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
I ‘n’ I birthday is Dec. 20th. It gets mashed into Christmas and that means traveling on the road. For most of my adult life that meant driving to Fort Benton Montana. Now it’s flying into Albuquerque, then driving to Sun City West, AZ.
So, by tradition, I ‘n’ I have spent the Thanksgiving week driving to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday a month early.
Here is my week
Friday before Thanksgiving Week: annual physical and flu shot. Been on a strict regimen since Labor Day to try and hit my target weight and clear out any of the high fructose poisoning from last year. Fire off BP of 115 over 75 in the electric chair, I mean doctor’s office. (Pulse rate of 92! Yeah I hate going to the doctor.)
Test results and notes from Doc: Your tests results are normal/unremarkable. Just what you want to hear!
Saturday before Thanksgiving Week: Celebrate fooling the Grim Reaper for another year with a massive breakfast and about 6 cups of coffee with my bredrin Nardo-Jan and our friend John, emeritus of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Left Fork Grill, best breakfast inna Salt Lake City
Road trip on I-15: I usually have a theme music experience for the drive. One time it was Bob Marley chronological; Bob Dylan box sets, UFOria.
The year I ‘n’ I got deathly ill in Vegas it was Pink Floyd (Still can’t hear the song Fearless without thinking of how I ‘n’ I nearly died of a blood infection, driving back to Utah with BP of 65 over 45.)
This year’s theme: MUTANT DUB! What better way to grind out a journey than pumping bass and extra-terrestrial echo, screaming down I-15 at 80 MPH.
Stop for gas in Cedar City and hit my first record shop: Groovacious
First stop in Vegas: Lee’s Discount Liquors. It is exactly 420miles from my Sugarhouse neighborhood of SLC to the Cheyenne exit in North Vegas. Bought a bottle of holiday Jim Beam bourbon for my room “cocktails to taste.”
Second stop: Reef Dispensary: Since I ‘n’ I was staying in a non-smoking hotel, I needed a cartridge or two, (or nine), for my vape pen.
I don’t believe any of the Vapor Madness “fake news” about the dangers of vaping. That’s just a conspiracy theory by the nanny state working with the tobacco companies to keep people addicted to nicotine and not able to have any fun in life.
Give my ID at the counter: They pair me with a weed barista, or budtender, named Sienna. Hmmm. pair the grizzled middle aged man with a doe eyed, tattooed lovely millennial. of mixed race extraction.
What do I care? I’m on vacation. She can do a little up-selling. She complimented me on my Bob Marley cap. I left her a nice tip for the kindness and seven leaf advice.
I’m a Sativa, fruity flavored, vape pen guy. Usually get an Indica to knock back my insomnia. And some gummies for the movies I was gonna go see. Yes, I am an adult not a criminal!
Check in to the Stratosphere on the Strip: I ‘n’ I have been doing this Vegas Excursion for 20 plus years now. My advice is stay at the grungier end of the Strip. It’s easier to get in and out of the hotel parking and Sahara is a main East/West corridor. Rooms at places like Circus Circus, the Strat (now called), and Palace Station are cheap.
Mainly in the room to sleep and shower. Ever since Vegas legalized the hippie lettuce, that city has become anti-Smoking.
At the Strat, the fee was $150. Thank you for letting me know. Did I ‘n’ I obey the rules? In Reggae there is a saying: If a fish could keep its mouth shut, it would never get caught!
Sunday Night: Green Bay 8-2 vs. San Fran 9-1
Since no one is from Las Vegas, there is a bar for nearly every football team. The Green Bay bar is called the Draft House in North Las Vegas. Put on my throwback jersey and grab some micro brew and dinner with all the trimmings.
Worst. Part. Of my trip. Niners 32; Packers a pathetic 8.
Monday: The Irishman
I’m an Assyrian-American, half (the good half I say!)*. I never cared to be anything else until I saw Martin Scorcese’s Goodfellas. Then I wanted to be Sicilian for a while. My favorite movie, still to this day.
*quote from Ray Liotta in Goodfellas.
So I couldn’t wait to see Scorcese’s gathering of the greats for The Irishman. The story of the murder of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino. The Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer of mob actors.
Tuesday. The Apothecarium
I do like to gamble in Vegas. I’m a low stakes, video poker guy. I will usually play, two or three times during the week, up to $50 a session.
Sitting at the quarter machine, smoking/vaping is legal on the casino floor. And this is why the nanny state and authoritarians want to ban vaping. There is no way to tell if that vapor, not smoke, is tobacco or THC.
