The Stella Maris dance ensemble performs at the launch of the 2007 Honda CR-V. at the Terra Nova Hotel on Wednesday, November 22, 2006. - photos by Andrew Smith/Photography Editor Michael Reckord, Contributor
The Friends of St. Pius X Catholic Church who organised Sunday evening's concert in the Stella Maris Church Hall undoubtedly went home happy. After all, the function was a great success and the audience went home happy, too.
Assisting greatly with the generation of happiness was the affable MC Aggrey Brown, who put away his psychiatrist hat and, in an entertainer's outfit, sang with the 50/50 band, played congo drums, handed out numerous giveaways and kept things flowing with humorous patter. His singing complemented that of other members of the band, including manager and lead vocalist Robert Robinson.
Not surprisingly, the band, described as "sexy senior citizens" by the MC, focused on oldies music, specifically songs of the '50s and '60s. They included American pop, like Empty Chairs and Lady Love, and Jamaican hits like Behold, I Saw You Standing There Before Me, The Games People Play, Fire Burning and Boom She Boom.
Also among the early entertainers was the Stella Maris Ensemble, a gospel group of three instrumentalists and 17 singers. With a lot of energy, though not as much skill, they sang Strive and Jesus Christ.
Ambassador Madge Barrett delighted the large audience with her particular type of cross-dressing. One half of her body garbed like a man, the other half like a woman, she lip-synched to the recorded song Endless Love.
Mr. Intensity
Taking the concert to the intermission was the first of three internationally known artistes, A.J. Brown, who proved to be 'Mr. Intensity' himself. Laughing, singing, dancing and chatting to his enraptured listeners, Brown lifted the concert to high-level excitement. One of the most appealing aspects of his repertoire was its variety.
For example, he started with Paul Simon's If You'll Be My Bodyguard and ended with the Lloyd Price hit You've Got Personality. In between, he had his own original song, My Father, My Friend, the half-Italian number Time to Say Goodbye, a ballad, a rock 'n' roll item and also a medley of songs.
Though Brown left the audience on a high, the performer after the break took it even higher.
Introduced by the MC as a "radical Rastafarian," Dwight Richards hinted at being radical only when he sang Jimmy Cliff's The Rebel In Me to Ambassador Barrett. Really, he concentrated on being entertaining, and that he was, singing more than 10 songs or, in a medley, parts of songs. They included Baby, Hold Me Tight, You Don't Know What It's Like, Under the Boardwalk, and I Love You For Sentimental Reasons.
He also played Tequila on his trumpet and introduced two other performers, singer Kenneth Williams, who sang, Unchained Melody, and Dr Carol Ball, who accompanied Richards on the piano as he sang You'll Never Walk Alone.
Naughty and nice
Lovindeer, the final singer, lived up to his reputation of being, as MC Irons said, "naughty and nice". The singer's personality certainly charmed, and, additionally, many of his songs about actual events both amused and titillated with their double meanings. He started off with the uptempo soca number Fire, then moved to the suggestive Shortwood and Happiness in De Park.
Other songs which had the audience applauding, dancing in their seats or singing along included Pocomania Day, Hustling, and the ever popular Wild Gilbert.
Some three hours after the concert began, it wound up with all the performers on stage (including trombonist Everton Pessoa, who came on later than scheduled) singing and playing a medley of songs. The foot-stomping, hand-clapping items included Carry Go Bring Come, If I Had the Wings of a Dove, This Little Light of Mine, and, finally, Amen.
