Jazz: Monty Alexander makes a "Yard Movement" for Christmas

With a near inexhaustible list of major-league A-list credits - from the late Natalie Cole to the ageless Tony Bennett, an annual Jazz festival named after him in Maryland since 2010, and a listing in the Top 5 of Hal Leonard's 50 Greatest Jazz Pianists of all Time(2005), Monty Alexander might be forgiven for not being seen more often in his homeland.

But a decade-long wait comes to an end next month as Alexander, with is critically-acclaimed fusion project, The Harlem-Kingston Express, rolls into Kingston - on Dec 11 - in  benefit concert titled "Home For Christmas" in aid of the Global Giving Programme of the university of the West Indies. The show unfolds at the Jamaica Pegasus beginning at 7:00pm. The performance is under the Patronage of former Jamaican Prime Minister P J Patterson, who as former manager of the legendary Skatalites is certainly familiar with Alexander's oeuvre and development, and UWI Vice-Chancellor, Sir Hilary Beckles.

The affable and often effervescent pianist will continue his genre-bending explorations of the sounds of  his beloved homeland (mento, ska and reggae) and the swing stylings that established him in the US and caught the pleased ear of "Chairman of the Board" the late Frank Sinatra, who in turn was instrumental in  getting Alexander residency in America.

Of course, no one venue or event could contain the pianist's vast and still-growing discography, but patrons can expect him to expertly weave through his myriad associations - including a variety of combos with iconic Jamaican guitarist Ernie Ranglin and longtime trio partners Hassan Shakur (bass) and Herlin Riley (drums) as well as reggae stalwarts Glenn Browne and Courtney Panton.

Tickets are J$10,000, and outlets will be announced shortly.

Film: Curtains set to go Up on 2016 GATTFEST

The 4^d Annual GATFFEST reaches a crescendo this week with the Premiere of Film on Trench Town at the Opening Night, scheduled for June 23 at the Assembly Hall on the mOna Campus of the UWI.

 

The highly anticipated four day festivities, which culminate at a grand award ceremony on June 26, brings the curtains down to what has been one of the most exciting showcase of GATFFEST till date.

 

Not only did the interest spiked in this path breaking community initiative locally and regionally, the number of international entries to the Caribbean’s most happening community film festival reached record numbers.

 

“We are proud of GATFFEST’s achievements,” said Professor Ian Boxill, Professor of Management Studies and Director, Centre for Tourism and Policy Research. “It is through perseverance, hard work and most importantly a dedicated and focused team, which has made us grow strength to strength every year.”

 

The series of events include an invitation only Opening Gala and Film Premiere, which is a Red Carpet Arrival and Reception and premiere of documentary on Trench Town.

 

The festivities move to Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts on Friday, June 24, where two workshops, which will be anchored by United States film maker Judy Chaikin, and Colombian film maker Jhon Narvaez Escudero – who will delve under the theme “Telling your story workshop”. These workshops are free of cost. On Friday evening, EMC will host a selection of local and international films – there is nominal admission cost of $800.

 

On Saturday, the spotlight shines in Kingston and the second city of Montego Bay. At Courtleigh Auditorium, in Kingston there will an engaging panel discussion will look into Movie Techniques and The Filmmaker’s Trials and Tribulations. UWI Western Jamaica Campus comes alive with Jhon Narvaez Escudero giving Tips for the Independent Filmmaker.

 

Both events are followed by film nights, at Courtleigh Auditorium in Kingston and Wexford Hotel in Montego Bay.

 

Sunday, June 26 is the grand finale, wherein a gala Awards Ceremony will be organised, which will recognise and reward the works of the top films.

 

“We are not merely a film festival,” Prof. Boxill said. “GATTFEST is fast becoming the catalyst and the medium for story tellers converging in Jamaica, exchanging thoughts and ideas and critically advancing the filmmaking techniques at par with the best in the world.”

