Before the crappy Digital Millennium Copyright ACT (DMCA) I used to spin one half of an album midway on Smile Jamaica. Usually something rare that hadn’t been issued on CD (much less digital).
Before Orrin Hatch’s DMCA this is the sort of out of print album. I would spin one half of the vinyl. Rarity for surety!
Orrin Hatch put a stop to that.
DMCA verboten: Can’t play more than 4 songs by the same artist
DMCA verboten: Can’t play more than three songs in a row of any one album.
So I switched up a new tradition: Rockers do Reggae
I ‘n’ I am a music obsessive who listens to a lot more than Reggae. So I have 2 CD Suitcases and then some of Rock, Soul, Jazz, Punk artists doing (usually) one shot Reggae riffs.
Every once in a while someone pitches a bitch. Got a nasty email when playing UK angry rocker Graham Parker’s soul riff down rub a dub “More Questions than Answers”.
Another time I had a caller asking me when Smile Jamaica would be over because I played a Camper Van Beethoven ska tune!
But you gotta trust me. Reggae is universal. Not all of it is great, but some of it is right on.
With that in mind enjoy this week’s Ark-Ive and listen for: Last week it was jazbo Herbie Mann. Get set this week – Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Clapton, Bad Brains, Judy (Mowatt) does Jerry (Garcia). From Bad Brains to Bob Dylan.
Check it!
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-gust 5, 2017 Annotated Playlist; 90 sec.
Liberated from British colonial rule: Aug. 6, 1962
Set 1:
Brigadier Jerry – Jah Jah Move; Jamaica Jamaica (RAS) ’85 DC vinyl
Desmond & Joe – Bristol Rock; Dubbing in the U.K. (Starlight) UK vinyl dub album of the hour
Peter Tosh – Coming in Hot; Honorary Citizen (Columbia/Legacy) ’82 Boulder, Collie-radio live
Bad Brains – Leaving Babylon; Babylon Central Soundtrack (ESL) ’83 DC punk-dubbers
Capital Letters – Rumours; Headline News (Greensleeves) ’79 UK youth group
<Headline News? Roots Reggae vs. The CIA News Network; 13 sec.>
Gracy & the Herbman Band – Forward Up; See Mi Yah (Funfundvierzig) ’91 Germ. Female herbtune
John Holt – Police In Helicopter; 12” (Holt) ’81 siren mix: 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
<Police Siren in your rearview? Johnny Law or Smile Jamaica? 32 sec.>
Set 2:
Bob Marley & the Wailers – So Much Things to Say; Exodus 40 (Tuff Gong) ’77 original + 2017 Ziggy rmx
Herbie Mann – what’s this guy doing on Smile Jamaica?
Greetings,
Doing Reggae Radio for three decades, you do what you can to mix it up and stay out of ruts.
About six weeks ago, a listener Stephen – hit me up on Twitter asking me if I had heard of an obscure Reggae album by a traditional jazz flute player, Herbie Mann.
Indeed I had. My sister lives in Albuquerque. So we meet there for Christmas now, instead of me having to make a 600 mile drive through the frozen North to get to Montana.
Whenever I go anywhere, I pick up the Yellow Pages (now have to do it from their app.) Where are the Record stores?
ABQ has a good boutique shop called Mecca. Past downtown as you get to Old Town. I chat up the owner on soul reissues and what I call Mutant Dub: Dubstep, lounge, experimental ambient.
The tiny shop crammed with disks and cds lends itself to a cozy, relaxed atmosphere. Along the lines of the movie High Fidelity
Last Christmas I walk in and he greets me. Reaches behind the counter and pulls out a record. “Now that you’re here, maybe you want this”
It was a copy of herbie Mann “Reggae’. Once I saw the vinyl sleeve and knew it was vintage and not recent, all I had to say was put in on my pile.
1974. Love that era of Reggae and Rock. Everything was real music. Not synthed overdubs.
Legit if Tommy McCook, Mick Taylor and Albert Lee are in the mix
I tend to buy in waves and so I have a queue of about 100 priorities. Vinyl gets played first.
It took me about 6 months for this to jump from the crate to the turntable. Damn good on the riddims and the flute. Nothing soft or cheesy. I don’t know a lot about jazz. But I know an encyclopedia’s worth of Reggae.
