Blessing to MLK: When he moved from Civil Rights to Anti-War and Pro Worker Rights, “They” took him out
Greetings,
Livicated* to MLK and his fight for human rights
*livicate – never dead/dedicate
<MLK>
Heinous!
<Smile Jamaica Approved: Green Bay Packers; 36 sec.>
WTF? Heinous. Just heinous. The Green Bud Bowl Packers peed a sure victory down their leg to a guy (QB Wilson) who probably doesn’t go for 4 down, 46 to go.
I must have had two dozen text messages from people. Ran the gamut from condolences to ha ha.
There weren’t any tears at the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
Not a fan
The mood at the Ark-Ives was more like this:
Green Bay? WTF!
Forward ever, backwards never
bless,robt
The High-lights of Jah-nuary 17, 2015: Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives; 45 sec.
Winter in Utah. Great for the skiiers. Not so great in the Valley. Bad air was killing all my friends: asthma, bronchitis, flu shot was a dud. I got a massive head cold sitting on the tarmac in Jah-buquerque trying to get home. Decongestant nah work. Maybe a cordless drill in my ear canal will free up some earway.
<Winter in the Salt Lake Valley: Chunky Style air; 12 sec.>
Happy New Year 2015 in the Salt Lake Valley: Inversion galore!
Tis the season of the Hazy Shade of Winter. If your breathing is wrecked or the flu has you down for the count, just spin last week’s Smile Jamaica. Best way to complement your sick leave
Best of Smile Jamaica 25 Years: The Reagan Year (1988) radio debut; 15 sec.
Wailers Family Tree: The Wailers Duo (Bob + Peter) Live at Leeds; 11/23/73. Tosh harangue that nearly got him killed after the One Love Peace Concert; 4/22/78 Kingston, JA. Introducing Bunny Wailer’s album Liberation ’88. Judy Mowatt classic Black Woman
Dub Album of the Week: Bullwackie’s All Stars – Free For All (Wackies). Heavy urban dub JA via NY.
Seven Leaf: Junior Dan, Mike Brooks, Aldubb
<4 down, 46 to go!>
Vinyl is V-Ital midway
Jamaican Jukebox: 7″ vinyl rarities
Disco Mix: Extended mix vox and dubwize vinyl
Roots Dawtas: Aisha lovers rock, The Selecter 2 Tone ska, Judy Mowatt, Mutant Dubstress Molara, Iskeeda, Alpha & Omega trance dub
Mutant Dub: UFOria skywatching soundtrack; last half hour
Eyes to the skies!
Set 1:
Horace Andy – Tune in to the Airwaves; Don’t Stop (Island in the Sun) ’85 NY vinyl
Bullwackies All Stars – Free For All; Free for All (Wackies) Dub Album of the Week
Prince Far I & the Arabs – Foggy Road; Message From the King (Virgin Front Line) ‘78
The Selecter – Selling Out Your Future; Celebrate the Bullet (Chrysalis) ’81 UK 2 Tone ska feat. Pauline Black
Junior Dan – Sligoville Tobacco; 10” (Hi-Try) 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement (melodica instrumental)
<Reggae History Lesson: Sligoville Jamaica Rastas; 46 sec.>
Mike Brooks – Rhum (sic) Drinker – Classical Anthology (Teams) ’75; best of; herbtune
<You know me as a Rum Drinker, yah I’m a Sensi Smoker; 12 sec.>
Sligoville Tobacco. 4 down, 46 to go!
Set 2:
The Wailers – Burnin’ & Lootin’; Burnin’ (Deluxe Edition) (Tuff Gong); Live at Leeds UK; 11/23/73; 28 sec.