Film: Once again, its GATTFEST

ATFFEST Film Festival 2016 call for entries

 

Join one of Caribbean’s most exciting and fastest growing community film festival

Deadline for submission - April 29, 2016

School Competition introduced to harness young talent

 

Kingston, Jamaica: Filmmakers from across Caribbean are being invited to submit their entries of short films, and be a part of one of the Caribbean’s fastest growing community film festival – GATFFEST, held under the auspices of the UWI Community Film Project (UWICFP).

 

GATFFEST, organised annually, is a catalyst for social commentary, expression and community participation. Now in its fourth year, continues its quest to be a platform for showcasing local, Jamaican and Caribbean filmmakers, and to harness their talents and works. The grand finale will be in June, when the winners will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony.

 

“GATFFEST is ever evolving,” said Professor Ian Boxill, Professor of Management Studies and Director, Centre for Tourism and Policy Research. “This year we have expanded the scope and introduced a School Competition, to encourage and showcase talent of upcoming independent film makers.”

 

The film festival has expanded its footprints across the shores, the entries are not restricted to a region, and GATFFEST welcomes international entries. Last year 36 international and regional films were screened, and films were received from every continent except Africa.

 

For the first time, this year’s festival is targeting high schools students with GATFFEST School Competition. “We have seen where these students have the capability and creativity to create entertaining and thought provoking short films,” Savannah Peridot, Business Development Manager, UWICFP said.

 

“We are targeting 25 High Schools in Kingston and Montego Bay,” Peridot informed. “We will choose 10 of the best film submissions, which will be shown at the film festival.”

 

Professor Boxill, who is the head of the GATTFEST Film Festival, reaffirmed the commitment to make a positive impact on the communities, nurture, develop and encourage young and upcoming talent.

 

“This is a platform for Caribbean’s budding and emerging filmmakers,” he said. “The objective is not only for them to get excellent visibility, but make meaning contribution to the communities through the medium,” Professor Boxill said.

 

GATFFEST is an excellent opportunity for filmmakers across the board to harness their talent, get a chance to interact with the best of Caribbean creative minds, tell their stories and be recognised for their talent and creativity.

 

 

The deadline for submission of entries is April 29, 2016.

Media Business: "Who Really Owns Rio?" and other lessons from the RJR-Gleaner merger forum

At one of several high-wattage parties announcing its transition, executives of the former LIME, which is now operating its consumer telecoms biz as FLOW, trumpeted the new entity as " the exclusive broadcaster" of the much anticipated 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.

expectedly, this sent no small shocks through the media fraternity as a whole and the conventional broadcast media in particular. CVM and TVJ had consistently battled to secure the rights to such tentpole sporting events (Olympics, World Cup Football tournament) that have clear demand for Jamaican audiences and thus represent a boon in seeking the all-important ad revenues.

Now, the rights to Usain Bolt's possible swan song (and other potential show-stoppers) has gone to what has conventionally been a cable TV provider, an outsider if you will.

But hold on. At a public forum hosted by the UWI's Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) on Thursday night, it was revealed that while Cable and Wireless Communications, parent of the new entity FLOW/LIME (LIME really no longer exists, at least in the Jamaican context) has actually signed on as broadcast sponsor - and exclusive telecoms partner - to the real rights holders:

CANOC

Who? The acronym essentially pools the national Olympic Committees of the Caricom region, who have formed a unique media entity of their own, dubbed CBI, will managed the feed served through sports powerhouse ESPN to 33 regional territories, including Jamaica. Pollster and veteran Jamaican Olympics official Don Anderson, who 'happens" to be a board member of CBI, made the clarification during the Q & A session that followed five panel presentations (including his own) on the implications of the RJR-Gleaner (Media) alliance.

The deal, which RJR Group CEO (and CEO-designate of the new entity) Gary Allen says is in  the process of clearing regulatory and shareholder approvals hurdles, is expected to be fully ratified by year-end. Even though Extraordinary General meetings will be required on both sides, RJR shareholders will almost certainly raise the issue come next week when they gather at the Pegasus for the Annual General Meeting. 

The papers covered a fair range of issues, from the stock complexities attending the deal, to the audience/consumption picture against which it was contemplated. Former TVJ CEO, now Media Consultant Kay Osborne delivered a sobering framework of the advertising market which had healthy doses of diatribe against the telecoms giants Digicel and FLOW/LIME for wading into what may have been perceived as "hallowed space" . Is it really "proper" for tech-heavy, deep-pocketed telecoms firms, who formerly partnered with free-to-air TV (and still do, to varying extents) to now become direct competitors to conventional broadcast media in a low(no)-growth economy, with ad revenues in flux?

Weighty question and still up for debate. But what's not debatable is that a major shift has taken place in the media landscape, the effects of which will surely be felt through the remainder of this decade.

As they'd say in Rio, "Ate breve" 

Business: SMEs in need of a "Katalyxt"

Business growth consultancy Katalyxt had its own expectations exceeded at the Knutsford Court in Kingston last Thursday when it presented a briefing on the way forward for small businesses.

Moderated by noted radio/TV commentator Cliff Hughes, the breakfast panel heard stirring contributions from the likes veteran agricultural exporter Rita Hylton, who painted a no-nonsense picture of the intricacies and challenges of maintaining supplies, educating producers and qualifying buyers.

Another ear-pricking contribution came from UWI lecturer Andre Haughton, who pointed out that corruption while inherently inimical for business as a whole, was actually spurring the progress of individuals and enterprises by virtue of the fact that it enabled businesses to acquire goods, meet orders, and retain staff.

Haughton also pointed out that conventional macro-economic metrics were insufficient in gauging economic activity or making a meaningful contribution  to national wealth.



www.localjoe.myorganogold.com

Culture: Small Axe vs big Empire, a look at reggae's role in deconstructing colonialism

 

Prof Bill Schwarz

The last time this writer heard Bob Marley described as the "saviour of a generation" it was from an Anglo-Jamaican who had grown up in Brixton and who actually placed the Gong just behind "Crown Prince" Dennis Brown in that regard.

So it was especially poignant to hear, on Thursday evening last, a similar description, coming from a white British academic. Prof. Bill Scwarz, who studied English and History at York University, before going on to the Centre for Contemporary Studies at Birmingham. 

Speaking at a Lecture organized by the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the UWI Mona, Schwarz was even more pointed, stating that Marley had "saved a generation of Black Britons from suicide" owing to pressures heaped upon them by the white racist power structure in the two-decade aftermath (up to Marley's time) of the mass migrations of the 1950s and early 60s.

Schwarz eloquently added that in reggae and Rastafari, the black community found a "new mode of memory" one that was indeed critical given the given the trend towards a massive "forced forgetting" imposed by the demands of a then fading imperialism.
He cautioend however, in the ensuing question and answer session, that the memory and the nostalgia toward empire had hardly faded in Britain and that old modes of thought still resonated, even among the youth. 

As a corollary, he urged the audience not to construe multiculturalism - a social phenomenon first advanced and argued for by the late Jamaican academic, Stuart Hall - to mean racial or cultural harmony or some kind of "Obama post-racial" kind of society in Britain. He pointed out that violence against Black youth remained at alarmingly high levels, and - in answering another question - posited the view that in the post-Marley msuical era, there did not seem to be another obvious saviour (nor the obvious desire for one) emerging.   

His expansive discourse also touched on the role of religion and various belief systems in the Deconstruction of Colonialism ( or in the preservation of it, depending on one's view)

Prof. Schwarz has also taught Sociology and Politics at Warwick, Cultural Studies at the University of East London, and Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, and arrived at Queen Mary in 2004. I am an editor of History Workshop Journal.

Art: Earl McKenzie's explorations continue at UWI

Dr Earl McKenzie poet, painter and philosopher will launch an exhibition of his paintings on Monday April 27, 2015 at 6:00pm at the UWI Regional Headquarters Building, Mona. The launch will include poetry readings by friends and colleagues including: Ann-Margaret Lim, Dr. Velma Pollard and Trudy Schoepko. The guest speaker will be Lecturer in the Department of Government and fellow artist Dr Clinton Hutton. This will be McKenzie’s fourth solo exhibition of paintings and poems. He has also exhibited at the Caribbean Literary and Cultural Centre in New York.

McKenzie is retired from the University of the West Indies, Mona, where he taught philosophy. He is the author of eight books including two volumes of academic philosophy and two collections of short stories. In 2012, his multi-genre volume of poetry, fiction, essays and visual art entitled A Bluebird Named Poetry solidified his skill in connecting diverse genres of artistic expression. In her launch of the text, Kim Robinson-Walcott notes that McKenzie “is interested in exploring his own multidimensional creativity with abstract, intellectual curiosity.” This exploration is evident in his paintings which, according to Edward J. Sullivan, Professor of Art History at New York University, “have the suggestive power of Giorgio Morandi: one of the greatest masters of the simple object.”

McKenzie has won numerous awards for his work. In 2000, he was awarded a Silver Musgrave Medal for his contribution to literature, and in 2011 he received a Mico University College 175^th Anniversary Award for distinguished service. His exploration of the intersections among genres of expression continues in the forthcoming publications of his first novel, a third collection of short stories and a memoir in 2015. The exhibition, which will be mounted in the lobby of the Headquarters Building, will run until May 8, 2015. The public is invited to attend.

Business: This Year's "Models" line up for biz recognition

The 2nd annual Jamaica Business Model Competition, competed for amongst university-based entrepreneurial teams, officially got underway Thursday last, following a launch at the Development Bank of Jamaica offices n Kingston. In addition to the DBJ, the competition is presented by Sponsors  IDB, National Commercial Bank, Pan-Jam Investments and GK Capital

 The winner, to be chosen from some 12 teams representing 3 tertiary institutions, the UWI, UTech and Northern Caribbean University (NCU), will again be taken to Provo, Utah yo compete in the IBMC at the famed Brigham Young University. Jamaica’s National Business Model Competition 2014 winner – Herboo Enterprises - placed 8th, out of a total of 42 teams in the finals of the International Business Model Competition that took place in Salt Lake City, Utah from May 1 - 3.  The local team was also awarded the International Business Model Award. They won a total of US$ 6,000.00. The principals, along with runner-up NCR Lamb, were present at the launch

The IBMC is currently co-hosted by Brigham Young University, Harvard University, and Stanford University.  This year’s event was held at Brigham Young University in Utah, and teams from universities worldwide, competed for the prestigious award of IBMC trophy and cash prize of US$25,000.

This was the first time that Jamaica has participated in the International Business Model Competition and is the culmination of six months of intense work.

Business Modelling is a relatively new phenomenon that is geared at reducing the failure rate of start-up businesses.  It focuses on identifying and precisely defining the assumptions of the new venture, testing those assumptions in the field, and then pivoting (changing) based on the lessons learned.

Sports: UWI Pelicans Pummel Portmore in InterCol Rugby

In what was a one-sided affair, the UWI Pelicans pummelled the Portmore Community College 80-0 to secure their first win of the season in the Jamaica Intercollegiate Sports Association Rugby League 13's Competition today (Feb 14, 2015). Misioka Tanilu top scored with 8 kick conversions and two trys. This defeat has left Portmore Community College firmly rooted at the bottom of the table with zero points.

The second match of the day saw Damone Downer's 9 kick conversions along with Antonio Baker's three trys helping the MICO University College Crocs to defeat the Excelsior Community College Eagles 46-12. This win puts the MICO Crocs on 10 points and in joint first position with the G.C. Foster Lions who had defeated the UTech Knights earlier in the week. 

Current Points Standing After Four Rounds

G.C. Foster Lions -10 points 

MICO Crocs - 10 points (Defending Champions)

Excelsior Eagles - 6 points

UTech Knights - 6 points

UWI Pelicans - 3 points

Portmore Community College - 0 points