Tag Archives: Lee “Scratch” Perry

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

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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.

  1. Rip tune to Itunes
  2. Upload song to Audacity sound editor
  3. clip 420 byte
  4. save as .mp3
  5. 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

17 down, 33 to go!

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. 20, 2021: Crappy Rona-Versary Year 1

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Crappy Ronaversary Year 1

Greetings,

WARNING: This blog post thinks outside the box and may challenge your ritual beliefs on the Corona Virus Epidemic of 2019-2025. I ‘n’I am obviously not a Doctor but I do have proof and science in my dissent. It is intended to be black humor/alternate perspective and not meant to convey any course of action or critical thinking whatsoever. For satire and entertainment purposes only! 

I ‘n’ I am not a Karen.

Early in the pandemic I was chauffeuring my Mom around the Sun City West (AZ) Mall-Wart. Picked up a random box of masks and this is what it says on the back:

1.5 billion of these coming soon to a landfill and/or ocean near you.

Told to trust the science. So I ‘n’ I did a little sleuthing. Not from CNN or PBS. Not from New York Times or Washington Post. As an Academic Librarian I have access to some of the greatest science and medical databases in the world.

Trust the science. Well, here’s an inconvenient truth. Would you trust the New England Journal of Medicine? Here is what they say about mask wearing:

We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.

Universal Masking in Hospitals  in the Covid-19 Era (May 21, 2020)

That’s peer review, baby! Count 8 medical/health degrees and an MBA in the authors’ combined credentials.

Viruses go 30 feet in a cough, sneeze or fart. 5 x the social distanced mandated 6 feet.

And how does the mask trap virons (singular of virus): it works as well as an aluminum fence stopping a mosquito .

But don’t listen to me. I ‘n’ I am just a guy who believes Extraterrestrials are ancient Sumerian skygods. But  will you trust Dr. Ted?:

I ‘n’ I replicated Dr. Ted’s at home with some Strawberry Cough.

Trust the science.

<Safety Mask parody by Media Bear; 31 sec.>

I ‘n’ I am not a maskhole. I wear my face diaper because it’s the law (still). Businesses (grocery stores, record shops, weed emporiums, university workplace) are still gonna insist. I hate it but I do it.

I really don’t care to start fights with friends and colleagues. I have already seen friendships and family relationships destroyed over Covid concern or insufficient concern. Even though I am breathing in my own CO2 (lovely!) and Anu only knows the crud and critters festering on the mask surface (yum!)

That’s not sushi but what lives on your mask

What in the Hell does any of this have to do with Reggae music?

Sometime last summer. Phone rings in the middle of Smile Jamaica (back live at KRCL starting in late may):

Rona Robert: KRCL

Caller: What’s the count?

I ‘n’ I: Huh?

Caller: The Covid Count: Bobbylon what? the Covid zero?

Bobbylon: Oh yeah, Bobbylon 12 the Covid Zero. But what happens when/if the Covid scores 1?

 

******

I ‘n’ I count the beginning of the pandemic during Salt Lake City’s 5.7 magnitude earthquake: March 18, 2020. By the end of that weekend everything was locked down. The last in-studio show from Smile Jamaica was a pandemic Reggae/dub showcase:

KRCL had us do “living room kinda cloudy shows” from mid March to til one deejay a day was granted the golden ticket to return, live, to your station that rules the nation; after Memorial Day.

That Saturday person was me. I think at the time I was the only one who even WANTED to come back. But I need the turntables to really do Smile Jamaica. After 3 decades of mixing vinyl and cds, (No digital for I ‘n’ I), not having easy turntable access was like deejaying with one hand tied behind my back. So I started doing a weekly count. This podcast episode marks the streak at Bobbylon 37, the Covid Zero.

And I ‘n’ I “celebrated” a full year of survival from a virus with a 99% recovery rate with this Reggae show entitled Crappy Ronaversary Year 1. (1 min. 53 sec.)

2020 Spring allergy season was a bitch!

I ‘n’ I handled that year under Lockdown (isn’t that what the warden does to unruly prisoners?) under the guise of calculated risk. Couldn’t even go into work until late August. Left the house on Saturdays (listening to my living room Smile Jamaica broadcasts driving my new Subaru up and down State Street in a mostly deserted roadway.) Sunday shopping for the usual: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, isopropyl alcohol for my smoking utensil.

I ‘n’ I scored a 24 pack of TP before I ever found isopropyl alcohol

Even did some judicious cratedigging. At the beginning I flipped thru the crates with my Green Bay Packers gloves behind my Bob Marley mask.

Rona survival kit

I ‘n’ I strategically picked my public encounters. In May, Sept. and Dec. I had no choice. I had to drive my parents from Arizona to Montana and back. And then Christmas in Albuquerque. Solo cratedig in Vegas for Thanksgiving. Curbside recording shopping sucks. I’m dying to go in (ha ha!).

My first plane trip in May, my friends just had this look of horror when I told them I had to fly. They were staggered.  I shrugged? Did I ‘n’ I tell you  I have no choice.

Come fly the friendly skies of Covid Airlines. We’ll getcha there! Relax, breathe deep and enjoy the flight!

“Luckily” everywhere was a ghost town. Which made it easy to justify “risk versus reward” when I ‘n’ I went cratedigging from South to North and back again. In late May I drove that gorgeous drive from Fort Benton, Montana (North Central) to the People’s Republic of Missoula (South West).  You all stay home while I “risk my life” finding new tunes for Smile Jamaica! If you die doing something you love is that sometimes how you meet your fate?

The perfect song for the roadtrip for these Covid times: Rolling Stones Living in a Ghost Town

<Rolling Stones: Cratedigging in a Ghost Town; 64 sec.>

Roundtrip 2600 miles dodging The Covid with my parents and their little dog Bella

I’m such a scofflaw I ‘n’ I won a $1000 bucks playing Video Poker in a Mesquite, NV casino literally days after they re-opened to hotel guests.

Royal Flush for I ‘n’ I. Pay the man $1000. Suck it, Rona!

Maybe one of the reasons I ‘n’ I didn’t cower in front of the God of Rona and instead flashed the hairy eyeball is because I ‘n’ I have a secret weapon…...WEEED!

That’s right. The Seven Leaf: CBD adds a hard candy coating on lung epithelial cells. (Mmmm. Candy…..) Rona is a spike protein: a round ball with barbs coming off in all directions. Its goal is  to attach itself and feed just like thistles in the brush cling and sting you. The CBD in aspirated cannabis sativa combats this. The little bastard can’t “probe you” (pun intended) with his poker

From the same place I ‘n’ I get my UFO stories: Sputnik News.

Cannabis inhibits Covid spread in human lungs

<Weed vs. The Covid; 2 min.>

Vaccine? No thanks. I’m set

A coping mechanism for me was pushing back against the doom and gloom of everything surrounding Covid. Every ad was buzz kill. Couldn’t watch a football game without wanting to slit your wrists. Stop telling me to be safe!

Even KRCL flogged it. “2020 was a rough year.” None of us needed reminding. How about forward ever backward never?

So in those early months and especially now, black humor/wise ass-i-tude was gonna be my counter. Stop waiting for the Rona to come down the chimney and stab you.

So it was Fiyah-bun’ the Covid on Smile Jamaica. A couple instances listeners didn’t appreciate my snark and fuckery. And the station manager, one of my best friends, said, “But people are dying.” People die of a lot of things. As Peter Tosh sang, “let the dead, bury the dead.” I’m gonna live!

If I ‘n’ I catch a whiff of the Covid in a Missoula record shop, at least I didn’t get it under the covers locked up like under house arrest.  Lockdowns everywhere and thousands still died. Give me sunshine, black wax and a little Purple Haze!

Selah!

Tell us Rona Robert. How did you survive to Bobbylon 37, The Covid 0? Vitamin D, Cannabliss Sativa/CBD and the black wax attack

So, enjoy this podcast. Keep it in the spirit intended as not disrespect or disregard, but counter-programming and snark. Minstrels went from town to town during the Black Death of the Middle Ages.

