It was about 20 years ago. I ‘n’ I was juggling Roots Reggae on Smile Jamaica. One roots gem after another. Phone rings.
Listener calls in. “I appreciate everything you do with Smile Jamaica, but I notice you don’t play very much female Reggae.”
Remember, I ‘n’ I deejay for a small, community radio station. I haven’t had a show review in over a decade. Surely, I ‘n’ I can get into ruts like any other media or arts person.
In my defense, 80% of Reggae recorded in Jamaica, or worldwide for that matter, is performed by male artists. And I ‘n’ I subscribed to Rasta militant dj Big Youth’s maxim: No more songs about girls!
Strictly haaard Roots telling stories about the political underdogs , Rastafari gospel and the 400 years of slavery.
No more songs about girls!
I ‘n’ I thanked the listener for the critical input. From that day on, I want to sift in at least one Roots Dawta into the mix. My sets average 3-4 songs. It has definitely improved the sound of Smile Jamaica and broadens the universal appeal.
And after harvesting through my Ark-Ive, it is every easy to find female Reggae artists singing about roots topics beyond Lovers Rock.
So I ‘n’ I am at the point in organizing and cataloging my Ark-Ive of several thousand Reggae 7″ 45’s. Same as with LP’s and CD’s. Harvest the Roots Dawtas in all my various categories: herb, Marley covers and tributes, rock ‘n’ soul covers, etc.
So, what a great idea to celebrate International Women’s Day with a 3 hour showcase of Reggae Roots Dawtas 7″ 45’s. The Jamaican Jukebox
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: March 7, 2020 – Roots Dawta 7″ Jamaican Jukebox; 69 sec.
Set 1:
Dhaima – Ina Jah Children; 7″ (Joe Gibbs Record Globe) ’77
Prince Fatty – Hollie Cook in Dub (Mr. Bongo) 2012 Dub Album of the Hour
Anicia Banks – I Want to Thank You; 7″ (Ashandan) ’77 Curtis Mayfield/Bob Marley cover
Jennifer Gad – Survival; 7″ (Black Roots) Marcia Griffiths cover
Della Grant – Leggo Africa; 7″ (Twinkle) ’99
Audrey Hall – Groove Situation; 7″ (Kebar) ’76 Keith Rowe cover
Massawa – Free at Last; 7″ (Full Moon) livicated to Nelson Mandela
Sister Nancy – Telephone Challice; 7″ (Volcano) ’82 4:20 Herb
Ah, yes. The endorphin rush of finding that record. I ‘n’ I been a vinyl collector since clothes shopping with my Mom at Woolworth’s the beginning of 7th grade: ‘Sept. 77. The year the two sevens clashed.
My first “dig”: Best of the Doobie Brothers. (For a Seven Leaf guy, who knew the significance of that purchase 40 years on!)
With an extra Saturday, during the shortest month of the year, why note celebrate that legacy of vinyl collection with a trip down black wax memory lane on Smile Jamaica .
I was getting crosseyed with my bredrins Mike and Aquaboy. Friday 4:20. I ‘n’ I brought over a 60 minute mix for Mixcloud of my favorite UK Reggae faves. Segue into the first Black Sabbath album.
WTF?
So I’n’ I said: Would you believe I have a 7″ record that mashes up Black Sabbath with Black Uhuru?
That’s the delight in record obsession. You’ve got Satanic Heavy Metal inna mi Rasta Roots Reggae!
<Guess Who’s Coming For Sweet Leaf>
bless, Bobbylon
Set 1:
Judah Eskender Tafari – Jah Light; Pirates Choice (Studio One) ’80 JA – 3 Hour Vinyl is Vital Show
Bullwackie’s All-Stars – Black Heart Dub; Dub Unlimited (Senrab) ’76 Dub album of the hour
Phillip Frazer – Watch This Sound; Big Showdown (Black Solidarity) ’85 JA Buffalo Springfield cover
The Specials – Friday Night Saturday Morning; 12″ (2 Tone) ’81 UK EP Ghost Train picture sleeve; 2 Tone ska
Quasar – Get Up Stand Up; Fresh (LASN) US Wailers cover
Chris Wayne – All the Plant Mi Plant; Progress (Heartbeat) ’89 US 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Black Harmony – Our Feelings; 12″ (Cool Rockers) ’81 UK female lovers rock
I ‘n’ I know Black History Month (February) as Bob Marley Month (Bob-ruary). Born Feb. 6, 1945 he would have been 75 had he not died of melanoma on May 11, 1981 (36 years old.)
