Dexta Daps demanded extra tickets and money owed to him by Best of the Best promoters
Dexta Daps goes All White
Deejay Dexta Daps, one of the hottest acts in dancehall music, will perform at the ‘All White, All Inclusive Premium Day Party’, scheduled for Eisenhower Park in Long Island, New York on May 29.
The event is part of Irie Jam Radio’s Operation Bliss on Memorial Day Weekend.
“We are very excited to welcome Dexta Daps to Long Island and to Oracabessa Bliss,” said event organizer DJ Roy of Irie Jam. “He is a fan favorite plus New York is his home away from home which is why we booked him.”
Dexta Daps has endeared himself to fans in the tri-state area with songs like 7eleven, Shabba Madda Pot, Dreaming, Pretty Nicky, Morning Love and Jealous Ova, his steamy duet with Tifa.
The All White Party kicks off at noon and ends 8:pm. It includes a food village, fashion show and music by some of Jamaica’s top sound system selectors such as Rory Gilligan (of Stone Love fame); Renaissance Disco with Jazzy T and Delano and Collin Hinds of FAME FM.
For the first time in its history, female farm workers will participate in the Jamaican Overseas Agricultural Programme to the United States.
A group of 64 women will leave Jamaica in June for Gebbers Farms in Brewster, Washington.
Labour Minister, Shahine Robinson, made the announcement during a ceremony at her office in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, last week.
Management from Gebbers Farms were at Robinson’s office for the historic announcement. The company joined the Jamaican Overseas Agricultural Program in 2010, recruiting approximately 300 workers that year.
Currently, more than 600 Jamaicans work on the farm.
Gebbers Farms is considered one of the top apple growers in the Northwestern United States, and among the world’s largest suppliers of cherries.
Global sprint star Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt has donated his gold and white limited edition Puma spikes in which he won the gold medal and broke the Olympic 100 meters record at the 2009 Berlin Olympics to raise money for charity.
Bolt handed over the track shoes to Lady Allen, the wife of the Jamaican Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, last week. The pair of spikes will be auctioned next month to raise money for the Issa Trust Foundation for which Lady Allen is the patron.
The Issa Trust Foundation has been providing equipment, medical service and treatment for tpaediatric wards at hospitals across the island..
The shoes will go on the auction block two weeks ahead of a June 24 fundraising concert featuring Gammy award winning group, Air Supply.
Olympic sprint hurdles champion Omar McLeod has expressed confidence in the new generation of Jamaican sprinters to keep Jamaica at the pinnacle of the track and field world after the departure of world’s fastest man Usain Bolt.
Bolt has been the alpha male of sprinting for close to a decade and following his swansong at the World Championships in London this summer, the world of sprinting awaits another superstar. But despite fears that Bolt’s spikes will be too hard to fill and the marquis event may suffer as a result, McLeod is not perturbed.
“It’s saddening that he’s retiring, but there is nothing we can do to change his mind, but what we can do, as young emerging Jamaican athletes, is shine our own lights and try our very best to keep the flag flying high,” McLeod said
Lauderdale Blazers Football Club pulled off a 2-1 victory over Lauderhill Juniors in the Cariibean American Soccer Association (CASA) Super League at the Broward Sports Park on Saturday.
In the Masters League Lauderdale FC clobbered Rockers FC 4-1 while Chapel Trail pulled off a 1-0 win over Lion Masters.
Jamaica’s perennial crime problem has made citizens of the Caribbean country cower for over forty years. Singer Hugh English has lived in two of its toughest communities and seen the effects of violence.
His experience of inner-city life inspired the song Too Much Guns which is produced by Mightyful13 Records and released by VPAL, a subsidiary of VP Records.
Fitzroy Francis, head of Mightyful13 Records, told Caribbean National Weekly that Too Much Guns’ message is not limited to Jamaica.
“Life’s conditions each day have become more gloom and doom with the erroneous and senseless killings worldwide,” he said.
Two weeks ago, the song entered the New York Foundation Radio Network’s Top 30 Music Chart Top 10 at number eleven. Last week, it jumped three places to number eight.
English grew up in Trench Town and Waterhouse, gritty communities in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital. An outbreak of violence in Trench Town influenced him to write Too Much Guns which was first released in 2012 as Guns In The Hands of Fools.
