Tag Archives: Tower Records

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 2, 2022 – 34 Years of Reggae Vinyl!

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Greetings,

Imagine a time long ago. Before Facebook, Netflix and Itunes. Ronald Wilson Reagan in the White House.

Last Sunday of June 1988. Salt Lake City, Utah. Hot summer. Middle of the Night. A callow youth from Montana debuted on the late night airwaves of community radio station KRCL.

The show was called: 3 O’clock Roadblock – after the Bob Marley tune.  Reggae with a mix of Ska and World Beat.

I ‘n’ I had been doing a little Reggae show on the Univ. of  Utah campus  station called Positive Vibrations (also Bob Marley). My roommate and I were in the Pie Pizzeria and they had KRCL on the Hi Fi. We heard a call out for new volunteers. And they were looking for a late night Reggae mix show. I ‘n’ I was selected, six weeks of trainings and started fumbling on the airwaves for late night insomniacs, cab drivers, graveyard shifters, cat burglars and night owls.

Thirty four years later. Trodding on prime time with Smile Jamaica

<34 Years of Reggae Radio: on KRCL; 2 min.>

I ‘n’ I had discovered the gem that  is KRCL. Non commercial music. No commercials. No slick presentation. (Early 1987). And the station had two really great  Reggae shows: Smile Jamaica, with my mentor, Rutabaga Reese. And Nite Roots with Papa Pilgrim. I ‘n’ I would listen intently, especially on Saturdays (1 to 4pm in those days; not 4-7). Great roots gems spun by Rutabaga. He taught I ‘n I about ON U Sound – What I ‘n’ I re-invented as the music genre Mutant Dub.

I ‘n’ I would keep a notebook of classic albums to fill up my collection before I could ever think of committing to a weekly radio show.

<Reggae Radio mentors at KRCL; 40  sec.>

The original KRCL radio Reggae thank you gift

Fall 1986 I moved from Bozeman, MT to SLC to attend the Univ. of Utah. I ‘n’ I had always been a music collector. And in 1986 I discovered the compact disk.

In the dorms I met a Jewish engineering student named Neal. He had a rich kid’s stereo and in the concrete block dorm rooms, sound really reverberated. We traded disks back and forth. One night we listened to the group Black Uhuru.

Heavy electronic 80’s era Sly & Robbie; Michael Rose’s Afro-Arab vocals and balanced harmonies: Puma Jones (roots dawta) and Ducky Simpson (Rasta dread.)

I ‘n’ I had about a dozen Reggae CDs but Black Uhuru “Anthem” was the epiphany moment. I became a Reggae obsessive after that!

In gratitude to Black Uhuru, I used to start each late night 3 O’clock  Roadblock with a Black Uhuru tune.

<Black Uhuru and Reggae Fanaticism; 63 sec.>

Not the first Reggae album for I ‘n’ I. But THE one that made me a Reggae Fanatic for life.

Now that I ‘n’ I had the show, I needed to expand my Reggae collection through the unintended, and probably unwilling President at the time:

Ronald

Wilson

Reagan – 666 as the Rastas say.

<Funder of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Ronald Wilson Reagan; 37 sec.>

Not quite: Ronald Wilson Reggae – 666

Hey, I ‘n I bear no grudges against the man. Back in the mid 80’s there were more grants that loans. I would take a big fat Ronnie check and deposit into savings. Then either around the Holidays or Summer I would scour the Bay Area record shops. Dozens of them, large and small, back before digital killed the record hut.

  • San Francisco
  • East Bay: Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito
  • Mill Valley – Marin county
  • Sacramento and Reno if I ‘n’ I was driving.

<Bay Area cratedig circuit; 44 sec.>

Village Music – Mill Walley, CA. North on the Golden Gate Bridge

I used to stay at a Travelodge on Columbus and Bay. Right across from the Tower Records. Or couch surf at an Aunt’s apartment over by San Francisco State U.

