Entertainment Update

 
Magnum All-Star Clash held at the Famous Nightclub in Portmore last Thursday. – Anthony Minott

Sound Trooper and Coppershot battled to a satisfactory draw for all involved last Thursday in the first of two main clashes in the Magnum All-Star $1,000,000 Face Off.

For, as Ricky Trooper pointed out, neither of them could win the league format sound system battle anyway – that was to be decided later when Flava Unit and Redd Heat squared off. However, playing strictly for fun, Sound Trooper and Coppershot still put on a very good show. Maybe not having much to lose contributed to a more relaxed atmosphere, Trooper apologising for his on-stage outburst the week before.

Going second in the opening juggling round, Trooper had fun, smiling, dancing and dropping tunes on the way to taking the opening round convincingly, scoring three points on all three judges’ scorecards, Coppershot taking two points for two judges and one and a half for the third.

And Trooper went on to take all the rounds up to the climatic dub-for-dub, when Coppershot stormed back to draw level, the face-off ending with both contestants on 44.5 points. However, what was striking about Trooper was not only his winning the rounds, but how the command with which he spoke in introducing the songs, especially in the second (Challenge) and third (45) rounds.

Sting concert

The sound systems were asked to play three songs from three artistes booked for this year’s Sting concert. Going first, Coppershot played Ninja Man’s Murder Dem, Super Cat’s Ghetto Red Hot and Sizzla’s No Time to Gaze. Ricky Trooper was caustic as he replied.

“Yu see Cutty (Coppershot’s selector), dem no really know da suppen ya. Dis a one a de wicked deejay whe mash up dis. Him deejay pon Jaro, Stereomars,” Trooper said, going on to credit producers Steelie and Clevie before the rhythm dropped and Burru Banton chanted “hey hey” to the audience’s delight.

“Cutty, yu a likkle bway. Yu a uptown sound. A Kilamanjaro mi used to play, bad man sound,” Trooper said. “I gwine teach yu again. “Early ’90s, Ninja Man a run de place, Shabba a run de place, one ugly deejay come bout ya,” he said in introducing Major Mackerel’s Pretty Looks Done. Again Famous went into a frenzy.

He went into his personal history for the last selection of the round, saying that when he was in New York some time ago, a certain deejay advised him to go home in order to get his break. It was more than advice – it was an order, as the entertainer said “Trooper, yu can go home two way, a plane seat or a box. Mi say deejay, mi wi tek de plane seat.”

And with that he played Suuper Cat’s Don Dada.

custom-built

Trooper’s ‘teachings’ continued in the 45 round, but he did not have it all his way. In the dub-for-dub, Coppershot opened with a Sean Paul dub, custom-built for Trooper, to be off to a good start. Trooper paid his respects to Sean Paul, but said he had swallowed Super Cat and Junior Cat’s voices, before delivering his response. Coppershot had a Ninja dub in its arsenal and Trooper asked Mackerel to respond on record.

That proved to be the turning point, as Coppershot replied with a stringer Major Mackerel, asking “whe yu head a do unda deh?” Still, Trooper had a response. “Mi a bad man. Mi no eat dem suppen deh. Cutty a uptown yu come from. A uptown people originate eating,” Trooper said, to laughter.

And so they went, back and forth throughout the dub for dub, ending up finally in a draw which they both seemed satisfied with. “I am very happy,” Trooper told the judges. “I can’t win and Cutty can’t win. We draw tonight, we even. Thank you, judges.”

  
Magnum All-Star Clash held at the Famous Nightclub in Portmore last Thursday. – Anthony Minott

Drama group wins 11 awards in barbados
Team Jamaica poses with their awards from the Caribbean Schools’ Drama Festival in Barbados. – Contributed The Jamaican production of ‘Wi Love Wi Self’, directed by Akeem Mignott, walked away with 11 major awards, including that of Best Overall Performance, at the recently concluded Caribbean Schools’ Drama Festival held in Christ Church, Barbados. The young Jamaican thespians also received awards for Best Ensemble acting, Most Creative presentation and Best Set Design. Outstanding Actress award went to Mandie Salmon of Jamaica while Mignott won the award for Outstanding Director. Eleven students from several local high schools across the island represented Jamaica at the Caribbean Festival (December 8-15) with participants from seven other countries including: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Barbados, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Jamaican delegation included six students from Ardenne High School (Jomo Dixon, Darian Reid, Johnique Francis, Chantae Martin, Jonathan Dwyer and Jadon-John Barton-Williams) as well as students from Munro College (Mandie Salmon) Mona High (Teona Wesley), Black River High (Jevone Andy) and Waterford High (Oleta Livermore and Raheem Wallace). workshops While in Barbados, the Jamaican contingent also performed for students at the Alexandra School in the Saint Peter district and participated in cultural workshops and a Caribbean Youth Forum on Caribbean Single Market Initiative and Theatre Arts in the region. The 2013 Caribbean Schools’ Drama Festival was organised by the Barbados Association of Drama Educators. The Jamaican delegation was led by playwright Aston Cooke, who serves as facilitator of the Jamaica Youth Theatre, and the trip to the festival was made possible by sponsorship from the CHASE Fund.   LIME Portmore Christmas fun Day   Even Santa Claus was impressed by the amount of credit Sherie Rowe-Hayes (centre) had on her LIME handset as she collected a brand-new Huawei 210 from Courtney Bell, community projects manager, LIME. Highlights from the LIME Portmore Christmas fun day held on Sunday, December 8. The telecommunications company hosted a Christmas fun day for the children of the Portmore community at the Bridgeport High School.   (Contributed photos)   Stephen Miller, sponsorship manager, LIME, showed off his hooping skills as he, too, indulged in some of the fun activities at the LIME Christmas Fun Day.   Female patron of the LIME Portmore Christmas Fun Day, Kadie Mundel, tries her hand at the ring toss challenge. Scores of families turned out at the Bridgeport High School recently.   Britaneke Campbell seemed pleased upon visiting Santa Claus’s booth at the LIME Portmore Christmas Fun Day.   Kevin Brooks, two-time winner of the basketball challenge at the LIME Portmore Christmas fun day, collecting a gift basket from Stephen Miller, sponsorship manager, LIME.   LIME’s Sponsorship Manager, Stephen Miller, poses with young talent Little Ice after his performance of his LIME jingle for patrons of the LIME Portmore Christmas Fun Day.     Future Fambo delivers at Mavado’s birthday bash   From left, DJ Kenny, Fambo, and promotions guru, Andrew Powell. – Contributed It was a performance that many never expected. Dancehall artiste Future Fambo delivered an exciting performance at Mavado’s birthday bash on Saturday night at the Famous nightclub in Portmore, St Catherine. Fambo earned one of the biggest forwards of the night when he shot on stage with the chart- topping hit Rum And Redbull. He upped the ante when he delivered the inescapable Drunken Dance, This Life (featuring Mavado) andNever Sober. With his campaign now in high gear, Fambo is ready to take his share of the pie on the music scene. He recently released the singles Live Tonight, which was produced by Not Nice Records; and Children Are The Future. Fambo, who shot on to the musical radar in the early 1990s as a member of Courtney Cole’s Roof International label, has scored a number of hits over the years. These include Kung Fu, China Mi Live, and WTF (Swaggin, featuring Wayne Marshall and Tifa).