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Two hours until kickoff and the pre-game show’s already two and a half hours old. Consider this your official HA SBXLI open thread, although its real purpose is to act as a repository for commercials I’ll be posting throughout the game. Expect the updates to start coming fast and furious around 7 p.m. ET. I’m asking for our readers’ help on that, too: if you see something clipworthy and you’re by a computer, we’d be most grateful if you shot us an e-mail at tips -at- hotair.com. Time cues would be helpful, e.g., “Second quarter, 7:30 left, talking Quizno’s baby — HILARIOUS, EVERGREEN.”
Here’s your first ad of the day, the GoDaddy “Basic Instinct” parody rejected by CBS for its illicit, electrifying hint of Candice Michelle gone commando. For your reading pleasure, the NYT has a fun piece about what happens to the losing team’s pre-printed “Super Bowl champion” t-shirts and Joe Queenan argues persuasively in the LA Times that if you’re rooting for the Colts, you’re a soulless punk who’d probably sell his mama out for a nickel. Mike Pechar isn’t rooting for the Colts himself but he’s found a nuanced, reality-based way not to root against them, either.
Two weeks ago I thought Indy was going to give Chicago the Spitzer treatment, but today I’m sensing a major “Peyton chokes” disturbance in the Force. Prediction: Bears in a close one.
Update: Katie, simply a vision today on the sidelines sans hairspray and make-up:
Update (Ian): Oliver on one of the greatest teams in one of the greatest super bowls.
Update: From the pre-game, Peyton dons Beastie Boys “Sabotage” gear for Sprint in the first of what’s sure to be many spots for him tonight. Ian says he’s seen this one before; I hadn’t.
Update: A new Geico caveman ad, but not “Super Bowl new” says Kid from Brooklyn. It’s a few weeks old. The subject: what makes an “authentic” caveman?
Update (Ian): Debbie Schlussel says forget the Super Bowl, bring on the Baghdad Bowl!
Update: Last one from the pre-game, also a few weeks old, from Combos. Fat guys in drag? Comedy gold. They’ve got an “interesting” website for this one, too.
Update: The NFL does MLS a solid by introducing Los Angeles “football” player David Beckham.
Update:Bob Owens wrote a post a few weeks ago about friends of his who’d entered a contest to have their ad — produced for $12.79 — run during the Super Bowl. Looks like they won.
Update: Blockbuster with something for the kids. Cute, if disturbing.
Update: Here’s the flip side of the Doritos ad — FedEx goes big budget.
Update: An instant classic of gay panic, and the best commercial of the night thus far, from Snickers.
Update: Carlos Mencia, proving once again why he’s the poor man’s Chappelle, for Bud Light.
Update: Candice leaves her underwear on this time for GoDaddy.
Update: No, it’s not an ad for Grand Theft Auto. It only looks that way.
Update: What do you get when you cross Spuds MacKenzie with “Lady and the Tramp”?
Update: Monsters and metal. My favorite ad of the night thus far.
Update: A little lighthearted S&M from Anheuser-Busch.
Update: Two takes on black history month from Coke and Frito-Lay, respectively.
Update: More Mencia for Bud Light. Painful.
Update: A few people have e-mailed asking for the Letterman promo that ran earlier. Cute.
Update: Another nifty animated spot from Coke, which was also responsible for the video game ad earlier.
Update: The rat race as Gladiator. Cute, but trying too hard.
Update: This one would have been a lot funnier if they’d gotten Will Ferrell to play him, but Ferrell’s a lot more expensive than Goooou-let is nowadays.
Update: FedEx goes low budget for its second clip of the night, with better results.
Update: The girl’s attractive enough that I can’t remember offhand what product this is for. Bud? Coke?
Update: Borrowing heavily from a scene in “Toy Story,” Bud gets crabs.
Update: The greatest duet since Bowie and Bing Crosby: Don Shula and Jay-Z faceoff in hologram football. Huh?
Verdict: I’m partial to the moronic Garmin ad, but Snickers really satisfied. Gaymania!
Update (Ian): I missed the Piano Man perform the National Anthem, but if someone finds the YouTube of it, please share!
No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year?s commercials.
More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.
For instance, in a commercial for Bud Light beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, one man beat the other at a game of rock, paper, scissors by throwing a rock at his opponent?s head.
In another Bud Light spot, face-slapping replaced fist-bumping as the cool way for people to show affection for one another. In a FedEx commercial, set on the moon, an astronaut was wiped out by a meteor. In a spot for Snickers candy, sold by Mars, two co-workers sought to prove their masculinity by tearing off patches of chest hair…
Then, too, there was the unfortunate homonym at the heart of a commercial from Prudential Financial, titled ?What Can a Rock Do??
The problem with the spot, created internally at Prudential, was that whenever the announcer said, ?a rock? ? invoking the Prudential logo, the rock of Gibraltar ? it sounded as if he were saying, yes, ?Iraq.?
I call this shot "From the Gutter to the Paws" because it reminds me of the cover of Fatboy Slims "From the Gutter to the Stars". I like that she has her first Kong in this photo. Kongs (especially the water kongs that float)were her favorite toy and one of the few toys she couldn’t destroy easily.
I haven’t done this in about three years, but there’s never a better time than now to get it started ala MC Hammer. (2004/2003 All-Star Game wrap ups) Though it seems everyone is falling by the waste side (no Yao, no Jason Kidd, Stevie Nash, AI), it’s in Las Vegas, and in Vegas, anything can happen.
After last night’s All-Star Saturday, we know a few things. Gerald Green can jump. Jason Kapono can shoot. Scottie Pippen cheats. Kobe Bryant can’t throw two handed chest passes. And you don’t want to have Michael Jordan judging anything that he does well.
Wayne Newton is singing, so it must be time to start. By the way, along with the Luchadors, Eddy Zucko, HJ, and Young Randall are in attendance. I haven’t seen Young Randall in a while, so I might give Young Randall a little too much love. If I do, please forgive me in advance.
In the introductions, Carlos Boozer (who also isn’t playing tonight) disappointed me and decided not to show puffy chest hair through his suit.
Eddy Zucko says that Mehmet Okur is the early leader for the “Least Amount of Playing Time” award.
The Canadian National Anthem comes on and Double J asks for the fast forward immediately. Yes, he was born in the Tivo age.
Danny Ganz, who Nak, Eddy Zucko, and I followed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last weekend, is singing the National Anthem. He looked a lot more buff in person.
Gilbert Arenas gets the first touch and immediately throws up a three that misses the rim. The over/under for first quarter shots for Gil is 10.
Shaq looks a bit rusty. It’s like he hasn’t even played much this year.
Young Randall says that “Mountain Man” Tim Duncan shaved his beard. That saddened me.
A Gilbert dunk leading to a Kobe jackknife dunk, then leading to a DWade oop - I guess they’re ready now. West is up 14-11 at the first break.
Young Randall says the over/under on Memhet Okur’s playing time is four minutes.
They show Jason Kidd and talk about possible trade rumors that have him in the public eye. I would’ve thought a restraining order against his wife would be more newsworthy.