The Mightyful13 version is the follow-up to Hey Jude, English’s cover of The Beatles classic which topped the New York Foundation Radio Network Top 30 in 2016. That song was also produced by Mightyful13 Records.
Haitians rally for protective status in West Palm Beach
Downtown West Palm Beach was recently filled with Haitians calling for an extension of Temporary Protective Status granted by the federal government.
A program giving Haitians temporary protective status was put in place after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
People rallied on Sapodilla Ave. between Banyan Boulevard and Clematis Street Thursday to call for President Trump to extend the program set to end on July 22..
The rally was organized by local Haitian radio station WPOM.
WPOM called on people from Miami up to the Treasure Coast to show their support for the president extending the program.
People chanted “yes to TPS” and “Haitians for Trump” at the rally.
The Trump administration must decide whether to renew the program for another 18 months.
Bob Marley sure goes down well with ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s believe so.
The giant ice cream company have re-launched its One Love flavor in the US, it was announced Thursday. It is named for the reggae legend’s universal anthem for peace.
Marley died on May 11, 1981 at age 36 from cancer.
According to the Marley family and Ben & Jerry’s, a portion of the proceeds from each One Love pint sold will benefit Jamaica’s One Love Youth Camp, a program run by the Bob Marley Foundation and Partners for Youth Empowerment.
One Love ice cream reportedly enjoyed strong success in the United Kingdom last year. It is described by Ben & Jerry’s as “an enchanting harmony of banana ice cream, caramel and cookie swirls, and chocolatey peace signs.”
The partnership will be celebrated on May 22 when Marley’s oldest son, Ziggy, hosts performances by Aaron Nigel Smith and other artists at an invitation-only party at the iconic Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.
That event will be followed immediately by the first official listening party of Bob Marley’s Reimagined Exodus 40 album – produced by Ziggy and reissued for the 40th anniversary of his father’s Epic Exodus album.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson and Omar McLeod scored wins in their respective events in the Shangai Diamond League in China on Saturday.
Double Olympic sprint champion, Thompson, continued in the rich vein of her early season form when she won the 100 meters going away from the field in a time of 10.78 seconds. American Tori Bowie was second in 100.04 seconds while the Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou finished third. Trinidad’s Michell-Lee Ahye was fourth while Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Christiania Williams were sixth and eighth respectively.
High hurdler McLeod was also in good nick. He romped to victory in 13.09 despite a strong challenge from Spain’s Orlando Ortega. China’s Xie Wenjun was fourth while McLeod’s Jamaican compatriot Hansle Parchment placed fourth.
May 11 marked 36 years since the death of Bob Marley. The reggae superstar died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) at age 36.
Marley spent a lot of time in South Florida where his mother Cedella Booker and her family lived after moving from Delaware. Here is where he co-wrote Buffalo Soldier with singer/producer Noel ‘King Sporty’ Williams, another Jamaican who called South Florida home for many years.
The song was recorded by Marley in 1978 in Miami but Sporty had previously cut a version for himself and released it. The Marley edition came out on Confrontation, an album released by Island Records two years after his death.
King Sporty died in 2015 in Miami at age 71.
Buffalo Soldier saluted African-American soldiers who fought in the Indian Wars during the late 19th century. The song’s video featured Rastafarian ‘soldiers’ (including members of British reggae band Aswad) in military gear from that period.
Interestingly, Marley never had a large African-American following. His final US tour in 1980 was aimed at breaking him in that elusive market. The previous year, he performed at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.
Marley’s family maintains ties to South Florida. Some of his children live here and promote the annual Nine Mile festival and recently launched Kaya Fest.
Like a plague of biblical proportions, swarms of locusts have descended on the villages in Moruga, leaving some residents virtual prisoners in their homes.
The area is known to be host to the swarms of unwelcome guest as locusts have invaded the community earlier this year and last year.
But this time the ravenous insects are larger in number and size.
The Ministry of Agriculture has dispatched a team to attempt to exterminate the plague the pests, but it had done little to reduce the numbers.
According to Princes Town Regional Corporation councillor Joseph Lorant , the locusts have been affecting many along the forested area of Edward Trace.
