| Charles H E Campbell Sunday, March 05, 2006 |
While my bosses Rodney, Vinay and Wayne had me busting my butt over the last two weekends, friends of mine - some of Jamaica's better promoters and producers - were over in Trinidad having a whale of a time at the first Trinidad Carnival since the formalisation of the Caribbean Single Market.
They have since come home, chock full of stories, and some hilarious ones to boot. One story goes as follows: There they were, jumping in the streets, near the Port Of Spain Police Fraud Squad Station, at the Carnival Parade alongside Tribe, a Carnival Mas band which is very popular with Jamaicans, being reputed to have included some 183 J'can jammers this year.
A Trinidadian female reveller draws their attention to Tribe's security detail, who were in the process of mobbing and beating a helpless male photographer. This rescues the photographer as the Tribe security detail is compelled to quickly disperse.
In an act of obvious reprisal to this, the young lady referred to above, our Good Samaritan, is later the subject of harassment, including lewd remarks and is manhandled by members of Tribe's security detail, one of whom turns out to be a plainclothes (undercover) cop, when he is wearing his regular costume.
So, chivalrous gentleman that my friend Darren is, he comes to the young lady's rescue and proceeds to lead her away, when without further ado, they are viciously attacked and severely beaten by members of Tribe's security detail. Luckily, like valiant knights in shining costumed armour, with clenched fist employed as their source of honour, Darren's friends intervene, demolishing, yea, almost vanquishing the barbarians- sorry, I mean the infidels.
But plebs that they are, the Trini posse responds with primitive ice picks, Darren is stabbed right above his right ear and on his cheek bone.
Along with two others, he ends up at the hospital, nursing his wounds where the nurse attending to him curtly informs him that "we don't need you Jamaicans here". Poor Darren by this is devastated; meanwhile a fight breaks out elsewhere in the hospital, between two Trinidadian natives.
Rick and Claude, who are downstairs, waiting on the injured members of their party to be treated, rush upstairs to see if it is a continuation of the earlier incident involving their other friends. Happily it is not, but the police are called in to quell the pandemonium, and of course they come in guns a-blazing.
Rick and Claude are by now at the top of the stairs, staring into guns seemingly pointed at them, in the hands of uniformed police officers. In light of their earlier experiences with the Trini police, this scene ends with their hands in the air as the curtain comes down on another Trini carnival.
Meanwhile, back at home, I attended the Passa Passa play held just down the road from where I currently reside at the Jus Cheers Entertainment spot on the edge of St Ann's Bay on Wednesday night. I arrived just in time to witness real live passa passa myself. It seems the Passa Passa production team was draping the chain link fence that separated the premises from a block factory next door to 'block' their neighbours' ability to freely view the play.
This prompted their neighbours in the factory yard to begin to throw bottles over the fence into an area where paid patrons were already seated, necessitating a swift exodus of that area, but not before the bottles were duly returned in a volley. Luckily, the local police were brought in quickly and their mere presence dissipated the fracas.
It was instructive to see the large attendance for this play. There were, to my estimate, about 400 patrons. Then there was this awesome rapport which the actors/actresses had with their audience throughout the play. To me this was folk theatre at its best. Just Cheers is fast becoming the place to be for entertainment packages in St. Ann's Bay.
By the time you have read this, they will have staged Memories By The Score with Marcia Griffiths, Ken Boothe, John Holt, Derrick Morgan, George Nooks, Beenie Man and presented by Lloyd Parkes in association with People's Choice Promotions.
Ocho Rios has a relatively new sports bar called Ocean Eleven- it too has become a significant addition to the entertainment scene down here, because of its wide catalogue of musical genres played and at a moderate volume, actually allowing conversation. Ocean Eleven has an incredibly beautiful ambience with rustic but tasteful furniture, spaciously laid out. They provide an excellent assortment of drinks and a good entertainment program. I have observed a very good mix of locals and tourists in house easily fraternising.
And then I was at Courts St. Ann's Bay in the cashier's line on Wednesday. A buxom woman broke the line in front of another man, lightly stating "ladies before gentlemen", to which his retort was "not any more, a unno rule now, that why no woman nah rule my house. Gi unno an inch, unno want a mile fi tek liberty wid man".
Congrats Mrs Portia Simpson-Miller. Your win is indicative of a broader movement heralding a new social order and a break down of many prejudices still residing just below the surface of our Jamaican psyche.
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