Eddy Zucko picks Carmelo Anthony as his possible MVP. HJ goes with Lebron. Young Randall goes with Lebron. Double Bri goes with Lebron. Double J goes with Lebron. I’m going with the white chick thriller - Kobe Bryant.
I don’t think Tim told Tony Parker that he was going to shave off his mountain man beard.
Just because I know you care - Mehmet Okur isn’t in the game yet.
And just as I say that, he checks in at the two minute mark of the first quarter.
We got our one Vince Carter whirling dervish type dunk. Now he can go back to sleep.
Now He Can Go Back To Sleep
After missing his first six shots, Shaq finally gets a dunk, and then kisses Tracy McGrady.
Mehmet got to the line and missed both free throws. That might’ve been his only chance.
Not even midway through the second quarter, the West is up by 15. This could get ugly.
Kevin Garnett forgot that he was 7 foot tall and misses two lay-ups.
Tony Parker hits a 20 footer, thrusts out his pelvis and says, “That one’s for Eva.” By the way, West is now up 20.
Gilbert gets a lead pass from Lebron on a fast break and decides to step back about 10 feet to shoot a three pointer. He missed by the way.
Craig Sager interviews Steve Nash and Sager asks him how he can wear a mop on his head and get away with it. Actually, he didn’t, but everyone in this room wondered about his hair, so maybe he should’ve.
KG sends a Dwayne Wade lay-up attempt all the way to Czechoslovakia.
They show Prince in attendance. Game … blouses.
Game … Blouses
This might be one of the most boring AS games in memory as the West is just dominating.
First Toni Braxton, then Cirque Du Soleil (Moon Frye) and then the main event - Christina Aguilera. Though the halftime show wasn’t as hot as Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show, I still would marry Christina Aguilera. Double J just said that he thought I wanted to marry Trish Stratus. I said that I did, but what if Trish said no?
Starting the second half, West coach Mike D’Antoni decides to use his own guys as he starts Amare Stoudamire and Shawn Marion.
Even without Steve Nash, Marion and Stoudamire are killing the East.
Rip Hamilton needs to stick to shooting as he just threw a lob pass to Vince Carter that nearly hit the box at the top of the backboard.
I think they’re going to try to get Marion the MVP as he’s the homeboy who went to school in Las Vegas.
And it’s not like they introduced Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, or Anderson Hunt before the game.
Big Play Ray Allen hit a three. West is up by 32 by the way, in case anyone was interested.
I just asked Young Randall. There’s no mercy rule in the NBA.
(Since the game is a bore, it’s my job to show you something that was not boring and was in fact pure awesomeness. Check out the Shaq Daddy, Lebron, and Dwight Howard tearing it up over the weekend. By the way, Double J says that Shaq Daddy is now his favorite player of all time.)
David Aldridge interviewed Gil Arenas and asked him about his early prediction that he was going to win the NBA. Gil said that right now, it was “less than likely”.
Vince Carter hit a running baby hook in the paint and Magic Johnson somewhere just threw his fist in the air and said, “Yeah!“.
The game is so interesting that I was just checking to see who won the No Way Out main event between John Cena and Shawn Michaels against Batista and the Undertaker. Cena and HBK won if anyone cares.
Shaq tried to take Mehmet Okur one on one and did a shake and bake and Okur simply stayed in one spot and didn’t need to move. Shaq missed a running 18 footer.
By the way, the Luchadors started to get disinterested by the end of the first quarter, or when Mehmet Okur came in.
An old friend once said that Young Randall and Rip Hamilton looked alike. Young Randall never liked that comparison. In order to make Young Randall feel better, Double J said that Young Randall looked like a handsome and beautiful man.
Beautiful Rip
Out of our MVP predictions only Eddy and I have a shot. Carmelo and the white chick thriller are in the running.
The West only won by 21 (153-132), but it felt like they won by 50. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a worse All-Star game when it actually came to watching competitive basketball.
My prediction was right, the white chick thrilla, Kobe Bryant won the MVP and save for a few boos early on (Shaq might’ve been leading them), he does get several cheers.
Mehmet didn’t play the lowest minutes as KG and Tim Duncan were out of the game early and never went back in, but had the game been competitive, he would’ve. Mehmet Okur, your Western All-Star representative. He had four points and two rebounds by the way.
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We don’t trust you for vacations or cars How creepy you are Sitting at dinner and you’d bust out a stat on listener age I don’t want to change the show I tries a demo plug Who would advertise on our podcast? Brand association Dancing George Bushes How do we add that to an audio podcast? This show is brought to by a lot of people Kris botches all the names Sue B, I am sorry So you have something for me that is disturbing and disgusting For the last half hour you made me watch the NBC sex predator show Sir is there anything that you want to say? Sounds like vague entrapment Get an attorney That is when you end up with a female judge They end up living in a trailer in the Mojave desert Do sex predators end up working fast food? Enlighten me to your idea You finally got it out of here Besides Spice Channel these were the winners of today’s messed up searches “my size barbie” modification s*x d*&^ (rather not have this get pulled up by search engines as real) I told you that some pervert would do it Oh, baby you are so wrong It’s too big and they are creepy It’s a 6 ft tall woman crammed into a 3 foot tall body Of course creepy dudes are trying to bone them “lactating for husband” What do people think when they find us as a search result? Oh, hey maybe I’ll listen to this show instead of do Barbie These contrived justice shows suck It’s all about what’s wrong with America and how the Internet is destroying the world Some people need their attorney before they go online The setup television shows The world doth go on, Kris, without you Betsy’s reality TV addiction I Love New York Real Housewives of Orange County Rob and Amber I wouldn’t know what the internet looks like I can’t use a computer in this house Everyday in this house the UPS man rings the door bell and runs off like a gelding When you are married ladies don’t follow Betsy’s example So we’re taking a month off
BabyDish, whose BabyBeReady Diaper Bag Survival Kit has joined the fight to find a cure for Canavan Disease, a rare genetic disorder that has no known cure has introduced a new bag called the Jacob?s Cure Smiley Bag. Inspired by the "thousand-watt smile" of a 10 year old Canavan sufferer, Jacob Sontag, the bag’s fabric features bright happy faces on a black background. Forty percent of the profits from every sale of the exclusive new bag, which retails for $50 and is sold in select stores and on the BabyDish website, go directly to Jacob?s Cure, a non-profit foundation started by Jacob?s mother, Jordana Holovach.
Canavan is a degenerative brain disorder that destroys myelin, the white matter that forms a protective coating around the nerves in the brain and spinal cord to ensure that nerve impulses are properly transmitted. As a result of the deterioration of the myelin, children cannot walk or talk, and lose basic functions such as seeing and swallowing. Death usually occurs in the first decade of life.
The BabyBeReady Survival Kit is prepacked with first year essentials like diapers, travel wipes, onesie, sunhat, bib, rattle, pacifier, burp cloth, and bottle. Everything packed in a great bag with durable plastic overlay and clear zippered compartments that you can use later on. Empty, the bag also makes a great cosmetic case, travel tote, travel toy or arts supply bag for your kids.
