THIRD WORLD PERFORMED TO SOLD OUT CROWDS IN ST. THOMAS AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND

In the wake of announcing their 35th anniversary celebration tour, Third World embarked on a rigorous schedule for 2010 that has them traveling to Spain, Belgium, Poland and Australia. In typical Third World fashion, the reggae ambassadors set the tone for what fans could expect when they performed to sold-out crowds in St. Thomas and British Virgin Islands on March 26th and 27th respectively.

No strangers to the Virgin Islands, a place that is a second home to the group, the band was welcomed with open arms. And even though the band performed on the island four months earlier, media outlets requested that the band make themselves available for radio and television interviews and fans clamored to purchase tickets - a true testament of their loyal fan base.

Upon their arrival on Thursday, March 25th, the group was whisked away to 105 JAMZ, where Stephen "Cat" Coore was interviewed by radio personality Ras Reg. On Saturday, March 26th, lead singer William "Bunny Rugs" Clark took the airwaves by storm when he visited 105 JAMZ, interviewed by DJ Rashidi and 103.5FM, interviewed by DJ Eddie. Later that afternoon, Cat and Richard "Bassie" Daley interviewed with DJ Avalanche. The interview was simulcast on 105JAMZ and Kiss 101.3FM. During sound check, TV2 stopped by to interview the guys for the evening news. During the interviews, the guys spoke about the 35th Anniversary Tour, their upcoming album "Patriots", who they collaborated with on the album and what could be expected from the shows.

With the media and fans onboard, it was show time. The newly opened Jumbies was the venue for the first show. The waterfront property, which was open and airy, set the tone for the night as the group took their place on stage. Opening with their single "The Spirit Lives," a tribute to Haiti, the group proved that they still have staying power after 35 years in the business and why this monumental anniversary is cause for a celebration. Screams, cheers, round of applause and shouted sentiments fueled the energy of the band as they belted out hit singles "Reggae Ambassadors," "Committed," "Try Jah Love," "Sense of Purpose," "96 Degrees" and more. While it was hard to decipher the crowd favorites, there was no guessing that fans were having a blast.

Showing no signs of fatigue and raising the temperature to about 120 degrees in the shade, the fans were treated to a solo drum performance by drummer Tony "Ruption" Williams. His high energy, hip swinging and dread tossing rendition was thoroughly enjoyed by the female patrons. This was followed by Cat's performance of "Cello." The crowd watched in utter amazement and was clearly mesmerized. Thereafter, Third World wrapped up their set but was brought back on stage at the request of screaming fans.

On Saturday, March 27th the group repeated their performance, this time at the famous Foxy's Outback located in Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands. The outdoor venue was filled with locals and tourist alike, some of who attended the previous night's performance. With the same energy, Third World drowned patrons with the uplifting and positive lyrics of their songs. Fans sang along while dancing and celebrating the music. Prior to their performance, fans got a treat as the band members hung out at the beach with locals and tourists. Gracious host and owner of One Love Bar and Grill, Seddy, delighted in the presence of the band and welcomed the crowd that gathered.

The diversity of the crowd was a testament to the fact that Third World had crossed all color and age lines over the years. The feel good music offered fans an escape that can only be experienced through the good vibrations that the group has been dedicated to for over 35 years.

Reminiscent of the lyrics to their single "Committed," if re-worded, it speaks of the love, admiration and respect that Third World has for music and their loyal fan base. So as they embark on this joyous occasion, they leave their fans with this: "I've got my life invested in you [music and fans] right now, can't turn my back on all the things we shared, everything has its value, everything has its price, all my assets I'll cash them in just for you [music and fans]. I am committed to keeping this love [music] alive, I am committed to staying in love with you [music and fans]."

To view more photos, visit www.thirdworldband.com




SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES


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WEBSITE

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CONTACT


MANAGEMENT AND BOOKINGS

Victor Lewis

VicRae Inc.

