... 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!

... ship sail, sail fast ...

... a ship floated out of here last evening ... into the grey back wall of a modest storm ...
... all tin-pan and turquoise rail ... plexiglass accent out rigging sleep decks ...
... layered white circuitboard ... chevrons of lifeboat roe seed ...
... sit stolid on the water ...

... en route ...

... I love watching cruiseships ... slip off into night ... but this time I had cause to pause ...

... if this was coastal Louisiana ...

... adventure invaded by raw crude ... top-kill drop on a delta-wide dream scene ...
... tar-stained hull siding ... contaminated ... with grease ...

... streak and globule ...
... no more briny lung full ... whipped-up ocean seaspray ...
... instead ...

... devilist carbo-chemical pungency ...

... provoked by Big Petroleum turmoil ...

... what now? ... sail around? ...

... Distant Relatives ...

... "if this world were mine/I'd play rub-a-dub all the time"... you'll sometimes hear me spontaneously sing this out in my best Dennis Brown style, as if to broadcast the contentment a reggae soundtrack brings to my very heartbeat ... when I mix-up my selection with other styles of Jamaican music or hybrids thereof, and intersperse chosen tracks from non-Jamaican genres, I find I can enjoy continuous musical companionship ... I've collected audio this way forever and do appreciate other music-forms ... so, when I experience a tasty tune, a solid LP/CD or cross-genre fusion, I indulge my sensory need by extending the collection...

... enter the Nasir Jones-Damian Marley alliance ...















... Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones is a pre-eminent New York rapper and son of Mississipian jazz'n'blues musician Olu Dara (if the birthers ask), "Nas" needs no introduction to the hip-hop world ... Damian Robert Nesta Marley a.k.a. "Jr. Gong" also bears the name of his father ... the Iron, Lion, Zion scion of his lineage ... his mother, Cindy Breakespeare, won the 1976 Miss World Competition ...

... in spite of this princely pedigree ... or perhaps because of it ... the aristocratic duo forged a strong relationship in studio and on stage ... and straight to the ears of each other's core audience ...














... it should be noted that the recent "Distant Relatives" CD is only the latest fruit of their joint effort ... and that it was a long time in the making rather than a hastily convened affair ... significant too that musicians were in-studio with the vocalists ... resulting in a rewardingly cohesive stand-alone work ... eloquent and contemporary in content yet traditional in concept ...













... perfomer ego is an easily identifiable tendon in the muscle fibre of Hip-Hop, and frankly, a large part of why we buy it when we do ... or reject it when we find ourselves discomfited by it's more uncompromising tones ... similarly ... regurgitative versions of "the half that's never been told"(another reference to a Dennis Brown classic) and millenarian Rastafarian themes can cause a listener to move and groove in approval, or close-up and pose-off if left cold by the message ... Nas and Junior Gong know that one way to eschew ego and regurgitation is to skew toward the often-imitated-but-never-duplicated Bob Marley model ...













... lo and behold ... there's ample room onstage for conscious message, dancehall skank, Hip-Hop hype, colorful urban-lingo, two-finger gunshot salutes and a couple of maturing princes under the banner of Bob Marley's Ethio-visionary worldview ... the result is an assuredly honest collaboration worthy of props inside and outside artificial human borders ... these figurative distant relatives make modern music in a philosophical state of unity (or I-nity if you can dig it) ... served up and followed up by tours, TV talk-shows, press-junkets and special appearances ...














... to dismiss conviction of purpose and sincere belief in this mission as preaching ... or to judge song titles like "Count Your Blessings"or "Patience" (two of my faves) as light or trite in sentiment, is as egregious as adding negative stigma to the word "liberal"... and twice as damaging to one's edification ...













... upliftment for Africa at home and abroad is the aim here ... the philanthropic use of generated proceeds and serious countenance of these "riddim piranhas/like two Obamas," bespeaks a common calling and sense of purpose ... the sort of thing that elevates better music above other good music ... this is exemplified on "My Generation" which successfully updates the last track on the Melody Makers 1991 album "Jahmekya"... Joss Stone and Lil Wayne are drafted in on that one for more width ... elsewhere, strategic Stephen Marley vocals and co-production chops add weight ... and ... there's the late, great Dennis Brown again, sampled on "Land Of Promise" to rootsify the proceedings ...













