Westway To The World

If you'd mentioned the name Don Letts a month ago, I would have had no idea who you were talking about. A saw a posting on Stille Post a little while ago saying that Mr. Letts was making an appearance at Harbourfront as part of the Kuumba festival, where he'd be screening his BBC documentary on Gil Scott-Heron called "The Revolition Will Not Be Televised". I've heard Gil Scott-Heron's name thrown around as an influence on politically conscious hip hop music but honestly I've have heard very little of his music. I had a chance to read yesterday morning Eye Weekly's feature article on Don Letts and I was intrigued to discover his involvement in a burgeoning UK punk rock scene in the late 70's. I don't want to necessarily regurgitate the Eye Weekly article but I'd like to point out a few key points. As a person of Jamaican ethnicity he was born in Brixton and his love for reggae music inspired a punk rock scene bred out of D.I.Y. ethics and a spirit of individuality. Don DJed at the infamous Roxy club, spinning reggae music that turned on the punks to the music. He was friends with John Lydon, managed The Slits and was The Clash's official documentarian, having made all of their promo videos(the first which was "London Calling"[video] which Mr. Letts mentioned yesterday evening) as well as the Grammy Award-winning Clash documentary "Westway to the World" . And as Eye Weekly expressed succinctly, "Letts influenced punk and punk influenced him." By the way, Don was also part of Big Audio Dynamite.

Yesterday evening at Harbourfront's Brigantine Room, a screening of his Gil Scott-Heron documentary "The Revolition Will Not Be Televised" was screened, followed by on-stage interview with Edge 102.1 FM DJ Alan Cross, then finally a question and answer period with the audience. The Gil Scott Heron documentary was quite insightful even though I arrived late and missed approximately the first half hour of it. The interview with Alan Cross was interesting because aside from covering Mr. Lett's thoughts on 'punk' and D.I.Y. ethics which the Eye Weekly article touched on, it was interesting to discover that late 70's punk rock did not just appropriate reggae influences. Before punk rock, as Mr. Lett's pointed out, the punk kids(at least in his area of the UK), were listening to reggae, specifically music from the Trojan Records label. Whereas, the influence of black music on caucasian artists(such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin) is nothing new, Mr Letts pointed out that the difference with punk acts like The Clash, Public Image Limited, The Slits was that these artists took black music(specifically reggae) on its own merits incorpating real musical elements(like reggae basslines) and sometimes lyrical content(see The Clash) into their own music.

By far the most 'entertaining' part of the evening was the question and answer period with the audience. I was kind of disappointed that he'd removed his mic because it was hard to hear him sometimes. He answered some general questions, like his thoughts on his upcoming documentary on The Jam's album "All Mod Cons". He got into a heated debate with a gentlemen in the audience when Mr. Letts made a comment about the sorry state of reggae music in Jamaica at the moment which led to socio-political comments about Jamaicans killing each other. While Mr. Letts was pretty much on the side that for whatever's happened in the past or whatever's happening in the present, and whatever the establishment's done or is doing, individuals must take responsiblity for their own actions. The gentleman on the other side of this arguement, from what I understood, said that the socio-political climate in Jamaica really contributes to the state of affairs of it's people. Another gentleman in the audience also asked a somewhat confusing question, from which I understood, that doesn't Mr. Letts as a documentarian have the responsibility to recognize the socio-political structures that influence the socio-political climate?; or in other words, doesn't Mr. Lett's thoughts on individualism go against the greater effect that government can have on the affairs of its people. Sorry in advance if I've phrased these thoughts incorrectly, but this was how I understood it.

The funniest part of the evening was a guest appearance by Bernard Rhodes who was quite the character. With his thick British accent he spoke about managing The Clash, discovering The Specials, and having a hand in the birth of Def Jam(which he said he's never been acknowledged for). When Don Letts said something about first introducing Bernhard to reggae back in the late 70's, Bernhard jumped in and quickly corrected that he'd been listening to reggae before that. I'm quite convinced that everything he said was accurate, but it was quite funny to listen to him speak about his influential role in punk rock. Can't blame him though for being so forthcoming, but yes, the evening was a great history lesson.

If you aren't doing anything Saturday, a FREE Don Letts film festival will be taking place at Harbourfront's Studio Theatre as follows:

2:00 pm - "Dancehall Queen"
4:00 pm - "Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet"
6:00 pm - "Punk Attitude"
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Johnathan Rice and Whispertown 2000 will be opening for Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins at The Opera House on March 16th. [via Ground Control Touring]

Billboard reports that Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand will be hitting the road together for a mega co-headlining tour which'll bring 'em both back to Toronto for a show at The Docks on April 17th.

There might be something screwy going on with the data for the Hillside Festival over at Pollstar. Pollstar has listings for a number of great Canadian acts lined up for the festival, but it's also showing the festival taking place over two consecutive weekends(ie July 21st to 23rd and July 28th to 30th). The Hillside Festival website indicates that this year's festival will take place from July 28th to 30th, so with that in mind I'd take the July 21st to 23rd Hillside Festival info over at Pollstar with a grain of salt. Actually, I'd take most of the info over at Pollstar with a grain of salt.

Today is Bob Marley day in Toronto. Peace.

I'm home sick from work today but I will make it to The Sadies show tonight at Lee's Palace, no matter what.