball lightning.

The gaslighting ends and the truth will emerge. Selah!

Doesn’t get any more mainstream than USA Today

Ever since Pres. Eisenhower was whisked up into a space craft in 1954, the American government has known and held back the truth. UFO’s piloted by Extra Terrestrials have emerged since the world achieved nuclear weapons.

Apparently, no more lame denials. Prepare yourself that we are not alone.

What’s that you say? Another tin foil conspiracy from binging on Ancient Aliens eps during the Covid Lockdown?

Au contraire. How about the Washington Post.

Ike was supposed to go golfing and then slipped his security detail. He went up into an alien spacecraft and signed an intergalactic treaty. He claimed to have had a “dental emergency”. Why no Secret Service?

Basically in return for advanced technology like velcro, teflon, GPS, aerial stealth/anti-radar and Tang, the aliens would have free range to probe (humans) and mutilate (cattle).

I ‘n’ I was getting cross eyed with my bredrin Aquaboy and he mentioned an article in The New Yorker, of all places: The U.FO. Papers

Here is the teaser on the cover:

For decades, believers have felt that evidence of alien visitations has been dismissed by the U.S. government. With formation of an official task force, is the Pentagon taking flying saucers seriously?

It is basically the story of UFO investigator Leslie Kean and her trials and tribulations sifting out the unexplained from the hoaxes and disinformation. How the Pentagon resisted any Congressional oversight and tried to quash the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena* being reported and filmed with alien, infrared technology, by US Naval Pilots.

* Unidentified Flying Objects

Called Tic Tacs, from the capsule shaped breath mint, the rate of speeds these crafts could achieve would have sucked a human pilot’s spine out of his asshole. Now that’ a probin’!

The geriatrics at 60 Minutes did a UAP study. British paper, the Telegraph, has also done stories. But hang on a second.

I think it was either Bob Marley or Woody Allen who said that “I ‘n’ I don’t want to be in a club that would have me as a member.”

Now that UAPhoria(?). Nah, now that UFOria is mainstream. When even the old codgers who watch 60 Minutes are coming aboard, I’m suspicious.

RT is a regular source I ‘n’ I go to for Alien runnings. Maybe because Russia’s leader looks like an alien: Vladimir Putin.

Australian blogger, Caitlin Johnstone, offers a caution.

The crescendo of UAP/UFO legitimacy has an ulterior motive. It is to show that the American military is incapable of defending us from these Tic Tacs and thus needs trillions more for weapons development.

Washington Post, Pravda on the Potomac, and all the rest love war. Congress loves military aid to their districts. If the New York Times is for it, you should scoff. Their admission of alien space craft has more to do with China and Russia.

Wars and rumors of war. Dempublican or Republicrat, it never ends. As Keith Poppin laments, “Same Things For Breakfast”

And as I ‘n’ I read in the New Yorker article. All the discussion was on the crafts themselves. Not who or what is behind piloting these UAP’s. So I think that is what is being missed.

<Smile Jamaica: UFO’s and Christopher Columbus>

What is gonna happen when they touch down in our fields, parks and dispensaries? They are gonna drop down right on the White House lawn. And we will have to take it.

Are people gonna be fixated on the craft they arrived in? Do you think the Native Americans who greeted Columbus at Plymouth Rock in his three ships the Nino, Pinto and the Santa Clara*

*Listener emailed me who didn’t get my joke from Animal House: “Did America give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Do you think the Taino tribe who first encountered Columbus in what is today the Bahamas were fixated on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria – his three ships?

No, they were in wonderment at these strange men with four legs (on horseback) and wooly faced encased in a shiny shell.

Well, we better be ready for the same experience. “Who are these little green people with bulbous eyes, long fingers, and teardrop heads?”

Let us hope the Aliens are a tad more benevolent to the “natives” than the conquistadors were to the indigenous peoples of the New World.

Don’t forget, Eisenhower sold us out for probes and mutilations. Doesn’t bode well. For I’n’ I.

Let’s hope the Aliens are “probing” us not for malicious intent, but because of our weed.

<Unidentified Aerial Phenomena kinda cloudy!; 19 sec.>

Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon kinda cloudy!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica June 5, 2021 playlist

Set 1:

Aswad – Hey Jah Children; Babylon (EMI) ’80 Soundtrack
Kiddus I – A Prayer; Kiddus I Inna de Yard (Maskasound) 2007 acoustic
Barrington Levy – Teach Me Culture; Teach Me Culture (Live & Learn) ‘83
The Selecter – My Collie; Out on the Streets (Receiver) ’91 live ska herbtune
The Silvertones – Take a Little Love; Rare Reggae Grooves From Studio One (Heartbeat/Studio One) ‘79

Set 2:

Toots Hibbert – Freedom Train; Toots in Memphis (Mango) ‘88
Benjamin Zephaniah – History; Us an Dem (Mango) ’90 UK dub poet
Nora Dean – Ay, Ay, Ay; Grounation: The Indomitable Spirit of Rastafari (Nascente) ‘80
Big Youth – A Luta Continua; A Luta Continua (Heartbeat) ’85 “the struggle continues”
Burning Spear – Lion; Man in the Hills (Mango) ‘76
Culture – Mister Music + Version; Nighthawk Recordings (Nighthawk) ’82 unreleased

