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Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives June 12, 2021 – Mango Records Retrospective

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Greetings,

 

As I’n’ I mentioned on-air: KRCL is building a new studio and we had to vacate our old space to make way for another four story apartment complex on the Northwest side of Salt Lake City.

That means, just like The Covid 2020, I’m back to building Smile Jamaica episodes from the cloudy living room of the Ark-Ives.

So that means it’s all digital for the summer. The black wax will have to wait. That takes about half of the usual selection out of rotation.

So I ‘n’ I decided I would do specialty Reggae programs for the interim:

  • Father’s Day
  • Roswell UFOria anniversary (July ’47)
  • 33 Year Reggae Radio Anniversary (end of June)
  • Summer of Dub
  • Happy Birthday Haile Selassie (July)

And what I ‘n’ I played last Saturday: A chronological sampling of the Mango Records Reggae release catalog.

Our story starts with Chris Blackwell.  Son of a British food producer father and a Sephardic-Jewish mother. Born in England, the family moved to Jamaica where Chris’s father was in the colonial army.

Chris Blackwell b. 1937

Instead of leaving Jamaica for a life in England, Blackwell stayed in Jamaica and started out managing jukeboxes throughout the Island. Of course, that brought him into contact with  regular Jamaicans he encountered in bars and restaurants and absorbed their folk music traditions of mento, calypso and eventually horn-based ska.

If you have ever seen the movie Countryman, it incorporates part of Blackwell’s transition into Rasta cultural awareness. Chris was shipwrecked, rescued and nurtured back to health by a Rasta fisherman.

That same year (1958) Blackwell was gifted $10,000 dollars and started his Island Records label. Jamaican ska ‘n’ b, production assistant on the James Bond movie, Dr. No, which was filmed in Jamaica. Within a couple years he moved to England to become one of the first successful independent record producers.

He hit pay dirt right off the bat with Jamaican teenager Millie Small who recorded a ska version of a pop tune by Barbie Gaye entitled “My Boy Lollypop”. The record sold 6 million copies and introduced Jamaican music to the radio mainstream.

In the early to mid 60’s Island Records was a successful label releasing records from Traffic,  King Crimson, Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull, Richard Thompson and many more. Quality rock and roll that sold millions of records.

Blackwell never forgot his Jamaican roots and was a major distributor of Reggae music from Jamaica into the UK.

Around 1972 he encountered the Wailers. They had been working with Lee “Scratch” Perry for his Upsetter label and many people think that was the group’s musical water shed.

Blackwell loaned the group enough money to record their first album: Catch a Fire.  Catch a Fire is a foundation release.  Nine tracks (six Rasta/protest tunes, three love songs.) Many of these songs were re-worked from the group’s ska era. But it is hard Jamaican, Rasta roots to the bone.

Problem was, Blackwell thought it was too “legit” for his rock audience. He wanted to sell not only to the Jamaican music scene in the UK. He wanted to treat the group like any of his rock acts.

So, he brought in some Nashville session musicians, who played on Traffic records, as sidemen.  They added some psychedelic guitar and organ flourishes that really rock-i-fied their sound.

Blackwell invested in an expensive packaging release on the initial pressing. A fold-up record that opened like a Zippo lighter. Catch a Fire, geddit?

That album was one half of what introduced Reggae music to the UK rock buying public and college kid Americans in 1973.

The other catalyst moment for Reggae’s crossover was also connected to Blackwell: The Harder They Come.

Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan: a kid from the Jamaican bush who winds up in the city and turns to a life of crime. Filmed in Jamaica with a boisterous Reggae soundtrack, it is essentially a  Jamaican Western showcasing the grim reality and majestic beauty of the island.

Ivan is killed in a glorious shootout and that movie made its wRay through Berkeley, Cambridge, Columbus and East Lansing college towns making a market for that inverted “chucka chucka” Reggae sound. Dreadlocks and ganja were every bit as culturally enticing as hippies and LSD were in the mid 60’s.

So, The Harder They Come (1972) and Catch a Fire (1973) allowed Blackwell to carve out a Reggae niche to fit this market. Rather than seeing Reggae lost in the promotional mix of his larger rock acts, he created the Mango Records imprint.

That label defined the non-Jamaican Reggae market: Toots & the Maytals, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Third World. Singers like Justin Hinds, Max Romeo, George Faith. He brought Lee “Scratch” Perry’s non-commercial, mythical and brooding Black Ark studio recordings into record huts across the globe.

***

But in the end, he was still a businessman. With The Wailers it became apparent that a trio wasn’t going to transcend out of the Reggae niche into the hockey arenas and soccer stadiums. Concerts made money and sold records.

So, alas, it became Bob Marley & the Wailers. In the secret history of Reggae music race always plays a part. Peter Tosh was too tall, too black too militant.  Bunny Wailer, also too black, was too mystical. He hated touring cold cities and he bailed out on the tour after Burnin’ was released at the tail end of ’73 to cash in on the immediate success of Catch a Fire.

Bob Marley: Black Jamaican mother. White, (absent) English father. His lighter skin and angular features, especially as his dreads began to grow, made him look almost Mediterranean.  He could be a brother to late 60’s era Carlos Santana

Blackwell saw in Bob an undeniable charisma. Men wanted to smoke a spliff with the dread. Women wanted to have his babies.

So, Catch a Fire and Burnin’ are credited to the Wailers but by 1974’s Natty Dread it was Bob Marley & the Wailers.  Remove Bunny and Peter and supplant with the female backing of the I-Three. By the 1975 Live album, Bob Marley & the Wailers were a rock sensation selling out celebrity filled arenas and clubs across America, the UK, Europe and Japan.

Wailers’ guitarist Junior Marvin, Bob Marley, Jacob Miller, Chris Blackwell

Here is another story for the secret history. When Bob had a toe injury while playing soccer, it turned gangrenous. At one point he was advised that he should have part of his foot amputated.

But the pressure to continue releasing records and mounting his Babylon By Bus tours, Bob chose not to come off the road and have the surgery. Bob stalked the stage like a lion, how could he continue that playing guitar and moving about with a cane?

Alas, Bob died of melanoma, the ultimate gift from his absent white father, on May 11th, 1981. Some (irrationally) blame Blackwell for his passive aggressive pressure to keep building that audience of white fans and at the end he had finally crossed over into the black awareness as disco petered out in 1980.

Had Bob survived into the 80’s he would have been right there with Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and U2.

Peter Tosh called Chris Blackwell. “White worst.” Lee “Scratch” Perry was sued for defamation for claiming in his song, Judgement in a Babylon, that Blackwell  was a vampire who killed Bob Marley to steal his royalties.

At the end of the day it is still a cut-throat business and Blackwell committed to Reggae music through Mango up until the Roots era of studio based, band crafted Reggae gave way to the digital electronic era of dancehall and slackness lyrics around 1985. Sporadic releases continued until Blackwell sold his record fortune to Polygram at the end of the 80’s.

But from 1972-1984, Mango Records was perhaps the best and consistently successful Reggae catalog that forms the foundation of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives.

So I ‘n’ I went to discogs.com and sorted the releases in chronological order: From 1972’s the Harder They Come to UK group’s 1979 magnum opus Tribute to the Martyrs.

That fills 3 hours of some of the best Reggae music that I ‘n’ I (the royal Rasta we) will ever hear.