347-216-6885 347-216-6885 (U.S.A)

876-582-3970 (Jamaica)

Skype: VicRaeInc.

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MEDIA/PUBLICITY

Triple 7 Entertainment LLC

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876-475-5841 (Jamaica)

media@triple7entllc.com

Recklessly Helping Out in LA

Rekkless Says Charity Begins At Home In the shadow of the Hollywood sign, Rekkless Taylor rap duo "D" and Rekkless Says Charity Begins At Home"Jizzle" donate clothes, food, and in honor of Jizzle's AKA "Oso", teddy bears to those seemingly forgotten sleeping in the streets of downtown LA's skid row. Also involved in benefits for Haiti, the brothers hailing from a Gary Indiana Jackson size family of nine found the number of displaced people resorting to sleeping in the streets in a city known for its wealthy disturbing and unbelievable. "This is not Haiti, but you see people living in tents, sleeping bags and cardboard at night as a last resort, turned away because the available shelters are full and they have nowhere else to go. Most disturbing are the high number of disabled and women sleeping in the streets in a society known for it's wealth. We hope to bring creative solutions by attracting a spotlight to this unbelievable problem." Taylors Do Something About It: Enlist Celebrity Friends, Set to Announce Launch of Extended Solutions "Oso", Spanish for bear and "D.O" decided to play their part by giving what they can to most help those that call downtown streets of LA home. The brothers expect to announce an expansion to their initiatives by enlisting fellow entertainment celebrities that also call Los Angeles home. "D.O", and the large frame of brother " Jizzle", AKA "Oso", matched with a big heart, named teddy bear by fans, can be seen in the downtown night leaving care bears and packages for those asleep, to inspire hope in improving their current living conditions. For interviews, contact: r3kkless@yahoo.com http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=87876483&albumId=2808214

Still a Ways to Go!

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie, 1968
ADDRESS TO THE UNITED NATIONS


Here is our opportunity and our challenge. If the nuclear powers are prepared to declare a truce, let us seize the moment to strengthen the institutions and precedures which will serve as the means for the pacific settlement of disputes among men.

Conflicts between nations will continue to arise. The real issue is whether they are to be resolved by force, or by resort to peaceful methods and procedures, administered by impartial institutions. This very Organization itself is the greatest such institution, and it is in a more powerful United Nations that we seek, and it is here that we shall find, the assurance of a peaceful future.

Were a real and effective disarmament achieved and the funds now spent in the arms race devoted to the amelioration of man's state; were we to concentrate only on the peaceful uses of nuclear knowledge, how vastly and in how short a time might we change the conditions of mankind. This should be our goal.

When we talk of the equality of man, we find, also, a challenge and an opportunity; a challenge to breathe new life into the ideals enshrined in the Charter, an opportunity to bring men closer to freedom and true equality. and thus, closer to a love of peace.

The goal of the equality of man which we seek is the antithesis of the exploitation of one people by another with which the pages of history and in particular those written of the African and Asian continents, speak at such length.

Exploitation, thus viewed, has many faces. But whatever guise it assumes, this evil is to be shunned where it does not exist and crushed where it does. It is the sacred duty of this Organization to ensure that the dream of equality is finally realized for all men to whom it is still denied, to guarantee that exploitation is not reincarnated in other forms in places whence it has already been banished.

As a free Africa has emerged dunng the past decade, a fresh attack has been launched against exploitation, wherever it still exists. And in that interaction so common to history, this in turn, has stimulated and encouraged the remaining dependent peoples to renewed efforts to throw off the yoke which has oppressed them and its claim as their birthright the twin ideals of liberty and equality. This very struggle is a struggle to establish peace, and until victory is assured, that brotherhood and understanding which nourish and give life to peace can be but partial and incomplete.