<Live at Leeds: Bunny stays home: England cold; 28 sec.>
Aisha – It’s Not Right; True Roots (Ariwa) ’94 UK
Eric “Rebel Lion” Bubbles – Roots of Black People (Progressive International) ‘79
Smile Jamaica’s favorite Lovers Rock Roots Dawta
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica: 25 Years
Austin Campbell – the Hotter the Battle; Babylon a Fall Down (Trojan); Best of 25 Years Set (1988-1990)
The Morwells – Educate Your Mind; Bingy Bunny: Kingston 12 Toughie (RAS) ‘75
Judy Mowatt – Put It On; Black Woman (Shanachie) ’76; Wailers cover
Singers & Players – Thing Called Love (Don’t Fight); Revenge of the Underdog (ON U Sound) ’82 mutant dub
A+ Record. 1976
Set 4: Peter Tosh: harangue + Legalize It/Get Up Stand Up; 46 sec.
Peter Tosh – Speech + Legalize It/Get Up Stand Up; Talking Revolution (Pressure Sounds) 4/22/78: One Love Peace Concert; Kingston JA
Chanting down the shitstem
Set 5: Vinyl is V-Ital
Dean Fraser – Sensimilia; Christmas Sting (Thunder Bolt) Vinyl is Vital Set; over Hallelujah Choir riddim JA
Basement 5 – Paranoiaclaustrophobia Dub; Basement in Dub (Island) ’80 UK Mutant Dub; future members part of Big Audio Dynamite
<Jurassic era Mutant Dub. Big Audio Dynamite; 39 sec.>
Bim Sherman – Haunting Ground; Haunting Ground (Revolver) ’86 UK best of
Mystic Youth feat/ I-Skeeda & the Irie-Ites – Save the Roaches; Best Wishes (Sunship) female singer; junior high Bay Area reggae group; 52 sec.
Before Political Correctness: Junior High Reggae Band saves the roaches. 4 down, 46 to go!
Set 6: Jamaican Jukebox of 7″ 45s; 33 sec.
General Echo – Love Bump; 7” (Jah Man) ’80 JA; 7”
Augustus Pablo & Lloyd Young – Our Man Flint; 7” (Black Art)
Lanford Graham – Where You Come From; 7” (Jungle Rock)
Delroy Gordon – Dizzy Spell; 7” (Portland)
Second rate Neo Liberal Hit Man to James Bond
Set 7:
Bunny Wailer – Rise and Shine; Liberation (Shanachie) ‘88
The Mutants have taken over on Smile Jamaica: New Year’s Bass-gasm of Modern Dub: A-Zed
Greetings,
<10th Annual: Mutant Dub New Year: 3 hours of A-Zed; 30 sec.>
Happy New Year! Let’s start it off with all dub and bass. Neo-Dub, Modern Dub, Mutant Dub.
Gonna give the Orthodox Roots stalwarts the week off to explore my fascination with the crossover dub sound: drum & bass, electronica, downtro, lounge, dubstep, militant steppers, techno, ambient, etc. etc.
I listen to Roots Reggae at home and Mutant Dub in my car. Knives to the treble!
“Knives to the treble”…Joe Strummer, The Clash
Let’s see how it sounds stretched out to 3 hours instead of the usual last set on the weekly Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives.
Mutant Dub Kingpins
Mutant Dub:Where Jamaican echo meets Modern Dance music’s wobble
bless, robt
<What is Mutant Dub? 14 sec.>
Set 1: A-F
Alpha & Omega – City of Dub; Dub Magic (Zion Gate) ‘99
UK trance dubbers w/ female vox
Burning Babylon – Dub Tragic; Garden of Dub (I-Tones) 2006 Jah-suchusetts; Dub Album of the Week
Dubblestandart feat. Devon D – We All Have to Get High; Immigration Dub (Groove Attack) 2007 Jah-stria; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; quotes The Doors “Out here on the perimeter,there are no stars we is stoned immaculate”
<Jim Morrison Lyric; 30 sec.>
Easy Star All Stars feat. Sluggy Ranks – Speak to me + Breathe (In the Air); Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Star) 2003; Pink Floyd cover with bong rip effects
Future Pigeon – Mummy Rock; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collection) 2006 Los Jah-ngeles, Collie-fornya; herbtune
Hope every one had a Merry Christmas or whatever Sky Deity you give thanks & praise to
Greetings,
Jump straight to the Jah-cember 27, 2014: Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive
<Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives sends seasons greetings to the Sky Deity of your choosing; 8 sec.>
Praise Anu! Smile Jamaica’s favorite sky god. Sumerians
***
Snuck away for a combo birthday/Christmas/cratedig with my family. Jah-buqureque, New Jah-xico. Flu shot ahead of time. Feeling good when everyone else in the vicinity had the crud.
