IMAGES OF CARNIVAL

Lawd....dem 'ave a truck to piss on...

Mi hope sey that nobody no fart !!


BUT SEE YA..A WHA DIS!!

Big Youth

Big Youth: A Reggae Phenomenon

Manley Augustus Buchanen was born in February 1955 to a preacher mother and a policeman father, as one of five children. He left school at 14, and started work in his teens as a cab driver and hotel mechanic at the Skyline and Sheraton hotels in Kingston. From singing at work, he gradually worked his way up to become the top deejay of the Lord Tippertone sound.

His first recording, the Gregory Isaacs produced "Movie Man" didn't really do much, but further ventures increased his profile, and by the time Youth worked with producer Keith Hudson, he was at his peak. His "S.90 Skank" went gold, (& red & green) just like the jewels he had sometime dentist Hudson place in his front teeth. In between he cut some killer material with Gussie Clarke which resulted in the fabulous "Screaming Target" LP.

In 1973, Youth formed his own labels, Negusa Negast and Augustus Buchanen, and these quickly saw some quality releases, but Mr. Buchanen still found time to work with other producers, such as Prince Buster, Joe Gibbs, Derrick Harriott and Winston Riley. Due to his phenomenal output at this time, Jah Youth at one stage had 5 of the top 10 singles in Jamaica.

Jah Youth cut a version of The Wailers "Keep On Moving" with Lee Perry, "Mooving Version" in 1972, as well as two version's of Bunny Wailer's song "Bide Up", ("Bide", and "Black On Black"). Youth kept up the pace through the mid-1970's with other great tracks, such as "House Of DreadLocks", "All Nations Bow", "Wolf In Sheeps Clothing", "Mosiah Garvey" and too many more to mention.

These songs helped make Big Youth a superstar in Jamaica, and he soon travelled to England with a young Dennis Brown, to stage some spectacular live shows. The Youth Man was backed by The Ark Angels, and Brown by Joe Gibbs and The Professionals, giving English audiences a first hand taste of what was hot in Jamaica.

If you want to find out more about this phenomenal artist vist- http://www.geocities.com/studiowon/BigYouth.htm

Portia's Struggle Continues

Portia Simpson Miller, is going through a struggle that some say rivals the legend, Paul Bogle.
She has a lot on her plate to turn the country around. Currently with the level of violence that has hit Jamaica from before and after the election the challenge is very real.
Concern has hit the Montego Bay business area. The parish has surpassed its murder rate for the year and we have not reached June yet, which is the beginning of the tourist season.

Like many other parishes the cries for employment are very loud. This of course affects the socieo-economic makeup of the country. As many of the country moves towards technological advances, the poor seem to still remain poor.

I always put Jamacia into two classes, the rich and the poor. Their seems to be no middle class. You either have money or you don't. Now the ones that don't want it badly. They want to eat at KFC and Burger King too!

I love Sugar Cane

Boy Mi love Suga Cane yuh see!!....

There is no sweeter feeling (no pun intended) then walking down the street chewing on sugar cane.


The following gives a "brief" history of SugarCane...
This was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane

Sugar Cane is a type of grass originally from southeast Asia. The thick stalk stores energy as sucrose in the sap. From this juice sugar is extracted by evaporating the water. Crystalized sugar was reported 2500 years ago in China and India. Around the eighth century A.D. the Arabs introduced sugar to the Mediterranean and it was cultivated in Spain. It was among the early crops brought to the Americas by Spaniards.

Sugar cane was grown extensively in the Caribbean and still is on some islands. In colonial times sugar was a major product of the triangular trade of New World raw materials, European manufactures and African slaves. France found its sugar cane islands so valuable it effectively traded Canada to Britain for their return of Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia at the end of the Seven Years' War. The Dutch similarly kept Suriname, a sugar colony in South America, instead of seeking the return of the New Netherlands (New Amsterdam). Cuban sugar cane produced sugar which received price supports from and a guaranteed market in the USSR; the dissolution of that country forced the closure of most of Cuba's sugar industry. Sugar cane is still an important part of the economy in Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Grenada, and other islands. The sugar cane industry is a major export for the Caribbean, but it is expected to collapse with the removal of European preferences by 2009.