In the United States of America, the administration of President Kennedy is leading a vigorous attack to eradicate the remaining vestige of racial discrimination from this country. We know that this conflict will be won and that right will triumph. In this time of trial, these efforts should be encouraged and assisted, and we should lend our sympathy and support to the American Government today.

Last May, in Addis Ababa, I convened a meeting of Heads of African States and Governments. In three days, the thirty-two nations represented at that Conference demonstrated to the world that when the will and the determination exist, nations and peoples of diverse backgrounds can and will work together. in unity, to the achievement of common goals and the assurance of that equality and brotherhood which we desire.

On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson:

That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned:

That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation;

That until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes;

That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race;

That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained;

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Afnca in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed;

Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will;

Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven;

Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.

The United Nations has done much, both directly and indirectly to speed the disappearance of discrimination and oppression from the earth. Without the opportunity to focus world opinion on Afnca and Asia which this Organization provides, the goal, for many, might still lie ahead, and the struggle would have taken far longer. For this, we are truly grateful.

But more can be done. The basis of racial discrimination and colonialism has been economic, and it is with economic weapons that these evils have been and can be overcome. In pursuance of resolutions adopted at the Addis Ababa Summit Conference, African States have undertaken certain measures in the economic field which, if adopted by all member states of the United Nations, would soon reduce intransigence to reason. I ask, today, for adherence to these measures by every nation represented here which is truly devoted to the principles enunciated in the Charter.

I do not believe that Portugal and South Africa are prepared to commit economic or physical suicide if honourable and reasonable alternatives exist. I believe that such alternatives can be found. But I also know that unless peaceful solutions are devised, counsels of moderation and temperance will avail for naught; and another blow will have been dealt to this Organization which will hamper and weaken still further its usefulness in the struggle to ensure the victory of peace and liberty over the forces of strife and oppression. Here, then, is the opportunity presented to us. We must act while we can, while the occasion exists to exert those legitimate pressures available to us, lest time run out and resort be had to less happy means.


Words of Haile Selassie I

SKA ROCKSTEADY REGGAE: History of REGGAE Music Pt 3

Part Two: SKA ROCKSTEADY REGGAE

Ska's large brass ensembles gave way to smaller groups and the debt to American Soul music became greater as Ska morphed into Rocksteady. Vocals came to the fore, and the tempo slowed; perhaps, as local folklore says, because the especially hot summer of 1966 led dancers to call for slower songs. Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield's Impressions were almost godlike in their influence. Many younger artists, like Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, and Toots Hibbert, made their first recordings dur­ing the Ska era, but only came into their own with Rocksteady.

Rocksteady was over almost before it began, but its artistic flowering produced many great records in a com­pressed time span. By 1968, Rocksteady was giving way to Reggae, but pinpointing the first Reggae record is no easier than pinpointing the first Ska or Rocksteady record. Unlike its predeces­sors, Reggae owed little to Fats Domino, the Impressions, or any American music. It was the heartbeat of an island just seventeen degrees from the equator, and it was the sound of country come to town. "Ivan Martin," played by Jimmy Cliff in the film The Harder They Come, was. the quintessential country boy adrift in Kingston 's mean streets. "Until Reggae," said producer lee Perry, who was himself from the country, "it was all Kingston , Kingston , Kingston . Then the country people come to town and they bring the earth, the trees, the mountains. That's when Reggae music come back to the earth."

Rocksteady, like Soul music, had the commercial discipline of white pop music, but Reggae rejected that discipline, and its retrieval of the Africanness in Afro-Caribbean music went hand-in­hand with the rise of Rastafari. The Burrus, who'd lived communally in Jamaica since slavery and held fast to their African roots, shared housing in the low-rent west Kingston district of Dungle with the Rastafarians, who believed that a black king would be crowned in Africa and lead the lost tribes out of Babylon . The music, the beliefs, and the dress of the Rastas influenced the sound, the spiritual agenda, and the look of Reggae.

