- Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Isiah Laing
Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WHEN TIGER asks whe de bad man police name? in the late 80s call and response dancehall classic When, there is only one possible response.
He has been immortalised in rollicking song and carved out a name as one of the toughest on the very tough streets. He wears an indelible memory from those frontline crime-fighting days on his forehead, yet his fingernails are immaculately groomed.
His close haircut and shave still scream 'policeman', though that career has been over for some years, while his understated jewellery and subtly co-ordinated clothes announce 'man of substance'. His language moves fluently between the academic English and the more expressive Jamaican and back.
He does not smile much and his eyes do not just look, they see. They assess. They record.
He has moved easily from the crime beat to the reggae beat, where his annual 'Sting' concert reigns supreme, and he is Laing.
Isiah Laing, but the last name will do quite well.
"From 1982 to 1984 I was the upcoming police, next to 'Trinity' (Keith Gardner, now assistant commissioner of police). I wanted a car, because as a corporal I was not allowed to drive home. I could not afford to take the same bus as the criminal," Laing said. The salary did not make the purchase possible, so he decided to put on a stage show.
And in 1984 Sting was born at Cinema I in New Kingston.
"I did make some money, I did find a way to buy that car," he said. It was a Toyota Corolla.
Nineteen stagings and other cars later of what became known in the late 1980s, with the input of graphic designer DiMario McDowell, as 'The Greatest One Night Reggae Show on Earth', Laing has found some of the burden of staging the event lifted from his Supreme Promotions. Having acquired title sponsorship for the first time it is now Magnum Sting he is looking forward to the 20th anniversary show, which has gone past a concert to being an event, on Boxing Day.
"Without the sponsor it would not have been possible," Laing said. This celebratory staging is dubbed the 'Good Ol Days', although many a show bit the dust in those same 'good ol days', while Sting has survived even through the 'fling'.
"What I try is to let Sting be different. A lot of people go against the clash, but it is unique. If you look at it, we are an aggressive country. I would like to continue with the clash, but the people are taking it to a different level," Laing said.
As such, there will be no clash at Sting 03. "We will be monitoring the stage, so we don't see how anyone will be getting on the stage when someone else is performing," he said.
BOUNTY KILLER
In fact, even a no retreat, no surrender gladiator like Bounty Killer has turned his back on clashing at Sting, 10 years after he and Beenie Man went head to head in an immortal battle.
"Bounty had said earlier that he was not going to work the show," Laing said, referring to Ninja Man and his targeting of the Alliance as the reason. "He will be working, but there will be no clash with Ninja."
There was a clash of sorts between Laing's Sting and Bounty Killer's 'Saddle to The East', though.
"There was always conflict. They (the artistes) would want to work at Saddle to the East for free and then come to Sting for big money. My contract stipulates that an artiste is not supposed to work within the Corporate Area for three weeks before Sting," he said.
Added to that was Bounty's absence from Sting, which he did not work on for two years while his Saddle to the East was running. He came the third year for free but unannounced, so there was no pull at the gate because of that.
Laing seems to have a very special regard for Bounty though, and there is a ring in his voice as he speaks about the 19 and a half minutes that he did in closing Sting 1996. "We paid him $600,000 for 20 minutes and he timed it. From he started with the first 'a who' until he finished he had the crowd jumping. It was the best performance ever in Bounty life," Laing said.
"I never see him like that until now."
Going back to the early 1990s, Laing said "from before Bounty was like mi idol." It has not been the calmest of relationships, though. "We argue. We always argue. No fight. He is very frank and the things he says sometimes is not nice even if it is true," Laing said.
Laing said that all headliners who work on Sting are paid and well too, saying that last year the 10 giants cost an average of $700,000 each, this out of a total show budget of $13 million.
CLASHES
Of course, Bounty has been involved in many a Sting clash, with the complete approval of Laing. There was the memorable one with Beenie Man in 1993, after the two had traded verbal blows at Stone Love's anniversary dance a few weeks earlier.
"I arrange it. I put the mic in Bounty han' that year and said 'Bounty go and do it'. And he did it," Laing said. "Den bokkle start fling," he said, with an air of resignation.
"We always do the clash good. Is the audience," he said.
Bottles have been outlawed at Sting, which at one time had the dubious distinction of being called 'Fling'.
Contrary to what people might believe, there were clashes at Sting long before the late 1990s. Laing, who seems to keep a rolling tape of all the shows in his head, said that the first was actually among singers and was dubbed the clash with the dog, the cat and the rat. Michael Palmer was the dog, Junior Reid the cat and Half-Pint the rat.