So, thanks Chris. Without your instincts and ruthless business acumen Reggae might never have left the Island

bless, Bobbylon 

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: June 12, 2021 Playlist

Set 1:

  • Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come; The Harder They Come Soundtrack (Mango) ‘72
  • Jimmy Cliff – Better Days are Coming; Struggling Man (Mango) ‘73
  • Lorna Bennett – Breakfast in Bed; This is Reggae Music vol. 1 (Mango) ’74 Dusty Springfield cover
  • Scotty – Skank in Bed; This is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Mango) ’75 dj to Lorna Bennett
  • Toots & the Maytals – Country Roads; Funky Kingston (Mango) ’75 John Denver cover
  • Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey; Marcus Garvey (Mango) ‘75
  • Toots & the Maytals – Reggae Got Soul; Reggae Got Soul (Mango) ‘76
  • The Heptones – Book of Rules; Night Food (Mango) ‘76

Set 2:

  • Burning Spear – Brain Food; Garvey’s Ghost (Mango) ’75 dub to Marcus Garvey LP vox
  • Dillinger – Buckingham Palace; CB 200 (Mango) ‘76
  • Jah Lion – Wisdom; Colombia Colly (Mango) ‘76
  • Lee “Scratch” Perry – Roast Fish Corn Bread; This is Reggae Music vol. 3 (Mango) ‘76
  • Aswad – Natural Progression; Aswad (Mango) ‘76
  • Burning Spear – Man in the Hills (Mango) ‘76
  • Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man; Blackheart Man (Mango) ‘76

Set 3:

  • Justin Hinds & the Dominoes – Natty Take Over; Jezebel (Mango) ‘76
  • The Upsetters – Dread Lion; Super Ape (Mango) ‘76
  • Dillinger – Ragnampiza; Bionic Dread (Mango) ‘76
  • Rico Rodriguez – Africa; Man From Wareika (Mango) ’76 trombonist
  • Burning Spear – Black Disciples; Dry &  Heavy (Mango) ‘77
  • Third World – 1865 (96 Degrees in the Shade); 96 Degrees in the Shade (Mango) ‘77

Set 4:

  • The Heptones – I Shall Be Released; Party Time (Mango) ’77 Bob Dylan cover
  • Junior Murvin – Roots Train; Police & Thieves (Mango) ‘77
  • Max Romeo – Melt Away; Reconstruction (Mango) ‘77
  • George Faith – In the Midnight Hour/Ya Ya; To Be a Lover (Mango) ’77 Wilson Pickett/
  • Bunny Wailer – Follow Fashion Monkey; Protest (Mango) ‘77

Set 5:

  • Steel Pulse – Macka Splaff; Handsworth Revolution (Mango) ’78 herbtune
  • Ijahman Levi – Jah Heavy Load; Haile I Hymn (Mango) ‘78
  • Justin Hinds – Let’s Rock; Just in Time (Mango) ‘78
  • Zap Pow – Bubbling Over; Zap Pow (Mango) ‘78
  • Wailing Souls – Feel the Spirit; Wild Suspense (Mango) ‘79
  • Roland Alphonso – James Bond; Intensified! (Mango) ’79 comp.; 007 sax
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Exodus; One Big Happy Family (Mango)  ’79 comp.

Set 6:

  • Toots & the Maytals – Get Up Stand Up; Pass the Pipe (Mango) ‘79
  • Ijahman Levi – Are We a Warrior; Are We a Warrior (Mango) ‘79
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – Fite Dem Back (Mango) ‘79
  • Steel Pulse – Babylon Makes the Rules; Tribute to the Martyrs (Mango) ‘79

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

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Precious cargo!

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.

The Temple of Sound: 2000-2021

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

 

CD Library
Common Space
Production Studio
Performance Space

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
No boring old farts will be there!

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 Ark-Ives May 15, 2021 – Small Axe!

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Greetings,

You are the big tree, we are the small axe. Sharpened to cut you down — The Wailers

Last month I ‘n’ I drove my parents from Arizona back home to Fort Benton, Montana (see previous blog post.)

When you make that journey, it is wise to build in some weather time. Spring in Montana lasts about a week. I remember as a youth snow storms in August.

So once we got settled I had about three days with not much to do.

Spring in Montana: Memorial Day to June 1

I ‘n’ I had been carving out some time to watch a series on Amazon Prime called Small Axe.

This is an ambitious five movie anthology put together by UK producer/director Steve McQueen. (No relation to the American actor who died of cancer in the early 80’s.)

McQueen is most known for his movie adaptation of 12 Years a Slave. Born in London to West Indian immigrants, Small Axe chronicles the lives of the Caribbean immigrants into English inner cities and the trials and tribulations that they face.

The films are not connected like a television mini series but stand on their own. Here is my audio review clipped from this episode of Smile Jamaica:

<Smile Jamaica reviews Small Axe>

UK film director/producer Steve McQueen
  • Mangrove

The Mangrove was a West Indian hangout and restaurant set in Notting Hill London. A place where people could play dominos, eat Island food and build community liaisons against the unremitting hostility from local cops.

Those cops didn’t see The Mangrove as a commercial community center. Instead they assumed it was a den of iniquity: gambling, drug dealing and prostitution. The bobbies (London white cops) would periodically descend on the spot and demolish the interior, roust the patrons and harass the owner. A man named Frank Critchlow.

Finally with help from the local chapter of the Black Panthers and sympathetic liberal white barristers, the club sued and was able to exist as a social, commercial pillar of Notting Hill’s black community.

The unremitting racism was very reminiscent of last summer’s Black Lives Matters protests in the US with the amplifier of 60’s and 70’s British hostility directed at immigrants.

The music was terrific late era 60’s and early 70’s Reggae and Rock Steady.

  • Lovers Rock

This featured the Caribbean youth phenomenon of the shebeen in London. House parties where people would gather and listen to the UK variant of Reggae called Lovers Rock. Pay a little entry fee, have some West Indian food and alcohol. Inside would be a small Reggae sound system, complete with toaster MC.

Young women were a major commercial force in the local Reggae scene. They didn’t want to hear dread and Rasta, they wanted smooth love tunes sung by Reggae songbirds like Janet Kay, the family trio 15, 16, 17 and Brown Sugar. The guys didn’t mind because it was mostly slow dances where they could “rub up a dawta.”

The women wore their best finery. The men dressed up as dandies. Same era in America as Saturday Night Fever. People hooking up, breaking up and cooling out. Highlight was a  scene where the pretty song by  Janet Kay runs out of the groove and  the entire party breaks out the lyrics in acapella.

  • Red, White and Blue

Local youth breaks through the racism and lack of connections to receive a Ph. D. and work as a researcher. However, his community is being devastated because of the constant beat down of young black men by viciously racist and cruel white cops.

Therefore he decides to give up his scientific career to become one of the first black bobbies (cops) in England. The locals see him as a traitor while the white cops use passive aggression and provocation to undermine his policing to the point of not backing him up in a violent criminal confrontation.

Reminiscent of American baseball player Jackie Robinson. A proud and determined black man who broke the color barrier and was called every foul name in the book. He had the strength to let it roll off his back and not let his anger fight back physically or verbally.

You can sense the seething in the young cop about how many more times is he expected to turn the other cheek.

  • Alex Wheatle

Black foster kid from the countryside is dropped off in big city. Is initiated into petty crime and turns to Reggae music for salvation. His goal is to create his own sound system. Taking his weekly “winnings” to a local record shop to buy the latest Reggae singles and 12″ disco mix.

My Mom happened into the living room while there was all this great music bumping. On the wall was the usual offering of 70’s Reggae LPs imported from Jamaica.

She asked, “Do you have any of those records?” I paused the movie and counted. Yep. I had every record but one.

Wheatle eventually winds up in prison after the 1981 Brixton riots. His cellmate is a Rasta who introduces him to literature. Eventually Wheatle became a successful novelist in Britain.

  • Education

The consistent theme through Small Axe is the unrelenting beat down that working class blacks face, in this instance England. Racism, poverty, lack of job opportunities, disjointed families, educational discrimination. Murder and assassination: Birthday parties firebombed,

In this movie a young boy who might have a learning disability or maybe because his parents work night shifts and odd hours he never learned to read.

There was no interdiction at that time. So the youth was sent to a euphemistically titled School for the Educationally Subnormal. Black children with heavy West Indian accents were assumed to be, what would have been called then, retarded. So these kids were dumped into a nightmarish “education” environment with children who had serious developmentally disabled white kids.

Of course the kids were not retarded, and were bored silly. Left to their own devices with teachers who were either absent or wasted  time playing half assed folk songs on the guitar. To be cast into those “schools” meant that those kids had no chance to advance into the work force upon “graduation.” The poverty of racism and discrimination was  their fate.

The not so subtle educational segregation only served to perpetuate the lack of opportunity for West Indians and their children for a generational cycle of misery and despair that we unfortunately still deal with in America.

With 2020’s Summer of Rage after the George Floyd murder, this anthology was a perfect complement on the UK experience.

In sum: I definitely will want to watch Mangrove, Lovers Rock and Alex Wheatle at home on my Hi Fi. I think I blew out my Dad’s hearing aid battery. “Jesus Christ, do you have to listen to it so loud?”