Fly back, Friday AM the day after Christmas. Decided why not end the year, last Ark-Ive of 2014, with an All Vinyl Black Wax Attack.Yes I! Selah!
3 things that make Cabin Fever bearable: a roaring fire, burning a spliff, Irish coffee and the sound of vinyl pon your turntable
<Nyquil cocktail for 3 hours on air>
2 hour fog delay. Everyone cooped up on a non-moving tin can. Six in the Morning. Right there on the tarmac. Babies crying, everyone sniffling, coughing and wheezing.
Get back to the Ark-Ives, immediately start inoculating myself: Zicam for the Zinc; Nyquil just in case. Ate two oranges for the Vitamin C. Whatever…..
<One extra present after Christmas. Can’t hear the cue speaker on where to drop de needle pon de record with a massive head cold; 35 sec.>
All Vinyl Show. Had to crank the cue speaker to hear where to drop de needle pon di wax
Smile Jamaica’s Lessons in Deejaying: Why They Call it the “One Drop”
Similar to the Radio Board at KRCL. VU Meters on the top. Bump the red, don’t peg the red. Otherwise cipped signal feedback on the listener end. Speaker volume (cue, monitors, headphones) to the right. Higher the slider, the louder the gain (volume) over the air, if Track Button is lit, aka “hot”
Radio Studio setup 8 Tracks: 3 CDs, 2 Turntables, 1 Microphone, 1 Computer. Any sound on a “hot” track goes over the airwaves.
1 CD for my Dub Album of the Week
If a deejay wants to sample a portion of a song without that song going onto the airwaves, he puts the Track into “cue” mode
The cue speaker is on a different, internal sound channel within the mixing board. Separate from the Tracks that go over the airwaves. The deejay hears those “live” Tracks over the studio’s monitor speakers.
Had to turn the cue volume up to 11 to hear where to drop the needle on the vinyl, back-cue (reverse direction) on the Turntable till dead silence. This is where the next song starts on beat 1 – hot on the air. The One Drop!
Eyes and Ears in synch when you drop di needle pon de record! Searching for the One-Drop
Here’s the nitty gritty on Smile Jamaica’s Year-End Vinyl Blowout! (Jah-cember 27, 2014; 1 min. 55 sec.)
Rarities/Vinyl Only classics out of the Ark-Ives
Roots Dawtas
Seven Leaf, 4 down, 46 to go.
<Smile Jah-pocrypha: Skilers want to be in their cars, heading home in time to hear the Smile Jamaica 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement>
Prince Far I – Jamaica; Jamaican Heroes (Trojan) ’80 UK, boxing theme
1983 Rock Steady reunion. Sleeper classic from the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Black Wax wing
Set 2: Roots Dawtas
Judy Mowatt – Mr. Dee Jay; Mr. Dee Jay (Ashandan) ’81 JA
Maxine Miller – How Many Times; Showcase (Wackies); ‘80 NY early Bob Marley doo wop lovers rock
Sophia George – Tenement Yard; Tenement Yard (Winner) ’86 JA
Marcia Griffiths – Feel Like Jumping; At Studio One (Studio One) JA
<Reggae History Lesson: Judy and Marcia, 2/3 of the I Threes; 17 sec.>
Hey Mr. Deejay, play that song for me
Set 3:
Jackie Mittoo – Eleanor Rigby; Jackie Mittoo (United Artists) ’78 Los Jah-ngeles, Collie-fornya; Beatles Hammond B 3 cover
Heptones – Soul Sister; Legends From Studio One (Trench Town) ’72 Allen Toussaint New Oreans soul cover
The Gaylads – Little Candle; Vision of Reggae (Tamoki Wambesi); Roy Cousins prod’n best of
Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse; 12” (Island) ’82 Roots Radics on the riddims
Keyboard wizard minor key vibe on The Beatles classic.
