Roti Festival

This festival is an annual event celebrating Indian culture in Jamaica. There are plenty of Indians here in Jamaica, many of whom are second and third generations. This event celebrates their food, dance, and music. There are a lot of sponsors connected with the event, so it is fairly good-sized and organized well. It was held on Lady Musgrave Road, at the Indian Club. That is, the place where Indian people gather, not one of those bowling pin exercise devices.

For me this turned out to be a day with a lot of different things to focus on.

The Venue

We got there fairly early and caught this guy climbing a tent putting up the Maggi sign. It looked good when it finally got up there, but we were kind of in despair as we watched the guy fiddle with things.

The venue was all tents, food, drink, trinkets and souvenirs, and some kids games. It looked pretty good. All day it looked like rain, but it didn't. At times the sun broke out.


The People

This was also a true "outameni one people" day. All flavors were represented well. I was a little surprised that the support was so widespread.





The Hair

Another focus was hair. There was a lot and it was all different. I am sometimes amazed at the variety. It's probably just that I am bald and jealous!





The Cultural Stuff

There was a bit of culture, too. Much of it was food, but there was music and dance, too.


This girl in pink danced more like a Middle East belly dancer. She also came out and danced with a Trinidadian percussion band that was fantastic.

Sean found himself able to partake of the roti and curry.

There were several sets of lessons on how to cook roti as well. This lesson was about dal poori roti. You enclose a few spoons of dal in the middle, seal it, roll it out carefully, then cook it on the griddle.



This one came nice and brown and puffy!


The Kids

As usual, the kids were beautiful. There were a lot, and they were definitely outameni one people. This girl's braids had lots of ornaments.

This little girl with her bhindi was spectacular. She'll break hearts.

Mas Camp 2008

We tried to start our evening around 10PM at Village Cafe. They had advertised a reggae event starting at 11PM, but very few people were there. Except for a few scantily clad women in short short shorts (that's right, not short shorts, but short short shorts!) They looked a little out of place, like they were slumming from a dancehall.

We decided to go to Acropolis for a drink. Acropolis is a gambling club (slot machines, etc.) on the Loshusan supermarket site. Acropolis is bright and elegant (at least until you get into the slot machines). There is lots of highly polished marble on the way in. Drinks were OK, but our hearts weren't in it. So off we went back to the Village Cafe to meet Paul. Still nothing happening. Danny decided we should go to Mas Camp and we were off. Mas' Camp is short for Mask Camp, the place where masquerades are prepared for Carnival.

Mas Camp is held in a huge lot right next to New Kingston. Cars are parked everywhere for blocks and blocks (in the road, up on curbs, in parking lots, and elsewhere). It's really hard to park. We walked a few blocks to get to the gates, where we paid to get in. Meanwhile we heard the music pumping. This is Soca (soul and calypso), the music of the spring carnival season. Mas Camp is held every Friday until Easter, when it gives way to the formal Jamaican Carnival.

In we walked, only to be greeted by a homely older woman in a guard service uniform. She patted down the men (quite intimately in my opinion), and ignored the women. Most of them couldn't have hidden anything if their lives depended on it, given their skin-tight clothing. The uniform of the day for women was shorts and fairly abbreviated and open tops. T&A galore!

The crowd was mixed in a lot of ways, old and young, black, brown, and white, scantily clad and normal dress. The site is half football stadium-sized, with booths all around the edges, selling food, drink, souvenirs, and anything else you needed. In the middle was a stage where women in really short skirts and bikini tops were dancing up a storm. There was also a big stage for the DJ who kept things pumping. And Soca really pumps! There is a hard bass thump all through the music, played loud and clear. On one side were the Appleton rum girls, a set of girls in tight tight short short shorts and a tight top. Several were dancing on top of a bar, brandishing bottles of rum and pouring for the drunks. Apparently you pay about J$700 (about $10 US) for a plastic mug and drink all night for free. The girls could dance. One was incredibly hot, shorts so tight I told Danny a picture should be in the dictionary for punani. A lot of people were gathered around just watching her dance and taking pictures.

The crowd was really dense in the middle, around the center stage, but thinned out enough near the edges to pass through. With the music pumping there was a lot of dancing going on. This is dance that reminds you of procreation! The women are doing the "dutty wine", bottoms gyrating and pushing back into their men's crotches. The men are jumping, too, with big, dreamy smiles on their faces as they rub up against the girls' bottoms. E thought they should all go get a room, but this is just the Caribbean!

We got some drinks and some jerk and fries to eat and wandered the edges of the crowd. There is always something to see, with people milling around and getting jiggy "wid it". The girls all look good, even if they aren't good-looking, if you know what I mean. They are done up to the nines and enjoying themselves.

At one point we saw Ribby, owner of the Quad nightclub. Danny saw a lot of people he knew in addition to Ribby. We saw some cheerleader-looking women; not sure what they represented. Then we saw a lot of flags going through the crowd and handkerchiefs flying to the beat.

As we got into the middle of the crowd, a couple of older women were wiggling together. One reached out and pulled E's hair lightly as she went by. Then, as I passed, she roughed up what's left of my hair. I turned and waved to her; then all hell broke loose. She grabbed me up along with her partner and proceeded to dance "pon mi". I had a handful of two big-legged ladies, one of which brought up her leg and wrapped it around me. Yipes, audience participation... I obliged and danced a little while E and Danny grinned and watched.

After a bit more we had enough and went home. Another 2AM Kingston morning!

Christopher's last night

Last night we went to Christopher's, the 1st floor of the Quad club. We got in about 10PM or so and immediately regretted not coming earlier. Mary Isaacs was singing (Thursday night is singers' night). Mary fit into the cabaret/club singer scene perfectly. She is a middle-aged woman with a really good repertoire. Her voice is perfect, though it was sometimes disappearing into the band. She sang a couple of sets while we were there, having started at 7PM or so.

There was a lot of audience participation; people were singing along, dancing, and cutting up. One older guy came up to her while she was singing with a bottle of hot sauce, which she pretended to drink. Later on he took a cherry from his drink and sucked it into his mouth while she sang. Even later on he danced with her while she sang. Then he proceeded to dance with a good-looking young woman who came with the band.

Toward the end of her sets an older gentleman took her up on her request to have people dancing. He looked like Ossie Davis to me, with a nice gray suit and matching gray hair. He danced up a storm all by himself. It really looked like he was a dancer by profession or had some time in show business himself.

We met up with Monte a bit later, when Paul showed up. It was nice to see him again. His son owns the club, and Monte works there much of the time. He is a real gentleman, and fun to watch. He gets along with the young women very well!

For me, the band, Dreamscape, was a lot of fun. This is a small combo, a bass, a drummer, and a pianist. Each of them was extraordinarily good in his own right. But the fun came when you watched them. They were all enjoying themselves a lot! They had big smiles, and cut up with each other all night long. The pianist was really amazing. He had total command of the piano and he did everything to it. He pounded it, he improvised, he did glissandos, he vamped for the crowd. But the whole time he watched the other guys and each of them queued each other for riffs. They really set the tone for the singer nicely. There is nothing like live music! I love being able to go up to people and tell them how good they are. This is possibly the most fun I have here in Jamaica.

Wow at the Village Cafe

Last night at the Village Cafe the evening started with a DJ with dreads. As he worked we began to hear a variety of music from the 60s. He played the Doors, early Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and many others. I asked him how he got this old stuff in his head. He told me "I am old, mon." But he wasn't really. He caught me singing out to "Love me two times" and gave me the high sign.

The night was unusual to say the least. A fairly good sized group of old white men and young white women were there. E commented on it and I said "I fit right in (with the old white men)." They were there to support the last act.

The acts were really terrific for me. The first one was "Ganja". This one was really different. The music was good, kind of jazzy and different. The singer made me think he was channeling Jim Morrison. He was angry, he talked, he spouted poetry. He did everything but sing. But it worked. It was pretty thick patois so I couldn't get everything, though.

The second act was "Gas Money." I had a hard time understanding the announcer and thought she said "Gazmani" or something like that. They played a kind of jazzy/bluesie sort of music, but the singer was the real news. He had a great voice and the ability to push it around (bend it half notes, throw around key changes, and modulate a lot). The crowd loved it and so did I. They pushed it for a good long set.

The headliners were called "Black Zebra". This was a fairly big combo, with a really wide repertoire. They played everything from roots reggae to New Age to jazz and on to Janis Joplin. It was all amazingly good! Apparently the lead vocalist and guitar (Wayne McGregor) is a lawyer in his day job. One of the other founders (Mark Pritchett) manages one of the local newspapers. The band has a white women singer (Katie Iver) who channeled Janis Joplin very well ("Piece of my heart"). The white crowd was there for her, I guess. The keyboards were by "Jillie Fingerz" (Jillian Castle). She also sings very well. The bass and drummer were also really good.

The band has played at the Mobay Jazz/Blues festival for 4 years on the talent stage. They have an album in preparation.

Black Zebra on Myspace

Gordon Town Falls yesterday

We started our day out at Port Royal having a bit of lunch and then sitting on the beach. I'm not sure why, but this beach always feels good to me. It was really breezy, though. The sand was stinging us, so we left after a bit.


Then we traveled up in the hills a little past Papine to Gordon Town. This is a beautiful spot with a paved path going back into the hills above Kingston. It's an uphill pull right alongside the stream that flows from the falls. This is limestone country, with boulders the size of houses!

It is shady much of the day so there is a lot of lichen on the rocks.

A lot of people live up here in the hills. Along the path you can catch glimpses of houses perched up on the rocks at various points. This is basically bush country, though. Lots of goats around and also evidence that horses go this way. The people here are very friendly. They all speak as we go by or answer us if we say "Hi!" I am always taking pictures along the way. Again, as at Hellshire Beach, many of the people wanted their pictures taken. They always want to see their faces. We speculated that some have never had a picture taken before. Who knows? The middle girl in this picture said "Mi pretty, eeeh?" when she saw her picture.

The falls itself is not huge, but is quite pretty. It is about 15 feet high with a nice pool below. Tiff assisted at a photo shoot here with Etanna (a famous local singer) the other day.

The school children are amazing here. They are beautiful, polite, and well-spoken. Sometimes they have a story to tell, too. This girl told us that the little boy with her was her cousin. They were going home from school. Someone else was following later on. Look at the mischievous glance her cousin is directing at her.

This girl greeted us "Good evening." Then she told us that she was doing well in school. She said she doesn't watch TV or go outside to play when she gets home. She just studies. Then she proudly told us she skipped a grade.

Farther along the path a man was leading a whole group of kids. He stopped me and asked if I could take a picture of the whole group. I was happy to. Then the kids all gathered around to see their faces in the picture. Take a look at the boy on the lower right. He already knows how to pose.

Then along came the last school boy to ask for a picture. He stood there hip-shot with a beautiful smile, gazing off across the gully.

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.

Hellshire Beach near Kingston, Jamaica

People are afraid of Jamaica, that is clear. I have always wondered why. While there is undoubtedly crime here, being here there is no sense that it is more frequent or worse than elsewhere. There is more than enough to make up for it in natural beauty, friendliness of the people, music, creativity, and comfort.

We spent today at Hellshire Beach, out past the causeway on the other side of Portmore. I always take a camera because I never know what will present itself. Today was a day for food, beautiful children, and the always present vendors.

We started the day, as usual, with fresh fried fish, lobster, and festival (a fried, slightly sweet bread in stick form). The fish here are always fresh. The boats come right up to the shore where the fish are scaled and sold directly to the restaurants. The ambiance is a little chaotic, with people coming and going all the time. We sat and watched the people, ate our fish and lobster with escovitch-style hot pepper/onion sauce with vinegar.

Then we went outside to watch what was happening. The beach was very full. There were lots of families in the water, and lots of kids around. Some of them saw me taking pictures and wanted theirs taken. Somehow they wanted to be part of the scene that I was recording. Nobody wanted me to send them a picture or do anything more than show them theirs.



Lots of kids were riding the horses led around by their owners. Every single one of them was happy and smiling. The children in Jamaica are beautiful!



While this was going on a majorly huge speaker system was pounding out music with an impressive bass, earthquake style. Eight 2 foot bass speakers are intentionally pointed at the ground. The ground really shook! The DJ played topical music, anything from reggae to pop to love songs. It was LOUD!

The vendors were out all day long: nuts, "peppa swimps" (pepper shrimps), peanut brittle, ganja, oysters, cotton candy, and more. These guys are always here, day in and day out. Many of them I recognize from being here so many times for fish, sun, and music. My favorites are the bamboo bank guy and the oyster guy. They wander the beach, trying out their lines on everyone, especially tourists. You just sit still and they com to you. The oyster man pulls up, starts shucking while you slurp. He doesn't quit until you say so.

So I have a theory:

• if visitors to Jamaica came to Hellshire and listened to the music and watched the children and families
• if they came and watched the vendors do their business and had a meal
• if they enjoyed the sun

then, maybe they could begin to understand what a lovely place this is. They could enjoy the creativity and joy in the people. They could have the sun and the sand and understand a new point of view. I don't have a problem here. Others should be able to relax and enjoy it, too.

Funeral yesterday

We went to the funeral for Dr. Norman Read, the father of a friend here in Kingston. Dr. Read seems to have been a remarkable man with a remarkable family. He and his wife, both physicians, made their lives here in Kingston for many years. His children, here and in Texas, have lead very full lives, coached and helped by their father. The children and grandchildren made tribute to Dr. Read with eloquence and elegance. We felt we knew him by the end of the service. He seemed to be on of those rare, intelligent individuals who make it all seem easy.

The service was in a very nice chapel with fittings for music and video, both of which were part of the ceremony. After the service we headed up into the hills around Kingston for a dinner on the family's patio. Many of the family's acquaintances were there, celebrating a life well spent.

Valentine's Day at Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill is a resort on top of a mountain range outside Kingston. It is quite a beautiful place. It has a terrific view of Kingston and surrounding mountains.

Yesterday evening we traveled up there to listen to Tanice Morrison sing. The evening began with loading equipment (more than the car could really hold) into the back.

Then we drove up through Papine (really busy over there) and into the really curvy roads. The switchbacks are so bad I was almost puking sick by the time we reached Strawberry Hill. When we got to the top we saw a bush fire going on the top of the next mountain over.



The grounds and buildings are really beautiful. There is a clear sense of design that is really Jamaican.







The whole place was beautifully decorated and set up for romantic Valentine's Day dinner. The main setting was an outdoor gallery with a beautiful view of Kingston lights.





Tanice sang two one hour sets and was pretty tired at the end. We were freezing, too. At about a
three thousand feet in altitude the winds become very brisk and fairly cool.

The audience enjoyed her music, which was topically love songs. The managers stopped by to say that some of the house guests had commented on how much they enjoyed it. Maybe there will be a longer term relationship?

After we finished dinner we spent a little time in the bar. The place has a fireplace and it felt really good. Whatever they were burning had a very spicy smoke. E said it smelled like frankincense. Downstairs there is a shrine to Bob Marley with a large collection of gold and platinum records as well as pictures.

Then we headed home. The ride down was even worse. It was dark, the road was twisty, and we came very close to a part of the road washed out by the last hurricane. Everybody was pretty much exhausted.

Lunch at Auntie Cherry's

Aunt Cherry invited us to lunch at her house today. She lives at the end of a long street with no cross street. Her house is really elegantly decorated. At the back it has a covered room with grilled walls. The room is beautiful, with sofas and a small table, flowers and trees outside, and a nice cool breeze. We had stew peas and Aunt Esther's chicken. Everything was great.

It turns out that Aunt Cherry's real name is Ida May. We never knew that. When she was born the helper told her Mom that the baby was "red as a cherry". The name stuck. Cherry is a truly international person. She has lived a variety of places. For a long time she lived in Switzerland, married to a Swiss citizen. Her relatives are in the US, the UK, Switzerland, Jamaica, and the Caymans.

Cherry's daughter Rosie, a doctor, came by for a while with her two beautiful boys. They are 3 and 5, and very shy. Today they had red tongues from Valentines Day candies. Rosie was PoPo's doctor during the problems she had earlier this spring.

Later on, we took a tour of the back yard. It is really secluded and beautiful. There are lots of plants, flowers, trees, and bushes all around. Everything from orchids to bananas. The yard is a few steps down from the back of the house. There is plenty of room for kids to play and adults to relax.

Kingston afternoon

My brother-in-law has a factory that roasts and packages nuts. I spent the afternoon over there after driving his car down from the house for servicing. His mechanic was on site, having driven his van full of tools to the site.

The SUV had an annoying clunk in the back when hitting bumps. A variety of guesses had been made and the current idea was that the shocks were shot. The mechanic was in the middle of fixing another truck when I arrived, having stripped out the idler arm while lying on his back on a piece of cardboard. He stopped that and proceeded to dismantle the back quarter of the SUV. The shock assembly came out, the springs were compressed, and the shock removed from the assembly. At one point seven people were gathered around the one working guy, providing opinions and questions. It was too long, it was too short, it didn't compress right, it was maybe the wrong item, having been replaced before. After a while the shock went back on and my brother-in-law and I went for a test ride. Nothing had changed. The clunk was still there! Oh, well.

This reminded me of a country ride in the northeastern corner of Jamaica, looking for Reach Falls. We had clearly missed and then turned around to go back. We saw a bench (looked like the stop for a country bus) with at least six people on it. I stopped, rolled down the window, and asked whether they knew where Reach Falls was. Every one of them got up, started talking and gesticulating. Arms were waving, fingers were pointing, the whole crowd talking at once. It was at once a demonstration of the beauty of country Jamaica and amazingly funny. We finally found our way to the falls, though, with their help.

The mechanic had by then finished the other car's idler arm. I took off for the house.

Village Cafe last night

Another good night at the Village Cafe. The headliner, Stephanie Wallace, really drove the crowd hard. She sang a mix of love songs, reggae, and her own work. The early acts were

• A young woman singer who grabbed the crowd, too (name?)
• Ras Pankaj, a jumping Rasta singer with a mixture of old and new reggae and songs about the environment, ganja, etc.
• Chocolate - a young (14 years) singer from Trinidad & Tobago with her own songs; she preached non-violence, then amazed the crowd with her stage presence

From early in the evening, Beenie Man was present. He listened, signed autographs, had his picture taken with various young ladies, and chatted up people in the crowd. I didn't know that he showed up at these events.

Last week's singers were also there (Roslyn Williams and Michael Sean Harris), supporting and listening. People had a really good time.

Mandeville today

We went off to Mandeville today to see a cousin that E had not seen for 40 years. Cissie spends some of her time in Atlanta and some in Mandeville. Mandeville is crowded and lively in the center, but seems to spread out fairly quickly away from the center.

We picked Cissie up at the supermarket she and her husband own. Then we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant with her husband, and went on to Cissie's home at the top of a hill. After Kingston, the cool air and breeze were really nice! Cissie's grandchildren, two girls, were there along with their mother. They were really cute and lively. One is 4 and one is 2.

We had a good long talk (well, I listened), discussing what was going on with our families. As we drove around we also passed the street on which E's coworker's parents live. We'll visit them another time, as we pass through to Negril.

The drive back was not too bad, though there were certainly some maniacs on the road. It takes around 1 1/2 hours to get back to Kingston. The new superhighway - T1 - really improves things. My name for the country part of the road is the "Food Road". In the flat lands you pass stands vending honey. Farther along the road you pass the "Cashew Crossing", a railroad crossing where cashews are sold in bags by roadside vendors. Right after that comes the Juicy Patty factory and a store where you can get patties and lots of other things (e.g., fried chicken, red pea soup, Jamaican meatloaf, coco bread, etc.) Farther along the road starts winding up the hill. In this section there are bags and bags of oranges, as well as stands with coconuts and other fruits. As you get up near Mandeville there is an off the road parking place with a set of stands where you can get things like roast corn, roast yams, fried fish, and other things to eat.

Pepper's last night

Pepper's is a Karaoke bar on Waterloo Road in Kingston. This is a big, open air bar with a stage and music system. The crowd got going around 10PM. This is a good people watching place. Lots of different types, anything from drunken rich kids to skanky looking dance hall girls to hip hop dudes to old fogies like us. People have a good time here and the talent is better than a lot of other places.

The only downside is the music. This tends toward love songs and geriatric oldies. There's nothing new or topical. Some of the people are plainly bored. But there is always the hussle going on.

Rocky Point, Jamaica

We traveled to the eastern edge of the island yesterday. Along the way we stopped to meet up with a family friend. He beckoned to someone else who was going that way. We ended up following them to pick up their daughter. Then they took us to the beach at Rocky Point and had lunch with us. What a pleasant family! It turned out the husband, Dennis, had the same job in the same company E had left when she decided to go to the US to college (quality control in a consumer products company). We had a really nice time talking to them and enjoying the beach and fried fish. The only downside was the sand flies! Their son is to the right.

The roads going east are in terrible shape in some spots. The hurricanes have stripped the asphalt, and the ruts/potholes are very bad. In places, where the sea is alongside, the roads are undercut and marked with spots you cannot drive on. The Yallahs River wash is in its usual terrible state. It looks like a bridge is going in, but at a glacial pace (glaciers are even slower in the tropics...) I am guessing that a tunnel would be much more sensible. A trench burial would work OK, if it was taken deep enough. This spot is perpetually breached in storms and hurricanes. E remembers being trapped on the Yallahs side in her earlier life.

Friday night at Carlos' Cafe

We stopped in about 9:30 or so. The place shows a real sense of design. The tables are set beautifully, there are several alcoves with private settings, the furnishings are very nice! The Cafe is collocated with the MaxBrown boutique, showing contemporary designs.

Carlos' Cafe is a karaoke place. Lots of local talent showed up. They were, as usual, of varying talent. Tanice Morrison stepped on stage for a song, showing her professional background and voice. It didn't seem to intimidate anyone when the audience showed a lot of enthusiasm.

Gung Hee Fat Choy

Family, near-family, friends - all at a Chinese New Year dinner Wednesday night in western Kingston. Lots of good food, conversation, and a very pleasant night.

Live music at the Village Cafe

5-Feb-2008 Tuesday night live music at the Village Cafe. Michael Sean Harris was the headliner, but the earlier acts stole the show!

The first group, The Nomads, was great. They mixed a reggae backbeat with a fresh new approach. At times it seemed like hiphop, at times like jazz. That's kind of confusing, but it amounted to really good, fresh, new music.

The second group was all about the singer, Roslyn Williams, who backs up Itanna and others at times. She had the crowd going wild. It was a mixture of love songs and old standards. The women is definitely a pro.

Michael Sean Harris seems to be in love with his own voice. He is good, and the group is magnificent, but at times he was too into modulation and falsetto.

St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica

Visited St. Elizabeth Parish on the south coast of Jamaica last weekend. We stayed in a closed hotel that was proposed as an acquisition. We visited Little Ochi, Lovers' Leap, Treasure Beach and a lot of country in between. This is pretty country, but exists in a parched, limestone part of Jamaica. The roads are pretty terrible in parts, but the sights are worth the trip.