Enjoy two Rona Robert Mini Operas. Pete Townshend got nothing on I ‘n’ I

Reggae Rona 1: (72 sec.)

So you get the  Hong Kong/Wuhan flu. Which gives you The Fever. Gonna make your Stomach Sick so Get Out of My Way. Too late to coat your lungs from the Green Doctor, The Kannabis Kevorkian. So you died and went to Dreamland, the sublime Bunny Wailer vision of heaven.

Rona Robert Mini Opera 2; 93 sec.

You’re Lost in the Supermarket.  No TP. No wipes. No bong cleaner. Quarantine and everything is closed so that’s making you So Lonely. In spite of being cooped up, you’re not feeling well so you head for the Doctor Doctor.  How you are really Sick and Tired. Alas, you’ve got the Fever

So if the streak comes to an end, and all my scoffing catches up to me and I wind up in one of Cuomo’s nursing homes? Well, at least I went out with a bang!

<Let’s Go Out With a Bang! 22 sec.>

Words of Wisdom: Night Nurse

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives March 20, 2021 Playlist:

Set 1:

  • Rayne Overall – Covid 19; .mp3
  • Jah Shaka – Preacher Dub; Brimstone & Fire (Jah Shaka) ’83 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
  • The Ethiopians – Hong Kong Flu; Original Hit Sounds (Trojan) ‘69
  • Junior Byles – The Fever; Beat Down Babylon (Trojan) ’72 Little Willie John cover
  • Twinkle Brothers – Stomach Sick; Me No You (Twinkle) ‘81
  • Ayo – Get Out of My Way; Gravity at Last (Wrasse) 2008 Nigerian-Germ. dawta
  • The Toyes – Green Doctor; Strange Animals (CD Tunes) ’99 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers feat. Bunny Wailer – Dreamland; Complete Upsetter Box Set (Trojan) ’71 (1) vox
  • The Upsetters – Dreamland (Version); Africa’s Blood (Trojan) ‘73

Hong Kong ’69; Wuhan 2020

Set 2:

  • The Clash – Lost in the Supermarket; London Calling (Epic) ‘79
  • DubXanne feat. Big Youth – So Lonely; Police in Dub (Echo Beach) 2008 female vox
  • Chalice – Doctor Doctor; Up Till Now (RAS) ‘87
  • Neville Grant – Sick and Tired; Give Me Power (Trojan) ’73 Fats Domino cover
  • Horace Andy – Fever; Mr. Bassie (Studio One) ’72 (1) vox
  • Dennis Alcapone – Fever Teaser; My Voice is Insured for Half a Million Dollars (Trojan)  ’72 (2) dj

Sick and tired of the effing Covid

Set 3:

  • Thievery Corporation – Sound the Alarm; Radio Retaliation (ESL) 2008 DC dubbers
  • Love Clinic – Love Clinic (Ariwa) 2005 UK Roots Dawtas
  • Junior Delgado – Live Like a Hermit; Brothers and Sisters (Blue Moon)  ’79
  • Half Pint – It’s Too Late; 20 Greatest Hits (Sonic) ‘86
  • Max Romeo & Lee “Scratch” Perry – Horror Zone + Dub; Horror Zone (Nu Roots) 2016

Love clinic or a Cuomo nursing home? The choice is yours!

Set 4:

  • Sylford Walker – Cleanliness Is Godliness; Lambsbread International (Blood & Fire) ‘79
  • Michigan & Smiley – Diseases; Dancehall (Soul Jazz) ‘84
  • Michael Rose – It’s the Fever; 7” (Record Factory) ‘95
  • The Specials – Ghost Town; 12” (2 Tone) ’81 UK picture sleeve

“all the clubs have been shut down.” 1981 UK. 2020-2021 World Wide

Set 5: Vinyl Is Vital

  • Ras Midas – Plague & Armagedeon; Rastman in Exile (Disc’ AZ International) ’80 Fr.
  • Susan Cadogan – Fever; Version Like Rain (Trojan) ’75 UK Little Willie John/Peggy Lee cover
  • The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me; Zenyatta Mondatta (A & M) ’80 US
  • U Brown – Please Mr. Doctor; 7” (Black & White) ‘78
  • Reggae George – We Will Survive; 12” (Jah Guidance) ’83 US
  • Blackbeard (Dennis Bovell) – Electrocharge; I Wah Dub (More Cut) ’80 dub album of the hour 

99.7% recover from The Covid

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

  • Peter Tosh – Reggaemyelitis – Wanted Dread & Alive (Rolling Stone) ’81
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – No Water; Soul Rebels (Trojan) ’70….can quench my thirst!
  • Bunny Wailer – Burial; Sings the Wailers (Mango) ’80 US vinyl
  • Peter Tosh – The Bush Doctor; 12” (Rolling Stone) ’78 US

Cure for glaucoma, asthma and The Covid!

Set 7:

  • The Rolling Stones – Living in a Ghost Town; .mp3
  • Wayne Marshall – Covid; .mp3
  • The Maytals – Fever; Sensational Ska Explosion (Jamaican Gold) ’75 Toots passed of Covid
  • Laurel Aitken – Witchdoctor from Amsterdam (Unicorn) ’90
  • Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse + Dub;  Night Nurse (Deluxe) (Mango) ‘82

“Night Nurse. Only you alone can quench this dry, unproductive cough.”

Set 8:

  • The Clash – The Clampdown; London Calling (Epic) ‘79
  • Thievery Corporation – Culture of Fear; Culture of Fear (ESL)
  • David Lindley – Tu Ber Cu Lucas & the Sinus Blues; El Rayo-X (Asylum) ‘81
  • Aswad – Fever; Rise & Shine Again! (Mesa) ‘95
  • 8750 Band – Stayin’ Alive; Run 4 Cover
  • David Fly – Coronavirus 19; .mp3
  • Media Bear – Safety Mask; Youtube; parody of Men With Hats You Can Dance
  • Spiritual Rez – Let’s Go Out With a Bang; Apocalypse Whenever (Spiritual Rez) 2014

Resist the media fear mongers pushing hysteria

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-bruary 20, 2021 – NASA vs. The God of Covid

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NASA rover Perserverance lands on Mars to do battle with Nergal, the Sumerian God of Covid

Greetings,

Congratulations to NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab. They landed their Perserverance rover on Mars and have been road  tripping across the red planet sending back data.

NASA rover successfully lands on Mars

From previous fly overs and images captured there are a lot of strange anthropomorphic sites on the surface of the planet.

Martian Stonehenge?

Martian bullfrog?

Martian fertility goddess?

The most famous image is at Cydonia: The Face on Mars.  In 1976, NASA’s Viking orbiter (couldn’t land a vehicle on the planet then) captured an image of a mesa with an obvious human face.

Cydonia – Rock face mesa (or temple?) on Mars. Not a trick of the light. Two eyes, bejeweled helmet, nose, two lips. Humanoid!

The unimaginative scoffers at NASA tried to write it off as a trick of the light and shadows. But another photo captured it with even more clarity.  Even after more pictures surfaced the agency still adheres to the notion Cydonia is an optical illusion.

Now is the time to put up or shut up. Send Perserverance to the base of the mesa shaped rock formation and let’s get a close up.

But that strategy is not without risk. Many of the Russian rovers who tried to map the surface were mysteriously fried and knocked out just to be a Martian junk yard.

Could it be the Martians don’t want to be found? Ancient Astronaut Theory says yes!

Marvin the Martian gives the hairy eyeball to NASA planetary exploration

<NASA on Mars! For how long? 45 sec.>

What do I think? Thanks for asking! Mars has always been associated as a war planet of hostile intent.

