Entertainment

A 'Dennis' song anyone?

BY NOW HURRICANE Dennis should have entered the annals of storms that passed and the inevitable comparisons with storms as recent as last year's Ivan and the legendary Charlie of 1951 will be on in earnest.

Of course, there will be many a songwriter who will be hoping that the wind of inspiration will blow his or her way, or that the hurricane's waters will nourish the seed of inspiration.

No matter if the inspiration comes or not, the receptiveness of the public to the songs that may come out of this hurricane depends on the impact that it has on their lives. And that, of course, depends - fortunately or unfortunately - on the intensity of the storm and the havoc that it wreaks.

For a memorable hurricane song has to be about a hurricane that is memorable and that is the combination in Lloyd Lovindeer's Wild Gilbert.

When Hurricane Gilbert came in 1988, it had been over 30 years since Jamaica had a direct slap from a hurricane. There had been near-misses like Hurricane Allan in about 1981, but although that had serious impact on the eastern parishes of Portland, St. Mary and St. Thomas, it had not been widespread enough to carry itself into the national psyche.

Gilbert did and Lovindeer accurately - and humorously, of course - depicted what most Jamaicans had experienced, namely the wind, the rain, the 'bully beef' and the looting.

There were a couple songs about last year's Ivan, with General Trees having a go with a long lyric about the storm, but, of course, with many people who had experienced Gilbert very much around, 'Ivan' seemed like a puff that did not quite blow the house down.