Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Left: Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) president Horace Peterkin performing the popular song 'Big Bamboo'. Right: Swept Away Negril's general manager, Ricardo Bowleg, playing the part of Diana Ross and Lionel Richie as he mimed the hit song 'Endless Love' during the Western Jamaica Media Association Professional Stars in Concert at the Half Moon Conference Centre on Sunday.
WESTERN BUREAU:
THEY SPARKLED, amazed and quenched the appetites of patrons who flocked the Half Moon Conference Centre on Sunday, June 11, hungry for entertainment with a difference.
And, the Western Jamaica Media Association's (WJMA) 'Professional Stars in Concert' delivered above their expectation.
Montego Bay had not experienced anything this scintillating in years, so the audience chanted for an early second staging of the event and went as far as to pay an additional $30,000 to have opera singer extraordinaire Rory Baugh, a butler of Sandals Negril, repeat a rendition of Italian tenor Lucaino Pavarotti's famous ballads.
WHIPPED INTO A FRENZY
Left: Talented and beautiful 'Fab Nine' show their versatility with the popular French cabaret hit 'Moulin Rouge'. From left - front: Joan Lee, Cecile Levee (centre, stooping), Sandra Kennedy Lyn. Back row: Karen Neita, Ann Chen, April Parchment and Lyn Scott. Right:: 'Bad Girls', president of the Western Jamaica Media Association (WJMA) Janet Silvera, RJR Communications Group Latoya Johnson and TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz Marline Stephenson Dalley dancing to 'Hot Stuff' at the WJMA Professional Stars in Concert at the Half Moon Conference Centre on Sunday.
Leading the pack were the talented women of 'Fab Nine' who whipped everyone into a frenzy, while blazing the stage with renditions of songs of top female singers of the '80s before wielding their dancehall moves to Shabba Rank's Ting a ling.
To hoots and whistles, they reached a crescendo when group member Cecile Levee 'bruck out' delivering the 'Willy Bounce' 'Butterfly' 'Dutty Wine' and the latest dance moves.
Two-time Actor Boy 'Best Actress' winner Makeda Solomon and actor Tony Rodney brought drama to the stage, while master of the game Ricardo Bowleg's creativity pleased the audience with his rendition of Diana Ross and Lionel Richie's Endless Love. The costume was funny too.
Performances from Las Chicas, 'Bad Girls' - Janet Silvera, Latoya Johnson and Marline Stephenson Dalley - caused many to sit on the edge on their seats, while Horace Peterkin's 'Big Bamboo's' suggestive calypso lyrics caused quite a stir.
Towards the end of his performance, he was engulfed by three women singing in answer to his call to check backstage to "experience the big bamboo." The laughter escalated when the hilarious co-MC Bryan Roper, who had earlier joined Jackie Norman, quipped: "Don't listen to Horace, him no have no use."
Scott Robbins, general manager of Sandals Negril, was accompanied by his own back-up singers, Robert Russell took time out from Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest preparations, and attorney-at-law Jeannie Robinson welcomed the audience to funland.
MiPhone's Rosemarie Ivey belted Tina Turner's Simply the Best, Dr. Michael Godfrey infused reggae and cabaret's best Georgia Henry proved her mettle. Digicel's national sales manager Joy Clarke and her twin Juliet Smith charmed with the song/dialect, 'Liza kibba you mouth.'
DOMINATRIX STYLE
So, from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., the cast sizzled. For the finale, Fab Nine appeared dancing in sexy corsets, lingerie, fish net stockings, thigh-high stiletto boots, and even a whip, dominatrix style. The audience loved it!
The event was staged to raise funds for a journalism student to pursue the diploma course at the University of the West Indies. Applications open at the start of next week and only members of the WJMA are eligible to apply.