Yes, Dad. I do!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: May 15, 2021

Set 1:

  • Peter Broggs – Rastafari Liveth!; Rastafari Liveth! (RAS) ’82 DC vinyl
  • Black Uhuru feat. Sly & Robbie – Ion Storm; Dub Factor (Mango) ’83 US vinyl dub album of the hour
  • Alpha Blondy – Cocody Rock; Cocody Rock (Shanachie) ’84 Ivory Coast West Africa
  • Carlene Davis – Don’t You Stop the Music; 15 Classic (Sonic) early 80’s
  • The Ethiopians – Everything Crash; Original Hit Reggae Sound (Trojan) ’68 comp.
  • Daweh Congo – Ganja Baby; Ghetto Skyline (Goldheart) 2008 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
  • 4th Street Orchestra – Dubb; 10” (Rama) ’77 UK; Beatles “And I Love Her” dub

Set 2:

  • Afro Omega – Pick Up the Pieces; Pick Up the Pieces EP (Afro Omega) 2006 SLC w/ female vox
  • Tenor Saw – Ring the Alarm; Joey & Norman Jay MBE; Good Times 3 (React) ’85 UK deejay comp.
  • Stranger Cole & Ken Boothe – Artibella; Ska Bonanza (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’61 comp.
  • The Melodians – Sweet Sensation; Reggae Pulse 3 (RAS) ’68 comp.
  • Sel Wheeler – Out of Rome; 12” (City Line) ’77 Bronx dub
Salt Lake Roots Dawta

Set 3:

  • Ringo – Push Lady Push; Black & White Story (Black & White) ’81 Mother’s Day tune
  • Cedric ‘Im Brooks & the Light of Saba; Lambs Bread Collie; Light of Saba (Honest Jon’s) ’76 trombone herbtune
  • Gracy & the Herbman Band – Losing Your Mind; See Mi Yah (Funfundvierzig) ’91 Germ. w/ female vox
  • Papa Levi – Militancy; 12” (Jah) ’86 UK pic sleeve; speed rapper
Every day is Mother’s Day on Smile Jamaica

Set 4: Holdover Mother’s Day 7” Jamaican Jukebox 

  • Dennis Brown – Song My Mother Used to Sing; 7” (Aquarius) ’71 
  • Barry Brown – Thank You Mama; 7” (Observer) ‘83
  • The Chantells – Baby Mother; 7” (Communating) ‘74
  • Leroy Smart – Mother Liza; 7” (Fe Me Time) ‘75
  • Lone Ranger – Labour Ward; 7” (Busy) ‘82
  • Sheriff Lindo & the Hammer – Sky Dubbing; Ten Dubs That Shook the World (Creative Vibes) ’88 Australia dub album of the hour

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital Set

  • Trinity – I Love Mama; Bad Card (Joe Gibbs) dj to Dennis Brown “Oh Mother”
  • Kemi – Even Though You’re Gone; Lovers Delight (Ariwa) ’93 UK roots dawta; Jacksons cover
  • Chris Wayne – Plant Mi Plant; Progress (Heartbeat) ’88 Cambridge, MA herbtune
  • Dave Robinson – Alligator Tears; Family Album (Jah Life) ’80 NY
  • Lennox Miller & Jah Caller – Better Must Come + Jah Caller Speaks His Mind; Jack Ruby Hi-Fi (Clappers) ‘ Bronx

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree Set

  • Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Bus Dem Shut; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ’67: 
  • Peter Tosh – Four Hundred Years; Arise Blackman (Trojan) ’69 comp.
  • The I Three – Many Are Called; Roots Daughters (Shanachie) ’78 comp.: Rita, Judy, Marcia
  • Bunny Wailer – Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae; Roots, Radics, Rockers Reggae (Shanachie) ‘78
  • Solomonic Players – Roots Raddics – Dubd’sco vol. 1 (Solomonic) ‘78
  • Sly & the Revolutionaries – Burn Pipe Dub; Sensi Dub Vol. 1 (Original) dub album of the hour

Set 7: Smile Jamaica 31+ Years Set

  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – New Crass Massakah; Making History (Mango) ’84 UK dub poet
  • Charlie Chaplin – Boyie, Boyie; 12” (Winner) ’85 UK
  • Sophia George – Girlie, Girlie; 12” (Winner) ’85 UK answer to Charlie Chaplin
New Cross Massacre. Covered in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe film anthology

Set 8: Mutant Dub

  • Blackalicious feat. Nikki Giovanni – Ego Trip; Nia (Mo Wax) ’99 female dub poet
  • Rockers Hi-Fi/Groove Corporation – Push Push (Underwater World of Jah Cousteau Mix); King Size Dub vol. 7 (Echo Beach) 2001 Germ. comp.
  • Dry & Heavy – King Cobra; 10” EP (Green Tea) 2000 UK; Jah-pon dubbers
  • Bush Chemists – Marijuana Defender; Dub Fire Blazing (Dubhead) 2001 UK herbal dub
  • Seke Molenga, Kalo Kawongolo, Lee “Scratch” Perry – African Roots; From the Heart of the Congo (RUNNetherlands) ’79 Zairean duo at the Black Ark

Smile Jamaica Ark-ives: Robert’s Reggae Roadtrip in Rona-ville!

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“We will throw your sorry ass off this plane!”

Greetings,

<Robert’s Rona Roadtrip Diary; 2 min. 20 sec.>

Every time….

“You’re getting on a plane?

Yep.

“Wow. Seems risky.”

Ok, Karen. I ‘n’ I have no choice. I’m the eldest and tasked with the responsibility of helping my Mom with my Dad. (Temporarily dain bramaged from a build up of excess spinal fluid. Called NPH.)

Brain surgery to install a shunt drain of excess spinal fluid that flows down a tube and is absorbed harmlessly into the stomach lining.

Since the Rona Pandemic of 2020 I ‘n’ I have boarded/de-planed 10 different planes. At first they were mostly empty. Now they are packed to the rafters. Guess I’ll take my chances with a 99% recovery rate and hope for the best.

So far so good: Bobbylon 43 The Covid 0

Here’s a diary of my  trip.

  • Day 1: SLC to Denver to Phoenix

I ‘n’ I love the cattle car of Southwest Airlines. Pay 15 bucks extra for Early Bird boarding and aim for the back corner of the plane. Didn’t matter. Both legs of the journey were full. In the airport and on the plane I felt the flight staff were more strict on mask compliance than last year or during Xmas 2020. It seems like the more people are vaxxed the stricter they have become.

I wear my mask b/c it’s a bitch when you are scolded for pulling it down to take a sip of anything. It’s ridiculous anyway b/c they make you take down your mask at TSA checkpoint. So I pass on my gamboo to the security person and he/she gives me their cooties. Lovely.

  • Day 2: Cratedigging

Phoenix has great record shops. Several boutique vinyl mostly shops. Their local CD/Vinyl/DVD chain is called Zia and they are terrific. Didn’t find a whole lot this time, except at one store called In the Groove. Snagged about a dozen rare Greensleeves label 12″ vinyl records. Yes I!

Spent $200 filling in gaps for the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. Keep the vinyl shops alive before, during and after The Covid

The other thing? Mask optional. Where some stores had finally opened back up to actual “digging” as opposed to “curbside delivery”, the staff at In the Groove weren’t wearing a mask and there was no “No Mask, No Service” sign on the door

So neither did I’n’ I. I do the old hang off the ear just in case. It was strangely self conscious and exhilarating at the same time. Wow, how quickly we have been accustomed to breathing in our own carbon dioxide and huffing microscopic boogers that accumulate on those face diapers*

*My Pops: “Jesus Christ, would you quit calling masks a face diaper.” So good to have the old cantankerous dad back in the fold which we missed for almost two years!

Pops was days away from one of Cuomo’s Nursing Home/Covid Death Houses and battled back to flash the Hairy Eyeball directed at his ingrate first born!

Except stay six feet apart and keep wearing your face diaper

That was 2020 for I ‘n’ I. Keeping my Pops dodging the Covid. Thanks to Ishtar, the Granter of Wishes! Others weren’t as fortunate.

15,000+
  • Day 3: 420 on 4/20; 107 sec.

Arizona legalized the hippie lettuce in 2020. They didn’t waste any time converting medical only Weed Huts into rec stores. There is a terrific shop in Sun City West that helped my Pops with CBD cream for his neuropathy, 1:1 vape cartridges for my Mom – restless leg syndrome.

Got Mom a nice vape pen for Mother’s Day* since I ‘n’ I broke hers in Dec. (For some reason I am lethal on vape pens, either lose them somewhere or they quit charging.)

*I have always been a good son!

