In lieu of a formal “Announce Time Off” section of the Bags marquee, the Blog will have to suffice. I’m getting ready to board a plane under the embattled Northwest Airlines banner and fly the (hopefully) friendly skies to Jamaica for my brother’s nuptials. Fingers crossed on the weather (weather.com claims a steady wall of showers for pretty much the entire duration of our stay, but meteorologists are notoriously erroneous in their estimations so…), & I’m psyched for the rest. My bro’s bewitching fiancé is Jamaican so we’re looking forward to an insider’s perspective on all the sights & sounds to come and I’ve been boning up on the more academic specs at places like The CIA Fact Book (an indispensable web resource saddled with an unfortunate sponsor name).
Wedding HQ is in Montego Bay, but I’m holding out the hope of chartering a Jeep & making the trek cross-island to Kingston to visit the site of Lee Perry’s Black Ark Studio, birth place of two cornerstones of dub -The Upsetters’ Super Ape and The Congos’ Heart of the Congos- and now but an iconic memory. With luck there will also be plenty of time to sip Jamaican rum and gorge on spicy jerk chicken between all the bustle & hustle of ceremony preparations, speechifying & sight-seeing. I’m also trying out a personal experiment on a lark. My musical collection in all its shapes and forms will stay stateside. No Muvo, no Discman, no CDRs or mp3s. Just whatever music we come in contact on the trip & I’m planning on keeping a list. The decision is going to put me even further in the red as far as reviewing than I already am, but I think it’ll make for a refreshing change of pace & a fun challenge.
Haile Selassie & the Northwest Mechanics Union willing, I’ll be returning next Monday with an even ruddier complexion, a newly extended family, and some tropical tales to tell.
Posted by derek on August 14, 2005 6:29 PMHey Derek,
I was surprised to see that no one had any comments for you on this one. Perhaps the thought of having no recorded music on a long trip scared everyone away. Anyway, I think its an admirable and interesting choice, one that will hopefully allow you to experience your trip completely. I was sad to hear that you've fallen behind on your reviewing though, I always seek out your reviews here and on Dusted and OFN. I'll be curious to hear your report from Jamaica, it seems to have quite its own musical universe. Hope all went well . . .
Posted by: Joel Wanek at August 18, 2005 11:15 PMDerek, maybe you can still remember something about your listening experiment to give a quick report? Like what kind of music you heard or if had certain cravings and that kind of thing... Just curious because I like those kind of conceptual listening things... I've considered going a few weeks with zero music and that kind of thing, or just playing the same album on repeat for a whole week, etc... Er, you know, concept art... So how was life as a guinea pig?
.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................