Set 3:

Desmond Dekker – Reggae Recipe; Rockin’ Steady (Rhino) early 60’s
Souljah Fyah – Positive Vibe; Souljah Fyah (Souljah Fyah) 2010 Edmonton Canada w/ female vox
Dennis Brown – Concrete Castle King; Visions (Shanachie) ‘81
Eek a Mouse – Operation Eradication; Wa Do Dem (Greensleeves) anti-ganja plan in JA
Freddie McGregor – Push Comes to Shove; All in the Same Boat (RAS) ‘87
We Roots – Universal Speakers; We Roots (Catch Me Time) 2012? SoCal roots dawtas

Set 4: Rockers do Reggae

Ben Harper – With My Own Two Hands; CD Single (Virgin) 2003
Yesca – Searchin’; Up in Smoke Soundtrack (Warner Bros.) ’78 Coasters cover/herbtune
Cyril Neville – Spirits in the Material World; Spirits in the Material World (Shanachie) 2008 The Police/Sting covers
Eddy Grant – Can’t Get Enough; Going For Broke (Portrait) ’84 Barbados
Fishbone – Cholly; In Your Face (Colombia) ’86 LA ska/funk
Eric Clapton – Swing Low Sweet Chariot; There’s One in Every Crowd (RSO) ’75 Reggae spiritual cover
Bobby & the Midnites – Book of Rules; Bobby & the Midnites (Arista) ‘81 Heptones cover
Sinead O’Connor – Rivers of Babylon; Theology (Koch) 2007 Melodians cover

Set 5: Wailers Family Tree

Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Stir It Up; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ’67
3^rd & 4^th Generation aka Peter Tosh & the Soul Mates – Rudies Medley; Arise Blackman (Trojan) ’71 (Punch A side) comp.
Judy Mowatt – King of Kings; Only a Woman (Shanachie) ‘82
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – Mama; Joy and Blues (Virgin) ‘93
Bunny Wailer – Armagideon; Blackheart Man (Mango) ‘76
Solomonic Reggae-stra – Armageddon Dub; Dubd’sco vol. 1 (Solomonic) ‘78

Set 6: UFOria

The Toyes – Waiting For the Aliens; Strange Animals (CD Tunes) ’99 LA
Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride (Smile Jamaica Destroy All Humans Rmx)
Root 1 – Roots Rocket; Root 1; Austin Texas
Nina Hagen – UFOs; Nunsexmonkrock (Columbia) ’82 Germany
Derrick Morgan – Do the Moon Hop; Doing the Moonwalk (Trojan) ‘69
Devin the Dude – Zeldar; Just Tryin’ ta Live (Rap-a-Lot) 2002 hip hop

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: may 22, 2021 – End of an Era at KRCL!

May 28, 2021 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

WTF? Why is my new Soob ding, ding, dinging at me? I ‘n’ I don’t have time for this. Have to get to the last in-person Smile Jamaica at KRCL.

As usual, running late and lugged this massive crate (from whence the term cratedigging…) and huffed it onto the front car seat. Soob computer thought it was an unbelted child.

So, running out of time. I just pulled over and latched my “child” safely and motored over to North Temple and 1800 West in Salt Lake City.

What do you mean the last Smile Jamaica? Salt Lake City is awash in 4 story high rise condos/apartments. Over by the airport, when the Park ‘n’ Jet next door was sold to property developers, the station is stranded in the middle and was encouraged to find alternate digs.

Luckily we did find a good spot but it isn’t developed yet. So this show will be the last live Smile Jamaica for the summer while our new home is being constructed.

For I ‘n’ I, the classic KRCL location was over on 800 South/200 West. Back in the 80’s and 90’s when community radio didn’t have as many media competitors and had a true sense of connection between station volunteers, (who did all the programming), and listeners.

But I ‘n’ I liked the North Temple spot well enough. Just give me two turntables and a mic and I’ll do Smile Jamaica anywhere.

True story: When KRCL first announced at the end of the 90’s our new location, Dave Santivasi – long time host of Saturday Sage rock mornings – drove by the North Temple spot we are now vacating.

That location has always been full of night crawlers. Dave pulled in and was looking around. All of a sudden, his passenger door flew open and a lady of the evening jumped in. She assumed Dave was looking for a “date!”

***

So, while I ‘n’ I go back to Living Room Kinda Cloudy home built Smile Jamaica’s, like I did during The Covid last March-May, enjoy this Reggae vinyl bash blowout and some pics of The Temple of Sound being de-constructed.

It was real. It was fun. Sometimes it was real fun.