Mars gets its name from the Roman God of War. The reddish hue of the planet gives off a malevolent vibe down below on Earth. Hindus called the red planet Angakara after their God of War and the occult. Wikipedia mentions that In ancient China, the advent of Mars was taken as a portent for “bane, grief, war and murder”.

Angakara – Hindu God/ancient astronaut. Mars and the God of war

My hypothesis is this. Cydonia is a temple to the Sumerian God Nergal. Consulting multiple episodes of Ancient Aliens, reading the text  of my many Sumerian religion books (don’t call what came first mythology!), this is my analysis:

In the main 7 Ancient Astronaut pantheon of so-called Sumerian Gods, Nergal is the most malevolent. His planet is Mars.

Who is Nergal? The Greeks plagiarized him as Hades. God of the Underworld. Associated with fire, war, destruction, devastation, plagues, death. Pestilence. Consider him the God of Covid!

Nergal – Sumerian God of Death

<Nergal (Mars) – The God of Covid; 2 min 55 sec>

The Martians who worship him, do not want their temple at Cydonia defiled. They can see what happens when mankind discovers/invades. Ask the Mayans and Aztecs the tender kindness shown to them by Conquistadors four hundred years ago. They are  gonna protect what’s theirs. I don’t expect that cute little rover, Perserverance, to have a very long life.

Nergal on high alert since Trump created the Space Force

<Your Ace From Outer Space; 77 sec.>

China and Elon Musk are trying to get to Mars as well. I ‘n’ I play the song by Alpha Blondy “Interplanetary Revolution” on this Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive podcast. The Martians know we never come in peace and they will not allow Starbucks, McDonald’s or Amazon on the Red Planet. No strip mining for minerals for Iphones.

Heed my prophecy, this will lead to weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And why does any of this matter? I ‘n’ I found a fresh stack of UFO tunes by Burning Spear, Alpha Blondy, Cornell Campbell and I ‘n’ I wanted to rinse them out on my typical UFOria sets on Smile Jamaica!

As I ‘n’ I always say: Look to the skies! Do not scoff!

Fly Me to the Moon? Mr. Spear needs to re-record as Fly Me to Mars

Reggae lost a giant this week. U Roy, age 78, joined Jah’s Heavenly Choir after a lifetime of diabetes. He wasn’t the first Jamaican to chant over Rock Steady riddims in the mid 60’s, but he was the most popular through his inventive lyrical style. He was the forefather to what came after: toasting (think Ranking Roger of the (English),  Beat), 70’s Reggae deejay chanters, dancehall ragga and especially hip hop and rap.

Many of the NYC hip hop originators like Kool Herc came from Jamaican emigrants who brought their record collections north from the Island. His records helped develop the most successful new music format since rock or soul. No U Roy, no Public Enemy, Jay Z or Snoop Dogg.

The last song on this Ark-ive podcast continues his origination: Your Ace From Space which led indirectly to Neil Armstrong skanking on the Moon a year later.

Now Bob Marley and Peter Tosh have someone to chant over their riddims in Jah’s abode.

bless, Bobbylon

<RIP U Roy – inventor of toasting, deejay, hip hop and rap; 56 sec.>

U Roy – “I originate while others imitate”. Indeed

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Feb. 20, 2021

Set 1:

  • Sister Frica – One in the Spirit; Rockers All-Star Explosion (Alligator) ’78 Chicago vinyl; ’85 comp.
  • The Revolutionaries? – Ital Step; Vital Dub Strictly Rockers (Hitbound) ’76 Brooklyn vinyl dub album of the hour
  • U Roy – The Originator; Rock With I (RAS) ’78; RIP inventor of deejaying
  • Zema &  the Gladiators –  Trouble Never Set; Jubilee (Melchizedek) 2009 SoCal female artist
  • Jackie Opel & the Skatalites – Valley of Green (Take 2); 4 Track EP (Top Deck) ’65 UK green vinyl
  • Culture – International Herb; Livity (RAS) ’98 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement

Set 2:

  • Rico Rodriguez – Rico’s Special (Reloaded); 10” (Above Rock) ’76 NY picture sleeve; trombone
  • Horace Andy – Better Collie; Prime of Horace Andy (Music Club) ’75 herbtune
  • Barry Brown – Stand Firm; Far East (Hitbound) ‘81
  • L.S. Diesel Meets Digidub – Skunk Funk (The Mix); King Size Dub Volume 1 (Echo Beach) ‘95

14 down, 36 to go. Lost South Dakota legal/medical weed

Set 3:

  • Rockers Hi Fi – Transmission Central; Thievery Corporation: DJ Kicks (!K7) ’99 dub comp
  • Big Youth – Get Up Stand Up; Trojan Tribute to Bob Marley Box Set (Trojan) ’76 Marley/Tosh cover
  • Roots Uprising – Master Blaster Jammin’; 12” (Top Ranking) ’81 Miami – Stevie Wonder cover/Marley Tribute
  • Sly Dunbar – Sesame Street Theme; Front Line Dub (Virgin Front Line) ’79 comp; Dub Album of the Hour

Stevie Wonder cover/Bob Marley tribute

Set 4: Jamaican Jukebox 7″

  • Susan Cadogan – Piece of My Heart; 7” (OB International) Janis Joplin/Erma Franklin cover ’80: 7” Jamaican Jukebox Set
  • Lui Lepkie – Tribute to Bob Marley; 7” (Joe Gibbs Ultra Sound) ‘81
  • Carlton Livingston – Cold Cold Winter; 7” (Grade One)
  • Benjamin Zephaniah – 13 Dead; Dub Ranting; 7” EP (Radical Wallpaper) ‘82 UK 8 track picture sleeve

8 track, 7″ 33 and 1/3 UK dub poetry

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

  • Ken Boothe – This Love of Ours; Reggae For Lovers  (Generation) ’79 Missisauga, Ont. Canada
  • Prince Far I – The More We Are Together; Musical History (Trojan) ’83 UK herbtune
  • Gedeon Jerrubaal – Jedna Milosc, Jedna Nie Nawisc; Reggae From Around the world (RAS) ’88 DC; Polish Reggae mixed by Adrian Sherwood
  • Amjam – Every Little Thing; Live Off the Board (Celluloid) ’87 live at CBGB punk club
  • Baby Rose – Barb Wire; Can Jam  Reggae Rockers Disco Style (Rocktone) ’81 Toronto, CA; Nora Dean cover

Polish Reggae on Smile Jamaica!

Set 6: Wailers Family Tree

  • Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Stir It Up; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ’67
  • Peter Touch – Selassie Serenade; Arise Blackman (Trojan) ’69 B-side organ instrumental
  • Marcia Griffiths – Steppin’ Out of Babylon; Women in Reggae (Shanachie) ’79 comp.
  • Bunny Wailer – Rise & Shine ; Solomonic Singles vol. 2 (Solomonic) ‘81

Short lived Wailers boutique label: Wail ‘N Soul ‘M (1966-1968)

Set 7: Best of Smile Jamaica 31+ Years

  • U Roy – Music Addict; Music Addict (RAS) ’87 RIP:
  • Aisha – Tribulation; High Priestess (Ariwa) ‘88
  • Black Uhuru – Sinsemilla; Tear It Up! Live (Mango) ’82 live in London
  • Dr. Alimantado – Sons of Thunder; Born For a Purpose (Greensleeves) ‘73
  • 4th Street Orchestra – Ah Who Seh? Ah Who She? Go Deh! (Rama) ’76 Dennis Bovell dub album of the hour

RIP at age 78. Inventor of toasting, deejay talkover, hip hop, rap

Set 8: UFO-ria. NASA on Mars

  • Burning Spear – Fly Me to the Moon; Mistress Music (Slash) ’88
  • Alpha Blondy – Interplanetary Revolution; Cocody Rock!!! (Shanachie) ‘84
  • Cornell Campbell – Stars; The Minstrel (Westside) ‘75
  • Laurel Aitken – Apollo 12; The Pama Years (Grover) ‘69
  • Bam Bam – Star Wars + Dub; Power of  a Woman (Bam Bam International) ’87 LA Vinyl/Roots Dawta
  • U Roy – Your Ace From Space; Version Galore (Treasure Isle) ‘68

U Roy – Your Ace from Space joins Jah’s Heavenly Choir

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-bruary 6, 2021 – Happy 76th Bob Marley!