The music played out against a disinte­grating social backdrop. Jamaica had become independent from Great Britain in 1962, but, as the promise of Independence faded, Reggae became politicized and angry. By the time this set closes in 1975, the music was past making compromises with the tourist trade and long past hoping to get on American radio.

The Trojan Records collection "Dawning of a New Era" chronicles a time during the late 60's when Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae were all blending and evolving, drawing in new fans worldwide. The 2-disc set pulls together prime records from 1968-69, a period when Skinheads were still largely an underground youth movement and not a violent newspaper headline.

The great thing about this set of tracks is you don't get stuck with more copies of Desmond Dekker's hits but rather, you get rare and in demand records. Many of the tracks on this set have never been issued since their original small pressings nearly thirty-five years ago. And with artists of the caliber of Rico Rodriquez, Lloyd Charmers, The Tennors, Lester Sterling, the Ethiopians and Tommy McCook featured, this collection is a great addition to your collection if you like Ska and the Skinhead sound.

The Skinheads were a youth movement that sprang up from the working class youth in Britain. They were seasoned with some angst that came from tough neighborhoods and they choose the Ska beat and Reggae sounds coming out of the West Indies and Black neighborhoods as their own. The beat suited their aggressive and sometimes angry attitude and here are the roots of bands like The Clash and punk rock. The Skinhead interest in Reggae in particular pushed the music into the awareness of the public at large and helped many Reggae artists break into the Pop charts in England. The Skinhead Movement only lasted about four years but it was an important key to mainstream success for Reggae Music.

Much of this "history" is included in the notes for "This is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975" - a four CD set that provides a great musical overview of the genre - the selections and sound quality are excellent through out - a vital Ras John Reggae.com Pick! From the booklet included with the four CD box set, "This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00064LOV4?tag=sistamaureesrast&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00064LOV4&adid=1PDH24Y48547AAWJJB4H&)

An IRIE REGGAE Lifestyle

REGGAE.com’s slogan for several years has been “Get a Hit of PositiVibes at REGGAE.com”. That slogan and basic theme sets the tone for what we will call the REGGAE Lifestyle. The mission is one of promoting the unity of all peoples with a message of peace and love combined with a realization that all is not right with the world but with belief in the power of Jah Spirit to lift us up and determination, all challenges can be set asunder! The words and music of Bob Marley and other REGGAE and World Music artists continue to inspire and raise people up in Spirit and consciousness. This “One Love” philosophy is central to the site as an editorial and content direction. Because this powerful Spirit has been so intertwined with REGGAE Music, the music has transcended race, creed and culture. From Jamaica to Japan and Ethiopia to all parts of Europe… anywhere you go, you can expect to hear the vital vibrations of REGGAE Music as it spreads upful and bright feelings like a warm glow from a tropical sunset. The music has come to be connected with good times and good feelings of people coming together in a celebration of life. It’s a REGGAE Lifestyle.

How did this REGGAE Lifestyle come to be? REGGAE Music was born in the concrete jungle of the Kingston, Jamaica slums at the same time that there was a dramatic explosion of creativity in Rock Music, other music and culture during the 60’s. With songs like The Wailers “Get Up Stand Up”, REGGAE Music quickly became a cornerstone of the rallying cry for a whole generation of teenagers and young adults moving toward the more humanistic, anti-racist, anti-establishment lifestyle that grew out of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Reggae Music emerged as a major force in modern culture with films like “The Harder They Come”, the early top hits like Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop” and then the emergence of Bob Marley to the world stage in the early 1970’s. The generation that followed the pot smoking Woodstock Nation with urban street smart Punk Rockers found just as much for them as the previous generation had in the powerful lyrics and rhythms of a music that had grown out of the ghetto. A new generation of fans was conquered. Today REGGAE Music’s influence has penetrated every corner of the globe and Bob Marley is one of the most recognizable people ever to inhabit the planet. TIME Magazine picked Bob Marley’s EXODUS album as The Album of the 20th Century. Today as for the last thirty plus years, REGGAE Music is the soundtrack for college dorm rooms, backyard barbecues, pool parties and laid back clubs and bars from Tokyo to the tropics. It’s more than MUSIC, it’s a LIFESTYLE.

