Meeting a reggae superstar
| 12:34 UK time, Saturday, 17 March 2007
Kingston - Spirits have been high in Kingston since the West Indies’ victory over Pakistan.
Before before I go any further, however, here’s one for the Irish: What a ri-ra agus ruaile buaile at Sabina Park when Ireland secured THE most exciting tie against Zimbabwe! (Julian and Martin Coulter taught me that phrase, Irish brothers over here from the States - cheers lads, nice to meet you!). I can only imagine what a hooley there will be should Ireland cause an upset on .
Anyway, back to the story...by the time we left the ground after the Windies’ game, the crowd had moved on, darkness had fallen and the road outside the ground was quiet. Quiet that is, until a wild, raving voice suddenly cut through the night and a reggae rhythm thumped through the darkness getting louder and louder, closer and closer with each beat.
A pair of blinding headlights appeared at the end of the street and the roar of a 4 by 4 engine was barely audible over the noise blasting out of the four megaphone speakers perched precariously on its roof.
A silver vehicle pulled up at the kerb alongside us and a grinning face leaned out of the driver’s window, microphone in hand, words screaming out of the megaphone. “Here for de cricket? You English? Yeah mon, come to de after-party! I play at de after-party, !” Every person in a hundred mile radius must have heard the invitation too.
Next thing, he was climbing out of the car and we got the full effect of his get-up. Spangly black and white shirt, shoulder padded jacket, black cowboy hat and shiny pointed boots. He posed for photos as if he was Michael Jackson, looking like he really could have been a superstar.
I asked one of our hotel staff about him and he burst out laughing. Apparently LA is the ultimate ‘self styled’ superstar, a DJ true enough, but his success borders on negligible, one person telling me that he has been “knocking on the door for almost 20 years.”
He is infamous in these parts though, seemingly looked upon with gentle mocking affection yet also with admiration for his sheer desire and inimitable determination to ‘make good’.
His forte seems to be self-publicity, to which you can only take your hat off to the man, and that is what the people of Jamaica tend to do. Kingston is adorned with graffiti hailing LA Lewis and his work. LA says it is written by his fans. Curiously, the slogans and the way they are written look remarkably consistent….
I’m yet to find anyone who has heard an LA Lewis song, but I’m probably mixing in the wrong circles. He has a habit of popping up at big events and he was there to meet Prince Charles, for example, when HRH visited Jamaica in 2000 - the photo is on his website to prove it.
All in all, I don’t think he can be doing too badly. He performed at Sting 2004 (billed as ‘the Greatest One-Night Reggae Show on Earth’), now has his own line of branded t-shirts, and I've just fallen into the trap of giving him a whole load more publicity too!
Unfortunately we didn’t make his gig that strange, surreal night, but he had, by then, given us more than a few minutes worth of entertainment for nothing.
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