When Stephen inquired about this. I dropped the 18 minutes of Side 2 during this week’s Vinyl is Vital segment. Smokey Robinson’s My Girl.
After Tosh and before Marley, that instrumental gem fit hand in glove with the Roots.
3 decades of Smile Jamaica – It’s Reggae when I say it’s Reggae. Gonna play Ella Fitzgerald covering The Cream inna rub a dub style this Saturday!
bless, robt
Mecca Records on West Central ABQ, New Mex. Shop there. These stores are dying out and it saddens me. My lifestyle is under threat: cratedigging
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 29, 2017 Annotated Playlist: 1 min. 50 sec.
Set 1:
Bunny Wailer – Rockers; In I Father’s House (Solomonic) ’80 JA vinyl
Augustus Pablo feat. The Crystalites & Big Youth; Melodica Melodies (Trojan) ’81 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
Ken Boothe – In the Summertime; Freedom Street (Beverley’s/Jet Set) ’70 – Mungo Jerry cover
Wingless Angels – Rasta Army; Wingless Angels vol. II (Mindless) ‘96 – Keith Richards, Justin Hinds nyah group; 18 sec.
The Equators – Police on My Back; Hot (Stiff) ’81 UK ska update of Eddy Grant & the Equals
Prince Alla – Sensimilla; More Love (Jah Warror) 2002
Christine Miller & Roots Hi Tek – The Light; 10” (Roots Hi Tek) 2009
Keith Richards and his Rasta Army
Set 2:
Peter Tosh – Rastafari Is; Honorary Citizen (Columbia/Legacy) Nov. 5, 1982 live the Roxy – Los Angeles
Jay Tees – Come to Me; 10″ (Music Lab) ’81 JA female duo
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 27+ Years
Althea & Donna – Jah Rastafari; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78
Sylford Walker & Welton Irie – Give Thanks and Praise to Jah + Rolling Stone; Lambs Bread International (Blood & Fire) ‘79
Wailing Souls – Jah Is Watching You; On the Rocks (Greensleeves) ‘83
Benjamin Zephaniah – Rasta; Rasta (Workers Playtime) ’83 UK dub poet
E.T & Randy’s All Stars – Ordinary Version 3; Rough Guide to Dub (Rough Guide) 2005 Dub compilation of the hour
Set 4:
Mike Brooks – Rum Drinker; Classical Anthology (M-10) herbtune
This poster guides and protects over the Smile Jamaica Secret Dubratory
<Inna my house, there’s a picture on the wall – Rastafari sit upon his throne – Happy Birthday Negusa Negast!; 10 sec.>
Greetings,
Rastafari Reggae. Don’t say Rastafarian. That is an ism and schism. Without His Imperial Majesty, Reggae would be reduced to AM pop hits, lovers rock and island novelty kitsch.
Tributes to the Head Creator (Ras Tafari in Amharic, the language of Ethiopia). That is what attracted me to Reggae around 1986. It still is what moves me today, pumping Reggae Radio 29 years later.
These songs are platonic love songs to a man revered for his commitment to Christianity, (as head of the Ethiopian Church), Africa (fought against Euro-colonialism) and poor Jamaicans alienated from a white Jesus.
His epithets:
Jahovia
Ras Tafari
Power of the Trinity (Haile Selassie in Amharic)
Negusa Negast (King of Kings, Amharic) and the Lord of Lords
Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah; 6 sec.
Elect of God/Everliving God
Earth’s Rightful Ruler
Kibir la Amlak – Glory to Jah
The downtrodden in Jamaicas: the poor farmers and ghetto dwellers alike tended to be very religious. The only book they might have ever read was The Bible.
Jamaicans knew that Selassie was, like Jesus Christ, descended from the House of David. Black nationalist Marcus Garvey predicted, “Look to the East for a black man will be crowned. Thus signals the return of blacks from the New World back to Africa.
<to the Rastas: Jess-us not Jeezus; 24 sec.>
The Rastafari movement was born: 40 sec.
Jamaican leader Marcus Garvey foretold Selassie’s kingdom
Sing praises unto Jah
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Annotated Playlist: July 22, 2017 – Selassie I Birthday Special; 64 sec.
