alisonboston.com

..no they didn’t play together. I was in Vienna for business and pleasure again this week and was dragged kicking and screaming to a Junior Kelly concert. Just kidding. I willing got myself there. Of course being on the guest list helped.

What can I say? It was a reggae party. The concert started at 10:00 and the WUK was packed to the roof, with all ages, on a Tuesday night in Vienna. I couldn’t get near the stage. I tried, but it was so hot - three rows of people in and my clothes were stuck to me.

There were some Jamaicans there selling home cooked food. I tried the vegetable curry with couscous - which was yummy. As for the music, I enjoyed it - but I was so far away. I said to one person I chatted with, standing at the back, grooving to the rhythm “I think the best place for me at a reggae concert is on the stage, that way I can be sure to be in on the action and I have lots of room to move!”

I really do think I need to put my hair in dreads. Talk about low maintenance, and I have never, in my whole entire life, ever found a hairdresser who will cut my hair in a manner that pleases me.

But that’s not what dreadlocks are about. They are part of a religious practise, theRastafari faith - and I am not Rastafari - at least not yet - so would it not be a tad hypocritical to put my hair in dreadlocks? Something to consider before I stop combing my hair and twist the strands together to make long strings of matted hair.

I often stand in amazement at the numbers of people who wear dreadlocks and smoke tobacco - as tobacco - unlike marijuana - is forbidden by the Rastafarian faith. I often stand in amazement at the number of people addicted to tobacco, but then I am a reformed smoker - having not sucked on a cigarette for 19 years now. I do remember how hard it was for me to quit. I just feel if people are going spout anti-global corporation political philosophy they should examine their own behaviour first. Know what I mean? Yes, tobabcco is one of the hardest drugs to kick. Step 1: Recgonise it is an addictive drug that is killing you, and with every cigarette you smoke you not only put another nail in your coffin, but you also put another coin in a corporation’s coffers. Does that corporation reflect values you want to support?

Oh my but it’s a complicated world we live in. Thank God for parties like the Junior Kelly party at Vienna’s WUK. Truly an all ages bash - which most reggae events are - so whoever got the idea that you need a 20 year old to front a reggae band is kind of missing the point. What does a 20 year old know about life? That depends on where and how s/he spent that 20 years. And some people seem to emerge from the womb filled with wisdom while others have to slog away at several lifetimes to get any sense at all. While others get enough experience in their first 20 years to last ten lifetimes…on the subject of which, Junior Kelly’s interview gives a window to a harsh childhood.

So whilst in Vienna, I was slipped a promotional copy of Dubblestandart’s soon to be released CD Are You Experienced A double CD, disc 1 being a compilation featuring an assortment of voices, among them Ariup. I’ve linked you directly to the photo page because her dreadlocks are incredible. She’s also pretty amazing - and she’ll be touring with Dubblestandart in Canada.
Disc 2 is remixes - it seems mostly from their last CD Heavy Heavy Monster Dub

Later: Dubblestandart’s double CD is growing on me, yet I can’t help but wish they’d mixed Ariup’s vocals a little more forward. She delivers her words so fast, you barely know they’re there and it’s only after a few listenings that it registers that she said something more than “I’m an Island Girl”. She’s got something to say and I want to hear it.

Here is a link to Dubblestandart’s thoughts on Ari-Up