In Reggae there is a saying: Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies!
So there I am, vaping Strawberry Cough, and sipping on a free OJ and vodka, when I hit 4 aces on the Video Poker.
Walked away with about 60 bucks net! Found money must be spent.
So I ‘n’ I got on Weedmaps, and thought the Apothecarium would be a good place to re-stock
Weedmaps – directions and menus for the Seven Leaf set
I ‘n’ I roll in, the place is packed. Peruse the menu…. “Robert, Kaya will see you now.” Are you kidding me? My budtender‘s name is Kaya? After the Bob Marley herbtune?
Kaya, another fetching mid 20’s Latina matched up with the greybeard stoner from out of state.
As she was putting together my order (Grapefruit disposable pen(s), THC chocolate cookies), I ‘n’ I asked her, “Are your parents Bob Marley fans?” She giggled.
I ‘n’ I asked her, “I bet you had half a dozen named Kaya in your class.” She admitted two other classmates. I ‘n’ I was my wearing my Smile Jamaica T shirt and mentioned I was a Reggae deejay., she was nice about that.
You don’t get that kind of friendly banter between client and vendor when you are buying Natty Lite at the Sev.
Another healthy tip goes in the jar.
Thursday – Thanksgiving, 9AM
Everyone knows about Black Friday, but I ‘n’ I was celebrating Green Thursday with a stop at Planet 13 dispensary. I ‘n’ I am a big fan of the buy 2 get 1 type of sales.
Hilarious to watch cabs and Uber drop offs, one after another, at 9 AM ON A HOLIDAY MORNING!
I ‘n’ I am a connoisseur of T-shirts. Usually Reggae or UFO, Anunnaki. This was my T’giving attire:
Right at the door, two people complimented my Alien Claus apparel. “Robert? Rachel will see you now.” What, another female budtender catering to my THC needs? No way!
#3 who loved my Alien Astronaut apparel. I ‘n’ I told her I was gonna be cratedigging from about 10am to 8pm on Black Friday and needed some “spinach” for the stamina.
Banana Kush. I’m sure there is some potassium in there for I ‘n’ I. Thanks, Rachel. Another fiver in the tip jar. (I’m not nearly that generous at the coffee shop.) Chocolate drops for the movie I was about to see…
Doctor Sleep – The sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining. Bought my ticket, the dread at the counter hailed up my Alien Elf shirt (#4). The girl selling me popcorn and soda liked it as well (#5). Disturbing scene in that movie that haunted me on my way back.
Thanksgiving Dinner: Online at the buffet (#6) woman asked me where I bought my T Shirt. #7 Lady at the sales kiosk commented as well
Black Friday. Start with the breakfast of champions, and begin my cratedig. The two main major stores in Vegas are called Zia Records. There are two other small stores called Record City and 3-4 other boutique vinyl shops. Found nothing at 2 but some unique 12″ mix vinyl at the Henderson shop.
Chatted up the owner at Moondog Records, and apologized for not buying more. He had an excellent Reggae vinyl selection, but I had everything he was selling of value except one piece of vinyl. (Last year I dropped nearly $200 there.)
I ‘n’ I gonna rinse out what I purchased on Smile Jamaica 12/7
Saturday: All good things must come to an end. Packed up and headed into what I was afraid could be nasty roads. Smooth sailing until a butane truck jack-knifed outside of Lehi. Stuck for an hour before I took the exit into town. Smart decision. Traffic didn’t move again until 7PM. 5 hours later.
So, being away from Smile Jamaica, here is a three hour Digital Dubplate for the weekly roots fix.
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica – Roots Reggae A-Z
0 – 30 min.
