So I’m sitting here writing about Jimmy Cliff and in my mind I can hear the blowback. Believe me, I’ve always gotten negative responses, but not with the vociferousness, the put-downs, the holier-than-thou attitudes of correspondents today. Is it about me or is it the nature of the world at large? Or maybe it’s just […]

DON’T F*CK WITH ME! If you ever saw “The Harder They Come,” you know this scene. If you haven’t watched the movie, you should. They started to promote reggae. Only this was in a world with no YouTube, never mind the internet. We weren’t sure how to PRONOUNCE IT! Was it like “Reggie” in the […]

This won the Booker Prize. And I was surprised. Because this is the first time I’ve ever read one of the winning books before it was anointed. Furthermore, I usually find the winning books close to unreadable. They titillate the committee, academics, but they are not for the proletariat. But “Flesh”? At first I couldn’t […]

Doesn’t mean as much as it used to. I remember growing up, going to the Yankee game, we told our friends we would be there, to look out for us on TV. To be on TV was the thrill of a lifetime. Just to be seen, never mind heard. But today, being on television is […]