By Mel Cooke, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
SANDPIPERS ARE any of a number of small shore birds which have long legs and slender beaks for probing in the sand or mud.
The longest legs in evidence at Sandpiper's Restaurant and Bar on Sunday night belonged to a lass in a red top, black pants and somebody else's hair. There was nothing slender about her full lips, however, which parted slightly as she put some effort into grinding her black heels into the ground when she rolled her hips to Stone Love's party style 'juggling'.
She was not one of those who went closer to the stage to see Buju Banton lead a crew of entertainers, which included Angel Doolas and Ronnie Thwaites, in the performance segment. One larger woman ventured on-stage to dance with a huge snake.
Sandpiper's has a beautiful ambience, which combines the best of 'development' and allowing nature to reign. As such, the lights on two of Stone Love's four small towers flashed through the dancing limbs of banana trees, which rustled in the constant breeze at the seaside venue.
They also passed the sanitary test with flying colours the men's toilet was maintained in a spotless state up to when The Gleaner left at about 3:15 a.m.
With Billy Slaughter and Iceberg at the helm, Stone Love put the emphasis on partying, increasing the tempo as the night progressed, until Gimme De Light ushered The Gleaner back on its way to Montego Bay. However, quite a few patrons left the venue as comedian/dancer Crazy attempted to entertain the crowd. Although most were very patient, foul-ups between the selectors and Crazy got a few patrons mad and three bottles, thrown a few seconds apart, missed the shovel pendant wearing man by a miracle and went over the back of the stage to fall harmlessly.
This provoked a man to wrath, who took the microphone and said "Any man found guilty of throwing missile, yu done know how it go. A so de man eat him food; if yu no like whe him a do, no look pon him. Yes, we understan', but we no want it get out of han', so jus' maintain it like we a do from night."
The police, representatives of whom made an unobtrusive appearance at the dance, came in for a fair share of criticism. "A ting gwaan a town las' week. People come lock off di dance an' shoot people. We jus' a emphasise to de Babylon dem sey live good wid de people an' de people wi live good wid dem. We no waan fight wid Babylon, cause Babylon gun no bigga dan wha dey outa road," the selector said.
"Yu have some Babylon jus' waan see a dance a gwaan an try dig off some money off a de promota. Oonu fi mek govament pay oonu good. Yu see good security, big up," the selector said, before playing Anthony B's Good Cop, Bad Cop.
Stone Love played a good blend of conscious and hardcore music, Prezident Brown's To Jah Only and Shabba Ranks' More Pon More leading to R. Kelly's Fiesta and Elephant Man's Jamaica in the earlies. They constantly reminded the audience that February is 'Black History Month' and, in that light, played a series of Bob Marley songs, including Crazy Baldhead, Iron Lion Zion and Natural Mystic.
However, after Buju and the crew had rocked the house, the 'Gargamel' turning Sandpiper's into a choir as he raised a finger to the sky and chanted Til Shiloh acapella, as well as flashing hardcore lyrics (who sey Natty Dread caan pass Orange Street?), they went into hip-hop. That went down extremely well with the audience and when the Clap song featuring Beenie Man and Sean Paul came on, palms met in numbers.
A second break from the sound system made room for a woman to dance with a 13 foot long and Crazy.