In the Rasta community, they avoid death. So part of that Ras’pect is to say “livicate” not deadicate.
As a major Reggae collector I ‘n’ I had picked up some Marley reissues in the past year.
Boston, ’78
Plus, a CD/DVD combo that was published on the West German rock television show Rockpalast. (See image at top.)
If you were a youth in the 70’s as I was, weekend night time rock and roll TV programs, like Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack fed viewers music television fix before the advent of MTV.
The Uprising disk/DVD = Rockpalast performance was recorded in Dortmund (West) Germany on June 13, 1980.
It was haunting. Bob was at his high point. I ‘n’ I always tell people you can gauge Bob’s age by the length of his dreads. The short and wiry, athletic Bob roamed the stage like a lion. Dreads flashing. Moving about the other group members. Full of energy and passion.
Bob’s nickname was Skipper. He was an exacting band leader who would even fine his wife Rita, among other band members, if they made a mistake. This was the video performance of a man and group leading Reggae into the mainstream.
The 80’s would have seen him at the top of the pop music pinnacle alongside stalwarts like Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, U2 and Madonna.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. Almost 3 months later Bob collapsed running in New York’s Central Park. He performed one more show in Pittsburgh, PA (Sept. 23, 1980). And made his Exodus to Jah’s Heavenly Choir less than 8 months later.
As someone with a Ph.D. in Bobology, I was stunned. On stage in front of thousands, this was not the look of a many being ravaged by cancer.
<Bob’s Rockpalast performance; 72 sec.>
Bob’s passing shocked the Reggae world as well. In Jamaica, and elsewhere over the decades since May ’81, I ‘n’ I have culled nearly 50 Bob Tributes.
One thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain. Artists exacted their grief in an expression of platonic love. Every Bobruary, I’n’ I rinse out those songs throughout the 4 weeks of Smile Jamaica editions.
<Marley Tribute phenomena; 40 sec.>
***
For the past several months I ‘n’ I have been tracking through the Wailers’ early pre-Island label catalog. We are on the 1970 recordings for Chinese Jamaican restauranteur, Leslie Kong
The Wailers had huge ska success with Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label. But they would sell 80,000 copies of a record and be compensated $25.
Studio One owner made thousands on sales. The Wailers made $25 on 80k sold
So the group quit Studio One and created their own label: Tuff Gong. However, the Jamaican music business was cut throat. DIY groups like the Wailers couldn’t get their songs into the shops or on the radio as independents. So the label folded.
Thus they turned to one of Dodd’s competitors, Leslie Kong. Beverley’s, his label, was a successful Rock Steady label selling thousands of records in the UK, especially.
Record producer is the guy that funds the sessions.
Recording in a music studio; pay for time
Paying the musicians
Paying the sound engineer
Paying to mix the tape recording
Paying to press the records
Paying to distribute the records to shops domestically and internationally
Payola to get the song on the radio.
The Wailers recorded about 10 songs. What to call it. Since Kong knew the group was hot, but records by the Wailers were hard to find, he wanted to call it Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers.
The group were hostile to that notion and felt they were being ripped off again. These weren’t their best songs. “Best” signifies the group was at its end, not a re-boot. The album is not exactly filler, and there are some great performances. But Best was a misnomer…at best.
The group wanted the album to be called Caution. This is where the Reggae apocrypha sneaks in. The Wailers were sighting up Rasta. With all that mystical and magical revelation, they warned Kong this offense would not go unpunished….Caution indeed.
Here is how Bunny Wailer described what happened in the liner notes of the Bunny album I have introduced on this podcast edition of Smile Jamaica. As part of I ‘n’ I Wailers Family Tree selections.
<The mysterious death of Leslie Kong; 2 min. 48 sec.>
As Bunny noted, Kong wanted to exploit the group’s sales potential: notoriety + scarcity = $$$. Call it Best Of and watch the records fly off the shelves.
He wasn’t interested in “art” but commerce. The Wailers took their craft seriously. Here was another rip off. Call it black magic obeah, divine justice or just the eerie circumstance of timing.
On the very day the records were to be sent to the shops, Kong died of a brain aneurysm. He was 38 years old. Caution indeed!
Caution – the road is wet. Black soul is black as jet. Caution the road is hot. You can do better than that
How about one more story:
Haile Selassie visited Jamaica in 1966. For Peter Tosh it was a foundation moment in the development of Rastafari worship.
Sometimes I get asked: “What’s with all the UFO tunes on Smile Jamaica. It’s even been mentioned in KRCL staff meetings: “Does he really belief that stuff?”