He said he has received a number of calls about the locusts.
Videos and photographs on social media have been circulated showing the extent of the locusts swarming the community.
Lorant said he understands that officials from the Ministry of Agriculture have been dispatched to assess the situation.
He said that he intends to visit those affected.
Several farmers have been affected as the locusts ate their crops.
Promoter of the popular Dub Club, Gabre Selassie, was freed in Kingston’s Parish Court Friday morning.
The Rastafarian sound system operator, whose given name is Carlisle Lee, was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by police officers who went to his home in Jacks Hill — an upper-class area in St. Andrew parish — on April 23.
They ordered Lee to stop playing the music due to complaints by residents that they were being disturbed.
Selassie was charged with a breach of the Noise Abatement Act, using indecent language and resisting arrest.
The prosecution dropped the charges against him after he provided a copy of the Dub Club Police Permit which gives Selassie permission to keep his weekly event.
The prosecution also criticized the police for acting hastily and without legal reason.
Several persons including Jamaica’s Minister of Sports, Culture and Gender Affairs, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange criticized the police action.
The Dub Club is one of the hot spots in Jamaica. It attracts reggae artists, producers and booking agents from the United States and Europe.
In general election held in the Bahamas on Wednesday, voters elected Hubert Minnis of the Free National Movement (FNM) as their new prime minister. The FNM defeated the Perry Christie led Progressive Liberal Party in a whopping 34-5 parliamentary split. A preliminary count showed Minnis easily won his seat and the FNM party would hold the parliamentary majority. “My fellow Bahamians, the people have spoken,” Minnis, a physician, said in a victory rally before thousands of supporters on Wednesday night.
The Palm Beach County School District is calling on parents to pressure Governor Rick Scott to veto the state budget recently passed by the Florida Legislature. On Wednesday night, the school board approved a “call to action” seeking to have Scott veto the budget and House Bill 7069, a sweeping education bill that steers $140 million from funding public schools to charter school companies. The school district issued a statement, saying it’s “rare that the Board or School District use public platform to advocate on an issue; however, vetoing the budget and sending legislators back to Tallahassee is critically important to our school district, our employees and most importantly our students.
“The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has recommended that Caribbean governments beef up traffic management in order to significantly reduce tragic road deaths across the region. The organization is also recommending the lowering of speed limits, the installation of more speed bumps and the construction of roundabouts, among other speed management measures. In a report on Road Safety in the Region of the Americas, PAHO noted that 17 countries in the Americas have already set maximum speed limits of less than 50 km/h in urban areas and 13 have given local authorities the green light to reduce limits even further.
And in sports
The Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) has announced a scholarship to the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, in honor of high jumper Germaine Mason, who died on April 20 in a motor accident. The Germaine Mason Scholarship will be awarded to a high school high jumper who excels academically, JAAA president Dr. Warren Blake announced on Wednesday
Here’s what’s trending…
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wasn’t welcomed by students as she delivered the commencement speech at the Bethune-Cookman University, a historical black college in Daytona beach, Florida on Wednesday. As the university’s president, Edison Jackson, awarded DeVos an honorary degree, many students in the crowd started to boo, while faculty applauded. Mere seconds after DeVos began speaking, the students began shouting, and some turned their backs on Devos who attempted to elevate her voice above the shouts as she spoke.
For Tomorrow’s weather forecast.
It will be partly cloudy with isolated showers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and partly cloudy in Palm Beach county with a high of 91 and a low of 73. Today’s news was brought to you by the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, who encourages you to Protect Your Baby, Vaccinate On Time, Every Time. They remind you that Immunizations are SAFE, PROVEN PROTECTION. For more on these and other stories visit us at caribbeannationalweekly.com Make sure to pick your copy of Caribbean News weekly at your nearest Caribbean American outlet
A former businessman turned drug addict who faked his kidnapping was found guilty and sentenced in a Trinidad Court on Thursday.
The convicted man Ramdeo Mathura, 58, had spent all his money buying drugs and then reported to police that he was kidnapped and his money stolen by a man named Shabba. He was convicted for wasteful employment of police time.
He told the court he and his wife were going through a divorce and he turned to drugs.
