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Minister of Culture, Youth and many other things?
Monday, January 28, 2008
For a second we wondered if we were really hearing right. Did the Governor General His Excellency the Most Honourable Professor Sir Kenneth Octavius Hall, ON, GCMG, OJ, so address the Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sport, the Honourable Olivia 'Babsy' Grange?
The occasion could hardly have been more formal. It was the official proclamation of Reggae Month in the ballroom of King's House and all protocols were being observed. From the word go, we were informed that everybody had to be seated upon the arrival of the Governor General, and later on when Minister Grange called on Prime Minister Bruce Golding to unveil the Reggae Month logo, she wondered out aloud if she were "breaching protocol". So how could the head of state so casually - and so totally without any protocol - refer to the minister as the "Minister of Culture, Youth and many other things"?
Anita conquered by love
She came not prepared to grant any interviews, but after the outpouring of love from her diehard Jamaican fans, Anita Baker had no choice, she just had to show us back the love. As one insider told this column, "During the second song, she had to pause because she was tearing up. The response was so overwhelming with the fans singing the song word for word and just welcoming her into their hearts. And then, she was presented with a birthday cake, and that was the icing on the cake. She ended up doing a television interview, and before she went on camera, she exclaimed, 'I can't go on camera with my face like this, anybody has any powder.' Sure enough, someone whipped out a compact and handed it to her. Then somebody else shouted out, 'Need lipstick too?.' And when she answered yes, that was sent down the line. These were gifts from persons she didn't know, but Anita understood that these were gifts of love, and she graciously accepted."
Jimmy Riley back on track
It has often been said that it takes just one hit song for an artiste to make a comeback. However, we would like to extend it to say that it can also take a hit song from your son for you to make a resurgence. The massive hit single, She's Royal, did it for Tarrus Riley, but equally as important is what the song is doing for his father, Jimmy Riley's career. We won't say that Jimmy deliberately hitched his wagon to Tarrus' star, but the fact is that things are happening to him which had stopped happening, and we are happy for him. Fans like the idea of the father and the son appearing on the same line-up, or even exclusively on a small show, and Jimmy can still work the stage, as he showed at Rebel Salute. Tarrus is the future and Jimmy is showing that he is not the past.
Monday, January 28, 2008
For a second we wondered if we were really hearing right. Did the Governor General His Excellency the Most Honourable Professor Sir Kenneth Octavius Hall, ON, GCMG, OJ, so address the Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sport, the Honourable Olivia 'Babsy' Grange?
The occasion could hardly have been more formal. It was the official proclamation of Reggae Month in the ballroom of King's House and all protocols were being observed. From the word go, we were informed that everybody had to be seated upon the arrival of the Governor General, and later on when Minister Grange called on Prime Minister Bruce Golding to unveil the Reggae Month logo, she wondered out aloud if she were "breaching protocol". So how could the head of state so casually - and so totally without any protocol - refer to the minister as the "Minister of Culture, Youth and many other things"?
Anita conquered by love
She came not prepared to grant any interviews, but after the outpouring of love from her diehard Jamaican fans, Anita Baker had no choice, she just had to show us back the love. As one insider told this column, "During the second song, she had to pause because she was tearing up. The response was so overwhelming with the fans singing the song word for word and just welcoming her into their hearts. And then, she was presented with a birthday cake, and that was the icing on the cake. She ended up doing a television interview, and before she went on camera, she exclaimed, 'I can't go on camera with my face like this, anybody has any powder.' Sure enough, someone whipped out a compact and handed it to her. Then somebody else shouted out, 'Need lipstick too?.' And when she answered yes, that was sent down the line. These were gifts from persons she didn't know, but Anita understood that these were gifts of love, and she graciously accepted."
Jimmy Riley back on track
It has often been said that it takes just one hit song for an artiste to make a comeback. However, we would like to extend it to say that it can also take a hit song from your son for you to make a resurgence. The massive hit single, She's Royal, did it for Tarrus Riley, but equally as important is what the song is doing for his father, Jimmy Riley's career. We won't say that Jimmy deliberately hitched his wagon to Tarrus' star, but the fact is that things are happening to him which had stopped happening, and we are happy for him. Fans like the idea of the father and the son appearing on the same line-up, or even exclusively on a small show, and Jimmy can still work the stage, as he showed at Rebel Salute. Tarrus is the future and Jimmy is showing that he is not the past.
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