I do. My code of life is – Your perception is not my reality.
From my Sumerian Fundamentalist heritage through Ancient Aliens, Reggae is right in the middle.
Spaceship Egyptian glyph
Those who don’t like it, can scoff on over to another radio station. Because I ‘n’ I am vindicated in my belief.
Radio SOS signals from the next galaxy. Radio. Just like Carl Sagan reached out in 1977, the Aliens heard his message and are calling back.
A literal gold record
The Voyager mission when the 2 7’s clashed (1977) was meant to reach out to any sentient beings in the vastness of space. The gold record, which included Sumerian greetings: “May all be well” along side Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.
Well, it appears they got our gift. And here they come…..
“Mysterious radio signals from space have been known to repeat, but for the first time, researchers have noticed a pattern in a series of bursts coming from a single source half a billion light-years from Earth”
Not random. But on a cycle. Like we would do: Are You There?…(repeat). Now they are doing the same to us: We got your message (repeat). If you have ever seen the Jodie Foster movie, Contact, that is the plot.
The Bulgarian libertarians at Zerohedge muse:
So could it be aliens seeking to establish contact via hidden messages meant to be deciphered from rational patterns?
Naw. This is what I think happened. They got our package from the Voyager. But those fools at NASA didn’t include a record player. Plus zero gravity in space makes it impossible to “drop the needle pon the record.”
I ‘n ‘I think it is fascinating that the contact is by a “dead medium” of radio. In 10 years, on Earth, 70% of all media will be streamed. Not broadcast (radio, satellite radio, television).
Aliens, embrace my philosophy: No digital for I ‘n’ I.
So just like Pres. 45 listens to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Iveswhile watching CNN with the sound muted, maybe someway, somehow, some miracle, the Aliens found a fellow traveller, via I ‘n’ I Mixcloud archive, and appreciate the outer space inna terrestrial rub a dub.
Black wax. Shiny aluminum disks. No 1’s and 0’s. Why not?
Remember: Your perception is not my reality.
Smile Jamaica’s Three reasons why Aliens made radio contact; 1 min. 44
They need our gravity to play records
2. Qanon told I ‘n’ I that the radio signal on repeat isn’t an SOS but was deciphered as “Play more Bob Marley”
3. No oxygen in space to spark a doobie
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-bruary 15, 2020 Annotated Playlist; 61 sec.
Set1:
Dillinger – Rockers; Tribal War (New Cross) ’86 UK vinyl
Roots Radics – Roy Cousins Presents Kings and Queens of Dub (Tamoki Wambesi) 80’s UK vinyl dub album of the hour
Lorna Asher – It Comes From Afar; Straight to Your Heart (Twinkle) ’99
Bunny Lye Lye – Keep on Dancing; Protect Me Lord (Twin Bros) 80’s
Dubblestandart feat. Devon D – We All Have to Get High; Immigration Dub (Collision) 2007 Jah-stria: 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Junior Dan – Give Thanks No Skanks + Yanks & Ises; 10″ (Hi Try) ’76 JA
Set 2:
Hollie Cook – Vessel of Love; Vessel of Love (Merge) 2018 UK dawta of Sex Pistol Paul Cook
Sly Dunbar – Mr. Music; Sly, Wicked & Slick (Virgin) ’79 dub to Brothers Johnson “Strawberry Letter No. 23”
Asherman Meets Dub Street Rockers – Jah Seed + Seed Grow; Zion Ready (Jump Up) 2002 vox + dj
Max Romeo & Dennis Brown – African + I Am the Conqueror; 10″ (Observer Gold) ’75
Livicated, never dedicated to the life and legacy of Bob Marley. Born Feb. 6, 1945; 2020 would have been 75 years
<Livicated nah “dead” icated”; 61 sec.>
Let’s hear some Bob stories from Smile Jamaica’s 20+ years of Marley celebrations.
<Smile Jamaica’s Bob Marley 75 Tribute Show; 62 sec.>
First, watch this amazing clip of Redemption Song put together by the Marley Family
Bob and crew had really crossed over with Uprising. College kids and whites in America always loved Reggae, but blacks in America were rather cool to the music. It’s militancy and Old Testament songbook was out of step with 70’s secular disco and soul stylings.
But a disco mix of Comin’ in From the Cold was starting to be played at the end of the 70’s disco supremacy and even black radio was playing the album in limited rotation.