Hey Mom! Charging you an Uber fee for our Roadtrip thru Rona-ville!

I ‘n’ I figured April 20th is like Black Friday for potheads. So I called early. Found out they opened at 8am that sacred day. Sale of 40% off cartridges. Got there by 8:20AM.

Jumped in the long line assuming that was for recreational customers. Asked the guy in front of me. Nope, that was for Medical. Spun the wheel and won a $10 pre-roll. Nice.

Walked right up to rec line like a celebrity. Got in their system and went to the budtender. Nice young woman named, wait for it!…..Marley. (Last trip thru Vegas my budtender’s name was Kaya.) I ‘n’ I was so excited I violated the six foot rule. But at least I had my face diaper on.

The Natural Mystical way to beat back the Rona

Walked out with a little bit of everything. Indica (for sleep); Sativa (for cratedigging); Hybrid (for everyday life). The most unusual thing was that they took credit cards. I ‘n’ I have bought weed in Washington, Collie-rado, Nevada and now Phoenix. Everywhere else was cash for the kasheesh. How civilized. Just like going to Mall-Wart or Olive Garden.

Well fortified, let’s get on the road….

Doing it for the Vitamin C. Beat back The Vid
  • Day 4: Sun City West, AZ to Mesquite, NV (350 miles)

It’s a three day drive from Phoenix to Fort Benton, Montana (North Central part of the state.) 1296 miles

Early high-light (pun intended) was the Last Chance Rest Stop on an Indian reservation just before you cross from AZ to NV.

Alien gear, weed gear and Trump gear “Still My President”. It’s a little disturbing that I’m obsessed with two of the three. Bought some alien schwag, Area 51 T shirt and a bunch of fridge magnets.

Someone call a Karen. Al Leon is wearing his face diaper below his nose!

Pull in to the Virgin River Casino. Had a nice dinner. Near miss with Pops as he went ass over tea kettle. Dude still needs his cane. Two nice bikers helped my Mom and I get him back on his feet.

Pops safe in his room, Mom and I hit the machines. Video Poker for I ‘n’ I. Headed to the exact spot where I won $1000 last fall.

Royal Flush buys a lot of Vape cartridges and pens!

Nevada is a Karen state. Plexiglass is like gambling in a phone booth. I strategically aimed for an end machine close to the bar. Even then the cocktail server doesn’t venture often into the 25 cent video poker machines.

Of course you have to wear a face diaper. I ‘n’ I fire up my Sativa cart and do a little Dr. Ted recreation. (Vaping through a mask). Mmm. Strawberries.

Alas, lightning did not strike twice. The best I ‘n’ I could muster was 4 8’s (400 quarters.) But I got to play about 90 minutes and only dropped 60 bucks. I was crosseyed exhaling strawberry essence through my face diaper (sorry Pops!)

Someone call a Karen, Jed isn’t vaping THROUGH his mask
  • Day 5: Mesquite NV to Idaho Falls ID (550 miles)

Time to grind out the longest and dullest stretch of the 3 day journey. Since Utah and Idaho are 2/3 thirds of the Mormon Triangle States, there will be no vaping nor gambling.

There was ice cream. It was hilarious watching my parent’s little dog Bella go through a bowl of vanilla ice cream like she was going to the dog pound for the long sleep.

Santaquin, UT. Masks for the employees, didn’t see any on the customers.

Hit Idaho Falls, check into the hotel room (so tired I ‘n’ I forgot my face diaper but didn’t need it. Utah and Idaho are coming out of it and getting on with it.) Pizza Hut in the room and half a Law & Order re-run. One toke from Blueberry Indica and I was in dreamland.

  • Day 6: Idaho Falls ID to Fort Benton MT (401 miles)

It wouldn’t be Montana if you didn’t have to worry about snow in April. Montana’s spring lasts from Memorial Day to June 1st.

The Monida Pass between Idaho and Montana is the stuff of nightmares. BFD. We’re going. Praise Anu, a few snow flurries, some low level fog. I give it a B+ by the usual whiteout conditions I ‘n’ I have been used to. Home sweet home.

 

Fort Benton, MT – aka the Birthplace of Montana….and I ‘n’ I
  • Chillin’ in The Birthplace of Montana

Small Axe Mini-Series, Steve McQueen (Amazon Prime)

When you long haul it that early in the spring, you have to book a few extra days before I ‘n’ I would fly back to SLC. Not much to do, so I had some binge time. My parents have Amazon Prime. I carved out the time to watch a fantastic 5 movie series from UK director Steve McQueen.

Collectively it is called Small Axe.

From the Wailers song: You are the big tree, we are the small axe. Sharpened to cut you down.

Five individual films chronicling the West Indian/UK immigrant experience. Unremitting racism, immigrant mistrust, depression of the daily beat down for the color of your skin, lack of educational opportunity.

After the 2020 BLM protests you could truly see that endemic racism is a global phenomenon that didn’t start with an Orange dude still selling MAGA schwag.

Smile Jamaic’a movie review soon come!
  • Fort Benton down with the hemp

17 down, 33 to go. Montana legalized marijuana in Nov. 2020. They haven’t started recreational sales yet but it is legal to possess. Oct. 2021 retail starts….supposedly.

Fort Benton is a town of about 1500 people. Down from about 1800 when I grew up there. Too cold for industry, kids moving off the farm.

But there isn’t a house to be had because of a local hemp processing plant. Yes, hemp. Not cannabis, but I can imagine that will be on-deck now that legal marijuana will need suppliers. They are employing 35 employees in a huge plant on the hill close to my house. They would be the largest non-school/government employer in the entire county.

Indhemp  are making hemp powder for supplements, oil, seeds, CBD extraction and I understand they have expanded to process hemp fiber.

And I ‘n’ I can’t wait until recreational is legal so I can walk up to the old NAPA auto parts store downtown and buy some vape from the Fat Hippie.

Fort Benton’s local dispensary!

  • Rona in Fort Benton-a

So basically after a week of living out of a suitcase, the day after we get home, I wake up and am not feeling all that great. Achy, feverish, low appetite. Are you kidding me? Is it the Rona?

I’ve been talking shit for a year and now it caught me. On the road, 1300 miles of 99% time spent in a car with people/pets I have herd immunity with. In the house I grew up in?

Is the streak over? Bobbylon 43, The Covid 0. Bad news if the Rona scores at all!

I immediately took a vape hit…..waited…..yes, could it be? Strawberries! I ‘n’ I didn’t lose my sensi (pun) of taste! My Mom said to quit being a wuss and come up and empty the dishwasher.

I

I ‘n’ I didn’t get my jab yet because I knew I had this massive trip in front of me. And I have talked to a couple people who had side effects. One guy had a tingling rash up and down his arms. My sister thinks it caused her outbreak of shingles.

So, a day later a friend of Pops comes over for a beer. He was setting up for a gun show in Great Falls. His tongue felt weird. And then he  had trouble breathing. His tongue was swelling. He high tailed into Instacare. Epi pen. 24 hours in ICU.

He was totally gobsmacked, a week early he had a 24 hour bout of uncontrolled hiccups that was worse than ICU.

I asked him if he had been recently vaccinated? Yep, two plus weeks earlier. Moderna. I asked an innocent question. Could his back to back adverse health incidences –  uncontrolled hiccups, anaphylactic shock – be a consequence of his jab? Oh, no. Take off your tin foil hat and believe the narrative.

