Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Count Lasher - Miss Constance



I don't know nearly as much as about Mento music as I'd like to. In fact, until about 15 minutes ago, if you had demanded that I name a Mento song, Miss Constance might have been all I would have been able to come up with. Since I've got to brave the Thanksgiving traffic at first light tomorrow (or as close to first light as I feel safe enough hitting the country back road shortcuts to I-95 by myself), I'm in the process of downloading music for my trip. I've decided that Mento and I will get to know each other a little better as I make my way along the highways and byways of the Carolinas. I suspect eventually I'll give in and put on something I can sing along to, but Mento and I are going to at least break the ice. (Really, I give some pretty incredible performances in my car when I'm on Interstate 95. Fortunately, I'm invisible since no one can see you when you're driving. Everyone knows that.)

But yes, as of 15 minutes or so ago, I've significantly increased my Mento collection, but right now, Miss Constance is still my favorite. This song is hilarious. And very dirty. But really funny. Check it out.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Louder Than Words, Plus Ninjaman vs Supercat Sting '91, Because Why Not?



I've got a big assignment due tomorrow AM, plus a looming, end of the month deadline, so you know what that means - time to update my blog! So, I mentioned before about reading Wake The Town and Tell The People, Norman C. Stolzoff's book about dancehall culture. I was quite late to the party in reading it to begin with, and it took me ages to finish because I kept having to stop and read things Statistics with Stata (it's as good as it sounds), but I finally made it through. And...

Loved it. The approach is very academic, granted, and so that makes it a little clinical and really at odds its subject. On the other hand, I've been a big dancehall fan for a long time now, and I still learned a ton. Plus, wow, there is so, so little written about this kind of music that it's great to see a book like this.

Stolzoff isn't done yet, either. The video above is the trailer for his documentary, Louder Than Words. It's been in the works for a few years now, there was a round of press about it earlier this year, and from what I can find online, he's hoping the film will be released in 2009 - though in the fine tradition of dancehall, info online is hard to come by. Anyone know anything about it? Why do I have a feeling it's not coming to a North Carolina theater soon? Anyway, can't wait to see it. Ricky Trooper, aw, yeah....

And the video below - Ninjaman vs Supercat - sure, it's a little random, as my little sister would say, but hey, I'm watching it. Why not you?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Sister Nancy, Killamanjaro, 1996



I was actually looking for another Sister Nancy video, but this is good, no? My neighbor disagrees, I think, because he just banged on the wall. He's got some nerve with his whole, "the door isn't closed unless the whole building shakes" routine, but never mind.

This is good, too. I love the poison bottle.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Calypso Awakening: From the Emory Cook Collection


First, a few items of business:

1. So, I've totally dropped the ball on this whole 30 blogs in 30 days National Blogging Month or whatever it's called. (Thanks for pointing it out, Ed!) But, to be fair, I do blog every day on my About.com site, so I think that totally counts. Right? Right?!?!

2. Neosporin Lip Treatment smells like curry. The taste has a hint of curry as well. I'm down with curry, but that doesn't mean I want to smear it on my lips.

3. Usually when I post about music stuff, I write about whatever song happens to be stuck in my head. Right now, I'm trying to get a song out of my head. Namely, Mrs. Officer by Lil Wayne. Now, don't get me wrong. I see the appeal in the song. But Brother Lou - who in fact has just posted about it - was singing it today forever and now it's playing my head. My neighbor blasted Lil Wayne - namely, Lollipop - over and over again for weeks. Mostly while I was sleeping. I dreamt about Lil Wayne like 5 nights in a row. And no, not like that. It was more like "Heather and Lil Wayne's Madcap Capers." Once, in some kind of Lil Wayne/Seinfeld collision, I dreamt we had to steal files from a doctor's office. Anyway, I don't want to go through that again, so I'm trying to free myself from Mrs. Officer.

Well, that's out of the way, then. So, Calypso Awakening. Emory Cook was an audio engineering wiz, and he's known for all kinds of super duper recording things ("super duper recording things" - yes, you can quote me on that). He had a label called Cook Records, and even though he did work with lots of different kinds of musicians, he's maybe best known for working with musicians in the Caribbean, especially Calypso musicians in Trinidad and Tobago during the 1950s and 1960s. He basically traveled to T&T and hung out recording music and why isn't that my job?

