We need to talk about mangoes. All we are eating in this Country is mangos. Here we are at famed reggae singer Mark Wonders house and he takes us to the Mango tree and says,
“Take all you like.”
Isachar changed the game and told me to just not even bother peeling eat the skin, for there are many antioxidants, which sounds even cooler when a Jamaican pronounces,
“Antioxidants”
My white shirt was all covered in mango juice. Jamaica is covered in Mango juice.
Nobody is starving to death during mango season unless they are allergic to mangoes.
I arrived at the recording studio I am staying at and the kitchen table was lined with mangoes. In the backyard was a mango tree.
There are more mangoes than people. The streets are full of people and boxes of mangoes at their feet.
We must eat them before they spoil. I think you can survive on mangoes alone. We’re about to find out. I was going to post a selfie just now but my face was stained with mango.
It’s wild how on an island where the people are too poor on average to consume our exports, the food that is in season is everything, and in abundance.
You can eat a $1000 worth of mangoes and nobody would even question it. Because they’re free. The market has crashed, until August.
But no ackee!
One Step Closer to The Mighty Quinn
You want to know my favorite twist of the trip so far? This is my band I am playing with. They are awesome. We had a really fun rehearsal. They’re COPS.
When they chuckled at the West Indian Rock line, “there are too many Dons here, one of them about to get got” that got my attention.
Hmmmm…I almost took out that line that was inspired by when Ras Isachar called me the day a famous Don went down in Montego Bay and the power was reshuffled instantly in the vacuum.
But back to these wonderful guys. I have some video to show you, that proves how much they dig that title track that is really resonating here.
The show organizer is Rasta, they’re Cops, I’m a guy that sells weed at a store in Washington that is going to make one mild spliff last three weeks and enjoy the heck out of it.
Cops! Even I can’t write this stuff. But it makes sense. There are not a lot of jobs here that pay a living wage here in Jamaica, and there is not a giant safety net of semi socialist New Deal programs that we take for granted America.
So being young Constable on Patrol or parade or on stage, is a good gig here. Especially as a jazz musician.
I am going to be posting some great video of these guys. After I show them the post. I will tag them. They are in uniform on their own pages so I am don’t think I am overstepping with this neat little story.
I am locked in a studio practicing, so I can really come correct when I rehearse again with these cops.
Trail Blazer Band for the WIN. Join my patreon and help me keep manifesting stories like this, and join the fun.
As a female reggae singer said when I told her, “oh you’ll be safe then.”
“That’s the first thing I told them.”
– 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.