The year 1980 was gonna be the year the Wailers punched through. Blacks and whites at their North American concerts bringing the masses together in love and unity which would have probably lead to Ronald Reagan’s defeat in November that year and who knows what life would have been like had that scenario come to pass
He would have been on the pantheon of 80’s music titans like Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. Of that, I am certain.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. Bob collapsed jogging in Central Park….livicated nah dead-icate and come May, 1981 dozens of Bob’s contemporaries crashed the studios to pay homage.
<Bob Marley tribute songs; 27 sec.>
After Bob Marley was nearly assassinated by the CIA (According to Alex Jones and yours truly) at the….wait for it…..Smile Jamaica Concert, Dec. ’76. Bob made his “Exodus” to England.
While recording that landmark album, he was exposed to the punk rock movement happening. Rastas were outcasts in Jamaica. So were the punks in England.
<Bob loved punk rock; 36 sec.>
New wave, new rave New wave, new wave, new rave Let me tell you, we’re going to a party And I hope you are hardy So please don’t be naughty For it’s a punky reggae party New wave, new rave New wave, new rave
Tell you what, take a joyful sound To make the world go ’round Come with your heart and soul Come-a, come-a and rock your boat ‘Cause it’s a punky reggae party And it’s tonight It’s a punky reggae party And it’s alright
Oh-oh-oh?
Rejected by society (do re mi fa) Treated with impunity (so la te do) Protected by their dignity (do re mi fa) I face reality (so la te do)
New wave, new rave New wave, new wave, new rave
Wailers be there The Dammed, The Jam, The Clash Maytals will be there Doctor Feelgood too, ooh No boring old farts, no boring old farts,…
Yet, Judy Mowatt, one of the songbirds in the I-Three, Bob’s female backing trio, thought Bob was more like the Biblical Prophet, Joseph. Leading his people out of bondage, not in Egypt, but Babylon. Heading to Zion in Africa.
<Bob Marley = Joseph; 34 sec.>
Last story was about the prodigious father Bob was. Eleven kids (two adopted from Rita) by seven different women. I give the scorecard:
<Bob’s brood; 46 sec.>
And let’s end with this couplet from Punky Reggae Party. Pure brilliance!
Rejected by society Treated with impunity Protected by their dignity I face reality
If mankind gets 500 more years, they will still mention the 3 B’s. Not Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. It will be Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Bob Marley!
Selah!
bless, Bobbylon
Set 1:
Cedella Marley Booker – He’s a Rastaman; Awake Zion (Rykodisc) ’84: Bob’s Mom: 3 hours of Bob Marley 75th Birthday Celebration
Chalawa – Natural Mystic Dub; Exodus Dub (Weston’s) ’78 Canadian dub of Bob Marley
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Smile Jamaica; Kaya (Deluxe) ’77 Lee “Scratch” Perry show theme!
Macka B – Bob; Hold Onto Your Culture (Ariwa) ’96
Culture – Double Tribute to the O.M.; Lion Rock (Heartbeat) ’82 – Order of Merit (Jamaica’s highest civilian honor)
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Easy Skanking; Boston ’78 (Tuff Gong) 6/8/78 live at the Boston Music Hall: 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Jah Thomas – Tribute to the Reggae King; 12″ (Midnight Rock) ’81 JA
I ‘n’ I was in Vegas when the Niners thumped the Packers during Thanksgiving. That heinous loss was a wake up call to the team and I ‘n’ I hoped for a better result after the Packers rolled up everyone else and beat the quality Seahawks, at home, in the playoffs.
Many Smile Jamaica listeners rung me up on the show last week to wish me well. Feeling good Saturday night….
Last Sunday, the Niners literally ran over the Pack. Aaron Rodgers looked old and now I ‘n’ I get to count down the days until baseball season in April.
Grumble, grumble, grumble. First world problems.
