How great is Tiombe Lockheart?

Ahh, how I like outdoor shows--bad sound be damned, I was just happy at Thursday's Platinum Pied Pipers Jazz Fest appearance to be standing around outdoors listing to great music, and by music I mean stuff I can dance to, and by stuff I can dance too, I mean stuff that sounds like this.

Nice up the Dance

I've been a bad bad blogger. Sorry for the incredible delay in updating, but I've been a titch busy planning a trip to Guyana. Me and a group of terrific folks (I like that word, D, so there!) from all over this here continent will be going to that continent to work on a Habitat for Humanity building project. I'm the team leader-no laughing! I'm a competent individual. Honest!

In more musically related news, I wrote this week's Montreal Mirror cover story on 80s dancehall...hope you like. I had a great time talking to Yellowman. I mentioned Wayne's work on the Mad Mad riddim (if you haven't heard his radio programme dealing with the migration of the Mad Mad do so here, then here, and finally here. I played it for one of my classes and they were super impressed) and he was quite pleased to learn of the longevity of his "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng" melody and insisted that his style has been used for more commercial uses: "Sounds and words can put together and make something good. Even as simple as, look at Mazda they use a little bit of sound: 'zoom zoom zoom hey zoomzoomzoom' just like that, you know?" Whaddya think, Mr. Marshall?

Anyhow, if you wanna read about the changes in the dance from the 80s till today as seen by Shinehead, Chakademus and Pliers, Sugar Minott and King Yellow, check here.