Entertainment: "Inspirator" Re-Ignites

Roots Dub Poetry Reggae Revival for Schools across Jamaica..

Spearheaded by Charlie Bobus, the Dub poets are seeking your listening ears to travel across Jamaica to spread the positive message to the youths through Dub Poetry in Schools. To make this possible Charlie Bobus is staging a Dub poetry school tour fundraiser at Red Bones Blues Cafe titled Roots Dub Poetry Reggae Revival on April 7, 2017 at 9pm.

Charlie Bobus is a motivational dub poet that was based in Toronto Canada. He was facilitating a Youth Leadership program for the Hariett Tubman Community organization and Art Starts for youths in high risk communities and doing workshops and performances at festivals across Canada.

"Due to the frustration and distress the schoolers across Jamaica are facing they crave motivation through positive messages of hope and inspiration," Bobus points out. "One aim of the school tour is identifying youth leaders to create their visions and influence their peers positively. The tour will identify talented poetic youths for Inspirator Upcoming Youth islandwide Dub Poetry Slam."


Born and raised in the often volatile community of Grants Pen in Kingston where he lived through and struggled with many of the issues facing youths across Jamaica today. He started Inspirator International in 2005 with a mission of "Empowering minds and uplifting youths".

He is particularly concerned about the gang banging in schools. Especially also about the state of mind many school children are left in. Worst now after the wave of bombardment of tragic incidents and serious safety concerns. Poetry can release mental stress plus anxiety
and allow positive thoughts to permeate their minds.

Already confirmed for the school tour are Dub poets Charlie Bobus, Ras Takura, Cherry Natural, Mojiba Ase, Sage and Akuna Matata.

Bobus says school officials are excited about it and anxious to see this tour in their schools. "The response has been overwhelming so please contact if you want your school included".


The Fundraiser will take place at Red Bones Blues Cafe on April 7 and International recording artist Chelsea Stewart and Saxophonist Isax Ins Jah from Canada are fully on board in helping the youths here in Jamaica and are concerned about their state of mind.

The show will also feature Veteran Reggae artists Tinga Stewart who has a new hit single with Fantom Mojah promoting and Reggie Steppa know for his monster hits Little Miss and Modeling and Anju Kat out of the Sly & Robbie Gang. The Dub poets will be representing through Ras Takura organizer of Disword wordz & Agro Fest, Sage, Mojiba Ase and two other Grantspen Dub Poets Akuna Matata and Ras Shaddi. Backed by the Legend Bands. Admission is only $1000.

"The Dub Poet Charlie Bobus set up fundraiser for school tour, Good spirit haffi rise, Care share and Help" said Asher Selecta one of the sponsors from Raspect Wear out of Switzerland. The event is also powered by Island Stage, Rebel Vibes, Cru Clothing, Noble Works, ATAP Production and Carib Newsroom.

Contact: Inspirator International Events Graphics & Publishing
Nicardo "Charlie Bobus" Murray
18764516572 {watsapp}
Email: charliebobus@gmail.com
Facebook.com/charliebobus

Entertainment: The Mico "goes Smart" through Music

Founded in the immediate aftermath of British West Indian slavery, The Mico University (formerly the Mico

Ernie Smith (left) with Samantha Strachan and Wayne Marshal

teacher Training College) is, at 180 years, the oldest teacher training institution in the Western Hemisphere.

That said, for it to continue to be relevant, it has to adopt new technology and technology-driven delivery methods. Foremost among these is the building of some 15 "smart classrooms" that when completed, will allow for virtual connections - not only to faclities (Library, Labs, Lecture theatres) on the Kingston campus, but to similar facilities and institutions around the world, many of which have Mico graduates in their midst.

But the project naturally represents a massive investment, and so the Mico Alumni are partnering with the university directorate to raise funds to meet the costs of the ambitious and worthy project.

VETERAN musician Ernie Smith  - who has returned to national prominence via the re-working of his classic Red Stripe Beer campaing featuring the song "Life Is Just for Livin'" is one of the headliners slated to perform at tomorrow’s (November 13) Evening of Musical Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew.

The show will begin at 5:00 pm.

The event, hosted by the Mico University College Alumni Association, will also feature Dem Three Tenors, Kimiela Isaacs and Desi Jones Combo. It held under the patronage of British High Commissioner to Jamaica David Fitton.

The organizers aim to raise some $6 million from the event.

Live Music: Musical Minds Meet, reunite at the Alibi

Often when bands have a "reunion" its on the back end of an either acrimonious or mystifying break-up.

But, while there may have been a definite sense of surprise, there was nothing but joy when bassist Paul "Smiley" Madden and drummer Neison Hardy (the latter now working out of the T.O joined keyboard ace Ozuoune last Wednesday night for the regular - yet never routine "Jazz and Cocktails" session.

The three rekindled memories of heady nights at a another notable Kingston lounge - Christopher's Jazz Cafe - where they had their genesis as P (Paul) O (Ozuoune) and N(Neison) Fyah, with a typically scintillating run.

The current PON Fyah line up -  Carlton Jarrett on bass and a rejuvenated Junior "Bird" Baillie on drums was also on hand, as was drummer Richardo, who spelled Bird while the latter recuperated from illness earlier this year.

the night's entertainment also included a performance from Linstead reggae collective Cologne and the Cornerstone Family, promoting their CD release, "Countryside".

The Jam session happens every Wednesday, beginning around 7:30 and going till about 11pm, with recorded favourites before and after.

No Cover, donations for the band gladly accepted. Emcee: Michael A. D. Edwards

Music: Big Music Confab in Kingston in 10 Days

Busy Signal

VOICE Season 5 winner Tessanne Chin

BUSY SIGNAL, TESSANNE CHIN FOR JAMAICA MUSIC CONFERENCE

by Dave Rodney

"It is no secret anymore. Reggae has finally begun to permeate the United States mainstream market in a big way. The focus of Snow's publicity campaign will be to establish Snow solely on the basis of his music, with as little knowledge of his race as possible. Therefore, the advance music mailing will not go out with a photo. It is apparent that we would not be able to send the bio either since it mentions the fact that he is white" .

The foregoing is an insightful quote from a hugely successful marketing plan for Canadian chart topper Snow from East West Records/ Atlantic over two decades ago, at a critical point for the music when reggae marketing was experimental, and when Jamaica's trademark brand was going gold and platinum, and topping charts all over the world. Over twenty years later, in a ramped up digital age, much of the marketing tools and promotional platforms have changed, but the age-old cunning, smarts and strategic maneuvers are still as critically important now a they were back then for success in the reggae music industry. And many of reggae's ghosts from the past still linger and continue to present formidable challenges for seasoned veterans as well as for a new generation of industry players.

Payola, effective artist management, the difficulties of turning a profit from touring, securing airplay, monetizing reggae, understanding copyright, licensing and publishing, entertainment for export and confronting rapacious pirates in the industry are among the issues that will be discussed at the fourth annual Jamaica Music Conference scheduled for Kingston from November 10 to 13 this year.

The objective of the Jamaica Music Conference is to create a platform for music business education, for networking and to create a pipeline for the stars of tomorrow. The four-day parley will bring together professionals from various areas of entertainment who will share their expertise with hundreds of local and visiting attendees. This year's conference theme is "Word, Sound and Power: Contracts, Sound Systems and the Potential of Jamaica's Music Industry". Parts of the conference will take place at various locations around Kingston including Alpha School for Boys, Jamaica College, JAMPRO Headquarters, Nanook, and at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

BESS-FM will host the welcome reception at Nanook on November 10. Among the confernce highlights are Friday's panel discussions on Global Soul, the Irish and Chin Sound System Summit, and a sound system and dub plate appreciation dance. Saturday is a full day of panels led by NBC's 'The Voice' winner Tessanne Chin, entertainment attorney Lloyd Stanbury, recording artist Busy Signal and Dr. Sonjah Niaah with the Institute of Caribbean Studies. Other participants include promotions guru Karen Mason (who was a part of the team that broke reggae rapper Snow in the US market) and prominent industry luminaries Mikey Bennett, Damion Crawford, Joan Webley and Allen Johnston. An artist showcase will follow on Saturday night.

"It is our hope that the 2016 Jamaica Music Conference (JMC) will be that space where people from around the globe who wish to do business with Jamaica's music professionals can attend and have their needs met", Kwasi Bonsu, CEO and founder of the Jamaica Music Conference said.

The conference closes on Sunday November 13 at Fort Clarence Beach with an all-day celebration party and artist open mic where artists will have an opportunity to showcase their talent for international booking agents and digital distribution platforms. For more, go to www.jamaicamusicconfrence.com

Music: The "Twin Towers" of the Record Biz

- from Quartz

Lyor Cohen and Jimmy Iovine.

Cohen, who’s about to take over a crucial part of YouTube’s business, and Iovine, now Apple’s music guru, by all accounts should have crashed to the ground alongside the music industry’s antiquated business model—the way the executives who ran Nokia and Blackberry have been tossed aside by the smartphone revolution. But they did the opposite. So who are these two men, and how’d they pull off the near-impossible?

Apple’s true music genius

“Pharrell even told me go with the safest bet, Jimmy Iovine offered a safety net.” (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

Jimmy Iovine’s name is instantly recognizable to most hardcore music fans—and not just for its oddly off-beat catchiness.

The record-producer-turned-executive began his career as a recording engineer back in the 1970s, occasionally getting to work with acts like Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and John Lennon. He collected enough cred to eventually found the label Interscope Records in 1990, which was about to go under until it decided to release an album by a small-time producer named Dr. Dre. Soon, Interscope would have acts like Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur on its books.

Along the way, the words “Jimmy Iovine” became somewhat synonymous with the music industry itself. (In 2012, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis recorded a song about record labels and artist exploitation that was literally titled “Jimmy Iovine.”)

But Iovine didn’t sit contently as the head of Interscope, watching the traditional industry’s profits crumble. In 2008, Iovine made his next big move—forming the designer headphones brand Beats with Dr. Dre, selling oversized headphones when minimal earphones were the trend.

Beats, by selling its products as trendy fashion statements, promptly took over nearly half of the entire headphone industry’s market share, and it also pushed into the online music space in 2013. Then, the company—headphones and nascent streaming service and all—was swallowed up by Apple in 2014 in its biggest-ever acquisition.

And that’s when Iovine took his most significant career leap.

Apple didn’t just snag a headphones business; the tech giant scored Iovine’s special knack for making smart bets in the business as a whole. For it was years prior—way before Beats was even put together—that Iovine had already started trying to convince Apple founder Steve Jobs to move into the relatively new field of all-you-can-eat music streaming, where players like Swedish service Spotify (but not many others) had nestled in. Said Iovine in a 2013 interview:

I was always trying to push Steve into subscription. And he wasn’t keen on it right away. [Beats co-founder] Luke Wood and I spent about three years trying to talk him into it.

Iovine’s hunch proved solid. Streaming is now the biggest revenue-driver in the US music industry, and globally, profits from digital platforms have officially overtaken physical ones for the first time. It was last summer that Apple finally took Iovine’s long-nagging advice, unveiling its own subscription streaming service Apple Music–headed, of course, by Iovine, who is now one of the company’s top executives.

Music: "Heaven, via Shanghai", exploring the soundsystem culture rocking China's biggest city

-Thump magazine

It was pretty obvious to anyone arriving at the club who Biggaton was. Standing outside in the smoking area was a Rastafarian guy, dreadlocks tied into a massive red green and yellow hat, dressed entirely in white. Later that evening, he jumped down from the DJ booth, strode into the middle of the dancefloor and grabbed a small Chinese girl from the audience. "Baby, tell me where you're from," he said, in his thick Jamaican accent. "Hangzhou," she responded.

"I don't know Hangzhou, but me, I'm from Jamaica, and there, the galdem see me and they say, 'oh Biggaton! Why you all in white, are you an angel?' and I say 'no baby, I'm no angel, but I can take you to heaven!'"

Biggaton—a dancehall star from Mandeville, Jamaica—put on a great show, but in reality I'd come that night to see Skinny Brown, the DJ who'd brought him over from the Caribbean. For the last five years Skinny has been running a night called Popasuda. It's the kind of night where you'll hear songs made in a basement in India played back to back with tracks from Ethiopia, with afrobeats from Nigeria, Azonto from Ghana, and Brazillian baille funk all thrown into the mix. 

Oh, and it takes place in a sweaty warehouse in Shanghai.

Dada, Popasuda's home, is tucked away between nondescript buildings at the intersection of Xing Fu Lu—which translates from Mandarin as the "road of happiness." Situated down an alley, Dada is a graffiti-covered space, with a small chain link fence hanging down from one wall upon which a revolving Popasuda logo is projected. It sways every time someone dances into it.

"What I love about Popasuda," said Skinny Brown when we sat down to talk a few days before his show with Biggaton, "is that I have the Cameroonians in one corner, the Senegalese and the Jamaicans in another, the South Africans, the Brazilians, the Germans and the British all scattered around. Then when you play a track and they know it they come running up to the decks."

Shanghai, despite being fundamentally international, is a city in which stratification can take place incredibly quickly. On any given night you might stumble into a club that feels wholly the preserve of French expats, or others playing Mando-pop where the only foreign faces are the Russian "models" paid 300 RMB to dance on the tables with high rollers. Popasuda, on the other hand, brings as mixed a crowd as you're likely to see anywhere in the world. I've seen the head of one of Shanghai's trendiest art spaces—Shanghainese through and through—his button-down shirt wrapped around his waist, his vest soaked through with sweat clinging to his paunch, swaying, while behind him a group of Indian exchange students lose their shit over a piece of Urdu ephemera.

Skinny Brown is the embodiment of this audience. Raised in Toronto, he speaks six languages—Japanese, Hindi, Portuguese, Mandarin, English and Urdu. He drifted through college and ended up DJing in Tokyo and living in Yokohama. Having left Japan after his visa expired, Skinny found himself soaking up the sound of baille funk in Rio. From Brazil it was on to Pakistan where he spent time with a cousin in Karachi. His excursion to Shanghai came about by accident. "I had one of those 72 hour visas, for transit," he told me "but I guess that was ten years ago..."

A decade on and he's trying something different. "I want to build a soundsystem here, with dubplates, and clashes. The real thing." When I asked him if he felt that Shanghai was a reggae city, he shook his head. "No, not really, but it's coming up." His current method is beginning with a dubplate intro to his set, and then throwing dancehall in later. "It's easy to cross over into dancehall, future dancehall and trappy stuff at 160bpm. A lot of it is driven by that, that BPM and the need to find something that is slightly different."

Music: Pioneering record label founder Phil Chess dies at 95

This comes on the heels of yesterday's post on the re-emergence of Chuck Berry at 90, with a new record.

-Chicago Sun-Times

Phil Chess, co-founder of Chicago’s legendary Chess Records, a label credited with helping to invent rock ‘n’ roll, has died in Tucson, Arizona, at 95.

Mr. Chess and his brother Leonard Chess arrived in America as little boys, two Jewish immigrant kids from Poland. They started Chess in 1950, recording Muddy Waters, Etta James, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and other top musicians who spread the gospel of the blues. Teens in England and around the world heard the so-called “race music” Chess helped popularize, and the cross-pollination helped birth rock.

As Waters once put it, “The blues had a baby, and they named it rock ‘n’ roll.”

Chess could be described as the midwife. In 1951, the label released what some consider the first rock record: “Rocket ’88,” by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, including a young Ike Turner.

In 1977, a Chess record went to outer space. The Voyager mission carried recordings including Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

Mr. Chess died Tuesday evening at his 30-acre ranch in Tucson, said his daughter, Pam. For decades, he kept in touch with many Chess artists, she said. “He talked to B.B. King all the time on the phone. He ran into Ramsey Lewis six or so years ago in San Diego,” she said. “He talked to Chuck Berry.”

The music scene would have been very different without him and his brother, Chicago bluesman and club owner Buddy Guy said Wednesday.

The Chess Records story also was dramatized in the 2008 movie “Cadillac Records,” featuring Beyonce, Adrien Brody, Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright.

Before founding the label, the Chess brothers owned the Macomba Lounge at 39th and Cottage Grove, said Phil Chess’ son, Terry. When one of the club’s performers was asked by someone else to record their music, “My father and my uncle looked at each other and said, ‘Why don’t we do it?’ ” Terry Chess said.

Neither played an instrument or knew much about music. “The Chess Brothers didn’t literally make the music in the studio, but they got it out the door and reaped the rewards,” Nadine Cohodas wrote in a book about Chess, “Spinning Blues Into Gold.”

Blues and R&B classics poured out of Chess, performed by countless artists who put their own spin on the songs. While at Chess, Willie Dixon wrote “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” for Waters, as well as “You Need Love.”

Music: Chuck Berry says Happy 90th to himself with new album

.F orget all those upstarts who just spent the last two weekends at Desert Trip in Indio: In conjunction with his 90th birthday today, rock ’n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry has announced the release next year of his first new album in nearly 40 years.Titled “Chuck,” the album consists largely of new songs written and produced by the man considered one of the founding fathers of rock music.

“It is a great honor to be a part of this record and the broader legacy of Chuck Berry, said Paul Roper, president of Dualtone Records, which plans to release the album at an unspecified date next year. “This body of work stands with the best of his career and will further cement Chuck as one of the greatest icons of rock and roll.
 
In a statement, Berry said, “This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy,” the nickname for his wife of 68 years, Themetta Berry.  “My darlin’ I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”
He is backed for the album by two of his children-- guitarist Charles Berry Jr. and harmonica player Ingrid Berry. Other players include bassist Jimmy Marsala, pianist Robert Lohr and drummer Keith Robinson

Music: No Longer "speaking Germain", Shuga Steps Out

-The Jamaica Observer
 
Singer Shuga has cut ties with longtime manager Donovan Germain and Penthouse Records.

“He was a great manager, he is my father and my foundation, but it is time to move out and move forward,” Shuga said, adding that she was “going through with the legalities now” to formalise the split.
The St James-born artiste joined the Penthouse camp shortly after winning the Digicel Rising Stars competition in 2009.
Penthouse is a major force in contemporary dancehall. The label is responsible for the mainstream success of artistes such as Wayne Wonder and Buju Banton.


“I wish her all the best in her career, it was great working with her over these years. I hope she can continue to mature and blossom as an artiste,” said Germain.
Shuga released her new song, Caribbean People, last week. It is produced by Warieka Productions.

Music: RIP Rod Temperton, Invisible, yet Heard Everywhere

- The Guardian

the British songwriter behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Rock With You, has died aged 66.

Jon Platt, the chairman of music publisher Warner/Chappell said Temperton died in London last week following “a brief aggressive battle with cancer”.
“His family is devastated and request total privacy at this, the saddest of sad times,” Platt added.
Temperton, whose other credits include Boogie Nights, Off the Wall, Give Me the Night, Sweet Freedom and Always and Forever, is one of the most important songwriters and composers in contemporary pop.


Hailing from Cleethorpes, his career began in the disco group Heatwave, a band best known for Boogie Nights, and went on to write for the likes of Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, The Brothers Johnson, Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones, who enlisted him to work alongside Jackson.

Advertisement

His compositions for the King of Pop – particularly on the Thriller album – are some of the most famous pop songs in history, and the album continues to sell more than 100,000 copies a year.
He came up with the title for the smash hit song and album Thriller,

“I wrote two or three hundred titles and came up with Midnight Man. I woke up the next morning and I said this word, Thriller,” he has been quoted as saying.

Musician Mark Ronson paid tribute to the songwriter on Twitter: “so devastated to hear that Rod Temperton has passed away. a wonderful man & one of my favourite songwriters ever. thank you for the magic x”.

Temperton was described on social media as “a great British songwriter” by former Culture Club singer Boy George, while rapper LL Cool J said “we have lost a true genius”.
Temperton was also nominated for the best original song Oscar for Miss Celie’s Blues in 1986, a track he co-wrote with Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie for the film The Colour Purple.

Music: Donnie and Bowie, a young jazzman's contribution to the pop legend's swan song

- from The Guardian

Nine months have passed since David Bowie’s death, but his last collaborator, Donny McCaslin, still has to pause when he talks about it. “There’s so much emotion,” McCaslin says, the words catching in his throat. “It’s devastating.”

McCaslin speaks about his experience with Bowie sitting in 55 Bar, the micro Greenwich Village jazz club where Bowie first heard the musician perform back in 2014. Shortly after seeing that show, Bowie chose McCaslin’s band to back him on his final album, the acclaimed, jazz-fusion leaning Blackstar.

McCaslin vividly remembers the night Bowie came to the club to check him out. “I was definitely nervous,” the saxophonist said. “I glanced up and saw where he was sitting. I just tried to keep myself grounded and not think about it. But the pressure was on.”
Even so, McCaslin says his band “were going for it. It wasn’t a watered-down version of what we do. Afterwards Bowie said: ‘Wow, that was really loud!’”


Clearly, he liked it that way, because a few days later, Bowie emailed the musician to ask if his band would work with him on what would be his last release, an album that turned out to be one of his most adventurous. The experience of creating music with Bowie proved so deep, and its aftermath so jarring, that McCaslin decided to turn his new album, Beyond Now, out 14 October, into a tribute. It includes several transformative covers of Bowie songs, including Warszawa from Low, and A Small Plot of Land from Outside, along with a song McCaslin wrote inspired by a piece Bowie left off Blackstar. (That track, plus two other cuts that didn’t make that release, will come out on 21 October on the cast album from the musical Bowie wrote in his last year, Lazarus).

Advertisement

McCaslin knew his Bowie salute had to be special. “I wanted the depth of my experience with him, and the impact on my life, to be reflected,” he said. “I was digging deep on every take to get the gravitas I felt it should have.”


For Blackstar, that meant giving McCaslin’s band nearly free rein. “He set the tone from the beginning,” the saxophonist said. “He told us: ‘Whatever you hear, I want you to go with it.’ He said ‘great’ to everything.”
At the same time, McCaslin couldn’t tell anyone outside of his immediate family about the project. Bowie had the band sign non-disclosure agreements, the better to keep the album a secret until he was ready to release it. At the same time, Bowie was aware he had cancer, which was an even more closely guarded secret. McCaslin politely demurs when asked if he knew the star was sick during the recording process. “He was so private,” he said. “I want to honor his wishes that we not talk about it.”

At the time, McCaslin wasn’t even sure the music he cut with Bowie would come out or, if it did, how much of his band’s efforts would make the ultimate cut. It wasn’t until late last fall, when a British journalist asked to interview the musician for a story about a new Bowie album, that he found out about its impending release and heard its final form.

On 8 January, Blackstar finally appeared. Two days later came news of Bowie’s death and, suddenly, everyone wanted to talk to McCaslin. “I wasn’t prepped,” he said. “I didn’t know what to say.”
He gave a few interviews, talking only about the music. Then, journalists started to get nosier about the details of Bowie’s illness and demise, and McCaslin shut down. He also began to fully experience his grief. “We had this amazing connection,” he said, “and then he was gone.”

Film and Music: Scoring "Cage"

When Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad first signed on to score Netflix’s Luke Cage, they didn’t consider how the show would consume their day-to-day lives. The two are legendary — Muhammad was a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, and the prolific Younge has an output that defies categorization.
They quickly realized all future plans needed to be shelved. It wasn’t solely that the score was overly consuming — though Younge concedes, “We had to give up our lives as artists to dedicate ourselves wholly to this score” — but more that Younge and Muhammad realized they had a chance to create a score that could define the TV series.
“We raised the bar and created something that is timeless,” professes Muhammad. Over coffee at the Cut restaurant in the recently opened Four Seasons Downtown in New York City, Vulture spoke with the two musicians about creating the score, the lack of opportunities for black composers, and setting a tone that bridges a many musical genres.
You both had worked together before Luke Cage, right?Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Since about 2013, when he was working on the Souls of Mischief record, and he asked me to be a part of it. That formed our friendship and production partnership, but we had never spoken about scoring together, so when [showrunner] Cheo [Hodari Coker] reached out to us individually, it was easy to fall into.
For something like this, are you both in the same room working together? Are you emailing? And then how do you get the orchestra involved?Adrian Younge: There are 13 episodes, and on each of the episodes, we have a spotting session, where we meet with the directors and the music supervisors, and we all watch the episode. Then we write notes and we leave. Ali takes these amount of cues, I take these amount of cues, we do a certain amount of cues together, and when we are done, we submit it for approval to everybody, and assuming there are no changes — there are never much changes at all — we give it Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, who is our conductor-orchestrator, and he orchestrates it for a 30-piece orchestra that we record in Raphael Saadiq’s studio. Then we record that and mix it.
There is a sense that you both realized this score would be studied by future musicians, and the idea that you had to go above and beyond expectations. Am I right in that? And did that sense come while scoring or after the fact?AY: It was in the present. As freelance artists, you do what the hell you want to. When you are a composer for a multi-billion-dollar company like Marvel, you are an employee and you have responsibilities. When we accepted these jobs, I just thought it’d be a couple of months. We realized this is a big deal for many reasons, at that point.
One reason, we enjoyed it, and we wanted to do a good job for Cheo, who has our back. Secondly, it is something that is great for our careers. As composers, it brings us to another side where cats have done hip-hop, R&B, and now we’re getting into a big television series with a film perspective on composition, not just a regular television.
And lastly, we needed to execute because it was something that was bigger than us. We are two black composers, and black composers don’t really get the opportunities to support things of this magnitude. It is a cyclical process. If you look back to Duke Ellington, to Quincy Jones, to Isaac Hayes, these opportunities are seldom, and when black composers have been awarded these opportunities, it is something where you must make a statement. The statement we sought to make is that people of our culture should aspire to do more than just sampling or producing for someone else. Don’t just stop there. You can score film, you can have an orchestra, you can go as far as you want to.
When I say our culture, I am talking about urban culture. And that includes people that are in hip-hop. You don’t see hip-hop producers composing. We can count on one hand how many we know. It is unfortunate. But it is something that ties into the fact that you don’t see many black composers having these opportunities. We knew we wanted to set a bar, and we wanted to make something pivotal, unique, and novel for people to watch and feel.
The second episode is where the viewer really feels the impact of the score. It starts and ends the episode. Was that a pivotal episode for the both of you?ASM: The funny thing about that is that the second episode was the first episode we scored. That was the one where we knew — everything has to go into this moment.
AY: And when we did that episode, it helped convince Marvel and Netflix that these guys should have an extra budget now to have an orchestra. They love what we were doing so much. Dawn Soler at ABC pushed hard for us to get an orchestra. That song that starts and ends episode two is the song where they were like, “This is it. This is the sound of the show.” They always believed in us, but what we said to them is you don’t have to have any needle drops here, you don’t have to license as much music, let us create more score. Let us create more source material for you guys so that the music all comes together to create a world of Luke Cage. Instead of songs just being pulled from everywhere. That helped us have this orchestra for 13 episodes, which is very expensive.

Music: Ganja trumps Jazz (for now) t legendary California record store

Founded in Berkeley, California, Amoeba Music has established itself as one of America's most iconic music store chains. With three locations across the state, co-founder David Prinz says its Los Angeles store alone brings in $20 million in annual revenue.
It's original location on Telegraph Avenue, however, has seen revenues plummet by 50 percent over the past decade. Thanks to the initial rise of pirating services like Napster and LimeWire, and then legal streaming services like Spotify, students in the local area stopped buying records and CDs.
But financial trouble is not unique to Amoeba; Telegraph Avenue is blighted and its local economy has been in decline for years. Since the 1990s, sales at stores along Telegraph have dropped over 40 percent, Dave Fogarty, Berkeley economic development project coordinator, told San Francisco Chronicle in 2013. Prinz, who started Amoeba with Marc Weinstein in 1990, said they needed to create a new revenue stream to prevent the Berkeley shop from closing. It's rescuer? Medical marijuana.

Four and a half years ago, as the medical marijuana business started to show its muscles in California, Prinz and Weinstein decided to convert its once-popular 3,000 square foot jazz room into a marijuana dispensary. After submitting an application last fall, the founders finally received approval last week from the city of Berkeley for a license to sell medical marijuana. Prinz says the dispensary, which will be a totally separate space with its own entrance, will open by May 2017. "Marijuana will save Amoeba Music in Berkeley," says Prinz.
This isn't Amoeba's first foray in marijuana. Since April 2014, its San Francisco location has been running a medical marijuana recommendation clinic with Dr. Samuel Dismond. The clinic, which does not sell marijuana, sees about 50 patients a day who consult with the doctor and leave with a recommendation to use cannabis.
"The clinic helps us continue to pay the rent and helps us pay our employees," Prinz said. "But the dispensary is going to be more lucrative."

The Berkeley location will sell marijuana and THC-infused products. Because Prinz and Weinstein have never sold marijuana before, they partnered with longtime advocate and marijuana entrepreneur Debby Goldsberry. She's also a founder of Berkeley Patients Group, a respected cannabis supplier and dispensary operating since 1999. (BPG is seen as a model for the industry--it pays millions in taxes, follows rules and regulations, and donates to the poor.)
"I don't think we could've kept Amoeba Berkeley going without this. Our store in Berkeley took the biggest hit; college kids are the first to find out how to get music for free," says Prinz. "I think we'll see the college kids come back again once the dispensary opens."

Prinz says they invested about $500,000 in total for the license, and to keep the store open. The dispensary will not grow its own marijuana, but instead purchase the cannabis from farmers in Northern California. He says he's been flooded by interest from growers who want to help stock Amoeba's shelves with weed.
Twenty years ago, Rolling Stone said we built the best record store," says Prinz. "We think we'll be able to do that for this industry--my goal is to build the best dispensary in the world." He hopes to bring the "Amoeba experience" to the dispensary, which will be called the Berkeley Compassionate Care Center. (If the shop ever becomes recreational, Prinz says they will call it "AmoeBuds.")

The impetus for the dispensary was to save the business, but Prinz and Weinstein say there was another motivating factor: Rasputin Music has been on Telegraph Avenue since 1971, decades before Amoeba Music moved in across the street. Founded by Ken Sarachan, Rasputin watched record store after record store bite the dust.
To honor the fallen record shops, the store made a tote bag with a cemetery illustration, featuring tombstones with the names of every record stores that went out of business in the area: Tower Records, Sam Goody, Odyssey Record, Music Land, Peach's, Moby Disc, Rough Trade, Rainbow "Twenty years ago, Rolling Stone said we built the best record store," says Prinz. "We think we'll be able to do that for this industry--my goal is to build the best dispensary in the world." He hopes to bring the "Amoeba experience" to the dispensary, which will be called the Berkeley Compassionate Care Center. (If the shop ever becomes recreational, Prinz says they will call it "AmoeBuds.")
The impetus for the dispensary was to save the business, but Prinz and Weinstein say there was another motivating factor: Rasputin Music has been on Telegraph Avenue since 1971, decades before Amoeba Music moved in across the street. Founded by Ken Sarachan, Rasputin watched record store after record store bite the dust.
To honor the fallen record shops, the store made a tote bag with a cemetery illustration, featuring tombstones with the names of every record stores that went out of business in the area: Tower Records, Sam Goody, Odyssey Record, Music Land, Peach's, Moby Disc, Rough Trade, Rainbow tombstones with the names of every record stores that went out of business in the area: Tower Records, Sam Goody, Odyssey Record, Music Land, Peach's, Moby Disc, Rough Trade, Rainbow Records, Star Records, Aron's, and more.
"I care about Berkeley, I care about Telegraph, I care about the kids, the patients, but we will not end up on that bag," said Prinz, half joking. "I paid over half a million dollars so we don't end up on that bag."
Rasputin and Amoeba have been locked in an epic feud for 26 years--ever since Weinstein quit working at Rasputin and opened up shop across the street. "We are fighting to keep our store open, we are fighting to keep our employees' jobs," says Prinz. "We think marijuana will help us continue the fight."

Culture: "Do As I....." Etana's reveal and what it says about the artist's responsibility

"My music is not my beliefs"

Do As I say, not as I do.

Singer Etana has placed herself in a really uncomfortable position when, on being quizzed by "Entertainment Report" host Anthony Miller, she revealed  that not only does she admire and support polarizing US Presidential candidate Donald Trump, but placed such support above an beyod the populistic lyrics for which she has become known

Her political leanings, whether for US or Jamaican politicians is almost irrelevant. Hilary Clinton is a less-than-ideal 2nd-time contender for the White House, with significant unpacked baggage, but she is not the under-informed fascist that Donald trump clearly is. A Trump win has potentially massive downside for US-Caribbean relations, and for Jamaica in particular.

So Etana's declaration of support for Donald trump, while problematic and even offensive to some, does not, in my view, have the power in itself to seriously diminish her standing as an artist.

The remark uttered by her at the top of this essay is, however, a very different matter.

There are some positions I wish for people to consider

An artist, a creative individual (or group) has a different level of engagement with the society than others. yes, the arts have a business and a professional side to them, moreso in today's world. Yet, with all of that said, the artist and the community are partners in a trust.

Trust. The audience - whether visually or otherwise - have expectations that they want fulfilled, and so too does the artist. The artist may create the work on his/her own, but draws for the community in terms of themes and ideas. Similarly, the community gives its support to the artist by choice, but depends, often unwittingly, on the creator to sow them something of themselves , whether it be uplifting, uncomfortable, but undeniable.

in short, the truth plays a significant role in the dynamic between artist and public.even parodists, Like Weird Al Yankovic and our own Lovindeer, are using the medium to express certain views on topics or figures that are apparently " hot" for the masses - be it losing weight ("Eat It") or the installation of nude statues in a public park ("Happ-iness in de Park"). satire, fable and allegory are all acceptable and important elements in getting certain truths across.

What cannot be acceptable is for the artist to dismiss the positions articulated in her work - the way that Etana has done - because the values espouse are irreconcilable with her political or other choices (religious, etc). it would be one thing for Etana to say that she truly believes trump will effect social justice, and opportunities for upward mobility for all in the US, as unlikely as those developments may seem to the rest of us.

But to regard the sentiments expressed in such songs as "Roots" "Not Afraid" and "Better Tomorrow" as disconnected from her personal beliefs (whether she penned the lyrics or not) simply because her professed support of Donald Trump is incongruous with the values of those songs does a huge disservice to her audience, the worldwide fan base she has built over the course of four albums and many live appearances. Drawn to the poignancy and the general uplift behind such words as "I am not Afraid/ If dem a come/ mek dem come/ Coz I'm protected/ by the Most High One".

Does she no longer hold the above to be true? Did she ever believe it in the first place? is her music career a purely mercenary exercise, driven bey the overarching need to secure her own welfare? Will she sing nay lyric to gain the trust of the public, only to disavow it under the heat and glare of media scrutiny (good job, by the way, Anthony Miller)?

These are questions that she and other creatives need to consider. Does my work -whether solo or collaborative - speak for me? is there room for divergence between what I offer to the public and my inner core?

My answer to this last one is "No" and, from the immediate social media backlash - powerful enough to force the singer into an unconvincing explanation of her position (the cliched "My words were twisted"), its clearly many share that view. The public has expectations of those offering them creations, and the main one, good or bad, is credibility.

Etana, I really think you need a total reset here.....for a better tomorrow.

Culture: "Do As I....." Etana's reveal and what it says about the artist's responsibility

"My music is not my beliefs"

her political leanings, whether for US or Jamaican politicians is almost irrelevant. Hilary Clinton is a less-than-ideal 2nd-time contender for the White House, with significant unpacked baggage, but she is not the under-informed fascist that Donald trump clearly is. A Trump win has potentially massive downside for US-Caribbean relations, and for Jamaica in particular.

So Etana's declaration of support for Donald trump, while problematic and even offensive to some, does not, in my view, have the power in itself to seriously diminish her standing as an artist.

The remark uttered by her at the top of this essay is, however, a very different matter.

There are some positions I wish for people to consider

An artist, a creative individual (or group) has a different level of engagement with the society than others. yes, the arts have a business and a professional side to them, moreso in today's world. Yet, with all of that said, the artist and the community are partners in a trust.

Trust. The audience - whether visually or otherwise - have expectations that they want fulfilled, and so too does the artist. The artist may create the work on his/her own, but draws for the community in terms of themes and ideas. Similarly, the community gives its support to the artist by choice, but depends, often unwittingly, on the creator to sow them something of themselves , whether it be uplifting, uncomfortable, but undeniable.

in short, the truth plays a significant role in the dynamic between artist and public.even parodists, Like Weird Al Yankovic and our own Lovindeer, are using the medium to express certain views on topics or figures that are apparently " hot" for the masses - be it losing weight ("Eat It") or the installation of nude statues in a public park ("Happ-iness in de Park"). satire, fable and allegory are all acceptable and important elements in getting certain truths across.

What cannot be acceptable is for the artist to dismiss the positions articulated in her work - the way that Etana has done - because the values espouse are irreconcilable with her political or other choices (religious, etc). it would be one thing for Etana to say that she truly believes trump will effect social justice, and opportunities for upward mobility for all in the US, as unlikely as those developments may seem to the rest of us.

But to regard the sentiments expressed in such songs as "Roots" "Not Afraid" and "Better Tomorrow" as disconnected from her personal beliefs (whether she penned the lyrics or not) simply because her professed support of Donald Trump is incongruous with the values of those songs does a huge disservice to her audience, the worldwide fan base she has built over the course of four albums and many live appearances. Drawn to the poignancy and the general uplift behind such words as "I am not Afraid/ If dem a come/ mek dem come/ Coz I'm protected/ by the Most High One".

Does she no longer hold the above to be true? Did she ever believe it in the first place? is her music career a purely mercenary exercise, driven bey the overarching need to secure her own welfare? Will she sing nay lyric to gain the trust of the public, only to disavow it under the heat and glare of media scrutiny (good job, by the way, Anthony Miller)?

These are questions that she and other creatives need to consider. Does my work -whether solo or collaborative - speak for me? is there room for divergence between what I offer to the public and my inner core?

My answer to this last one is "No" and, from the immediate social media backlash - powerful enough to force the singer into an unconvincing explanation of her position (the cliched "My words were twisted"), its clearly many share that view. The public has expectations of those offering them creations, and the main one, good or bad, is credibility.

Etana, I really think you need a total reset here.....for a better tomorrow.

National Affairs: Can Kingston [ever] Become the City it's meant to Be?

As a boy of a bout 9 or 10, I used to often accompany my mother to her weekday workplace of Worker's Bank (now defunct) on Tower Street, named, I'm guessing, for the towers of the infamous prison at the eastern end.

Whilst I had little interest in the intricacies of commercial banking, I cherished these trips for exposing the heart of the capital city, and in particular, the waterfront area, as fine an example of a port city as exists in this hemisphere.

Even then, 40 years ago, there was repeated talk about expansion and renewal of the city, of making it into an even greater urban centre - of rehabilitating the blighted settlements ringing the city centre to the north, east and west. Of expanding the harbour, of fostering culture an entertainment.

Four decades, and several political regimes later, there is again talk from Government about "renewal" and the usual committees have been formed, and there was news just this week of a "point man" of sorts to oversee this latest round of toing and froing.

This latest iteration of renewal has seen Cabinet approve the expansion of the downtown Kingston Urban Renewal project to boost investment in the area.

    

Daryl Vaz, Minister with responsibility for Investment, says the expanded development area will include sections of Kingston and Port Royal.

Yeaahhh.....right. I could do a whole other article on the many grand plans to capitalize on the undeniably rich history of the former pirate capital, but with Disney already way ahead of us on that score, and also four "Pirates of the Caribbean" already funnelling revenues from the Port Royal story into foreign hands (a fifth is reportedly due next year), I may be forgiven for not being too hopeful on that score.

    

What is being heavily touted on this go-round is something called the Urban Renewal Tax Incentive Programme. Under this (latest) proposal, investors will benefit from urban renewal bonds, investment tax credit, tax parental income and exemption from transferred tax and stamp duty among other things

In the official spiel, The Tax Incentive Programme for Urban Renewal was first introduced to downtown Kingston in 1995 and was subsequently extended to Port Royal in 1996, Montego Bay in 2000 and Spanish Town in 2008.

The Tax Incentive Programme is managed by the UDC, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and aims to garner the support of the private sector in arresting urban decay by encouraging the redevelopment of property in blighted areas.

The programme accomplishes this by enabling persons who either own or lease property in areas defined as special development areas to access incentives to redevelop the properties under the Urban Renewal (Tax Relief) Act which was established in 1995. A special development area is one which is declared by the minister responsible for urban development for the purpose of urban renewal.

Under the Tax Incentive Programme, tax relief is offered to companies or individuals undertaking capital investments in either land or buildings.  These can be residential or commercial holdings. Tax Incentives are offered to both owners and lessees of property in the Special Development Areas.

The four incentives offered are Urban Renewal Bonds, Investment Tax Credit, Tax Free Rental Income and Exemption from Transfer Tax. Organizations such as GraceKennedy Limited, Guardsman Group, NEM Insurance Company Ltd and Courts are among beneficiaries of this programme

The Government is also dreaming of a return of cruise shipping to Kingston, in the manner that presently obtains forthe ports of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Falmouth. This, the PM and the developmment Minister say,  involves the construction of a cruise ship pier and a dramatic revitalisation and restoration of Kingston's downtown and harbour front areas, along with existing places of interest.

Well, if the kind of work that has been done, and is continuing, in Falmouth could be replicated in Kingston, then i would - notwithstanding environmental and sociological concerns, be among the first to cheer.

But much of the Jamaican Government modus operandi (both Parties) over te past 40 years or so  leaves me less than optimistic.

For instance, it remains impossible to have the streets of downtown Kingston kept in any semblance of order, much less attractiveness. I'm not expecting them to be pristine, but the truly anarchic sprawl of   economically desperate coupled with the outcomes of official neglect - effluent sewage, uncollected garbage, blighted landmarks - is gonna require far more than  grand pronouncements.

The preservation and restoration of national heritage sites such as the Ward Theatre, for example, is urgent, more so now that the gleaming PetroCaribe-funded Bolivar Centre stands almost right nextto it in mocking splendour.

the area in front of the once great theatre is now an informal depot for route taxis and, yes, staging area for individuals selling everything from snacks to basic school supplies to bootleg DVDs to weed.

One of the great city centres and portsides arguably in the world, and certainly in this hemisphere, remains essentiall untamed.

this is partly (you might, depending on your perspective, say largely or entirely) due to the complex and even confusing divisions and overlaps that have been allowed to spring up and fester by uncaring politicians on both sides in their unbridled lust for power. Today, while those "borderlines" and greay areas are not enforced with the quasi-military intensity of the 70s and 80s, they still work against one of the key ingredients of successful urban renewal: standardization.

Each new "plan"   -  Former World Bank country representative, Giorgio Valentini, highlighted in July 2014 that "there are 10 or 15 different plans" which have all "been done in isolation" - arrives with its own baggage of myopia in deference to undrawn but implicit power lines. Until we decode and get past this legacy, then we'll easy slip through another 40 or 50- year time warp with nothing fundamentally changing

One of the things I'd like to see Kingston renewal plans really take into account (no patronising) is what UNESCO has recognised by designating the capital as one of 10 Creative Cities for Music. The designation, made late last year, is long over sue recognition for the symbiotic relationship between the city and its sounds - sounds which now reverberate across the globe.

When we truly give music and the creative arts - all of them - pride of place in the schematic of redevelopment, only then will Kingston truly come to life and attract global interest. This has already been proven on a smaller but no less impressive scale by the courageous work of the Kingston On the Edge (KOTE) conceptualisers. the annual festival has, against the odds, deftly showcased the nuanced riches of the city and drawn growing international attention.

if there was a KOTE every week or or even every month then, trust me, the rest of the officialand economic master plan would be a proverbial snap; visitors would flock, investors would eaglerly sniff and global media would come trotting in eager to capture, explore and share 9albeit not in equal proportion) .

This is obvious to every person who's ever gone to Rae Town, marvelled at the Roktowa and other creative stands during KOTE, or even massed at Half way Tree or Parade (downtown square) to witness our track athletes best the world during the Olympics or World Championships. Simply, Kingston is more than the waterfront and the few stratified and overrun city blocks - it is Dub Club on the precipice of Skyline Drive every bit as much as it is the National Gallery auditorium on last Sundays or the Edna Manley College Amphitheatre every last Tuesday for Poetry Jam.

These are the assets  that Governments have thus far grossly undervalued. But i for one, remain stubbornly (defiantly?) optimistic that the pace of change will move from glacial to something more discernible.

i can think no more apt final point for this piece than the words of the late journalist Jane Jacobs who wrote in  The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961): "Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody"

Let's come together around that guidepost, can we?