Tag Archives: music

FMM 2 27 2026 Babylon System

“Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.” ~ Frances Wright. I was a teenager, going to high school in rural Jamaica, when Bob Marley and the Wailers became the face of Rastafarianism.  The sect emerged in the 1930s, combining elements of predominantly Old Testament teachings and African pride […]

FMM 2 13 2026 Music Lessons

“Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?” ~ Carl Jung. My mother taught (or attempted to teach) all of her children to play the piano and read music, to one extent or another.  By the time she got to me, the youngest, her patience, […]

FMM 11 21 2025 With Hearts and Hands and Voices

“Ring the alarm, another sound is dying, woh-oh, hey!” ~ Clive ‘Tenor Saw’ Bright. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  My father, being proudly Welsh and therefore a singer, led the church choir wherever he was the minister.  But it wasn’t only hymns we sang.  In […]

FMM 7 4 2025 Ode to Joy

“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” ~ Emily Dickinson. After seven days of activities and events here in Jamaica that have produced so many moments of joy, I am not sure how I will report on them in just one post.  But perhaps I can tempt your senses with […]

FMM 6 13 2025 Of Men and Moons

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” ~ Buddha. Growing up in Jamaica, in the center of the island, full moon nights were special.  For a start, they were so bright you could actually read by the light.  For another, they changed the environment into shades of grey, leaching out […]

FMM 5 24 2024 A Ton of Bricks

“The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” ~ Mark Twain. They say confession is good for the soul.  I was an Elvis fan from early.  You could say I had a celebrity crush on him, and even had a postcard sized head shot in black and white pinned on my […]

FMM 3 29 2024 Killing me Softly

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” ~ Victor Hugo. Music has been a part of my life, probably since conception.  When you grow up in the church, hymn singing is always going to be present, but in my family, we didn’t just listen to religious […]

FMM 3 25 2022 I will remember you

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” ~ Maya Angelou. My childhood was filled with all kinds of music, from hymns and gospel music; soundtracks of musicals; calypso and jazz; classical and blues; reggae and rock and roll; it wasn’t until I went […]

FMM 10 29 2021 Can we Talk?

“Only humility will lead us to unity, and unity will lead to peace.” ~ Mother Theresa. The first time I visited New Jersey was on my way to New York city on a Greyhound bus.  To be honest we were just driving through it, but took an unplanned break in Newark.  My father had decided […]

FMM 7 2 2021 Sing me a Song!

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” ~ Pablo Casals. I moved away from home at the age of eighteen. After finishing high school in Jamaica, I returned to the land of my birth to see if I could reconnect.  I knew that I could happily live in Jamaica […]