Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE GENTLE rattle of drums, a guitarist playing the 'Stagalag' while a trio sang, a deejay rehearsing lyrics about bleaching ("one part brown, the next part black away") and a general hum of artistic activity took precedence over the patty smell at Tastee in Cross Roads on Saturday morning.
Auditions for the legendary talent contest were on, and at the sign-up table, calls for number 80 - with many more waiting to step up to the plate - was a clear indication that there was no shortage of hopefuls.
Nor was there a shortage of advice, as a judge asked all to "relieve yourself of your luggage, so you can have both hands to use to gesticulate. Don't be boring. Don't come put your two hands in your pocket".
NO MICROPHONE
There was no microphone and stage, just the tent above, asphalt of the parking lot below and four judges facing each contestant. But neither was there shortage of contestants encouraging each other, as Robert Walker, the deejay who was contestant number 1, was cheered on enthusiastically. His lyrics about a rough life hit a chord when he chanted "would like to heng myself, but the rope it no nuff".
Patrick Samuels, who described himself as "no stranger to Tastee", use d a folded newspaper as a microphone; contestant number 3 Maurice Branford caused laughter as he pointed at the judges in turn and demanded in his entry "hey missa man wid de gun deh/see de blood pon yu hand deh".
Charles Garnet was one of the few who did not do an original, as he went with Members Only; Michelle Hall would do the same thing later with a Tanya Stephens tune.
There were elements of drama, as one entrant, decked out in full fake police outfit, complete with fake gun, did a poem about corruption, complete with dramatic movements, but the seven-strong Infalites, along with two drummers, took drama to a new level with their piece AIDS.
With the drummers holding a steady beat the costumed performers, depicting persons such as a nurse, a hottie hottie and a skeletal, gruesomely face-painted figure that could only be the virus moved and chanted in unison, demanding "yu tink it worth it/a AIDS yu really waan fi get?"
GOSPEL
There was gospel from both ends of the age range. A child, Melissa Hall, who did Weary Traveller and Derrick Duncan, grey hair showing under his blue cap, did The Crown, in which he managed to squeeze in "riding horse/a dat dem a do", much to the delight of those present.
Edsel Mitchell was a hit with his fellow contestants with Father and Son, in which he declared a father's authority over his son with "mek me tell yu something, me earn the wage/mek me tell yu,. No earring inna yu aise".
The lyrics about bleaching was better in rehearsal than before the judges and Sandra Leslie's Jamaica Likkle But Tallawah brought up 50 contestants, with a number 125 being brandished by a hopeful in the audience.
