Monterey Bay ReggaeFest 2001: One World, One People

After many disappointing but not disheartening years of small crowds, financial loses, blood, sweat and tears Monterey Bay Reggaefest (MBR) came of age in 2001.

Produced by A&P Productions of Seaside, California, under the auspices of Andre & Pam Smith, supported by a dedicated staff of friends and family, the eight-year old event has brought some of reggae’s best to the Monterey Fairgrounds, and is showing no apparent signs of easing up.  Read more... (1137 words + 6 images)

Reggae In The Park And Global Exchange Unite for Weekend of Great Music

Rich industrial nations [Babylon] are the concrete jungles of modern time as they spread their so-called free trade economics to the rest of the world. In the free trade scenario, if each economy produces what it does best and trades with other economies for their goods and services, everyone’s wealth goes up. Unfortunately, it is these industrialized nations that are the biggest threat to free trade when it comes to the world’s poorest developing countries, blocking food and fabric exports that are the specialties of most third world nations.  Read more... (915 words)

20th Annual RaggaMuffins/ Moss Jacobs Marley Festival

February 2001

“You think it’s the end, but
it’s just the beginning.”
-Bob Marley

The spirit of Robert Nesta Marley is ever living, ever faithful, ever sure. Seen? The world celebrates Marley’s birth on February 6th, 1945, and mourns his death. In his wake, he has left a legacy of music that continues to inspire love, peace and harmony while chanting down the evils of Babylon, in the name of JAH RASTAFARI. Yet to other less conscious folk, his music still just plain sounds good.  Read more... (639 words + 4 images)

Queen Mary Hosts “The World of Reggae” Reception

The Queen Mary was considered the grandest ocean liner ever built. From her maiden voyage in 1936 to her final voyage to Long Beach Harbor in 1967, she was the exclusive playground of choice for the world’s rich and famous, who considered her the only civilized way to travel.  Read more... (917 words + 5 images)

Nature of Roots Music: The Bob Marley Day Celebrations

Long Beach, CA 2001

The heart and soul of Jah music is Roots Rock Reggae. Characterized by bouncing bass lines, picking guitars, rimshot drumming and an afterbeat that corresponds with the handclap singing found in Jamaican churches, Roots music is synonymous with Reggae. Add mind bending/conscious lyrics representing the voice of Jamaica’s socially disenfranchised, with sprinkles of gospel, old Jamaican proverbs and the teachings of Rastafari and you have Roots music. Having its beginnings in the 1960s, Roots music was popularized by Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Culture, Mighty Diamonds, The Maytals, Israel Vibration and more.  Read more... (1626 words + 4 images)

San Francisco’s Carnaval

May 2001

Oakland's Carajama 2001

Having never traveled abroad, I had little if any idea of the popularity of Carnival celebrations in the rest of the world. From Finland to Belize, and everywhere in between, Carnival, a holiday that has its roots in the season of spring and Christian repentance has become a phenomenal world class party.  Read more... (849 words + 5 images)

San Jose’s Freedom Train Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.

“Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force, which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”  Read more... (378 words + 4 images)

Gregory Isaacs at Santa Cruz’s Palookaville

Santa Cruz, CA-Quick! Name your top five favorite Jamaican love ballad singer-songwriters. Chances are Gregory Isaacs would be somewhere on that list. With a voice that you can recognize blindfolded, Gregory was born in 1951 and has written over 500 songs and released over 70 albums.  Read more... (628 words + 3 images)