WELCOME TO JAMROCK

Greetings!

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. The Gospel of Thomas.

Christmas is a coming and the geese are getting fat, please put a penny in MY hat.

Talking about fat. On one such escape to Ocho Rios for again another spontaneous New Years Eve party, I had the pleasure of meeting a FAT CAT. This cat was so fat, and so rich that he had his own secret service men who flew to Jamaica prior to his arrival to ensure his safety.

The men arrived on foot to the private home of the friends that he was staying with, to set up hidden surveillance cameras, huge amounts of equipment and went in search of a landing pad for the helicopter. This was probably one of the most secluded locations on the Island, not even God could find it. Google GPS was not yet invented and these men managed to find this house. Amazing!

It turns out that the fat cat was on Bin Laden's hit list of America's most wanted fat cats; he was one of the richest men in the World.

So, we had the daunting task of entertaining the fat cat, which was not easy. It was work.

Every location had to be prepped, just like pre-production on a Hollywood feature film, all arrangements had to made beforehand for his arrival at any location, even if it was a rum bar on the side of the road. He defiantly was hanging with the right crew, as most of us work in Film and new exactly what to do. So every day we had to give his team of bodyguards a list of all the places we were going to take him. The morning before a party that was to take place on top of a remote mountain, in the an even more secluded location, my best girlfriend (BFF) and I had to rise at 5am that morning to take the soldiers off to war. They proceeded to survey the residence of a famous Jamaican Artist, with a small cottage attached to a LARGER old house, where my BFF planned to serve up her tea and cucumber sandwiches to the fat cat, his entoruage and our friends who had all arrived for the spontanious New Years Eve party the night before. A chopper pad was located, the ambulance was stationed in the event that the cucumbers and tea were laced with arsenic. The surveillance cameras were discreetly place where everyone with eyes could see them as the cottage was about the size of your bedroom.

The Carnival arrived, meandering through cavernous potholes, mud and fallen trees. It had been a rainy day in paradise and the roads were like a trek through an amazon jungle.

Nevertheless, they all arrived to savour the tea and sandwiches, the music and stunning landscape of white fog drifting over blue mountains. Spectacular views are best in these remote hideaways, far off the beaten track , the crowded white sand beaches and tourist traps below.

Lights, camera, action. The party was hopping. Revellers were treated to an eclectic selection of the best music Jamaica has to offer, from my boy lollipop to fu manchu, trenchtown rock and simmer down to the disco era's boogie oogie oogie, night fever and cocomotion. DJ Brian ruled the night.

Rain scene. The rain began to....well... RAIN. Buckets of water fell from the sky. The torrential downpour threatened to maroon us forever on this mountain top. The secret service men were spinning. The weather had completely derailed all the planning of a quick escape for fat cat, the helicopter pad was far away on top of a nearby (relatively) patch of level grass, and they had forgotten to bring one small peice of surveillance equipment...an umbrella.

So the fat cat was stuck on this mountain in Jamaica surrounded by wild crazy people and he could not move. Eventually we were able to calm them all down and reassured them Bin Laden would never try to come to Jamaica because WE would terrorize HIM.

The party continued to rock in the rain as the sound of the Skatalites, Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals rocked on. Fat cat never had such a good time in his life as it was ladies night on the dance floor in the 10x10 cottage, and they were ALL suffering from NIGHT FEVER. A beautiful Italian countess grabed his FAT ass and did not let go.

For more information on our music check out my favorites: Reggae Explosion: The story of Jamaican Music/ Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. or go to facebook/Dub-Reggae-Rocksteady and Ska downloads. You can also go directly to Rock Steady/Facebook for this link.

Keep on rockin!

BLESSINGS, ONE LOVE & WALK GOOD