Set 1:
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Jah Live; 7” (Tuff Gong) ’75
<Jah Live – you can’t kill God; 24 sec.>
Chalawa – Natural Mystic Dub; Exodus Dub (Micron) ’77 Can. Vinyl – (Marley) Dub Album of the Hour
Naturalites – Picture On the Wall; Rub a Dubble vol. 1 (CSA) ‘88
<Picture on the Wall: From SLC to So Cal to world wide; 67 sec.>
Althea & Donna – If You Don’t Love Jah; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ‘78
Black Uhuru – I Love King Selassie; Tear It Up: Live (Mango) ’82 London
July 2, 1988 was when I ‘n’ I debuted at 3AM on a hot summer night late Sunday/early Monday on radio station KRCL. The name of the show was 3 o’clock Roadblock named after the Bob Marley song.
That started a 3 decade journey of 29 years of Reggae Radio. After a year or so I moved from early morning graveyard shift to the big show: Smile Jamaica.
Saturdays 1-4 PM in 1989-1990 and then moved back to 4pm. Planted my flag and never left.
If I figure I average about 45 shows a year (with time away for cratedigging on the weekends). That amounts to 1305 + shows. Almost 4000 hours of Reggae.
I celebrated with all vinyl a couple weeks back. Took last Saturday off and cooked up a CD best of 29 years in my Secret Dubratory.
Thanks for the musical memories!
bless, robt
If I remember correctly: Black Uhuru’s What Is Life was the first song I played on Reggae Radio: 3AM July 2, 1088
0-30 min.
Naturalites – Picture on the Wall; Rub a Dubble vol. 2 (CSA) ’88 UK
Rita Marley – Beauty of God’s Plan; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ‘80
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Brainwashing; African Herbsman (Trojan) ’71 nursery rhyme
Peter Tosh – Recruiting Soldiers; Mystic Man (EMI America) ‘79
Al Leon kicking the bong around. Spaceship kind a cloudy!
<Prince Lincoln: The Aliens gonna whip you and put you in your rightful place!; 10 sec.>
Greetings,
If you have listened to Smile Jamaica regularly over the past 5 years or so you will notice that one of my musical fascinations is UFO tunes.
I used to do political interviews on KRCL. When the Radioactive program was changed by an odious new station manager, (who has since ignominiously resigned), to a lightweight news show as opposed to hard news format, I quit doing it. I charitably said I “retired” from political interviews.
That left me with a whole heap of time to explore other pursuits. Based on recommendations from a couple of my coffee buddies, I started watching the Ancient Aliens show on History Channel.
Giorgio Tsoukalos the Bob Marley of Ancient Aliens
The gist of the show is that Ancient civilizations were impacted by travelling space visitors who helped create mankind to do their bidding: mining gold to repair their damaged atmosphere on their home world of Nibiru.
The 12th Planet that exists at the outside of our solar system.
Nibiru loops around on its elliptical orbit and approaches earth every 3600 years
The show tracks mostly Sumerian, Egyptian and Mayan stories and myths. I’m one half Assyrian – from the land of the two rivers (North of ancient Sumer.) So I was fascinated by the connection between one man’s mythology and an alternative world cosmology
Sumerian Tree of Life is a double helixThe Anunnaki created us from DNA of their creation
<Cosmology vs. Mythology; 3 sec.>
One of the things I noticed, especially in Mutant Dub, was the number of Reggae and Dub tunes devoted to space travel, aliens and UFOs. Add in several dozen Rock examples and you have enough for a 3 hour showcase on Smile Jamaica. I got to nearly 300 on my Itunes UFOria playlist. A Smile Jamaica episode averages about 35 songs in 3 hours.
Ground control to Major Tom
Since so much of Rastafari Reggae is devoted to the Bible, I could connect the dots between Sumerian Cosmology of the Anunnaki – Those who came from the sky and UFO’s in the Bible and other ancient stories.
Noah’s Ark – No: Ziusudra in his submarine or Utnapishtim in his Tesseract (spaceship)
Burning Bush – Spaceship
Ezekiel’s Wheel – Spaceship
Jacob’s Ladder and the Stairway to Heaven – Spaceship
Elijah’s Chariot of Fire – Spaceship
Enoch (Noah’s great grandfather) – “walked with God and then was not”. Taken to the Heavens via Spaceship
Magic Carpet Ride – from the Arabian A Thousand and One Nights – Spaceship
Vimanas from Hindu theology – flying spaceships who fought battles in the skies
Lot’s wife was not turned into a pillar of salt. That is the wrong Hebrew word. She was turned into a pillar of smoke after a nuclear attack to destroy the Sinai spaceport.
