Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner Writer
( L - R ) Chris Blackwell, Bobby Ghisays, Melanie Ghisays
My dears, it's the hottest event on the calendar for the month of January, with Diana Ross and Anita Baker being just two of the international headliners.
It's the 2008 renewal of the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival; and it's no longer a predominantly national event. It has taken on a fabulous international flavour, with guests flying in from every corner of the globe.
Dear hearts, if y'all have not yet booked and confirmed your reservations, then you might just be one of the unlucky ones turning up in Montego Bay on the weekend of the 24th, to find that the city is full and overflowing and nary a room to spare.
Bush Bar opening
My daahlings! Ever since Jamaica claimed its place as one of the hottest destinations in the world, Portland and its capital have been the playground of the fabulous and well-to-do. Well, not much has changed since the days of the swash-buckling heroes immortalised on the silver screen.
Anyway, Port Antonio was a beehive of activity over the holidays, as a slew of international celebrities jetted into the fabulous parish for some rest and relaxation
They escaped the bitter cold ravaging parts of Europe and the United States of America. Their holidays were made that much-more interesting and exciting by the discovery of Port Antonio's latest hot-spot: the GeeJam Hotel and its très chic, Bush Bar, fab little Jamaican-Japanese restaurant.
Owned and operated by Jon Baker, a British-born veteran of the music industry, turned hotelier, the Bush Bar officially opened for barely two weeks now.
For its pre-opening, the enterprising Baker hosted a 'swelleganza' of a dinner at his boutique hotel that saw the cosy and upscale place buzzing with a number of the international jet-set - and then some, my dears!
Luvs! Talk about a star-studded, soft opening - the kind of an entree that would have made even Spago envious! Among those stopping in and catching Baker off guard, were the faultlessly wealthy German heiress and Duchess of Austria, Her Eminence Francesca von Habsburg; celebrated and award-winning Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci; founder of Island Records and the godfather of reggae, Chris Blackwell; diva and star Grace Jones; Prince B of PM Dawn fame; Patrice Wymore Flynn, the widow of the illustrious Errol Flynn; CEO of Wall of Sounds Records, Mark Jones; and the quintessential Ben Elliot - all stopping in to soak up the atmosphere and indulge in the Bush Bar cuisine. Luvs, definitely the find of the season, and the place to watch.
And, my darlings, speaking of fabulous people and their accomplishments. The spotlight is now definitely on the simply gorgeous Melanie Ghisays, as this fine daughter of Jamaica is now doing Hollywood!
She is the daughter of the late and sophisticated theatre director and broadcast icon, Bobby Ghisays, and his wife Sylvia Childs Ghisays, a former actress and painter.
For Ghisays, a career in the arts, always seemed inevitable. And speaking from her Los Angeles home, Ms. Ghisays says: "You could say it's in my blood."
And so it would appear, as before migrating in 1993, the fabulous Ms. Ghisays worked for years as an advertising copywriter, starting off at MacMillan Advertising, where she credits Robert MacMillan as giving her her very first break, further stating that, "I couldn't have asked for a better mentor."
World of costuming
From there, she moved on to Kenyon and Eckhardt and Media Advisory and Research Services Ltd. before starting her own advertising operation.
"I enjoyed the world of advertising. One of my campaigns for Trans-Jamaica Airlines won an award in 1986," she disclosed.
She said that when the mini-series Passion & Paradise came to town in 1988, she decided to try for a change in career.
"With my father's encouragement and Natalie Thompson's help, I went and met with the producers. There were two openings on the crew - one in production and the other in the costume department. While trying to decide which job to take, the costume designer, Robin Fraser-Paye, started chatting with me and said 'choose costumes'. It was that simple and it seemed like the best way to watch the process of film-making, rather than from behind papers."
So, that was her introduction to the world of costuming. After Passion and Paradise, came Wide Sargasso Sea, Popcorn; Cool Runnings and the series, Going to Extremes.
"After moving to Los Angeles in 1993, at the encouragement of Dawn Steel, former president of Columbia Pictures and producer of Cool Runnings, I was invited to come here to design a test for a film called the Power of No for Disney. It was to be the New York ghetto version of the Greek myth Lysistrata. Sadly, the movie never got the green light and Ms. Steel died a few months later."
Ghisays did not plan to live in L.A. but the place has been good to her, offering several opportunities in costume designing.
Last year, she was presented with an opportunity to design for a series called In Treatment, starring Gabriel Byrne and Diane Wiest. This new series will air every day on HBO starting January 28.
Sounding very surprised at receiving the telephone call and email queries leading up to this story, the publicity-shy Ghisays was initially reluctant to discuss her career and recent success, but agreed to share her perspective with readers.
She states, "If my achievement can inspire someone else to dream, then I would have contributed far greater than I dared hope."
