(¯`·._(¯`·......Wha Gwaan in R.A.W......·´¯)_.·´¯) Monday October 27, 2003 ************************************************************************* *INDEX [1] Need photo of Papa Pilgrim for The Beat Magazine [2] R.A.W. : In Memory of Papa Pilgrim [3] New RAW Web Forum Post-"Raw Member needs help in discrimination case," [4] Lokking for a booking agent/promoter in Memphis TN [5] GREETINGS FROM GROUNDATION!!! [6] Pacific Vibrations on the radio... [7] Re. Cape Fest 2004 - January 9-13 [8] Holloween Reggae Party [9] Reggae Dancehall [10] My Cyprus Adventure... and Poetz4Peace Record Release ************************************************************************* [1]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- >From Nancy Lewis (#72) Subject: Need photo of Papa Pilgrim for The Beat Magazine Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 06:42:37 -0400 From: Nan Lewis Greetings. I now need a photo, scanned at 300 dpi or more, of Papa Pilgrim for The Beat Magazine. Please e-mail photos to me, at nanlewis@bellsouth.net. And, if possible, please include the name of the person who took the photo. Thanks. -Nan $72 [2]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Andrew (#1720) Subject: R.A.W. : In Memory of Papa Pilgrim Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 15:21:30 -0700 From: R.A.W. webmaster Greetings all, Please re-visit the 'In Memory' page for Papa Pilgrim, as many more messages and remembrances have been added. Visit : http://www.reggaeambassadors.org/in%20memory.htm Regards, A.T. [3]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Roots Natty (# Subject: New RAW Web Forum Post-"Raw Member needs help in discrimination case," Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:05:47 -0400 From: webmaster@reggaeambassadors.org A new message, "Raw Member needs help in discrimination case," was posted on the RAW Web Forum by Roots Natty on Thursday, 23 October 2003, at 3:04 p.m. The message reads as follows: RAW MEMBER NEEDS HELP IN DISCRIMINATION CASE Hail Jah Rastafari Haile Selassie I the First! Greetings to everyone, it is with enough grief that I call on the assistance of the Rastafarian community, Raw network of reggae loving people and all in general who defend truth and rights. I would normally not ask for help unless I really need it and this time I have to do it. I am facing a violation of I civil rights, a persecution and a violation of I right of freedom of religious expression in I own home town where I grew up. I am going to try to keep the story short even though it’s not a single legal case or a single event that has resulted in the situation I am facing now. I opened the store Roots Natty Records in December 2001 to help sell I first independently released album "Rasta Resiste". One of the main reasons for opening the store was to have another outlet to sell the CD due to the disintrest of the main record distributors and the main reggae store in the island who are the ones responsible for producing the reggae concerts in the island. The store started humbly with just a tent and a table in the front yard of the house and its popularity grew fast through the south and west side of the island being the only reggae shop in the region. From its beginning the inmediate neighbor to it complained that it affected the view of its house and the "look" of the area. In the end of August 2002 I was forced to close because Roots Natty went to the U.S. for a west coast tour and I could not find anyone to run it while I was away on tour. When I returned from the tour in November 2002 I found the house bandalized, many things from the hose where missing; garbage cans gone, papaya and banana trees gone, radio gone even one neighbor who is a retired police man one day asked I; do you notice anything missing? I said: yeah many things are missing, then he said: what about the air compressor you had? and I realized inmediately it was gone too, then he boldly stated; I saw when a guy got in to your yard and he jumped the fence with it, I tried to stop him by yelling at him from my house but he kept on going down the road with it. He did not even called the police for that but he is the one that one time at about ten o'clock I had I radio playing in a low volume that was hard to hear from outside the house and I was putting together a file holder I had just bought, he called police saying the music was too high and it sounded like there was some hammering like a construction was going on inside the house. Police came and called I, I walked outside asking them what was the matter, they told I that a neighbor had complained about the music and the construction, then I replied to them that there was no construction