And that’s why I’m waiting for the Sputnik V.

bless, Bobbylon

 

Smile Jamaica Playlist: May 1, 2021

  • Jacob Miller – Each One Teach One; Classic Rockers vol. 2 (Rockers) ’89 UK vinyl comp.
  • Sir Coxsone Sound – Black Wars Dub; King of the Dub Rock Part 2 (Tribesman);  ’82 UK vinyl dub Album of the hour
  • The Pioneers – Long Shot; Give and Take (Trojan) ’68 – Kentucky Derby Set
  • The Pioneers – Longshot Kicked the Bucket; In the Beginning (Jet Star) ‘69
  • The Race Fans – Bookieman; 7” (Upset) ’68 JA
  • Dillinger – Race Day; CB 200 (Mango) ‘76
  • Sugar Minott – One Horse Race; 7” (Chris & Squidley)
  • The Special AKA – Skinhead Symphony (Longshot Kick the Bucket); Stereo-typical A’s, B’s and Rarities (EMI) ‘80
  • Mr. Bojangles – Selassie I Cup; 7” (Joe Gibbs Record Globe) ‘77***End of Set 1
  • Roots Gwaan – Good Trees; Exalt H.I.M. (Conscious Riddims) herbtune
  • Hollie Cook feat. Horseman – Cry; Hollie Cook (Mr. Bongo) 2011 UK dawta
  • The Ethiopians – Train to Skaville; Norman & Joey Jay: Good Times 3 (React) ’67 comp.
  • 4th Street Orchestra – Hawaii 5-0; 10” (Rama) ’77 UK TV theme***End of Set 2
  • Slim Smith – Rougher Yet; Full Up (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’67 comp. Best of Smile Jamaica 31+ Years Set
  • Samuel the First – Sounds of Babylon; Keep on Coming Through the Door (Trojan) ’70 comp.
  • Barry Brown – Sensimilla; Far East (Hitbound) ’81 herbtune
  • Hortense Ellis – Jah Mysterious Works; Holding Up Half the Sky (Shanachie) ’80 comp.***End of Set 3
  • The Beat aka The English Beat – Jackpot; I Just Can’t Stop It (Go Feet!) ’80 UK 2 Tone ska
  • Thievery Corporation feat. Perry Farrell – Revolution Solution; CD Single (ESL) DC dubbers
  • K – Right Direction; Nemozian Rasta (I Grade) 2001 female
  • The Congos – Music Maker; 12” (99) ’81 NY***End of Set 4
  • Winston Jarrett – Ishen Galore; Wise Man (Tamoki Wambesi) ’79 UK herbtune: Vinyl is Vital Set
  • Freddie McKay – Settle For Me; Alcatraz (Mr. Tipsy) ’85 JA
  • Devon Russell – People Get Ready; Roots Music (Studio One) ’82 JA
  • Kingpin – Hottest Shot; Lovers Delight (Ariwa) ’93 UK lovers rock
  • Norma King – Hot Child in the City; 12” (Zion Love) ’89 Can. Nick Gilder pop cover***End of Set 5
  • Robert Palmer – Love Can Run Faster; 7” (Island) ’77 Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n; Rockers do Reggae Set
  • Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind; Howlin’ Wind (Mercury) ’76
  • Sinead O’Connor – The Glory of Jah; Theology (Koch) 2007
  • The Long Beach Dub All-Stars – Astro-Dub; Sunny Hours EP (Dreamworks) 2001
  • Ja-Man All-Stars – Dub Zone; In the Dub Zone (Blood & Fire) ’77 Dub Album of the Hour***End of Set 6
  • Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Thank You Lord; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ’67: Wailers Family Tree
  • Peter Tosh – Crimson Pirate; Arise Blackman (Trojan) ’69 Jackpot 7” organ instrumental
  • Phyllis Dillon – Long Time No Nice Time; Trojan Bob Marley Tribute Box Set (Trojan) ’72 Wailers cover
  • Bunny Wailer – Rule Dancehall + version; Solomonic Singles vol. 2 (Solomonic) ‘87***End of Set 7
  • Dry & Heavy – Rumble Dub; 10” EP (Green Tea) 2000 UK – Jah-pon: Mutant Dub Set
  • Seeed – Million Dead Tongues; King Size Dub Chapter 6 (Echo Beach) 2000 Germ. comp
  • David Holmes – Slash the Seats; This Film’s Crap Let’s Slash the Seats (Go Disks!) ‘95
  • Ellen Allien feat. Miss Kitten  – Rippin Kitten (BPitch Control) 2004 comp.
  • Kid Loco – Here Copmes the Munchies; Kill Your Darlings (Bella Union) 2001 Fr.
  • Alpha & Omega feat. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Dub Fire;
  • Trample the Eagle and the Bear (Alpha & Omega) 2005 UK trance dubbers
  • Rara Avis – Guyatri Mantra; Essential Lounge: Bombay (UBL) 2005 Hindi dub

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

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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!

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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 Living Room Ark-Ives: Jah-pril 18, 2020 – Qanneh Bossom (The Aromatic Reed)

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Living room kind a cloudy for a while

Greetings from Quarantine,

Raise your hand if this Covid Clampdown has you One Toke Over the Line? From Lawrence Welk – covering Brewer & Shipley:

(The guy with the accordion announcing the two tokers sounds like he just took a hit off the spliff!)

Lawrence Welk thought that was a gospel song! “Modern spiritual”

Like Jesus did. The necessary ingredient for His miracles was cannabis oil:

Jesus consumed cannabis

Smile Jamaica locked out of your station that rules the nation, KRCL, till at least the end of May. So I ‘n’ I have the entirety of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives to peruse for the infamous, notorious, humorous, outrageous, quasi legalish 420 Cannabis Service Show.

I ‘n’ I would say 25 of the 30 or so Jah-prils of being your host, has been devoted to the Seven Leaf

I’n’ I was chatting up a friend recently: “Wouldn’t it be great if the purgative lung properties of inhaling cannabis could mitigate against the severity of the Covid?”

What if doctors were able to tell their patients. “You have tested positive for the Covid. My suggestion is to start smoking marijuana immediately!”

I mean, really. You want to go on a ventilator or smoke two joints? Lot cheaper and the mortality rate of those on ventilators is about 90%. I ‘n’ I guess we’re stuck with bleach enemas and injecting Lysol.

So all the Doom Porn I’m forced to read as opposed to news, tells us we are heading into an economic Depression. You want a leg up on revenue? Do what Lebanon did.

Lebanon – First Arab Nation to Legalize Cannabis

From the Bekaa Valley, recently liberated from ISIL tyranny. Home of the legendary Lebanese Blonde hash

They became the first Middle East nation to legalize cannabis. From the Aramaic – qanneh (reed) bossom (aromatic) – so the aromatic reed = ganja stalk

So don’t call it marijuana – that is a made up name by the 30’s anti-drug thugs in the US government: Maria + Juan = Marijuana. To stigmatize the drug with Mexican laborers so they could be easily deported during the depression.

Quick history of Cannabis:

  1. The Scythians (an Iranian people) – were the first to  throw Cannabis seeds on the hot plate to inhale the vapors.

From 5th Century BC historian, Herodotus:

The Scythians said, take some of this hemp-seed [presumably, flowers], and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy.” Yes I!

  1. They puff puff passed it to the Medes (forefathers of today’s Kurds)
  2. The Medes spread it to the expansive Assyrian-Akkadian-Babylonian empires.
  3. Trade with Egypt allowed for the plant to go West through the Maghreb (Arab North Africa) and north through the Mediterranean
  4. 2020 – Lebanese blonde

So, while you are forced indoors – whether sick or healthy, enjoy this cannabliss podcast: 35 Reggae songs plus special efx, movie dialog and other seven leaf snippets.

Stay safe!

Bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Playlist: Apr. 18, 2020 – 420 Special

Set 1:

  • The Toyes – Green Doctor; Strange Animals (CD Tunes) ’96 LA
  • Eek a Mouse – Sensee Party; Skidip! (Greensleeves) ’82
  • John Clarke – Good Collie Weed; Visions of John Clarke (Wackies) ’79 to Only Sixteen riddim
  • Junior Byles – Cally Weed; Rasta No Pickpocket (Nighthawk) ’86
  • Gracy & the Herbman Band – Follow Up; See Mi Yah (Funfundvierzig) ’91 Germ. female

Set 2:

  • Black Uhuru – Sinsemilla; Sinsemilla (Mango) ’80 without seeds
  • Angie Angel – Sativa Info; All I Have Is Love (Easy Star)  2001
  • Lone Ranger – Collie Dub; Rosemarie (Techniques)  ’81
  • Jah Woosh – Chalice Blaze; Chalice Blaze (Original) ’78
  • Mikey Dread – Pound a Weed; Life Is a Stage (Dread at the Controls) 2007
  • Capital Letters – Smoking My Ganja 12″; Headline News (Greensleeves) ’79 UK

Set 3:

  • Prince Alla – Sensimilla; More Love (Jah Warrior) 2002
  • Sammy Dread – Wrap Up a Draw; Wrap up a Draw (Seven Leaves)
  • The Pioneers – Feeling High; 20 Greatest Hits (Trojan) ’79
  • UB40 – Mi Spliff; Baggariddim (DEP) ’85
  • Carlton Livingston – Chalice in Mind; Crucial Reggae (Mango) ’82
  • Ganja Woman – Light Up Your Spliff; Pro Cannabis 4 (EFA) 2002

