OSWALD BROWN WRITES
WASHINGTON, DC., August 17, 2019 – Her Excellency Audrey Marks, Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, posted a reminded on her Facebook page to Jamaicans living in the Washington, D.C. area diaspora that in some respects underscored a point I have made over and repeatedly about Bahamian entertainers not making a greater effort to expose their talent internationally.
Aside from “promoting” the appearance in D.C. of an entertainer from Jamaica, Ambassador Marks’ Facebook post also demonstrated the kind of commitment that the Jamaican Embassy here in D.C. has invested in its outreach efforts to keep Jamaicans in the Washington, D.C. area diaspora informed.
Here’s an excerpt from her post: “Dear friends, this is a quick reminder that The Maestro, Beres Hammond, is performing in DC! Let’s support our great artiste! Performances start tonight, Thursday, August 15th and continue on Friday, August 16th.”
I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas permanently in 1996, and every year during those 21 years, entertainers from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago made annual visits to D.C. to perform at least once a year. The District of Columbia has a very large Caribbean diaspora, and Trinidad’s Mighty Sparrow and Jamaica’s Byron Lee and the Dragonaires always attracted huge crowds at their performances.
I shall go to my grave convinced that the late Ronnie Butler would have been as big a success as Bob Marley was internationally had he “spread his wings” more internationally, especially in the United States, from where The Bahamas – as one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations – attracts the lion’s share of its visitors.
What’s more, there is no question in my mind that an outstanding “group” like Obi Pindling’s Visage band, which includes some excellent vocalists, has what it takes to become international stars. And although I missed seeing her when she performed at the recent Bahamas independence celebrations reception here in D.C., the same is true about Ericka “Lady E” Symonette, who has the stage presence and vocal talent to be a superstar.
I have suggested in the past that consideration should be given by Bahamian entertainers of this stature to an East Coast tour of historically black college campuses, but a venture of this magnitude clearly would be extremely costly and obviously there are no entrepreneurs in The Bahamas with the foresight to envisage that a properly planned and organized tour of this nature could produce profitable financial returns as well as launch international careers for some Bahamian entertainers.
Hopefully, I’ll hit the POWERBALL jackpot in the near future and return to promoting entertainment as I did for several years in the early 1960s along with my late very good friend Leo Dean, who was my partner in our promotions company BRODEAN PROMOTIONS.
We mainly promoted “Out Island” tours of local entertainers – like Smokey 007 and Leon Taylor and the Roosters, who had a monster hit with “Eternal Love” – as well as some boxing events at the Nassau Stadium featuring Elisha Obed before Miami Beach promoter Chris Dundee’s brother Angelo Dundee took over his management and steered him towards becoming a world welterweight champion.
This was primarily during my years as a young reporter at the Nassau Daily Tribune, and because I started at The Tribune as a sports reporter, BRODEAN also promoted an exhibition bout featuring Floyd Patterson at the Nassau Stadium when he was World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, but we considered entertainment promotions to be our “primary market.” However, my promotional activities took “a back seat” to my increased involvement in politics and eventually were consigned to my “Life’s Experience Archive” as my political involvement became more radical as a Black Power advocate.
When I saw the Facebook post by Ambassador Marks about Beres Hammond’s performance in D.C., however, I started “daydreaming” about winning the POWERBALL so that I can return to doing something that I totally enjoyed. Winning POWERBALL would certainly provide me with the wherewithal for a surefire entrepreneurial investment in The Bahamas’ dormant entertainment promotion industry that only requires someone with enough money and foresight to get serious about marketing Bahamian entertainers internationally.
I don’t know just how big the crowds were that Beres Hammond attracted in D.C., but he always performed to sold-out audiences whenever he appeared in The Bahamas, so I suspect that some Bahamians in the Washington, D.C. area attended his concerts. It is difficult for me to understand why Bahamians do not demonstrate this level of “loyalty” to Bahamian entertainers.
Anyway, tonight’s POWERBALL jackpot is $149 million. I am keeping my “fingers crossed” — and would do the same with my toes, if it were physically possible — that I shall be financially able to start making plans to revive BRODEAN PROMOTIONS.