going on I was just putting a file holder together and the music was so low that they had to turn off their vehicle to be able to hear the music. They replied in an angry tone that they did not had to turn off anything and they just came by to let I know that someone had complained. Around the same time I started to notice that police was patrolling the area every fifteen minutes and I started to get suspicious about it and asked I self; how if police pass around the area so much, when I was away thieves had such a ball in the house? So I asked a regular passer by one day and he confirmed that police only patrol the area that much when I am there. The heavy patrolling went on from November 2002 till April 2003. It took I months to get I self back on I feet again and I reopened again in April 2003 with some improvements, now the store was a 8' x 8' in wood with doors and windows that I could open and close without having to remove the merchandise and store it inside the house. It did not pass long before the inmediate neighbor complained again about it affecting the view of her house and asked if I had permit from the authorities. She gathered the neighbors around and made a complaint in the office that regulates constructions in the town. As soon as May 2003 the office personal where in I front door asking for the permits. They gave I an appointment to the office in order to get information on how to proceed with the permit process, which I went to inmediately. In the appointment I explained the nature of the business I am running and that is part also of a non-profit organization I founded to keep the Rasta Culture alive by organizing benefit concerts that collects canned food for homeless people. I also explained to the engineer that the house is surrounded by business and that I backyard faces a gas station and it’s side by side to a restaurant. The engineer told I that wood structures are not allowed at the front yards but they are at the backyards so I said; great well let I have all the documents and I will follow up with the requirements. I left the office with the papers and continued running the store while I was getting all documents together, not even a month pass and they came again with a new order now; cease and desist and on top of that one of the officers said we had to remove the Ethiopian flag from the roof and change the red, gold and green from the house fence. I continued to operate the store because it is the only form of steady income for Roots Natty Corp. and Rasta Culture Productions Organization and I know how corrupted are this construction regulation offices and how many home small business run wild in the country while big corporate outside investors buy land and build violating laws and they get permits and papers done after they finish build or while they are building. Mean time the permit office was working on taking I to court with a law suit demanding the inmediate demolition of the ilegaly built wood structure in the front of the house, remove the flag on top of the roof and change the colors representative of the "rasta" concept, payment of $5,000.00 and to return the house to its residential state. Then they gave I notice of the coming court date just seven days before the date when the judge had stated that they where responsible of notification at least ten days before the date. Obviously I could not find a good lawyer to defend I or get the money to pay one in such a short period of time. In court the lawyer I got negotiated a deal with the town lawyer in which I accepted to demolish the structure and start the process for the permits and they would the drop the suit. It was brought before the judge and the judge was just going to give I ten days to demolish the structure and I lawyer asked for twenty and he finally gave I fifteen. That was all that was said in court, no mention of the flag or the colors or the $5,000.00. In fifteen days I demolished the shop and found an engineer to make a blue print of the new relocated store at the backyard in wood, just a week later they sent I a next letter saying that; I had demolished the structure in the front part of the house and that the house seemed to be closed but the colors on the fence and the flag on top of the roof where still there and that if I did not complied within ten days with the demand they would have to take I to court for contempt. On top of that when I get to talk to the engineer again, the engineer tells I that the new building must be in cement and that was said by the same engineer at the permits office that told I that wood structures at the back are allowed. By now I am sure that everyone can see how vicious this whole process has