I would descend like a plague of locusts in the shops. CDs (new). LPs bargains as people sold vinyl for the CDs. Cheap and plentiful.

$4 dollar records cast off in 1989 can go for hundreds today on Ebay and Discogs.

<That effort became the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives; 51 sec>

Jews have the Wailing Wall. Muslims have the Kaaba. I ‘n’ I had Tower Records San Francisco

Salt Lake City was well represented in good record stores, before digital set in, during the mid 80’s. I used to deliver mail and had to use my own car. So the gas reimbursement was usually enough to buy two new disks every two weeks at the late lamented Smokey’s Records. Other gems at places like Randy’s (still in business) and Cosmic Aeroplane, Raspberry Records and Mad Platter (all gone to that record hut in the sky)

Quick Smokey’s story: Near the end of the store’s life, the owner Smokey Koelsch,  started giving me the hairy eyeball. Why? Thieves kept breaking to Smokey’s shop to steal all the Reggae cds.

And those are the stories I ‘n’ I collect and share for 34 years.

Forward ever, backwards never1

bless, Bobbylon

<Cratedigging in SLC; 47 sec.>

Used to spend my Post Office gas reimbursement here, Summer 1987

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: July 2, 2022 – 34 Years of Reggae Radio (Vinyl)

Set 1

  • Prince Far I & the Arabs – The Message; Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 (ROIR) ’78 Dub album of the hour
  • Black Uhuru – Party Next Door; Anthem (Island) ’84 US
  • I Roy – Deck of Love Many Moods of I Roy (Trojan0 ’74 UK
  • Inner Circle – Burial; Blame It on the Sun (Trojan) ’75 UK Peter Tosh Cover
  • Arthur Louis – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; This Is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Island) ’75 US comp.
  • Burning Spear – Lion; Man in the Hills (Mango) ’76 US
  • Rita Marley – One Draw; 12″ (Shanachie) ’82 US – 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Teacher Rita schooled about the One Draw by students: Herbie, Smokey, Little Milla (as in Sensimilla!)

Set 2:

  • Marcia Griffiths – Feel Like Jumping; Feel Like Jumping (Receiver) ’68 UK comp.
  • The Heptones – Cool Rasta; Cool Rasta (Trojan) ’76 UK
  • Lion Zion – Gas Guzzler; Reggae in America (House of Natty) ’76 Oakland; Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n
  • Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus – Rasta Liveth; Tribute to the Emperor (Trojan) ’76 UK
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Punky Reggae Party; 12″ (Tuff Gong) ’77 JA
No boring old farts at the Punky Reggae Party

Set 3:

  • Judy Mowatt – Mr. Dee Jay; Mr. Dee Jay (Ashandan) ’75 JA
  • Big Youth – Hurting Inside;  Progress (Nichola Delita) ’78 JA Bob Marley cover
  • Dennis Brown – Malcolm X; Visions (Blue Moon) ’78 UK
  • Keith Hudson – Musicology; Rasta Communication (Greensleeves) ’78
  • The Gayladds – Little Candle; Love & Understanding (Ballistic) ’79 UK
Autobiographical – Mr. Dee-J for 34 years!

Set 4:

  • Matumbi – Music in the Air; Seven Seals (Harvest) ’79 UK green vinyl
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – Inglan Is a Bitch; Bass Culture
  • Soul Syndicate – There’s a Fire; Was, Is & Always (Epiphany) ’80 Santa Cruz, CA; Gaylads cover
  • African Princess – Jah Children Cry; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka) ’85 UK

 

Set 5:

  • Bunny Wailer – Mellow Mood; Sings the Wailers (Mango) ’80 US – rock steady covers
  • Desmond Dekker – Moving On; Black & Dekker (Stiff) ’81 UK
  • Akimbo – So Long Trouble; So Long Trouble EP (Forward Sounds) ’85 UK
  • Johnnie Osbourne – Love Comes and Goes; Reggae on Broadway (Cha Cha) ’81 UK

Set 6:

  • Peter Tosh – Reggae Myelitis; Wanted, Dread & Alive (EMI America) ’81 US
  • Toots & the Maytals – Beautiful Woman; Knock Out! (Mango) ’81 US
  • Casselberry & DuPree – Take It to the Limit; City Down (Icebergg) ’86 Milwaukee, Wi; two women cover the Eagles
Very first addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Xmas ’81. Thanks Mom!

Set 7:

  • Singers & Players feat. Prince Far I – Quante Jubila; War of Words (ON U Sound) ’81 UK
  • Twinkle Brothers – Since I Threw the Comb Away (Sunsplash) 8/7/82 Montego Bay
  • Don Carlos – Lazer Beam; Spread Out (Burning Sounds) ’83 UK
  • Lilian Allen – Conditions Critical; Conditions Critical (Redwood) ’87 Emeryville, CA; Toronto dub poet
Reggae mentor Rutabaga Reese hyped me to Adrian Sherwood/ON U Sound. The dub/electronic crossover I started calling Mutant Dub

Set 8:

  • Singers & Players feat. Sister P – Holy Scripture; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’88 UK
  • Caribbean All Stars – Snake in de Grass; Live & Direct (Raw Life) ’84 Oakland
  • Krieger-Densmore Reggae Bonanza – Get Up Stand Up; 12″ (Rhino) ’83 US Wailers cover
  • Ruffy & Tuffy – Third World War Is a Must; Climax (Black Star) ’88 Finland
First live Reggae concert: Summer 1987. Caribbean Allstars open for Third World

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:

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/vinyl-cds-revenue-growth-riaa-880959/

<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-tember 14, 2019 – Vinyl Vindication That Rules the Nation!

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Vinyl set to outpace CD sales in 2019

Greetings,

<Vinyl vindication: vinyl to outsell cds; 1 min. 55 sec.>

I’ve always been a record guy. Back in Montana as a youth, I would drive 35 miles each way to record shop at the local Hastings outlet in Great Falls. Usually buy a couple pieces of vinyl and a cassette for the drive back home.

Bankrupt 2016.

When I moved to Utah for University in 1986, I was already dabbling in CDs. In 1985, Cactus Records in Bozeman, MT had a small rack of CDs in a corner of the shop. I remember buying Fleetwood Mac and the Police Outlandos d’Amour. $16.99 (in those days a fortune). I didn’t even have a CD player yet.

For Christmas, I got a Fisher deck, (probably from Montgomery Wards), – 1 drawer, no frills: just the song number in red LED. I was blown away! Space age technology in rural Montana!

Bought this CD before I even owned a CD player. Fall 1985. Bozeman – Cactus Records

What’s not to love? Smaller. Harder to scratch. Easier to store. Portable players to play them on.

Yet, the smaller size and lack of information on many of the disks didn’t make collecting CDs as enjoyable as buying vinyl. Especially, when I switched to collecting Reggae. Early on in CD’s history there was not a whole lot of Reggae available. And a total lack of the 12″, 10″ and 7″ vinyl I especially was looking for. The rarest of the rare.

Jimmy Cliff’s Reggae Greats. Probably the 1st CD in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

I was in a Record Shop in San Francisco. Summer of ’87. Up to my elbows in vinyl racks. The shop owner was trying to up-sell me into CDs. He was like, “Why are you so hot for vinyl? Everybody is moving into CDs”. I shrugged, “I’ll always be a record guy.”

Here is how it worked back then. CDs were new. And expensive. So, many people sold their vinyl for pennies on the dollar to add up cash for CDs.

Vinyl was cheap and plentiful. CDs were exotic, limited in selection and expensive. So the stores were in transition from black wax to shiny metal disks. I built the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives this way: buying other people’s vinyl discards.

All the great things you hear me play today came about through hoovering up as much black wax as I could in the voluminous Bay Area Record stores. I was flush with student loan cash (Thanks Ronnie Raygun!) and I went from store to store digging through the crates.

I would stay at the Travelodge across the street from Tower Records in North Beach: Columbus and Bay. Some days, I would be tired after a day of cratedigging. It was awesome.

*****

Wheel it forward 30 plus years. Most of the record stores are long gone, (Hastings went under in 2016),  via over committing to CDs in a digital age of iTunes, Pandora and Spotify. People wised up and started piecing out vinyl for the Ebay collector’s market.

I saw a VG- record with a water damaged cover go for $400 on ebay. My cost? $4: Streetlight Records San Francisco

But for 20 years, I maxed out the opportunities even if around 2005 I started to notice stores were no longer there when I would visit.

When Tower Records and later Virgin and Circuit City went under, that was the nadir of my CD era collecting.

Record and DVD stores were crushed out of business during the 2008-2010 Great Recession

That is why when I heard on the news that 2019 will be the first year since 1986 that Vinyl is expected to surpass CDs in aggregate sales, I felt a sense of vindication.

Vinyl sales to eclipse CD sales in 2019

2019 to 1986 = 33 years. And what RPM does vinyl spin at? 33 and 1/3. Coincidence or prophecy!;

<33 years since vinyl last sold more than CDs. Records spin at 33 and 1/3 RPM; 40 sec.>

And as none other than Joe Biden said in the Sept. debate: play the turntable at night for the kids. Makes “sensi” to me Joe!

<The 7 Leaf inspired wisdom of Joe Biden; 27 sec.>

Makes “sensi” to me, Joe!

bless, Bobbylon

Set 1: 420 Vinyl

<Joe Biden’s advice on child raising: play your turntables for the youth; 51 sec.>

  • The Mellows + Gladstone Star Band – Pray to Jah + Give Thanks and Praise; Rite Sound Reggae Story (Jah Live) ’80 Fr. 
  • Blackbeard – Cut After Cut; Strictly Dub Wize (EMI) ’78 dub album of the hour
  • U Roy – Chalice in the Palace; Dread in a Babylon (Virgin Front Line) ’75 UK

<U Roy: smoking spliff w/ Queen Elizabeth; 15 sec.>

  • Chris Wayne – All the Plant Mi Plant; Progress (Heartbeat) ’87 US
  • Willin Prophet – Basehead; Revolution EP (1U) ’87 Los Angeles
  • Wayne Smith – Under Me Sleng Teng; Sleeping Bag’s Dancehall Classics (Sleeping Bag) ’87 US
  • Mighty Diamonds – Knowledge; 12″ (Music Works) ’82 JA – Pass the Kouchie
Smoking spliff with Queen Elizabeth

Set 2: Jah-loween Vinyl

  • Peter Tosh – Oh Bumbo Claat; Wanted Dread & Alive (Rolling Stone) ’78 UK – demonic possession; 63 sec.
  • Black Uhuru – Satan Army Band; Love Crisis (Jammy) ’77 JA
  • Prince Alla – Evil Forces; In My Father’s House (Calabash) ’84 FL
  • Laurel Aitken – Witchdoctor of Amsterdam; Eskapade en France (Blue Moon) ’90 Fr. EP
  • Calman Scott & Jah Hugh – Devil in the City; 12″ (Kingston Connexion)  ’79 Fr.
Jah-loween soon come!

Set 3: 7″ Jamaican Jukebox

  • Aisha – For Salvation; 7″ (Twinkle) ’95 UK
  • Jacob Miller – Sitting on the Dock of the Bay; 7″ (2nd Tracs) ’76 UK
  • Roots Radics – Hey Mama version; 7″ (Hitbound) ’82 JA
  • Bacca – George Foreman; 7″ (Roosevelt) ’73 JA boxing champ
  • Harry J All Stars – George Foreman version; Sucker Punch: Jamaican boxing tributes (Trojan) ’73

Set 4: Roots Dawta Vinyl

  • Nadine Sutherland – War in the City; Songs of Bob Andy (I-Anka) ’93 UK
  • Sister Carol – Lovers Rock Style; Liberation for Africa (Serious Gold) ’83 DC
  • Scotty & Lorna Bennett – Breakfast in Bed; This is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Island)  ’76 US Dusty Springfield cover
  • Black Harmony – Reasons; 12″ (Cool Rockers) ’81 UK
  • Black Disciples – Garvey’s Ghost; Garvey’s Ghost (Mango) ’76 Dub Album of the Hour
Cratedig: Denver 2019

Set 5: Wailers Family Tree Vinyl

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Jah Live; Countryman Soundtrack (Mango) ’82 US gatefold
  • Bunny Wailer – Johnny Too Bad; Protest (Mango) ’77 Slickers cover
  • The Melody Makers – What a Plot; Play the Game Right (EMI America) ’85 US
  • Peter Tosh – Johnny B. Goode; 12″ (EMI America) ’83 US – Chuck Berry cover

Set 6: Rockers do Reggae Vinyl

  • The Slits – Man Next Door; Typical Girls Live in Cincinatti & San Francisco (bootleg) Paragons cover
  • Ian Dury & the Blockheads – This Is What We Find;  Do It  Yourself (Stiff) ’79 UK
  • Papa Kojie & Blue Riddim – Nancy Reagan Re-election Remix; 12″ EP (Ora International) ’85 US picture
  • UB40 – My Way of Thinking; 12″ (Graduate) ’80 UK 
  • Dub Specialist – Starring Dub; Dub (Heartbeat/Studio One) 70’s dub album of the hour

Set 7: UFO-ria Vinyl

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

Intergalactic body called Oumuamua, from outside our solar system, is heading our direction in time for the 2020 election!

<Giant Meteor 2020; 1 min. 28 sec.>

  • Roots Radics – Conspiracy on Neptune; Prince Jammy Destroys the Invaders (Greensleeves) 
  • Lone Ranger – UFO; Barnabas in Collins Wood (Wave) ’79 JA
  • Lincoln Thompson & the Rasses – Spaceship; Natural Wild (United Artists) ’79 UK 
  • Bam Bam – Star Wars + Dub; Power of a Woman (Bam Bam International) ’87 LA female singer

8

Set 8: Mutant Dub

  • New Age Steppers feat. Bim Sherman – Dreaming; Foundation Steppers (ON U Sound) ’83 UK
  • X-O-Dus – See Them a Come; 12″ (Factory) ’80 UK

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives (Stream + Tracklist): June 3, 2017 – Black Wax Cratedigger’s Harvest!

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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 Ark-Ives: May 31, 2014: 25th Anniversary Vinyl is Vital Show (Stream + Playlist)

2 Comments
176418_original
Happy Anniversary to Me! 25 years playing tasty Vinyl on Smile Jamaica!

Greetings,

Mixcloud hosts my Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive Streams. If you don’t want to read my vinyl cratedigging story below, just go deh!: May 31, 2014

I don’t know why last week was different, but I hit 3 charts on Mixcloud’s weekly uploads

  • 5th in the Vinyl chart
  • 15th in the Dub chart
  • 17th in the Reggae chart

Yes I! Give thanks and praise to you if you made it a priority to listen to Smile Jamaica  so it could chart. Maybe it was the cannabinally (did I just invent a word?) inspired Milton Glaser photo of birthday boy Bob Dylan:

Bob_Dylan_Rasta_by_garrett_btm
Milton Glaser’s famous Bob Dylan poster mock-up

So I was very happy with that and decided to celebrate the next week’s Smile Jamaica edition with an All Vinyl Show. Been committed to vinyl from Day 1 on KRCL 90.9FM. I have relentlessly championed vinyl for 25 years now. It is a rare show that I don’t play at least a set of black wax or a dozen vinyl records in 7″, 10″, 12″ and LP format spread over 3 hours.

Every once in a while I get asked how much longer I plan on programming Smile Jamaica. 25 five years every Saturday afternoon. Quite a significant time commitment, eh? I answer the same each time: “When the station de-commissions the two turntables, I will retire.”

I doubt that will happen, but without being able to play Vinyl, it would be like listening to your Hi Fi with only 1 speaker working.

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Smile Jamaica: Your Jamaican Jukebox

I feel fortunate that I have been able to apply my cratedigging for a Radio purpose. Most record collector addicts either don’t have a media outlet for their archives or disseminate their artifacts with other collectors. Like trading baseball cards.

In my case, the lion’s share of my record haul was funded via student loan easy money from Uncle Ronnie (it took me 15 years to pay off my 80’s record haul plus 3 University degrees.)

The period from about 1985-1995 coincided with a period of cheap Vinyl titles being sold in brick and mortar record stores to clear space* and gain seed money for these new fangled thingees called the Compact Disc.

*Did you know the size of the CD was made to exact specifications: 2 CDs could sit, perfectly,  side by side for every record bin. Thus, doubling the potential inventory.

I would drive to the Bay Area from Utah and scour San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, El Cerrito, Hayward, San Mateo, Carmel/Monterey, Santa Cruz and dig for Reggae Vinyl.

If I couldn’t couch surf with a relative for ten days, I would stay at the Travelodge across the street from the San Francisco Tower Records within walking distance of North Beach, Chinatown and the Bay.

crate-digging
This looks a lot like my living room at the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives World HQ

I would make a special trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to shop at the excellent roots music store: Village Music in Mill Valley. I found some really rare Reggae 45’s and the first five years of The Beat*magazine there once. Once you get a nice cache, it’s worth the drive and I will make the time to dig in the crates. Village Music was my favorite Bay Area store on my circuit. I was really bummed when I read they went out of business in 2007.

*The primary Reggae and World music magazine published in the US. I wrote Mutant Dub reviews for them for about 5 years. They didn’t survive the digital era either when ad revenue dried up as Reggae labels went out of business.

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Village Music; Mill Valley, Collie-fornya: casualty of the digital era.

On the return drive, I would hit Auburn Collie-fornya (the old state capitol; home of Cherry Records), Sacramento vicinity and Reno. I have even stopped and perused the Yellow Pages in Winnemucca and Elko Nevada looking for a little record shack.

The good times came to an end. Ebay and Amazon dried up the source records for inventory as collectors could piece out their rarities for top coin, one title at a time.

Chain stores like Mall Wart, Beast Buy and Circus Shitty stocked a boring, narrow selection of titles. They would purposely  undercut the sales markup as a loss leader to get you in to buy a toaster or computer. The indie stores couldn’t buy on that volume to get the wholesale price break much less afford to sell titles for less than cost.

With digital preferences, iTunes legit, tube sites and outright online theft, the other shoe dropped on the physical record (and video) stores and more than 3000 have gone out of business in the past decade. The biggest of them being Tower Records, Virgin Records and HMV. Brutal.

It’s really depressing for a professional cratedigger like me when I pull into a town and see my familiar haunt closed or replaced by some sort of Dollar Store or Title Loan company.

Tower-Records
RIP: Columbus and Bay location; San Francisco. Spent thousands of dollars here over a decade of shopping

So please do some cratedigging so your pal Robert has a place to find new artifacts for ‘rinsing out’ on Smile Jamaica.

Thanks for listening to these Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive streams and, by all means, puff, puff pass the links to anyone you think might like the cool breeze of musical rotation inna Irie meditation at 33 and 1/3 and 45 RPMs! Vinyl snack crackle and pop is real. Digital is just a figment of your reality.

Playlist below the Mixcloud embed

bless, robt

  • Dillinger – Reggae Beat; Badder Than Then (A & M) ’81 US; All Vinyl Show
  • UB40 – Present Arms in Dub; Present Arms in Dub (DEP) ’81; Dub Album of the Week
  • Chalawa – Jah Collie Weed; Capture Land (Green Weenie) ’78 Jah-tario, Canada; 420 Seven Leaf Set
  • Crucial Bee – Cocaine; Just a Sting (All Starr) US Virgin Islands
  • Tinga Stewart – Give Me a Puff; Key to Your Heart (Calabash) ’83 Florida
  • Toyan – Chalice; Toyan (Channel One) ’82 JA
  • Sugar Minott – International Herb; 12” (Hammah) ‘83***End of Set 1
130732653268
Jah-ntario, Canada. Green Weenie label
  • Sophia George – Girlie, Girlie; Fresh (Winner) ’86 JA; version galore (1)
  • Charlie Chaplin – Boyie, Boyie; 12” (Winner)’85 JA; version galore (2)
  • Barry Brown – Come On Natty Roots Man; Stand Firm (Justice) ‘78 JA
  • Natural Roots – Influence; Natural Roots (Only Roots) ’84 FR***End of Set 2
Sophia+George+-+Girlie+Girlie+-+12%22+RECORD-MAXI+SINGLE-284211
A huge hit Year 1 Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives (circa 1988)
  • Casselberry – DuPree’ – Positive Vibrations; City Down (Iceberg) Jah-waukee, Wisconsin; ’86 female folk duo on Marley
  • Peter Ranking & General Lucky – Farmer; Jah Stand Over Me (Razor Sound) ’82 JA
  • ***Interview with NRG Rising; Maori reggae family out of New Zealand
  • NRG Rising – Journey; From Darkness to Light***End of Set 3
new-NRG-Rising
NRG Rising – New Zealand Maori Reggae mother and dawtas
  • Mikey Dread – Heavyweight Style; 10” (Dread at the Controls) ’82 UK
  • Sena – Natural Woman + Strictly Woman; Juvenile Delinquent (Clappers) ’81 Brooklyn***End of Set 4
Aston Barrett - Juvenile Delinquent -=[ Vinyl [Front]
Familyman Barrett produces sublime female roots singers
  • Cornell Campbell – No Mans (sic) Land; Yes I Will (Micron) ’79 Can.; Up Park Camp riddim
  • Jah Glen – Save Our Nation; 10” (South East Music) UK Lambsbread riddim
  • Eclipse Band – Corrupted Society; Inner Reggae Rhythm (Only Roots) ’78 FR
  • Lillian Allen – Conditions Critical; Conditions Critical (Redwood) ’87 Emeryville, Collie-fornya; Canadian dub poet***End of Set 5
conditions
Canadian female dub poet. From Year 1 Smile Jamaica (circa 1988)
  • Sister Carol – Black Woman; Liberation For Africa (Serious Gold) ’83 NYC
  • Enforcer – Bad Boy; 10” (Narrows) ‘80
  • Roots Uprising – No Doney (Get High); Beautiful Music (Top Ranking) ’81 FL***End of Set 6
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Paid $50 for this record in Washington DC ’98. Worth every penny!
  • Solo Banton – Chalice Haffe Blaze; 10” (Reality Shock) 2011 UK mutant dub herb tune
  • Idred Natura & Seventh Sense – Sip a Cup; 12” (Jah Works) 2007 mutant dub herb tune***End of Set 7
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Smile Jamaica’s Holy Trinity: Mutant dub, Vinyl, herb tunes
  • Singers & Players feat. Brent Dowe – These Eyes; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’88; Melodians singer on The Guess Who tune; mutant dub vinyl set
  • Basement 5 – Immigration; 1965-1980 (Island) ’80 UK; members went out to Big Audio Dynamite
  • Bim Sherman & Lion Youth – Happiness; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka) UK ‘85
  • New Age Steppers feat. Ari Up – Some Love; Foundation Steppers (ON U Sound) UK ’83; feat lead singer of The Slits
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Smile Jamaica’s vision of The Afterlife

 

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