Sunday, April 12, 2009

spoiled









Photos: st george cathedral . Tallest wooden structure. blow up photo and find man . Steel drums. Friends I ran into at the peace fest.


Spoiled
What do usa’ers feel when they walk down a street and see people sleeping in the dirt with sores on their arms , legs and no shoes . Yesterday I saw a rasta , fairly clean looking kneeling in burnt garbage eating rice he had found .. Disgusted? I do not know . I feel uncomfortable. Last night I stayed in the shit hole hotel. I used the excuse that at 11 p.m.they permanently locked their gates for the night and I had 2 parties to go to which lasted all night . I did not want to be locked out on the street till morning so I checked into a fairly nice hotel and even got the apartment room .. It’s been since Haiti that I laughed in the shower. The miracle of hot water coming out of the wall is an incredible feeling after stepping into the real world even for a night. 90% of the world has never seen a shower. It made me feel sadder for the street people. I have lots of reasons for being here but inside I know fate brought me here and until I open something within me I will not be sure why I am here. So relax, turn off and float downstream . That you might hear the meaning of within.
Photographed a businessman for the unions nightclub. Its been years since I was around union organizers. He ask me to shoot the club and then just listened till I did what he wanted. Very few words. I told him that doing bar shots was not what I do and his drinks were too expensive thinking he would give me a tab, he just looked at me a little more sternly , so I said excuse me your drinks are very reasonable…….. He had a steel drum band. Got to tell you how they work. The steel head of the drum is deeply concave and they have put about 10 dents in the top. Each dent is outlined with a deeper dent or weld or even holes drilled. When ever the soft head of the drum stick hit’s a dent a smooth rich sound emerges. Each dents a different tone. The band sounds like it has an organ, xylophone and more.. Very rich soft sound.. It was truly amazing sound . Larry , my cabbie says there are players who can make them talk . He also told me steel drrums were east Indian.
Went back to the peace festival late last night . Stomach is turning , so I came home early . The same cop recognized me and again insisted if I needed any help getting a cab or anything to let them know. There are almost no police here. They have to work together and they do . So much politeness and kindness. They glow when I tell them they are richer than the usa. One of the bands at the peace festival open up with gargantuan words, “ there is a black man in the white house”. Even here the blacks are belwo in the indentured servant called east Indians. I swelled at bit when he said that .been a real long time since I was proud of my country .

1 comment:

  1. Good morning.....always good to see a new post from you. Glad to hear you’re staying in a better hotel. Call me if you can...it is refreshing to hear your voice. Post some pictures of the bar. Take care of you and enjoy your journey. You’re loved and thought of daily....

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