become, its a plain persecution, plot and scheme against Rastafari presence in the area. And to make things even worst for I this is not the only legal battle I am facing right now. Around June I found out about a surfing video documentary that had used I song "Rasta Resiste" without permission in the soundtrack, sponsored by Coors Light, Sprite, local news paper, about ten different surf shops around the island, publications and other business and famous clothing brands like Quicksilver. At $25.00 dollars a copy and Roots Natty don’t even get one gig out of it, not even the album credits where credited right and the producer claims it was done with the best intention to help I, and to make it worst the main reggae producers here in Puerto Rico where behind it, they new about the production of it, sponsored it and sold it also and never even mention it to I even though we where in contact all the time. They claim they are helping I and I cant get to work not one opening act with them since 1997. Like that is not enough in May this year I started calling ASCAP for the payment of I royalties to find out that their representative here in Puerto Rico neglegted I membership and it was never updated nor the tittles registered so to them I have no airplays or right to get one penny. I have evidence of the massive airplay the album received form the end of 2001 till 2003. In February 2002 the album made the top ten most played reggae albums in the CMJ Network making the # eight spot in the chart. I found a lawyer in San Diego intrested in taking the case against ASCAP but the costs for she to start looking at the case are way above I budget right now. I found a good lawyer to deal with the copyright case here in Puerto Rico but then again he wants to go for an out of court settlement instead of long court case that he and I might have to fund since he agreed to take the case expecting a percent of the outcome. I could keep adding other odd situations that I am facing right now or situations related to the cases but I think the picture by now its quite clear and the need for help is imperative, I have never been the type of depend and rest or beg so I only ask for support to our works. I have boxes of I latest release "Rasta Resiste" recorded in Jamaica at Tuff Gong with Jamaica’s top studio veterans now in an enhanced CD format that includes a five minute video clip of Roots Natty and The Zioniers performing live in Puerto Rico and on tour in the last year's west coast tour. Help us fight this three battles that are fought for the respect of Rasta buying a copy of our album. Also we want to be of service and we want to keep performing as much as we where before this whole conspiracy started some time ago, producers hire us for your next years festivals or shows, radio DJs keep playing Rasta Resiste and send in your play list to the stations programmers so they can report it to ASCAP or set an interview with I in your programs, writers contact us for an article in the publications you work with, fans and reggae supporters call the radio stations and request "Rasta Resiste" also call show and festival producers and ask them to bring Roots Natty to your area, bands, musicians and producers we have a recording studio with some very good rates come in and record your next album in Puerto Rico and we also distribute records through the island, contact us and lets reason how we can work with each other. Also when buying a copy of "Rasta Resiste" write a letter endorsing Roots Natty Records and Rasta Culture Productions as a business and a organization that helps promote cultural awareness and moral values of the highest standard through a UPFULL POSITIVE LIVITY which some know as a religion and mail it together with the payment. Rasta Culture Productions is registered in the State Department of Puerto Rico as a church and a school so it should enjoy all the religious rights and freedoms other churches do. Roots Natty Corp. is also registered but as profit corporation and it benefits local and international artists though the sale of their CDs among other benefits to the local and international community. Even if you are not able of buying the CD send the letter, it will help. The mailing address to send the checks or money orders and the letters is: Roots Natty Records C/o Max Rivera Urb. Santa Maria 1305 St. Altagracia Ponce, P.R. 00717 Feel free to contact us we will apprecilove it. www.rootsnatty.com rootsnattypr@yahoo.com Cel. 787 453 1110 Thanks in advance for your support. Jah Guide and Protect. Max Rivera [4]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Zipp (#784) Subject: Lokking for a booking agent/promoter in Memphis TN Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 22:14:01 -0400 From: zipp thompson greetings all, I received a phone call from Cynthia Bowen, a booking agent/promoter in Memphis TN. She wants to get things moving in the Memphis Reggae scene. She also asked for info about RAW. She is requesting contact info for Wayne Wonder and Midnite, actually I think she would be interested in hearing from other artists as well. If someone can guide her, please send me a reply. Thanks in advance, zipp #784 rastarn@msn.com [5]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Groundation (#1726) Subject: GREETINGS FROM GROUNDATION!!! Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 21:29:42 EDT From: Hozworld@cs.com WELL WE ARE BACK FROM NW TOUR AND WE ARE READY FOR MORE!!! WE ARE HITTING UP SO. CAL IN NOV AND HAWAII !! HERE OUR DATES AND WE HOPE TO SEE ALL OUR FRIENDS OLD AND NEW PLUS CHECK OUT OUR NEW GEAR !!!!!!!!!!! WWW.GROUNDATION.COM HERE WE GO!!! OCT 24 FAIRFAX,CA 19TH BROADWAY NOV 1 BERKELEY,CA-ASHKENAZ NOV 6-SAN DIEGO-WINSTONS NOV 7-SANTA BARBARA-COACH HOUSE NOV 8-LOS ANGELES TBA NOV 9 SAN LUIS OBISPO- SLO CLUB 12th-13th concert TBA Friday, November 14th concert @ Hapa¹s 41 East Lipoa Kihei, HI 96753 Saturday, November 15th concert @ Casanova¹s 1188 Makawao Ave. Makawao, HI 96768 Concert @ Aloha Tower Monday-Tuesday, November 17-18 Radio, Press, University afternoon show, lecture Wednesday & Thursday, November 19 & 20 Concert @ The Pipe Line Opening Bands - 19th w/ Irie Souls & 20th w/ Oklah The Moc 805 Pohukaina Street Honolulu, HI 96757 Friday, November 21 concert @ Anna Banana¹s 2446 S. Beretania Honolulu, HI 96826 Saturday, November 22 concert @ Jarron¹s WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL... RASTAFARI- YOUNGLION RAW 1726 [6]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Pacific Vibrations (#1682) Subject: Pacific Vibrations on the radio... Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 10:41:36 -0700 From: Pacific Vibrations Greetings everyone from La Honda! Pacific Vibrations will be doing a live perfomrance on the radio. It will be from 2pm to 4pm on KZSC 88.1 FM, Santa Cruz, on Saturday, OCT25. Peace and love, Kerry & Pacific Vibrations (RAW# 1682) For shows, music and more, check out: www.pacvibes.com [7]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Anna Fisher (#1224) Subject: Re. Cape Fest 2004 - January 9-13 Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 10:05:54 -0700 From: molinus Thanks Daniel! My musical partner, Jawge http://www.jawge.com will be performing keyboards with Fully Fullwood Band on this one! Glad to see so many RAW members on this tour. Just got off the phone with Jawge to confirm and he said Fully Fullwood, Tony Chin et al are heading from the Bay Area up to Eureka, CA this morning to perform the Peter Tosh Celebration Tour tonight at the Six Flags Brewery. Other shows this week included but are not limited to: Tues. Oct. 28 - Peter Tosh Celebration Tour featuring Fully Fullwood and Tony Chin (Tosh's "Word Sound and Power" Band) and more - The Coach House - 110 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara - 8pm - (805) 962-4577 Wed. Oct. 29 - Peter Tosh Celebration Tour featuring Fully Fullwood and Tony Chin (Tosh's "Word Sound and Power" Band) and more - Platinum Live - 11345 Ventura Blvd. Studio City - 7:30pm - (818) 753-1771 Thurs. Oct. 30 - Peter Tosh Celebration Tour featuring Fully Fullwood and Tony Chin (Tosh's "Word Sound and Power" Band) and more - Belly Up Tavern - 143 S. Cedros Ave. Solana Beach - $17 - 9pm - (858) 481-8140 A message from tour manager Mark Miller: Greetings to all our friends, For the first time, we present you an opportunity for you to become associated with one of the most entertaining and profitable shows to come out on the road. In reggae music, three names really have stood the test of time. Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and the highly talented extrovert PETER TOSH, the original Wailers. Recently, in honour of one of those musical icons we took great care to develop the "Peter Tosh Celebration Tour" starring former Peter Tosh bass player FULLY FULLWOOD, guitarist and vocalist ANDREW McINTYRE from the Wailers Band, plus special guest Master Guitarist TONY CHIN and Brazilian percussionist extraordinaire CLAUDIO "PEPPE" (formerly of the Wailers). The first ever tribute tour to Peter Tosh sent fans wild. Audiences in Holland (over 10,000 alone in Eindhoven Holland on August 16th) went absolutely wild during the set, so we have decided to continue on tour with shows for the 'Peter Tosh Celebration Tour'. WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING BOOKINGS FOR THE SUMMER 2004 TOUR SEASON. We hope you will be