... three little (jail)birds ...

... Mark Myrie, David Smith and Christopher Coke are three Jamaicans who've achieved copious notoriety of late ... in recent months each has had high-profile legal attention to deal with ... Smith has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for financial fraud, Coke is incarcerated until such time as he can be put on trial for charges related to drug and weapons trafficking and, in his own drug conspiracy case, Myrie, better known as Buju Banton, waits in his Florida cell for a jury decision which will be known within hours of you reading this, if not before ...

... it bears mentioning that there is none among us who has never done a foolish thing they would not repeat ... it is also true that a hard lesson or two, learned and addressed, can lead anyone to an improved life, to become a humbler, wiser and better person ...

... as a Grammy-winning, veteran musician Banton is well known internationally, and with no apology to the sector of the Jamaican public who revere their talismanic "Dudus" as a leader-of-men, Coke doesn't have comparable star status ... there is a hint of phonetic comedy to his main alias, perhaps creating the need for the alternate option, Presi (President) ... nothing funny about social unrest and DEA extradition to face Uncle Sam's eager prosecution though ...

... there is a tradition of Jamaican entertainers adopting the name Banton ... in addition to Buju there's Burro, Pato, Mega, Starkey and others ... Bantons all ... it's a grandiloquent moniker signifying top-ranking status and super-boss magnitude, verging on the titular, as in Buju the Banton ... no such issue for the more prosaic name David Smith operated with (lest you thought there was a common thread there) ... white-collar crime doesn't usually grab as many "sexy" headlines, in fact Smith's sleight of hand probably wouldn't warrant mention in this company if it weren't for for the audacious scale of his (and his wife's) slippery Olint Investment Ponzi scheme ...

...what may well be a common thread though, laid bare for all to see, are clear indicators of pervasive malaise within Jamaican society specifically, and likely, wider society as a whole, given that Jamaica has no monopoly on scandalous behaviour ...

... it is not entirely surprising when a financier who amasses personal fortune by unscrupulous means gets found out, nor does anyone do a double-take when an inner-city don turns out to be involved in illegal activities, but when a prominently bellicose Rastafarian "herbalist" is implicated in cocaine consumption and dealing, the incongruity is startling ("Sensimilla Persecution" doesn't sound as sincere now, I wore out the acapella version on my 45) ... Buju Banton's music is prolific and varied enough to interest a variety of listeners ... even those who find his caustic, throaty delivery hard to take, can hear something melodious and redeemable in "Untold Stories", "Destiny" or "'til Shiloh" ...

... some of us who count ourselves among his fans have periodically been challenged by this complicated talent, particularly his inability to walk far from the controversies that followed him after the notorious monster hit "Boom,Bye,Bye" ... his aspiration to Marleyesque recognition is heavy-handed, despite his obvious reverence for Bob's essence and notwithstanding the close relationship to Stephen Marley ... maybe we should see this as merely another contradiction ... Buju "walk like a champion, talk like a champion" Banton is, after all, the same one who is also known as Gargamel ... a dread name when growled with the right inflection, but look it up ... it's a smurf cartoon character ...

... I am allowed to feel disappointed in some of the choices of my countrymen ... they will have to live with the consequences of their personal actions ... I use this moment to say my piece regarding Buju in part because the jury is well into their deliberations and are presumably sequestered, so adding my voice to all the noise at this time will have no bearing on the hype factor ... plus ... this is as good a time as any to comment because I suspect the stain on Buju's credibility will remain regardless of the verdict and many will be less forgiving than I ...

... my verdict? ... guilty of hypocritical mindlessness and incomprehensible lack of vision ... but not guilty enough to dash away such prodigious talent ... "it's not an easy road," he sang ... true dat, complete redemption will be hard to come by ...

*** Post Script ***

"said, I had a close one yesterday, Jah put an angel over me"-"Close One Yesterday"-Inna Heights-1997

... the jury came back hung, evenly split, retrial set for December will provide the next chapter in this story ...

... a guinep by any other name ...

... mamoncillo ... limoncillo ... quenepa ... chenet ... kinnip ... genip ... somehow Barbados got it very wrong calling it ackee ... to further confuse matters it's called Spanish Lime in Florida and what's Surinam thinkin' when they call it sensiboom? ...

... menuhcarewha'yuwaacaallit, it'll always be guinep to me ... it's a seasonal fruit, enjoyed throughout Central America and The Caribbean, and, if you've been paying attention to Ackeelover Chronicles, you know I take fruit very seriously ...