Set 4:: Queen Elizabeth weed set

  • Heavy Manners – Taking the Queen to Tea; Heavier Than Now (NoVo) ’96 Chicago w/ female vox
  • U Roy – Chalice in the Palice; Dread in a Babylon (Virgin Front Line) ’75
  • Bush Chemists – Light Up Your Spliff; Light Up Your Spliff (Conscious Sounds) ’96 UK mutant dubbers
  • Dillinger – Buckingham Palace; CB 200 (Mango) ’76
  • Peter Tosh – Buk-in-Hamm Palace; Mystic Man (EMI America) ’79

Set 5: Wailers Family Tree Herb Set

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Marley-juana Mix; Smile Jamaica Dubplate
  • Bunny Wailer – Cease Fire; Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae (Shanachie) ’83
  • Peter Tosh – Don’t Want to Get Busted; Talking Revolution (Pressure Sounds) ’76 KZEL Eugene, OR radio acoustic
  • Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers- African Herbsman; Joy and Blues (Virgin) ’93
  • Rita Marley – One Draw; 12″ (Shanachie) ’83

Set 6:

  • Johnny Osbourne – Mushroom; Fally Lover (Greensleeves) don’t pee in my garden, or mushroom will grow
  • The Selecter – My Collie (Not a Dog); Too Much Pressure (2 Tone) UK ska w/ female vox
  • Jacob Miller – Healing of the Nation;  Wanted (Top Ranking) ’78
  • Benjamin Zephaniah – Get High; Rasta (Workers Playtime) ’83 UK dub poet
  • Mighty Diamonds – Pass the Kouchie; Big Blunts (Tommy Boy) ’81
  • The Toyes – Smoke Two Joints; The Toyes (CD Tunes) ’96

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-burary 22, 2020 – Reggae Apocrypha!

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June 13, 1980 – Dortmund (West) Germany

Greetings,

I ‘n’ I know Black History Month (February) as Bob Marley Month (Bob-ruary). Born Feb. 6, 1945 he would have been 75 had he not died of melanoma on May 11, 1981 (36 years old.)

In the Rasta community, they avoid death. So part of that Ras’pect is to say “livicate” not deadicate.

As a major Reggae collector I ‘n’ I had picked up some Marley reissues in the past year.

  • Boston, ’78

Plus, a CD/DVD combo that was published on the West German rock television show Rockpalast. (See image at top.)

If you were a youth in the 70’s as I was, weekend night time rock and roll TV programs, like Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack fed viewers music television fix before the advent of MTV.

The Uprising disk/DVD = Rockpalast performance was recorded in Dortmund (West) Germany on June 13, 1980.

It was haunting. Bob was at his high point. I ‘n’ I always tell people you can gauge Bob’s age by the length of his dreads. The short and wiry, athletic Bob roamed the stage like a lion. Dreads flashing. Moving about the other group members. Full of energy and passion.

Bob’s nickname was Skipper. He was an exacting band leader who would even fine his wife Rita, among other band members, if they made a mistake. This was the video performance of a man and group leading Reggae into the mainstream.

The 80’s would have seen him at the top of the pop music pinnacle alongside stalwarts like Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, U2 and Madonna.

Alas, it wasn’t to be. Almost 3 months later Bob collapsed running  in New York’s Central Park. He performed one more show in Pittsburgh, PA (Sept. 23, 1980). And made his Exodus to Jah’s Heavenly Choir less than 8 months later.

As someone with a Ph.D. in Bobology, I was stunned. On stage in front of thousands, this was not the look of a many being ravaged by cancer.

<Bob’s Rockpalast performance; 72 sec.> 

Bob’s passing shocked the Reggae world as well. In Jamaica, and elsewhere over the decades since May ’81, I ‘n’ I have  culled nearly 50 Bob Tributes.

One thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain. Artists exacted their grief in an expression of platonic love. Every Bobruary, I’n’ I rinse out those songs throughout the 4 weeks of Smile Jamaica editions.

<Marley Tribute phenomena; 40 sec.>

***

For the past several months I ‘n’ I have been tracking through the Wailers’ early pre-Island label catalog. We are on the 1970 recordings for Chinese Jamaican restauranteur, Leslie Kong

The Wailers had huge ska success with Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label. But they would sell 80,000 copies of a  record and be compensated $25.

Studio One owner made thousands on sales. The Wailers made $25 on 80k sold

 

So the group quit Studio One and created their own label: Tuff Gong. However, the Jamaican music business was cut throat. DIY groups like the Wailers couldn’t get their songs into the shops or on the radio as independents. So the label folded.

Thus they turned to one of Dodd’s competitors, Leslie Kong. Beverley’s, his label, was a successful Rock Steady label selling thousands of records in the UK, especially.

Record producer is the guy that funds the sessions.

  • Recording in a music studio; pay for time
  • Paying the musicians
  • Paying the sound engineer
  • Paying to mix the tape recording
  • Paying to press the records
  • Paying to distribute the records to shops domestically and internationally
  • Payola to get the song on the radio.

The Wailers recorded about 10 songs. What to call it. Since Kong knew the group was hot, but records by the Wailers were hard to find, he wanted to call it Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers.

The group were hostile to that notion and felt they were being ripped off again. These weren’t their best songs. “Best” signifies the group was at its end, not a re-boot. The album is not exactly filler, and there are some great performances. But Best was a misnomer…at best.

The group wanted the album to be called Caution. This is where the Reggae apocrypha sneaks in. The Wailers were sighting up Rasta. With all that mystical and magical revelation, they warned Kong this offense would not go unpunished….Caution indeed.

Here is how Bunny Wailer described what happened in the liner notes of the Bunny album I have introduced on this podcast edition of Smile Jamaica. As part of I ‘n’ I Wailers Family Tree selections.

<The mysterious death of Leslie Kong; 2 min. 48 sec.>

As Bunny noted, Kong wanted to exploit the group’s sales potential: notoriety + scarcity = $$$.  Call it Best Of and watch the records fly off the shelves.

He wasn’t interested in “art” but commerce. The Wailers took their craft seriously. Here was another rip off.  Call it black magic obeah, divine justice or just the eerie circumstance of timing.

On the very day the records were to be sent to the shops, Kong died of a brain aneurysm.  He was 38 years old. Caution indeed!

Caution – the road is wet. Black soul is black as jet. Caution the road is hot. You can do better than that

How about one more story:

Haile Selassie visited Jamaica in 1966. For Peter Tosh it was a foundation moment in the development of Rastafari worship.

<Rasta Shook Them Up: Peter Touch & the Wailers>

bless, Bobbylon

Haile Selassie

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-bruary 22, 2020 Annotated Playlist

Set 1:

  • Jah Woosh – Love Jah and Live; D.J. Legend (Original) ’70’s UK vinyl
  • Scientist & Forces of Music – Marcus Mosiah Garvey; International Heroes  of Dub (Tamoki Wambesi) early 80’s UK vinyl dub album of the hour
  • Horace Andy – Get Up; Living in the Flood (Melankolik) ’99 hidden track
  • Johnny Clarke – Hypocrites; Be Thankful (Foundation Music) 70’s Bunny Lee prod’n
  • Akabu – Blackbird; Warrior Queen (ON U Sound) ’89 UK roots dawta group
  • Prince Far I – Lambs Bread Collie; Ten Commandments (Rhino) ’79? 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
  • I Roy – Rootsman; 10″ (Observer Gold) ’76 UK

 

Set 2:

  • Bob Andy & Marcia Griffiths – Lean on Me; Sweet Memories (Nectar) ’76 married duo cover Bill Withers
  • Taxi Gang – Twilight Zone; Many Moods of Sly, Robbie & the Taxi Gang (Sonic) ’86 TV theme instrumental
  • Thievery Corporation feat. Black Uhuru – Boof ‘n’ Baff ‘n’ Biff; Abductions and Reconstructions (ES)
  • Ganja Tree – Hard Road to Travel; 10″ (I-Grow) 2006 Fr. militant steppers

Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 30+ Years

  • King Stitt – Fire Corner; Keep on Coming in the Dance (Trojan) ’69 comp.

