Culture: Our Writers Can....

....be as "big" as in well known and influential internationally as our singers.

There was, in the wake of Marlon James' massive Booker Prize win in 2015-16 (shown above), an expected wave of support for Jamaican writers, whether or not they were /are domiciled in Jamaica. James' win dovetailed neatly into similar triumphs for Claudia Rankine (whose book-length poem, Citizen: An American Lyric copped several major awards and nominations both in the US and UK and Kei Miller (immediately below, right), whose similar book-length epic "The Cartographer Tries To Map a WayTo Zion, earned him the UK's Forward Poetry Prize.

Of course, there are many more victories worth savouring from Roaland Watson Grant (immediately below left) whose sly swap trilogy that began with "Sketcher" and continued with "Skid" will soon reach its conclusion with the impending publication of "Nearly Near But Fairly Far"

and poet Tanya Shirley (left) whose two published volumes of poetry to date, "She Who Sleeps With Bones" and "The Merchant of Feathers" continue to be well received her and abroad.

And new names are continually coming to the fore (or re-emerging) form Nicole Dennis-Benn whose less-than-sunny expose of the underbelly of Jamaican life and tourist culture, "Here Comes The Sun"  has been enjoying raves from diverse international presses.

And yet, even with the preceding (and a whole host more that I admittedly haven't mentioned in this missive) there is the sense that the spark is yet to become a fire; there is the concern that Jamaican literature may yet end up like Jamaican film (with apologies to all the great filmmakers now out there: a little too long in the wind and the rain to build the critical mass so needed and even desired. Calabash, the annual* south coast celebration of Jamaican and global writers in tandem is certainly a worthy element (and undoubtedly a catalyst) in this phenomenon, but its not nearly enough in itself. The singers and players had their Trench Town, and even the dramatists had a visible nucleus in the now decaying Ward Theatre and - further "uptown" the Little Theatre and the now defunct Barn. Even the celebrated athletes, always achievers, went to to another level after the establishment of the MVP facility at the UWI (though MVP is obviously not the only worthy athletics centre)

 It may seem excessively nostalgic to be suggesting a salon in this day and age of digital connection, but with social media itself now in some respects saturated and even stratified, the time has well come to "go back to the future" so to speak and develop some kind of physical centre, incubator, hotspot - who knows what to call it for Jamaican writers, not to gather in isolation, but to present themselves to the public in a frequent and meaningful way beyond an annual  festival or even a book launch at the excellent Bookophilia in Kingston or other venues. The nation deserves this, our writers certainly deserve it and the world can certainly stand to receive more great stuff from Jamaica

Arts: RIP Louis Marriott

Actor, broadcaster, director, writer, and historian Louis Marriott passed away on Monday at age 81.

Marriott had been ailing for some time and was recently hospitalised for the second time in weeks with pneumonia. He died following complications.

In paying tribute, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia 'Babsy' Grange described Marriott as a multitalented and creative man who had contributed much to Jamaica's culture.

"Louis was one of the last great bands of local theatre practitioners, including the late Trevor Rhone, Charles Hyatt and Lloyd Reckord, to have left us in recent times. It was heartbreaking to receive news of his passing on Emancipation Day," Grange said.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said Marriott worked as press secretary to former Prime Minister Michael Manley in the 1970s and as director of publications and advertising with the Agency for Public Information, the forerunner to the Jamaica Information Service.

"Louis Marriott will be remembered as a Jamaican patriot and a consummate creative professional who served his country selflessly through his dedication to his creative passions, including the arts and theatre, in particular," Simpson Miller said.

PROMINENT PLAYWRIGHT

Born May 22, 1935, Marriott was one of Jamaica's most prominent playwrights and historians. He wrote and produced several radio and television plays and documentary broadcast programmes and films, as well as wrote and directed several plays, among them Pack of Jokers, Playboy and Bedward. Many of his radio programmes have been broadcast throughout the English-speaking world.