Cook donated all of the tapes from his label to the Smithsonian, hence this collection from Smithsonian Folkways. It's mostly Lord Melody and The Mighty Sparrow, but it's very cool. If you've got eMusic, you can download it there. I couldn't really find any YouTube stuff from Lord Melody or Mighty Sparrow I was crazy about, so here's Lord Kitchener Sugar Bum Bum instead. (Oh, come on, work with me! Oh, and ps, I still have no idea what happened to my comments. Sorry.):

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Out A Hand/Cu Oonuh (3 The Hard Way)


Many moons ago, I worked at a Jamaican restaurant, and one of the guys that worked there used to make me lots and lots of mix tapes. They were always fab, but, you know, they didn't come with liner notes, so I didn't know what a lot of the music on the tapes actually was. Unfortunately, it turns out that seven years in a storage unit is pretty hard on a cassette, and the tapes are no longer with us. What has always been good over the years, though, has been rediscovering tracks that were on those tapes and actually finding out what they were.

These songs remind me of that. I always think of them coming on one after another, because they were that way on a tape I had. That all made sense when I discovered they were from this record, 3 The Hard Way. The three in question are Cutty Ranks, Reggie Stepper and Capleton. I can't actually remember when I identified these songs, but I was reminded of them recently when I saw them listed back to back on a comp. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks of them as a unit. So, anyway, here we are, first up, Out a Hand by Cutty Ranks, and then Cu Oonuh by Reggie Stepper. And yes, once again, this is an audio experience, not a visual one. The videos happen to be exactly the same. Go figure.



Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I'm Totally Psychic Now


Obviously, how can I not start off by saying something about last night? The funny thing is I'm not really sure what the right words could be. Quite simply, I never believed a day like this would come. I left this country in 1999. When I came back 7 years later, it was a different place. It was a worse place. Today I'm proud. And yeah, I've cried several times. I feel like my own life has changed, and you know what? I think it has. I don't have the words.

And since I don't have the words: the psychic thing. When I finally decided to get a little bit of sleep last night, I had a dream that my friend in Scotland had become a father. His girlfriend is in fact pregnant. So, this morning, I emailed him to tell him about my dream. He emailed me right back to say his girlfriend had just given birth to a son. WOW. Weird, huh?

PS - Yes We Did.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The NHS: I Tried It And I Liked It


On this glorious election day, I thought I'd share some of my experiences with universal health care. Unlike a lot of Americans who get their knickers in a twist at the thought, I've been lucky enough to live under both the American health care system and the British National Health Service, so I've tasted both worlds. Since I've got what they call a "chronic condition" (don't worry, it's endocrine, not contagious), my medical care involves more than than a trip to the doctor when my nose starts to run, so I've had pretty extensive dealings with both systems. Here's how it's worked out for me:

First, let's just get this out of the way: the NHS is not the best example. All health care systems, private or public, are flawed, and the NHS has its own share of problems and maybe a few more. I certainly had my issues with it. The common problem with the NHS is the so-called "postcode lottery," in which where you live can have a pretty big impact on the quality of care. (Before you use that as an argument against universal health care, tell me that doesn't exist here. Now tell my grandfather who lives in a small mountain town in Western PA that he has the same health care options as me, who lives with seven miles of both UNC and Duke hospitals.) But the post code lottery is real. I visited someone in a hospital in Edinburgh once, and it was all shiny and new, meanwhile, I had surgery in a hospital in Glasgow and it was a bit like having an operation in some history museum dedicated to the Victorian era. (That's a picture of the hospital up there. It's fittingly called the Victoria Infirmary)

The other problem I had with the NHS was that my endocrinologist was inarguable insane. There was little I could do about it.

I'll tell you what I did get from the NHS. Free visits to the doctor, anytime, all the time (I had to go once a month). Free medication (most people pay a minimal fee for prescriptions, but since I have a chronic condition, all of my medication was free). Free lab work and any other testing I needed (I had to have blood work done monthly). Free surgery. Free emergency room care.