Set 4: Seven Leaf Herbal Vinyl Set
<Seven Leaf Set Livicated to Rockers International from WNMC, Traverse City, MI; Reggae Radio in town skiing; 45 sec.>
<Revelations 22:2 – The Healing of the Nations; 30 sec.>
Jacob Miller – Healing of the Nations; Reggae Greats (Mango) ’84 US: Seven Leaf Set: Revelations 22:2 “the leaves were used for medicine for the healing of the nations”
<Cannabis History Lesson: Jacob Miller; 24 sec.>
Barrington Levy – Sensimelea; Poor Man Style (Trojan) ’82 UK
Pioneers – Feeling High; Greatest Hits (Trojan) ’76 UK
I Roy – African Herbsman; African Herbsman (Joe Gibbs) ‘ over Johnny Clarke – African Roots ’81 JA
Carlton Livingston – 100 Weight of Collie Weed; 100 Weight of Collie Weed (Greensleeves) ’84 UK
<Don’t go 55 inna 35 with 100 Weight of Collie Weed in your vehicle; 12 sec.>
Read your Bible!
Set 5:
Krieger-Densmore Reggae Bonanza – Kinky Reggae; 12” (Rhino) ’83 Marley cover by ½ The Doors
<Smile Jamaica’s brush with Ray Manzarek, The Doors; 58 sec.>
Yellowman – Strong Mi Strong; 12” (Columbia) ’84 Bill Laswell mix
<Smile Jamaica: Your college for musical knowledge!; 3 sec.>
Jump straight to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive Edition: Jah-cember 6, 2014. Annotated Playlist below
Tis the season to smoke collie! Fa la la la la la la dee dah. Smile Jamaica wishes you a Merry Christmas or substitute Sky Deity of your choosing. Praise Anu!
<Jahs-mas in Jah-cember; 7 sec.>
Here is my Gift to you: A Mutant Dub Christmas!
<Christmas Day 2014: Smile Jamaica Presents: 3 Hours of Mutant Dub. Online only Mixcloud Digital Dubplate; 27 sec.>
Celebrating 25 Years of Reggae Radio with the Best of Smile Jamaica: CD Edition
<Records come from vinyl; what are CDs made of? Aluminum? 5 sec.>
Jump straight to the Jah-vember 15, 2014 Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive. Read below for the Tracklist
I pulled 50 tracks from my early days of Reggae collecting (1986-1990). Then I put those 50 in chronilogical order and started juggling the Disks from 4-7 PM.
Essentially: I am trying to recreate what my first show would have sounded like: Jah-tober 1989: Smile Jamaica.
Prince Buster – Nyabinghi drums from 1967. Earliest selection from Smile Jamaica’s Top 50
<Best of Smile Jamaica 25 Years High-lights; 77 sec.>
Probably the first time in a decade no Black Wax on Smile Jamaica
<Vinyl Free edition; first time in a decade; 17 sec.>
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 15, 2014: Best of 25 Years.
Annotated playlist (soundbytes, Reggae History Lessons, photos, captions.)
25 years of the Red, Gold and Green. Africa: Red (blood); Gold (riches); Green (harvest)
Set 1:
Black Uhuru – Solidarity; Anthem (Mango) ‘84
<Anthem: The album that made me a Reggae fanatic; 29 sec.>
Jah Shaka Meets Aswad – Addis Ababa; In Addis Ababa Studio (Jah Shaka) ’84: Dub Album of the Week; 15 sec.
