Pepper's last night

We went to Pepper's karaoke joint again last night. This is a really easy going, outdoor place with a variety of personalities. It has a set of pool tables with a separate bar. The tables are busy all night. It has the stage area for the singers, flanked on two sides by bars. It is not clear why there are two bars, other than that there is room for them. The bar tender, Smiley, whom we have met before, was at the other bar last night.

I am on the rum now, having been instructed that VX Appleton or the white rum from Wray and Nephew do not cause hangovers. Either of these with Ting is a good combo. The bar serves food, too. They have anything from wings to jerked chicken and pork, to fish and seafood platters. Lots of people seem to have a snack here.

The singing varied in quality. One of the highlights was an older Chinese man who sounded a little like Sinatra. He sang old standards very well. Another grey hair at the bar smiled when he heard. One or two people had really bad voices, but thoroughly enjoyed themselves (maybe because of the drinks they held in their left hands).

The focus of the evening for me was people watching. This is an interesting place to visit. The people at the bar range from oldsters through younger, more hip people, to youngsters clearly out of their place. They look like dance hall popsies, with really short skirts and bikini tops. At the height of the evening the reggae artist and deejay Bounty Killer showed up, gold chains and all. That makes two of Jamaica's top artists we have seen in local music places (see earlier post on Village Cafe).

This is a small country. Nothing says that like the ability to see well-known people all the time and to get to know people from all walks of life. We've met the owner of the hottest club in Kingston, the owner of the second largest freight airline in the Caribbean, the assistant commissioner of police, and a variety of others. This is very different from where we live.