Don Drummond

Don Drummond

http://www.geocities.com/studiowon/DonD.htm

Don Drummond, aka Don Cosmic, was born in 1943, Kingston, Jamaica. To state anything more than that, would be a travesty. Apart from the fact that like all legends, nothing seems to known about his early days, men like Don D are just here for a short while, then gone…

Don Drummond was a part-time music teacher at Alpha School, a rather strict Catholic school for boys who were nearly all from poor, underprivileged backgrounds. The school, which was situated on South Camp Road, in West Kingston, was (and probably still is!) almost penal in its discipline, with beatings a regular occurrence.

Alpha veered towards the European musical tradition of marching and classical music. At the time Drummond attended Alpha, so were many other internationally known musicians, including: Wilton Gaynair, Owen Grey, Roy Harper and Herman Marquis. Don D graduated from being one of the schools top seniors, to its supreme tutor.

Amongst his influences stood such greats as Kai Winding and JJ Johnson, and Drummond was to influence many others himself. In his wake came such luminaries as Rico Rodriguez, Rupie Anderson, Vernon Muller, Carlos Malcolm, Carl Masters, Tommy McCook, Eric Clarke, Vincent Gordon, Joe Harriot and Bobby Ellis.

In 1940's Jamaica, big band swing and jazz ruled, and the starting place for musicians like Tommy McCook (1943) and Roland Alphonso(1948), was the Eric Dean Orchestra. Drummond joined them in 1955 having been voted Best Trombonist in 1954, and then formed The Don Drummond Four. He was also cutting specials for sound systems before being spotted by Clement 'Coxone' Dodd.

Don Drummond was not just a genius. Drummond’s prestige among other musicians carried with it the hopes and dreams of all of Jamaica’s shantytown musicians. This was an incredible stress on a man whose life hovered between eccentricity and manic depression. His delicate mental condition was not helped by the amount of ganja he consumed, and the pressures of fame without gain simply helped to push Drummond completely over the edge. The crunch came one early morning in January 1965, after his live-in lover returned home to the apartment they shared together at Rushden Road, Johnson Town in East Kingston.

Rhumba dancer stabbed to death; Trombonist held on murder charge, screamed the January 2 1964 Gleaner Headline; 23 year old Anita Mahfood, (known as Margarita) and Jamaica’s leading exotic dancer, came home at 3.30 a.m. after a gig at the Baby Grand Club in Cross Roads. At approximately 4.30 a.m. Drummond walked into the Rockfort police station and told Constable Aston Pennycooke that;

“Ah woman in de yard stab herself with a knife and ah would like de police to come and see her.”

What the two police officers that accompanied Drummond to his home found, in a front room, laying on one of the two beds, was the body of Anita Mahfood. She had been stabbed many times, and the knife was still stuck in her breast, under a piece of chamois cloth laid over her chest. Drummond said of the cloth that;

“Dis is de cloth which she held the knife with a stabbed herself”.

In death though, Mahfood had sealed Drummonds guilt. Lying on the floor was Drummond ‘s trombone, and Anita Mahfoods hand was pushed right in the bell…Don Drummond was held on a murder charge.

During the subsequent trial at Kingston’s Sutton Street courthouse, which took place on Tuesday February 9 1965, neighbours of the couple testified that at 3.30 they heard a car door slam twice outside the gate, followed by footsteps going up the stairway to Drummond’s apartment. Mahfoods voice was heard to say;

“Junie, please open de door fe me”.

Drummond then replied “Nuh, it is not locked”.

Mahfood then knocked on the door twice before Drummond opened it.

Witness Enid Hibbert then recalled the following heated exchange taking place, which she recalled Mahfood saying:

“Imagine I teken’ a five-minute nap an’ when I wake up I see yuh sittin, beside me very serious. Wha’ happen mon?”

To which Drummond replied “Yuh don’ wan’ ta sleep. Go an’ sleep nuh, mon. Ain’t yuh just come in?”

Mahfood: “Ah cyan’t sleep under dose conditions fe yuh have a knife wrap in a chamois between yuh feet!”

According to Hibbert, Drummond then said the knife was in his pants behind the door.

Mahfood: “Nuh, de knife is not in yuh pants pocket, it is wrapped in a chamois between yuh feet”.

Drummond “Nuh!”

Mahfood: “Nuh, Junie, nuh, Junie, nuh, Junie – Help! Murder!”

The coroners report stated that: “All four wounds penetrated the chest wall”, and “the wounds were produced by four separate stabs and all four were inflicted with considerable force”.

In answer to the question from the court; “Doctor, do you think these four wounds could have been self-inflicted?”

The coroner concluded that: “No, they could not have been”.

Drummond was duly convicted and remanded to the Belle Vue Asylum where he died in 1969, but the story doesn’t end there. For even in death, Drummond’s tortured soul could find no rest, and soon after his demise conspiracy theories took hold. Supersonics drummer Hugh Malcolm theatrically tore up Drummond’s death certificate at his memorial service, refusing to believe its official position.

Like many people in Jamaica, Malcolm thought Drummond’s death was far more sinister in origin, and definitely not suicide. The theory is that Drummond was beaten to death by guards, with the governments blessing, and the fledgling democracy had indeed repressed the West Kingston musical scene for years, along with its rasta brethren. Another theory passed about includes plots by gangsters who mixed with Mahfood’s father.

The truth probably is a lot simpler, and is probably a combination of all the theories with some simple truths. Drummond was a sick man, and the pressures of stardom are not easily handled, especially if you live life right on the edge. The history of music is littered with casualties, and with genius often comes tragedy, and the great Don Cosmic is just another star who shines bright in heaven.

I shall leave the last words on Don Drummond to someone who knew and worked with the man himself, the late great Tommy McCook. He reminisces about the Skatalites;

“The line up included Don Drummond. He really was fantastic, both as a composer and as an instrumentalist. He knew no boundaries. He would take the simplest ska tune and make it into a gem…”

---

StudioWon recommends the following sites for more information and music about Don Drummond

at the Majestic Theatre.

He Is Risen

HAPPY EASTER

Tribute to the beautiful women of Jamaica

Jamaica has some of the most beautiful women in the world. I know I am one of them. I decided to dedicate this post to some images of some beautiful Jamaican women. I might even include myself...maybe.

Jamaican bus

You know you are a tourist if you never been on a Jamaican bus. These bus will take your heart and breathe away. As the bus travels from Kingston to Ocho Rios, and it approaches FlatBridge and takes that "leaning" motion, you can only pray that God is listening to your prayers.

I was searching online and came upon this interesting bit of news from Jamaicans.com. Here is a list of some country bus names. See if you recognize any!!

1. Zebra Force
2. Living Daylights
3. Ayatollah
4. Blue Ranger
5. Wild Orchid
6. Two Pole
7. Secret Lover
8. La India
9. Blue Star
10. Illustrious Rat Fink
11. Uncle Zack's Holiday Tours
12. Iron Teeth
13. Flying Bomb
14. Luxury Liner
15. Explosive Don
16. Fatherless
17. Sunbeam
18. Life Boat
19. Return of the Don
20. Jamaican Dream
21. Gospel
22. Conquerer
23. Nuff Said
24. Faithful
25. Goodwill
26. Flipper
27. Street Bomber
28. Silver Hawk
29. Wild Eagle
30. Jesus Saves
31. Genus
32. Nigger Star
33. Retaliator
34. Champion Bubbler
35. Funland
36. Mountain Queen
37. Jet Set
38. Power of Love
39. Royal Rose
40. God's Gift
41. Top Celebrity
42. TDK Chrome
43. Sweet Mikey
44. Sir Lloyd
45. Israel
46. Professional Boops
47. Goldfinger
48. First Blood
49. Playboy
50. Super Hero
51. Rubber Duck
52. Midas Special
53. Disco
54. Hamlet & Heather
55. Courageous Girl
56. Progress Transport
57. Bud Spencer
58. Harmony
59. Light Brigade
60. Eastern Queen
61. Flight
62. Bushmaster
63. K Sons
64. Chin's Transport
65. Shade's Transport
66. Innocent One
67. Terminator
68. Eliminator
69. Love Train
70. Foreign Mind
71. Fedder's Transport
72. Shaka Master
73. Popsickle
74. Intersepter
75. Road Master
76. Importunity
77. Morning Ride
78. Jah Love
79. King Stereo
80. Shaft
81. Roots
82. Mr. Majestic
83. Indian Flames
84. Eastern Warrior
85. Miss Thatcher
86. Dynasty Part I
87. Doctor Bird
88. Crystal Palace
89. Courtesy Transport
90. Cool Running
91. Street People
92. Third World
93. Hot Runner
94. Ninja
95. African Queen
96. Miami Romance
97. Rude Boy
98. Super Bob
99. Sheik
100. Street Smart
101. Caribbean Girl
102. True Love
103. Northern Lights
104. Snow White
105. Expendable
106. Sir Viv
107. Skank Special
108. Uncle Sonny's Transport
109. Secret Agent
110. Yellow Bird
111. Atomic
112. God Love Pickney
113. Teardrops
114. Flash
115. One Blood Style
116. Miami Vice
117. Bullet
118. Upseter
119. Upsetter
120. Big Sparrow
121. Favourite
122. Computer Special
123. Hot Number
124. Shiny Star
125. Golden Prince

His Cousin is Jealous

Okay, I did a little ting and ting on Red Stripe Beer below...but see yah!!..His cousin "Guinness" became jealous. Now all hell a break loose on the blog. ..sigh... So in all fairness, I am going to give homage also to "Guiness Stout." You know seh nothing like eating some curry goat and rice and peas, washing it down with a ice cold Guinness mon!! ...some people like milk in theirs. I don't know...when I put milk in my Guiness I always a end up on the toilet. (I know too much information).

Homage to Red Stripe Beer

Okay, Jamaica is NOT Jamaica without RED STRIPE BEER MON!! From the country parts of Jamaica to New Kingston, you will see men/women...and yes even pickney drinking a Red Stripe. When I lived in New York City, seeing Red Stripe Beer on the shelf brought back the feeling of "yard."
Man, sitting up on a warm Jamaica night on the verandah with yuh partner dem...all of a sudden someone bust out a cold one.

..and it is a ice cold Red Stripe. Feel that cool liquide sliding down your throat.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!..YEAH MON!!

Jamaican Jokey Joke Mon

Jamaican Technology

Group of men waiting outside 'new inventions' meeting room before it starts.

American, Englishman, and Jamaican.

A bleeper noise is heard, and the american looks at his shoulder, presses it and looks at the other two and says ' its my bleeper',

The englishman raises the palm of his hand to his face and starts talkin, when he finishes he looks at the other two and says ' that was my mobile phone'

The Jamaican thought I dont want to get left behind with all this new high tech stuff, so he gets up and leaves the room, and returns with a piece of toilet paper sticking out of his ass the other two look at him, the Jamaican looks down and behind and says ' Oh!, I am recieving a fax'.

Easter Bun

www.Jamaicans.com

Easter Bun

Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2003

INGREDIENTS :

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 tablespoon browning
• 1/2 pint milk
• 2 tablespoon melted margarine
• raisins and mixed peel (amount based on your taste)
• 1 tablespoon mixed spice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg

Shop Now for Jamaican recipe ingredients & seasoning in our online store.
METHOD:

• Measure all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
• Pour into bun shaped baking pans and bake in a moderate 350F until done well.
• Glaze with Sugar and water or pancake syrup and serve.