Used by celebrity parents such as Mariska Hargitay, Jon Stewart, Katie Holmes, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Garner, and Gwyneth Paltrow, the bag has just been gifted to Hollywood’s newest stars. Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell (soon to be a mom, herself) sent Jacob’s Cure Smiley Bags to Patrick Dempsey for his twin boys and Marcia Cross for her twin girls. The bags didn’t come empty, they didn’t come stuffed, they came double stuffed with 2 of everything for their babies.
To purchase the Jacob’s Cure bag (or see their other great patterns), visit www.babydish.com. You can learn more about Jacob’s Cure or make a donation directly at www.jacobscure.org.
Please leave us an audio comment 206-337-1257 about anything you’d like us to talk about.
Note: Ross mentions “pants or pantless”. This podcast was produced with pants. For more on the pant/pantless topic listen to some of our older episodes.
Baby, is that a leather dress?There was rumblings about Meta and leather months back. But what if Baby had used leather to make a dress? Would you still buy it?
***Post edited after pointing out that this dress was not leather, but just a horrid fabric. D: But in the pics it looks like Baby leather~
Allright, here we go, another Friday Rock Show! Turns out Cameron was joking when he said he’d fire me (I think) so I get to carry on pumping out some of the best unsigned, unknown and under-apprecaited music on the internet direct into your ears. Love it!
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How are you? I’m delightful. Just polished off a plate of homemade nachos, and it doesn’t get much better than that. I had this list I made of things to accomplish once we moved into the new house, and so far I’ve successfully
Lost ten pounds. Become a better cook. Had all my girlfriends over. Learned to hang pictures. Level. Gotten a DVR and gone insane (thirteen hours of MythBusters; I kid you not).
I have not, sadly,
Gotten my new state driver’s license. Gotten a library card. Had our trash service start. Overcome my anemia. Watched half the shows I recorded.
Small steps. My mom called me yesterday– only partially to ask when my blog was going up again– but also to mention that she sent me a check in the mail. And by me, I mean me. A check just for Becca. Cash I am not allowed to spend on bills or baby toys.
I spent a long time mulling it over, and decided to start on my new list: the 43 Things I want to do before I die. I know I can do rock-climbing with some of it. There’s an indoor wall about ten minutes from here, and I’ve been dying to go since we drove by. I’ve only rockclimbed once before– in a summer camp in Colorado– and I loved, loved, loved it. (I also white water rafted, because I was rocking nature that trip.) Maybe I could ride in a taxi, too. And bet on a horserace. My spending cash should just cover it. (”Become an aunt” is on my list, too, so MICHELLE? GET ON IT. Heh.)
I didn’t think I’d have anything left to say, but apparently I do.
Job front: J left last week for an overnight trip to Connecticut. He called me up at lunch one day and said they’d asked him– it was a last-minute thing; no one else could solve the systems problems in another office. He had more mixed emotions about it than I did. I’d miss him, definitely, but CONNECTICUT! BUSINESS TRIP! Too awesome. Jason was worried that he was their last hope, and that there was a tremendous amount of pressure on his shoulders.
The Chrysler’s car battery either died or froze 48 hours before the flight, so I drove him to the airport and picked him up in the Escape. Around DC, getting to the airport is an ordeal. You need to allot two or three hours for traffic and parking, and it’s crowded and loud and people are in a hurry. Here, it took us ten minutes from the time we pulled out of the driveway to the time Jason was dropped off at the gates. (Being so close to an airport has made me remember another thing on my list: go to Disneyland.)
The trip went great. Jason was a rock star. He’d gotten most of their issues solved in the first day, and was enough ahead of schedule that they asked him to look at next month’s work before he left. I missed him, though, even just for a night. It was strange knowing he wasn’t going to be in bed with me. It was strange changing into pajamas and not talking about what happened that day, or going down to the kitchen for a late-night snack and not asking if he wanted something. I felt lonely. As an added bonus, the windows in our kitchen bumpout still don’t have blinds, so I had the joy of being worried that a creepy guy was watching me shuffling through the fridge in my underwear.
There were no creepy guys, though, because we live in the Nicest Place In America. People are so nice here. People are so nice that I don’t know how to react to it, because I’m usually the friendly one. These people out-nice me. And that is not easy, because I am nice. They’re the type of people who wave to you through the window of their car, who offer a dollar at the checkout if you’re short, who listen to and remember minute details about your life. Employees here have twice given me discounts for no reason (women, too, not teenage boys), and all of them have played with my kids in the shopping cart while I paid. I have gotten stopped no less than six times by strangers wanting to tell me how beautiful and well-behaved my children were.
One man caught Jason and I off-guard in Target, while I was begging for a copy of ‘The Burning Crusade‘. We heard him a few feet away:
“Wow, what did you do to them?”
I turned. “Pardon?”
The man– maybe older than Jason, maybe the same age– wearing a sports jacket and khakis, smiling. “Your kids are so good. I’ve never seen such good kids. My neice and nephew are crazy in stores.”
Cut to: Addie and Elias, who are so sedate their eyes are almost glazed over. “They just came out this way,” I answered in what I hope is a warm tone. “I can’t take all the credit. They’re great.”
“I just can’t believe it. You guys are lucky.”
“Thank you so much. And,” I added, turning to Jason, “think of how much luckier we’ll be when we have the new Warcraft expansion. They have WINGED MOUNTS.”
J gives me a look, but graciously doesn’t say that you need to be level 70 to get a flying mount and that the highest I’ve ever gotten is 34.
We move into another area of electronics– the movie display. The man floats back. “I’m sorry,” he begins, “but did you go to school around here? You look so familiar.”
This time it’s directed to Jason. He replies, “I didn’t go to school here. We’re new to the area, actually.”
“Oh! Where’d you come from?”
“Virginia. Near DC.”
“Well, you must be used to all this traffic then,” the man gushes. He motions to the five cars passing outside. “Do you work in Raleigh? Sometimes it takes me ten or fifteen minutes to get to work, what with all the rush hour. It used to be eight. It’s just building up, but I guess you’re used to it.”
Oh my gosh. He’s so cute and earnest, and J and I stand there with Frozen Smiles. We don’t have the heart to tell him that Jason used to commute two hours a day before. “I actually like it here,” I finally answer. “It’s been a wonderful place so far. The people, the way of life… it’s all… just slower.”
“I hear you!” Man answers with a happy little laugh.
“Okay, well, have a good night,” Jason says, and we wave to each other and separate. Two minutes later, J notices I’m silent.
“What?” he asks.
I say, “I think I just called that guy slow. I think I said, The people and way of life are slower here. Does he think I just mocked the population of North Carolina?”
“I’m sure it’s just fine,” Jason reassured me, “you were very polite.”
“I didn’t know how to keep up the conversation! I panicked. I said things I can’t take back.”
“It’s o-kay,” he repeated.
Dude, I’m sorry. Nice Target Man, I’m sure your neice and nephew aren’t crazy, and I don’t think any of your ilk is mentally handicapped, and the traffic I’m sure is worse than before. Let’s be friends.