Since returning to the US, here is what I have gotten. I can't get insurance. Because I have an existing condition, no one will insure me, or the ones that will want a monthly payment that is literally more than my rent AND they will not cover anything to do with my condition for 18 months. I am not taking all of the medication I am supposed to be taking because I can't afford it. I have small job I work exclusively to cover the $300 worth of prescriptions I do pay for every month (it's a nice addition to my 18 hour course load and my full time workload). I am 6 months overdue for an endocrinologist visit and lab work, but I can't go yet because I'm still trying to pay off the $1200 bill my last trip left me with. I know I need to go, and I don't just know that intellectually. I know that because of the way I feel every day. You don't have to reach for your violin, but for instance, the pain in my hands is bad enough that I have to pop a cocktail of painkillers all day long, because hey, I type for a living. What else am I going to do?

(As an aside, did I mention that I don't qualify for federal student aid for my tuition because I make "too much" and that I had to pay $1800 in taxes this year, even though I only made enough to money to qualify for a $300 stimulus package payment instead of the full $600? This system really works!)

So, there you have it, my experiences under universal health care (which incidentally is, sadly, not what any candidate is suggesting) and the US health care system. I think you can understand my preferences.

A few weeks ago, one of my friends in Scotland passed away. I was talking to his wife a few days after it happened, and she said to me, "I just thank god for the NHS, because at least I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay for his treatment on top of everything else." She's a teacher. I'm glad she doesn't have to worry about it either.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Wake The Town and Tell The People


I'm about half way through this book (subtitled Dancehall Culture in Jamaica). It's pretty old, but I'm not too proud to admit I just got around to reading it. I should have read it a lot sooner. Aside from the fact Norman C. Stolzoff has pretty much written the book I want to write, it's fab. If you love dancehall, music history, or dare I say, are interested in the political economy of the Caribbean, this book is highly recommended. (OK, well, the first half is. I can't comment on the rest. I'll let you know.)

And isn't the title kind of perfect for this election eve?

Ok, sure, here's U Roy (though it's kind of maddening to listen to - gets kind of wobbly):

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Si Boops Deh!


A few months ago, I read an interview with Winston Riley (this one, from The Gleaner. He's apparently building a museum, and I totally want to go.). In the interview, he was asked which songs he produced are his favorites, and he mentioned Boops by Supercat (or Super Cat? Someday, I would like someone to settle on a spelling and stick with it). I thought, by god, he's right! Boops IS a great song!

Anyway, since then, I've been hooked on it, which has led to me listening to Si Boops Deh! over and over again. It was produced by Winston Riley and Prince Jammy, Steely and Clevie made up the band - there's a lot to like. Even so, it's funny, I always have this vague feeling that I shouldn't like Supercat. Sometimes, I don't like Supercat. There was no excuse for the whole Sugar Ray thing, for instance. But what I'm really trying to say here is this: I like Supercat. There. It's out. End of story. And if you want to hear Boops, here's a video. Note that I use the term "video" loosely. This is more of an audio experience.

And by the way, I have no idea why the comments aren't working. Don't hate me, hate Blogger.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Glasgow Underground Song



How have I never heard this songs before? I wish I could post the video, but embedding has been disabled (which I have to say is pure fuckin' daft, man). Anyway, check it out here. The video above is a consolation prize: I Belong To Glasgow, complete with video tour shot from the front seat of a car. I thought I was going to enjoy it, but it has actually made me a bit emotional.

I remember reading about the Glasgow Underground in a guidebook before I arrived in the city. The book made it sound like a big attraction, but I have to tell you, even as a big Glasgow fan, it's a bit crap, really. The route is just a big circle, the trains are REALLY small (I stand a whopping 5'2", and I nearly always had to bend down), and it's got a really odd smell. The guidebooks to Glasgow - which I found to be way off the mark in every single way - suggest that the locals call the tube the "Clockwork Orange," because of the circular route and for the fact that the trains are orange. I never, ever heard anyone call it that, except to say, "people call it the Clockwork Orange." Who is calling it that? No one seems to know.

In case you're interested, more bad advice from Glasgow guidebooks:

- Don't ever go to the southside - it's dangerous. (I never lived anywhere else. Some kids did throw rocks at me when I was running through The Gorbals during a 5K, but other than that, no problems.)

- When the locals order drinks, they order "a wee nip and a huff." (That's a pretty big assumption, and I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me they want a wee nip and a huff when it was my turn to get a round in.)

- When someone asks you which team you support, say Partick Thistle. (Don't come to Glasgow and start talking football at all is good advice, but come on, no one's going to believe you support The Jags.)