... I have a child-like affection for this summer-bearing delight which I may have taken for granted until I came to live outside my native Jamaica ... in Canada and elsewhere I sometimes catch myself rhapsodising my way through conversations where the other party hasn't had the pleasure ... often eliciting bemused response as I romanticise this delectable drupe ...
















... y'see ... botanically, guineps classify in the drupe group ...

... "what's it similar to?", comes the standard question, and even though I understand the lychee or longan comparison, it's a stretch ... when properly ripe they are a sweet, succulent, satisfying snack, inexpensively available at practically every four-way-stop intersection ... winter travellers miss the season and the opportunity to raid actual trees, which tend to grow randomly and can be fair-game if you beat local kids to the bounty ...

... the easily-cracked, removed and discarded green shell exposes a smooth flesh-covered seed, which, when sucked clean and commonly spat any-which-way, creates inoffensive, low-impact bio-litter ... tastes and textures will vary from tree to tree but you can't eat just one unless early picking leaves them too tart ...

... a quick web-search for other guinep anecdotes turns up several references to the coveted-for-its-size, twin-guinep ... a comparatively rare fruit with a double semi-ovoid seed ... but nowhere in my research did I see mention of an example with a triple seed! ... now, understand this, I've voraciously consumed these things since boyhood and never come across such a specimen ... nor has anyone I've asked ... I didn't know they even existed, yet my pickin' tree this year yielded three such examples! ... there must be profound meaning in this omen ...














... the male tree will not produce fruit ... giving rise to the term man guinep, a Jamaican jibe at men with no offspring ... and, if there is a more indelible stainer of clothing than guinep juice I'd like to be warned ... eating too many under-ripe guineps can interfere with intestinal regularity and the smooth gullet-sized seed has been known to cause accidental asphyxiation ... so ... mindfulness is required while ... um ... sucking the seed ...

... at time of writing, guinep season is winding down and I'm happy to report I feasted every chance I got, as if preparing for the inevitable day when I am back in Canada unable to procure the produce ... I even learned a thing or two which I hadn't known, despite a lifetime of experience with these things ... older folk tell me it's a great source of iron ... who knew? ...

... I'm advised now too that a certain care is required in cross-culturally referencing this fruit ... shortening mamoncillo can offend in some Latin contexts, as mamon translates to "arrogant asshole" or the more pointed "cocksucker" ... and to a Filipina, the Spanish-derived word mamon can also refer to pendulous breasts ... which, when I think about it, actually makes more sense considering the full Latin assignation ... melicoccus bijugatus ...

... I love me some bijug-at-us, but guineps will sate for now ...

... i-slam, you-slam, livin' on almshouse lane ...

... there's nothing like the threat of a little koran or bible burning to prompt waves of indignation and reflexive repercussion ...

... the post 9/11 world is crying out for a new kind of detente ...

... growing up Jamaican you're not often exposed to that sort of secular vitriol nor are you given any divine answers to life's questions, but you are supposed to become familiar with supernatural mysticisms ... geographically blessed, the island was fashioned out of disparate strands by that very kind of energy ...

... looked at another way, I come from this vibrant land in a region which boasts country-comforts and urban challenges both plentiful and real ... they combine to make it a great place to practice faith ...with more churches per square mile than anywhere else in Christendom (Guinness Book of World Records), the people are into faith ... if the colonially-imported fundamentals of high and low Christianities don't entirely engage, then check the knowledge of faith-systems anchored in the enduring African nature of the popular zeitgeist ...

... this is an age of resurgent tribalism ... I choose my images thoughtfully for this post, knowing there are those who will constipate at the sight of a dreadlocked last supper or sigh at the repeated use of Bob Marley's image as a banner ... instead of a currently active representative ... or anything else for that matter ... ... well, while Marley is still the benchmark standard, there was a prior time when non-dreadlocked Prince Buster invoked Allah and became Jamaica's scandal ... and all the rage ...

... public focus on Prince Buster's Islamic involvement has faded in time and the currently-informed will now recognize Sheik Abdullah al-Faisal, deported recently to Jamaica from England via Africa, as the scandal du jour ... and the outrage ... once again giving Jamaica a home-grown link to the apparently insoluble impasse between Christians and Muslims ... both camps appear to insist on moral and territorial ascendancy ...

... inter-faith tension is nothing new ... what could be new is a neo-Rasta application to the friction based on the intrinsic one love/one heart tenet ... simplistic as it sounds ... for ultimately this must be the bottom line ... "a man is just a man" as Garnet Silk sang ... freedom of faith is an inalienable right but not if one belief occludes the liberty of another perspective ... then it becomes tyranny ... no faith has a veto on this ...