African Head Charge – Enjoy Yourself; Sankofa (Bonjo I) ’97
Burning Spear – Ethiopians Live It Out; Presenting (Studio One) ’73
Culture – See Them a Come 12″; Two Sevens Clash (Deluxe Edition) (Shanachie) ’77
Dub Pistols – Bad Card; Worshipping the Dollar (Sunday Best) 2012
Easy Star All-Stars – Great Gig in the Sky; Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Star) 2003 Pink Floyd cover
Fred Locks – Culturally (Tan Yah) ’95
General Echo – Bathroom Sex; 12″ of Pleasure (Greensleeves) ’80
Heavy Manners – Taking the Queen to Tea; Heavier Than Now (NoVo) ’95 Chicago group: herbtune w/ female vox
Ini Kamoze – General; Mini LP (Taxi) ’84
John Brown’s Body – Rainbow Chariot; Among them (Shanachie) ’99
King Tubby – Mine Field; Roots of Dub (Clocktower) ’76
Led Zeppelin – Dy’er Mak’er; Houses of the Holy (Atlantic) ’73
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Lively Up Yourself; Live! (Tuff Gong) ’75
Noiseshaper – Bushmaster; Rough Out There (Collision) 2005 Jah-strian dubbers
Johnny Osbourne – Curly Locks Girl; Never Stop Fighting (Greensleeves) ’82
Prince Buster feat. Bunny & Skitter – Chubby; Prince Buster Original Golden Oldies vol. 2 (Prince Buster) ’61 nyahbinghi
Cratedigging in the land of 11 down, 39 to go. While I ‘n’ I load up on some Black Friday Reggae and Dub for 2020 soon come, enjoy this Digital Dubplate of giving thanks.
45 gems of Thanks and Praise. Enjoy this merryment while waiting online and forced to listen to Christmas music.
First stop for my Black Friday: Or as I ‘n’ I called it: Green Thursday!
I ‘n’ I give thanks to all the Smile Jamaicalisteners for more than 30 years!
bless, Bobbylon
Thanksgiving Digital Dubplate
0-30 min.
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Thank You Lord; In the Beginning (Trojan) ‘67
I ‘n’ I was fighting glaucoma with my bredrins Mike and Aqua Boy. I was laying out my Presidential strategy for taking down The Cheetolini in 2020:
Tulsi-Bernie
America’s only hope in 2020
With the JFK coup anniversary looming: Was it Bin Laden on the Grassy Knoll? Discuss!
But then the discussion took a turn. When baseball season is over, I ‘n’ I turn to a new time suck: Ancient Aliens on the History Channel.
I was talking about the documentary’s 2 hour tribute to Erich von Daniken, the Father of Ancient Astronaut Theory. His book, Chariots of the Gods, lit the fuse for a whole generation seeking a connection between ancient astronauts mis-labelled as Sky Gods by mankind.
I took to the alternative cosmology of Ancient Astronaut Theory late in life. But I should have been into it for 40 years….
I grew up in a small farming community in North Central Montana called Fort Benton. Beautiful little river city. We had a theater and a drive in. It was a short bike ride from my house to go see a movie to get out of the sun.
Fort Benton, Montana – the Birthplace of Montana and cattle multilations
It was sometime, summer 1975. I was ten years old. The movie was Young Frankenstein: Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman and Teri Garr. But, in the lobby was something that really intrigued me: a whole display of cut outs, movie stills and placards describing Chariots of the Gods. The movie.
One of the stills described a picture in Ancient Assyria; my mother’s homeland in the Fertile Crescent. I was totally enthralled and could not wait to see it in two weeks!
Coming soon to a farm implement dealership
The following week, the movie theater went out of business and became a farm implement manufacturing business. Cursed!
****
Wheel it forward to last weekend. I was regaling my mates, between bongrips and bourbon, of the story von Daniken described from the Bible: Ezekiel and the crystal ship. A wheel within a wheel.
Ezekiel 1:14-28. Ancient Astronaut Theory
14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
That, my friends, is the description of nothing other than a space ship which travels by gyration, the wheel within a wheel!
What the Prophet Ezekiel saw in the Old Testament
<Ezekiel’s crystal ship>
My bredrin Aquaboy, who reads dinosaur media like the New York Times and The Nation magazine, was not having it. He was giving me the red eyed hairy eyeball.
The hairy eyeball
So I’n’ I zone in on the kill shot: The Ancient Aliens episode devoted to Chariots of the Gods’ legacy talked about one of the original NASA scientists who thought von Daniken was a crank and set out to use physics to debunk the wheel within a wheel.
His name was Sidney Blumrich…
I ‘n’ I, who does not read the New York Times nor the Nation, never got to finish…Aquaboy was full on scoffing. I ‘n’ I held up my hand and calmly said,
“Your perception is not my reality.”