The court heard that on May 10 the defendant told a policeman that he was robbed of his $60 wallet and $220 by a man whom he knew as Shabba.
He told the officer that after the robbery he was taken to the Shabba’s home at Mt Moriah San Fernando and kept against his will.
He said the following day Shabba took him to Republic Bank, Lower High Street, San Fernando where he was told to withdraw cash but he did not have a card to be able to withdraw the money. Mathura then pointed out the man he identified as ‘Shabba outside Republic Bank and identified him as Shabba.”
Both men were taken to the San Fernando police station.
After hearing the police inform Shabba of the offence committed, Mathura then admitted he made a false report. He was slapped with a fine of TT$1,000 or three months.
Eulalee Bax has lived a storied life. One that saw her rise from poverty in Jamaica to become the mother of one of South Florida’s most accomplished politicians.
But her life has not been easy.
Bax, 86, migrated to New York from Jamaica in racially-charged 1967. She overcame several challenges to nurture a daughter who became Mayor of Lauderhill Lakes — Hazelle Rogers.
“I did what I had to do. I never let them miss school one day. I let her achieve all she wanted to achieve. I am very proud of her,” Bax told Caribbean National Weekly.
Mrs Eulalee Bax and Jamaica Council General, Mrs Sandra Grant Griffiths
At the age of ten, tragedy struck when Bax’ mother died. Five years later, she moved from Alexandria in St. Ann to Kingston in search of a better life. This was the era of colonial rule and life for a rural, black Jamaican female was hard. But, driven by a fierce ambition to succeed, Bax was undaunted.
Several years later, she opened a supper shop in the Central Kingston community of Allman Town. Soon after, she became a mother and increased responsibilities influenced her to go to
England in 1961 but the damp, cold climes were not to her liking and she returned home.
“England was not for me,” she said.
In 1967, Bax jumped at another opportunity to migrate, this time to Brooklyn, New York. There, she also fell on hard times.
“In those times I could hardly get work. It was only housework. I was not a citizen,” she said.
As fate would have it, Bax found work in hospitals and factories, all the time the single parent thought about sending for her three children in Jamaica.
“I could not take them all at once so I sent for them one by one,” she recalled.
Rogers, her oldest child, was the first to join her in 1969. After a number of years in New York, Bax again fled the cold and relocated to Florida with her children — another daughter and a son.
The year was 1982. Fourteen years later, Hazelle Rogers became the first Caribbean-American elected to political office in the Southeastern USA. She became City Commissioner of Lauderdale Lakes, serving for 12 years before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2008. Rogers also served as president of the Broward League of Cities in 2004.
Mayor Rogers was Democratic Deputy Whip from 2010-2012, and 2012-2016. She has been Democratic Ranking Member on the House Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee since 2012.
Rogers credits Bax for instilling positive values that have impacted her political life.
“Mom has always been an inspiration to me. When I look at how she had to struggle her way through. She has been a very strong mother and we are very proud of her. She has shaped my experience which helps me to try and make the right decisions in my public life,” she said.
Eulalee Bax is still walking the good walk. She has all her faculties intact and speaks with a wit that belies her years. For Mother’s Day, her four children will honor a family tradition by attending church with her.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Taekwondo fighter, Brandon Joseph, took the silver medal at the recent USAT Florida State Taekwondo Championships, held at the Orlando Hilton Convention Center.
He finished second to Oliver Rene Largaespada. The runner-up spot earned Joseph a spot in the USAT National tournament.
For Joseph — who recently moved up one weight class — this is a second Florida State Championship silver medal. He copped his first in the cadet division two years ago.
Lauderhill Commissioners Margaret Bates and Howard Berger are among 31 recipients of theBarack Obama Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented on June 17 at the Signature Grand in Davie.
They are being recognized for devoting in excess of 4,000 service hours to the community.
“I am truly honored to be considered one of the honorees for this award. Giving back to the community is a pleasure for me. The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award will be an award I will cherish forever,” Bates said.
Berger was equally grateful.
Howard Berger
“There are so many great causes out there. As an elected official for so many years, I find myself interacting with great people, meeting the needs of the public, and helping organizations meet goals regularly. It is very rewarding, and I live for it.”