... most of us in the human family have been exposed by now to the top messengers and palliative philosophies of Rastafari, the pre-eminent Ethiocentric Jamaican belief-system ... and have had a taste of that rhythm ... or riddim ... in spite of the anomalous fact that the spearheading ambassadors of Roots Rock Reggae, Bob Marley and The Wailers, never actually got to Rock The Casbah like that timeless Clash refrain, in an Islamic country ...

... nonetheless, the vibe permeates ... in Canada I had the pleasure of reasoning with random Iranians across a language barrier during one of GB's memorable Bob Marley birthday bashes at Vancouver's Graceland niteclub back-in-the-day, grooving to half-Muslim, half-Christian Ivorian singer Alpha Blondy and some stunning Reggae-Rai fusion from North Africa ... 'mongst plenty Jamaican raggamuffin dancehall ...

... I understand ... or overstand, that arabs and muslims can identify with themes found in Rasta-inspired Jamaican music ... Algiers, Lagos, Paris, London, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and New York are fertile ground for cultural interface when the theme is togetherness ... music as healer ...

... Jamaica's metaphysical dimension engenders psychological pride in the face of often jarring mismanagement and rampantly destructive social habits, but its dynamism is also its strength ... witness the creative outlook and humor of the people ... and the patwa (patois), that ever-more-phing language of choice ...

... any guy burn dis ya bible? ... brimstone an' more fyah!!

... one word that has taken on alternate meaning after treatment from Jamaica's relentless etymology machine is "almshouse" (i.e. poorhouse ... literally an address where alms are collected for the poor) ... in the Jamaican context its original meaning, though not lost, has given way to popular meanings ... foolishness, fuckery, combativeness, cussedness ... wickedness an' badmind ...

... though this might sound like hot air to those inclined to dismiss, it's meant as an elementary discourse on an entangled situation ... so just imagine, as Bob did ... if Imam and everyman, and woman ... and I man ... could be Irie man ...

... leave out the almshouse ... simple key open complex lock ...

... the route of Earl 2 ... no jestering ...

... it's really a quesion of degrees, this hurricane lottery ... the fine calibrations of latitude and longitude that combine to determine which territory, is affected by which part, of which cyclonic effect of which hurricane ... this time I experienced a hurricane growing to Category Two status as Earl's eye shaved the north-eastern side of the twin-island state of Antigua & Barbuda ...

... at regular intervals, in anticipation of weather to come, there are periods of such intense calm you can talk yourself into a delusory resentment ..."it ain't comin', all that work for nuttn"...

... followed, hopefully, by ... "I'm glad I hooked that shit up yo!" ...

... barometric adjustment is responsible, altering normal air-pressure ... the most commonly used descriptor is "eerie quiet"... this is the sound of stealth, an experience in itself ... debris flew, trees bent and rain didn't so much fall as drive through ... hurricane Earl's core elements put on a lusty show, allowing me a taste of what it's like near the centre of one of these things ...














... something I learned is that it's easier to do "before" or "after" photography than it is to do the more daring "during" ... my best effort, taken from a nearby villa, was as thrilling and wet as it looked ... "my heartbeat needed that jolt" I noted, still feeling the inside of my ribcage as I dried off my spattered camera lens ...

... crop devastation, islandwide power outtages and predictable gas shortages are first on any checklist of post-hurricane issues ... as is clean-up ... Antigua cleans up fast if you're wondering ...














... memories of being the first one outside afterwards, when the sensation of awe at nature is still fresh in the mind, allow me to flirt with post-apocalyptic fantasies from the vantage of an essentially intact world ... and somewhere down the line in the path of Earl ... be it island, U.S. or Canadian mainland ... people will be humbled and reminded of our planet's capricious power ...













... then of course there are the beaches ... my seashell source ... the caressing sea turns aggressor, shuffling sands and casting up flotsam and jetsam (a term that, since childhood, has alternately made me cringe or chuckle due to its ... cuteness?) ... preliminary beachcombing yielded a perfect pole to support a clothesline and a usable, if slightly weathered, snorkel ... there's lots more at the high-water line but mostly not dead long enough for collection ...













... as a strengthened hurricane Earl moves onward to its destiny, we in his wake cast an eye forward to watch copycats Fiona and Gaston make their westward trek ... it'll likely be an island feeling the first lash of these seasonal visitors before North American media-hype swings into high gear ...

... wherever hurricanes make landfall there'll be a price to pay ... closures and cancellations inevitably cost money ...

... we all grumbled about the prolonged blackout while tossing out the contents of our warm refrigerators and mopping up puddles ... but these inconveniences are given perspective when you consider the fate of the lineman who was electrocuted yesterday while working on service restoration ...

