WONDERFUL JAZZ FESTIVAL 2011

Well if I didn't know it before, I do now. I am old. That means I am over 35 years old!

Well you see, I have never heard of Maroon 5 until they were advertised as the headliner for the Friday session and I researched them on the Internet. and still wasn't particularly turned on at the thought of them being the headliner. But what the hell, the annual Jazz and Blues festival has been for years more about a family get together than anything else.

In the meantime I was agreeing with others in my age group who were expressing doubt about this years line up. However, I am here to tell you that as far as under 35's are concerned Maroon 5 is big. In fact, on the Friday I was feeling kind of sorry for those who had rented stalls at the festival and even the promoters, for up to about 10 pm the crowd was disappointing. Then just before Maroon 5 came on I went for another walk only to find that the place had become jammed packed. When they started t0 perform, the younger generation went crazy singing all the popular tunes with them. You could have hit me down with a straw! Despite my ignorance of them however, I was really impressed by what was basically an all white rock band which was really good ( i confess to holding racist views!) and although unfortunately my age has not been reduced, I am counting myself as one of their fans now.

Another act that blew me over was Regina Bell. Man that woman can sing. I guess I should not have been surprised since her bio does say she was professorially trained as an opera singer, but she was absolutely wonderful delivering blues and gospel hit after hit.

Then there were also some unannounced performances. When I finished wondering at one point, I returned to find a guitarist playing the Jamaican national anthem on his guitar with his teeth! Yes with his teeth. It was absolutely mind boggling. They did tell us his name but I have forgotten and could not find anything about him in the official programme, but apparently he is a Jamaican living aboard and he is the leader of a Blues band. Absolutely phenomenal. And talking about announcements, the announcers on Friday were quite poor.It was a girl and boy and apparently the girl is a former miss Jamaica, but they need training. On the other hand, Paula Anne Porter who was the MC on Saturday was so wonderful...professionalism to to the t. What a difference.

Saturday was another thing, for early into to the show, the rain came pouring down. And what we hoped would have been a short drizzle turned down to be about a 2 hour down pour. We had plastics but as we sat in the rain, the water found its way under my plastic and I got fairly wet and cold. While were we were down on the field we noticed that a number of persons were going into the seats in the stadium so as the rain eased, we made our way there. The third floor was totally empty and that is where we wanted to go, but guess what, we were met by a guard, who pointed to a sign saying Prime ministers suite or something to that effect so we could not go up the stairs. We Angrily we told him we had paid our money so the prime minister could not be controlling probably 100 seats while the rest of us who are paying for him could not get a seat, but he was unmoved. I suggested to quite a few people who were there that since there were a number of us and only one guard, we should storm the stairs, a la Tunisia or Egypt (people power) but typical of Jamaicans dem fraid a dem shadow. A lady came up with an id badge and apparently she did not like our attitude so she seemed to have made a phone call and they opened up the stairs so we could got pass the VIP second floor where the dignitaries were, to seats on the third floor.

When the heavy downpour ceased, they uncovered the equipment and started back the show however, we were not able to hear properly so at the next band change we went back on tothe wet, soggy field but at least the drizzle had stopped.

Well after that the show really stated to sizzle . There was a steel band which had about 8 young men and every one was an acrobat/dancer in his own right, The performance was really good....not the music so much as the dancing and acrobatics.

Then came the incomparable Taurus Riley. Boy did he ever have us eating out of his hand! What impressed me about him too apart from his great performance was how he promoted his back up singers. He introduced them one by one and allowed each to do a solo stint and they were all good but the one male singer....Chris was absolutely great. He will no doubt buss out soon and go on his own. What talent. Then Taurus did some humorous stints with the great Dean Fraser and that just took the crowd into the stratosphere.

Natalie Cole was next and I am still unable to decide who was better, she or Regina Bell. Man was she wonderful and when you think how she just had a major operation involving a kidney transplant, he vibrancy and delivery was even more impressive.

The headliner on Saturday was Air Supply and while I love them and know most of their hits, I guess because this was about the third time I had seen them at Jazz fest and since they have no new hits, I put them down as just ok.

However, the festival surpassed even my expectations this year and I know I will be a lifelong fan as long as they continue to deliver the wonderful performances that they have been doing since inception.

Rio Magno

Charles 2nd has finally redeemed himself!

You will recall how he led us on a wild goose chase last year...to port Esquivel to be exact. So wide did he carry us that he even told us to bring swimming equipment but when we got there it was an arid play field. And to add insult to injury after we rode all the way from Kingston, there was no breakfast.

Well yesterday was the exact opposite..... it was absolutely fabulous.

For off we went to Rio Magno, a lush, underpopulated area which we had to ourselves and we had a ball.