Michelle came to visit a few days ago, and did what she does best: make me cry laughing and put together furniture. I’d picked out a dresser and endtables from K-Mart (PS: thank you to whoever mentioned the Martha Stewart kitchen island, because I forgot they even made furniture). We spent hours putting it together. And by we, I mean Michelle and Jason. I pretty much stood in the corner, nodding and obviously pleased. First the top was cracked, so J ran it back to the store for a replacement. Then Michelle screwed in the endtable pulls upside down (”This stuff is worse than Ikea,” she fumed, “and it costs like three times as much.”) (This became a running gag throughout the night, as it escalated from a three-hundred dollar dressed into a THOUSAND and it was practically made from BALSA WOOD!) End tables were finished. They’re so sexy I want to marry them. I stack all my novels on my side, happy to finally have a moved-in look to the room. The two of them continue working. I stand and look more pleased. Finally Jason said, “Um, since it appears you’re kind of– you know– not doing anything, do you think you could put together a drawer?”
“YES I CAN!” I chirped. “I’m all over this drawer!”
“The backing is warped,” Michelle added. “So be careful sliding it in.” (We’d both gotten splinters unpacking the wood.) “Once you fit it in, it’s okay, but sliding it together is difficult.”
I nodded and went to work. The drawer frame came together quickly, and then progress halted with the back. It wasn’t even warped. It was shaped like a C. “Here,” Michelle offered; noticing I was back again to Sort Of Not Doing Anything, “hand it over to me and I’ll try.”
Two seconds pass, and then SNAP.
Jason looked up– sllooowllly– from his dresser frame. “What. was. that.”
Michelle, holding two pieces of backing in her hand: “I think I just bought you guys a dresser.”
Drive back to K-Mart. “Um,” we say, standing at the customer service counter. “We bought a dresser earlier and the top was cracked and my husband brought it back and he talked to Bailey and so can you see if Bailey can fix this too because it’s broken too?”
Bored teenage employee: “You want Bailey? I’ll get him.”
Michelle: “IT WAS JUST BROKEN. IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL. THERE DON’T NEED TO BE QUESTIONS.”
Me: “Yes, no questions need to be asked about this at all.”
The employee could not care less if we ran our entire dresser through a meat grinder and wanted a full replacement. He paged Bailey and wandered to the far end of the service counter. Away. From us.
Michelle and I looked around. “Man,” I said, “being here brings back a lot of old memories, huh?”
“This was Mom’s hangout,” Michelle agreed. “It even smells the same.”
“What is it about K-Mart? Why is it so much more ghetto than everywhere else? I mean, the Food Lion next door is okay.”
“I know,” she said, “it’s like they burned this place down then opened it to fueding gangs then rebuilt it with trash from the dump. K-Mart is ROUGH, dude.”
We were expected Bailey to be the other teenage boy who helped Jason load up the car, but instead an insanely chipper Guidance Counselor sort of man came out. He was wearing a blue sweater and had a wide smile. “Hey, what was it you needed?”
“This just got broken,” Michelle said, handing the pieces over.
“Oh, yeah. Your husband was here earlier? Let me just go through the boxes in the back real quick. There should already be an open one.”
We wait. We sit in the plastic patio furniture and wait. We talk about patio furniture. How now I have a patio and I might need it. Bailey shows up, still going 110%. “Sorry,” he says. “It took me a little longer than I expected, but you can have all these,” and he hands us a box of brand-new backs. “We’re just going to destroy them, so now you have extras.”
I told you. They’re TOO NICE.
The dresser is done by the time we get back, and J has it all set up– sans one drawer. Our room feels like a real master bedroom. It’s so cool. We watch TV for awhile. I fall asleep, incoherently ordering Jason to get Michelle’s bed ready so she doesn’t have to sleep on the floor.
I’m writing all this while the kids are asleep (or being unnaturally quiet) and I’m trying to fit everything in, and I feel like I’m leaving whole bits of major news out, and I’m not being very funny or charming. I’ve been watching a lot of television lately. This week’s ‘House’ was my least favorite so far. I still heart ‘Medium’. I got Valerie into ‘My Name is Earl’ while she was in town, not to mention a little bit of web design (she let me teach her some HTML and CSS, and I wish that was my job: teaching people web design). I’ve gotten addicted to ‘Beauty and the Geek’.
Jason did buy me the Warcraft expansion, and I have a level nearly-16 blood elf rogue on Alleria. I would tell you my character name, but then you could just log on and laugh at me while I got slaughtered by monsters and ran in circles trying to figure out WHERE IS SANCTUM OF THE SUN? (Okay. It’s Faelia. DON’T LAUGH AT ME.)
She’s so cute, and she even looks a little like me. I’m kind of like an elf. Only fatter.
I really want to get to level 60, at least, and I even put it on my Before I Die List. Every time I play with friends– especially male friends– they always level fourteen times faster than me, and I’ll sign on in a week and they’ll be level 54 and I’ll be 11, and it used to frustrate me because I have other things to do– stupid other things!– what with the kids, cleaning, bills, going out into daylight. But I’d get frustrated because I wanted to be high level so bad. And I decided I’m going to do it. And if it means staying up until 4 am for weeks, then that’s what it takes.
Jason made a character on my account, a female priest. After one day, I was level 12 and he was 8. I was stoked. Another day, and I was 14 and he was 12. Now, we’re both 15. And I’m sure given another 24 hours, he’ll surpass me again. Which is why I’m officially putting this computer on WoW lockdown: no one else is allowed to play who might show me up.
I’m okay with the way the site looks currently. It’s not my favorite ever, but it’s different and it’s easy to maintain. When J came back from his trip, he brought a new Wired magazine. I was smitten with the design and typography, and I thought how much I enjoyed reading articles. Next came whether it was possible to make my blog have more of a magazine feel. A lot got lost in translation, so I’ll probably be tinkering and fixing over the next week. I just didn’t want anything big anymore. I didn’t even want a sidebar. I just wanted ENTRY and a little About Me line at the bottom; because nobody read the About Me page on the old sites, or if they did they never got in contact with me, because ninety percent of letters I got were repeats of questions on the FAQ.
The only thing I didn’t touch on was the kids.
Addie is amazing. She is– well, she’s a total girl. I was so afraid of having a girl, and I that I wouldn’t know what to do with her– I wasn’t a tomboy, but I wasn’t very feminine either. I’m just eating up how delicate and sweet and rosy she is. She talks in whole sentences now, even if it takes her a few tries to get it right. She has a purse, a baby cell phone, a hat collection, and she loves getting her hair done and putting on makeup (which is just me powdering her nose). She’s extremely easygoing. She loves to cuddle. She loves when I carry her around the house, or sleeping on my stomach. She thinks she’s much older than she is and wants to do whatever Elias is doing.
Elias is almost always building something. Building and inventing are the big things lately. Pretending. He makes forts and cities in the playroom, and then populates them with imaginary friends. Today, he told me he was being a caribou (”Like a reindeer, mom? A caribou.”) and so he couldn’t wear pants or take a nap anymore. He draws all the time. He’s an exceptional artist, which is all Jason coming out. He thinks he’s the boss of the known world. He’s always trying to cut deals with me or giving time-outs to Lola and Addie. He uses the potty sometimes. It depends on his mood. He made a list of Real Friends, who are “bigger than me and can get me food from the kitchen”. That’s his requirement. That’s how you’re a Real Friend.
They’re wonderful, though.