(BTW – the song Green Bay Killing refers to a police massacre of Rastas in Jamaica. So my apologies for making light of a sports beat down)
bless, Bobbylon
Praise Jah I won’t have to watch anymore of those stupid State Farm ads on the teevee
Set 1:
Clint Eastwood – Greetings to All; Death in the Arena (Channel One) ’78 JA vinyl
Wackie’s Rhythm Force – Act V (Wackies) ’85 Bronx vinyl dub album of the hour
Zion Initiation – Jah Light; Take Us Home (Cultures of Soul) ’79-88 Boston roots reggae
The Tennors – Ride Your Donkey; Broken Flowers soundtrack (Decca) ’68 rock steady
Niney the Observer – Freaks; Freaks (Heartbeat) ’92
Don Carlos & Gold – Harvest Time; Raving Tonight (RAS) ’83 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Jah Thomas – Please Mr. Officer; In Disco Style (Munich) ’80 bonus herbs
Cha Cha & Ranking Joe – One Day You’ll Know; 10″ (Above Rock) 2010 UK female Chinese singer
Set 2:
Zara McFarlane – Fussin’ & Fightin’ – Arise (Brownswood) 2017 UK dawta
Bunny Wailer – Lively Up Yourself; Hall of Fame (RAS) ’95 50 Bob Marley songs for his 50th birthday
The Melodians – Jah Reggae; Irie Feeling (RAS) ’83
The Heptones & Joe White – Give Me the Right + President Rock; 10″ (Success) ’73 UK
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 30+ Years
Aswad – Concrete Slaveship; Aswad (Mango) ’76
Althea & Donna – Sorry; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78 female dj duo
The last time I ‘n’ I felt the need to lay down a Reggae set about World War III was Summer 2014.
Civil War in Ukraine. Russians in the East, Ukrainians in the West went at it and in the middle of the conflict a Dutch airliner was shot down.
Sabres were rattled. Much hostile rhetoric. NATO vs. Putin. WTF?
Bunny Wailer: Ceasefire and light the chalice
So I do what I’n’ I always do. Go into the Smile Jamaica Ark-ives and hunt down the appropriate peace treaty tunes mixed with cautionary anti-war roots.
I ‘n’ I political philosophy can summed up in three planks
Everything turned to shit when people quit praising the original Holy Trinity: Anu, Enki and Ishtar
Extra terrestrials are here to try and stop us from destroying the planet they need for their gold stocks
“Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right….here I ‘n’ I am stuck in the middle with you.”
My vote for 2020
The World War III set 2014 was offered, Putin heard it on my Mixcloud stream and he backed off.
And while things aren’t perfect in Ukraine, the galaxy, not just Earth, was spared Chernobyl 2,000,000.0.
Putin’s a dubber. Goes by the name DJ Lemonhead
Bad Vlad always favorites Smile Jamaica streams on Mixcloud
***
Wheel it forward to 2020. Pres. 45. The Orange Messiah. Swamp is draining like my dad’s cerebral spinal fluid shunt. Barely, but supposedly dripping.
Just came off the road from seeing my Pop’s and family in Albuquerque then Phoenix. Intense week of caregiving (my Pop’s has NPH which makes him: wacky, wobbly and wet).
Got in one day of cratedigging in Phoenix. Love their vinyl shops much better in 60 degree weather than 110.
Among the Reggae gems you hear I ‘n’ I rinse out on this podcast, I found some grooving word LPs.
Fly back to SLC Jan. 1
Put together weekly Mixcloud podcast Jan. 2
Rise and Shine 7am to post podcast Jan. 3
See on Twitter that the Iranian General had been assassinated by the “Swamp Drainer.” Fuck it. I ‘n’ I am going back to bed
I fought the swamp and the swamp won
<Bobbylon’s World War 3.0 Set; 1 min. 47 sec.>
***
No one wants to see their ancestral home destroyed. As you may or may not know: My Mom’s family emigrated/escaped from Iran around World War I.
I ‘n’ I identify as an Assyrian American/Sumerian Fundamentalist.
Bobbylon’s Sky God – Anu. I ‘n’ I put the “old” in old school
My graduation gift for 1983 was promised a trip to Iran. Alas, the Islamic Revolution in ’79 scuttled that. Lebanon, Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq 2.0, ISIS/ISIL, Libya, Somalia, Syria. Looks like Iran got next, alas!
So back into the Ark-Ives. Pull another set of World War 3.0 Reggae/Punk/Ska
The Clash – Rock the Casbah – topical in that the Ayatollahs had banned popular music in Iran
Ruffy & Tuffy – If the Third World War Is a Must. Roots twins prophecy: there are no winners when Russia ‘n’ America “come fi buss.”
The Special AKA – War Crimes. 2 Tone ska regarding massacres in Beirut Lebanon compared to the death camp of Belsen. “The numbers are different but the crime is still the same.”
Mikey Dread – World War 3.0 is only minutes away!
Rumor has it Pres. 45 likes to listen to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive Podcasts while watching CNN with the TV muted.
Big Macs, cheeseburgers and Smile Jamaica. Let us hope he hears I ‘n I Prophecy and heeds the call…NO WAR IN IRAN
My wish is that if you are reading this, you listen to the anti-War set and pray to the sky god(s) of your choosing that there be NO WAR IN IRAN
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Annotated Playlist: Jah-nuary 11, 2020; 90 sec.