They’re here. They’ve always been here. And they’re coming! Scoffing won’t save you!
bless, Bobbylon
Bobbylon’s Top Ten Biblical Alien Encounters
Moses and the burning bush – spaceship
Ezekeiel and the Crystal Ship: the wheel within a wheel aka a gyroscopic spaceship
Stairway to Heaven – walkway to a spaceship
Enoch – Noah’s grandfather who walked with God and then was not
Lot’s wife – turned into a pillar of smoke, not salt after Armageddon was destroyed in a nuclear attack
The New Jerusalem – Borg cube massive space ship
The Nephilim – Biblical giants describing the Anunnaki who created mankind and mated with their women
Noah’s Flood (1) – Utnapishtim in a tessaract spaceship to wait for the flood waters to recede (Sumerian origin story)
Noah’s Flood (2) – Ziusudra in a submarine to wait for the flood waters to recede (Sumerian origin story)
Jacob’s Ladder – spaceship walkway (see #3)
How about some examples from Islam and Hinduism:
Magic/flying carpets
The Prophet Muhammad’s midnight journey to Heaven on the back of a winged horse Al-Buraq. Buraq means “lightning” in Arabic (one man space capsule)
Descriptions of flaming minarets in the sky (missiles)
Hindu Vimana’s: space chariots fighting battles
Shiva’s Trident – missile
Al-Buraq “lightning”. Took the Prophet Muhammad to heaven from earth….spaceship!
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 16, 2019 Annotated Playlist: 73 sec.
Set 1:
Mikey Dread – Voice of Jah; Dread at the Controls (Trojan) ’79 UK vinyl
Aggrovators – Dread Locks in Jamaica (Attack) ’76 JA vinyl dub album of the hour
Chachi feat. Sister Carol – Natty Dread; (Kariang) ’99 Ethiopian dawta cover Bob Marley
Sister Carol – Natty Live Up; Lyrically Potent (Heartbeat) ’96 Bob Marley’s Natty Dread
Jah Thomas – Tribute to the Reggae King; In Disco Style – Entertainment (Midnight Rock) ’81 Bob Marley tribute
Sublime – Legalize It; Hempilation (Capricorn) ’96 Peter Tosh cover; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Junior Murvin – Bad Weed; 12” (Upsetters) ’78 UK – Lee “Scratch” Perry prod’n; herbtune over Police & Thieves
Set 2:
Zema – Joy in the Morning; Black Sleep (Melchizedek) 2003 Culver City, CA dawta
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Sonny’s Lettah; a capella live (LKJ)
<UK sus laws against “vagrancy”; 28 sec.>
The Eagles – Country Living; Reggae Classics (DCC) ‘73
Tapper Zukie – Black Man 12”; I Can Hear the Children Singing (Blood & Fire) ’78 dj to Prince Alla
Barry Brown – Release the Chains; 10” (Rockers) ’80 UK; Augustus Pablo prod’n
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 30 Years
Martha Velez – Get Up Stand Up; Escape From Babylon (Sire) ’76; Wailers cover
Mighty Diamonds – Gnashing of Teeth; I Need a Roof (Hitbound) ‘76
Aisha – Give a Little Love; 7” (Rockers International) 7” Jamaican Jukebox Set
Richard Ace – Supernatural Thing; 7” (Clocktower) 70’s Ben E. King cover
Madoo – Jamming So; 7” (Crazy Joe) ‘79
The Lions – Roll It ‘Round’ 7” (Lions Bread) 2010 LA roots group*
Sly & the Revolutionaires – Cocaine; Bill Laswell: Dub Massive Chapter One (Trojan) 2005 Dub Album of the Hour
Set 7: Wailers Family Tree
Bob Marley & the Wailers feat. Bunny Wailer – Dreamland; Marley, Tosh, Livingston & Associates (Studio One) ’66 JA vinyl
<Dreamland – Bunny Wailer’s vision of heaven; 1 min. 23 sec.>
Bunny Wailer – Natural Mystic; Hall of Fame (RAS) ’95: 50 Bob songs for Bob’s 50th birthday
Peter Tosh – Get Up Stand Up; Wanted (bootleg) Sept. 29, 1981 at the Ritz, NYC
Ziggy Marley – Live on Mars; Fly Rasta (Tuff Gong) 2013 UFOria
Bunny’s vision of heaven
Set 8: UFOria
Tena Stelin – Flying Saucers; 7” (Mascot) ’99 UFO-ria
Unity – Stargazing; Heat Your Body Up (Virgin) ’83 UK
Thievery Corporation feat. Sleepy Wonder – Stargazing; Culture of Fear (ESL) 2011
Ancient Astronauts feat. Akua Naru – Last Night; Into Bass and Time (ESL) 2010 w/ female vox alien love song
Rockers Hi-Fi – Dick From Outerspace; Rockers to Rockers (Gee Street) ’95 UK
Spiritual Rez – Let’s Go Out With a Bang; Apocalypse Whenever (Spiritual Rez) 2014
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 