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Greetings,

<28 days of Bob Marley T Shirts; 1 min. 44 sec.>

  • Bob baseball cap? Check!
  • Bob hoodie? Check!
  • Bob necklace? Check!
  • Bob ID card? Check!
  • Bob mask/face diaper? Check!
  • Bob lighters, stash tin and grinder? Check, check, check!

Wore a Bob watch for 20 years til the face faded out. Johnny Law got my Bob pipe and I ‘n’ I have never come across a Bob bong.

“Hello Bong Hut. Do you ship to zip code 84112?” CLICK. “Hello? Hello?”

Now let’s celebrate Bob Marley’s 76th birthday on Smile Jamaica on his actual birth date: Feb. 6, 2021 – Feb. 1945….carry the one, by I ‘n’ I liberal arts math: 76 years!

Last year when Rona was raging the most, since I ‘n I couldn’t go into work, I cleaned out my closets and pulled together a closet full of Bob Marley T-shirts. Feb. 1 to Feb. 28th.

It’s not Bob Marley birth day it’s Bob Marley birth month! Gwan see if I ‘n’ I have 28 T shirts. I’ll probably go up until Apr. 20th flying Bob’s visage on  my person. (Never go on the Zoom camera at work. Hate Zoom. Hate. Hate. Hate it.)

Choice for Feb. 6, 2021 – livicated to the African Herbsman easy skanking his way through a crocus bag of Kaya

<Happy 76th Birthday Tribute to Bob Marley; 2 min. 29 sec.>

The Digital Millennium Copywrong Act makes this showcase mostly cover tunes. But I ‘n’ I do get to play 4 Bob tunes and stay legal. Back in the good old days I might have done Bob from Catch a Fire to Uprising or Bob A-Z (Ambush to Zimbabwe), but the love is  there from Bob’s family and contemporaries and I ‘n’ I (the Royal Rasta we)

A couple stories from three decades of Bob’s life and works. I ‘n’ I been tracking the Wailers from before their main Island albums (Catch a Fire ’73 to Uprising ’80)

The group was tired of being ripped off. Selling 80,000 copies of a hit ska single and collecting all of $25 dollars. Latest Smile Jamaica chronological album is a collection of when the group started their own label in true independent spirit: Wail ‘N Soul ‘M. It lasted a couple years yet the vicious Jamaican record industry wouldn’t let them into the record shops, radio payola and pressing plant. It lasted two years, but had some great post ska pre-rocksteady gems and a brilliant logo. And I ‘n’ I will hear more in the months to come. Rare and fresh roots!

<Wail ‘N Soul ‘M label; 84 sec.>

Wailing Wailers: Wail ‘N Soul ‘M logo

<Bob Marley the perfectionist aka The Skipper; 49 sec.>

Another quick story: When Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer went solo, Bob became the captain. And much like James Brown, he would fine band members if they missed a note or were late for sound check. Even the I Three (Rita, Marcia, Judy) would pay up if they missed a dance step. They all called him The Skipper.

The Skipper runs a tight ship

<Marley musical tributes; 32 sec.>

Most people didn’t know Bob was terminally ill. He was on a highly (ha ha)  successful tour backing Uprising. Disco mixes of “Could You Be Loved” and “Comin’ in From the Cold” were finally being played in the black dance clubs. His show was a rock experience like any stadium white act. He had crossed over.

Then he collapsed while running in New York Central Park. But May 11,. he went up to Jah’s Heavenly Choir. A whole heap of Reggae stalwarts wrote up lyrics, went into the studio and record fitting tributes which are showcased on this podcast of Smile Jamaica.

<Bob as Prophet Joseph; 18 sec.>

What greater tribute to Bob’s life could there be when Judy Mowatt composed Joseph comparing Bob to the Biblical Prophet Joseph. Leading the people out of Babylon back to Zion. Tremendous ballad.

Judy Mowatt

<Redemption Song the fitting end; 1 min. 34 sec.>

The fitting end was the last song on the last album Bob recorded while alive: “RedemptionSong” from Uprising. Two of my 4 Bob selections are the 12″ band mix, uptempo but the ballad version is sublime.

Bob and his acoustic guitar singing about:

Old pirates yes them rob I, take I to the merchant ship, minutes after they took I from the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong, by the hand of the Almighty.

We forward in this generation triumphantly.

*****

As poignant an ending as John Lennon’s “Starting Over”. Had he lived and grew his audience through 80’s and MTV, touring, success in the black market, his world wide following for revolutionaries everywhere he would have been right up there with the Michael Jackson’s, Prince’s, Madonna’s and Springsteen’s.

Selah!

bless, Bobbylon

The Skipper leads the band of Jah’s Heavenly Choir

Smile Jamaica Ark-ives: Feb. 6, 2021 – Bob Marley Birthday Tribute

Set 1:

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Smile Jamaica; Pressure Drop (Island) ’77 UK Lee “Scratch” Perry mix 
  • Chalawa – Natural Mystic; Exodus Dub (Weston) Canadian dub album of the hour
  • Cedella Marley Booker – He’s a Rastaman; Awake Zion (Rykodisc) ’84 Bob’s Mom
  • Ijahman Levi – Bob & Friends Over There; Inside Out (Jahmani) ‘87
  • Ranking Joe – Tribute to Bob Marley; Rebel DJ (Jam Rock) ’81 Miami vinyl
  • Winston Reedy & Tim Hain – Reggae Man; 12” (Priority) ’85 UK

Bob’s Mom

Set 2:

  • Ky-Mani Marley – Dear Dad; CD Single (Gee Street) ’99 child 10 of 11
  • Session feat. Azeem – Tribute to Bob Marley; Tribute to Marley (M. Al’s) ’81 Oakland, CA vinyl.
  • The Abyssinians – Jah Marley; Last Days (Tabou1) ‘97
  • Sue Chaloner – Missin’ Mr. Marley; 12” (CNR) ’81 Can.

Child 10 of 11

Set 3: 7” Jamaican Jukebox Set

  • Faith D’Aguilar – Reggae Pioneers; 7” (Gorgon) 
  • Lone Ranger – Tribute to Marley; 7” (Studio One)
  • Prince Ital Joe – I Miss Bob Marley; 7” (Royal Safari Music) Hollywood CA
  • Errol Scorcher – Sounds of Hon. Marley; 7” (Dance Hall)

Set 4:

  • Bobby & Carol Kalphat – Memories of Bob; 7″ (Hit Vibes)
  • Alpha Blondy – Mystic Night Move; Masada (World Enterprise) ’92 Ivory Coast
  • Macka B – Bob; Everybody Loves Bob Marley (Neos) 2006 comp.
  • Shaka Man – If It Wasn’t For the Rastaman (Tribute to Bob); 2030 A.D. (Majicaa) 80’s LA vinyl
  • Jah Thomas – Tribute to the Reggae King; 12″ (Midnight Rock) ’81 JA
  • Moods Unlimited Orchestra – Could You Be Loved; Get Up Stand Up (Image) ’95 mellow instrumentals

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

  • Culture – Psalms of Bob Marley; Good Things (RAS) ’89 DC
  • Papa Finnigan & Junior Ranking – Tribute to Bob Marley; Two the Hard Way (Heartbeat) ’82 DC Cambridge, MA
  • Sister Carol – Dedicated to Bob Marley; Black Cinderella (Jah Life) ’84 Brooklyn
  • Horace Andy – Bob Lives On; Exclusively (Solid Groove) ’81 UK
  • Jah Batta – Great Superstar; 12″ (Top Ranking) ’81 Miami; dj to Horace Andy

Set 6:

  • Bob Marley & the Wailing Wailers – Freedom Time; Wail ‘N Soul ‘M Singles (JAD) ’66
  • Mikey Dread – In Memory (Jacob, Marcus, Marley); S.W.A.L.K. (Heartbeat) ’82
  • Bankie Banx- Remember Bob; Soothe Your Soul (Redemption)
  • Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster (Jammin’) – Hotter Than July (Motwn) ’80
  • Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster (Dub); 7″ (Tamla) ’80 US

Set 7:

  • Judy Mowatt – Joseph; Black Woman (Shanachie) ’76 Bob as Biblical prophet
  • Toots & the Maytals – Marley’s Gone (HIs Songs Live On); Live at Reggae Sunsplash (Genes) ’82 Montego Bay JA
  • Winston Groovy – Night Shift; 12″ (Sound City) ’84 UK

Set 8:

  • Randeesh – Bob Marley Is a  River of Love; Courage
  • I-Three – He’s a Legend; Beginning (EMI America) ’86
  • Everton Blender – Bob; Piece of the Blender (Heartbeat)  ’96
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Redemption Song; 12″ (Tuff Gong) ’80 JA band version
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Redemption Song; Uprising (Tuff Gong) ’80

Smile Jamaica Jah-nuary 23, 2021: Oumuamua and UFO-ria!

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Intergalactic artificial space visitor: Ouomuamua – Hawaiian for “probe”

Greetings,

I was reading RT earlier in the month and they are a good source of Extra Terrestrial runnings.

<Oumuamua and the Ancient Astronaut redemption>

They had an article regarding first proof of intergalactic visitation from outside our  Milky Way galaxy

Harvard astronomer says alien technology visited in 2017, may have been distant civilization’s trash

Now this isn’t coming from I ‘n’ I, your pothead Ancient Astronaut Theorist/Anunnaki enthusiast. It’s not coming from big haired Swiss Greek dude Giorgio.

You not down with Ancient Aliens on History Channel? Feel free to scoff. This is coming from Harvard University. Not some egghead in the Astronomy Department trying to make tenure.

This came from the Head of the Dept. himself, Prof. Avi Loeb.

The story is this:

Hawaii has the Haleakala Observatory. In early 2017, astronomers monitoring the feed saw a long cylindrical object pass by. The first time something crossed into our galaxy from beyond.

They named it Oumuamua which is Hawaiian for “scout”. I ‘n’ I watched enough John Wayne movies to know scouts were the ones who went out and reported on enemy movements.

Let’s call Oumuamua for what it really is: a probe. An advance craft seeking info throughout the skies and reporting back. Just like we have been doing since Carl Sagan was sending space probes, The Voyager 1977, into the outer reaches of our galaxy.

Carl Sagan believer in extraterrestrials until “they” threatened to take away his Cosmos TV show

But in alien pop culture, probe means this:

Everyone tends to think Flying Saucer, but just as prevalent are UFO’s shaped like cigars. Oumuamua is aerodynamic for long haul space probing…err, scouting.

In Prof. Loeb’s forthcoming book,  Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, he describes why it’s not a comet or natural phenomenon:

“What would happen if a caveman saw a cellphone? He’s seen rocks all his life, and he would have thought it was just a shiny rock,”

Prof. Loeb’s observations:

  1. Oumuamua is a rare shape and was mistaken for a comet. The shape acts as a sun-sail which projects itself via sunlight energy.
  2. Unusual brightness for a celestial entity. 10x more than the usual asteroid or comet
  3. In addition to its blinding brightness, that brightness fluctuates unnaturally or predictably.
  4. Varying speeds and odd trajectory which suggests its own sort of post-gravitational acceleration when it should be decelerating as it moves away from our sun
  5. It could be a piece of space junk discarded by aliens like we have littered our galaxy with terrestrial made space material.

From the RT article: “The only way to look for [alien civilizations] is to look for their trash, like investigative journalists who look through celebrities’ trash,” Loeb said.

Terrestrial space junk littering the skies

 

Of course Prof. Loeb’s colleagues are giving the hairy eyeball to Oumuamua’s artificial bonafides and say it’s just a far travelling comet. One which does not have any water vapor tail.

And the scoffing begins with the same dismissive attitude as how humans built massive structures like the Great Pyramids, Puma Punku and Baalbek using stone and bone tools when massive cranes and 21st century technology could not rebuild those ancient wonders today.

Aliens took their tools with them when they left. Obviously.

More from RT:

Loeb has a simple response to those who deny potential new breakthroughs for fear of upending established conventions. “Reality is the one thing that never goes away, even if you ignore it,” he says.

I ‘n’ I don’t have a Ph.D. in Astronomy but that statement fits my personal philosophy of “your perception is not my reality!”

Prof. Avi Loeb, head of Harvard Astronomy Dept. Soon come on Ancient Aliens

And why does any of this matter? I ‘n’ I was in the mood to play some UFO Reggae

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jan. 23, 2021

Set 1:

  • Tapper Zukie – Jah Jah Is I Guiding Star; Dread Locks Rasta (Attack) ’76 JA vinyl
  • King Tubby – King Tubby’s Shock Attack; King Tubby’s Boom Shot  vol. 4 (Yabby You) ‘80’s JA vinyl dub album of the hour
  • Zema – Keep Justice; Stranger in the Gates (Melchizedek) ’97 So Cal roots dawta
  • Bedouin Soundclash feat. Vernon Buckley – Jealousy Get Free; Street Gospels (Sideonedummy) 2007 Canadian group feat. Maytones singer
  • Prince Jazzbo – Dreadlock Corner; Ital Corner (Clocktower) ’76 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
  • The Deacons – Hungry Man; 10” EP (Top Deck) ’65 green vinyl ska
  • Daweh Congo – Proverbs + Dub; Guidance/Guidance Dub (Charm) 2000 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement

Set 2:

  • Peter Broggs – International Farmer; Rejoice (RAS) ’97 herbtune
  • Ayo – Only You; Ayo (Interscope) 2008 Nigerian-German dawta
  • Aggrolites – Countryman Fiddle; Unleashed Live vol. 1 (Brixton) 2011 So Cal ska/regge
  • Lloyd Hemmings & Ranking Joe – Garrison; Return of the Rub-a-Dub- Style (Echodelic) 2011
  • Silver Fox – Jamaica Nice; 10” (Jah Life) ’80 Brooklyn

Set 3:  Best of Smile Jamaica 31+ Years

  • Wailing Souls – Bredda Gravalicious; Very Best of (Greensleeves) ’77 comp.: 
  • Black Slate – Legalize Collie Herb; Amigo (Ensign) ’80 UK herbtune
  • Ika Black – Special Love; Special love (Keyman) ’90 UK female lovers rock
  • Burning Spear – Travelling/Walking; Spear Burning (Pressure Sounds) ‘75
  • Dub Syndicate/Centry – 2001 Struggle (Remix); 10” (ON U Sound) ’96 UK

Set 4:

  • Dennis Alcapone – The Sky’s  the Limit (Flying Machine); Guns Don’t Argue (Trojan) ’72 UFOria
  • Afro Omega – Love Is What I Need; Live at the Lazy Moon (bootleg)
  • Thievery Corporation – Amerimacka; Babylon Central Soundtrack (ESL)
  • Dry & Heavy – Private Plan Dub; 10”  EP (Green Tea) 2000 Jah-pon

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital Set

  • Tony Bell & Kutchie – Free ‘dem; Mercy (Blue Moon) ’89 Chicago: 
  • Doreen Schaeffer – This Love; Pirates Choice (Studio One) ’80 JA
  • Trinity Meets the Mighty Diamonds – Wait in Vain; Trinity Meets the Mighty Diamonds (Relic World) ’89 JA
  • Horace Andy – Cry Fe Me; Fresh (Island in the Sun) ’87 US
  • Barry Brown – Please Mr. Officer; Barry Brown (Thompson Sound) ’79 JA herbtune
  • Bullwackie’s All Stars – Black Heart Dub (Senrab) ’76 dub album of the hour