Also among the recipients is Keith Davis, St. Vincent and The Grenadines’ national soccer coach and coach of the Lauderhill Lions.
Some of the world’s top athletes will participate in the May 20 Jamaica International Invitational meet at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Meet director Donald Quarrie announced Wednesday that the stellar lineup is led by Elaine Thompson, the double sprint champion at last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Others confirmed are Olympic 400 meters champion Allyson Felix of the United States; 2015 World Championship 100 meters hurdler Danielle Williams of Jamaica; 2016 Olympic silver medalist Nia Ali of the US and her compatriot, Kristi Castlin, a bronze medalist in that event.
Trinidadian Michelle Lee Ahye, a finalist in the Olympic 100 meters last year, and Morolake Akinosun, a member of the US gold medal sprint relay team, will also compete.
In the men’s 100 meters, former world record holder Asafa Powell will take on a field that includes American Mike Rodgers, and fellow Jamaican 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Kemar Bailey Cole.
Rising Canadian star Andre DeGrassi will run the 200 meters against American LaShawn Merritt and Alonso Edward of Panama. The latter won silver behind Usain Bolt at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009 and was a finalist at the distance in Rio last year.
That event also includes rising star Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain and Rasheed Dwyer.
The men’s 400 meters will have Grenada’s Bralon Taplin, Jamaica’s record holder Rusheen McDonald, Kevin Borlee, Javon Francis and Tony McQuay of the US.
The Guyanese government is tackling overcrowding in the nation’s prisons by looking for alternatives for pre-trial detention.
This is a part of other measures outlined to address prison overcrowding in a timely manner.
The government, through the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) will be hiring a consultant to find alternatives for pre-trial detention, Project Manager of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) Clement Henry told the Government Information Agency (GINA).
“A consultant has been identified, and we are doing contract negotiations with that person, and we have been able to arrive at a sum. We have sent that contract to NPTAB (National Procurement and Tender Administration B0ard) for award so this consultancy is expected to start as early as in the next two weeks,” Henry explained.
Overcrowding in prisons of Guyana is one of the major challenges faced by the Guyana Prison Service (GPS). The number of prisoners within the system remains alarmingly high. A recent survey showed that the prison population stands at 256 per 100 000 of the national population, well above the world average of 146 per 100 000.
Former Tivoli strongman transferred to minimum security prison
Jamaican drug tycoon Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke has been transferred to a low-security prison with “no bars, towers, or locks” to complete his 23-year prison sentence in the United States.
The US Bureau of Prisons has confirmed that Coke had been transferred to the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in New Jersey.
Fort Dix FCI currently houses just over 4,000 male inmates. According to its admission and orientation handbook for inmates, which has been published on the Internet, the facility has “no bars, towers, or locks on the rooms located within the community units. Inmates must demonstrate a high degree of responsibility and the expectations are that each inmate will comply.”
This is the third institution to house the former Tivoli Gardens strongman since he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in a New York federal court in 2011.
Coke was first incarcerated at the high-security Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York, immediately after he was extradited from Jamaica, and remained there for a while after his conviction.
Some 73 persons, including a member of the Jamaica Defence Force, were killed in West Kingston in May 2010 as armed hoodlums loyal to Coke took on the security forces for over two days to prevent his arrest and extradition. He was extradited to the US one month later.
In 2013, Coke was transferred from New York to the Edgefield FCI, located near the border of South Carolina and Georgia.
The Fort Dix FCI said that the average age of inmates at the facility is 41, while the average sentence is 11 years.
A number of FCI inmates are listed as being deportable aliens.
Coke is scheduled to be released on July 4, 2030, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.
His younger brother, Leighton ‘Livity’ Coke, was recently shot and injured at the Hellshire Beach in St. Catherine parish.
A federal judge in North Dakota has cleared the way to try 10 defendants who have already been arraigned in a multimillion-dollar Jamaican lottery scam case instead of waiting until the other five suspects have been taken into U.S. custody.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter asked U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland to allow the government to proceed to trial without waiting for the remaining defendants to be caught or extradited from Jamaica, saying the victims deserve justice in a case that has already dragged on for more than five years.
“Elderly victims (and) witnesses continue to die awaiting conclusion of this case,” he said. “Twelve victims are known to have died during the pendency of this matter.”
