My father used to tell me, "the law is an ass if only a minority of people respect it".
Recently, there were two competing entertainment series in Negril, Jamaica. As has now become the norm, the separate promoters were in negotiations with the local police about crowd and traffic control, among other services which would be required of the state security apparatus. One group, it is reported, completely agreed with the band of charges requested by the police. It is alleged that initially, the second group, while agreeing to the base price for constables, balked at the two accelerated rates for higher ranking officers.
Eventually, the first events went ahead before the outstanding issue was resolved. It could be merely coincidental that the event for one group was allowed to go way beyond the legal cut-off time under the Noise Abatement Act, meanwhile, the group which had not yet settled their dispute over police pay was ordered to shut down their event shortly after the deadline. Was a subtle message being sent to the relevant promoters? Needless to say, the situation was "amicably" resolved the next day, levelling the playing field, so to speak, and thereafter, both series went ahead uninterrupted by the restrictions under the Act.
Conflict of Interest
I bring this issue to light not because the promoters are carping about it, nor to impugn anyone's credibility, but to demonstrate the inherent conflict of interest. You see, the Jamaica Constabulary Force has the direct state responsibility for granting approval for the staging of events under the Noise Abatement Act. However, they also have the right to advise a private promoter as to how many and what ranks of officers are required to provide monitoring and control of the said activity. But because there are no officially prescribed fees for police officers providing these services, the fees charged often vary from one event to the other, from one parish to the next, with no obvious rationality, making the determination seem at best, arbitrary. Yes, one could say it is left up to negotiations, but what happens when these attempts breakdown or the resolution is not to the total satisfaction of the officers? Under these circumstances, is it not possible that this may lead to the abuse of the delegated power of the state in the selfish self-interest of particular local elements of the JCF?
While I support the Noise Abatement Act in principle, the law becomes a shackle if citizens are not provided with the appropriate outlets for entertainment purposes and creative expression. Now don't get me wrong, when it comes to street dances, I firmly believe that the law should be strictly applied, because these usually occur in the middle of a residential community, but we all know of very famous weekly street dances in favoured constituencies that go on until 9 or 10 am the next day, without molestation. In this light, I truly believe that the country has to re-examine this issue in the context of developing entertainment zones and venues in every parish where live events may be staged beyond what is now the legal cut-off time.
What's Good for the Goose...
I would also like to see the law being policed more even-handedly. It is my impression that secular events, especially popular musical events, suffer the brunt of our new commissioner's policy of applying the law in its strictest terms. For example, in my community, we live about 500 yards by the crow flies, from a church with the worst-sounding band that one could imagine, and a pastor who sings off-key and threatens brimstone and fire in the majority of his sermons. I know this, because the church has loud speakers inside and outside the building, turned up so high, that the entire district has to suffer through their services from dawn until way past dusk every Sunday. Then when they have their special weekday services and regular conventions, the disturbance goes on every night for an entire week. Yet, I have never heard of them being cautioned or warned by the police under the relevant act.
In fact, this has been occurring for more than a decade, without respite. So, even if they have been warned, it has had no practical effect. I have raised this issue many times with my police friends and the response is always the same- "we do not want to seem anti-religious'. In the same community, as a standard practice, relatively small domestic gatherings, like house parties, children's birthday parties, fundraising drives and charity events and even nine nights, are ordered to turn down the volume or end their proceedings, in accordance with the law. For poor people, it is beginning to seem that even in their own modest hovels, they are no longer free to enjoy themselves. This leads me then to ask, when is noise noise? The Act does not define it. It only says once it is audible over 100 metres, but it would seem that our cultural norms have coloured it.
I have been listening to and reading all the glowing comments by officialdom about the great feats of our athletes at the recently concluded Olympic Games, and I endorse them heartily. Especially those proposing improved sports infrastructure to enhance the skills, preparation and treatment of our local athletes. The concept of using our international dominance of track and field to diversify our tourism product is also an exciting innovation that is long overdue. The same should hold true for our music and live entertainment, which already has been making significant contributions to the local economy and society.
The stark absence of appropriate facilities for local outdoor entertainment is even more bewildering in a country whose music has gained such worldwide popularity. Reggae brings more and more visitors to our shores annually, yearning for a firsthand experience of its live offerings. The perennial official excuse has always been prioritising scarce state resources. Added to that these days, we are told that Dancehall simply is not worth it. So, people are forced to stage events in venues with inadequate basic facilities at inappropriate locations, only to face lock-down or prosecution. The entertainment sector has an uncertain future, and I predict that the society is at risk of social upheaval, unless all sectors come together to address these matters, resolve them and take the necessary action in our common interest. To borrow a recent phrase of Bill Clinton, people "are more impressed with the power of our example, rather than the example of our power".
Host: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20080830T230000-0500_139662_OBS_ABATEMENT_AS_BAIT_.asp
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Sunday, 17 August 2008
The Soul Connection
Three giants of soul music have recently transcended to musical nirvana. In a sense, this signifies the end of a musical style which fused elements of gospel, swing and blues.
Jerry Wexler, record producer who died on Friday, August 15 at the age of 91, once described soul music as “funky, it’s deep, it’s very emotional, but it’s clean.”
Wexler, a New York Jew, is credited with coining the term ‘Rhythm and Blues’ while working as a cub reporter for Billboard Magazine. At the time, the black popular music charts were referred to as ‘race records’. Gerald Wexler tells how the change came about, this way- “One Friday, the editor got us together and said, ‘Listen, let’s change this from race records.’ A lot of people were beginning to find it inappropriate… I said “rhythm and blues”, and they said ‘Oh, that sounds pretty good. Let’s do that. In the next issue, that section came out as Rhythm and Blues.”
In 1953, Wexler became partner and vice president of Atlantic Records, eventually becoming very influential in the works of Black artistes of USA’s deep south. Initially, he used his drive, sales and promotional skills to help make Atlantic a leader in the recording industry, as they produced records by the Drifters, The Coasters, Tippie and the Clovers, Ruth Brown and Joe Turner, among others.
In the 60’s, the niche sounds being produced by Stax Records, a small label located in Memphis, Tennessee, emphasising spontaneity and improvisation, caught his attention; with renewed fervour, he used these facilities and musicians to record songs by Otis Redding and Dusty Springfield. This is where Wexler’s career crossed paths with Isaac Hayes. At Stax, from 1964, Hayes, who died on Sunday, August 10 at age 65, was a principal songwriter and performer. As fate would have it, his first recording session under this arrangement, as a back-up musician, was with Otis Redding. Soon, Isaac Hayes and co-writer, David Porter, penned tight, gritty, unpolished hits like Soul Man and Hold On, I’m Comin’ by Sam and Dave and Baby by Carla Thomas, symbolising the unique Stax sound- a southern alternative to Motown.
Isaac’s first album as a solo artiste, Presenting Isaac Hayes, was released in 1968, but was not a financial success for the Stax label. Like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere, however, Hot Buttered Soul (1969), his second album released by Al Bell after Stax split with Atlantic, became a landmark in soul music by radically forsaking the standard three-minute song format. The album had only four sons, including two extensive covers, Walk On By (Burt Bacharach, al David) – 12:03 minutes- and By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Jimmy Webb)- 18:42 minutes. Hayes introduced the latter with 8 minutes of rap. The album’s production and engineering techniques instantly became the lasting model used for future soul and hip hop songs, including Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.
Using local musicians, Jerry Wexler also began producing records at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for singers like Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. One famous story tells how, Wexler, unable to express the sound he wanted in musical terms, he created a new dance called the jerk, to demonstrate the stronger back beat he required of musicians who were recording Wilson Pickett’s In Midnight Hour.
Eventually, on the Atlantic label, Wexler produced 14 albums for Aretha Franklin encompassing hits like Respect, Dr. Feelgood, Chain of Fools and two of my all time favourites, Spirit In The Dark and an awesome remake of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bride Over Troubled Water.
Concurrently, Isaac Hayes was creating the score and along with the Bar-Kays, a studio band at Stax, recorded all the music for the film Shaft (1971). To quote Ben Sisario writing in the New York Times on August 11, 2008, “with a cymbal pattern borrowed from Otis Redding’s Try A Little Tenderness, which Hayes had arranged, the song [Theme from Shaft] layered funk guitars, horns, woodwinds and strings, prefiguring disco, it became a number one hit.” Hayes followed up with a double album called Black Moses, also released in 1971. Unfortunately, after that, he lost me as a fan, as his music leaned predominantly towards disco.
In 1997, Hayes began voicing the character of the chef on Comedy Central’s two-time Emmy Award-winning, animated comedy series South Park. This, along with the 2000 remake/sequel of Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson, spurred resurgence in his popularity and longevity of his music.
Ironically, both Isaac Ayes and Bernie Mac, who died a day before Isaac, have roles in a comedy, Soul Men, starring Samuel L. Jackson, and set for release in November.
The influence of American soul on Roy Shirley’s musical style is immediately obvious, even to the uninitiated listener. A soul-infused ballad called Shirley, done on the Beverley’s label was his first release and local hit in 1965. Along with Ken Boothe, Joe White and Chuck Josephs (aka Chuck Berry Jnr.), he then formed the vocal group, the Leaders. They did not have a significant impact however, so Roy teamed up with Slim Smith and Franklyn White and launched the Uniques. After they split up, in 1967, as a solo act, Roy recorded the first distinctly Rock Steady vocal, Hold Them. It was the first recording financed by Joe Gibbs. This was followed up by two more hits in quick succession. Coincidentally, Get on the Ball and Music Field, were Bunny Lee’s first releases as a producer.
Continuing in the soulful vein, Heartbreaking Gypsy, a popular version of Ben E. King’s hit was later released on Shirley’s own Public Label. Referred to as the high priest of Reggae, a la James Brown (high priest of soul) Roy was one of the most eccentric and quirky performers in Jamaica’s recent musical history. He used his mastery of three octaves and dynamic energy to deliver some of my most memorable stage performances. To quote Shirley, in reference to himself, “Al Green is the man that confessed in Jamaica that he has learnt his style from Roy Shirley because I was the only singer first, who sing the double voice thing with falsetto.” Born in 1944, Roy passed away in early July 2008, at age 64.
To end on sad note, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore of Skatalites fame, passed away yesterday, at 2:30pm, Saturday August 16, 2008. To quote Herbie Miller, “Dizzy Moore, the internationally recognized trumpeter, founding member of the Skatalites and a Ska innovator, bravely battled colon cancer for the last seven months. Arguably the most recorded soloist of the era, among the hundreds of recordings on which Moore is featured are Something Special, Ringo, Man in the Street, Schooling the Duke, the Wailers’ Love and Affection, Lonesome Feeling, and Nice Time.” Long live his music!
Jerry Wexler, record producer who died on Friday, August 15 at the age of 91, once described soul music as “funky, it’s deep, it’s very emotional, but it’s clean.”
Wexler, a New York Jew, is credited with coining the term ‘Rhythm and Blues’ while working as a cub reporter for Billboard Magazine. At the time, the black popular music charts were referred to as ‘race records’. Gerald Wexler tells how the change came about, this way- “One Friday, the editor got us together and said, ‘Listen, let’s change this from race records.’ A lot of people were beginning to find it inappropriate… I said “rhythm and blues”, and they said ‘Oh, that sounds pretty good. Let’s do that. In the next issue, that section came out as Rhythm and Blues.”
In 1953, Wexler became partner and vice president of Atlantic Records, eventually becoming very influential in the works of Black artistes of USA’s deep south. Initially, he used his drive, sales and promotional skills to help make Atlantic a leader in the recording industry, as they produced records by the Drifters, The Coasters, Tippie and the Clovers, Ruth Brown and Joe Turner, among others.
In the 60’s, the niche sounds being produced by Stax Records, a small label located in Memphis, Tennessee, emphasising spontaneity and improvisation, caught his attention; with renewed fervour, he used these facilities and musicians to record songs by Otis Redding and Dusty Springfield. This is where Wexler’s career crossed paths with Isaac Hayes. At Stax, from 1964, Hayes, who died on Sunday, August 10 at age 65, was a principal songwriter and performer. As fate would have it, his first recording session under this arrangement, as a back-up musician, was with Otis Redding. Soon, Isaac Hayes and co-writer, David Porter, penned tight, gritty, unpolished hits like Soul Man and Hold On, I’m Comin’ by Sam and Dave and Baby by Carla Thomas, symbolising the unique Stax sound- a southern alternative to Motown.
Isaac’s first album as a solo artiste, Presenting Isaac Hayes, was released in 1968, but was not a financial success for the Stax label. Like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere, however, Hot Buttered Soul (1969), his second album released by Al Bell after Stax split with Atlantic, became a landmark in soul music by radically forsaking the standard three-minute song format. The album had only four sons, including two extensive covers, Walk On By (Burt Bacharach, al David) – 12:03 minutes- and By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Jimmy Webb)- 18:42 minutes. Hayes introduced the latter with 8 minutes of rap. The album’s production and engineering techniques instantly became the lasting model used for future soul and hip hop songs, including Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.
Using local musicians, Jerry Wexler also began producing records at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for singers like Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. One famous story tells how, Wexler, unable to express the sound he wanted in musical terms, he created a new dance called the jerk, to demonstrate the stronger back beat he required of musicians who were recording Wilson Pickett’s In Midnight Hour.
Eventually, on the Atlantic label, Wexler produced 14 albums for Aretha Franklin encompassing hits like Respect, Dr. Feelgood, Chain of Fools and two of my all time favourites, Spirit In The Dark and an awesome remake of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bride Over Troubled Water.
Concurrently, Isaac Hayes was creating the score and along with the Bar-Kays, a studio band at Stax, recorded all the music for the film Shaft (1971). To quote Ben Sisario writing in the New York Times on August 11, 2008, “with a cymbal pattern borrowed from Otis Redding’s Try A Little Tenderness, which Hayes had arranged, the song [Theme from Shaft] layered funk guitars, horns, woodwinds and strings, prefiguring disco, it became a number one hit.” Hayes followed up with a double album called Black Moses, also released in 1971. Unfortunately, after that, he lost me as a fan, as his music leaned predominantly towards disco.
In 1997, Hayes began voicing the character of the chef on Comedy Central’s two-time Emmy Award-winning, animated comedy series South Park. This, along with the 2000 remake/sequel of Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson, spurred resurgence in his popularity and longevity of his music.
Ironically, both Isaac Ayes and Bernie Mac, who died a day before Isaac, have roles in a comedy, Soul Men, starring Samuel L. Jackson, and set for release in November.
The influence of American soul on Roy Shirley’s musical style is immediately obvious, even to the uninitiated listener. A soul-infused ballad called Shirley, done on the Beverley’s label was his first release and local hit in 1965. Along with Ken Boothe, Joe White and Chuck Josephs (aka Chuck Berry Jnr.), he then formed the vocal group, the Leaders. They did not have a significant impact however, so Roy teamed up with Slim Smith and Franklyn White and launched the Uniques. After they split up, in 1967, as a solo act, Roy recorded the first distinctly Rock Steady vocal, Hold Them. It was the first recording financed by Joe Gibbs. This was followed up by two more hits in quick succession. Coincidentally, Get on the Ball and Music Field, were Bunny Lee’s first releases as a producer.
Continuing in the soulful vein, Heartbreaking Gypsy, a popular version of Ben E. King’s hit was later released on Shirley’s own Public Label. Referred to as the high priest of Reggae, a la James Brown (high priest of soul) Roy was one of the most eccentric and quirky performers in Jamaica’s recent musical history. He used his mastery of three octaves and dynamic energy to deliver some of my most memorable stage performances. To quote Shirley, in reference to himself, “Al Green is the man that confessed in Jamaica that he has learnt his style from Roy Shirley because I was the only singer first, who sing the double voice thing with falsetto.” Born in 1944, Roy passed away in early July 2008, at age 64.
To end on sad note, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore of Skatalites fame, passed away yesterday, at 2:30pm, Saturday August 16, 2008. To quote Herbie Miller, “Dizzy Moore, the internationally recognized trumpeter, founding member of the Skatalites and a Ska innovator, bravely battled colon cancer for the last seven months. Arguably the most recorded soloist of the era, among the hundreds of recordings on which Moore is featured are Something Special, Ringo, Man in the Street, Schooling the Duke, the Wailers’ Love and Affection, Lonesome Feeling, and Nice Time.” Long live his music!
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Temptation Isle
I am in Negril for the Emancipation weekend and glad for the opportunity to observe for the first time, the production and staging of Red Stripe Temptation Isle. This is a series of nine events which got started on Thursday, July 31 and concludes today Sunday, August 3, 2008. The entire programme consists of six elaborate beach parties and three club sessions; two of which include live performances.
The first feature which impressed me was the complex outlay of temporary infrastructure which was installed at each of the seven venues. In keeping with an emphasis on dancing, all of the promoters constructed dance floors of different sizes and in some instances multiple dance floors, centrally located within the hosting venue. These were sophisticated structures with high-tech trusses, to which were attached moving, strobe, LED and intelligent lights, over transparent floors at some of the venues. A few of the events also boasted a performing stage. This for example was true of the first event, Tempo, held on Thursday.
Another novel feature was the extensive use of decorative props, which further enhanced the ambiance of each venue, while projecting the various party themes.
The original and largest party is Stages. For the last three years, it has been held at the UDC Football Field, next door to Long Bay Beach Park. Stages is a day and night affair. In an interview conducted on Friday afternoon, here is how Daniel Abbott, one of the promoters, described it to me.
“Stages this year, is about Rio de Janiero- we are inviting patrons to come and party on the white sand of a Brazilian beach and then experience the nightlife and hip-strip of Rio inside our clubs. We have two 5,000 square foot clubs that we have built at the venue to accommodate the night life of Rio. We also have quite a few VIP areas.
“This year Caymanas Park came on board as a sponsor, so we actually have an air conditioned area set up, that will accommodate live betting at Caymanas Park. We will be feeding live, the eleven races here at the venue throughout the day. You will be able to go and actually place your bet on a horse that is running live at Caymanas and have an opportunity to either win or lose.
“We also have Flow as a major sponsor now on board. For them, we have created a 5’ raised 52’ x 52’ area with a 40’ x 40’ air conditioned lounge that will feature Flow’s ‘watch-talk-click’ scenario so you can actually go on the internet. Temptation Isle also has their own channel which is 391 on the Flow Network. We will be streaming live video and live footage of the party on this channel throughout the weekend.
“Intec Lighting is a big part of our production annually. When we had our planning meeting this year, we came up with an idea that is slightly different than what you would normally see at most events. As you can see here, we have 40’ trussing. In the middle of this, you have two 10’ diameter rings which will be covered with LED lights all around which give you a chasing effect and a lot more flexibility in terms of lighting for the venue and special effects that can be created. We have a whole lot of intelligent lighting hanging from the trusses which will be the main intelligent lighting for the venue.
“Red Stripe is coming in with a brand new and very creative deejay lounge. This is actually a 24’ x 16’ bar. One floor above the bar is the deejay booth of the same square area, which gives the deejay the ability to oversee the entire venue and get a feel of exactly what is going on.
“This year, the venue is bigger because we have extended it into the water. It is normally on the football field only, but we have now taken out the fence and gone into the water itself. We have a four-storey water slide, 120’ long which takes you directly into the ocean when you slide on it. This will also carry you directly up to our swimmer’s bar.”
Intermittent afternoon showers slightly held up production load-in arrangements on Friday, but in no time they were back on schedule and the Daydreams ultra-inclusive was in full force by 2 o’clock, with a traffic jam stretching all the way along the strip from the roundabout at Negril’s square, to the party’s car park. This year however, patrons have mostly complied with police restrictions against parking on the street. I am told that compared to previous years, this has made it much more convenient for motorists to move up and down along the strip. In talking to patrons who have been attending these parties annually, the general feeling is that they get better and better each year.
Temptation Isle provides a good mix of entertainment and recreational activities at a level of sophistication that should make all Jamaicans proud of this product. Alex Chin and Daniel Abbott, along with their co-producers, deserve credit and congratulations for creating this concept and producing and excellent series annually, which significantly boosts Negril’s economy. In fact, from my discussions with various people involved in commerce in the town, for them, this year’s economic spin-offs surpass spring break.
Foot Note:
Will someone from the National Housing Trust please explain to the nation why Emancipation Park was closed on Emancipation Day, Friday, August 1, forcing hundreds of families who had turned up to enjoy the recreational facilities to remain on the streets?
Host: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20080802T180000-0500_138566_OBS_TEMPTATION_ISLE.asp
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