November is the cool month, it carries what is left of the frigid winds that have traversed the Atlantic and made probably its dying steps into the Caribbean. Make no mistakes about anything, Jamaica is still a hot country, but in November, it's just not as hot.
November and December is a time I take for some reflection, for some strange reason the end of the year carries a meloncholy and redolence. I guess it is the looking back at the year that has passed. This year 2005 the Chinese year of the rooster passed faster than the speed of life this year. It seemed like only yesterday, I was bumming and bunking it out with DJ, traversing Kingston via an ailing, red 91 Toyota Camry, and wrapping up a somewhat, celebrity/stage appearance University career, at the "prestigous" UWI. I had made peace with some of my mortal enemies, had an unrival entourage that were the life of campus. What can I say.
Following this vibe, the redolence and all, I think I'll recant some more of my UWI life that took place round about these times.
UWI: Year 0ne, Semester one.
My time at UWI began with some hiccups of course, but I eventually settle at A. Z. Preston Hall, where my presence arguably start as a stir... to say the least, I made few friend there initially owing to the fact that I was perceived as cold, unfriendly and evil as well as potentially Devil worshipping (laughable). Anyway my campus career was much more impressive and eventful. I commandeered the "Arts Tree"... hmmm I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I??? I must make some geographical information become transparent.
Flash back to UWI 2000: The Songs that were running the place were "Chrissy D's" "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "T.O.K.'s" "Chi-Chi Man Car". The Dance that was running the place was ofcourse the "Screechie", dances were few and far between they weren't a weekly phenomenon and the weren't issued out every three days. Bogle was the only real brand name dancer on the scene. Crown Plaza had an excellent club called CLIMAX that soon closed. Sizzla was on the cusp of his first evolution, the one that saw him morph from the sublime and subliminal sleep hit that had raked up the underground and dabbled on the mainstream with "choon"(tunes) like "Praise ye jah", "Babylon gi dem a ride fi dem money" "Row Missa Fishaman" and ofcourse the dancehall mainstay...
BLACK OOMAN and Child, into a more diverse and primetime DJ that quake the Dancehall scene forever along with people's impression as he belt items like "Get to the Point," "Fuss Ting Ooman haffi gimmi pumpum" etc... Another signature feature of that year was Black Chiney's mixed CD number 5 I believe, also dubbed CD KILLER... that changed the state of selecting and producing in Jamaica in more ways than I care to remember...
Long before KFC existed of a real students' union, when the club there was known as SHADES, long before the was a HILO BASIX or a Scotia Bank, when HUMANITIES was called ARTS, when the trees in front ARTS office was small shade in a veritable dust bowl. Joe Periera was still ARTS dean. Aggrey Brown was running CARIMAC... UWI had just introduced online registration, school had not yet become a fashion parade or a try out for REtv and HYPEtv,
Whaddat.com was a new phenomenon, social were secret break away fetes in common areas and rooms, reading room fetes were the thing, campus was alive in some sense or more in retrospect to the droll routine and factory template character types you encounter their now...
Now that things are in perspective, the truth is in that first year I met real and colourful characters that are indelibly etched in my mind forever... meet the host:
Kadene Headley - now this "ooman" is something else. To say the least she has quite the imagination, she walks between her imaginative world and ours. She showed me what real Kingstonian people are like. Not the uppity uptown, twingy twangy types that end every sentence with "still." Really and truly I find it hard to describe Kadene but to sum her up... he made my first year. She was always making life explosive, I remember a time when she had gotten her bad man friends to chase Garth round the ring road... Kadene was a sociopath.
Natoya Brown - The consumate hot uptownish brown girl of Kadene's crew. I dubbed her EyeCandy... I had had a crush on her for a short time. However between Natoya and Kelly, I was never to live any, any, any faux paux down. They were the constant reality checks in my life. Ofcourse I have to thank God for the fact that they had my back for the most part.
Kelly Durrant - This young lady was the real vibes of the crew. She was witty, sarcastic, mad, and had the most tom boy real life experiences of everybody, with the exception of me of course. Kelly always did look sort of birdy and was the 'A' student. Really I don't know how she managed to live such an adventurous personal life, keep Kadene in check, gimmicks me, par with Natoya and still study.
Kadiesha - Hmmm a trip, I'll leave her alone. Except that I will remember the flex to RAS Beer Vibes and her and Kurt's attempts to trap me at her house.
Kurt Hall - To be honest, I hated Kurt initially because he was too goody 2 shoes hero boy type for my flex, Kadene and crew's KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR, but eventually I would like to think I broke him out the mold just a little bit. Especially taking him out of his white girl phase.
Renee Wong - a strange and sometimes moody, but cute, half chiney girl wid a cock batty, weh mi did lust after most of my academic career. Eventually another RAS proved more to her liking, I guess accents gives you an edge in the business.
Roxanne Burton - the pretty pretty philosophy teacher, that soon became a mainstay and another grounding figure in my academic career. If I had been one for the teenage movies and teacher puppy love routine maybe I might have had a crush on her. Ok I fib... maybe I actually did but... that's not the point.
Thaz pretty much it for my host of characters... I somehow feel that I haven't done them much justice in this short synopsis, but somehow I can't capture my memories and bind them to words tonight...
But back to November... I find that this is the time of year that everyone opts to reflect, I believe in a very subconscious way. Mainstream dancehall hits take a small back step and the backdrop music that fills my night are the likes of Dennis Brown and Barrington Levy, Dennis Brown "Revolution" or the baseline of it with small audible snippets of the actuall song is what is actually making its way from what ever distant dance is going on and filling my night. Trodding through the town, the "ever hype" cars take a break from Kartel and Busy Signal, and back track to the days of Scare Dem Crew and Monster Shaq... (longtime mi nh hear Round Head and general Degree). The street side bars, commonly labelled something 'tavern', 'pub' or 'lounge' take it even a step further really dig up the old rockers with the Jacob Miller and Fred Locks and Eek-a-mouse, you'll even hear the mento and ska era. Now a days, I even passed a small corner shop on Dome Street and heard a pleasantly plump lady harkening back to the days of "Greetings from the UK" and "The Desmonds."
Anyway folks I won't bore you too much... "Lilly Moe"