Jacob’s ladder: From the ground to a waiting Spaceship
Even Led Zeppelin would agree:
There’s a lady who’s sure All that glitters is gold And she’s buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows If the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for.
The idea that space travellers from hundreds of thousands of years ago had the capacity to see Earth as a habitat to exploit seems far fetched. But is it any less fantastical than the Bible, Greek myths or Hindu stories?
The original dreads
But one man’s Skygod is another man’s Ancient Astronaut. According to Ancient Aliens, man’s evolution and creation is connected to the very same DNA that contains mysteries we mere humans can not yet comprehend.
Noah’s Ark is unbelievable. 2 of every animal on a ricketty ass wooden boat? 70 cubits is 105 feet. Less than a modern Aircraft carrier. So you’re gonna fit elephants, giraffes, hippos and rhinos etc? Plus all the smaller creatures. No way.
How you gonna keep the lion from eating the lamb?
Space ship or submarine? Makes more sense. And if the Anunnaki could travel from the outer reaches of our Solar System, they would have the advancement to use the DNA they developed to re-create the animal and plant kingdom from seed banks and DNA repositories they housed on board their space craft.
Modern day physicists believe that the Tesseract space ship could flex time to enable space travel. It was how Utnapishtim left earth for the skies during the Great Flood
Modern technology we can’t even hope to approach in 2017 in an era of primitive Earth history. What local Sumerians, Arabs, Hebrews, Mayans and Hindus saw as chariots, or flying carpets or ladders we would immediately recognize as space craft.
The Anunnaki – see his wristwatch
Listen to my description and Tena Stelin’s song paying tribute to the Ancient Astronauts coming down from the sky…
<The Anunnaki phenomenon>
***
In America, UFOs are most connected with the July 1947 Roswell New Mexico crash. Wasn’t swamp gas or weather balloons until military censorship
July 8, 1947: RAAF – Roswell Army Air Field
Long story short: In early July 1947, a ranch foreman named William Brazel discovered debris of a downed space craft. He recovered bits of the material and took it home. When he crinkled the metallic material it resumed its smooth, flattened exterior.
The Air Force bullied him into giving up his souvenirs. The Air Force investigator, Jesse Marcel, was also finessed into claiming what he found was nothing more innocuous than a weather balloon.
Fake news 1947: DENVER – UNDATED: Major Jesse Marcel from the Roswell Army Air Field with debris found 75 miles north west of Roswell, NM, in June 1947. The debris has been identified as that of a radar target. The Air Force released a report on 24 June debunking reports of a UFO crash near Roswell, NM, in 1947. (Photo by: UNITED STATES AIR FORCE/AFP/Getty Images)
I have a personal connection to what happened in Roswell that day. My brother in law, Michael, sells high tech pipe to computer companies. He is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
<Robert’s Roswell Recap; 1 min. 14 sec.>
He was in Roswell selling high tech pipe to local salsa manufacturers. He was having lunch in the local cafe with one of his clients. He innocuously asked, “What’s the deal with Roswell and UFOs?”
His lunch mate said that the coroner was instructed by the Air Force to bring 3 child size coffins to the Base. “You don’t need coffins for a weather balloon.” The coroner was total salt of the earth, rural roots and no big city conspiracy nut.
That was enough for me! Do not scoff, Look to the skies!
<Coffins for a weather balloon?>
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: July 8, 2017 Tracklist: 70th Anniversary of Roswell UFO Crash: 1 min. 17 sec.
Set 1
Ancient Astronauts – From the Sky (ESL) 2009 Roswell UFO 70th Anniv. Show
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra – Also Sprach Zarathustra; 2001 Space Odyssey (MGM) ’68
Jimi Hendrix Experience – EXP; Axis: Bold as Love (Reprise) ’67
Kingstonians – Come We go Moonwalk; Sufferer (Attack) ’70
Dubadelic – MIB; Bass Invaders (ROIR) ’98 Men in Black
Dennis Alcapone – The Sky Is the Limit (Flying Machine); Guns Don’t Argue (Trojan) ’70
WordSound I Powa – Intro; Live From Planet Crooklyn (ROIR) ’96 – Aliens looking for weed; 14 sec.
The Herbaliser – Moon Sequence; Road of Many Signs EP (Ninja Tunes) ’99 UK space chatter
Laurence Harvey – First Came the Sky Chariots; Ancient Astronauts (Laurence Harvey) 2008
The champion of UFOria movies
Set 2:
Kraftwerk – Spacelab; Man Machine (Capitol) ’78
Dubblestandart feat. Devon D – We All Have to Get High; Immigration Dub (Collision) 2007 Jah-stria – quoting Jim Morrison – out here on the perimeter there are no stars, we is stoned immaculate; 15 sec.
Transcend – 2002; Earthrise.ntone.1 (Instinct) ’95 space chatter
Anubian Lights; Outer Space Music; Naz Bar (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) 2001 Ezekiel UFO
Fall of 1986. Moved from Bozeman, Montana to SLC for University. Met a guy in the dorms from Baltimore with a kick ass stereo. CDs were new. I was looking for a new music form (mid 80’s synthesizers weren’t cutting it for I ‘n’ I). Dabbled in blues and world looking for a sound.
Neal my music pal, played for me a tough looking Reggae group called Black Uhuru. Anthem was the name of the album. On his massive stereo in the cinder block dorm rooms it was like an epiphany.
That’s the sound I am looking for! Went out and bought the LP the next day. (Couldn’t find the CD locally.) That lit the fuse to 29 years of Reggae Radio. 66 sec.
Wasn’t Bob, Peter, Jimmy or UB40. It was Michael Rose, Puma Jones and Duckie Simpson
Wheel it forward to Spring of 1988. The local community radio station ran ads looking for late night volunteers. My roommate and I were in the Pie Pizzeria near the U of U campus. We had both been doing little shows running in the Student Union on something called K-UTE. My show was called Positive Vibration (after the Bob song.)
Roomie wanted to do 80’s indie. KRCL had plenty of that. But accepted me for late Sunday/early Monday – 3 o’Clock Roadblock (Also Bobness.) Six weeks of training before I debuted July 2, 1988. 84 sec.
Once I got the show, it gave me a reason to begin expanding the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. Jah forbid, I play the same album two weeks in a row. So I would take my student loan check, thanks Ronald Reagan, bank it in a savings account. And then once or twice a year, drive or fly to the Bay Area and scour the plentiful record stores.
The secret? CDs are half as wide as an LP. So you could fit twice as many, at nearly double the cost, in each rack.
As consumers started selling vinyl for seed cash for CDs, I swooped in and vacuumed up all the great Reggae for dirty cheap. I would get UK albums that sell for $100 on Ebay in 2017 for around $4. I rarely paid more than $10 for an album.
That’s how you get to this three decades later….
The permanent home of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: June 2017
<Smile Jamaica’s Cratedig itinerary: Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, El Cerrito, Mill Valley; 26 sec.>
Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to Mill Valley. Village Music was worth the trip. No longer in business
So on July 1, 2017 – I celebrate 29 years of juggling black wax!
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Annotated Playlist July 1, 2017 – 29th Anniversary All Vinyl Showcase; 85 sec.
Set 1:
Zap Pow – This Is Reggae Music; Reggae Rules! (Rhino) ’80 US
Alien Dread – Firstlight; Cosmic Dub Clash (Log On) 2009 UK Dub Album of the Hour
The Meditations – There Must Be a First Time; Message From the Meditations (United Artists) ’76 US – Lee Perry prod’n
ILive – Natty Dread on the Mountain Top; Jah Guide (Out of Many, One) ’90 San Fran female singer
Crutches & D. Brown – Wackie Fence Skank; Java Java Dub (Impact!) ’72 UK studio labrish
Desi Roots – Weedfields; Weedfields (Hawkeye) ’80 UK 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
<Burning the weed fields killed the Jamaican middle class; 25 sec.>
Kojak & Liza – Black Skin; Showcase (Nigger Kojak) ’80 JA
Ronald Wilson Reagan: Funded the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives – GOOD; Insisted Jamaica burn its weed fields – BAD
Set 2:
Soul Syndicate – King’s Highway; High Times All Star Explosion (Alligator) ’85 Chicago blues label
I Roy – Commandment II; Ten Commandments (Virgin) ’80 UK yellow, picture sleeve – to Bob Marley’s Heathen
Sister Carol – Spidla-Ding; Black Cinderella (Jah Life) ’84 Brooklyn singjay
President Raygun regrets funding the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives through the Student Loan Program
<Livicated to Ronald Reagan; 10 sec.>
Greetings,
The Rastas called him:
Ronald
Wilson
Reagan – 666
I pay tribute to his legacy in funding the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives through the 80’s student loan program. 30 years ago it was more Pell Grants than 9% Loans.
So I would take the check, put in a savings account and once in the summer and usually once during the Holidays, I would travel to the Bay Area and descend upon the plentiful record stores from Reno to San Jose.
So it is hard not be nostalgic after I have been moving into my 400+ square foot Ark-Ive: 31 sec.
From the Garage:
To the Ark-Ive:
Spent 2k on CD towers to empty out the cardboard boxes and onto shelving. Every Saturday before Smile Jamaica since New Year’s I have prepared for this move.
Now that I am inside the house, I have to make sensi of the entropy. A journey of a thousand miles begins with unloading a single box.
A luta continua – The struggle continues
bless, robt
He did alright for I ‘n’ I
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: June 24, 2017: Annotated Playlist: 40 sec.
Before there was a Dubstep, I was calling it Mutant Dub!
Greetings,
Needed a long weekend to begin the giant move into the newly renovated Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
The Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives – Day 1
Last Saturday: From 7:30 AM to 6 PM. Moved all my LPs, 10″ and 12″ black wax from my detached garage to the Ark-Ive.
Loaded massive Tupperware tubs full of records. Loaded them on a Dolly and pushed them the 50 feet from garage to the back door. Lifted them over the door stop and finessed them into the new room.
Since I had spent all winter and spring sorting 15,000? pieces of black vinyl goodness into proper categories, moving from the tubs to the shelf was easy.
Now if I want to find Mutant Dub, herbtune, Halloween songs by female artists. I know right where to go. Before it was a game of needle in a haystack trying to remember which pile to dig through.
Other than a quick lunch, it was 9 hours of physical, exhausting labor. I was drenched in sweat and sore all over..
But it was worth it. Looks very nice and neat. Unlike the hoarder/collector vibe of massive cardboard boxes filled with stock bought out from long dead record store chains.
CDs are next. So because i don’t like to go a week without new content at Mixcloud’s Smile Jamaica Podcast link: enjoy 3 hours of Mutant Dub not interruptions, just bass in ur face!
I’ll be checking it while I spend 10AM to 3PM Saturday huffing CDs into the Ark-Ive
Vinyl last Saturday. Non-Reggae CDs and DVDs this Saturday – From the garage into the Ark-ives
bless, robt
0-30 min.
Avatars of Dub – Uptown Jungle; Babylon Is Ours (Echo Beach) 2003 Germ.
Morcheeba – Small Town; Who Can You Trust? (Indochina) ’96 UK w/ female vox
Digital Dubs feat. Jeru Banto – Liga Legalise; #1 (ROIR) 2011 Brazilian herbtune
Djins feat. Venudas – Indi’ka; Verbalistic (Hammerbass) 2003 Fr./Arabic
Afro Omega – Whatcha Need + Dub; Pick Up the Pieces (Afro Omega) 2006 SLC w/ female vox
Dr. Israel – Counting Out Stones; Patterns of War (ROIR) 2005 Brooklyn dubber
30-60 min.
Dub Syndicate – Dubbing Is a Must; Fear of a Green Planet (Shanachie) ’98 UK
Thievery Croproation feat. Pamela Bricker – Lebanese Blonde (French version) + Dub; CD Single (ESL) ’98 herbtune
OSC – Originate; Bay Area Dub Step (Full Melt) 2011
Pama International – I Found Sunshine; Float Like a Butterfly (Asian Man) 2005 UK
Ther Herbaliser feat. What What– Herbal Blend; CD Single (Ninja Tunes) ’97 UK female vox
Lots of my Student Loan kasheesh was spent at this SLC record shop. Going strong 30 plus years later. Removed 90% of their CDs to make room for MOAR vinyl
A life in cratedigging. Kick started the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive’s in my friend Neil’s dorm room. Fall of 1986. That lit the fuse!…..
<Black Uluru in a dorm room? Instant Reggae fanatic; 20 sec.>
…I’m going through a home remodel. 40 years of record collecting crammed into my garage right now. When I ran out of shelves, I bought some big ass tupperware bins to try and make it all fit.
This has to fit into my new addition. A Library for a Librarian
Between my organic collecting (used record stores, Ebay/Amazon, stock from my distributor when I sold Reggae online) and my binge buying when Record Stores started dying out in the mid 2000’s, my 1200 square foot house had reached a state of entropy.
So to make room for the demolition of two bedrooms to accommodate an actual Library (A Librarian with his own Library!), I had to move everything into my garage in a short amount of time.
Now that the project is coming to completion, I have to move everything back in!
Can 40 years of books, records, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes fit into a space 41 feet by 10 feet? Stay tuned!
My method?
Get up early on Saturday. Have my spinach determining what I’m going to sort and separate in the garage.
Go have breakfast at Left Fork Grill with my best bredrin Leonard and his buddy John
Drink about 8 cups of coffee
Head back to mi casa in Sugarhouse
Grab a stack of disks for my CD boombox to while away the time sifting wax
Fully caffeinated: Start to organize the entropy.
I would separate by format: LP, 12″ disco mix, 10″ disco mix, non-Reggae vinyl
Then: look by title and cull albums if they fit one of my preferred set-genres
420
Roots Dawtas
UFOria
Wailers Family Tree
Halloween
Marley Tribute songs
Rockers doing Reggae
I don’t know how many physical vinyl pieces I have (not even including 7″ 45s). CDs a whole separate issue.
10,000 pieces? 15,000? Somewhere in between.
It has literally taken me from early January to June to sort it all and separate for the final move into the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive.
From when I moved to SLC from Bozeman, MT in Sept. of 1986, I have been on a vinyl crusade. And the nostalgia of where and how I acquired the lion’s share of black wax really kicks off memories of a subculture that has mostly died out: the local record store.
Many great ones are still slinging wax: Like Randy’s in Salt Lake. Ditched their CDs to make room for the vinyl resurgence: 20 sec.
But over 500 stores have gone out of business in the last decade. When the music industry killed vinyl, they didn’t anticipate that digital music sales like Itunes, Spotify etc. would make those $18.99 CDs economically irrelevant.
Columbus and Bay in North Beach. I would stay across the street at the Travelodge and crate dig til closing. Nearly cried when I heard the news Tower was going under
And even though vinyl is making an awesome comeback (full vindication for I ‘n’ I), it’s too late for many of my favorite haunts.
Last summer my local Montana chain went out of business: Hastings. I would drive through gorgeous wheat fields and flowing rivers and cratedig from Butte, Missoula, Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman and Billings.
700 hundred miles from SLC to Fort Benton, Montana. Hastings books/cds/DVDs broke up the monotony of the drive. Went out of business Summer 2016
As much as I love Montana and my parents, I’m not driving home this summer. Not much for me to do there now but watch wheat grow.
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: June 3, 2017 – All Vinyl Showcase; 34 sec.
Set 1:
Brigadier Jerry – Everyman a Mi Bredrin; Jamaica, Jamaica (RAS) ’85 DC:
Bullwackie’s All Stars – Nature’s Dub; Nature’s Dub (Wackies) ’80 Dub Album of the Hour
Time Unlimited – Live Upright; Devil’s Angel (Live Wire) ’84 JA
Mother Liza – Ten to Ten; Mother Liza Meets Pappa Tollo (Vista Sounds) ’83 UK
Devon Russell- Homebound Train; Homebound Train (Freedom Sounds) ’83 JA
Zap Pow – Be Cool; Irie Land (Rhino) ’80 LA
Al Campbell – Collie Herb; 12” (Jah Life) 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
The Record Room: Phoenix, AZ, 2016
Set 2:
Inner Circle – Forward Jah Jah Children; Reggae Thing (Capitol) ’76 US
<Inner Circle: Capitol’s answer to Bob Marley; 15 sec.>
Leroy Smart – What Will I Do; Rite Sound Reggae Story (Jah Live) ’77 Fr.
Barry Brown – Ital Rock; I’m Still Waiting (Rocktone International) ’83 Can.
Super Chick – Roach Killer; Reggae Dancehall Classics (Sleeping Bag) ’87 NY female dj
<Roach Killer shoes: favorites in the dancehall for killing roaches and rub a dubbing; 35 sec.>
Starboard Records, 1988 – West Valley City, UT. RIP
Set 3:
Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus – I Am an Ethiopian; Movements (Dynamic Sounds) ’78 JA
<I’m not Mr. Brown, Mr. Smith, Mr. White – I’m an Ethiopian; 12 sec.>
Dennis Brown – Wake Up; Wake Up (Natty Congo) ’85 UK
The Meditations – Running From Jamaica; Message From the Mediations (United Artists) ’76 US
Gregory Isaacs & Christine – Rock On; Rock On (Jah Live) ’75 Fr. Combination style
Prince Far I – Bendel Dub; Front Line Dub (Virgin Front Line) ’79 Dub Album of the Hour
<Virgin record label in Nigeria; 50 sec.>
Randy’s Records: SLC, 1986
Set 4:
Lone Ranger – The Clock; Hi-Yo Silver, Away! (Greensleeves) ’82 UK
The Shakers – Emergency Call; Yankee Reggae (Asylum) ’76 Boston; female vox on Judy Mowatt tune
Eek a Mouse – Sensee Party; Skidip! (Greensleeves) ’81 UK
Misty in Roots – Wandering Wanderer; 12” (People Unite) ’81 UK
Rough Trade Records: San Francisco, New Years Even 1988
Set 5: 420 Black Wax
Peter Culture – Coconut Chalwah; Behold 10” LP (Top Beat) 2000 UK
<Coconut chalice; 14 sec.>
Clint Eastwood – Collie Weed Style; Love & Happiness (Burning Sounds) ’79 UK
Winston Reedy – Sensimilla; Dim the Lights (Inner Light) ’83 UK
Niney the Observer – My Spliff; Nuclear Jammin’ (Voiceprint) ’86 Chicago
John Holt – Police in Helicopter; 12” (Holt) ‘83
<Johnny Law in your rear view? 28 sec.>
Reckless Record, 1990 San Francisco/Haight Ashbury: RIP
Set 6:
The Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up; Wailers Vinyl Box Set (Island) #3484 of 10,000 vinyl box set
<Lessons in crate digging: Buy low ($70), sell high (working kidney)>
Bobby Culture, Brimstone & Fire, Nicodemus & Louie Culture – Going Home; Tidal Wave (Unicorn) ’83 Santa Monica: R.B. Greaves pop update
Junior Byles – I Don’t Know; Rasta No Pickpocket (Nighthawk) ’86 St. Louis
Don Carlos & Gold – Blackout in the Ghetto; Showdown vol. 3 (Hitbound) NY
Black Uhuru – What Is Life; 12” EP (4th & Broadway) ’83 US picture sleeve
<Not Marley, Tosh, Cliff or UB40: Black Uluru’s Anthem made I ‘n’ I a Reggae fanatic>
Ras Command – Education; In Dub (Red Arrow) ’95 Germ.: Mutant Dub album of the hour
9 disk vinyl box set: Amoeba Records, Berkeley 2001: $70. Versus $3500 on eBay
Set 7:
Blue Riddim Band – Restless Spirit; Restless Spirit (Flying Fish) ’81 St. Louis
<Livicated to our KRCL bredrin: Bad Brad Wheeler>
Fab 5 – Shaving Cream; Jamaican Woman (Stage) ’87 JA
Aisha – I Know a Place; 12” (Ariwa) ’90 UK
Smokey’s Records, SLC 1987: RIP
Set 8: Mutant Dub
Black Uhuru – Boof’n’Baff’n’Biff (Fila Brazillia rmx no. 2); Dancehall Queen Soundtrack (Island Jamaica) ’97 US
Dub Syndicate – Roots Commandment; Echomania
New Age Steppers feat. Ari Up – Stormy Weather; Foundation Steppers (ON U Sound) ’83 UK female vox on Lena Horne classic
ON U Sound mail order, London: 1990?
Words of Wisdom:
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 