... hurricane storm is no joke ...

... the route of Earl ... hurricane watch ...

... the sound of the surf is louder than usual tonight ... it's been a calm-sea kind of year so far ... great for swimming ...

... when you live on an island you become attuned to the sea ... even if swimming is not actually your thing ... and the wind too, everyone develops a sixth-sense about the Atlantic storms and hurricanes that pick their way through here each year ... tracking one hundred and sixty years of storms on one map paints a wooly palimpsest over the whole region ... from Barbados to Biloxi and Panama to P.E.I. ... right now I'm located somewhere in the lower middle of that cartographic Don King do ...

















... the 2010 hurricane season is upon us now, but my instinctive sense of caution and writer's objectivity are compromised by the fact that I have not ... ever ... yet ... experienced true hurricane conditions ... there've been a few near misses, even some threatening last-hurrahs that made it as far as Metro Toronto, but I still cannot check that box on a bucket list ... I'm a virgin! ... that wasn't easy to say but there, I said it ...

... I'm told of 1995 in Antigua and Barbuda ... a serious year for storms, including the week-apart, one-two punch of Louis and Marilyn ... this season is getting rolling slightly slower than '95 but I see similarities in the patterns and trajectories already ... tropical storm Earl is heading this way following behind hurricane Danielle, now eyeing-up my friends in Bermuda ... the severe weather experts think Earl needs close watching but I'm thinkin' ... "hey weatherdude, what's with the initials?" ...















... if Earl were to become my hurricane tale ... would I come to reference it in the future like ol' time people name-check hurricanes from their past? ... the long remembered Charlie from 1951 ... Hattie which sacked Belize(then British Honduras) in '61 ... Gilbert, 1988 - immortalized in Jamaican song like Hattie before it ... Ivan, 2004 - that mash up Jamaica and all but sank The Cayman Islands ... the answer to that is, yeah probably ...

... having spent most of the day putting up hurricane shutters I suspect that would be one of my primary reminiscenses ... it's not a small job I assure you and there's a quixotic element to the task ... humility in the presence of indomitable nature ... brings to mind the weighty quote "when you think it's peace and safety, it's a sudden destruction" (Marley-"Rat Race"/Thessalonians 5:3) ...




















... collective wisdom cautions me against wishing on a storm ... violent weather can bring misery and inconvenience too, but until I've felt that barometric pressure yo-yo like a mo-fo, seen a coconut tree bend double and witnessed a few random objects or stray animals becoming projectiles, I may feel I haven't lived ...

... in these islands it can feel like dodging bullets on a frontline as cyclones sling off the broad Atlantic divide 'twixt old world and new ... those around me can rest easy though ... my other theory is that I repel these things with nascent serendipity ...

... watch, as Mr. T.S. Earl corrects course and veers away the second he sees me and those formidable shutters I put up ... hah!

... cornbread philosophy ...

... "life is like a batch of muffins" ... so Reverend Gump said ...

... or do I hear a Martha Stewart periphrase? ...

... "when the going gets rough the tough bake bread" ...

... either way ...

... course grind balances fine blend ... a little salt to our sweet ...

... let's stir it up ... dry parts prime to come wet ...

... light-beaten egg ... finger-greased pan ... high oven heat ...

... and ...

... if you've ever seen sunshine emerge from a stove ...

... or smelled wafting readiness from a cook's kitchen ...

... you've "been to the mountaintop" ... gazed out and beheld ...

... my golden cornbread ...

... just add butter...

... mystic revelation ...

... if you're a parent ... even if you're not ... it can be challenging to explain the concept of God to an eight year-old in a manner which will satisfy both the explainer and the explainee ...

... I find a good tool is an old-fashioned mother-nature watch ... the type science helps us to understand while often sidestepping the element of supernatural wonder that is empirically infinite and ultimately beyond the rational ken of a human brain ...

... sometimes ... like yesterday ... the heavens intervene with a practical lesson the like of which seems tailor-made for the purpose of amazing minds ... young and old ... the sort of thing for which the only answer is God ...

... the small storm cloud passed ... with its electricity and spilling greyness giving way to bleach-white puffiness and freshly showered clear blue sky ... the afternoon sun, low-set and partially obscured, provided the active ingredient for a prismatic display far more unusual than a comparatively mundane rainbow ... it looked like photoshop run amok in the sky ...

... I was transfixed ... bobbing in the same sea where it had just drizzled warm droplets ... muttering in dismay at not having my trusty Canon while at the same time trying to instill a sense of Creation in a young mind ...