Forward ever, backwards never. Soon come to a new Temple of Sound!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: May 22, 2021 Playlist

Set 1:

Zap Pow – Nice Nice Time; Trojan Story (Trojan) ’73 comp.
Burning Spear/Black Disciples – Garvey’s Ghost (Mango) ’76 dub album of the hour
Quasar – Knock on Wood; Fresh (LASN) ’88 soul cover
Peter Culture – Simmer Down; Behold (Top Beat) 2000 UK 10 LP
Casselberry – DuPree – Positive Vibration; City Down (Icebergg) ’86 Milwaukee, WI Marley cover
Keith Hudson – Rasta Country; Rasta Communication (Greensleeves) ‘78
John Holt – Police in Helicopter; 12” (Holt) ’82 JA 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement

KRCL moving out of its studio. 21 Years of Nice Nice Time

Set 2:

Vivian Jones – Give Jah Praise; Jah Works (Jah Shaka) ’87 UK
The Melodians – Too Young to Fall in Love; Sweet Sensation (Mango)
Clive Natural – Down in Babylon; Shine the Light (Wamco) JA
Johnny Osbourne – Smiling Faces; Johnny Osbourne (Lix) Undisputed Truth soul cover
Marcia Aitken & Ranking Joe – Let Me Go Boy + Long Time Gal; 12” (Joe Gibbs) cover of Roy Shirley “Hold Them”

In England, Vivian can be either a male or female name

Set 3:

Maxine Miller – How Many Times; Showcase (Wackies) ’80 Bronx: Bob Marley cover
Papa Levi – Mi God Mi King; Trouble in Africa (Jah) ’85 UK speed rapper
Charlie Chaplin – Jamaican Collie; Chaplin Chant (Tamoki Wambesi) ’82 UK; herbtune to Winston Jarrett herbtune
Prince Al – Fly Away Home; 12” (Kaya) early 80’s Wailers Rastaman Chant
Jah Shaka/Aswad – Addis Ababa; Jah Shaka Meets Aswad in Addis Ababa Studio (Jah Shaka) ’85 dub album of the hour

Autorgraphed copy in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

Set 4:

Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus feat. Jazzboe Abubaka – Gabrail al Alma; Tribute to the Emperor (Trojan) ’76 UK
The Willin’ Prophets – Reggae Music; Resurrection EP (1U) ’87 Los Angeles
Sir Coxsone – Bower Dub; King of Dub Rock Part 2 (Tribesman) ’82 UIK
15 16 17 feat. Dennis Brown – Only Sixteen; 12” (DEB) ’78 UK two sisters and a cousin cover Sam Cooke

Set 5:

Itals – Jah Glory; Calling Rastafari (Nighthawk) ’82 St. Louis, MO
Inner Circle – I Shot the Sheriffi; Blame It on the Sun (Trojan) ’74 UK Wailers cover
The Cimarons – Mull of Kintyre; Reggaeblity (PIckwick) ’81 UK Paul McCartney cover
Althea Ranking – Just Rocking; 12” (Go Deh Jockey) ’81 JA

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Punky Reggae Party; 12” (Tuff Gong) ’77 UK picture sleeve; Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n
Bunny Wailer – Boderation; 12” (Solomonic) ’83 JA
Judy Mowatt – Mr. Dee-J; Mr. Dee-Jay (Ashandan) ’81 JA
Peter Tosh – In My Song; 12” (Parlophone) ’87 Italy Picture sleeve
Sly & the Revolutionaries/Bill Laswell – Dub Master Chapter One (Trojan) 2005 dub rmx/dub album of the hour

Set 7: 80th Birthday Bob Dylan Reggae Set

Bob Dylan – Man Gave Names to All the Animals; Slow Train Coming (Colombia) ’78 –
Bob Dylan – I and I; Infidels (Colombia) ‘81
Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; At Budokan (Colombia) ’79 live in Japan
Arthur Louis – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; This is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Island) ’74 US cover
Sister Carol & Scion Success – Mandela’s Release; 12” (RAS) ’90 DC – over Bob’s I Shall Be Released

Happy 80th Birthday to the man from Hibbing

Set 8: Mutant Dub

Alpha & Omega – Mankind See; King & Queen (A & O) ’89 UK female vox/trance dub
Bim Sherman – Gold & Silver; Haunting Ground (RDL) ’86 UK
Singers & Players feat. Prince Far I – Quante Jubila; War of Words (ON U Sound) ’81 UK
Tena Stelin – Cosmic Session; 10” (Roots Hi-Tek) 2006 UK UFO-ria

Smile Jamaica Digital Dubplate: 4 hr. 20 min. 0 sec. for 420

April 16, 2021 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

I ‘n’ I think it was the late 90’s. I was in a long gone record shop in Salt Lake City cratedigging as usual. Ran into one of the fellow deejays at KRCL. He was one of the Drivetime programmers (he shall remain nameless). Drivetime: 3-6 PM. He started a little fun tradition he called 4:20* funk.

*4:20 – 420 – Smoker’s slang for getting together after school to burn some hippie lettuce.

Alas, he was told by the station manager to cut it out. As soon as he said that to me, a light bulb went off in my head. Smile Jamaica plays 4-7 PM.

Thus, sometime around 1998 the Cannabis Service Announcement was born. KRCL plays public service announcements highlighting (no pun intended) a worthy non-profit. That’s what I ‘n’ I intended to do. I have at least a thousand cannabis songs in my Ark-Ives. All formats. All genres. Peter Tosh – Legalize It in the same way giving money to a food bank serves the same worthy cause.

First set, around 4:20 PM I will spin a tasty herbtune. A few years later that expanded into the full on 3 hour specials on the Saturday closest to April 20th.