Set 1:
Pancho Alphanso – Watch This Sound; Watch This Sound (Shanachie) ’82 Ho Ho Kus, NJ vinyl
Tad’s Logic Dub Band – Science; Chapter 1 Dub Mix (Tad’s) ’84 UK vinyl dub album of the hour; Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science”
The Gladiators – Bless Our Soul; Send I a Lion (Nighthawk) ’84 comp
Ayo – Who; Ticket to the World (Motown) 2013 Nigerian dawta
Daweh Congo – Herb Tree; Human Rights & Justice (Roots & Culture) 2000 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Spliffy Dan – Dreadlocks Preaching Love; 10″ (Rockers) ’80 UK A. Pablo prod’n
Set 2:
The Upsetters – Dyon-Anaswa; Return of the Super Ape (Trojan) ’78 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark era
Bunny Wailer – One Love; Hall of Fame (RAS) ’95: 50 Bob Marley songs for 50th birthday
Susan Cadogan – Say a Little Prayer; Songs of Aretha (Ariwa) 2019 Aretha Franklin cover
Dizzy & Soul Syndicate + Philip Frazer – Lonely Reggae + Only Jah Knows; 10″ (Impact!) UK cover of Herb Alpert trumpet “Lonely Bull
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 30+ Years
The Abyssinians – Poor Jason Whyte; Satta Massa Gana (Heartbeat) ’76
Rita Marley – My Kind of War; Harambe (Shanachie) ’82
Niney the Observer – Blood & Fire; Freaks (Heartbeat) ’92 update of his classic herbtune
Capital Letters – Smoking My Ganja 12″; Headline News (Greensleeves) ’79 UK herbtune
Set 4:
Jimmy Cliff – Roots Radical; Rhythm Come Forward vol. 3 (Columbia) ’82 comp.
Alton & Hortense Ellis – Why Did You Leave Me to Cry; Cry Tough (Heartbeat/Treasure Isle) rocksteady brother and sister
Thievery Corporation feat. David Byrne – The Heart’s a Lonely Hunter (ESL) 2005 UFOria
Singers & Players feat. Congo Ashanti Roy – Breaking Down the Pressure; 10″ (ON U Sound) ’83 UK picture sleeve
Maya Dread; Yard Man Style – Kaya Dub (Kaya) ’75 Dub Album of the Hour
Set 5: Vinyl is Vital
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Soul Captives; Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers (Beverley’s) ’70 JA
<Soul Captives; 90 sec.>
The Heavenly Twins – Hide Me, Rock of Ages; I Am On the Battlefield of the Lord (Social Music) ’67 UK Jamaican gospel w/ male and female vox
Messenjah – Rock You High; Rock You High (WEA) ’82 US
Joe Higgs – So It Goes; High Times All-Star Exposion (Alligator) ’85 Chicago
Zara McFarlane & Dennis Bovell – East of the River Nile; 12″ (Brownswood) 2019 UK dawta
Set 6:
Peter Touch & the Wailers – Maga Dog; The Toughest (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’64
<Peter Touch’s Maga Dog; 1 min.>
The Ethiopians – Let It Be; Slave Call (Heartbeat) ’75 Beatles cover
Sister Carol – Natty Dread Congo; Lyrically Potent (Heartbeat) ’96 Bob Marley cover
Undivided Roots – England Cold; 10″ (Well Crucial) ’82 UK picture sleeve
Set 7: World War III
The Clash – Rock the Casbah; 12″ (Epic) ’82 US picture sleeve: World War III Set
Ruffy & Tuffy – If the Third World War Is a Must; Climax (Black Star) ’88 Finland vinyl
The Special AKA – War Crimes; 10″ (2 Tone) ’82 2 Tone ska picture sleeve
Mikey Dread – World War III; Beyond World War III (Dread at the Controls) ’81
Recorded after massacres in Beirut, Lebanon 1982
Set 8: Mutant Dub
Claude Fontaine – Hot Tears; Claude Fontaine (Innovative Leisure) 2019 Fr. dubstress
Mad Professor feat. Love Clinic – Studio 54 Dub; Afrocentric 5: Black Liberation Dub Chapter 5 (Ariwa) ’98 Blondie’s Rapture feat. female vox
Andrea – Come Back; CD Single (vx) 2005 Canadian
Sevendub feat. Angelique – Fire (Soul Fire mix); Dub Club Edition (Collision) 2006 Germ. w/ female vox
Lee “Scratch”Perry – Heaven & Hell; 10” (ON U Sound) 2019 UK picture sleeve
A Mutant Dub New Year. For over a decade now, I have been starting the year with the outer fringes of Reggae music that you hear I ‘n’ I play for centuries at the last half hour of Smile Jamaica.