... irony hit me square in the head after nearly ten minutes when the little voice ... God bless her soul ... announced excitedly that which had not occurred to me ... my mobile was ashore ... there was no time for sheepishness ... young ones do get some things quicker ... I swam back to the beach to capture what remained of the now fading phenomenon with my iPhone ...

















... gingerly holding the iPhone with dripping wet hands I hurriedly snapped away as the multi-colored spectrum retreated from the spectacular, to the merely beautiful ...

... when I look at the pictures I can see the whole scene as it was, in my mind's eye ... it includes the Rastaman bathing there too with his family of four ... when it came time to leave we did so all at once, wide-eyed and chattering of the remarkable vision ...

... "we got a blessing today," said I ...

... "yeh man," came the reply with a knowing flash of dreadlocks ...

... "mystic!"

... "somebody pass me the bullbud!" ...

... in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue ... so goes the enduring children's ditty ... and the rest is history, as they say, when it comes to the expansionary re-population of western lands known as The Americas and the Caribbean ...

... centuries of European-driven enterprise, enslaved African labour, indentured Asians and the inevitably cross-fertilizing populations of their descendants with more recent arrivals have evolved into societies that reflect blended identities jubilantly ... perhaps moreso than many an older culture ...

... this is a particularly identifiable feature of societies with numerically strong African bloodlines ...














... intra-regional variations abound of course, usually boasting contagious music designed primarily for partying and collective street celebrations ... from Rio de Janeiro to Toronto via The Caribbean and New Orleans, adapted African rhythms and body movement characterise carnivals, Mardi Gras style ...

... I got a taste of the recent Antigua Carnival festivities which were dominated by The Burning Flames ... part of the musical nucleus that supported Montserrat calypsonian Arrow on his huge "Hot Hot Hot" hit from 1983 ... this year's boom tune is the catchy "Bullbud" ... a coinage for a stiff homemade whipping implement fashioned from a dried donkey dong (no photo) ...














... people form themselves into tribe-like troupes for the week of ca na val ... they function like mini-economies crossed with all-inclusive clubs ... for a set participation tithe you get to wave your flag in community for the week-long party ... all day and all night, without worrying where your next drink is coming from ... sleep is the only casualty ...














... jump-up provides an annual opportunity to shuffle-bounce down high street as bare as you dare ... a stage on which a bureaucracy-bound civil servant or a by-rote clerk can release her inner virago ... where a post-partum silhouette cramps no style and reminds you that real-life ratios do not favour the svelte ... as pleasing to observe as the latter may be ...















... women of every description plot all year to assemble elaborate ensembles ... men too seize the opportunity to experience the glam thrill of face paint, glitter, lipgloss and leopard prints ...

... comfortable footwear, that will last the week but you are prepared to ruin, and bloodshot eyes complete the uniform ...














... some seize on the parade for an entirely different type of opportunity ... gettin' on bad ... this paradox of public anonimity provides a controlled outlet for the full range of our human expression ... including the eroto-sexuality which exists in all of us but still can shock and acquire taboo through denial in purportedly polite societies ...

... it's a family show for the people ... bring da kids, they're people too ... and sure as the sun shines, one day when they grow up they'll wanna let off some similar steam themselves ...














... call it Afro-Caribbean vaudeville if you like, musical street theatre ... or you could just regard it as island flava ... the essense of which is a hereditary override of an overseer's set of rules and mores ... a mindset of liberation ... in this case commemorating the original August 1st 1834 Emancipation Day in Antigua ...

... wha' you lookin' at? ... you don't like the holes in my hosiery? ... kiss mi backside! ... den come dance nuh ...













... the first week in August also sees Jamaicans celebrate the 1962 Independence from Britain with official fanfare ... in fact, all over the post-colonial world freedom triggers conscious revelry and unconscious sense-memory ... this is impetus for nation-building and fortification of cultural identity ...

... last lap, the summary parade on the final day makes for myriad photo-ops and embroiders the social fabric too ...














... of course these ain't the old days and somebody's gotta pay for all this ... corporate sponsors, like telecom player Digicel, prominent local and regional businesses from haberdasheries to motor dealerships find, in participation, a way to light up brand recognition and par-tay at the same time ...

... I suspect those that prosper most are the ones that quench the thirst and fuel the fun with spirits (rum) and beverage (beer) ...














... it would make sense that there's a certain amount of costume material re-cycling from year to year ... and ... I would like to believe that no actual peacocks, birds of paradise, or endangered species were harmed in pursuit of plumage ...













... with there being next to no trouble to speak of, it's clear a good time was had by all ...

... note to self ... wherever I'm at in a year's time I'm gonna find me some j'ouvert action ... an' get on bad!