I was coming down the stairs a week or two ago, after putting the kids to sleep, and Jason was standing at the bottom, locking the back door. “Lola just went to the bathroom,” he told me, loosening his tie. “Did you want some pasta? I was going to reheat some for myself.”
It was one of those surreal moments. “How did we get here?” I asked.
Jason: “… In a car?”
“No, I mean– here we are, with two kids, a dog that needs to be let out at night, a house, a job where you need a tie, a marriage that’s almost four years long already. How did this happen? This is crazy.”
“It is crazy,” Jason said. “Try not to think about it too much. Let’s just enjoy.”
So we heated up the pasta and enjoyed it.
logo.jpgGhetto Baby Name http://baby-names.free-finding.com/ site
Glenroy Sinclair and Petrina Francis, Staff Reporters
The Tower Street Correctional Facility, downtown Kingston.
AN ONGOING investigation into a lucrative contraband ring in some of the island’s prisons has netted close to $500,000 in cash, hundreds of cellular phones, a large quantity of ganja and several pieces of equipment over the past two years.
This is according to Major Richard Reese, head of the Department of Correctional Services. He said a small group of correctional officers and visitors have been implicated in the illicit trade, which is more prevalent at the two maximum security prisons in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, and Tower Street, Kingston.
“Last year we arrested six correctional officers and four visitors for contraband, and so far this year we have caught four correctional officers,” said Major Reese. “Once taken before the court, they are dismissed.”
Among other contraband seized were cigarettes, jammers or improvised ice picks, television sets, DVD players, hotplates, and ratchet knives. These items were detected by the high-tech security system implemented in the penal system.
INMATE WITH ATM CARD
Commissioner Reese also confirmed that at least $8,000 was found in the cell of popular reggae artiste Siccature ‘Jah Cure’ Alcock last September. There are also reports that an ATM card was taken from another inmate. It is suspected that the card was being used by other persons to conduct transactions on behalf of that inmate.
Commissioner Reese also revealed there was further evidence of warders conducting transactions at certain financial institutions on behalf of some inmates.
“On Monday another warder, Oneil Thompson, was held at the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Institution, after a quantity of ganja was found on his person. While being searched, he attacked one of the correctional officers with a knife and had to be restrained,” said Commissioner Reese during an interview with The Gleaner on Tuesday.
Reports are that two weeks ago, two temporary warders, Talbert White and Marlon Grant, were found with contraband in their possession at the Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston. Also in January, another warder was found with a knapsack containing several packets of ganja, cellular phones and other items.
Meanwhile, last March, four correctional officers were sent on leave following investigations into reports that a small group of warders was trafficking contraband into the Tower Street maximum security prison.
CONTRABAND SEIZED (2004-2005) $408,167
819 cellphones
157 ratchet knives
76 cellphone chargers
300 jammers (improvised knives)
9,323 packets of ganja 71 hot plates
735 packs of rizzla 17 DVD players
16 compact discs
146 packs of cigarettes
9 television sets
6 CD players 13 parcels of ganja (weighing almost seven pounds)
Join us as we explore the roots of Jah Cure, and tell the story from His Side. Jah Cure’s Address is included in this Podcast, to encourage you to send him your message of support and onenes during his time of tribulation.
Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter HE WAS evasive about the incident, no longer forceful in his declaration of innocence. He thinks there’s a move afoot to stymie his upcoming appeal for parole. Siccaturie Alcock or Jah Cure wants to get out of jail and believes that the time to do so is drawing near.
“Me get sentence a’ready. Mi nuh know why dem woulda waan come with this again,” he said, looking to the sky. He was referring to a report published in last week’s Sunday Gleaner in which the woman he was convicted of raping outlined her ordeal.
According to the rape victim Suzanne Ferguson, she, her two male cousins and her aunt were walking to the Flamingo Nightclub in St. James to play a game of pool when she observed a tinted, two-door Turbo Starlet motor car going in the opposite direction. Within minutes, the group noticed the same car coming slowly back down the road. She took a mental note of the number of the licence plate.
The group went to the club and after spending about two hours there, decided to head back home. On reaching Windsor Road, the car which they had noticed earlier, drove up and blocked their path. Two men were inside. The occupant of the passenger seat jumped out with a gun in his hand and immediately gun-butted one of Suzanne’s male cousins. The gunman then ordered the other cousin to walk over to him. Both cousins were robbed and verbally abused.
Her cousins were told to run for their lives. They did. The gunmen then ordered Suzanne and her aunt into the back of the vehicle.
VICIOUSLY RAPED
Their jewellery was taken and the man with the gun sat on top of them, so that they were unable to see where they were being taken. The men then drove on to a bushy, dirt track in the Spring Farm area. It was there that the men viciously raped the women.
“Jah Cure raped me at gunpoint, while the other man raped my aunt outside on the dirt track, in a pile of gravel. While begging for my life in the car and with the gun pointed at my head, I began resisting and begging him,” Suzanne recalled.
Said Jah Cure: “This can mek me get another sentence. I don’t know if dem ago mek she mek me no get no parole. But that should never be so, because de warder dem a watch me behavioural pattern and if me get hold down because of her argument, den me know sey rehabilitation nuh real.”
The fit-looking Rastafarian in the military-green outfit could have been mistaken for a visitor at the General Penitentiary, the maximum security prison at Tower Street in Kingston.
He is pencil-slim and militant in his manner but still very much the entertainer - a man on stage, and it seems the prison bars cannot hold back his impact. Even on the cell blocks, Jah Cure - currently one of the hottest acts in hard-core reggae - remains larger than life.
Serving a 13-year prison term for rape, Jah Cure has been at the penal facility since 1999, one year after he sexually assaulted a young woman in his hometown of Montego Bay, St. James.
In the interview with The Sunday Gleaner last week, the woman now 25, said she is upset with repeated statements made by Jah Cure, proclaiming his innocence.
However, speaking with The Sunday Gleaner from behind the high brick walls of the Tower Street Correctional Centre, Jah Cure did not offer to tell his side of the story.
Sitting on a chair inside the superintendent’s office, Jah Cure’s laid-back persona changed when he was told that the woman was about to go public with the story that has put him behind bars for the past six years.
“Right now me a rehabilitate and it is not a case of guilty or innocent anymore. It is all about rehabilitation and I am coming out, either or (e)ither, time is winding down,” the entertainer said.
Detective Sergeant Cecil Clarke, a trained forensic specialist, who investigated the case against the singer, told The Sunday Gleaner that no Deoribonucleic Acid (DNA) test had been done because the evidence against him was overwhelming. The matter was a jury trial.
At that time, Det. Sergeant Clarke was the sub-officer in charge of crime at the Coral Gardens Police Station in St. James. He is now based in Westmoreland.
Apart from the positive identification, Det. Sgt. Clarke said the condom which was used by Jah Cure’s accomplice to rape the young woman’s aunt, was found at the scene of the crime in Spring Farm, Montego Bay, St. James.
“When the rape incident was reported to us, we traced the licence plate of the car and the owner turned out to be Siccaturie Alcock, alias ‘Jah Cure’,” the Detective Sergeant said.
