Come together right now

My Sunday afternoon schedule was tight so ah got to de Potential 30th Anniversary Church Service at Calliaqua Met-dis Church in de middle ah Rev. Saint Clair’s message: “ Come Together, Right Now”. Tek out de “Come” and de “Right” and is “Together Now” back to square one! Ah very inspiring message to de Panmen and may I add, wid all dis pull-it-tek-all in-fighting taking place, dat message good foh de pull-ah-trickans as well. Ah noticed Ministers Rainy and Bug-in and Awe-position leader Arm-in were present, ah nearly omitted Louis Jones ah former minister too..{{more}} Rev, Saint Clair (no St. Clair, he’s ah Saint) made reference to his days as ah Rugby player, fancy dat sorfee looking Preach-ah-man playing Rugby, de roughest sport. He was saying dat as ah Rugby player yuh got to be tough on yuh opponent even though he might be yuh friend, dat serious rivalry helps in making de game exciting and entertaining to de spectators. But while de objective is to win, at de end ah de day, dey’s ah greater purpose foh having “Come Together; and dat is to be able to forget all de bruises from de bad tackles and nudging elbows dat might have taken place on de field only moments before, and shake hands, hug each other, congratulate each other, show respect and appreciation foh each other’s talent. Dat was de gist ah de sermon, well dat’s my understanding, “when de battle’s over, one shall wear de crown”.

As foh de Panmen, dey too must be able to “Come Together” whether it’s in de band-room or on de stage, listen to and learn from each other even in competition, be ah part ah de Show and mek it big, and de time to start is Right Now!

Ah don’t think de Rev knows of de disunity and bad under-current dat exists within de Youlou Pan Movement, and how timely and appropriate his words ah wisdom befitted de occasion. Is ah P.T. only ah small number ah Panmen attended de Service. Except for ah contingent from Starlift, ah didn’t see anyone else dey from de Movement or the other senior bands. Dat disunity must be ah worrying factor, de future ah Pan in SVG never looked so promising. Never have we seen so many young people playing Pan! Never have we had so many school and community bands! Never was so much money spent to equip schools and communities with new instruments! Thanks to Bentley Browne at SIF foh disbursing de funds in dat channel and not letting half de money go back to de donors, as way happened wid de Agriculture Die-verse-if-he-care-shun funds, Oops ah gone off, back to Pan. Never have I ever seen de Commissioner ah Police, Harry; ah Permanent Secretary (Pompey) and de Minister, Rainy so involved and committed to Pan, all part ah de “Pan against Crime”! Dis is de time when de Movement should be up and around looking foh funds to assign senior bands to Junior Bands thru-out de country, ah sort ah adoption program, wid de seniors assisting with training de youngsters and bringing de Movement to ah level never seen before. Instead, insularity, power struggle and confusion is de order ah de day. Ah calling on Minister Baptiste to intervene, let dis one be yuh farewell project. Meet de men dem and talk cents into dey heads. And please move de Junior Panorama from ah Sundey back to ah regular school day like de Junior Kaiso. And give ah half holiday too.

GIVE US AH DECENT MEAT STALL

Sat-dey ah felt ah could ah eat some Goat head soup so ah decided to go look foh Terry or Rodney at de Butcher Stall round Lickle Toe-K-O. How well ah remember dem days pon ah Sat-dey morning when Granny would send me market wid ah dollar to by ah pound and ah half ah beef, shilling ah pound, pound and ah half ah pork, 18 cents ah pound and pound and ah half ah liver 12 cents ah pound. Ah heap ah tomato, ah bundle ah chive, ah heap ah eddoes and potatoes and ah still had six cents left to go Matinee. When is ah hot Western, wid plenty rush, ah mek sure and go Matinee fuss and den shop after, by den all de liver done sell. Ole man Riffin was ah nice butcher and uses to leave back my meat till ah reach, yuh know how much licks he save me from getting. In dem days was plenty Butchers and Butcher Stall was opposite P.H. Veira Supermarket. De place was kept clean even though was ah bloody messy business. But Sat-dey ah couldn’t find de Stall, ah remembered not so long ago it was in ah nice section at de front ah de fish market, it move. Is ah lady tell me to go up by de Car Park and walk along de sea-front and come back down. De place is ah mess, in dis day and age of Caribbean Civil-lies-say-shun, in Kingstown, meat still hang up in de open, exposed to de sea blast and dust from de car park. So when de members ah Par-liar-mint discuss dey pound ah flesh (penions and inurance) remember to put in foh a proper place to cut up de flesh. De stall is ah disgrace to de city!

While ah dey pon de Butcher Stall, watch how dey want to butcher Anesia wid charges, way worrying me is how Blazer and Ralph foh-get way dey fought fah, yes de foh-get nuff ting, Anesia mek dey foh-get, she gee dem Amnesia! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.