The station manager at the time didn’t really like me and thus probably didn’t care for Reggae. And since staff weren’t in their offices on the weekend, I could skate.

I ‘n’ I always saw it as an exercise in free speech if nothing else. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? No one ever said anything. And soon that show became my most popular during any year.

Later, there was a student who worked in my department who confessed she figured out who I was when she heard my voice at a 420 pot party where they were playing Smile Jamaica.

There is hope for the youth….

Wheel it forward a few years. I ‘n’ I was transferred into Audio Production at the University of Utah where I toil. I was in charge of a professional audio studio. I literally taught myself the recording setup and digital sound editing through cannabis music, movies, comedy albums and special efx.

That’s when I started adding the movie trailer clips (Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction), comedy bits (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Cheech and Chong), bongrips and vocal salutations to the Seven Leaf from countless Reggae, Rock and Dub albums.

Rip tune to Itunes
Upload song to Audacity sound editor
clip 420 byte
save as .mp3
stitch between the songs

On this dubplate you can hear me play a 4:20 min. bongrip symphony. (Eat your heart out, Leonard Bernstein). I do a Marley-juana mix of selections from all of Bob’s herbal delights.

My Digital Dubplate renderings are when I ‘n’ I am either out of town or KRCL is in fund drive mode, which it will be Sat. April 18th.

4 hours
20 minutes
00 seconds

Plus I am heading out of town driving my parents back to Fort Benton, Montana from Sun City West, AZ. Now both those states have legalized the collie herb! First night in Mesquite (legal).

Second day drive through the dry Mormon Triangle states of Utah and Idaho to get to the Big Sky High in Montana. (The third leg of the triangle, Wyoming has an adult use bill working its way through the legislature.)

Wyoming Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill Sponsored By Top GOP Leaders

White Mountain dispensary – Sun City; taking my Pops to get 10% off with his veterans card
Deep Roots Harvest – Mesquite NV. Last trip I ‘n’ I won $1000 playing video poker. Vaping in a pandemic pulling the handle in a plastic phone booth type arrangement. Can lightning strike twice?
Does Fort Benton (farming town of barely 1000 people) have a dispensary. Stay tuned and find out!

A thousand bucks buys a lot of Strawberry Cough and Sour Diesel (Mesquite, NV; Sept. 2020)

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica 420: Digital Dubplate 2021 Playlist:

0-30 min.:

Jah Woosh – Marijuana World Tour; Marijuana World Tour (Original) ‘76
Sly & the Revolutionaries – Pass the Rizla (Trojan) ‘80
Eek a Mouse – Ganja Smuggling; Wa-Do-Dem (Greensleeves) ‘81
Inner Circle – Mary, Mary; Best of Inner Circle (Island) ’79 comp.
Mighty Diamonds – Sensemilla; Get Ready (Rohit) ‘88
Ras Prophet – Herbman Hustling; Feel the Fire (Prophet) ’93 Sugar Minott cover

4 hours 20 minutes 00 seconds of Cannabliss

30-60 min.:

Sugar Minott – Dreadlocks Chalice; Ghetto Child (Heartbeat) ‘89
Human Rights – Who’s Got the Herb; I Luv (Railroad) ’91 throat of Bad Brains
UB40 – Mi Spliff; Credit to the Nation (bootleg)
Wayne Smith – Under Me Sleng Teng; Sleng Teng (Greensleeves) ’86 = smoking utensil
Charlie Chaplin – Bubbling Telephone (Chalice); Hi Grade Ganja Anthems 3 (Greensleeves) ’82
Pupajim – International Farmer; Jahtarian Dubbers vol. 2 (Jahtari) 2010 mutant dub Peter Broggs cover

60-90 min.

Frankie Paul – Stick a Sensi; A We Rule (RAS) ’97 Sugar Minott cover
Corey Harris – Lamb’s Bread; Daily Bread (Rounder) 2005 blues artist covers Sylford Walker
Frankie Jones – Colly George; King Jammy: A Man and His Hits (RAS) early 80’s?
John Holt – Police in Helicopter; 12” (Holt) ’83 JA
Max (Romeo) & Niney – Aily & Ailaloo; Blood & Fire (Trojan) ’72

90 min. – 2 hr.

Junior Reid – International Year of the Chalice; Visa (RAS) ‘93
Peter Tosh – Buk-in-Hamm Palace; Mystic Man (EMI America) ‘79
Black Uhuru vs. Black Sabbath – Guess Who’s Coming For Sweetleaf; 7” (bootleg)
Soom T – Smile Jamaica Weedstepper Mix; Glasgow Scotland female
Vivian Jones – Got a Light; 12” (Jah Shaka) ‘86
Johnny Clarke – Collie Dread; Don’t Stay Out Late (Rhino UK) ’78

2 – 2 and 1/2 hrs.

Welton Irie – Telephone Chalice; One and One = Two (JA) early 80’s?
Pablo Paul – Don’t Dope; Timeless Roots Rockers (Ejaness) 2006
Gregory Isaacs – Mr. Cop; Extra Classic (Rohit) ‘78
Israel Vibration – Red Eyes; Forever (RAS) ‘90
King Kong – Legalize It; Rumble Jumble Life (Massive B) 2011
Ranking Joe – Solomon’s Weed; 3 the Roots Way (Jah Warrior) 2000

2 and 1/2 – 3 hrs.

