Stet » Riddim

John Barry is forever

Ria — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:32:07 +0000

The composer John Barry died yesterday. He was one of my favourite film composers, close behind Lalo Schifrin at number one. Barry’s music, especially between the mid 60s to early 70s, was exceptional; some of the soundtrack albums, for example Goldfinger, stand on their own merit as “concept” albums, and can exist independently of the

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The Last Album

Ria — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:43:35 +0000

Yesterday I read that British dance duo Groove Armada were bringing out their last album (interview in Dutch). They clarified that they would continue to publish new music but only in single or EP formats.

“The album has no future. [...] People mostly only buy singles online [...] Writing 12 songs shouldn’t be such

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Squeeze me baby, till I lose control

Ria — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:42:20 +0000

It’s odd coming back to this place that was once so familiar and now seems so … neglected and … quite frankly, dowdy. I reckon this blog could do with a makeover, a little nipping and tucking in the layout, minor facelift-like.

Since I stopped blogging regularly, I have maintained my presence in the

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Sidi Mansour vs Ma Baker

Ria — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:51:40 +0000

Life in Kingston, Jamaica was sometimes like living in a war zone: occasional bursts of excitement — driving after dark through a ghetto zone, boarding up the windows as a hurricane approached — interspersed with long periods of boredom, for the city does not offer much in the way of amusement for a young family

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Addicted to Alice

Ria — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:54:26 +0000

I got a chunky translation job last month, 61 pages of sobering and inspiring information about childhood in Senegal: sobering to read that children’s charity X allows a maximum grant of US$5 per month; inspiring when I think of the hundreds of people freely offering their time and experience to help others less fortunate

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Shaking Up Orange Street

Ria — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:22:23 +0000

Part II of my downtown tour should be loading below. It took a little longer to finish than I’d hoped, partly because I wanted to make it look better than my previous clip, and partly because uploading it to YouTube is very very slow.

As I’ve recommended previously, if your bandwidth is as bad as

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Jamaica rundown

Ria — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 05:00:14 +0000

The opening match of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 takes place on Tuesday 13 March, at Sabina Park, here in Kingston. Throughout the last year, the complaints and criticisms of the organization of the event have dominated all discussions about the World Cup — lack of Internet access for pre-booking tickets, closure of public

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Two cultures clash

Ria — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 06:05:54 +0000

Talk of banning the “dance of death” is still doing the rounds here in Kingston, or at least it was this morning at the hairdresser’s. The dance in question is of course the “Dutty Wine”. In a country where new dance moves pop up every week, the Dutty Wine has shown unusual endurance since its

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Chase dem crazy baal’eads

Ria — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:58:58 +0000

[cont.] Colin Campbell resigned.

I am not going to say that there is no corruption taking place; I would be crazy and stupid to say that.

- Colin Campbell, 1993 Gleaner Editors’ Forum

Here comes the conman Coming with his con plan We won’t take no bribe, we got to stay alive

We gonna

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Street art pwns gallery

Ria — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:32:36 +0000

After a disappointing visit to the National Gallery of Jamaica (the best pieces are overseas), I was chuffed to see this beautiful mural of Augustus Pablo on the wall of Shaggy’s Big Yard studio on Slipe Road, downtown Kingston.

Artist: Philip A… Henry

Music to match: Augustus Pablo’s classic King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown,

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