Set 6:  7” Jamaican Jukebox

  • Rob Smarley (aka The Gladiators) – Holiday Ride; 7” (Portland) ’78: 
  • Nedley Denton – I am a Lion; 7” (Breathern (sic) of Art Soundtrack)
  • Lasana Bandele’ – Col’ War; 7” (Storitela) picture sleeve
  • Dawn & Christine – Panadol; 7” (M & M) herbtune
  • The Lions – New Girl; 7” (Lions Bread) 2010 So Cal instrumental

Albert Griffiths of The Gladiators – New member of Jah’s Heavenly Choir

Set 7: Wailers Family Tree

  • Peter Tosh – You Can’t Fool Me Again; Can’t Blame the Youth (JAD) ’69
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – African Herbsman (New Mix); Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers (Deluxe Edition)  (Studio One) ’70 herbtune
  • Dennis Brown – Armagideon; 7” (Emmanuel) ’84 Bunny Wailer cover
  • Bunny Wailer – Solidarity; Solomonic Singles vol. 2 (Solomonic) ’77 dub to Armagideon

Set 8: UFO-ria Set

  • Kofi – Reggae Starship; Black Coffee (Ariwa) ’90 UK dawta: 
  • Lee “Scratch” Perry – Angel Gabriel and the Space Boots; Lord God Muzick (Heartbeat) ‘90
  • Derrick Morgan – Do the Moon Hop; Do the Moonwalk (Trojan)
  • U Roy – Your Ace From Space; Version Galore (Treasure Isle) ’68 JA vinyl
  • Unity – Stargazing; Heat Your Body Up (Virgin) ’83 UK vinyl
  • Sister Carol – Lost inna Space; Jah Disciple (RAS) ’89 DC vinyl
  • Sly & Robbie – Space Invaders; Syncopation (Joe Gibbs) ’82 Miami vinyl
  • Tena Stelin – UFO + Unidentified Flying Dub; Lion Symbol (Jah Warrior) ‘99

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Jah-vember 7, 2020 – 15 down, 35 to go!

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Greetings,

<Cannabis 2020 – 15 down, 35 to go! 68 sec.>

Orange Daddy vs. Qtip? Didn’t care. Cannabis, legalization to rule the nation? That I n’  I care about.

In the Congressional and Presidential, the negativity is so disgusting, I ‘n’ I fall back on the Rasta notion of isms and schisms. Demopublicans vs. Republicrats. Fiyah bu’n!

I’m on the Wailers Party! (400  Years lyrics)

<Peter Tosh – 400 Years of the same philosophy>

We sick an’ tired of-a your ism-skism game
Dyin’ ‘n’ goin’ to heaven in-a Jesus’ name, lord.

On election night, I ‘n’ I was sitting on the couch watching an X-Files rerun and dialing up my dispensary route for my Vegas vacation next week. (Cratedigging in a pandemic? Better than staying home waiting for The Covid to tag me in Utah. Rona Rage, let’s get on the road!)

Yelp for potheads

 

Two fingers of Jim Beam, strawberry cough and my Ipad. Ding! Since I was scoping out Weedmaps, I got notifications.

  • Ding! New Jersey puff puff passes adult use Cannabis (12 down, 38 to go)
  • Ding! Mississippi puff puff passes medical marijuana (36 states including DC)
  • Ding! South Dakota puff puff passes medical and recreational marijuana (13 down, 37 to go)
  • Ding! Montana, my birthplace, puff puff passes recreational marijuana (14 down, 36 to go)
  • Ding! Arizona (where my Snowbird parents live half the year) puff puff passes marijuana (15 down, 35 to go)

My parents – Trump voters who also voted for the hippie lettuce.

Add DC legal and 16 of 51. Almost 1/3 of the nation states/entities. The 100 year American war against nature is crumbling! Like I ‘n’ crumble Sour Diesel inna mi Bob Marley grinder!

List of states medical and legal Seven Leaf

When you look at the map, the West is mostly covered. Even  in the Mormon Triangle states of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, Utah has medical. 4 dispensaries according to Weedmaps!

Utah’s first dispensary

For I ‘n’ I, it is 1300 miles from Fort Benton Montana (home) to Sun City West, AZ (parents winter home). Except for that stretch through Idaho and Utah, I’m not a criminal.

Selah!

Bobbylon

Don’t get complacent, tokers. Joe Biden is the ultimate drug warrior. Not a fan of the Seven Leaf. Neither is his VP. Be vigilant!

Set 1: Legalize Herb Set

  • The Heptones – Mr. President; Party Time (Mango) ’76 US vinyl; Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
  • Jah Lloyd – Herbs of Dub (Teem) ’74 UK blue vinyl dub album of the hour
  • Johnny Clarke – Legalize It; Authorized Rockers (Virgin Front Line) Peter Tosh cover: 15 down, 35 to go election weed set!
  • Black Slate – Legalise Collie Herb; Amigo (Ensign) ’80 UK
  • King Kong – Legalize It; Rumble Jumble Life (Massive B) 2005
  • Kid Loco – Here Comes the Munchies; Kill Your Darling (Division 1) 2001 Fr. Dubber
  • Gracy & the Herbman Band – Forward Up; See Mi Yah (Funfundvierzig) ’91 Germany dawta on the vox

15 down, 35 to go!

Set 2:

  • Aswad – Caution; Roots Revival (Ark 21) ’99 Marley cover
  • Cornell Campbell – Just My Imagination; Sings Hits From Studio One & More (Rhino UK) ’80 Smokey Robinson cover
  • Culture – Down in Jamaica; Live in Africa (RAS) Dec. 2000 in South Africa
  • Buume – Seriously; 10” (ZTP) 2006 UK militant steppers

Set 3:

  • Sister Carol – Wild Thing; Something Wild Soundtrack (MCA) ’86 cover of the Troggs
  • Mighty Diamonds – I Need a Roof; I Need a Roof (Hitbound) ‘76
  • Prince Far I – Rain a Fall; Under Heavy Manners (Joe Gibbs) ‘76
  • Ranking Dillinger – African World Wide; None Stop Disco Style (Clocktower) ‘78

Set 4:

  • Fun Boy Three – Farmyard Connection; Waiting (Chrysalis) ’85 herbtune: farmers Peter & Bob
  • Bob Andy & Marcia Griffiths – Still the Most; Sweet Memories (Nectar) ’76 married at the time
  • Mikey Dread – Barcoding; Life Is a Stage (Dread at the Controls) 2007
  • Dubble – South Side Dub; 10” (Dub Tunnel) 2012 UK militant steppers cover

Farmyard Connection: Two farmers named Peter & Bob

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

  • Myrna Hague – Melody Life; Melody Life (Studio One) 70’s JA Marcia Griffiths cover
  • Horace Andy – Jah Rainbow; Natty Dread a Weh She Want (New Star) ’78 JA
  • Inner Circle – I’m a Rastaman; Ready for the World (Capitol) ’77 US Marley cover
  • The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me; Zenyatta Mondatta (A & M) ‘81
  • Keith Hudson – Leggo Dub; Brand (Pressure Sounds) ’77 Dub Album of the Hour

Set 6: Rockers do Reggae

  • Bobby & the Midnites – Book of Rules; Bobby & the Midnites (Arista) ’81 Heptones cover:
  • Eric Clapton – Swing Low Sweet Chariot; There’s One in Ebvery Crowd (Polydor) ‘75
  • Bad Brains – Jah Love; Into the Future (Megaforce) 2012
  • Pretenders – Waste Not Want Not; Pretenders II (Sire) ‘81

Set 7: Wailers Family Tree

  • Peter Tosh – 400 Years; The Toughest (Heartbeat) ’70
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Mellow Mood; Best of (Studio One) ‘67
  • Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – 666; Hey World! (EMI America) ‘86
  • Bunny Wailer – Dreamland; Solomonic Singles vol. 1 (Solomonic) ‘76

Set 8: Mutant Dub

  • Cooly G feat. Dubzee Up North – Blue Stems; Presents Dub Organizer Part 1 (Dub Organizer) 2012 UK female dubstepper
  • 2 Bad Card – Sergio Mendes (Part 1); Hustling Ability (ON U Sound) ‘95
  • Aldubb – Big Time; Let There Be Dub (One Drop) 2010 Germany
  • X-O-Dus – English Black Boys; 12” (Factory) ’80 UK
  • Fela & Afrika 70 – Zombie; Zombie (Knitting Factory) ’77 Nigerian jazz/Halloween

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 Ark-Ives Jah-gust 1, 2020: 32 Years of Dead Media!