Michael Rose – Draw the Weed; Never Give It Up (Heartbeat) 2001
Prince Far I – Commandment of Drugs; Message From the King (Virgin Front Line) ‘78
Zion Tribe – Herbissimo; Tribe Noiz (Red Giant) ’92 SLC
The Selecter – My Collie (Not a Dog); Too Much Pressure (2 Tone) ’80 2 Tone ska w/ female vox
Audio Active – Free the Marijuana; Pro Cannabis 4 (Dope) ’94 comp. Jah-pon
Sonny Knight – But Officer!; But Officer! (Stateside) ‘57

3 – 3 and 1/2 hrs.

Anthony Johnson – What Kind of Herb; Jah Thomas Presents the Highest Grade (“Ras” Sta) ’82 comp.
Barrington Levy – Sensimilla; Can’t Stop Us Now (Easy Star) ’82? Comp.
Mikey Dread – Pound a Weed; Life Is a Stage (Dread at the Controls) 2007
Aswad – Just a Little Herb; Rebel Souls (Mango) ‘84
Ben Harper – Burn One Down; Reggae Sampler (Virgin) ‘97
Chosen Few – Collie Stuff; Darker Than Blue (Blood & Fire) ‘75
The Toyes – Smoke Two Joints; The Toyes (CD Tunes) ‘96
Barry Brown – Pass Up the Chalice; Rich Man Poor Man (Moll-Selekta) 70’s?
Capital Letters – Smoking My Ganja; Headline News (Greensleeves) ’79 UK youth group

Smoking weed works better than a mask against The Covid

3 and1/2 – 4 hr.

John Clarke – Good Collie Weed; Visions of John Clarke (Wackies) ’79 to Only Sixteen riddim
Lovejoys- One Draw; Lovers Rock Reggae (Wackies) ’83 Rita Marley herb tune
Future Pigeon – Mummy Rock; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collect) 2005 LA
Glen Brown – Lambsbread – Way to Mt. Zion (ROIR) ‘79
Kiddus I – Green Fa Life; Green Fa Life (Makafresh) 2009

4 hr. – 4 hr. 20 min. 00 seconds

Heavy Manners – Taking the Queen to Tea; Heavier Than Now (NoVo) ’96 Chicago w/ female vox
The Pioneers – Feeling High; Greatest Hits (Trojan) ‘79
Sublime – Legalize It; Hempilation (Capricorn) ’95 Tosh cover
Bush Chemists – Light Up Your Spliff; Light Up Your Spliff (Conscious Sounds) ‘95

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Mar. 6, 2021 – Bunny Wailer Joins Jah’s Heavenly Choir

March 12, 2021 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Bunny Wailer, b. Apr. 10, 1947 joins Jah’s Heavenly Choir

Greetings,

Crap. I ‘n’ I was still processing the loss of Reggae stalwart U Roy. I was actually at work editing a sound file when all of a sudden my phone lit up. Twitter, Rolling Stone, friends: Bunny Wailer passes of complications from a stoke he had last summer. At 73, that is far too young. But now he adds the high harmony to Bob’s tenor and Peter’s baritone.

As it was and ever shall be. Selah!

Bob was the rock star. Peter the militant. And Bunny was rightfully the mystic man of the trio. He didn’t want to fit into the rock star mold that Island owner Chris Blackwell wanted for the group. So he pulled out and re-trenched as a Rasta philosopher and dancehall pioneer. His high harmonies on Hallelujah Time*, which I lead off with today, speak to his gospel prowess.

*Great name for a Reggae radio show/podcast!

<Hallelujah Time; 32 sec.>

Bunny, Bob, Peter – locks grow in their heart!

As befit their ghetto roots that led to so much great music, they were all inter-related. Bunny’s father lived with Bob’s mother and had a dawta. Bob’s half sister. Peter had Andrew Tosh with Bunny’s sister. So even when the 3 went their separate ways, they were still and always a family.

<Why I call it Wailers Family Tree; 30 sec.>

Bunny’s father; Bob’s mother; sister Pearl

For I ‘n’ I, Bunny Wailer always means two things. The record I purchased before I was even into Reggae: Blackheart Man. Saw it front and center at the foundation Salt Lake City record shop Cosmic Aeroplane. Great Neville Garrick cover art. Gatefold sleeve, rare for a Reggae record. Of Bunny, spliff in his mouth, a lion protruding from his third eye while an extra terrestrial looking Haile Selassie sits upon his shoulder. That album helped light the fuse.

The Blackheart Man. Indeed!

<Blackheart Man, earliest addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive; 58 sec.>

The other sublime Bunny Wailer is his stepping out on lead with the 1971 recording of Dreamland. The lyrics are all about going to heaven. (The last song on this podcast edition.) Lee “Scratch” Perry brought out that terrific mysticism that is so authentic and powerful. When its my turn, I’ve asked it to be played at any gathering my would family have.