We the ordinary riders drove from Kingston around 6 am while the A team rode off at 5.15 am and I understand Michael said he would do the ride to Juici patty in Bog Walk in 45 minutes. Well while Maurice, Orrel and Alrick did it in just over an hour, Howie who stayed back to keep Michael's company and Michael made it in just under two hours. Lol. Barry of the A team, had a puncture and had to drive over.

Anyway we waited for the entire A team at Juici and although it was just after 7 am, the thick fog that characterises Bog Walk had not yet lifted. In fact as we rode off, I was a bit sceptical about breaking the traffic light to to go to Rosemont as unless the cars had on their head lights, you could barely see them coming.

Anyway by the time we cleared the miles of orange groves that accompanied us most of the way until we made the turn off to Redwood, the sun was just really emerging. This made it an extremely pleasant ride as you know my aversion to sun and for the rest of the way there was a great overhang of trees all the way.

When Charles and I had scouted out the location on the Wednesday before, the hill leading from Redwood to Cedar Valley looked daunting and I determined from then that while I would ride up to Redwood, I would not be riding up the other long hill. Surprisingly though, the hill was not as difficult as it appeared when I was drivin.... in fact it seemed a lot shorter and after pushing up my bike at two separate points, I ended up doing the entire ride without doing my usual, jumping into the support vehicle.

In fact, Charles played a role there too for as I pushed up one especially challenging section complaining loudly that I wanted the support vehicle, he told me I was mistaken as we had not yet reached the challenging hill! I disbelieved him a bit but as I had pledged to do the first hill, I carried on only to realise on reaching the top it was actually the 2nd hill that we had just completed and it was downhill all the way from there. At one point as I pushed I heard Grace shouting that she was riding through and in shock I turned around only to see that she was indeed riding, but Orrel was riding behind her and pushing her up the hill ! Orrel is absolutely fantastic at that and he is extremely strong although he is not even close to being built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I have often seen him riding up long Mountain and Beverly Hills and pushing damsels in distress on their bikes in front of him. This is an amazing feat that takes an inordinate amount of strength and skill and I have never seen anyone else anywhere do this. Maybe he should be nominated for the "Guinness Book of World Records?"

Anyway I took the lead flying down the other side of the hill and while after crossing over the fording I did pass the track leading to our swimming area at first, when we turned back I saw the lady who was cooking for us and her team by the river. It didn't take me a minute to tear off my shirt and shorts and jump in the river (not nude, I had ridden down in my bathing suit underneath) and it was absolutely wonderful. Actually, where we were was the Indian river, a tributary of the Rio Magno.

At one point there was a bit of concern for whereas we had committed to bring the eating utensils, Charles had left them with Betty and he said she was an hour behind. Pat saved the day however for she had brought two lovely banana breads and voraciously we dived into them giving us the ability to enjoy the water a bit longer as we waited for Betty without dying from hunger.

The food was just great and plentiful......turned cornmeal, lots of ground provisions, calloo, run dung, ackee and saltfsh and wonderful corned pork. We had a wonderful time swimming and eating and when a local young man showed us a spot where the huge rock has a small opening that you can swim through, Michael and Barry had to scratch up themselves on the rock to prove that they could do it.

Our cook Hopie had told us on the previous trip that there was a waterfall nearby and eventually we convinced the same young man who had come there with her to take us to it. At first when she was quoting the distance, she said it was a mile away and when we protested, she cut the distance down to 1/2 mile!

Charles set out with a small group and shortly after, about twelve of us set out. Problem was, we didn't see where they went as by the time we got to the main road they were out of sight. So we followed the general direction in which Hopie had pointed and headed up the hill. After struggling uphill for about fifteen minutes and getting the feeling we were going away from the river area, we stopped a route taxi only to be told yes, we were going the wrong way for the only waterfall we would see at the top of the hill was a tank overflowing.

Disappointed we turned back but as we almost reached our original picnic spot, Charles the 1st (Simpson) suggested that we drive to look for the waterfall and Grace and I accompanied him. We went in the general direction that we had been told and it appeared that we were getting further and further away from civilisation. We were all for turning back but Simpson said that often when we turn back in situations such as this, we hear later that we were almost at our elusive destination, so we should continue a little further.

Shortly after we heard loud voices coming from what appeared to be a deep wooded ravine with humongous trees. So we went up further to find a spot to turn back and as we got back to the spot we saw Alrick sitting on the roadside. Apparently because it had actually been a 45 minute walk, Charles and company had called Betty to ask her to come for them and Alrick (who never swims!) thinking the vehicle that had passed had been her had come up from the river so she would be able to find them.