Prince Buster – Chubby; Original Golden Oldies vol. 2 (Blue Beat) ’67; nyabinghi drumming
Bunny Wailer – This Train; Blackheart Man (Mango) ‘76
<Woody Guthrie’s – This Train; 25 sec.>
Burning Spear – Red, Gold and Green; Marcus Garvey (Mango) ‘75
<Significance of Red, Green & Gold; 45 sec.>
The Diamonds & the Upsetters – Talk About It; Open the Gate (Trojan) ‘75
Michael Rose meets Sly & Robbie. This album started a 28 year journey into Reggae & Dubwize
Set 2:
<Smile Jamaica used to air at 1pm when I started in ’89; 28 sec.>
Jacob Miller – Keep on Knocking; Who Say Jah No Dread (Greensleeves) ‘75
Judy Mowatt – Black Woman; Black Woman (Shanachie) ‘76
Dillinger – Ragnampiza; Bionic Dread (Mango) ’76; 17 sec.
Max Romeo – Smokey Room; War ina Babylon (Mango) ’76; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; 17 sec.
Peter Tosh – Till Your Well Runs Dry; Legalize It (Columbia) ’76; William Bell cover
<Blues Reggae hybrid; 10 sec.>
Set 3:
<Smile Jamaica Best of 25 Years; 15 sec.>
Junior Murvin – Roots Train; Police and Thieves (Mango) ‘77
I Roy – Tiddle le Bop; Heart of a Lion (Virgin Front Line) ’78 nursery rhyme
Wailing Souls – Jah Give Us Life; Very Best of (Greensleeves) ‘78
<First song back after being in the hospital; Nov. 2012; 35 sec.>
The perfect song after surviving 5 days in ICU with blood poisoning and six weeks off air to recover. Blessings
Set 4:
<Saturday Volunteer History on KRCL 90.9FM: 120+ years of Radio volunteering; 23 sec.>
Earl Zero – Please Officer; Visions of Love (Epiphany) ’79 herbtune
<4 down, 46 to go!; 10 sec.>
Errol Dunkley – A Little Way Different; Darling Ooh (Attack) ‘79
Itals – Don’t Wake the Lion; Early Recordings (Nighthawk) ‘79
<Tiger loose in Eurodisney; Paris; 11 sec.>
As if the ticket prices at Disneyland weren’t bad enough. Tiger on the loose. Not looking for Mickey or Minnie
Set 5:
<Smile Jamaica Best of 25: From 50 cuts to 33 gems: diamond ruff; 13 sec.>
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Forever Loving Jah; Uprising (Tuff Gong) ‘80
<When Bob Marley CD’s were first released; 54 sec.>
The Beat – Mirror in the Bathroom; I Just Can’t Stop It (Go Feet!/IRS) ’80 2 Tone ska
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Fite Dem Back; Forces of Victory (Mango) ’80 UK dub poet
<Skinhead shoelaces: Red laces – anti-Racist skins; White laces – Racist skins; 37 sec.>
When Island finally got around to releasing the Marley catalog on CD, I took part of my student loan check and bought every one: From Catch a Fire to Rebel Music. Ronald Reagan was a great supporter of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives via the Pell Grant and Loans. Give thanks!
Set 6:
<Smile Jamaica: 25 years of Bass in ur Face! 18 sec.>
Rita Marley – One Draw; Big Blunts vol. 1 (Tommy Boy) ’81 herb tune
Dennis Brown – If I Had the World; Foul Play (A & M) ‘81
One draw. Draw is a verb. To inhale, draw, smoke from a smoking utensil or spliff. Probably comes from draft. As in pour me a draft of Heineken while I take a draw off my spliff. 4 down, 46 to go!