“I was able to identify him (Jah Cure) because his voice was distinct. They kept talking in the vehicle. Anywhere I hear that voice, I will always remember it. During the incident, he tried to kiss me and I could smell the ganja scent on his breath,” Suzanne said last week.
According to Clarke, during their investigation, Jah Cure’s mother gave a statement to the police, saying that on the night of the incident, her son was not at her house and she had not seen him, although she had heard that he was somewhere around the place.
The detective said Jah Cure in his statement said on the night of the incident, he was at his mother’s house and had taken a meal of fried chicken for his younger brother.
Jah Cure’s mother Pansita Campbell was again mentioned by Suzanne last week.
“When I had to go over the whole ordeal in court, it was devastating. He (Jah Cure) tried talking to me, trying to say it was not him. He introduced a pregnant woman to me at the courthouse, saying that she was his expectant baby mother. He was trying to get me to become sympathetic toward him. But afterwards, his mother - who was at the courthouse - told me that the woman was neither pregnant for him, nor was she his girlfriend.”
Head of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Major Richard Reese, told The Sunday Gleaner that Jah Cure applied for parole last year but was denied. His case was reviewed by the Appeal Court and the appeal turned down.
“He has not applied so far this year, and even if he gets parole, he will have to be monitored, so he will be unable to travel outside of the country,” said Maj. Reese.
According to Jah Cure, he spends most of his days in prison praying and counselling other inmates and preaching “one house of love”.
He had high praises for the rehabilitation programme at the centre, which he says has worked for him and many others, but he believes it needs a lot more financial support. He has promised to help to finance the programme as soon as he is freed.
“A one thing me a tell de youth dem, just use me as an example and look, because the world want me and because of what me get in trouble for, whether me innocent or guilty, you see sey me have wait until certain time, either dem give you parole or wait on yuh time,” he said.
When asked if he was regretful of any incidents in his past, he paused, then took a deep breath and said: “The only thing me sorry sey, is dat me never get to finish my schooling. Dat a de only thing me sorry bout, but anuh my fault.”
“Behind these prison walls, doing my paces, doing my time, I am, spending my restless nights, visioning faces ” - Jah Cure
Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
OVER THE past two years, the songs of rising Rastafarian singer Siccaturie Alcock, better known as ‘Jah Cure’, have brought joy to countless dancehall fans the world over.
But for 25-year-old Suzanne Ferguson,hearing his songs on the radio and even the very mention of his name, evokes painful memories. To her, Jah Cure is nothing more than the villain in her flashbacks of the night she and her aunt were both held up at gunpoint, robbed and raped.
Suzanne says Jah Cure, the singer whose songs speak of true love and preach about the virtues of righteousness, brutally abducted, robbed and raped her and her aunt, seven years ago on a dirt road in Monetgo Bay, St. James.
For that crime, the singer was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He has so far served seven years at one of Kingston’s maximum security penal institutions. Prison authorities say his earliest possible release date is July 28, 2007.
Prompted by repeated public statements the singer has made proclaiming his innocence, Suzanne has decided to break her silence and tell her side of the story. She says she has trouble fighting the memories of a gun pointed at her head and of the singer trying to kiss her with his putrid, ganja-smelling mouth as he overpowered and then violently raped her.
She is as bitter about the incident today as she was when it occurred.
The polite, well spoken young woman, took the day off from work to meet with The Sunday Gleaner news team at her home in an upscale neighbourhood near Ironshore, in Montego Bay.
Dressed casually in a white, sleeveless blouse and a pair of blue polkadot pants, Suzanne sat down at a small table on her verandah to tell the tale.
# HER SIDE
“IT WAS a Sunday night, November 8, 1998 when it happened. My two male cousins, my aunt and myself were walking down to the Flamingo Nightclub to play a game of pool. This was something that we did frequently,” Suzanneexplained.
As they walked down the street, she observed a tinted, two-door Turbo Starlet motor car, passing them, going in the opposite direction. Within minutes, the group noticed the same car coming slowly back down the road.
“I don’t know, but for some reason I took a mental note of the number of the licence plate,” said Suzanne.
The group went to the club and after spending about two hours there, decided to head back home. But they did not get very far. On reaching Windsor Road, the car which they had noticed earlier, drove up and blocked their path. Two men were inside. The occupant of the passenger seat jumped out with a gun in his hand and immediately gun-butted one of Suzanne’s male cousins. The gunman then ordered the other cousin to walk over to him. Both cousins were robbed and verbally abused.
‘NO, DO, DON’T KILL THEM!’
“I then heard a voice from inside the car say ‘Kill them!’ and I shouted “No, do, don’t kill them!” recalled an emotional Suzanne as she knitted her brows as if to block the memory.
Her cousins were told to run for their lives. They did. The gunmen then ordered Suzanne and her aunt into the back of the vehicle. The driver of the car put it in reverse and then headed down Sugar Mill Road. The females were questioned about their cousins, then asked to identifiy themselves.
Their jewellery was taken and the man with the gun sat on top of them, so that they were unable to see where they were being taken. The men then drove on to a bushy, dirt track in the Spring Farm area. It was there that the men viciously raped the women.
“Jah Cure raped me at gunpoint, while the other man raped my aunt outside on the dirt track, in a pile of gravel. While begging for my life in the car and with the gun pointed at my head, I began resisting and begging him,” Suzanne recalled.
“I then said to him, if you are going to rape me please, me a beg you to use a condom. He stopped and searched the glove compartment of the vehicle, then said he couldn’t find any. He pulled my underwear off and began to rape me.
“I continued to resist and begged him to stop and I remember him saying ‘Hey gal, do wey me tell yuh fe do and you wi live’. That was how it happened,” said a tearful Suzanne.
After the ordeal, the men took them to the Rose Hall main road, where they were ordered to get out of the vehicle. The men threw $100 on the ground and told them that it was for their bus fare. Suzanne said when the vehicle drove off, she looked up and saw that it was the same licence plate that she had memorised earlier.
“I was able to identifiy him (Jah Cure) because his voice was distinct. They kept talking in the vehicle. Anywhere I hear that voice, I will always remember it. During the incident he tried to kiss me and I could smell the ganja scent on his breath,” said Suzanne.
Prior to the incident, she said she had never seen, met or spoken with Jah Cure. She noted that she did not even know who he was until after he was arrested.
“When I had to go over the whole ordeal in court, it was devastating. He (Jah Cure) tried talking to me, trying to say it was not him. He introduced a pregnant woman to me at the courthouse, saying that she was his expectant baby mother. He was trying to get me to become sympathetic toward him. But afterwards, his mother (who was at the court house) told me that the woman was neither pregnant for him, nor was she his girlfriend.”
According to Suzanne, the trial was very difficult, but the psychological effect of the rape was worse.
“He tried to contact me while he was in prison, I don’t know how he got my telephone number, or how they got my address. I had to go away for a while in order to get away from it all, and during that time, he was still sending messages to my house.” She said a lot of effort was made by entertainers and other friends to get her to make statements which would get the offender out of prison.
It was eight months before Suzanne managed to build up enough courage to go out in public again. She said the stigma and embarrassment of being raped was too much for her.
She said that several top entertainers have since called and visited her home, offering her large sums of cash if she would help Jah Cure to get an early release from prison.