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RIP – the Compact Disk: 1985-2019

 

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:

Vinyl Is Poised to Outsell CDs For the First Time Since 1986

<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

Hey Doc, Your fly is open!

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 Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 4, 2020: Ancient Astronaut Theorists 17, Scoffers 0

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Greetings,

Here’s hoping you had a pandemically correct 4th of July. It’s okay to be paranoid, they are watching  if you didn’t!

Do you know what else happened around the 4th of July? 1947? The Alien crash at Roswell, New Mexico.

Roswell is the air field that delivered the atomic bombs that destroyed Jah-pon. Created at Los Alamos in New Mexico. Do you think it is a coincidence that the ground zero for nuclear weaponry was “probed” (pun intended) by extra terrestrial watchers?

Sometime in late June 1947 a ranch foreman in the rural scrub land around the Roswell Army Air Field, named Brazel collected debris, that was non-earth metals in origin.  Ultimately, he delivered the pieces to the Army.

On July 8, 1947 the local paper, the Roswell Record, published a statement from the Army….

<Roswell UFO crash: June 1947 audio story>

Army press release is fascinating:

The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff’s office of Chaves County. The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff’s office, who in turn notified Maj. Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office. Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher’s home.

Flying disc. It wasn’t theirs. Flying object. Disc. Disc, Disc. Extra Terrestrial.

Ancient Astronaut Theorists 1; Scoffers 0

Little known fact: other Roswell army officers believe multiple UFO’s crashed near Roswell late June 1947

Alas, it couldn’t be…

The higher ups in the military back in DC freaked out. They issued a weak sauce retraction. Jesse Marcel, the local intelligence officer assigned to the Roswell Army Air Field had to issue a mea culpa. It wasn’t flying disc. It was a  “weather balloon.”

Marcel’s family says that he was threatened to comply even though he knew it was not a weather balloon but a crashed spaceship.

He is holding a “piece” of the “balloon” as he bleats “weather balloon to the press.” Look at his eyes. He is not looking at the camera, but off camera. Regurgitating something he didn’t believe to please his superior officers.

Jesse Marcel walks it back: You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes

If you read this blog, your take on what I ‘n’ I says next comes down to the Manichean choice. Do you believe Wikipedia or your Ace From Outer Space, Bobbylon the Ancient Astronaut Theorist?

Pick your choice: Giorgio? or Wikipedia?

My brother in law used to sell high tech pipe to irrigation and water conservation clients in Roswell. One day he took his client to lunch and asked, “So what’s the deal with the UFO’s”.

His customer, a ranch supply distributor, salt of the earth Southwest cowboy said outright. “The local coroner was told by the Army to deliver 3 child size coffins to the base. Why do you need coffins for a weather balloon?”

Game. Set. Match.

Ancient Astronaut Theorists 2; Scoffers 0

Roswell, NM July 1947

If you don’t trust I ‘n’ I do you trust Dwight Eisenhower. (He signed a treaty with the aliens. They can surveill us and we get their technology.)In 1954 Pres.  Eisenhower went to play golf and developed a “tooth crisis” instead. He disappeared from Secret Service protection. Why?

He went up into a flying saucer to negotiate the treaty

Eisenhower signs treaty with Aliens

Ike’s treaty saved the planet from Alien annihilation

Ancient Astronaut Theorists 3; Scoffers 0

Don’t like Ike? How about Tricky Dick? Nixon showed entertainer Jackie Gleason alien cadavers in cold storage at an Air Force base in Florida. Gleason had the world’s biggest UFO collection at the time, but seeing the reality of the alien corpses haunted him.

Jackie Gleason sees dead Aliens

“To the Moon, Alice!”

Ancient Astronaut Theorists 4; Scoffers 0

How best to spread the truth of Ancient Astronaut Theory to the benighted masses? Via Reggae, Dub and Ska! Mutant Dub I-specially for the UFO mood!

 

<Alien fascination that rules the nation!>

I ‘n’ I favorite Smile Jamaica theme shows for 3 plus decades?

  1. 4:20 Cannabliss
  2. Jah-loween
  3. UFO-ria

Here is how I ‘n’ I celebrate the UFO-ria

  • Vegas Area 51s AAA baseball cap

  • Attach a couple pins:

  • Glow in the Dark Roswell Tee shirt
  • Rear view mirror on I ‘n’ I 2020 Subaru Legacy

  • License plate cover

  • Last but not least…

Because,  truly. They came for the nukes, but stay for the weed!

<Why are the Aliens still here? For our weed!l 24 sec.>

“Take us to your dealer!”

So enjoy the Extra Terrestrial mash up of Reggae, Ska, Rock Steady, Rock, Dub, Mutant Dub and even some Classical.

Stories on Ancient Astronaut Theory, Aliens in the Bible/Anunnaki Tales and famous men and mammals in space.

Look to the skies! Do not Scoff!

It’s Smile Jamaica UFO-ria Stylee. Acoustic Levitation inna Irie meditation!

bless, Bobbylon

Ancient Astronaut Theory

<Utnapishtim and his space ship. Not Noah’s Ark; 1 min. 45 sec.>

Not Noah and an Ark to survive the Great Flood. Just like outer space is the only way to escape the Covid, so was interplanetary travel the only way to survive the deluge. 500 years before the mud receded. No wooden ark with one family could survive that.

No ark. Spaceship….

Similar to The Borg in Star Trek: New Gen. The Tesseract spaceship was how to survive the Great Flood

More likely scenario? Sumerian immortal ancient alien, Utnapishtim, DNA seedbank to spaceship or . Noah’s Ark. 70 cubits by 70 cubits. Ricketty-ass wooden ark. One family to separate the carnivores from the herbivores, shovel shit and feed animals.

Ancient Astronaut Theory 5; Scoffers 0

 

Noah story predecessor: (Sumerian) Utnapishtim preparing his Space Ark

<Gilgamesh, immortality and the serpent; 56 sec.>

As part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gil was half mortal/half immortal. He sought out Utnapishtim on his tesseract spaceship. Utnapushtim gave him the Tree of Life. Immortality secured, an exhausted Gilgamesh returned to Sumer (Shinar in the Bible) and fell asleep on a river bank.

The treacherous serpent slithered out of the reeds and stole away the Tree of Life (Eden). Gilgamesh died a mortal. As did Adam and Eve after their encounter with the snake.

Ancient Astronaut Theory 6, Scoffers 0

Gilgamesh loses the Tree of Life (immortality) to a Serpent

In Revelation, John the Revelator mentions the New Jerusalem. But he isn’t describing a city. It is a massive spaceship 1400 miles x 1400 miles:

Revelation 21:2 – I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband

Coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed. The jeweled dressing are the lights on the spaceship.

<New Jerusalem from the Book of Revelation is a spaceship>

Ancient Astronaut Theory 7; Scoffers 0

From Revelation: The New Jerusalem is a Spaceship, not a city. 1400 miles x 1400 miles

The Anunnaki – Those who camr down from the sky. The Ancient Sumerian Skygods: Anu, Marduk, Enki, Ishtar, Enlil and more. They created mankind to mine gold and travel in from the Planet Nibiru. My fellow Ancient Astronaut, Rasta bredrin, Tena Stelin does the roll call of all of Biblical stories of Ancient Aliens.