We parked and walked gingerly down a slippery and treacherous path until we got to the river where we saw Sharon under the excuse for a waterfall. Actually that waterfall is no bigger than the one we often use at Maryland on a Sunday. Behind a huge rock was Charles and company in what they described as a sauna. When I tested the water and saw how cold it was, I ignored the invitations for me to join them. However, that area is known as Ham Lane and the river is the Rio Cobre which comes down from Guy's Hill. It is an absolutely awesome area heavily wooded and in a deep ravine (I think of it as it as a very mini Grand Canyon !) with some of the largest trees and rocks I have ever seen. The eastern side is an extremely high ninety degree hill which gives it an almost eerie look.

Betty arrived shortly after and reluctantly the adventurers got out to return to our original picnic spot. When we got there everybody was more or less packing up and would you believe that Nicole and Chris Dalrimple decided that they would be riding back to Juici with the A team. Once you had gotten over the hill that we had sped down on our arrival, it was more or less downhill all the way however and we who drove back did not have to wait very long before they all got back to Bog walk.

Then it was back to Kingston after an absolutely wonderful day. Actually I think we need to find more of these quiet, natural and idyllic spots instead of always going along the beaten track to known locations such as Reggae and Reach Falls, for exploring is far more interesting.

Of course, whenever you have winners you usually have losers and we were the winners on Sunday. The losers were my friends Michael and Camille. I had invited them on Friday night but they didn't confirm. However, according to Camille, when she woke up on Sunday morning and remembered the turned cornmeal and corned pork I had told them about, they decided to drive over. Would you believe they reached Rio Magno, saw the fording and the pedestrian bridge but didn't see us.

Not being persistent like Charles the 1st, they turned back after trying to call me a couple of times and having the phone going straight to voice mail. According to Michael he left me a message filled with reams of colourful cloth for not answering the phone and causing them to have to drive back home hungry. But as it turned out the laugh was on him as he had transposed my number incorrectly!

  I wonder who got all the colorful cloths he left for me?

FETING THE KIDS

On Saturday 15th January, we had our annual treat for the kids from the National Children's Home in Papine.....better late than never.

As you recall, we the riders from Fun and Thrills MTR have been spending some time with these kids who have been abandoned by their families and are now residents of the Methodist run home. Our involvement started three years ago when we donated bicycles and a bicycle rack to the home and started taking out kids for rides on Saturday mornings at Hope Gardens. In order to enjoy this privilige, the kids must have met the behavioral and acdemic criteria setfor that week by the head of the home Mr. Anderson.

This year's treat took the form of a fun day at Rockforth Mineral spa.This formed part of our regular Saturday morning ride and get together. This time 17 of us rode to the yacht club just below the airport while the super fit, Chris, Howie and Orrel rode on to Port Royal.

In the meantime the rest of us returned to the spa to have breakfast and await the arrival of the kids. Michael Chuck brought over the breakfast and snacks for the kids and took back some bicycles for us. Then we waited and waited and waited for the kids to arrive. When they didn't, we called the manager of the home, Mr. Anderson and he expressed surprise that we were waiting on them as there was a misunderstanding between himself and Charles, leading him to believe we would have been collecting the kids. This was straightened out however and they were brought over in their bus accompanied by the school nurse.

From then on, it was fun fun fun. The kids had a great time frolicking in the water but were disappointed when they learnt that they could not remain in the water for longer than 45 minutes. We tried to explain to them that the water had minerals in it that could cause over exposure to harm them, but that did not alleviate the disappointment. Only when they had dressed and was met by the group with snacks of patties, drinks and cake, did the disappointment ease.

They had a wonderful day thoug and so did we. So good was it that I passed a resolution that we ride to Port Royal once per month and finish off swimming at the spa. This was seconded and thrided by Chales and Richard.

Negril Adventure

Shocker of the week.....the $250 jelly coconut in Negril!

Mystery of the week....how Barry left Kingston the same time as the others yet reached
Negril 5 hours before every one else. Some people think he took a minibus!

Joke of the week....A motorotist seeing Howie lying on the sidewalk and thinking he was dead, summoned the police.

These are the things we will probably be talking about for many years as we remember the decision to ride to Negril in 2011.

While the weaklings decided to ride from Chris' home in St. Ann, the real MTR's rode from Kingston.We weaklings should have travelled down to St. Ann on Friday 7th January, but at the last minute Motty called me to sit in for him, so diligently I gassed up my car and checked my tires to ensure that I could leave immediately after the programe.

As I returned home I received a call from Charles that he had arranged for me to travel down with Sharon and Richard at 3.30pm. That was the best news of the day but as 3.30 passed, I called Richard only to hear that he knew nothing about such plans and he did not think they were going...... my heart fell. Anyway he suggested that I call Sharon and she assured me that they were definitely going, only Richard did not know it yet! Anyway she said she was just leaving school so would pick me up in about an hour. Well an hour came and went as did two. Every call assured me that they would be soon there which turned out to be after 6pm. Anyway once we got on the road all was well especially when we stopped just beyond Castleton gardens for soup and jerk pork.

