Greetings,

2017 was a topsy turvy year for the Smile Jamaica Ark-ives. Massive home remodel was supposed to start Nov. 2016. Alas, weather, Questar natural gas company and Salt Lake City zoning couldn’t agree on when to move my gas line. WHICH WAS UNDER MY HOUSE!

Stones Throw’ record label brags about “my vinyl weighs a ton!” Mine actually did. I had so many records packed into my Record Room that it sunk the floor below the baseboards.

So the depressing and frustrating delays didn’t even start until March 2017. Seven months of building out an actual physical archive. No more storing boxes of CDs in the bathroom, bedroom, garage and hallway!

Like any home remodel it was a daily grind of aggravation and interruption to my routine. (If you see me ask me about the bong and the Koran story.)

But once it was done, $25k in over-runs regardless, it has been awesome! New roof, new garage, new AC/furnace/gasline, siding.

I’m no longer that house on the block that looks like a shack with strange smells and jungle drums booming to the street!

***

From my usual cratedig excusion during Thanksgiving Week to Las Vegas 2016 through Fall 2017,  I had done a moratorium on cratedigging. Didn’t see the point in just stacking up new titles til my Archive was finished.

During any major remodel, you can’t really leave the city in case the workmen need a decision. My house was built in 1901. A half ass renovation conducted in the early 90’s and I bought it in 1995.

So there were a lot of problems that needed construction troubleshooting.

Once I paid my final tab to my contractor: $5,059. Ouch! I was stoked to make up for lost time and hit Vegas with a vengeance.

And as I said on Smile Jamaica last week. Glad to be only a cliche’ and not a criminal in the land of 8 down!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Dec. 2, 2017 Annotated Playlist: 69 sec.

Set 1:  4:20 Set

• Cornell Campbell – Stalowatt; Stalowatt (Third World) ’76 UK 

<Stalowatt = stalwart; 10 sec.>

• Scientist – 11 Guava Road Dub; King of Dub (Kingdom) ’81 Dub Album of the Hour
• Mungo’s Hi-Fi & Soom T – I Need Weed; 10” EP (Scotch Bonnet) 2013 UK picture sleeve; female weedstepper
• Clint Eastwood – Ganja Baby; Jah Lights Shining (Vista Sounds) ’79 UK
• Barrington Levy & Jah Thomas ? – Collie Weed; Hunter Man (Burning Sounds) ’83 UK
• I Roy – African Herbsman; African Herbsman (Joe Gibbs) ’81 US to Johnny Clarke’s African Roots
• Chariot Riders – Sensimilla Dub; Sensimilla Dub (Crystal) ’80 JA dub take

Set 2:

• Tony Tuff – Sweet Reggae Music; Wha We a Go Do (Top Rank) ’84 JA
• Jimmy Cliff – I Am the Living; I Am the Living (MCA) ’80 US

<Jimmy Cliff: pop star or reggae singer? 32 sec.>

• Crucial Bee – Give Thanks & Praise; Just a Sting (All-Star) US Virgin Islands
• The Ethiopians – Good Ambition; No Baptism (Crystal) ‘70
• Sister Carol – Santa Claus; 12” (Grade One) Christmas tune

Set 3: Wailers Family Tree

• Bob Marley & the Wailers – Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe (Island) ’82 UK vinyl box set

<Zimbabwe in the news; 1 min. 5 sec.>

• Marcia Griffiths – Trenchtown Rock; Marcia (RAS) ’89 DC Marley cover
• Peter Tosh – 400 years; Dealing with the Shytstem (bootleg) Nov. 5, 1985 LA, Roxy
• Rita Marley – One Draw; 12” (Shanachie) ’81 US picture sleeve herbtune

<Rita the Teacher schooled by Herbie, Smokey & Milla; 16 sec.>

• Bunny Wailer & the Solomonic Reggae’stra  – Love Fire; Dub D’sco vol. 1 (Solomonic) ’78 JA
• The Wailers – Get Up Stand Up Dub; Marley Dub (Tabou1) Dub Album of the Hour

<Adventures in cratedigging – Marley vinyl box set; 85 sec.>

Set 4:

• Judy Mowatt – Mellow Mood; Mellow Mood (Ashandan) ’75 JA Marley cover
• Eddie Hooper & Storm – Pass It on; 12” (HCR) ’79 disco/reggae/calypso hybrid

Set 5:

• Mutabaruka – Postpone Christmas; High Times All-Star Explosion (Alligator) ’85 Chicago blues label

<No Xmas music before Black Friday! 32 sec.>

• The Mighty Invaders – Hatred; Invasion! (Rave) ’83 Syracuse, NY w/ female vox
• Twinkle Brothers – New Song for Jah; New Songs for Jah (Twinkle) ’89 UK
• Ras Imru – The Marshall; 12” (Jah Shaka) ’81 UK

Set 6: Roots Dawtas

• Vibal Smash feat. Queen Ekanem – Take a Load Off Dreadlocks; 12” EP (ECKO) ’87  LA cover of The Band’s The Weight  

<Soundtrack to my Vegas crate dig – 36 CDs of Bob Dylan w/ The Band; 35 sec.>

• Azanyah feat. Marva Shelton – Guiding Light; “The One” (Path of Light) ’87 Atlanta, GA militant jazz

<Rhodesia to Zimbabwe; South African to Azanyah; 31 sec.>

• Sister Netifa – Don’t Talk to Me Babylon; Woman Deterimined (A luta) ’89 UK female dub poet
• Lloyd Brevett and the Skatatlites – Stream in the Meadow; African Roots (Moon Ska) ’76 Dub Album of the Hour

Set 7:

• Lee “Scratch” Perry – Judgement in a Babylon; 12” (Lion of Judah) ’81 JA picture sleeve – Christ Blackwell is a vampire

<Lee said Chris killed Bob Marley to take away his royalties; 36 sec.>

• Tad’s Logic Dub Band – Science; Chapter 1 Mix (Tad’s) ’84 UK dub of Thomas Dolby’s She Blinded Me With Science
• Ras Karbi – Discrimination; Seven Seals (Rockstone) ’84 JA cover of Five Man Electrical Band’s Signs

<Reggae cover of Five Man Electrical Band’s “Signs”; 24 sec.>

<I am a stud, I do not drink blood – Lee “Scratch”; 46 sec.>

Set 8: UFOria

<Great moon watching for some vinyl UFOria; 36 sec.>

<Space Dust at Blade Runner 2049 in Las Vegas; 25 sec.>

• Prince Jammy  – Martian Encounter; Destroys the Invaders (Greensleeves) ’82 UK 
• Prince Lincoln & the Royal Rasses – Spaceship; Natural Wild (United Artists) ’80 UK

<Aliens gwan whip you, and put you in your rightful place; 9 sec.>

• Lone Ranger – UFO; Barnabas in Collins Wood (Wave) ’79 JA
• Prince Jammy – War in the Asteroid Belt; Destroys the Invaders (Greensleeves) ’82 UK
• Bush Chemists – Star Dub; 10” (Jah Tubby’s) 2005 UK Star Wars Stormtrooper theme

Words of Wisdom: