Reggae reigns supreme

 In my book, the 1st Palm Beach Reggae and Arts Festival at Old School Square in Delray Beach was so successful, I hope it will become an annual affair.

 This after I only attended 1 of what is a 3 day affair (Friday to Sunday). 

Saturday night featured the dynamic Inner Circle band.

I had never been to Delray Beach before despite having lived in nearby Tamarac for 10 years.

Barry (right) with one of his band members.

So have to big up my cuz Barry, (Colin), leader of the popular Tallawah Mento Band for not only telling me about the festival but also transporting me.😊

You know Jamaica has birthed so many fantastic musicians of every genre over the years that I can never stop feeling super proud to be a Jamaican.

Soaking up the fun with Caroline 

One of my top favorite dance bands in the 1980's was Inner Circle with the unstoppable Jacob Miller. I still get goose bumps remembering that terrible Sunday afternoon when he crashed around 3 pm and died on Hope Road.

For weeks every radio station was playing his monster hit "Dreadlocks nuh live inna tenament yard," as we mourned.

Although I collected many Inner Circle tapes and cd's over the years, I lost track of this dynamic band decades ago, thinking they had disbanded. (Pun intended😁).

Thanks to my cuz Barry, I learned this week  that not only were they still around but also, they had built a virtual musical empire in Miami. 

Naturally most of the original members are no longer around but last night's lead singer, Trevor 'skatta' Bonnick, and the fantastic musicians had us out of our seats for over an hour last night. Skatta belted out hit after hit

and would you believe he never took a break to even drink  water!

They were fantastic.

Carolyn in the groove

Inner Circle in action last night

Before Inner Circle came on, there were three earlier bands kicking off the entertainment at 6pm.

My next favorite was a latin band called Xpermento with members drawn from Argentina, Colombia Cuba Puerto Rica.

Xpermento in action

They delivered not only great latin music but also, good reggae and pop. I suspect we will be hearing a lot more about them.

Ojay and Sahara.

Two performers Ojay and Sahara, are children of the great reggae artist Ernie Smith. They performed with 'The Resolvers'. Ojay has a wonderful voice like his father and Sahara is full of stage vibes.

The first band that got things moving was Yvan& Legal Roots. They were pretty good too.

A small crowd kicked off with them at 6 pm, but the crowd blossomed as things proceeded.

It was a great afternoon and hopefully this will really become an annual affair.

Aging wisely

 I guess it had to take the racing of my heart for me to wake up to the fact that I am aging fast 😊.(https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/01/reflections-on-biology.html?m=1)

One thing that comes with aging in this country, is the huge target on your back from scammers.

That's why I appreciated and attended the session hosted by the Broward Sheriff's Department in cooperation with the City today, to help keep us up to date with the constantly evolving world of scamming.

Apparently grandparents fraud is the fastest growing type of scamming these days in Tamarac and it's made so much easier now that it is so ably assisted by AI!

I was really surprised though that the turnout of seniors was so sparse despite it being promoted for weeks at the Senior Center.

Sparse turnout

There was also input from the Traffic Department and the Fire Rescue. 

The traffic department not only reminded us how to remain safe on the roads but highlighted the hot spots in the city.

 Interestingly, the number 1 hotspot in our city is the intersection right beside my condo, at Commercial and University!

Fire Rescue made me realize the many ancillary services they provide. (Our taxes pay for it so there is no extra charge when we use them.)

An important handout they gave us was a "file of life" magnet which they suggested we keep on our refrigerator with up to date information, so if they have to come and rescue us when no one else is around, they can get life-saving information quickly.

A great idea.

Mine is already on my fridge .

No harm is accepting that we are getting there and need to take steps to make the process less treacherous!

Afro Carib festival

 I love Steel Pulse and not having seen them for around 10 years, when I got the info that they would be the stars of the Afro Caribbean festival to close out Black History Month in Miramar, wild horses couldn't prevent me from attending.

Despite the close to an hour commute 

and the long, sometimes tedious wait for them to perform, it was worth every minute.

They must have read my mind as they performed hit after hit from the moment they hit the stage!👏👏👏💞.

It was like a musical explosion in slow motion.⚡🌄🌅🌪️✨

 Oh what a night.

Beautiful Nigerian prints on display 

The Nigerians were the only Africans who had displays at this festival. (Never saw any Caribbean booths beside Jamaica's either!😡)

This Nigerian mother and daughter showed off their outfits.

Jollof rice from Nigeria 

Sonia cops a pose

This band delivered some good African drumming 

Shuga from Montego Bay was good

This dancer kicked off the show. It started almost an hour late though😡.

Vincentian Soca warrior Skinny Fabulous got us out of our seats.

The covered area was eventually fairly full but overall, I expected a larger crowd.

You see, it was promoted as a free event for those wanting to sit on the grass or bring their own chairs.

 However, the covered area up front was being sold for $150.00. Very few people took up that offer though, so they eventually opened up that area to all us 'plebians.' Hence it looks crowded now!

Teflon tried his best but people were tired of having to wait too long for Steel Pulse.

Its actually the first time I ever attended an outdoor event at Miramar.

It is a much larger city than my own Tamarac and with a population twice the size as ours. And the fact that it is dominated by Jamaicans is obvious, based on their apparent love of Jamaica time.😁👍.

The festival was quite good though, although some performers could have been left out.

of

But what the heck, Steel Pulse saved the day.