Thank you Neville Livingston for making us enriched with the power of your music and the beauty of your voice.

bless, Bobbylon

Bonus Story: How Thievery Corporation saved me in a blizzard going over Monida Pass, Holiday 2002

The worst stretch of I-15 from Fort Benton, Mt to SLC: the dreaded Monida Pass. Snow, wind, ice, bitter cold

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: March 6, 2021 Playlist: 2 min. 35 sec.

Set 1:

Horace Andy – Oh Lord, Why Lord; Best of (Studio One) ’72 JA vinyl; Parliament/G. Clinton cover
Jah Shaka – Institution Dub; Dub Masters Vol. 1 (Mango) ’89 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
The Wailers – Hallelujah Time; Burnin’ (Island) ’73 UK vinyl: Bunny Wailer on vox. RIP
Bush Chemists – Time of Tribulation; Light Up Your Spliff (Conscious Sounds) ’96 UK Mutant Dub
Johnnie Moore & the Skatalites – South China Sea (Take 1); 10” EP (Top Deck) ’65 UK green vinyl trumpet ska
Cocoa Tea – There’s an Herb Tree in My Garden; Mr. Cocoa Tea (Blue Mountain) ’85 herbtune/Ben E. King Spanish Harlem
Universal Speakers – We Roots + Dub; We Roots (Catch Me Time) 2012 US roots dawta group

Cover of George Clinton’s pre-funk Parliament soul/gospel ballad. Beautiful!

Set 2:

Thievery Corporation feat. Emilia Torriani – Heaven Is In Your Eyes; Richest Man in Babylon (ESL) 2002 DC dubbers
Lee Perry & the Upsetters – Soul Man; Double Seven (Trojan) ’73 cover of Sam & Dave soul
Judy Mowatt – Black Woman; Women Hold Up Half the Sky (Shanachie) ’76 comp.
Welton Irie – Man Next Door; 12” (Joe Gibbs Record Globe) ’79 FL: dj to Paragons tune
Johnny Clarke – Every Knee Shall Bow; Dreader Dread (Blood & Fire) ’78 comp.

Trusted compan+ion through a blizzard over Monida Pass: Xmas 2002

Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 31+ Years

Bunny Wailer – Cease Fire; Roots Radics Rockers Reggae (Shanachie) ’83 herbtune
Dr. Alimantado – Oil Crisis; Born For a Purpose (Greensleeves) ‘73
Marcia Griffiths – Give and You Get; Steppin’ (Shanachie) ‘79
George Faith – Midnight Hour/Ya Ya; To Be a Lover (Mango) ’77 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark: Wilson Pickett/The Coasters cover
Dub Specialist – Starring Dub; Dub (Heartbeat/Studio One) 70’s dub album of the hour

Among the first 10 Reggae CDs added to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives; Oct. 1986, Salt Lake City

Set 4:

Michigan & Smiley – Diseases; Dancehall (Soul Jazz) ’84 comp.
Wailing Souls – Wild Wild Life; Cool Runnings Soundtrack (Chaos) ’93 Talking Heads cover
Black Harmony – Our Feelings; 12” (Cool Rockers) ’81 UK female lovers Rock

March 20th Live on Smile Jamaica – Crappy Ronaversary Year 1 krcl.org 909FM. 4-7 PM

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

U Roy – Control Tower; Rasta Ambassador (TR Groovemaster) ’77 JA
Phyllis Barnes – Black Cinderella; Yabby You and King Tubby’s All-Stars (Yabby You) early 90’s JA
The Specials – Stereotypes; Top Chrysalis 2 (Chrysalis) ’80 Spanish comp
Bunny Wailer – Ballroom Floor; Live (Mango) 12/26/82 morn in JA US

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

Bunny Wailer – This Train; Blackheart Man (Mango) ’76 US – Sister Rosetta Tharpe cover
Bunny Wailer – Galong So; Solomonic Singles vol. 2 (Solomonic) ‘81
Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Nice Time; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ‘67
Ranny Williams feat. Peter Tosh – Pepper Seed; Arise Blackman (Trojan) ’69 Unity label single. Peter on organ
King Tubby – Many Moods of the King Dub; I Am the King (Sprint) Dub Album of the Hour

Set 7: Rockers do Reggae

David Lindley – Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues; El Rayo-X (Asylum) ’81 Rockers do Reggae Set
The Members – Clean Men; 1980: The Choice is Yours (Virgin) ’80 UK pub rock
Robert Palmer – Hard Head; Some People Can Do What They Like (Island) ‘76
Grace Jones – Love You to Life + Dub; Hurricane (Wall of Sound) 2011

Set 8: Reggae Rona Mini Opera

David Fly – Coronavirus Covid-19; Digital File: Reggae Rona Mini Opera
The Ethiopians – Hong Kong Flu; Original Hit Sound (Trojan) ‘69
The Clash – Lost in the Supermarket; London Calling (Epic) ‘79
The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me; Zenatta Mondatta (A & M) ‘80
Junior Byles – Fever; Beat Down Babylon (Trojan) ’72 Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n
Junior Delgado – Live Like a Hermit; Sisters and Brothers (Blue Moon) ‘79
Love Clinic – Love Clinic; Love Clinic (Ariwa) 2005 UK Roots Dawtas
The Wailers – Dreamland; Complete Upsetter Collection (Trojan) ’71 Bunny Wailer on vox

Love Clinic or one of Cuomo’s nursing homes? The choice is yours!

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-Tober 31, 2020: Jah-loween Monster Bash!

November 6, 2020 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings ghouls ‘n’ gals!

<All trix, no treats!>

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
Pluto & Trinity – Vampire Year; Ire Mas Rockers Carnival (Top Ranking) ’81 FL vinyl
Laurel Aitken – Witchdoctor from Amsterdam; Eskapade en France (Blue Moon) ’90 Fr. Vinyl

Set 6:

Future Pigeon – The Mummy; Echodelic Sounds (Record Collect) 2005 SoCal
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 Ark-Ives Jah-gust 1, 2020: 32 Years of Dead Media!

August 7, 2020 Robert Nelson Leave a comment

Greetings,

Pity the Compact Disk. Gone the way of the 8-Track cartridge and cassette tape. Relegated to the dustbin of dead media formats: VHS tapes and soon come, DVDs.

Digital on your phone. Fetishization of vinyl, the hipster medium. (I ‘n’ I never lost faith in vinyl, even when people told me that CDs were what’s happening.)

The shiny aluminum coaster thingees suffered the ignominious fate of being outsold by the black wax in 2019:

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/vinyl-cds-revenue-growth-riaa-880959/

<The CD is a relic; 17 sec.>

Bobbylon’s cratedigging autobiography:

CD player for Christmas 1985: Fisher brand. Only showed track number. Low frills deck from Montgomery Ward. Bozeman Montana record shops. Summer vacation to Edmonton, CA Summer ’86

Very first CD in what was to become the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. Didn’t get the CD player til Xmas, 2 months later.

Moved to Salt Lake City, Utah Fall 1986 – Started adding CDs: Reggae, Blues, World, College Rock: from about a dozen great SLC record shops. (All but one out of business in 2020.)

Built my Reggae CD collection here. Smokey quit stocking Reggae b./c his shop was continually broken into to steal Reggae CDs…..gave I ‘n’ I the hairy eyeball afterward

Reggae fanatic; Oct. 1986-. I ‘n’ I had a pretty decent CD collection considering I had just moved from the rural Montana mountains. Dorms, Univ. of Utah. Met a Jewish upperclassman from Baltimore named Neil Cooperman. His CD collection was incredible. This was at a time when major stars like Beatles, Stones, Marley had very little available on CD.

Neil and I would trade out disks like baseball cards. The U of U dorms were concrete bunkers. Neil had a top rank stereo, as did I. One day we were listening in his room. He chose the disk that changed my life.

Black Uhuru – Anthem; 1 min. 20 sec.

1983 – Prince influence duly captured. From left to right: the Riddim Twins (Sly & Robbie)/ Puma Jones (dawta), Michael Rose (front man)

By then I ‘n’I had a nice little Reggae CD stash: Legalize It, No Nuclear War, Marley’s Uprising. Cliff, Toots, UB40 imports. Some grey market roots collections from Germany and Japan.

Neil started up Anthem on his NakamIchi with the Bose 301’s. When Anthem was recorded, 1983, Sly & Robbie were at the synth best. Worked with stalwarts like Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Joan Armatrading. They added electronic drum and base to Reggae riddims.

80’s were all about synth drums. Everyone from the Stones to Springsteen were overdosing on amplified drum sound. When the lead off selection, What Is Life, built to the vox I ‘n’ I was staggered. This is what I have been looking for!

Music you felt, through the bass throb, as well as heard.

Michael Rose had an Afro-Arab vocal style that was aggressive, female harmonies from Puma Jones added to the militance. Sly & Robbie brought Jamaica to NY discos.

Militant roots: Michael Rose lead vox; Puma Jones & Duckie Simpson harmonies

Ka-boom! All my other genres receded to the background and I focused on building 80/20 into Reggae.

I ‘n’ I had the desire to binge as more Reggae cds hit the market, but disks were expensive. As much as $18.99 in ‘1987 dollars. (Probably 35 bucks today).

Meet the funder of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Ronald Wilson Reagan

Ronald (6)
Wilson (6)
Reagan (6)….as the Rastas would say. (35 sec.)

Back in the mid 80’s Pell Grants and Student Loans. Loans you had to pay back, grants were free and clear. I ‘n’ I would bank one of those checks and every summer from about 1987-1993. A couple New Year’s Eves. Time to feed the Reggae habit.

<Cratedigging with student loan cash>; 1 min. 27 sec.

I’m sure Pres. Reagan would give the screwface to my misuse of funds but in the end, I paid him back. I ‘n’ I like to joke: It took me 15 years to pay off my Reggae collection.

When I ‘n’ I had an aunt in SF and then Hayward, across the bay I would couch surf for two weeks:

Heading west on I-80: Sacramento, Reno,

San Fran, San Mateo, Mill Valley (across the Golden Gate), Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Hayward (East Bay).

When I didn’t have a relative to freeload, I would stay at the Travelodge: Columbus and Bay, near the Wharf. Literally across the street from Tower Records.