... guest appearances by Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan add extra Africa to great effect including a cool turn on the summarising final track "Africa Must Wake Up"... which incidentally can segue sweetly into "T.I.A." (This Is Africa), first cut on his own release "Troubador", which features a "Simmer Down" Bob Marley sample ... K'naan's link to Africa's World Cup 2010 with "Wavin' Flag", and Damian's appearance on that CD too, ties it all together appropriately ... which is the whole point innit, One Blood/One Love ... movement of Jah people ...











... no matter how you cut it, this recording is a Marleyesque statement ... that it partners seamlessly with Nas and K'naan's Hip-Hop agenda seems the most natural thing in the world ...

... "Distant Relatives" had me at "As We Enter", the irresistable opener subsequently co-opted for a slam-dunk dubplate remix for Stone Love ... back in the day, my own grandparents lived one minute above where Damian lived as a toddler, at the foot of Russell Heights in Kingston, Jamaica ... passing by, I'd curiously crane my neck to catch a glimpse of this golden child of famous parentage ... now he's a hard-working standard-bearer of his father's unstoppable legacy and a bridge-builder through intelligent collaborations and his own solo output ...

... see 'ow t'ings work? ... keep it locked ...

... y viva Espana ...

... a rousing chorus of "Y Viva Espana" will echo for at least four years following Spain's triumph over The Netherlands and the world in a gritty Sunday kickabout yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa ... the rest of us would do well to learn some of their silky ball control and the choral refrain of that song ...












... in the aftermath of the month-long tourney I feel like a glutton who has eaten too much of his favourite food, washed it down with a pint of Guinness and topped it off with a rich chocolate bar ... the World Cup for me is a sumptuous stew of stimulants ...

... foremost of course are the games themselves, but there's also this boyhood pipedream that will never go away ... imagine playing in such a high-profile showcase, dribbling around tackles to score a super-goal or three ... if you've ever laced on a pair of boots you'll not only know what I mean, but you'll also forgive my going from the sublime to the ridiculous by including a photo of this bunch of unlikely lads ...













... the modern game, with its hierarchies, tactical approaches, theatrics, personalities, gamesmanships and economics, gets to preen at regularly scheduled competitions ... paramount is the gran'daddy of 'em all, the FIFA World Cup, which is all that and football too, lest we lose sight of the eleven-a-side, battle-for-the-ball aspect of the spectacle ... and what a spectacle! ...












... the 2010 incarnation, like all the others that preceded it, had its share of talking points ... the recurring beefs about the ball and the referees are nothing new if you are familiar with the beast, nevertheless, the monumental undertaking served up enough sporting entertainment to provide me another landmark against which to calibrate any retrospective of my life, via memories World Cups stretching back to 1970 ... the English have even kept the spectre of the previous one alive, ho hum ...

... but this one was a little bit different ...
















... enter the red, gold and green of Africa ... the HD-3D update, forty years since TV's first technicolor Cup coverage ... the sights and sounds were even more global than usual with a prominent afrocentricity building on previous Cameroon, Senegal, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago campaigns ...

... plaudits to FIFA for 'lowing the vuvuzelas ... challenging yes, but we all had so much fun saying the word, didn't we? ... especially the American media who were engaged as ever over the veracity of the very sport itself ... truth is it really doesn't matter what the haters think of the offside rule and diving (FIFA euphemistically calls it "simulation"), scoreless scorelines or the pretty-boy coiffure ... the growth of this sport is inexorable by definition ... if yu 'ave foot, yu can kick ball ...

... notably, and true to the nature of this movement, the U.S.A., and their style of play, is one of the bright beacons on the horizon ... indefatigable heart beats in that team and it is reflective of the national character ...

... New Zealand was the only undefeated team on the field ... Switzerland made a lot of friends and hopefully fewer folks will mix up Ghana with Guyana now ... don't fret, Brazil will recover, the football they played in the first half of the quarter-final they lost to The Netherlands strutted the elusive panache they were accused of lacking ... a big-match contribution from Ronaldinho might have flipped that script ... but alas ...

