morning all

I went to bed at about 8pm because I was completely knackered, so of course I'm still awake... Fucksticks.

Anyway, to happier things - listening to the radio tonight I discover that Linton Kwezi Johnson is coming to Christchurch! On Monday! Words cannot describe my excitement! Along with the incomparable Lee "Scratch" Perry and Bob "God" Marley he is my favorite reggae artist. Although his work is sofar removed from what they do that it would seem to be a totally different category. I list them together for the reason that the three of them were the most influential on my musical tastes, at least of that genre (and listening to reggae, especially dub, is the closest thing I've had to a religious experience. Well, except for sex of course. And some of those drugs were pretty fucken amazing... But I digress, as is my wont).

Get hold of his early albums, especially Bass Culture (my fave), Dread Beat an' Blood, and Forces of Victory. Fucking incredible. If you've never heard of him (shame!), he's not a reggae artist as most people would consider, he's a poet that performs to reggae. A very political Jamaican/British poet, a former Black Panther, still very involved in the political/racial fight in Britain and globally.

So this show on Monday (for which I am going to get my ticket first thing tomorrow) is going to be poetry mainly, he has brought a dj with him and Dubwize are his supporting act, but in the main I'd say it's going to be less of a gig and more of a reading. But don't let that scare you off, his voice and manner are so arresting I don't doubt we'll not miss a backing band. I've never seen him before (this is his first visit to NZ, he hates to fly long-distance due to health problems) and I'd be rambling for hours to describe how much I'm looking forward to this! Yay!