REGGAE.com and REGGAE mobile embrace the REGGAE Lifestyle and will be reflecting its many aspects from music and videos to exotic and fun travel adventures… Meet and Greet Artist Special Packages, Ras John Excursion Videos (short videos featuring clubs, beaches, hotels and music snippets from around the world – send us your photos, articles and short videos for us to feature), we’ll have an International calendar of events, lots to come and lots of fun – Everything Tropical, Upful and Bright supporting a positive, compassionate and IRIE partying world. Reggae.com is the #1 Reggae Music website averaging over 150,000 hits daily. It is your link to vital vibes, exotic destinations, cultural insight and you will always find streaming audio to give you the prefect soundtrack for vacations, parties and everyday good times. – One Love Mon!

Day-O: History of Reggae Pt. 1

The following is from the booklet included with the box set, "This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00064LOV4?tag=sistamaureesrast&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00064LOV4&adid=1PDH24Y48547AAWJJB4H&)

Nineteen-fifty-seven. The United States was in the grip of Calypsomania. and some were even going so far as. to predict that the calypso would soon eclipse Rock n’ Roll. Before it all blew over, Robert Mitchum, Maya Angelou the Norman Luboff Choir, and many others had made Calypso albums. Calypso, of course, was Trinidadian, but the two big Calypso era hits, "Banana Boat Song” and "Jamaican Farewell," were Jamaican; so Calypso was reckoned to come from Jamaica.

As the craze subsided, a Billboard magazine reporter sniffed out a free vacation and went to Kingston to see what the Jamaicans liked. To his surprise, it was rare R&B; not Calypso. "Local observers,” he wrote, "note that the local musical product is developing into a hybrid in which the strongest elements are calypso and rock & roll.” Understandably, the writer missed the pan-African underground springing up in Kingston’s slums, but ten years later pan-Africanism would merge with American R&B and Caribbean music in those same back alleys to forever change global music.
Around 1960, Ska evolved from Jamaican R&B. The Billboard article mentioned that Fats Domino was the most in demand artist on the island, so it was probably no coincidence that Ska arrived on the heels of three influential American releases: Fats Domino's "Be My Guest" (1959), Wilbert Harrison's "Kansas City" (also 1959), and Rosco Gordon's "Surely I Love You" (1960). All three worked the offbeat for all it was worth. Bill Black's Combo figured some­where in the equation, too. Black's greasy instrumental hits featured a hugely upfront four-to-the-bar beat, and sold so well in Jamaica that he toured there - to the surprise of many who found out that he was white.

It's axiomatic that there are no facts in Jamaica , only opinions, so no one knows what "Ska" means and no one agrees on what was the first Ska record. But around 1960, Jamaican drummers began hitting the second and fourth beats in unison with the piano and guitar, while the bass played walking quarter-notes. That was Ska. Local musicians called it "Upside-down R&B." It had an under­ground following in England, but not in the United States. One giant Ska hit, Millie's "My Boy Lollipop," rode into the charts on the back of the British Invasion, and when it exited, Ska exited along with it.

'Whatever was happening in Jamaica didn't go away when Millie hit the remainder bins. The local industry was building inexorably. The 1951 Billboard article mentioned that there was just one record press on the island (not one pressing plant, but one press) although local entrepreneur Ken Khouri claimed to have two presses running by 1954· Around 1957; Khouri built a studio, and Dada Tawari opened the Caribbean Record Company with mastering facilities. From that point, the Jamaican industry was self-sufficient, albeit geared toward faux calypso LP’s for tourists.