‘I JUST WANT HIM TO ADMIT’
“We don’t want any money. I just want him to admit to his wrong and apologise publicly. I cannot take their money and go to the supermarket and buy a pound of respect, dignity and self esteem. All that was taken from me. I have to be walking on the streets and looking behind me. My relatives are getting threats,” she said.
According to Suzanne, the ordeal has remained with her every moment of each day. At nights she tosses and turns, and sleep is as elusive as her peace of mind. The pain and anguish of the incident has imprisoned her for life. The incident has had an adverse impact on her relatives and has also affected her relationships with men.
“I don’t trust anyone. If they try to come close, I react very violently and if they try to get intimate, I have flashbacks and it is very difficult,” Suzanne spoke freely.
“Everytime there is a lot of publicity about Jah Cure, I have even more flashbacks. Sometimes I am so afraid to leave my house. When I go out in the public and hear people say, ‘Free Jah Cure’, I have serious flashbacks and it becomes very difficult. It seems to me that entertainers are more valued than everybody else in Jamaica and as a woman, I feel seriously undervalued.”
While she has not undergone formal counselling, says her current church congregation helps her in the very hard times through prayer and fellowship. Much of her support also comes from good friends and the residents of her community, especially the young people who are very protective of her.
It’s Jah Cure - Music at centre of new prison rehab programme BALFORD HENRY, Observer writer Friday, August 19, 2005
Jah Cure. has recorded two albums and a number of singles in prison
A new effort using music to help rehabilitate talented prisoners has been designed by the authorities, and incarcerated reggae singer Jah Cure has released the first single under the programme.
The single, True Reflection, was recorded at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, more commonly known as the General Penitentiary. Music industry sources say the song is growing in popularity, an encouraging sign for the Rehabilitation Through Music partners - the police, correctional services and Kingston-based Down Sound Records - who now say their next goal is the recording and release of an album. That set will include four songs by Jah Cure.
According to police superintendent Gladstone Wright, the Rehabilitation Through Music proposal had been at the police commissioner’s office for some time, but was recently approved by Commissioner Lucius Thomas.
“It started out with us seeking ways to enhance our community policing services,” Superintendent Wright, who is based at the Half-Way-Tree Police Station, told Splash Wednesday.
REESE.says all the necessary equipment will be provided for inmates to produce their own music
Wright and his colleagues recently staged a concert at Police Officers’ Club in Kingston to assist three inner-city basic schools - Victory in Trench Town; McLeod’s in “Mud Town”, Papine; and Anilhill in Waterhouse - as part of the Constabulary’s community policing project. He said that during the planning of that concert, Jah Cure was suggested as the ideal catalyst for the talented prisoners’ rehabilitation proposal.
The choice of Jah Cure (real name Siccaturie Alcock) was no doubt influenced by the fact that he has, since being imprisoned six years ago, firmly established himself as a gifted reggae singer with two albums - Free Jah Cure: The Album and Freedom Blues: The Testimony of Jah Cure - and a number of singles, including the smash hit Longing For.
Acting on the suggestion to use the singer, Wright and his colleagues contacted the head of the Correctional Services, Major Richard Reese, who agreed that Jah Cure’s involvement would contribute immensely to the prison service’s rehabilitative efforts.
“We then discussed it with Jah Cure, because the Correctional Services require that we get the approval of the inmate first,” Wright said. “He (Jah Cure) responded, ‘I am ready’.”
True Reflection was written by Wright, artiste Sonita ‘Electric Dread’ Walker, and Dwayne Stephenson of To-Isis. The team then approached Josef Bogdanavich, head of Down Sound Records, to produce the song and start the project.
“We invited Down Sound to participate and Joe was delighted when we approached him. He felt it was a step in the right direction,” Wright added.
Bogdanavich said that when he went to the prison to visit Jah Cure, “we just kind of hit it off”.
“He seemed like a humble person and he was quite personable,” Bogdanavich said. “I think he has got the right kind of personality, being that effervescent, even behind a prison wall.”
According to Wright, the programme is also being expanded to include persons wishing to develop other skills in the music business, including producing, arranging, engineering and playing instruments.
Wright said that while Rehabilitation Through Music will concentrate on the music aspect of prison rehabilitation, it is only a segment of a much wider programme seeking to rehabilitate inmates through various skills.
Jah Cure, who was transferred to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre from the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre two years ago, had his application for parole turned down last year despite a passionate campaign by concerned friends, family, and entertainers. He had become eligible for parole on July 28, 2003.
Major Reese said, however, that a prisoner can re-apply for parole within a year of his application being rejected. The Parole Board, which makes the decisions, is separate from the Corrections Department.
Jah Cure was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on April 26, 1999 for two counts of rape, robbery with aggravation, and illegal possession of firearm, all arising from the same incident. At the time, he was 19 years old.
The opening of the computer laboratory at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre has helped Jah Cure and other inmates interested in music, as it forms the basis of a digital recording facility.
Major Reese has promised that all the necessary equipment will be provided for inmates to be able to produce their own music and be advised of their intellectual property rights.
He said that it was possible for persons from outside the prison to send in music for Jah Cure to use, but only at the singer’s request. However, do not look for him on stage at a show before he is on parole or released.
Posted By: Empress Wolete’ Date: Tuesday, 17 May 2005, at 8:12 p.m.
Greetings,
In my past experiences the rastafarian community has always proven strong and supportive so I come to you today with a small/humble request. I am a friend of Jah Cure’s family who are suffering greatly due to his incarceration. His mother is in poor health and her husband has recently passed away. He has 3 little brothers who are school age and in need of supplies and clothes for school. The cost of school while very cheap by american standards is virtually unaffordable for many. If Jah Cure is not released soon or allowed to record, his brothers may not be able to attend school much longer. He is not scheduled for a parole hearing for another year or so and there is no guarantee that he will be released.
As many of you know, he has been moved to a horrible facility in Kingston where many of his privileges have been denied. He is unable to record and therefore unable to provide for his family. His mother is the only person allowed to see him and she is not allowed to bring him things such as water and food so he has to eat whatever garbage they serve in the prison. The trip to see her son is around 3.5 hours each way and she makes this trip once a week despite her health and financial situation. She is very dear to my heart and I have made a commitment to send down money every month to help her out. It is hardly enough so I am reaching out to the community and asking anyone who can spare ANYTHING to help out. If you can’t afford to send money perhaps you can send clothes for the children. Perhaps you have clothing from your son which you have no use for? The children need summer clothes and school books, pencils, book bags, etc. If you would prefer sending articles of clothing, I can provide you with the sizes for the children.
Alone, this seems like an impossible task but with the help of a few good bredren or sistren in the community, I know we can make a difference.
I will be going down in a month or two to take some things and to offer some assistance in whatever way I can. If there is anyone who can find it in their heart to help out please email me anytime at freejahcure@africanseed.com.
Give Thanks for your time,
Empress Wolete’
Re: HELP FOR JAH CURE!!!
Posted By: Efua Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2005, at 10:38 a.m.