Set 7:
<25 Years!; 13 sec.>
Toure’ Kunda; E’mma; E’mma Africa (Celluloid) ’81; Senegalese West African reggae
<Weaponized Ebola got loose in West Africa? 18 sec.>
The Selecter – Celebrate the Bullet; Celebrate the Bullet (Chrysalis) ’81 2 Tone ska w/ Pauline Black on vox
Culture – Lion Rock; Lion Rock (Heartbeat) ‘82
<Put HIM on the currency: Lion Rock; 13 sec.>
Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse; Night Nurse (Mango) ‘82
Summer of 2014: ISIS, downed Malaysian airliner, Gaza and ebola all happened in the same week. Google weaponized ebola. Conspiracy theory? No, conspiracy fact!
Myself (KRCL vet since 1988); Brian Kelm blues savant since 1980 and Renee and Dawn, Drivetime Imposters, 2002-2008 talk about how we got involved at KRCL.Your station that rules the nation!
Radioactive was KRCL’s listener call in show that ran from 2003 Labor Day until summer 2012.
I did the very first hour long interview on Labor Day 2003. The show was born from the 3 hour call in we did on Smile Jamaica when the 2003 March Iraq Invasion went hot. No music. Just listeners calling in with their thoughts on the war and me talking about Middle East politics which I have two college degrees in.
I probably did 400 interviews. Nick Burns, who was there the nearly nine years the show aired, interviewed us on our history at KRCL. Nice.
Radioactive Progressive Interviews. Sept. 2003 – July 2012. I did 400 of them: Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman, Ralph Nader
That Black Uhuru album above pretty much lit the fuse on nearly three decades of collecting, listening and promoting Roots Reggae and Mutant Dubwize.
25 years of Reggae Radio on Smile Jamaica.
Since Jah-tober 1989: krcl.org 90.9FM SLC
So to celebrate that legacy I am going to try and recreate what my first Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive show might have sounded like: Jah-tober 1989.
Now I am going to do the same with those antique aluminum by-products things which can serve dubble duty as a drink coaster:
Best of 25 Years of Smile Jamaica: All CDs.
Rare that I don’t bust out any Black Wax, but today I’m going through what I was deep into, Roots and Dubwise, back in the mid 80s (Oct. 1986 is when I first touched down on Black Uhuru – Anthem) up until 1988 when I started early mornings on KRCL (3 o’Clock Roadblock) and then primetime Saturdays on Smile Jamaica: Jah-tober ’89.
Dub Album of the Week: Early addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
So I spent the week jotting down tunes and artists that I would have really played in the first two years of being on air. Year 1: 3 o’Clock Roadblock, learning how to do radio. Then a little more than a year later doing Saturday Afternoons to a bigger and loyal Salt Lake Reggae audience on Smile Jamaica.
Wailers Family Tree: Bob (Uprising); Peter (Legalize It); Bunny (Blackheartman); Marcia – Naturally; Judy – Black Woman; Rita – One Draw
Heavy Roots: Spear, Culture, Israel Vibration
Seven Leaf: Rita, Max Romeo
2 Tone Ska: The Selecter and The Beat
Deejays and Dub Poets: LKJ, Mutabaruka, I Roy, Dillinger
Early addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
So I get 3 hours and that means about 33-35 songs. I pulled 50 and then put them in chronological order. (As a Librarian I have a database of my music.) “Year” is one of my data entry cells.
From the earliest (1967) Prince Buster to 1990 (African Head Charge). Tune in to see how it all sounds.
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:
Ark-Ive. Here on Smile Jamaica blog; without commercial interruptions
Twitter: SmileJ_KRCL for live alert and stream upload/blog posts
When Island released the entire Marley LP catalog on CD, I bought every one on the first day of release. Graywhale CD – SLC. Thanks to Ronnie Raygun’s student loan program.
Smile Jamaica is hosted by Robert Nelson on 90.9 FM KRCL in Salt Lake City, Utah (Saturdays, 4-7 p.m. MT). Ark-ives available weekly here at the Smile Jamaica blog.
Smile Jamaica 