<What is Mutant Dub?; 34 sec.>
Mutant Dub definition: Take Reggae drum and bass, attach it to modern electro/dance/post pop textures. Apply copious echo and special effects.
Epitomized by the Holy Trinity of producers: Adrian Sherwood/ON U Sound; Jah Shaka and the Mad Professor
Adrian Sherwood – the Bob Marley of Mutant Dub
My bredrin/mentor, Rutabaga Reese – previous Smile Jamaica host, turned me onto this style of dub as I ‘n’ I was absorbing my Roots Reggae knowledge.
Moody, atmospheric, modernesque. Some orthodox Reggae heads hate it*. But I ‘n’ I love it. If you do a Google search on Mutant Dub. Smile Jamaica is what pops up first!
The highest rated show in the podcast history of Smile Jamaica, circa 2013, is my Mutant Dub 420 showcase.
Mutant Dub 420 on Smile Jamaica
*I used to get angry calls “quit playing that techno crap.” Not anymore!
Even KRCL station manager, Tristin Tabish, is a Mutant…
<KRCL management loves Mutant Dub; 3 sec.>
Since nothing is static after doing radio for 30 plus years, after I was retired from political interviews on KRCL’s Radioactive, I ‘n’ I switched to Ancient Aliens on History Channel.
Giorgio and von Daniken’s Sumerian Skygods/Ancient Astronauts combined my Mesopotamian ancestry to outer space.
Giorgio Tsoukalos – The Bob Marley of Ancient Aliens
***
So I ‘n’ I do what I ‘n’ I always does. Start combing the Smile JamaicaArk-Ives for Alien Reggae and Dub songs. I ‘n’ I don’t have a single Mutant Dub Christmas tune, but found nearly 200 UFOria (UFO’s + euphoria = UFOria).
Tenastelin – The Bob Marley of Sumerian/Biblical astronaut songs
So, for Mutant Dub New Year, I switch up the traditional last half hour to UFO tunes.
Two stories. One ancient. One modern
The Epic of Gilgamesh – The story of a man seeking immortality. Comes across the original “Noah” plagiarized from the Bible. Utnapishtim was tasked by Enki, a major Skygod of the Anunnaki (Sumerian sky gods, “those who came from the sky”).
Enki’s brother Enlil was disgusted that the humans they created to mine gold on behalf of the Anunna (singular of Anunnaki) were instead having sex with Earth women.
Anu, the Bob Marley of the Anunnaki, agreed to wipe out the human experiment with a flood. But Enki took pity. He worked with a dread named Utnapishtim. Enki told him to gather up his family along with a DNA seedbank of animals and plants.
Sumerian Tree of Life is the double helix DNA
The Skygod loaned him a spaceship called a tesseract. A cube shaped ship that orbited Earth for 500 years. When the flood waters receded, Utnapishtim returned to the planet to start anew.
Tesserect space cube. Similar to the Borg on Star Trek
Gilgamesh sought out Utnapishtim who gave him the root of immortality. Gil, going through the trials and tribulations of his Epic, was exhausted and satisfied that he had been successful in his quest. Everlasting life.
So, the now God in his own right, lay by the side of the road for a well deserved nap. Alas, a snake slithered out of the reeds and stole his root of immortality. Gilgamesh died a mortal man.
<Epic of Gilgamesh; 76 sec.>
Gilgamesh loses his root of immortality to a serpent
Neil Armstrong story.
Neil Armstrong. First man on the moon. We have all heard the famous sound clip as he touches down on the lunar surface.
“This is one small step for man. And one giant leap for mankind.”
Fake news. That was the SECOND thing he said on the “comm” to NASA
Neil Armstrong – the Bob Marley of lunar astronauts
When Armstrong was a youth, he was playing catch with his brother in the yard. As happens, the ball went across the fence into the neighbor’s yard. Neil went to fetch it back.
Hot summer afternoon. The neighbors, a family named Gorsky, were having a little “afternoon delight”. Neil, curious, listened in on the pillow talk.
He heard Mr. Gorsky ask his wife for oral sex. She guffawed, “I’ll give you oral sex when the Armstrong kid next door walks on the moon.”