In Response To: HELP FOR JAH CURE!!! (Empress Wolete’)
Friday April 8, 2005 The Guardian
A marketing dream… Jah Cure recorded most of his latest album in prison
His first big international hit, Longing For, crept on to the British music scene last year and charted at No7 on the BBC’s Urban Music Chart. This Easter, the BBC promoted him as the “hottest artist anywhere right now”.
Cure’s publicist Chris Schlarb from New York-based VP Records avoids discussing the crimes but suggests the sentence is a marketing dream. “The fact that he’s in prison makes him pretty unique. Some of the songs on the album were made in there; in fact, pretty much everything has been produced there.
Cure’s defence lawyer Roy Fairclough
Five years ago, friends and musicians released the Free Jah Cure: The Truth CD, which FUNDED his appeal. He lost, but his sentence was cut from 15 to 12 years. Racquel Reynolds, from the campaign group IyahCure Music, still carries a banner with his face on it to gigs around the country to keep his name in the public eye. She says that those uncomfortable with his past are usually won over by the “deep emotion in his voice and our shallow faith in justice”.
Cure is estimated to be worth JM$1bn - around ??8.7m, but his mother, who lives in a small house near Montego Bay and works as a hairdresser, claims that she can barely afford the JM$ 1,000 petrol money to see him. “Maybe he is worth that much, but who’s making the money?” she says. “We haven’t seen a cent of it yet. Perhaps it suits someone if he stays in jail.”
However, the Jamaican authorities appear to be taking steps to curtail Cure’s growing legend. In February, his recording equipment and mobile phone were seized by Spanish Town Prison officials and Cure was moved to the harsher Kingston General Penitentiary and given an extra 30 days’ punishment.
From what I understand Harmony House (Beris Hammond) and many other major labels and producrs have money available for Jah Cure as well as the many artists that have already donated money to the family.
Join us as we explore the roots of Jah Cure, and tell the story from His Side. Jah Cure’s Address is included in this Podcast, to encourage you to send him your message of support and onenes during his time of tribulation.
Thanks man. To know that you could see through the eyes, you know?
I was surprised when I heard that you are in prison. What?s going on?
Yeah, I?m free now. Everything cool.
You?re out now?
I?m inside now, but everything cool. Say what you wanna say now and do what you wanna do.
How long have you been doing music?
Actually I?m 24 and I?ve been doin music for ten years now roughly. From youth always I?d sing and go to school concerts, community concerts, you know? But to officially come and try to record in the studio and the popularity, about ten years now.
You were probably about fourteen years old when you started doing music.
Yeah, 13-14-15. In school, yeah.
What directed you into doing music? My father was a singer and he tried the business, but he didn?t make it, not at all. He always been sayin that, he knows that it?s in his blood. When he see me try music industry it pulls him back to when he was in the field. Me, I used to go to dance, sneak out. That?s how Jamaica is in the ghetto. I don?t know if that?s how the ghetto is in the States, but Jamaica ghetto we always sneak through the window and go to dance at an early age. It?s the love of music. That?s the music in I an I. And I an I know when I go to the music I listen and have an idea. It help I an I growin up to be goin to dancehalls and watchin dancehall DJ?s and I admire them and I loves to be like them. So I an I no stop tryin and be persistent. I come to Kingston. Kingston is where all artists come to get the break. I been to Kingston and be around all the artists like Prophet (Capleton) and Sizzla. Before I started out culturally I used to try write songs, likkle melodies. But I?m tryin to conscious myself, see? At the age of fourteen I start my locks and try to find the conscious way out. To come to this cultural name Jah Cure was given to me by Capleton and some other man them who were with Prophet at that time. We all brethren.
Capleton gave you the name Jah Cure?
Yeah and some other brethren that were with Prophet at that time. They used to call me Old Cure, but I say I don?t satisfy with the old. The Jah is more better, cause Jah never grow old.
When you were starting out at the age of fourteen what kind of music were you listening to?
At the time, we crazy for Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and Jacob Miller. Greatest inspiration at that time, Bob Marley, Jacob Miller, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Israel Vibrations. I always say to myself I wanna be a great icon, I wanna be an icon to the business and not to let down Bob Marley or Peter Tosh. Anyway they are in the grave. They shall be part of me cause I wanna be an ancient soul in the music. Although I?m young but I?m like an old soul. That?s where my heart lies, in the ancient, with the elders. Not to let them down, let them feel proud of me. Know that there?s a lotta problems in the business, but there?s a youth called Cure and he always remember all of them so all the elders live in our hearts, dead or alive. They?ll be able to say, yeah respect this youth because he keep it the old way.
You?ve always been singing?
Singin always. Never tried to DJ or change from DJ to singin. Straight singing.
I have two of your albums. How many albums do you have?
Right now I released two albums since I been in prison. One set to release before I been in prison. We tried to hold it as long as we can, but it was time, we can?t hold no longer. So we released this last one called Ghetto Life.
That?s a classic. I play it all the time.
If you think that?s a classic, wait till you hear the third.
You are working on the third album?
I?m workin on it, but the third album gonna be live. Live Jah Cure in the 20th Century, the year when I saw the light in this 20th Century, cause I been to prison in the end of the 19th Century. Let them see what I look like and hear what I sound like. All those two albums were before I came to prison. What?s gonna be more fascinating is this is the live Cure in this time. This what Cure sound like now, today. To see if he still have the sound or if he improve a lot more or whatever you can listen for.
How was it for you growing up as a child in Kingston? Was it good?
It wasn?t bad. I have an auntie, she always sent me downtown to go to the shop, small shops. They always sent me to downtown Kingston to buy all the same stuff. In the mornin I have to wake up outta my bed before the time. All the time they always say I?m lazy, I don?t want to do the work, and they want to send me back to country. But always some other family member defending me: he give us some vibes, he bring a lot of happiness to the family, we?re not turnin him back. We like his spirit despite his laziness. But they know I came to Kingston to make a career and not to work along, like I come to look for domestic work. They know that?s me and me father know that?s me. When I was a kid I?m always kinda lazy to do things in the home. I always saw myself as a star. Think I?m gonna be a star one day. When I was grow up in Kingston I live my own way amongst brethren, amongst Capleton and them. It was really hard on my family sometimes, still rough. Sometimes I?d still have to go out to the country to look for my mother, spend a couple weeks to cool out from Kingston because sometimes it?s really harsh and it?s rough. And Kingston makes me push for more. Kingston is a place that?s really hard, that?s why you have so much crime coming. It?s really hard. In the country most people go to work at an early age. In Kingston a lotta youth, their mentality is not like, they want to become an artist or go for it easy.
You said you were born in the country. Where was that?
I was born into the bush, you know. What you call, that?s more like a forest now. It?s called Cascade in Hanover.
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
I have seven brothers, me make eight. And four sisters.
Do any of them play music? No, none of them. All four sisters I heard them singin and they can sing good, but they?re very small. They don?t really know the value of what they?re doin. Till I come out, cause I think I wanna do something.
Are you the oldest?
No, I?m the third from my father, second from my mother. I?m the only single. All of my other brothers and sisters actually have same mother and father?either two of the same mother and father or three or four?but I?m the only single from my mother and my father. It?s like I?m exceptional from all of the rest.
When you were growing up in the country were you growing up
Croncast - 2007-02-21.mp3
, Rob and Amber 
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