interested in the tour, the 2003 Fall Tour begins in California on October 24th and will take in California, Colorado, Montana, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and the Carolinas before returning to Holland, Germany, France and Belgium for Winter dates. Please contact us immediately if you wish to discuss bringing this exciting show to your city. The show is extremely affordable and one that audiences will attend and love, with venue owners and promoters finally having an enjoyable, professional show and musicians they'd like to book year after year. The tour will take in America beginning late October before returning to Europe. The show will then take time off to record over the holidays, before hitting the road again in early 2004. Please contact us at your earliest convenience to discuss how we can arrange to bring the fantastic "PETER TOSH CELEBRATION TOUR" to your city. We have a full promotion kit for you, including "live" recorded material, video and still images plus all the tour info you will require to make a positive decision. Just let us know where you would like it sent! One love, MARK MILLER Irie Records USA, The International World Music Festival, & the Mark Miller Co. Office Email: Marksmagic@infonie.fr Tour Mail: Marksmagic10@hotmail.com Tel: (310) 629 7430 http://www.iration.com/iwmf Fax: (310) 376 5818 representing: CARIBBEAN PULSE, IRIE RECORDS, & Top Brazilian artist FAUZI & tRiBO dE JaH The Peter Tosh Celebration Tour featuring FULLY FULLWOOD and former Wailer ANDREW McINTYRE Peace, One Love and Light, Anna Fisher (RAW #1224) [8]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Red Di (# Subject: Holloween Reggae Party Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 02:46:57 -0700 From: Red Di Greetings, Join Red Di for a great Halloween Party this coming Friday, Oct.31st.Get all dolled up and GIT YER YAYA'S OUT!!! Fun, Prizes, Costumes, Great Beer, and Fantastic Reggae Music from the East Bay's Reggae Rockers! Main St. Brewery 830 Main St. in Pleasanton, CA Friday, Oct. 31st Showtime is 9pm - ???am NO COVER CHARGE / ALL AGES WELCOME Call 925-462-8218 for details Lively UP! [9]------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- >From Ambasador David (#5) Subject: Reggae Dancehall Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:58:30 EST From: Davidbauma@aol.com Boomerang's inside Up & Under 711 West Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI. USA 269-373-1412 9:30 AM to 1:30 AM Reggae Dancehall Xplosion 2003 Every Wednesday Night House DJ X from Jamaica & Special Guest DJs Roots Early - Dancehall Late $2.50 well drinks until Midnight Jah Guide, (PP) Ambassador David RAW #5 [10]------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------- >From Steffan Franz (#142) Subject: My Cyprus Adventure... and Poetz4Peace Record Release Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 21:13:04 -0800 From: Steffen Franz Greetings All- I have just returned from one of the most amazing trips of my career. This past two weeks I've spent in Cyprus, releasing our new record Poetz4Peace "A Pair of Olive Leaves", was a dream come true for me. Almost the time I was there was spent preparing for, producing and performing, in the name of peace through music. There is no greater satisfaction for me. It was pure positivity from start to finish. For background information on this project please feel free to check out: http://www.psmrecordings.com http://www.olivetreemusic.com http://www.peaceremix.com This trip (My third in 2 years) I kept a journal to document this history making journey... I wanted to share it with all of you who have been so supportive of many of my past and present projects. This is just a little overview of some of the great things that went on around our worldwide record release (October 15th, 2003) in Cyprus. As many of you know I get off on tangents but I will keep this short and sweet... Sunday, October 12th After my little 16 hour trek across the world... via Heathrow Airport, I arrived at Larneca Airport in the late afternoon. There was my partner Haji Mike waiting with open arms as I came out of the customs area like I had the past two times before. We drove to Nicosia and I got a chance to check out the new Olive Tree Music studio. Within a few hours we had already mapped out some plans for the live shows, two collage workshops and some of the pre-recorded radio interviews. Tuesday, October 14th This morning was our first workshop with Haji Mike's students at Intercollage, Nicosia. The students were well interested in hearing some "true" stories about the music industry, and a nice positive discussion between the dozen or so students in the class. That