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Dateline: 27th November
2009 Venue: Le Plan.
Ris Orangis, France.
Well this was going to
an interesting weekend, a shock to some and a vindication for
others.
Let me set the scene. Aba is booked to do a show for our bredrin
Jerome on the same bill as idrens 'Nucleus Roots'.Nuff
love Paul, Delroy, Moses, Gary(Our Kid), Simon Dan whose angelic
voice belies his looks and de man with de keys, Peter.
Blood was also booked to play drum for Mad Professor, along with
'Shanti-Ites' members Emmanuel Joseph and Henry as part of his
'Ariwa Dub Posse' featuring 'Earl 16'.
The next day, Saturday 28th, Blood Shanti & The Shanti-Ites'
along with live dub mix by Aba Shanti-I, were playing 'Trabendo'
in Paris. We would link up in Paris with the rest of 'Shanti-Ites'
who were travelling over on the Saturday morning, shepherded by
the Shanti-Ites sound engineer, Fuzzy.
Yeah man, I know nuff jugglings.
Well let's get to the storyline.
Friday
27th Nov 2009:
I arrived at Kings X Eurostar terminal at 10:05 because the train
was at 11:05 and the man Emmanuel was already there. He asked
me where Aba was and I told him that I had called Aba at 08:30
to tell him I was on my way to Kings X and he told me we was leaving
in 15 minutes. As Aba lives only a few miles from Kings X and
I live way across town that was an expected response. I called
Aba as we stood there just to get an update, and he assured me
that he was only 5 minutes away. No probs there then.
I also called Blood just as he was entering the station from the
side entrance. He asked me if everyone had turned up? Black Steel,
Earl 16 and Henry had arrived by this time. Steel and 16 went
off to sort out their tickets as Steel had left his ticket in
Mad P's studio the night before.
I only had the tickets for the 'Falasha Crew' save the ones that
had been given to Fuzzy for the rest of the crew travelling tomorrow,
so the problems with the tickets for Steel and 16 were not my
concern.
10:30 No Aba, but Mad P and the rest of his travelling party had
arrived.
I called Aba to be told he was 5 minutes away!
10:45: The Mad P touring party went and checked in and I waited
for Aba.
Let me explain the Eurostar check in policy. You have to check
in 30 minutes before your departure time.
It was now 12 minutes before departure and the last call for the
train had come over the pa system.
11:00: I called Aba again just as he was rushing into the station.
On his arrival we quickly went through the check in gates and
boarded the train.
How is that possible you ask when you had to check in 30 minutes
before departure? Well let me explain, you have to check in 30
minutes before, but you can board the train up to 5 minutes before
it departs.
I had the foresight the previous week when I collected the e-tickets
to select the 'Passenger Check In' option, so as far as the system
was concerned we had already checked in and all we needed to do
was to board the train…simple! If I hadn't done that then
the ticket would not have let us through the barriers and we would
have missed the train. Bwoy, music might be a time oriented structure,
but musicians don't know time, they are forever late!
Well as we settled into our seats for the journey to Paris, nuff
banter about the place mostly from Steel in regard Music, France,
Women, Men, Cars, Antigua…etc, basically anything and everything.
Bwoy de man can chat! I swear I saw a donkey with missing hind
quarters furiously dragging itself away from Steel.
14:40: We arrived in
Paris and were met by Jerome. The Mad P party were met by a representative
from the promoter Garance.
Aba and I boarded our minibus to go to Ris D'Orange and waved
laters to Blood and the others.
We stopped by a café to pick up the Nucleus Roots lads
who had been staying nearby.
We exchanged pleasantries and had a welcomed hot drink and some
cake. After the small stop over we all clambered into the minibus
and made our way to the venue.
We had played the 'Le Plan' a few years back, alongside
'Alpha & Omega' (Christine & Johan Dan. No John)
and 'Freedom Massive' from Manchester.
18:00: We entered the venue and made our way to the dressing room
to continue the chat and to chill while we awaited the sound check.
18:30-19:30: Nucleus Roots sound check.
19:45 - 20:45: Aba sound check.
21:00: Sound check done, Aba & I went and had our evening
meal in the café adjacent to the venue.
We opted to eat early as warmed up food at 04:00 in the morning
is not my idea of nutrition, plus food nearly always taste better
when it is just cook. The exceptions being curry and West Indian
style big soup, which both thickens up nicely if left for a day.
Some of you reading this might think me bohemian or some kind
a hills man, but TRUST ME, Curry Goat with Rice & Peas and
Soup just mellow the day after it done cook. In fact I know man
and man that will not eat unless it has had that extra day to
ferment in the pot. It is like fine wine. As my uncle used to
say 'it haffi season' or 'It haffi stan up'.
Anyway as usual I have digressed, so back to the report.
The venue opened at
21:00 and Nucleus Roots were due on stage from 22:00 -23:30 and
we were due on at 23:45 - Done: We agreed with the management
to delay the performance time by 30 minutes to allow the patrons
to fill up the place.
22:30: The Nucleus take to the stage and as a favour, Aba was
on the mixing board.
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Yes man, the Nucleus gave a wicked set and bassie Paul was in his element as he didn't have to worry about the sound as he knew Aba was taking care of business. Wicked riddims and well tuff vocals were the order of the night.
I go wandering and outside buck up Samari who is waiting for Aba to start his set. She is a long time follower of Aba. We chat for a few minutes and she enthuses about the Shanti-Ites gig the following night. She can't wait to see the band in action. I leave and go back inside to listen to the band.
23:50: The Nucleus ends their set and leaves the stage.
00:05: Aba starts his set and rocks up the place. Man like Winston Mcanuff and his son came and did a few guest vocals during the set. Wicked vibes, nuff said!
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04:30: We arrive at our hotel and went for a well earned rest.
Later was going to be greater.
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