<How King Stitch becomes King Stitt>

  • Zap Pow – Roots Man Reggae; Zap Pow (VP) ’78
  • Gregory Isaacs – Happiness Come; Love Is Overdue (Heartbeat) ’74
  • Judy Mowatt – Sisters Chant; Black Woman (Shanachie) ’76
  • Jah Power Band – No Formula Dub; Sensi Dub vol. 7 (Original) ’95 dub album of the hour

Set 4:

  • Bunny Wailer – Tread Along; Jamaican Singles vol. 1 (Solomonic) ’69
  • Triston Palmer & Jah Thomas – Give Me a Chance + Please Mr. Officer; In Disco Style Entertainment (Munich) ’80; Jah Thomas herbtune
  • Bedouin Soundclash feat. Vernon Buckley – Higher Ground; Street Gospels (Sideonedummy) 2008 vox from The Maytones
  • Abassi All-Stars feat. Minoo – December; No Answer 10″ EP (Deep Root) 2008 UK militant steppers feat. female vox

Set 5: Vinyl Is Vital

  • Ranking Joe – Tribute to Bob Marley; Rebel DJ (Jam Rock) ’81 Miami vinyl
  • The Blackstones – Soul Shakedown Party; Insight (Burning Sounds) ’81 UK red vinyl Bob Marley cover
  • Sophia George – Tenement Yard; Fresh (Winner) ’85 UK
  • Lee Milo – Hell is On Fire; Positive Movements (Rooney) ’89 Miami
  • Ini Kamoze – I Want it Ital; Here Comes the Hotstepper (Columbia) ’84 US comp.

 

Set 6:

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Back Out; Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers (Beverley’s) ’70 JA vinyl
  • Chalice – Master Blaster Jammin; Best of Bob Marley Stevie Wonder Bob Marley Tribute
  • Aisha – Tribulation; High Priestess (Ariwa) ’88
  • Sane Inmates – Masquerade Dance; 10″ (Ariwa) 2006 UK
  • Burning Babylon – Roots Fi Kool; Knives to the Trebel (Mars) 2004 Dub Album of the hour
This erroneously titled LP got the producer, Leslie Kong

Set 7:

  • The Wailers feat. Peter Touch – Rasta Shook Them Up; The Toughest (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’66 about Selassie’s visit to Jamaica
  • Bobby & Carol Kalphat – Memories of Bob; 7″ (Hit Vibes) ’81?
  • Faith D’Aguilar – Reggae Pioneers; 7″ (Gorgon) ’83
  • Lone Ranger – Tribute to Bob Marley; 7″ (Studio One) ’81
  • Jennifer Lara – Natural Misty; 7″ (Studio One) ’81 Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic

Set 8; Mutant Dub

  • Dub Syndicate feat. Big Youth – Wake Up; Fear of a Green Planet (Shanachie) ’98 Mutant Dub Set
  • Aldubb feat. Longfingah – Straight From the Heart; Welcome to Bassland (One Drop) 2012 Germ.
  • African  Heard Charge feat. Prof. Stretch – Brother of Reality; Drums of Defiance (ON U Sound) ’98 UFOria
  • Kid Loco – Three Foot High Reefer; Kill Your Darlings (Division One) 2001 Fr. herbtune
  • 2 Badcard – Noise Polluters; Chainstore Massacre (ON U Sound) 2003 comp.
  • Alpha & Omega feat. Nishka – Stepping Up + The Firmament; Dub Plate Selection vol. 2 (A & O) 2001 UK trance dub w/ female vox

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 16, 2019: Your Perception is Not My Reality!

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Greetings,

I ‘n’ I was fighting glaucoma with my bredrins Mike and Aqua Boy. I was laying out my Presidential strategy for taking down The Cheetolini in 2020:

Tulsi-Bernie

America’s only hope in 2020

With the JFK coup anniversary looming: Was it Bin Laden on the Grassy Knoll? Discuss!

But then the discussion took a turn. When baseball season is over, I ‘n’ I turn to a new time suck: Ancient Aliens on the History Channel.

I was talking about the documentary’s 2 hour tribute to Erich von Daniken, the Father of Ancient Astronaut Theory. His book, Chariots of the Gods, lit the fuse for a whole generation seeking a connection between ancient astronauts mis-labelled as Sky Gods by mankind.

I took to the alternative cosmology of Ancient Astronaut Theory late in life. But I should have been into it for 40 years….

I grew up in a small farming community in North Central Montana called Fort Benton. Beautiful little river city. We had a theater and a drive in. It was a short bike ride from my house to go see a movie to get out of the sun.

Fort Benton, Montana – the Birthplace of Montana and cattle multilations

It was sometime, summer 1975. I was ten years old. The movie was Young Frankenstein: Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman and Teri Garr. But, in the lobby was something that really intrigued me: a whole display of cut outs, movie stills and placards describing Chariots of the Gods. The movie.

One of the stills described a picture in Ancient Assyria; my mother’s homeland in the Fertile Crescent. I was totally enthralled and could not wait to see it in two weeks!

Coming soon to a farm implement dealership

The following week, the movie theater went out of business and became a farm implement manufacturing business. Cursed!

****

Wheel it forward to last weekend. I was regaling my mates, between bongrips and bourbon, of the story von Daniken described from the Bible: Ezekiel and the crystal ship. A wheel within a wheel.

Ezekiel 1:14-28. Ancient Astronaut Theory

 14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

That, my friends, is the description of nothing other than a space ship which travels by gyration, the wheel within a wheel!

What the Prophet Ezekiel saw in the Old Testament

<Ezekiel’s crystal ship>

My bredrin Aquaboy, who reads dinosaur media like the New York Times and The Nation magazine, was not having it. He was giving me the red eyed hairy eyeball.

The hairy eyeball

So I’n’ I zone in on the kill shot: The Ancient Aliens episode devoted to Chariots of the Gods’ legacy talked about one of the original NASA scientists who thought von Daniken was a crank and set out to use physics to debunk the wheel within a wheel.

His name was Sidney Blumrich…

I ‘n’ I, who does not read the New York Times nor the Nation, never got to finish…Aquaboy was full on scoffing. I ‘n’ I held up my hand and calmly said,

“Your perception is not my reality.”

They’re here. They’ve always been here. And they’re coming! Scoffing won’t save you!

bless, Bobbylon

Bobbylon’s Top Ten Biblical Alien Encounters

  1. Moses and the burning bush – spaceship
  2. Ezekeiel and the Crystal Ship: the wheel within a wheel aka a gyroscopic spaceship
  3. Stairway to Heaven – walkway to a spaceship
  4. Enoch – Noah’s grandfather who walked with God and then was not
  5. Lot’s wife – turned into a pillar of smoke, not salt after Armageddon was destroyed in a nuclear attack
  6. The New Jerusalem – Borg cube massive space ship
  7. The Nephilim – Biblical giants describing the Anunnaki who created mankind and mated with their women
  8. Noah’s Flood (1) – Utnapishtim in a tessaract spaceship to wait for the flood waters to recede (Sumerian origin story)
  9. Noah’s Flood (2) – Ziusudra in a submarine to wait for the flood waters to recede (Sumerian origin story)
  10. Jacob’s Ladder – spaceship walkway (see #3)

How about some examples from Islam and Hinduism:

  • Magic/flying carpets
  • The Prophet Muhammad’s midnight journey to Heaven on the back of a winged horse Al-Buraq. Buraq means “lightning” in Arabic (one man space capsule)
  • Descriptions of flaming minarets in the sky (missiles)
  • Hindu Vimana’s: space chariots fighting battles
  • Shiva’s Trident – missile
Al-Buraq “lightning”. Took the Prophet Muhammad to heaven from earth….spaceship!

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 16, 2019 Annotated Playlist: 73 sec.

