Bunny Wailer - FILE
JUDGING BY THE handclaps, I was in the minority in thoroughly enjoying Bunny Wailer's speech on marijuana on the lawns of Jamaica House on Saturday night.
It was Leroy Sibbles' 'Party Time', his birthday celebration, and although there was some appreciative laughter when Wailer started to talk about marijuana and the hypocrisy with which the plant is treated by the political leadership of the country, it soon turned to handclaps, a boo or two coming near the end.
I guess although Wailer's words were accurate and timely - seeing that there were riots in Brown's Town, St. Ann, only three weeks earlier when a man was shot by the police who were trying to take a knife and a spliff from him - the people came to party.
This was unlike the One Love Peace Concert at Heroes Circle 30 years ago, when Peter Tosh's lecture on marijuana in front of a huge audience, including then Prime Minister Michael Manley and Leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga, was cheered on resoundingly.
This time it was Prime Minister Patterson who was in attendance.
EMOTIVE TOPIC
It was the second best speech I have ever heard from Wailer, who hit a marathon one in ending Sumfest in about 2002, when he spoke at much more length and to a diminished but highly enthusiastic audience. The line I cannot forget is when he advised the police. "Yu a cut crime branch an yu a cut crime limb, but yu a water crime root."
Still, the people who came to 'Party Time' came to do just that, party, and they did not take kindly at all to Wailer's extended speechifying, although it was on the second most emotive topic usually addressed from a concert stage in Jamiaca (I wonder what would have happened if Wailer had gone for the first?).
For those entertainers who actually have something to say, there is no other time and place to do so than when they perform. They are not political or business leaders, although many are truly leaders in their own right, so their words will not be quoted or referred to in the news sections of the media. Furthermore, the entertainment writers and cable stations are, by and large, interested only in their song, dance and dress.
For an entertainer who aspires to do more than prance around on stage, finding the opportunity to actually say something of meaning must be difficult and Bunny Wailer availed himself of his chance on Saturday. And I say great.
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