Hovland approved the request Wednesday, saying it is “in the best interest of the public and all of the defendants.”
A trial date has not yet been set.
The five suspects who are not in U.S. custody will be separated from the case of others who have been extradited from the Caribbean nation to North Dakota, where the case originated. Four of the five are still fugitives. The fifth is in custody in Jamaica awaiting extradition.
Among those awaiting trial is Lavrick Willocks, who authorities allege was the mastermind of the scam that bilked at least 90 mostly elderly Americans out of more than $5.7 million. He pleaded not guilty in January to 66 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Eight other suspects facing the same charges were extradited in late April and pleaded not guilty shortly after. Another suspect who is a U.S. citizen pleaded not guilty in August 2015.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Fernandez says Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries will cooperate with countries in Latin America in speaking with one voice in opposing plans by the United States to target their nationals to help President Donald Trump build the multi-billion dollar US-Mexico border wall he has proposed. 25 Caribbean countries are among a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean proposed by the Trump administration to help fund the wall, estimated at US$21.6 million by placing a tax on remittances from the US
Tensions in Barbados between the Ministry of Education and the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) are set to explode. The disgruntled teachers are not ruling out industrial action over the recent “unfair dismissal” of several of their peers. A meeting had been scheduled for last week between education officials and the teachers’ union to discuss the contentious matter was cancelled, without a new date being set.
On Monday, the Florida Legislature approved an $82.4 billion budget for 2017/2018. The budget includes only $90 million in tax cuts, significantly below than the $618 million originally proposed by Governor Rick Scott. Included in the tax cuts are two three-day sales-tax holidays. One tax holiday from August 4-6 is for back-to school shopping, and the other from June 2 to 4 for hurricane preparedness shopping.
And in sports
The North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) has rejected a proposal by the European Athletics Council, recommending the wiping of dubious world records set before 2005. Head of European Athletics Arne Hansen made the proposal recently calling it “revolutionary”. NACAC president, Victor Lopez, is opposed the proposal and called on the IAAF not to include it on the agenda of the IAAF Council Meeting in London. As an alternative, Lopez proposes the IAAF Integrity Unit work alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to ensure the integrity of athletes.
Here’s what’s trending…
Political representatives in Florida are calling for a special prosecutor to probe ties between the Donald Trump administration and Russian operatives following the sacking of FBI director James Comey by Trump on Tuesday in the height of an ongoing FBI investigation. Trump cited Comey’s handling of the investigation into the activities of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as the reason for firing him.
For Tomorrow’s weather forecast.
It will be mostly sunny in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and partly cloudy in Palm Beach county with a high of 91 and a low of 70. Today’s news was brought to you by the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, who encourages you to Protect Your Baby, Vaccinate On Time, Every Time. They remind you that Immunizations are SAFE, PROVEN PROTECTION. For more on these and other stories visit us at caribbeannationalweekly.com Make sure to pick your copy of Caribbean News weekly at your nearest Caribbean American outlet.
Trevor McNaughton, Taurus Alphonso and Winston Dias of The Melodians performing at the Skamouth Music Festival in England last month
The Melodians released their latest album on May 5, one week after performing at the Skamouth Music Festival in the United Kingdom.
Largely produced by Willie Lindo of South Florida’s Heavybeat Records, The Return of The Melodians Ska—Rocksteady—Reggae hears the trio covering rocksteady classics like Sweet Sensation and You Don’t Need Me.
Trevor McNaughton, who started The Melodians in 1962 with Brent Dowe and Tony Brevett, is the only original member. Dowe died in 2006; Brevett passed away in 2013.
Winston Dias and Taurus Alphonso are the other members of the current lineup. All live in South Florida.
McNaughton is pleased with ‘The Return’ which also features a cover of The Drifters’ I’ll Take You Where The Music’s Playing.
“The good Lord still shining on I an’ I and wi looking forward to taking this to the next level,” he said.
The April 26-28 Skamouth event was their second major performance. In June last year, they performed on the This Is Ska Festival in Rosslau, Germany.
In July, The Melodians are scheduled to appear on the Nowah Reggae Festival in Vilanova, Spain.