Set 1:

  • Mikey Dread – Voice of Jah; Dread at the Controls (Trojan) ’79 UK vinyl
  • Aggrovators – Dread Locks in Jamaica (Attack) ’76 JA vinyl dub album of the hour
  • Chachi feat. Sister Carol – Natty Dread;  (Kariang) ’99 Ethiopian dawta cover Bob Marley
  • Sister Carol – Natty Live Up; Lyrically Potent (Heartbeat) ’96 Bob Marley’s Natty Dread
  • Jah Thomas – Tribute to the Reggae King; In Disco Style – Entertainment (Midnight Rock) ’81 Bob Marley tribute
  • Sublime – Legalize It; Hempilation (Capricorn) ’96 Peter Tosh cover; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
  • Junior Murvin – Bad Weed; 12” (Upsetters) ’78 UK – Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n; herbtune over Police & Thieves

Set 2:

  • Zema – Joy in the Morning; Black Sleep (Melchizedek) 2003 Culver City, CA dawta
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – Sonny’s Lettah; a capella live (LKJ)

<UK sus laws against “vagrancy”; 28 sec.>

  • The Eagles – Country Living; Reggae Classics (DCC) ‘73
  • Tapper Zukie – Black Man 12”; I Can Hear the Children Singing (Blood & Fire) ’78 dj to Prince Alla
  • Barry Brown – Release the Chains; 10” (Rockers) ’80 UK; Augustus Pablo prod’n

Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 30 Years

  • Martha Velez – Get Up Stand Up; Escape From Babylon (Sire) ’76; Wailers cover
  • Mighty Diamonds – Gnashing of Teeth; I Need a Roof (Hitbound) ‘76
  • Junior Delgado – Armed Robbery; Brothers (DEB) ‘77
  • Ranking Dillinger – African Worldwide; None Stop Disco Style (Abraham) ’77 dj to Johnny Clarke’s “African Roots

Set 4:

  • Winston “King” Cole – Black Magic Woman; Impact! (Soul Jazz) 70’s Fleetwood Mac/Santana cover
  • Hopeton Lewis – Dreadlocks Lewis; 7” (Thorough Bred) ’75 herbtune
  • Black Harmony – Reasons; 12” (Cool Rockers) ’81 UK female lovers rock
  • King Tubby Meets the African Brothers – Original Dub; In Dub (Nature Sounds) ’75 Dub Album of the Hour

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital 

  • Michael Rose – Born Free; Trojan Story (Trojan) 3 LP UK box set
  • Tony Brown Band – Iration Song; Prisoners in Paradise (Mountain Railroad) ’81 Madison, WI
  • Matumbi – Man in Me; Best of (Trojan) ’75 UK: Bob Dylan cover
  • Kofi – Reggae Starship; Black…With Sugar (Ariwa) ‘89 UK roots dawta UFOria

Set 6: 7″ Jamaican Jukebox

  • Aisha – Give a Little Love; 7” (Rockers International) 7” Jamaican Jukebox Set
  • Richard Ace – Supernatural Thing; 7” (Clocktower) 70’s Ben E. King cover
  • Madoo – Jamming So; 7” (Crazy Joe) ‘79
  • The Lions – Roll It ‘Round’ 7” (Lions Bread) 2010 LA roots group*
  • Sly & the Revolutionaires – Cocaine; Bill Laswell: Dub Massive Chapter One (Trojan) 2005 Dub Album of the Hour

Set 7: Wailers Family Tree

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers feat. Bunny Wailer – Dreamland; Marley, Tosh, Livingston & Associates (Studio One) ’66 JA vinyl

<Dreamland – Bunny Wailer’s vision of heaven; 1 min. 23 sec.>

  • Bunny Wailer – Natural Mystic; Hall of Fame (RAS) ’95: 50 Bob songs for Bob’s 50th birthday
  • Peter Tosh – Get Up Stand Up; Wanted (bootleg) Sept. 29, 1981 at the Ritz, NYC
  • Ziggy Marley – Live on Mars; Fly Rasta (Tuff Gong) 2013 UFOria
Bunny’s vision of heaven

Set 8: UFOria

  • Tena Stelin – Flying Saucers; 7” (Mascot) ’99 UFO-ria
  • Unity – Stargazing; Heat Your Body Up (Virgin) ’83 UK
  • Thievery Corporation  feat. Sleepy Wonder – Stargazing; Culture of Fear (ESL) 2011
  • Ancient Astronauts feat. Akua Naru – Last Night; Into Bass and Time (ESL) 2010 w/ female vox alien love song
  • Rockers Hi-Fi – Dick From Outerspace; Rockers to Rockers (Gee Street) ’95 UK
  • Spiritual Rez – Let’s Go Out With a Bang; Apocalypse Whenever (Spiritual Rez) 2014

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-tober 26, 2019: Bone Yard Skank!

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Greetings Ghouls ‘n Gals,

I live in Sugarhouse; on a narrow street that only has one street lamp. I rarely get any Trick or Treaters and my Doc says high fructose is not Ital. And I have a physical coming up in 3 weeks.

The last thing I need is a bunch of left over candy. On Halloween night, my doorbell camera picked up two sets of kids at my door. They were adorable. And I felt guilty. It was a record cold night.

Next year I’m gonna put a little dish near my front door and let the tykes grab whatever they want.

Just don’t do this!

Urban Legend: Stoners giving edibles out for Halloween

So enjoy this 3 hours of All killer….literally Jah-loween tunes: From driving around Kingston in a coffin to  “roll a lickle spliff wif di papyrus”. Horror bytes, movie trailers and the monster menagerie!

From your Undead station that rules the nation!

curse, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-tober 26, 2019: Halloween Showcase; 2 min. 14 sec.

Set 1:

  • Ini Kamoze – Hole in the Pumpkin; Shocking Out (RAS) ’87
  • Scientist – Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (Greensleeves) ’81 dub
  • Bim Sherman – Haunting Ground; Crucial Cuts vol. 1 (Century) ’86
  • Sky High & the Mau Mau – Cemetary Robbery; (Origination) ’94
  • The Toyes – Monster Hash; The Toyes (CD Tunes) ’96 cover of Bobby “Boris” Pickett
  • Barrington Levy – Murderer (Vampire); 12″ (Jah LIfe) ’84

Set 2:

  • Yellowman – Me Kill Barnie; Them a Mad Over Me (Hitbound) ’82 Barnabas Collins: soap opera vampire

<Please Sir, may I have a cup of blood? 41 sec.>

  • Black Uhuru – Vampire; Sinsemilla (Mango) ’80
  • Laurel Aitken – Witchdoctor From Amsterdam; Eskapade en France (Blue Moon) ’77
  • The Specials – Ghost Town; 12″ (2 Tone) ’81 UK 2 Tone ska; picture sleeve
Soap Opera vampire Barnabas Collins

Set 3:

  • Capleton feat. Big Youth – Mark of  the Beast; I Testament (Def Jam) ’97
  • Benjamin Zephaniah – Blood Suckers; Belly of De Beast (Ariwa) ’96 UK dub poet
  • Carl McDonald – Satan Soldiers on the Run; 12″ (Makdon) ’87 US

Set 4:

  • Pablo Gad – Sad Mistake; Hard Times (Melodi) ’80 vampire tune
  • Max Romeo & Lee “Scratch” Perry – Horrorzone + Dub; Horrorzone (Nu Roots) 2016

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

  • Massive Dread – Vamps on the Corner; This Is Massive (UFO) ’80 JA

<In Jamaica vampires = informers; 35 sec.>

  • Prince Alla – Evil Forces; In I Father’s House (Calabash) ’84 Miami
  • Sinead O’Connor – Vampire; Throw Down Your Arms (That’s Why There’s Chocolate & Vanilla) 2005 UK: Devon Irons cover
  • Clint Eastwood & General Saint – Two Bad D.J.; 12″ (Greensleeves) ’81 UK – duppies/Jamaican ghosts
  • Scientist – The Mummy’s Shroud; Scientist Rids the Curse of the Vampires (Greensleeves) ’81

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Mr. Brown; Rasta Revolution (Trojan) rides around in a coffin:

<Mr. Brown; 48 sec.>

  • Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man; Blackheart Man (Mango) ’76
  • Peter Tosh – Dracula; Equal Rights (Deluxe Edition) (Columbia) ’76
  • Peter Tosh – Dracular; 7″ (Shock) ’76 dubwize

Set 7:

  • David Lindley – Werewolves of London; Very Greasy (Elektra) ’88 rocker cover Warren Zevon
  • Dean Stone – Vampire Rock; 12″ (GG’s Hit) ’79 UK
  • Scientist – Blood on His Lips; Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (Greensleeves) ’81

Set 8:

  • Future Pigeon – Mummy Rock; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collect) 2006 LA: Mutant Dub Jah-loween
  • Tayo Meets the Acid Rockers feat. Pupa Jim – Vampayas; 12″ (Scrub a Dub) 2010 UK
  • Thievery Corporation feat. Femi Kuti – Vampires; It Takes a Thief (ESL) 2010 best of
  • Allan Pillay – Demonic Forces; Wild Paarty Sounds (Cherry Red/ON U Sound) ’81
  • Natacha Atlas – I Put a Spell on You; Best of (Mantra) 2005 Arabic singer covers Screaming Jay Hawkins