Locked up since last summer after just one screening in Kingston, DiMaggio: The Last Don by the Rickards Bros. has spent more time on a stored hard drive than flickering across the faces of unsuspecting audiences, and for good reason.

Besides the fact that it is headed to the NY Television festival in the fall, we wanted to be sure that every audience from Kingston to New York are as surprised by the film (which is actually a television pilot) as the KOTE crowd was at Redbones last year.

Surprise, after all, is just another weapon of the underdog in an arsenal that included just one camera, one microphone, zero lights and a twelve dollar tripod. So, what’s it really all about?

Well, the official line is that it’s a documentary-comedy-drama which draws upon material gathered by mic-ing local record producer Josef Bogdanovich, AKA The Last Don, and interviews with the people who know and work with him – musicians, businesspersons, media and regular working people.

Unofficially, some suggest its like watching a speedier, more foul-mouthed Larry David tearing around Jamaica promoting dancehall while flipping everyone the proverbial bird. A flattering description we think, but Larry David this ain’t.

Check out the second public screening of DiMaggio: The Last Don at the 2010 Reggae Film Festival tomorrow at the Cove, 2 Winchester Avenue, New Kingston (11 p.m.). But please, no ganja smoking as decent people will be there.

Source: Vintage Ad Browser

All the girls’ man are locked down with their women; then there’s the steppers with their hands cocked as if they are holding an M-16; the hopefuls across the line pointing to the single women across the lawn to let them know their intentions for the night; and the apprentice struggling with two cases of Guinness for the Dads and his crew. 

All of a sudden there is a change in the music, and Cancer takes to the mike bigging up all the hot steppers. The slow mourning sound of Black Uhuru General Penitentiary flows from the dual 18-inch speakers in the column of boxes positioned in the four corners of the lawn.

There is the sound of gunshots going off, and this time it is not fingers and mouth but the real M-16’s. The crowd starts to sing the chorus in their own words “Generaaaaal – General deh a penitentiary”.

Wee Powe lowers the volume on the mixer to allow the crowd to hear themselves and then wheels and come again from the top, The Junglists are ecstatic because this is a tribute to them. Slowly the other song comes across and the place goes wild.

John Holt’s militant voice of defiance emanates from the speakers. No longer the lover boy from the Paragons, but a hardcore and staunch believer in the divinity of His Imperial Majesty and the healing powers of the collie weed, “If they continue to burn up the herb, we gonna burn down the cane field.”

All the chalices and the bighead spliffs become visible and the smell of Indika, jerk chicken and the fumes from gunshots becomes entangled like an incestuous perfume. 

This is where love and hate collides. This is where relief is found from the pangs of poverty and the political hypocrisies are exposed. This is where the message takes flight to conquer the world, not with a sword, but an acetate dubplate.

This is Stone Love at The Tropics Nightclub in 1985.

Related: The Cancer in Jamaican music by Sherman Escoffery

Email: blazetv@gmail.com
Twitter: Twitter.com/datniggasherman
Fame: Sherman in Observer

If you liked this, check:

March 26: Oreinthia Russell
March 12: Sabina
February 26: The Quiet Racquel Jones
February 12: Bianca Carr
And… A Beautiful Nerd (with Oreinthia)
Also… The Girl Next Door is Dead (with Cindy Wright)
Not forgetting… Yendi Phillips
Racquel again… The Devil and Miss Jones

Driving through Arnett Gardens we noticed a long stretch of graffiti on one side of Greenwich Park Road. Glancing across to the other side we glimpsed this amazing mural, maybe 40-foot long, and stretching from one side of a building to the other.

That being a lazy day we’d actually been filling time looking for new murals south of Cross Roads and found nothing. But this was something else: made of blocks, the wall hadn’t just been painted but the shapes and faces also hand-carved into it.

While we stared at it like tourists, artist Devon Gordon soon appeared; chisel and sandpaper in hand. Despite his talents, Gordon remains unemployed and so lacks the funds he needs to buy the remaining paint.

“Could be done in a couple of months,” he shrugged.

But as he already explained, the 36-year-old artist hasn’t exactly been rushed in his work. He claims to have started the work as a 20-year-old, ‘as just a frame’ before one fateful afternoon when he decided to preach on a street corner in neighbouring Jones Town.

“When me done the place nearly tear down with lightening and thunder and me just come back and start,” he explained. “All of the great men who preach good thoughts throughout the world: black people and from every nation.”

But after painting the wall he changed his mind. Perhaps naturally as someone who usually works as a carpenter-woodcarver he began adding counters to his paintings…and then started painting it all again.