The others had left out long before and I hear that as they got their bikes ready, Fatman used his super strength to burst Charles' tube as he pumped it, but all was well as they were able to wake up the operator of a cycle shop to solve the problem.

That night we bunked on beds, sofas and the floor at Chris' home and that of her tenant only to be roused from a nice sleep at around 3.30 am by Charles. We left out about 4am and why wasn't I surprised that neither Charles nor Theresa had lights! This slowed us down considerably and in fact it took us one hour to cover the first five miles.

Anyway as dawn broke we picked up the pace and eventually split into two groups. my group with Nicole, Sharlene, Standford, Chris and Fatman got to Mobay at 10am. Chris the driver did an excellent job covering the both groups but in Mobay he was called back to take Sharon and Richard back to St. Ann where they had left their vehicle as they had to get back to Kingston. Charles tried to bribe us to wait on his group by claiming he had ordered breakfast for us, but we resisted this and instead had coffee at Island Grill and resumed the journey.

By the time we got outside of Hopewell, I started to see some excellent beauty spots that I might want to paint at some time in the future, so stopped to take pictures including some excellent shots of the over 200 year old water wheel at Tryall which is still in operation and which is used to keep the fabulous world renowned golf course in peak condition.

Fatman and I had stayed back with Sharlene who was having a problem with her bike, but eventually they left me as I dallied with my camera. By 11.30 am , although I was in no tired or exhausted, with the sun blazing down, I decided that since no one was paying me to ride and since my neck was killing me, it was time to get out of the sun, so I called Charles and he returned with a support vehicle being driven by his friend Stephen and thankfully I jumped in and was even more elated to hear that they were heading straight for the beach in Negril .

We passed Fatman and Sharlene shortly after and invited them to jump in but they were resolute. Poor Fatman, he told me that after he stayed with Sharlene the whole time, when Orrel the conquerer arrived, she declared " Orrel is here now so all is well." Deflated, he rode off by himself while she stayed with her hero.

We saw Chris and invited her also to come out of the sun and drive with us, but although the effects of a lack of sun block were already showing on her, she determined that she was going to go all the way.

Well we went to the beach at Shields hotel and had a wonderful afternoon while the real heroes and heroines slogged in the sun. At around 5 pm we walked into town for dinner and shortly after Fatman rode in saying that Nicole and Stanford, Chris, Orrel and Sharlene had already come in but had gone to their hotel at "Cotton Tree." He was so exhausted that as soon as he ate, he fell asleep with his mouth wide open.....a most tempting sight!

Shortly afterwards, Barry who had left with the Kingston riders at 4am and had a mishap with his support vehicle being driven by Pat, causing them to be delayed for some time at the police station, arrived. When we expressed absolute amazement at how he had arrived so early, he admitted to having driven over part of Mount Rosser in St. Catherine. We are still in awe and are questioning the steroids that he has been taking since none of the other Kingston riders arrived in Negril before 9pm....some 4 hours after he did!

Only next day did we learn some of the drama that took place with them, for somewhere in Hanover, apparently Howie had dismounted and lay down on the sidewalk only to draw the attention of a caring, passing motorists who summoned the police to investigate the dead body on the ground! Michael seems to have created similar concern for Howie did find him lying on the sidewalk near Rosehall and really thought he was not breathing until he let out a loud snore. He admitted afterwards that he had actually stopped for a nap twice and is quite deflated that motorists did not show the same kind of concern for him as they did for Howie!

I certainly had a wonderful time and while the heroes insist that they did too, my non -masochistic outlook makes it impossible for me to understand how people can have fun torturing themselves that way! I understand that when Howie arrived he declared that he would never ride again....till the next day.

I never saw Maurice, Michael or Alrick at all since they left early next morning but I understand that Alrick never finished the ride as after the misfortune of 3 punctures, he ran out of spare tubes. Michael owes me US$500 for he had said he would catch and pass us the St. Ann riders, but I guess that money is dead!

My new resolution is not to ride more than 30 miles again for the unrelenting sun and the pain in the neck demolishes my idea of fun.....different strokes for different folks.

The next day was absolutely wonderful, beach, breakfast then check out....... the best part was of course the lyme at Lymings in Walkerswood where we stopped for food....great jerk pork and there we saw Sharlene and Damit cooling out. Surprise, surprise, Damit had also ridden from Kingston and he tells me he was the last to arrive, reaching his bed at around 11pm.

Well such it is till the next great adventure Fun and thrills style...........

For photographs see Facebook.