My view this morning as I drink my smoothie 6 miles from Kingston. Italee Watson is taking me to the beach for the first time in all of my adventures here.
We’re going to run a few miles, write some new songs, and hang with her kids. The youngest probably has the cutest damn accent of all time.
Rehearsals start Tuesday in Port Antonio with Lenni I-Music and The Trail Blazer Band.
If you’re a recording artist that wants to make that trek to Jamaica, Italee is setting up something really special here.
What you know about cooking Plantains with the Sun and the beach?Wrap the plantain in foil, put it in the sand, wait a while. Snack time for all.
I need more plantains in my life.
Meet me in Jamaica. Book a trip with Italee, and come meet her this Fall when she comes Stateside.
…off to see Mr. Isachar to discuss the radio show we are doing June 14th, featuring Northwest artists on Kingston’s Roots FM.
Send me tracks.
Another magical day with Italee Watson and her family. She picked up Selecta Ras Isachar for dinner tonight at Island Grill, then we came home and showed my favorite Roots DJ the songs we were working on.
Italee disappeared to run an errand and I ran out of songs to show him, so I asked him what was on his mind. Then we wrote a song about that and it was a monster.
We absolutely distilled what was on his mind with serious pop hooks Jamaicans love, that came to Marley so naturally.
Then I pulled out ‘Meet Me in Jamaica’ again after Italee returned to sing along with us on said anthem.
I asked Isachar if he had any suggestions for a so laden with more hooks than a tackle shop. We still need verses. But Isachar dropped another hook that we turned into an answer to our biggest hook of all.
I love songwriting. I love songwriting with my friends. I have some sweet friends here and so should you.
I hope Isachar comes to Seattle as a reggae ambassador. He’s the real thing. He loves music so much he dedicated his life to serving songs to the people. But he is singing on this song.
“Jamaica…sweet Jamaica”
He dropped it after I recorded him naming off all the great fruits that grow here on this garden isle.
I wish I wasn’t on 2 G. I want to upload some awesome video, or at least upload it to private links for my Patreons.
There’s magic here. I can’t lie. It feels really good to know I got some and I brought it here too. But a magician is stronger with other magicians.
The look on faces here when I write songs is priceless. There is this “no he didn’t” “this one has it” look, right before they join in.
They call them combos here when two vocalists join forces. There is something very African about the participation level here.
Come here and write great songs.
…or just be a fan. What they tell you about staying at hotels, never leaving, and buying from locals is SHAM. That’s how a country suffers with tourism as the money never reaches real families.
Unlike the Americans at resorts that are almost a myth to me, Europeans are staying with families, and experiencing Kingston. I am not saying Kingston is not dangerous and you should wander aimlessly alone looking for antique shops and yoga studios. But there is a better way than giving all of your money to Sandals and buying fake dreads for your wild adventure at Margaritaville.
The only time I had to reason myself and mind f☆ck a man out of mugging me was when I was unlucky enough to find myself outside a resort in Montego Bay.
I think Resorts are dangerous. Stay away from resorts and stay with real people.
Facts.
Oh and make real friends. See that medallion around Isachar’s neck. It is one of his prized possessions from Mali, and it came from West Seattle when I bought it from Mamadou Diakite for a dream, so I could give it to Isachar.
Isachar dreams of visiting Africa. So I asked my West African friend and husband of Clinton Fearon producer Mell Dettmer to help me bring a bit of Africa to Isachar.
We’re all doing the best we can.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. Davin’s new song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube: Tuff Gong Television. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.