"It went well," he said. Then it was the turn of Tonto Irie and Papa San, with the duo Michigan and Smiley going up against the tag team of Rappa Robert and Tippa Lee.
Then in 1987 it was Papa San, Stitchie, Professor Nuts and Admiral Bailey, and in '88 Flourgon, Red Dragon, Ninja Man and Junior Demus the following year. That one got to the point where the microphones had to be turned off.
It was the first time Ninja Man was on Sting and save for two years in the 1990s (once for legal problems) he has not missed since. "Ninja Man put Junior Demus to sit and him tek dem on. Demus was going too slow," Laing said, relishing the memory. Then there were the big two, Ninja Man and Shabba in 1990 and Ninja Man and Supercat in 1991.
ORIGINAL STYLE
Though Laing has become synonymous with Sting, he lays claim to a much deeper history than that, as well as some crucial developments in dancehall. He actually started his show promotion career in 1976, when he put on dances at Spanish Town Prison Oval, with the immortal Volcano and Gemini sound systems. It was from there that one of Jamaica's most entrenched dancehall tunes came about Barrington Levy's Prison Oval Rock.
"The prisoners came out and started dancing on the roof; they were lighting newspapers and Barrington Levy was just singing," he said, his eyes lighting up at the memory.
Laing also lays claim to being the man who put Shabba Ranks in Clifton 'Specialist' Dillon's hands, as well as putting on 'Summer Break' in 1992, which Sharon Burke also worked on. When that faded, Laing said, she picked up the beach party idea and the 'Loaded' series came about.
Sting was also the first show to cost $500 for entry, Sumfest following, Laing said, and the Sting posters have been trendsetters for years. In addition, Sting has become famous for the stylish manner in which the entertainers dress and the audience following suit. In fact, with some persons coming into the island timing their visits to coincide with Sting, an entire industry revolves around the event.
And controversy as well. Being a policeman (at least then) and a dancehall promoter, he straddled two worlds that often come into conflict, what with the dancehall attracting 'bad men' and fun lovers alike. Laing says, however, that there was no conflict of interest and promoting Sting helped rather than hindered him as a policeman. He said that the artistes tend to come from some tough areas and he was able to speak with their friends and associates, accessing information about the very situations he needed to be on top of.
"Because of the trend I set in the force, bad man love me to this day. Bad man tell me most things they would not tell anyone else," Laing said.
Of course, his policeman days are behind him, but Laing remains a very careful man. At Sting or any other event of that nature he always has two or three men around him and he personally never lets his guard down. "Once you are a bad man and drop your guard anything can happen to you. Every bad man me know cool dead," Laing said.
However, he has no regrets about the wariness with which he has to operate now, because as a policeman "I was serving my country," he said. That service included being shot with two very powerful guns in the line of duty the M-16 and the Desert Eagle. In addition, he says that being a policeman has not got him special consideration from his colleagues and former colleagues, even though the show continues into the morning when other events are hit by the 2:00 a.m. curfew. "We work out something special with the police because of the nature of the event. Sumfest gets the same break," Laing said.
In addition, he said that due to the nature of the Dyke Road area where the Jam World venue is, as well as the fact that many Sting patrons come from areas where it is best that they do not go home in the dark, it is best that Sting runs until daylight.
STING MOMENTS
Laing turns on that videotape in his head in recalling huge Sting moments sitting in the bleachers at National Stadium and watching over 42,000 people move for Ninja Man in the biggest forward he has ever seen; Colin Roach and Galaxy P lighting up the venue in 1992, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer going head to head for 14 and a half minutes in Montego Bay in 1996, Spragga Benz starting the rag-waving frenzy in 1994 and Jigsy King coughing from off-stage in the same year to start Gimme De Weed.
And while last year's '10 Giants' took Sting to another level, Laing is confident that it can get even better. This year's show is being done in segments there is a 'Ladies' section, a 'Foreign Invasion' with people like Germany's Gentleman, a 'Nostalgia' segment and of course the headliner, with Beenie, Bounty, Elephant Man, Sanchez (who has not worked in Jamaica for five years), the hot Vybz Kartel and of course, Ninja Man.
There is one peeve for Laing, though cursing on-stage. "It hurts me a lot. People just come on-stage an' curse in front of everybody. When I was a little boy I could not even whistle on the road past big people," he said.
However, he is not giving up on Sting, on dancehall, on Jamaica, even though it would be much easier to put some money in an interest-bearing instrument and relax, not having two cell phones ringing on average twice a minute during the interview. "If Sting goes it would leave a void," he said.
And the format will stay the same.
"You can't change it too much; the people don't change," Laing said.