afternoon we put the finishing touches on the OTM studio, and phoned in a great, live,"Drive-Time" interview on CYBC radio. We ended the evening by pre-recording Haji's friday night "Radio Napa" show. Wednesday, October 15th Today was perfect... We rehearsed in Limissol for the TV show and live gig at Ledra for a few hours during the day and then got ready for the Cyber Record Release Party @ 10 pm. It was amazing to hang out with all of the Poetz4Peace members at one time in one place... and then just a few hours later to meet up at: http://www.peaceremix.com (the chat transcript will be available soon) for a wonderful online record release party. Over 30 people from all over the world joined up to wish good luck and ask questions about "A Pair of Olive Leaves" and the "Cyber Remix for Peace". In total we all spent almost 3 hours all together in Cyberspace, where Poetz4Peace was really born. Back to our roots as it were. It was truly inspiring. We all went to bed that night knowing the next few days would be pure non-stop action. Friday October 17th Well it is all coming down to the next few days. The whole reason that I traveled 8000 miles. Last night (Thursday) Haji Mike and Zeki Ali were interviewed on an evening TV show on CYBC 2 and we pre-recorded our CYBC 2 radio show for Saturday night. Not much sleep but we were driven... A full page feature came out today in the Cyprus Weekly and a nice mention by well respected writer George Lanitis as well. By early afternoon we had the entire studio packed up and loaded into Haji Mike's and Mike Cherry's cars. It only took us about an hour to set up the entire rig including Turntables, Samplers, a Mac G3 Laptop for beatmaking, a Mac G4 with Pro-Tools LE system for Recording, a 48 track soundboard, monitors, and an amazing sounding Studio Projects Mic. All was in place for our 10 am recording workshop tomorrow. Saturday October 18th This is by far our busiest day. We got to Intercollage at 9 am and Haji and a few folks went to the Ledra checkpoint to meet some of our guests from the north. In the meantime, Mike Cherry, Mike Minas and I did some last minute soundchecking of the equipment. At 10:30 am we slipped out of the workshop for a 10 minute interview and photoshoot with Time Out Magazine. By 11 am we were underway with about 20 young folks and the whole Poetz crew working together. We had about 6 or 7 vocalists, a handful of drummers, and two great guitar players. Within four hours we had produced a rough song called "Freedom" which included tracks from every person in the room, most of whom had never met before. After we said our good-byes we broke down the entire rig and loaded the equipment back into the OTM studio just in time to drive to CYBC TV. The TV show we were booked on called "Efharisto Savvatovratho" is a live variety show with 2 co-hosts and two dance groups performing. The other musical guest was a no-show so we got to do an extra song. We performed "Olive Leaves", "Funky Tilrka", "Peace and Quiet" and "Down by the Greenline". All of us were interviewed and the show ended on Zeki's verse of "Greenline". As we loaded out, Stephanos, one of the show's directors, was singing "Greenline" to himself... score one for the Poetz!!! We grabbed dinner and headed over to Treno, a huge warehouse club on the outskirts of Nicosia. By 11 pm the Roots Crew was in full effect and had set up a ton of live percussion, and Red, Green and Gold slides and banners... The place felt so irie. The Roots Crew played for about an hour or so and then Zeki opened our section of the show with a wonderful poem, to which he got a nice ovation. Then it was time for pure conscious dancehall "Sound Unity" between Haji Mike and I. We traded controls back and forth like we were old spars, playing all of the classics that brought many folks to the dancefloor. We both chatted on the mic and Haji handled the MC duties. It seemed as if the night flew by, and after 2 or so hours of playing non-stop late 80's and early 90's dancehall hits, Haji and I turned the sound back over to Roots Crew. This was the start of something very special in Cyprus. Dancehall and especially Conscious Dancehall drew a nice crowd of folks who were totally into the music. I felt like it was my first show in Hawaii in 1991. People didn't know the songs yet... but they would. Score one for Reggae tonight in Cyprus. We got home by 3:30 am and went to bed. Sunday October 19th I woke up like a kid this morning... Ran downstairs ready to load up the car and head for UN Day @ Ledra Palace in the buffer zone. We got to the site at 11:30 am and set up and soundchecked for about 30 minutes. After soundcheck we were treated to lunch in the mess hall inside