I ‘n’ I would scour the city or the hinterlands during the day, grab some dinner and then spend the evenings til closing in Tower Records (deceased 2006)

I ‘n’ I nearly cried when Tower Records went out of business mid 2000’s. 500 stores since 2008 Recession. How many more Covid?

The justification of any addict: How do I rationalize my consumption? In 1988 I ‘n’ I went from Reggae fan to the airwaves. With a radio show, I ‘n’ I can’t play the same thing twice. (Like a fashionista who wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same outfit twice.)

Needed the Reggae Roadtrips for the masses on the radio. When I ‘n’ I started 3 0’Clock Roadblock – It was 3-6 AM Sunday Nights/Mondays.

Probably spent more dollars than ever had listeners: cab drivers, 7-11 workers and insomniacs.

But when I ‘n’ I hit “prime time” – Saturday afternoons: Smile Jamaica. Rationalization became justification.

Was it worth it? 32 years of Reggae CDs. 32 Years of Reggae Vinyl.

bless, Bobbylon

IIRC, the first Reggae CD addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Sept. 1986

Smile Jamaica Annotated Playlist: August 1, 2020 – 32 Years of Reggae Radio (CDs) 1 min. 27 sec.

Set 1:

Black Uhuru – Solidarity; Anthem (Island) ’84 rmx of Little Steven
Blackbeard – Jazzz; I Wah Dub (More Cut) ’80 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
Keith Hudson – I Shall Be Released; Flesh of My Skin, Blood of My Blood (Atra) ’74 Bob Dylan cover
Aswad – Ire Woman; Aswad (Mango) ’76
Third World – Dreamland; 96 Degrees in the Shade (Mango) ’76 Bunny Wailer/Wailers cover
Rita Marley – One Draw; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ’80 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Gregory Isaacs – Motherless Children; Sly & Robbie Present (RAS) ’80

Set 2:

Dr. Alimantado – I am the Greatest Says Muhammad Ali; Best Dressed Chicken in Town (Greensleeves) ’73 instrumental
Althea & Donna – If You Don’t Love Jah; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78 female dj duo
Ijahman Levi – Zion Train; Haile I Hymn (Mango) ’78
Michael Prophet – Love & Unity 12″ mix; Serious Reasoning (Mango) ’80

Set 3:

Inner Circle – We a Rockers; Rockers (Mango) ’79 soundtrack
Horace Andy – Tonight (Dub); Bim Sherman Meets U Black & Horace Andy in a Rub-a-Dub Style (Original) ’79
Cassandra – Thank You; Babylon Soundtrack (EMI) ’80 UK female lovers rock
UB40 – Burden of Shame 12″; Sounding Off (Sound) ’80 comp.
King Tubby – The Dub Master Dub vinyl of the hour

Sam Goody’s – Crossroads Mall, SLC, Fall 1986

Set 4:

Johnny Osbourne – Jah Promise; Truths & Rights (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’80
Sisters Jam – People of the World; Rockers International (Greensleeves) ’81 A. Pablo prod’n
Lee “Scratch” Perry – Dreadlock; Black Ark in Dub (Esoldun) ’77 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
Mikey Dread – Jah Jah Love in the Morning; World War III (Dread at the Controls) ’81

Set 5:

Dhaima – Ina Jah Children; Uptown Top Ranking (Perfect Object) ’77
Pablo Moses – Dubbing Is a Must; A Song (Mango) ’80
Toots & the Maytals – Beautiful Woman; Knock Out! (Mango) ’81
Prince Fari I – Survival; Umhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) (Tamoki Wambesi) ’83

Sad irony: Prince Far I killed during the making of his last album. Survival is the Game

Set 6: Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark Set

<Reggae History Lesson: Black Ark Studio; 90 sec.>

The Congos – Children Crying; Heart of the Congos (Blood & Fire) ’77 –
Native – Rockstone ’77
Max Romeo – Uptown Babies Don’t Cry; War in a Babylon (Mango) ’76
Jolly Brothers – Conscious Man; Conscious Man (Seven Leaf) ’77
Elektro Robotik Dub Orkestra – Kentucky Was a Chicken (Ariwa) ’84 UK vinyl dub album of the hour

Lee “Scratch” Perry @ the controls of his mythic Black Ark studio, 1974-1979

Set 7: Wailers Family Tree Set

Bunny Wailer – Dreamland; Blackheart Man (Mango) ’76
Peter Tosh – Legalize It; Legalize It (Columbia) ’76
Judy Mowatt – Screwface; Love is Overdue (Shanachie) ’87 Bob Marley cover

<Screwaface – the look you get if you don’t wear your mask at the grocery store; 13 sec.>

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Comin’ in From the Cold 12″; Uprising (Tuff Gong) ’80

Set 8: Mutant Dub

Jah Woosh – Woodpecker Sound; ON U Sound Celebration (Trance) ’88
Alpha & Omega – Ancient African Dub 12″ Mix; Sound System Dub (ROIR) ’95
London Underground – Watch Your Step; Compilation 80-84 (ON U Sound) ’89
Tena Stelin – Political Confusion; Wicked Intention (Mr. Modo) ’89
Singers & Players – Resolution Pt. 2 and v. 2; Revenge of the Underdog (ON U Sound) ’82

Covid Humor:

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.

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