“History man, history,” he said admiring his work.

We hope he finishes.

Anyone interested in hiring Devon can contact him at: 967-3481

First Magazine was started in Kingston, Jamaica in December 2004 as a 7×7-inch print magazine.

Thanks to the the vision and assistance of Lithographic Printers in Kingston, First published four issues and 40,000 copies of the 7×7 inch magazine. The magazine was critically acclaimed and impossible to duplicate since it was structure-less; dependent on the unique and unpredictable nature of daily life as opposed to themes or subjects aimed at target groups.

The magazine stopped printing in 2005 after four issues. With a shift towards a blog, the new First remains true to its original intent while providing a powerful new platform for new contributors drawn from around the world–but all leading back to the foundation in Kingston.

As before, the magazine will reflect upon modern life in Jamaica, and like Jamaicans themselves, it will continually look outward – observing, absorbing and reinventing the world surrounding it.

You can email us at info@first-magazine.net or reach us via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Welcome back.

Kingston: Place to be

Kingston is the capital of the country, yes. But it’s also the last place most tourists seemingly want to go and neither does much effort go into marketing the place, which is a shame.

Since we live here, frankly we don’t know much about the hotels. But for something a little different try Mizuki Guest House (who also have places in Portland and Negril) or the Alhambra Inn.

When it comes to doing something in Kingston there’s actually plenty to do, especially when it comes to night life. Try one of the many street dances with Passa Passa in Tivoli Gardens being the best known but be warned that street dances of this kind don’t really get going till the early hours of the next morning.

Alternatively for something classic, and that actually happens the same day as advertised, try Rae Town Hits downtown on a Sunday.

You’ll discover that these events, especially Passa, although taking place in ghettos are easy to reach and the communities have a vested interest in everything passing off safely. Also ghetto people really know how to have fun and they’ll want you to as well, especially so they can laugh at your dancing.

The community of Denham Town, which is adjacent to the similarly safe Tivoli – both are under one order – hosts the weekly Thursday Night at the Fights – a uniquely Jamaican experience. BBC even bought the footage; and to think they weren’t even beating gays in the ring.

Back uptown for our future talent and the friendliest atmosphere in town try the Jamaica Vibes talent night at Weekendz each and every Wednesday.

Something tourists really miss out on the regular sessions, or parties. Just look out for them in our listings section, if we ever update it. You pay about US$50 which includes unlimited booze and food.

The women dress great, the music tends to be good and the atmosphere is better than any equivalent in the the UK or US; and because of our weather, they’re always outdoors.

Again dispense with your image of our country. You’ll find the parties can be quite refined, so dress up.

Sport is a big attraction. Jamaica has some of the world’s top track athletes and there are regular meets at the National Stadium where the Reggae Boys can also be seen during their current World Cup qualifying campaign.

The atmosphere is great and we don’t bother with European/South American-style crowd violence.

To really experience Jamaican sporting culture you’ll need to try out high school sports, support for which – believe it or not – far exceeds any other level in Jamaica, amateur or professional.

The atmosphere can be great and even the elderly still support their old school with a fanaticism that most countries reserve for their football clubs – the two biggest events are the annual Boys and Girls Champs (athletics) and the Manning or DaCosta Cups (football).

For food there are a number of high-end restaurants in Kingston, to many to mention. But Red Bones Blues Cafe never fails, and also shows films, other cultural events and some live music. For everything – decent souvenirs, rum etc – head to Devon House which has the great Norma’s on the Terrace and Grogge shop restaurants plus The Brick Oven which makes the best patties, period.

Outside of the city: Blue Mountains, Lime Cay and Hellshire beach

Taking trips out of Kingston, which is a fast-paced place, you can’t miss the Blue Mountains, the view from Strawberry Hill Hotel and arrange a visit to the famous Old Tavern Coffee Estate – the best we’ve ever drunk and on a clear day you can see Cuba from their Twyman’s family’s cottage.

You can also hike up the mountain, if you really want to.

It’s only really a day trip but we’d recommend staying in one of the unique wood cabins at Holywell National Park but you can splash and try Strawberry Hill. And if you really want to win points with your lady companion, book her in for treatments at their spa. Butter after that.

Back down the hill…

Kingston is by the sea and while we don’t have any beaches, there are two great ones close to hand. Lime Cay on a weekend is an uptown Kingston institution. You’ll have to get the (affordable) ferry boat out from Port Royal and reaching there’s oysters a bar/restaurant and…just relax.