Ledra Palace. It was so intense to be inside this icon of living history. I reached out and touched some of the bullet holes that mar the buildings' facade... It was so powerful to walk out of there all together... Haji and Zeki were the MC's for the event and started things off on-stage. Mike Cherry and I took to checking out the booths from each country involved with the peace-keeping mission. Very informative to say the least. We met a British Officer who told us about City Troop who are the force who patrols the buffer zone itself. He explained, in detail about the conflict that is still going on as this peaceful and positive event takes place not a few meters away. By 5 pm the crowd swelled to about 1500 people and we were on. After a wonderful introduction by Roland, the man who coordinated the entire day's music program, Poetz4Peace hit the stage. 5 year old Georgio Hajimichael, aka "Cutmaster G" gave his intro right off the CD... We launched into "Olive Leaves" featuring Haji, Zeki and Elena Savva. Then we did the instrumental "Funky Tilrka" with Mike Minas on Bouzouki, Mike Cherry on Keys and yours truly scratching. I then got to perform the song I wrote the last time I was in Cyprus called "Peace and Quiet". It was a once in a lifetime chance to stand in front of a crowd that doesn't know you at all, and sing a song about them, to them. I finished my lyrics and added a little bit of Bob's "One Love" over the instrumental and Haji and Mike Cherry joined in. Next Up, Haji and I got to do "Party @ Ledra" his tribute to this place that has been long associated with the division that exists here in this island paradise. This was indeed a magic moment, as we were finally living out an event that we had all dreamed about years before. We closed the show with "Down By The Greenline" with all of the Poetz4Peace members on-stage. At some point Haji's son Georgio came back up on stage with us to be a little reminder about what we were doing all of this for. As we finished and we could hear people in the crowd singing "Ain't Gonna Study War No More"... the song's upful chorus. Mission accomplished!!! Monday and Tuesday were spent recuperating from the weekend. We re-assembled the Studio and I got to do a rough mix of "Freedom" from the Workshop. I can't wait to have a finished mix of that tune to send out. We also had an amazing dinner on Tuesday night where all of the Poetz crew came together for the last time of this trip. We also did the best interview of the whole trip with Charlie Charalambous from the Cyprus Weekly. I stayed in Larneca on Wednesday, had a wonderful souvla, and relaxed until my flight at 4:05 am Thursday morning. Then flew 16 hours home to San Francisco. Big Up and Thanks to all of the folks who helped put this trip together: the entire Hajimichael family for there love and hospitality, Marina and Dominique @ UNOPS, Intercollage, Nicosia - for the support on the Workshops, Ritsa @ R & T Travel, Angie - for her constant support and vibes through out this whole project, Johnny Deviant, The Roots Crew, Everyone @ "Efharisto Savvatovratho", Charlie for asking good questions, Rosey for her help with the Merch, and to Georgio aka Cutmaster G... who gives us constant reason to strive for peace... Also Respect and Love to Papa Pilgrim itinually, without his forming Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide this union could never have happened. Respect and Love to all of the Poetz Crew: Haji, Zeki, Mike, Mike, Elena, Marina... thanks! Check out some of the pictures of this trip on the PSM and OTM websites in the next few weeks. Respect and Regards to Everyone- Steffen Franz aka Stand Out Selector Member, Poetz4Peace RAW #142 and #194 -- Positive Sound Massive Recordings 2261 Market Street, PMB 487 San Francisco, CA, 94114 (415) 835-4799 office/voicemail (415) 751-0947 fax ***(Please note our new phone and fax numbers)*** http://www.psmrecordings.com/ 100% pure conscious dancehall plus a whole lot more!!! *********************************************************************** In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty Forward the Reggae Vibe...Every Time ! Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide Tom Pearson R.A.W.#33 http://www.reggaeambassadors.org ************************************************************************* < R.A.W. Disclaimer > "Any and all statements, views, and opinions expressed in the 'Wha' Gwaan in R.A.W?' newsletter are those of individual members of Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide, Inc. (R.A.W.). R.A.W. is not responsible for the veracity, or for the content, of any R.A.W. member's statement, views, and/or opinions included in this newsletter."