Marriott also lectured in Britain on Commonwealth and Caribbean affairs, and served as press secretary to the late Prime Minister Michael Manley, as well as in several other key roles.

He was also the executive officer of the Michael Manley Foundation, and member of the Performing Right Society, Jamaica Federation of Musicians, and founding member of the Jamaica Association of Dramatic Artists.

Marriott leaves behind widow Erica; daughters Lavinia and Karen; family and friends.

Tributes from around the world continue to pour in for Marriott.

Theatre:Like a Good Lover, "He Said, She Said" Builds steam as it goes along

Oftentimes, specially in the Jamaican context, that which seems the easiest reach is hardest to grasp; the "obvious" topics, like sex and the contradictions between the sexes, are often played so cheaply as to do a disservice to the issue

Happily for this writer, and the rest of the audience, the new Elllis International revue "He Said, She Said" has a strong grasp to enable its broad reach.

Against a minimalist backdrop, the opening number "Too Much Sex" unfolded and ended with not too much promise for a great evening. Set to the tune of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons'  "Sherry" it had the  workmanlike feel of an awkward tryst, a necessary preliminary endured before one " gets down to business".

But like any good lover, the players and the script certainly gathered steam, becoming collectively more self-assured as the session wore on.

It hit its first stride in a skit we'll call "Come When I Come Back". Its " the morning after" and a young woman raises the issue of her man's apparent lack of stamina (though he does get her to claim that she enjoyed it), which leads to protests, reasoning, and perhaps a little of the unexpected. When, out of frustration, the hapless man blurts out "Yu too hard!!" The woman delivers what must be the comeback of the night:"Well at least ONE of us is!"

There's  no shortage of big laughs but the play delivers its first of two "money shots" (yes, we're using term) just before the interval. Inside a Golden Age Home two elderly women take their turn (the men having previously taken the stage) at shredding myths about sex in old age and poking fun at both men and the type of Bible-toting, holier than thou church ladies that "seem" uninterested in ribaldry. Its the best constructed skit of the night (you have to listen right up to the punch line).

The second comes at the end, with a dual set-up, indicative of the title. On one side, a guy is holding forth to his 'bredren' about his devastating sexual performance on a particular girl, while on the other side, said girl is destroying boasts while dishing to her girlfriends. Its not by any means an original construct, but its the execution that counts, and the protagonists, Tesfa Edwards and Kathy Grant, make it count through spot-on timing and impassioned deliveries.

Several of the skits in the second half attempt to examine the fractious issue of how men relate to men. The best of these is "2Guys at the Gym",  in which two longtime friends compare notes on personal preferences and wonder how is it that their respective spouses don't understand them as well as they understand each other. Its an issue and a perspective that don't often make their way onto the Jamaican stage, but should.

Every revue depends on music, and the producers' selections, whether accompanying or between skits, are certainly commendable. In addition to the previously mentioned, there are adaptations of the Ffolkes Brothers classic "Oh Carolina" (3 guesses as to which part of the female anatomy that's used in conjunction with), and Peter Tosh's enduring cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode".

And then, there is "I'll Vento". Working in the vein of DJ Buccaneer's "Skettel Concerto" the operatic number ("Soave al Il Vento" from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tuute)) is used in service of arguably the night's most hilarious solo skit, complete with the obligatory ghetto malapropisms and dropped consonants.

Which brings us to the final important aspect of the play. The limited and often ruthlessly efficient sexual vocabulary of many contemporary Jamaican men ( amplified in the male-dominated dancehall field) is countered and indeed supplemented by more open discourse, whether its the young man proudly declaring that his masculinity is not compromised by buying "a six-pack of Stayfree maxis with wings" for his girl, the bored and lusty housewife longing for the attention of the hunky gardener next door, or the aforementioned bromance at the gym. That the work has much more on its mind than "gettin' some" and playing for cheap laughs is impressively evident.

But fear not, of laughs there are plenty, and there's also more than enough sexual situations and references to go around. He Said She Said may at times come off rude, but it definitely also knows how to mind its manners.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

Arts: Word! brings Carib's best to Brooklyn

Word! A Caribbean Book Fest is an afternoon-long celebration of Caribbean letters and thought for all ages. The program highlights the range and diversity of literary work emanating from the Caribbean and writers invested in the Caribbean Diasporic narrative.

Presented by Caribbean Cultural Theatre with support from Medgar Evers College (CUNY), Caribbean Research Center, Charles Evans Iniss Memorial Library, School of Liberal Studies and Education, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts; Poets & Writers, Inc.

localjoe.myorganogold.com

Performing Arts: The Journey of "Doodu-san" from Pit to Peace

At no age or stage in life would most human beings contemplate or envisage the consequences of falling chest deep into a pit latrine (think faeces, toilet paper and giant cockroaches and rats).

Little wonder then that Stefhen (no longer Stephen, he remade himself even a his father worked on a "replacement" ) Bryan has a certain skew on life: he lived through just such a nightmarish ordeal while still in what we refer to as "short pants,"

That rude entry into life's potential for adversity became the opener and theme for his excellent and mostly compelling one-man show, "Doodu Boy" (doodu of course being slang for feces) which had a special one-night only preview performance at New Kingston's Theatre Place.

In that well-executed piece we meet young Steve, the typically curious, hyper-imaginative young Jamaican kid mired in poverty and at the mercy of an overbearing, Scripture-quoting mother with a more than free hand when it comes to dishing out beatings to her son.

The situation is of course so dire that Steve has violent fantasies of killing his mother and moving to "'Merica" to live with his absentee Dad. that latter dream eventually comes true at age 15, but the underside of Steve's American Dream and "life in Paradise" comes up all too quickly as he discovers that his father, a mercurial, materialistic yet somehow successful engineer, was even more disdainful of him than his mother.

Faced with this greatest rejection, Bryan heads west, first to family in Denver Colorado and then on to California, where a latent predilection for Oriental women is given  free rein and expression - much of which ends up in his book "Black Passenger, Yellow Cabs" (check back in a couple days for our review of the book).

When an attempt to visit his father for a reconciliation goes awry - his father calls the cops and reveals that he has in fact, fathered another son - to whom he has also given the name "Stephen" - the crushed Bryan responds to a call to teach English....in Japan.

There, he furthers his own education in Oriental delights, but also learns the language and  - as is often the way of such things - falls in love. Even this is an occasion for Jamaican-style bawdiness, as the love of his life is revealed to him as the first girl with whom sex is - for a lengthy initial period anyway -impossible, owing to what he describes as her "monster hymen."

In the wake of losing his mother to cancer (after an intervening heart to heart of sorts while on a home spell), Steve, with his new wife, attempts one last bid to reconcile with his Dad. The latter proves taciturn to the end, but two strokes, and the travails of loneliness (the younger "Steve" has since grown and moved out) have softened him to the point where even an awkward conversation is possible.

Bryan's stage presence and visual communication skills are highly evolved and his total lack of self-consciousness while sharing details which might floor lesser mortals make the play a very engaging experience, one which even Jmaaicans, accustomed tothe ensemble presentation, will be held rapt by

The Death of the Jamaican movie house

So, had a discussion Friay night last with Sasha Bowie and host Simon Crosskill on CVM-Tv's "Live@7"  programme on the topic of Jamaica's disappearing movie houses. One might believe its hardly worth comment, in that the economics of the entertainment biz (and of cinema in particular) has changed drastically all over the world.

But when you consider that we've gone from no less than 4 theatres in a 400-yard radius as recently as the 1980s, to 2 locations  for the entire city of Kingston, then one can see the merits of discussing the issue Its interesting to learn that he Palace Amusement Co that today operates as a virtual monopoly exhibitor, was itself originally in a competitive situation and is in fact now owned by persons, the Graham family (and the 150 or so shareholders) who were in competition with the original Palace

The quote from Melanie Graham is taken from a Gleaner article by Tanya Batson-Savage.

The Palace Amusement Company (1921) Limited was formed by Audley Morais, and operated as a Private Company prior to 1921 (silent movie days). He re-formed the company and offered shares to the public in 1921.

Over the years the Company operated Movies, Rose Gardens, and Palace Cinemas. Gaiety and Majestic was subsequently acquired, Odeon (Mandeville) was leased, and other cinemas ( urban and rural) were built. It operated cinemas and distributed films to many of the independent cinemas that existed in Jamaica and Cayman.

In 1938, Cinema Company of Jamaica Limited built the Carib, in competition to Palace.

In 1947, J. Arthur Rank, from the United Kingdom, bought control in Palace Amusement Company.   The Rank Organisation  bought out Cinema Company of Jamaica Ltd. owner of the Carib.    J. Arthur Rank closed the Movies and built Odeon in Mandeville in 1951, and Odeon in Half Way Tree in 1952.

In l949, Russell Graham built the Tropical Cinema Company, and used it as a centerpiece of the competition that he mounted for the movie audience against Palace.

In 1962, Russgram Investments Limited - a Company owned by Russell Graham - bought the controlling interest in Palace Amusement Company from J. Arthur Rank, and Douglas Graham was appointed Managing Director. The new regime purchased the Majestic Cinema on Spanish Town Road, built the Harbour View Drive In as a partly owned subsidiary, and took control of Tropical Cinema Company, which was a 2-cinema company - Tropical and Rialto.

In 1989, Russell Graham sold his Russgram Investments Company to Douglas Graham, who still has ownership of it.

Palace Amusement Company is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and has approximately 150 shareholders. There are l,437,028 issued stock units. Russgram Investments Limited presently owns 62.05% of the shares in Palace Amusement Company.

So Palace has, in effect, become what they initially fought against. A very typical situation with monopolies, at least in the Jamaican context thus far.

Odeon is by no means unique. A drive through Downtown will also reveal signs on now dilapidated buildings which clearly, if not brightly, state that they were once movie houses. However, not all the old theatre buildings bear reminders of what they once were. It has probably begun to slip from memory that there were actually four cinemas in Cross Roads not too long ago (a perspective which may vary, depending on your age).

Sharing space with Carib was the Regal theatre. It used to be housed in the building which Azan's now occupies. The more recent closing was that of the State theatre. Up to last year it was home to the Kingston Church of Christ and, at the end of last year, the seats were up for sale. Its days as a theatre are long over and there is no sign that they will return.

The other, almost directly across from Courts, now also hosts a church.

Movie buff extraordinaire, Orville Clarke, reflects on the days when there were cinemas in every parish. An avid moviegoer since the 1950s, he names several theatres which existed throughout Kingston. Among them is the very famous Rialto (also of The Harder They Come fame), along with Kings, Gaiety, Queens, Majestic, Ritz, Tropical, Globe and Deluxe. The names of the cinemas seem to reek of the glitz and glamour which they used to hold.

Outside Kingston , The Del Mar (Port Antonio), Empire (Morant Bay) and Capri (May Pen) all added to what helped to create the movie culture in Jamaica. The second city, Montego Bay, had four cinemas strand, The Roxy, Palladium and Coral.

It appears that only Carib is left from that golden era. The grand white building still stands boldly defiant in the middle of Cross Roads. Now Carib 5, the cinema has changed from the single screen set-up that could hold well over 1,000 people at once. Devoured by fire in September of 1996, the cinema managed to arise phoenix-like from the flames. It was also able to do what so many others were unable to do. Change.

Ms. Melanie Graham, marketing manager for Palace Amusement Company, attempted to explain why she believes none of these cinemas were able to last. "They all closed because they were the old type of movie cinemas. Not air-conditioned, very sparse seat, and I think with the advent of video... that added to their demise," she said. She went on to explain that in order to continue to thrive, cinemas needed a lot of investment. "I don't think at the time they were willing to spend to upgrade," she stated, also noting that the admission rates were not very profitable.