... in the unforgettable department, I nominate the Asamoah Gyan overtime penalty drama in the Ghana/Uruguay affair, and the goal-line officiating gaffe when Germany made the proverbial penny drop in England ... (speaking of goal-line gaffes, remember Robert Green?) ... that Carlos Puyol header is still bulging the net, just like Siphiwe Tshabala's opening strike for Bafana Bafana ... Van Bronkhorst's drive, Maicon's improbable near-post swerver and Forlan's classy volley ... plus, I'll watch Lionel Messi play any chance I get ... seeing is believing ...

... when there are so many individual storylines and the attention of the world is tuned in to one frequency, it's a great time to relay a message ... the powers that be came up trumps with Nelson Mandela and polishing up the Say No To Racism campaign ...












... a positive sentiment in any arena but particularly so in futbol where "there's work to be done - so let's do it little by little", as the Marley lyric goes ... discernably, amid the din I heard Bob singing "Could You Be Loved" at every match ... a so it fi go, considering how intertwined reggae sensibilities are with both football and Africa ... check Stephanie Black's film Africa Unite ...














... Brazil is ground-zero in four years and you can bet Bob Marley will be there to "Lick Samba" ... I'll be watching too, enjoying the global swagga-flex that should be a substitute for war ... though admittedly, it could easily spark conflict as well ...

... yep, in 2014 I'll have one eye on the game's global relevance ... the other eye will be on the lookout for that diminutive World Cup mascot (who is likely to re-appear in the country whose icons he repeatedly belittles with tracing tongue), if only to witness his one kick of a next-generation Jabulani on the biggest of stages ...

















****
Post Script addendum: - Jamaicans will get "a kick" out of the writing credits for the Spanish pop standard "Y Viva Espana" ... ... seems it was co-written by one Eddie Seago (sic.)

****

... mango walk an' talk ...

... "in Antigua ev'ryt'ing come wit' de rain"... so said my bredrin as he led me off the beaten track into the bush where his friend lives amid bountiful surroundings ... cosseted and sustained by fruit bearing foliage of myriad description ...

... leaving the road ... well past the point where pavement becomes dirt and stone ... diving into underbrush at the threadbare tamarind tree ... sweeping aside tall sharp Guinea grasses suitable for feeding livestock or medicinal teas (we have no ailments or cattle) ... ignoring ripening Noni fruit (too labour-intensive) ... and avoiding the prickly pineapple slips underfoot ... our mission is straightforward ... the objective is mango ...













... the ascendant Jamaican country-bwoy in me should not have been surprised at the variety of types of mango I found in this one location ... but perhaps for that very reason I pulsated with craven excitement as I climbed tree after tree to sample and choose specifically targeted fruit ...

... shape and size ... colour and smell ... texture and degree of ripeness ... not to mention taste ... all mangoes are not created equal ... and when the season arrives in The Caribbean the connoisseur can afford to be fussy ... with hundreds of extant varietals (e.g. Nevis alone boasts over forty) there's plenty to choose from ... these three are even called Choice ...












... I invariably measure each mango against my all-time favourites ... Uncle Stan's incomparable East Indian mango, the ever-popular St. Julian (Julie), the little-known Tringram hybrid planted at my childhood home ... a curiously shaped Thai import with a flat seed that I paid an arm-and-a-leg for in Vancouver's Chinatown some time ago ... and top of the heap I rate the rounded, Indian-derived, Jamaican Bombay ... the one with the distinctively nubile looking, nipple-ish-tip ...

... but ... I'm further afield now and already this season I've enjoyed several new (to me) locally grown mango types ... I'm currently fanning on a Bombay aspirant called Sensation, which lives up to its name ...

... it mek me waa' write a poetry I a tell yu ...

... soft to the touch, must take a taste ...

... when fruits ripe ain't no time to waste ...

I'll have one of each and more of the best ... tasty, tart, j-j-juicy and sweet ... firm, sufficient flesh, at once eaten and drank ...

from under beguilingly hued, smooth cheekskin flank ...

irresistable, fragrant and sticky...

... and I'm still just talking about mangoes ...