One Third in action at 'Party With The Stars'. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Not many took up the invitation to 'Party With the Stars' at the Cable and Wireless Golf Academy, New Kingston, on Tuesday evening. And in the early going of Labour Day, after a 40-minute intermission, Derrick Harriott and the Mighty Diamonds found the going laborious, one member of the trio commenting, "Da show ya col' like ice. Dem trow col' water pan da show ya!"
Their harmonies did little to thaw the few who remained (of the already few who had come out in the first place), and when 'Party With the Stars' ended close to 3:00 a.m. without the appearance of John Holt or Freddie McGregor or the drawing of the US$3,000 gate prize, there was many a complaint as those who had spent the $1,000 entry fee headed through the gates.
Early party
Ironically, despite MC Bob Clarke announcing the starting time two hours and 15 minutes past the slated 9:00 p.m. showtime to the very small audience scattered over the expansive grounds, in the relatively early going it was a party indeed. After Lloyd Parkes and We The People had warmed up with the Real Rock and Mission Impossible rhythms, Clarke asked, "You start feeling it now" and there was a chorus of 'yes' up front.
The enthusiasm continued through the Clarendonians' You Can't Be Happy and when Peter Austin left Ernest Wilson on stage to deliver When a Man Loves a Woman, requesting, "Ladies put on your G-String, don't put on your jeans" before a line of Practise What You Preach there were howls from the audience and a 'forward'. "Sometimes you wonder how a man want to blow in another man's face. That ain't right," Wilson said, before screaming for the ladies and requesting "please consider me".
The big stars came out early and performed shorter than accustomed, Ken Boothe's jigging on stage in a grey suit reflected in a dancing audience as he took them down Freedom Street. "It will soon be Labour Day," said Boothe, who took the concert over the midnight hour. "We been labouring for hundreds of years without pay."
Beautiful and lovely
The jacket came off on Artibella and Boothe commented, "You are a few, but so beautiful and lovely." The Train Is Coming and Puppet on a String were part of aclosing medley which moved the audience and Derrick Morgan kept the movement going down ska street. In My Heart, the command to "be still" and lament "she's gone" hit home, Morgan continuing the run of ska favourites to a steady rhythm from the band to close with cerassee advice to Elena. Clarke called him back for the command "don't call me Daddy".
One Third 'real-rocked' their way on stage, a Junior Murvin style falsetto met with waving hands, before the young men went retro with My Girl to good effect. The first of two originals, a love song to "baby boo", got the stand-and-look treatment, while there was heartfelt applause at the end of the second, the anti-violence statement, "We no waan light no more candle pon de corner". They circled and sang Africa and closed on Top a Tings, six legs white-clad legs moving up and down rapidly in sync.
George Nooks called for a 'pull-up' on Left With a Broken Heart and followed with Hero, God Is Standing By and Zion Gate, along with a deejayed snippet of Forty Leg. He ended with Tribal War, which was restarted before the first line as the music hit painlessly.
Nooks encouraged his 'choir' to sing when he was called back by Clarke and did How Great Thou Art and they did, but after the break they were checking out while Harriott was checking in and despite a spark for Have Mercy, it was not quite the Right Time for the Mighty Diamonds.