"Alongside the tiny manufacturing industry, there were open-air deejays known as sound systems. “A cliff face of speaker boxes, each big enough to raise a family in, powered by amplification of intercontinental capability," is the way journalist Lloyd Bradley described them. There was life-and-death competition among the system operators to source the rarest American R&B and the best technology.

The systems were essential to the dissemination of music because the island’s two radio stations, RJR (launched in 1950 as a branch of British Rediffusion) and the government's JBC (which started in 1959), played it as safe as the BBC mothership; The payoff for the sound system operators, came in prestige and drink sales. Three sound system men ruled the early Sixties: Duke Reid, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Prince Buster. Both Reid and Dodd began operating from family liquor stores. The idea of producing records occurred first to Reid, who cut some instrumentals at Khouri's studio circa 1957. Around the same time, Dodd realized that Jamaicans didn't like rock 'n' roll, and began recording the kind of R&B that the Americans were no longer producing. In 1958, Chris Blackwell launched R&B Records (the precursor of Island ) and future Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga launched WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.).

From the booklet included with the four CD box set, "This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00064LOV4?tag=sistamaureesrast&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00064LOV4&adid=1PDH24Y48547AAWJJB4H&)

A Hit of PositiVibes - A Meditation

A Daily Meditation Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where their is sadness, joy; O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying [to self] that we are born to eternal life. Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi From Eknath Easwaran's very excellent book Meditation: Commonsense Directions for an Uncommon Life (Nilgiri Press)...

Third World Still Going STRONG!

New York, New York - March 11th: On March 2nd, 2010 Third World was nominated for an International Reggae and World Music Award (IRAWMA) in the category for Most Outstanding ShowBand/Group. This is IRAWMA's 29th staging and is produced yearly by Martin's International & Associates. "The primary objective of Martin's International & Associates is to promote reggae and world beat music as an art form and, each year, honor entertainers and others associated with world music for their contributions to the industry and to humanity internationally. IRAWMA is a vehicle of expression for the voiceless peoples of the world. More than 20 million fans viewed the 26th, 27th, and 28th IRAWMA on television."

When asked about the nomination, band member Richard "Rugs" Daley responded, "To respond by saying we are enthused would be an understatement. We have been so well received since announcing our 35th Anniversary Celebration tour and now this. It is just such an honor to be recognized. It makes doing what we do that much more rewarding." The nomination comes on the heels of the band's 35th Anniversary celebration which commenced with a performance on January 30, 2010 at Turn-Key Productions 14th staging of Jamaica Jazz and Blues festival. The band will celebrate their milestone anniversary with a tour that will take them to Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, the United States and Caribbean.

In addition, the band will release their upcoming album "Patriot" featuring artists such as Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Dean Frazier, Junior Reid, Marcia Griffith, Tessanne Chin, Michael Rose, Taurus Riley, and Toots.

One of the longest running Reggae band - Third World is an institution that produces and performs music that is cutting edge, positive, progressive and internationally relevant. Formed in 1973, the group has released a total of 22 albums as well as solo projects from Lead Singer Bunny Rugs and Guitarist Cat Coore. This does not include their new unreleased album entitled "Patriots" which will be released in early 2010. They have received numerous awards, including an Award in 2009 from Brooklyn Academy of Music ("BAM"), the 1986 "United Nations Peace Medal," 1992 and 1996 Jamaica Music Industry Awards for Best Show Band and 10 Grammy nominations. Additionally, the group has worked and collaborated with top acts such as the Jackson Five, Bob Marley and The Wailers and Stevie Wonder.

For management and bookings, please contact Victor Lewis of VicRae Inc. by calling 347-216-6885 (USA), 876-582-3970 (Jamaica), Skype: vicraeinc or email vicraeinc@gmail.com. For media inquiries, please contact Triple 7 Entertainment LLC by calling 201-981-6960 (USA), 876-475-5841 (Jamaica) or email media@triple7entllc.com