The pictures below are from Millennium Countdown 9, a large annual event thrown in Nassau, Bahamas by my longtime friend Josef Bogdanovich. Every year he does this show; rain or shine, war or peacetime, he’s there for the last NINE years. This time around the main headliner was Vybs Kartel who as you can see below, actually made it to the event despite missing two planes, and, as Joe put it: “…setting new trends in time management.”
So, after missing the only direct flights to Nassau (remember Kartel cannot travel to the US), the show date arrived and the only way to get him there was to charter a private jet ( “…we nuh fly pan dem prop plane deh.”) Hours before showtime, there was still no guarantee that he’d actually be on the flight, but the plane took off and at 10 pm later that night, Kartel arrived, smiling.
Now, the pictures are one thing. I always do those. But this time around, Bogdanovich was once again wired and we followed him for 48 hours as the whole thing went down. For those of you who were able to see the one and only screening of The Last Don at Redbones (which is about Josef and his bizarre experiences as a dancehall promoter/producer in Jamaica), you will already have SOME idea of the material we’re dealing with here. But this episode was a whole other league – the phone conversations, the crazy people running around the lobby, the hustling and the running commentary…the kind of stuff that is MADE for cable tv, albeit nothing that would EVER make it past the retards at the Jamaica Broadcast Commission (and we like it that way).
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, all I can tell you is that there’s going to be an official announcement about it soon, most likely at a second screening which is currently being arranged.
Anyway…here’s a look at some of the photographs that I took when I had the chance. To me Kartel makes Lil Wayne look like the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air….and yes, that’s Lisa Hype with the good bleach. (all photos after the jump or click HERE for horizontal view of the full set).
Hard to believe its been ten years since I started stealing Internet from the Post-graduate department at UWI, but there you have it. Not bad, I think, for a website that was never designed to do anything but make noise and give me and my friends something to laugh at.
That said, it hasn’t been all fun and games, especially when that PJ picture made its way around Jamaica and strange cars started showing up outside my dorm. So, what can I say to everyone who has supported me, hired me, published me and called me ‘Afflicted’ in public except - thanks.
To those who fought me, tried to shut me down, called the cops on me, and took off when things got a little too hot – thanks to you too for making the journey all the more interesting, but you can all suck it. 
PDR – The Afflicted Yard (est. Oct.27, 1999)
Regular followers of this blog (all ten of you) might have noticed that I’m not blogging much these days. I’ve been in farins you see; walking around looking at stuff, relaxing, and enjoying a much-needed change of scenery.
So, if I’ve actually taken the time to write more than 140 characters – much less at 2:30 in the morning – you can be sure that I’ve probably got a good reason – and this time its Sani Showbizz.
SANI SHOWBIZZ, 10/23/09:
SANI SHOWBIZZ, 10/24/09:
Now, you have to understand, while much has been said about this guy and his many personalities, one thing is for certain – he’s a comedic genius. I know because I grew up watching SCTV and SNL and Letterman and all the Canadian and British comedy I could find. I would record any comedian I heard on the Dr. Demento show with a cassette player and take it to school in a briefcase (yeah I carried a briefcase in grade 5).
Anyway, the closest thing anyone can compare Asani to is Sasha Baron Cohen although I would have to say that Asani’s various characters seem to be actual persons living within. Although he’s seemingly always creating new characters, the fact is that once a new one appears, it’s so complex and different from his others that it can only be attributed to a creepy ability to switch personalities as opposed to simply changing up a schtick.
And yet, its 100% observational.
I first met his latest personality Sani Showbizz at a screening for The Last Don for which he created the original score. Previous to that I had asked Asani Morris (pictured above with mongrels) to create the soundtrack but when I was doing the credits he insisted that the credit be given to ‘Sani Showbizz.’
At the time I didn’t think much of it and figured he was just choosing a new nickname as most producers in Jamaica do; but then he showed up at the screening wearing dark glasses, a fedora and a rather grim looking black suit and red slippers (you have to understand, during the day this guy is a church-going Adventist who doesn’t swear, drink or smoke).
He kept referring to me as “mi Don” , was seen begging people for drinks (alcoholic ones), accusing people of profiting from his material (including all Bob Marley’s songs) and smoking. He kept swearing and threatening people and anytime you mentioned Asani or any of his other personalities he said he was going to shoot them.
The only problem with Showbizz so far is to try explaining him to people. Although he’s already been written about, its just not the same as seeing or hearing him. Imagine trying to explain Borat by writing about him (or even worse by trying to imitate him)?
So, today I managed to record Showbizz for the first time…albeit via MSN messenger voice clips. Although this is actually just ONE side of the double-edged Showbizz character (the twanging-like-a-Yankee version as opposed to the violent, ranting nutcase version) it is nonetheless as good as anything I’ve heard on SCTV (albeit with a Jamaican spin) and worth sharing about at 2:30 in the morning…all the way from farins. Nah mean?!
Nice new Jamaican blog that doesn’t automatically start blaring dancehall when you land on it.
Link: http://www.letterfromjamaica.com
Thanks to the people at Business Class, someone got talked into this – Afflicted Yard photographs (set to music from the original Public Stonings session by Cancer) and video by the Rickards Bros….on that great big wall. Eee….farin.
Oh, Kids are always at this place so there won’t be any guns, naked girls, pigs being killed or gangsters standing up outside the good-good white people place crushing out weed.
Hope I get some of those Mojitos out of it…maybe 10.
Thursday September 17, 2009
9-11pm
@ Habana Outpost
757 Fulton Street
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
New York City
See the Habana Outpost blog for more details.
