Reggae Promoters Still Don't Get It!

[alisenjafi]

From The Advocate:
 http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/09/15/6
    
   Indiana homophobe reggae show canceled

Friday, September 15, 2006 / 04:03 PM



A performance by gay-hating Jamaican singer Buju Banton scheduled for Sept. 14 at Bloomington, Ind.'s Bluebird Club was canceled after protests by gay activists, the Herald-Times newspaper reported.
On Wednesday, activists protested outside a House of Blues in Chicago in advance of a Banton performance there that night.

When Bluebird Club manager Dave Kubiak became aware of the House of Blues protest and the community's anger over the reggae singer's performances, he canceled Thursday night's show at his club.

"It became a bigger social issue and a responsibility to the community," Kubiak told Indiana University's newspaper, the Daily Student. "You want all people to feel welcome to be there."

Morgan Tilleman, an IU student and president of the Hoosier Rights Campaign, said that in lieu of Thursday's canceled performance, gay men and their supporters planned to swamp the club to show their appreciation for its management.

Kubiak is still in negotiation with Banton's management, and the final hit to the club could exceed $5,000, he told the Daily Student.

Banton's record label, Gargamel Music, Inc., expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the show. Vice President Tracii McGregor told the Daily Student that the protests of Banton's performance were "very reactionary and baseless."

Banton was cleared this year of charges that he took part in a 2004 attack against a group of gay men in Kingston, Jamaica's capital. Along with such reggae entertainers as Beenie Man and Sizzla, he has advocated the death of gays in many lyrics. In Banton's 1992 song "Boom, Bye Bye," he urges people to shoot gay men in the head, pour acid over them, and bury them alive.

In July, a planned AIDS awareness concert in New York by LIFEbeat, a charity arm of the music industry, was canceled after word got out that Beenie Man and other gay-bashing artists were on the bill.(The Advocate)

[J.R.E.]

Johnny,


It's happened again huh?    Angry and discusted....

""Boom, Bye Bye," he urges people to shoot gay men in the head, pour acid over them, and bury them alive."

And straight people wonder why we are cautious..... It's not to difficult to see the hate out there is it?


Ray

[Queen Tokelove]

Damn, I'm really disappointed. I love reggae but it saddens me that 2 artist that I like could have such ill feelings. I really need to listen to Boom Bye Bye again, I didn't know it had those lyrics in it. Hell I have a hard time understanding  what half of them say.....Please tell me Sean Paul is not that way or Elephant MAn..

[alisenjafi]

Hi Queen- here is a link with the lyrics and a bit commentary :
http://www.jamaicancaves.org/boom-bye-bye-lyrics.html
We had a member named brandy whom I believe had issue with the original thread as she felt  we were beating up on Jamaica. Though she herself, confirmed what was said.  I even posted that here in NYC - and you can find my posts that NYC can be just as discriminatory.

I am not sure what happened to our voice of Jamaica after another thread on entering the US with HIV, she disappeared. I have to be in the mood for dancehall which is what it is and not reggae. I am an old schooler and really prefer King Tubby or Augustus Pablo.

[skeebo1969]

  Buju Banton, Sizzla, and Beenie Man are part of that "Bad Boi" movement in Reggae...

   I can remember back in the day when singers like Sister Nancy preached about good times and easy living...   When the likes of Banton and what not came along so did the atmosphere at the clubs and sessions I attended.   Their music is trash  compared to some of their predecessors...

   Gay bashing seems to have been accepted in the culture though, even old schoolers like Yellowman use to sing against gays.  The guys for the most part don't even like hearing of two women together.  Hell they even had songs referring to men NOT doing cunnilingus on women, hence the song "NO LICKY LICKY, BELOW BELLY"...   Give em another twenty years, they'll come around..

  Thomas

[rk@aids-write.org]

chers---

would like to recommend a site:

http://www.jasmynecannick.com/

one of her themes: racism in the gay community is as rampant as homophobia in the black community.

jasmyne is one of the founders of the national black justice coallition

http://www.nbjcoalition.org/

she is also a sister blogger ati aids-write.org

take a look

---lyr

[thunter34]

Dem haffi dead
Boom bye bye
Inna batty bwoy head
Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man
Dem haffi dead


Good Lord...how the hell could you understand that bullshit to begin with?  I marvel that anyone could decipher any message- positive or negative- in all that mess.