So wheel it forward to July 20, 1969. As Neil touched down on the moon’s surface his actual first words were. “Good luck Mr. Gorsky!”
<Good luck Mr. Gorsky! 42 sec.>
And I ‘n’ I don’t have time for the story of how Neil Armstrong became a Muslim. Or how the Apollo 11 moonlanding was a Stanley Kubrick production.
As I ‘n’ I always say: “Look to the skies! Do not scoff!
bless, Bobbylon
Mutant Dub New Year Annotated Playlist: Jah-nuary 4, 2020
Set 1:
African Princess – Jah Chilren Cry; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka)
The Vision – Dub Start; Dub Vision (Funfundvierzig) ’88 Germ. green vinyl: dub album of the hour
Dr. Israel – Jacob’s Ladder; Inna City Pressure (ROIR) 2005
KRCL celebrated 40 years on air with a party in downtown SLC. My tenure of that for Smile Jamaicais 30 years. (31 and 1/2 total).
I attended the birthday bash and it was great to see a lot of volunteers I hadn’t talked to since KRCL’s format change in 2008.
Plus there was a great love of what I ‘n’ I do with Roots Reggae and Dub with many listeners who were happy to meet me and pass on their thanks. Great to collect stories from people and how they discovered and continue to enjoy my sets on Smile Jamaica.
People love my commitment to vinyl!
The common thread is what Smile Jamaica means to their Saturday afternoon routines. For decades. Fathers and sons. Mom’s and dawtas. If I ‘n’ I had accepted every drink offer, I would have been a drunken mess! (However, it would have been downright rude to decline surreptitious hits of green vapor. Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies…)
It really was a validation of my joy of community radio that is still driven by independent music selection. Where you might hear a Scorpions Reggae jam followed by some UFO dubwize.
You ain’t gwan hear that on your Spotify playlist.
Spotify Reggae vs. Smile Jamaica. Computers or a human?
When my great friend and now KRCL station manager, Tristin Tabish asked me to spin a 15 minute set between bands, I ‘n’ I agreed.
This is essentially I ‘n’ I speech from the stage.
“KRCL celebrates 40 years of all killer no filler radio. It has been my pleasure to be a part of that ride for 30 plus years.
“And KRCL has always championed Reggae music from day 1. Dreadlock Holiday to Smile Jamaica. My bredrin Rutabaga Reese taught me about quality Roots Reggae. Much love to Papa Pilgrm on Nite Roots.”
“For my set, I ‘n’ I was asked to put together 15 minutes of Smile Jamaica. How do you distill 10,000 albums. 10,000 cds and 10,000 singles into 3 songs?”
“A little bit of Marley. A little bit of 420. A little bit of dubwise.”
And Selah! Did the crowd roar when that opening lick of Bob Marley’s Smile Jamaica blast forth on the club’s hi-fi!
Thank you KRCL. And thank you KRCL listeners for the kind words for this deejay on your station that rules the nation! Forward ever, backwards never.
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica: KRCL 40th Anniversary Set live and on-air; Dec. 4, 2019 at the Union; Salt Lake City, Utah (60 sec.)
Bob Marley – Smile Jamaica (Marley)
Rita Marley – One Draw (420)
Yellowman – Strong Mi Strong (Dub – Bill Laswell mix)
Bad Brains – Jah Love; Into the Force (Megaforce) 2012: DC punk dub; Rockers do Reggae Set
H.R. – We Belong Together; Hey Wella (DC Hardcore) 2007
Ben Harper – With My Own Hands; CD Single (Virgin) 2003
Tom Tom Club – Bamboo Town; Close to the Bone (Sire) ’83
Set 8: Mutant Dub
Thievery Corporation feat. Mr. Lif – Culture of Fear (ESL) 2012 DC dubbers: Mutant Dub Set
Dub Syndicate feat. Big Youth – Emanuel; Fear of a Green Planet (Shanachie) ’98
Djosos Krost feat. Jah Bobby – Creation; No Sign of Bad (Quango) 2006 Norwegian dub w/ JA dub poet
Jonah Dan Meets the Bush Chemists – Guidance; Dubs From Zion Valley (Conscious Sounds/Abba Christos Tafari)
Bush Chemists – Respect Dubwise; Light Up Your Chalice (Dubhead) ’96
Alpha & Omega Meets Bangarang feat. Nishka – Show Me a Purpose; Show Me a Purpose (Hammerbass) 2004 UK trance dub w/ female vox
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.
Set 2:
Smile Jamaica 