Alternatively there is the frankly less uptown Hellshire Beach, which you reach by driving in the opposite direction out of Kingston and by the dormitory city of Portmore. It’s a much larger beach, lively, and…just eat the garlic-fried lobster.

Portland: Original but sleeping tourism resort

The parish of Portland started off as the original destination in the Caribbean with a wealthier kind of tourist like Errol Flynn making it famous (his widow still lives there; still dressing like the silver screen era). The North-West coast with its mega-resorts has since left Portland long behind, which is why we like it so much.

Reaching there is a three-hour drive from Kingston. You can go one of two ways but ignore the other and take the spectacular drive through Junction and the Rio Grande valley. Portland is famously the home of jerk and our favourite is on the way. Blueberry Hill is a really unassuming place on the left-hand side outside Buff Bay. It’s cheap, eat it with the hard-dough bread and whatever your usual preference, trust us and take the pork over the chicken.

Just as we’d advise you not to eat jerk in Kingston, except when you’re out at night, we’re kind of cool on Boston, the birthplace of jerk. You have a real choice of restaurants there but the place is full of hustlers who will twang at you – all tourists must be from America, right? – and overcharge you.

But buy the sauce still.

Take a visit to the parish capital of Port Antonio. There’s some kind of tourism-related redevelopment going on with the new marina and the town – it’s no bigger than one – is good for shopping and not just Bob t-shirts.

For accommodation try the once-hip, now commendably cheap Frenchman’s Cove resort. All the information is there on the website but the photographs don’t do the place justice. Make sure to get one of the villas on the cliff edge and we’re not giving away more that, albeit to add that the sunrise over the Caribbean sea is stunning.

The beach, despite its beauty and fame, has few people on it and has a fishable freshwater river flowing into it. There’s further beauty a few miles down the road at the Blue Lagoon, which is undergoing some kind of renovation.

From here you can take overpriced raft rides or trespass a little and leap off the helipad into the Lagoon itself – a better idea.

Oh, and it always rains in Portland. But given the incredible lush greenery of the place, you wouldn’t want it any other way.

Treasure Beach: Easiest community in Jamaica

Do NOT do as we once did and drive cross-country from Portland – that led to a puncture, several arguments and a car-hire place that likely won’t deal with us anymore. Instead amble to the south coast via Kingston.

Here there’s probably an argument to have taken the other route (through St Thomas, Machioneal and Boston) to reach Portland in the first place and then save the drive through Junction for the way back. Either way, it’s your choice.

The St Elizabeth scenery is unlike anywhere else on the island – all parched earth and craggy cliffs. However the place has real charm and once in the fishing community of Treasure Beach you’ll find some of the nicest people you ever met.

Again, we’re not all murderers.

Be sure to check TreasureBeach.net, which is an amazing resource.

Jake’s, the little boho resort run by the Henzell family is a must. It’s best known for hosting the annual Calabash Literature Festival and a few other cultural events besides being featured in every up-market travel publication

The seafood at their Jack Sprat’s restaurant is great value – she will also love the star-covered beach at night – and has the best pizza in Jamaica. Yes, we eat farin’ food also.

Even if you have to stretch your budget you should go ahead and book a room there for at least one night. It’s something else, waking in the morning with the shutters wide open, a view of the sea beyond the edge of your bed and the waves lapping against the rocks.

We usually stay at Irie Rest, which like Jake’s has friendly staff, but eases your budget and is a short walk away from the beach – where you need to spend at least one night huddled over a fire. Turn left and there’s a little bar a few hundred yards down the beach.

Ask around for a guy called Aman Parchment. A community first-aider, fisherman and just about everything else, Aman also runs boat trips to places like the Pelican Bar.

Next…you’ll now have to drive back to the airport, sorry.

Shuttleworth was already worth US$500 million when he took a shuttle into space, costing a cool US$20 million, but then he’d just made all that money selling his web start-up. And gazing down on the earth he saw the light…

Read more HERE

Back in March Esquire magazine ran this great food feature, which had you almost sniffing the page. Something all men need: Encylopedia of Sandwiches.

They were good enough to put a selection online: Tuna melt, chicken-parm hero with sausage, steak sandwich, catfish sloppy joe, rich boy and our favourite, the Italian breakfast sandwich (see below).

Mac’s deli on Hope Road does the best – surprisingly cheap – sandwiches in Kingston. But these have been lovingly crafted by some of the world’s finest sandwich chefs, or just as their father used to make them.

Read more HERE