Tena Stelin – Flying Saucers; 7″ (River Bank) 2000; 1 min. 29 sec.

Anunnaki, Anu-Anunnaki
Anunnaki, El Kuluwm

Flying Saucers
Them a chat bout on-ya
Flying Saucers
Up in the Sky near and far
It’s coming like Star Wars…Watch it!

Please tell me: what is the meaning?
The meaning of these sightings?
So many people claim to see the same thing
I guess it must mean something

Talking about Extra Terrestrials!
Ask yourself: is it real or is it impossible? Watch out!

In the Book of Ezekiel
It’s like he describes a Crystal Ship

I’ve got to wonder if he was for real?
Was he just a raving lunatic? Hallelu-Jah!

Enoch walked with God
And he was found not

Elijah was taken up into a Chariot
A Chariot of Fire!

Inna Ancient Mesopotamia
They talked about the Anunnaki
They said they came from beyond the Sky
Oh tell me! Was they telling a lie?

El Kuluwm means the Source
El Kuluwm the highest course
All and Iley and Allah is the Same
So the Rastaman tell me no feel no way

These are the Biblical, Islamic and Hindu examples of Ancient Astronaut Encounters:

  • Chariots of the Gods – space ship
  • Jacob’s Ladder – space ship
  • Burning bush – space ship
  • Prophet Ezekiel and his crystal ship – space ship
  • Stairway to Heaven – space ship
  • Noah’s grand dad Enoch “walked with God and then was not”. Taken to heaven in a space ship
  • New Jerusalem – space ship
  • Magic carpets in the Arabian Nights – space ship
  • Muhammad’s night journey to Heaven on a winged horse: El Buraq – Space ship
  • Vimanas from Hindu cosmology – space ship

Ancient Astronaut Theory 17; Scoffers 0

Ezekiel’s Crystal Ship: The wheel within a wheel gyroscopic spaceship

Stories: Space Travel

<1986 Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster; 36 sec.>

Sister Carol warns of the hubris of mankind treading on Jah’s Heavenly abode. The Challenger Space Shuttle crash was the comeuppance for human technological arrogance.

Neil Armstrong first man on the Moon. Yuri Gagarin, first man in space.

<Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space – Soviet Cosmonaut; 25 sec.>

Yuri Gagarin

Space mammals

Before man could venture into space, mammals had to go first. The Soviets had Laika the space dog. Burned up within hours of flight on Sputnik 2.

<Laika, space pup martyred>

RIP Laika

America went with primates while figuring out space travel. Same result. Audio Active pays tribute to the Space monkey pioneer martyrs

 

Smile Jamaica UFO-ria July 4, 2020 – Playlist

  • Herbert von Karjan – Also Sprach Zarathustra; 2001 A Space Odyssey (MGM)
  • Alpha & Omega – The Dub Is Out There; Serious Joke (A & O) 2002 X-Files dub
  • Michael Franti & Spearhead – Earth From Outer Space; All People (Boo Boo Wax) 2013
  • Ancient Astronauts feat. Akua Naru – Last Night (I Fell in Love With an Ancient Astronaut); Ancient Astronauts; Into Bass and Time (ESL) 2011 female singer
  • Word Sound I Powa – Intro; Live From Planet Crooklyn (WordSound) ’96 – weed in McCarran Park (Brooklyn)
  • Devin the Dude – Zeldar; Just Tryin’ ta Live (Rap a Lot) 2002 Zeldar from Beldar finds weed
  • Prince Jammy – Conspiracy on Neptune; Prince Jammy Destroys the Invaders (Greensleeves) ’82***End of Set 1
  • Laurel Aitken – Apollo 12; The Pama Years (Grover) ’69
  • UFO feat. DeeDee Bridgewater – Flying Saucer; Saint Pres des Cafe IV (Wagram) 2004 female vox
  • Lee “Scratch” Perry – African Hitchhiker; From the Secret Laboratory (Mango) ’90 alien from outer space
  • The Police – Walking on the Moon; Reggata de Blanc (A & M) ’80
  • Space Lounge Syndicate – Enter the Spaceport; Live From the Omega Station (Crypticon) 2007***End of Set 2
  • Mighty Sparrow – Russian Satellite; King Sparrow’s Calypso Carnival (Cook) ’59
  • Spacemonkeyz Meets the Gorillaz – Starshine; Laika Come Home (Virgin) 2002
  • Toyes – Waiting For the Aliens; Strange Animals (CD Tunes) ’99
  • Roots Radics – Storming the Death Star; Scientist and Jammy Strike Back! (Trojan) ’82***End of Set 3
  • Anubian Lights – Outflight Edit; Outflight EP (Crippled Dick Hot Wax!) 2001 about the New Jerusalem space ship
  • Symarip – Skinhead Moonstomp; Skinhead Moonstomp (Trojan) ’70
  • Armgadieon – Galactic Travel; Natural Elements Dub (Armagideon Sounds) ’94***End of Set 4
  • Lone Ranger – UFO; Barnabas in Collins Wood (Wave) ’79 JA: Vinyl is Vital Set
  • Lincoln Thompson – Spaceship; Natural Wild (United Artists)
  • ’80 UK
  • U Roy – Your Ace From Outer Space; Version Galore (Treasure Isle) ’68 JA
  • Sister Carol – Lost in a Space; Jah Disciple (RAS) ’89 DC: about ’86 Challenger Space Shuttle tragedy
  • Bush Chemists – Star Dub; 10″ (Jah Tubby’s) 2006 UK Stormtrooper theme from Star Wars***End of Set 5
  • Systemwide – Gilgamesh; Live at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (BSI) 2002
  • Thievery Corporation – Stargazing; Culture of Fear (ESL) 2011 DC w/ female vox
  • Ziggy Marley – I Don’t Want to Live on Mars; Fly Rasta (Tuff Gong) 2013
  • Nicky Thomas – Doing the Moonwalk; Love of the Common People (Trojan) ’70
  • Sly & Robbie – Space Invaders; Syncopation (Joe Gibbs) ’80 FL vinyl***End of Set 6
  • Audio Active – Return of the Space Ape; Apollo Choco (ON U Sound) ’97 Jah-pon
  • SoKo – I Thought I Was an Alien; I Thought I Was an Alien (Because) Fr. female singer
  • Derrick Morgan – Do the Moon Hop; Moon Hop (Doctor Bird) ’70
  • London Symphony – Cantina Theme; Star Wars (20th Century) ’77 US vinyl***End of Set 7
  • Tena Stelin – Flying Saucer; 7″ (River Bank) 2000 UK
  • Anjali – Space Lust in the Space Dust (Wiija) 2000 UK Hindi female
  • International Dub System – J’s Space Flight; I.D.S (Red Arrow) ’95
  • Public Service Broadcating – Gagarin; Beyond Saturn (Mojo) 2015 first man in Space

Set 1:

  • Herbert von Karjan – Also Sprach Zarathustra; 2001 A Space Odyssey (MGM)
  • Alpha & Omega – The Dub Is Out There; Serious Joke (A & O) 2002 X-Files dub
  • Michael Franti & Spearhead – Earth From Outer Space; All People (Boo Boo Wax) 2013
  • Ancient Astronauts feat. Akua Naru – Last Night (I Fell in Love With an Ancient Astronaut); Ancient Astronauts; Into Bass and Time (ESL) 2011 female singer
  • Word Sound I Powa – Intro; Live From Planet Crooklyn (WordSound) ’96 – weed in McCarran Park (Brooklyn)
  • Devin the Dude – Zeldar; Just Tryin’ ta Live (Rap a Lot) 2002 Zeldar from Beldar finds weed
  • Prince Jammy – Conspiracy on Neptune; Prince Jammy Destroys the Invaders (Greensleeves) ’82

Words of Wisdom: