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WHAT'S HAPPENING by
Todd Mangatal
Greetings
To all, my on-line family:
Wow
Slick, you finally busted out of this L7 Square!
Freaks like you and I could never funk in here.
A few years back you got in touch with the “Dream Maker” and
he made all of your dreams come true.
You were “Standing on the Top” hanging out with the
Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and Billy D.
You introduced us to your good friend “Mary Jane”, who to
this day “makes us feel all right and makes our heart sing, and
she’s still my main thang”! You
and Teena created “Fire and Desire” and you were just a “Sucker
for her love”. Then you
brought us the Mary Jane Girls, who we hung out with “All Night
Long”, along with Process and the DooRags, and you even had us hanging
out in the “Stone City” with the band.
Suddenly something happened though, you started to ride the
“white pony”, began hanging out with one too many “Super
Freaks”, and rapping with “Loosey”.
But just like you said “When you are standing on the top, there
is no place to go, but down, down, down”, until no one even knew your
name except the police man. Well,
with all this said, all I can say is “Blow Danny” one more time!
James
Johnson aka “Rick James” dead at 56!
You, Rick was a very talented and versatile artist, and we are
going to miss you, and all the great music you brought us.
Me, and Mary will continue hanging out and will always thing of
you!
Last
week we lost one of my favorite artists, the Funk Master himself the
great Rick James. Yes, Rick
was one of the best artist and performer, and his music was what my wife
and I grew up listening to. Oh,
I so fondly remember the days of “ Fire and Desire”, “Super
Freak” and my favorite “Mary Jane”.
Wow, what fun those days were!
It was a real shock to hear about his passing, especially now
that he was on tour and trying to make a comeback.
My opening paragraph (above) is our tribute to Rick!
Happy
Belated Jamaica Independence!
For
the independence weekend we basically chilled at home. On
Saturday, for a minute we made it by the T&T Days in the Park event
in Baltimore and that was nice. We were unable to make it on
Sunday, but we understand it was fabulous, the crowd, the performances
by all the artists, especially Shadow and J.M.C. Triveni (who did a
great job backing up Shadow), and the “liming”.
Oh, I must congratulate Sam'O on placing 2nd in the Calypso
Monach Competition. All the reports from our on-line family and
friends were really great; they all indicated they had a wonderful time
over the entire weekend, and especially on Sunday.
Upon
being presented with tickets to attend the 2004 Summer Splash here in
Maryland on Sunday, we decided to check this event out. This 2004
Summer Splash featured Beenie Man, Lady Saw, Machal Montano, Vybes
Kartel and many other artists. Being in the business it's usual,
and always a joy for me/us to focus on the entire set up of the show,
and that overall "look" was great, which included the
wonderful stage, the great lights, sound, etc. and most importantly the
atmosphere was "off the hook", it's nothing better than
chilling, drinking, eating and talking with friends.
Unfortunately, the only thing that left much to be desired was the
actual performances from the artists except for Machal Montano. He
was the best act, and in my opinion "turned out" the concert.
It was nice to see some of the regular DC Carnival vendors from NY, as
well as some local ones. I must "big up" Juicy on the
great Jerk Chicken. Boy,
his jerk chicken this past Sunday was the "bomb"! Yes,
you heard me rave last week about the Jerk Chicken place I found at
Church and Nordstrand Streets in New York, but I must say Juicy’s was
just as great. I’m only
sorry that we can only get Juicy’s great Jerk Chicken during
the summer, and at the big outdoor reggae events.
Now
back to the actual show, well the DJs didn't do too bad, they played the
music right for a change, however what was very disappointing for us was
the performances from all the artists except for Machal Montano.
All of these artists must have forgotten, or just didn't care that this
show was open to all ages (many folks had brought their children, and
the entire family to this event). I personally think this show
should have been called the "Slackness Tour", because it was
all about "Slackness”, “Slackness” and more
“Slackness". How much can you hear people talk/sing about
"how great and pretty their private parts are", and how great
they can perform in bed, etc? It got extremely tired and
“lame" after a while. Don't get me wrong, I knew exactly
what Lady Saw has to offer, along with many of the other artists, and I
truly had no problem with it, but enough was enough!
Why couldn’t they take ½ their allotted time on stage to sing
about positive things instead of non-sense (personal things that needed
to be kept in the bedroom)! There
is a time and place for everything, and this wasn’t it, because this
was a family outdoor show. Don’t
get me wrong, their performances were perfect for the club (late night)
atmosphere (for adults only), and there’s no problem with that, but a
little sensitivity and thought should have been given to the fact that
Children were in attendance. I'm
definitely not at all a "fuddy duddy", nor do I have children,
but I want you to imagine as a parent (who came out and brought the
entire family to a family show/concert), how awful it must have been to
have your kids exposed to this kind of "slackness" talk and
music. I truly love this music and feel it needs to really cross
over and reach to the point that "hip hop" has reached, but I
can't see it getting to that point this way. There are lots of
positive reggae music that gets no airplay, and I was hopeful that with
the few that has “crossed over”, it may perhaps help all the
positive music and positive artists to become exposed to the mainstream.
This concert actually had a great crowd and indeed it seemed that it
brought out the "cross over" folks, however, instead of the
artists singing and performing more of their positive stuff, they choose
to sing their “raunchiest” tunes. As for Beenie Man, we
were completely surprised by his performance, it just didn't capture us.
I thought we were the only people who felt this way, but after
discussing our feelings with many folks, they too came to the same
conclusion. All the performances except for Machal were awful (in
my opinion)! Other than all that "Slackness" it was a
welcomed relief when Machal Montano finally took the stage, AND THAT HE
DID! If you know me, then you know I am not a Soca Man, but
I must say Machal captured the entire crowd, and had them jumping and
waving, it was nice to see all the flags from the different islands just
waving upon his command. He actually refused to leave the stage,
and practically had to be "removed".
He really performed very well, and it was nice to see the
versatility in the music his band Xtatic played. Good Job Machal
and Xtatic!!!!!!! Out of
all these artists that was on this show, he’s the only one that has
any longevity. He’s truly a “STAR”.
Hopefully, he will find the right representation to take him to
where he deserves to be.
As
for the rest of them, I think it’s our responsibility to make a
statement and let them know that we are not going to accept these types
of performances. Yes, I
know they are only following what’s happening in “hip hop” music,
but reggae music has always been better than that, and in my opinion,
much of “hip hop” music is a large part of the problems that we are
experiencing with our youths today.
I always thought reggae music would be the music that could
change the world and bring us together, but if this is the direction
it’s going to take, all it’s going to do is get swallowed up into
“hip hop”, and the exploitation of Caribbean music will continue.
So I ask you to do your part with helping to save reggae music,
and our Caribbean youths!
If
you attended this show, hit me back and let me know what you thought of
it todd@ariousentertainment.net.
This
weekend on Saturday, August 14, 2004, you must check out the 25th Annual
Trinidad and Tobago "Round Robin" Soccer Tournament in
Baltimore @ Lake Clifton Park. This event begins at 8am and
ends at 8pm. Food and Drinks will be on Sale. For more
information contact Mark Kendal 410-866-0250. Scroll
below and check out the ad for all the details.
Don’t
forget this Sunday, August 15th is DC Caribbean Carnival Inc. Annual
Awards Presentation Ceremony. From 6pm to 10pm. CLICK
HERE FOR MORE DETAILS or log on to the Carnival site www.dccaribbeancarnival.com.
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Have
a wonderful weekend!
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