I got my second jab, which is no news, because far more than 50% of adults in Belize have had at least one shot, and second jabbers are well up there too, but a lot went with it, and that’s what I’m about telling. Oh the things this Covid-19 is putting us through, and to think we human beings brought it on ourselves, either by eating bats, or carelessly handling bat viruses.

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but in Belmopan the entire medical machinery is out there to make sure you are ready for the vaccine. Respecting the numbers, there are many things that are far more dangerous than getting that piercing. The needle is nowhere as big as the one they use for the viscous B-12.

Someone once advised us to not get diverted by the noise in the marketplace, for if we do we’ll forget fu check wi change. Bah, all this to and fro palabras, people like Arthur and Zenaida and Dr. Uk Espat grabbing at anything that passes by to claim some relevance …whoa, wait, got to temper what I’m saying, those guys A, Z, and Uk, are my heroes—in other things.

Pardon the distraction, in Belmopan they take special care of you, and we all should fully appreciate that, so I return the favor with a suggestion. I just hate saying the same thing over and over again, so I suspect it must be irritating to the counselors who have to repeat the speech about what are normal reactions, what to do if you’re not feeling well, and what definitely not to do for a while.

My suggestion to the team is that they print a sheet, English and Spanish, and save the nurse having to repeat the same speech, over and over again. Then a simple question, “can you read”, is all that’s needed.

On the what-not-to-do-for-a-while, the nurse, a pleasant, pretty young woman, gave me all the necessary counseling, and then she said, no drinking or smoking for FIVE DAYS! I said, “no smoking?”— and she said, “or drinking”, and I said, in my little mind, oh the things that can make people lose faith in a new government.

These days, thanks to the Google being so close at hand, it’s as easy as A-B-C to fact check that concoction that we leave the batl pahn taybl, doant draa di kaak fu FIVE DAYS! Bah, I found this July 21 article at greenwichtime.com, by a lady, Mariel Otero del Rio. She says, “Do you still feel the thorn of wanting to celebrate that you are already vaccinated? You better think about it. Read on and weigh what is most important so as not to affect the effectiveness of your vaccine.” I did. Bah.

Singers, drugs, and copyright things

No one has a bigger excuse for using drugs than singers, because they have to sing the same song over and over again for their supper. Poor Nat King Cole, he sang Ansiedad, and after singing it a thousand times he needed cigarettes, three packs a day. But he didn’t fall hard to fix his nausea, like his daughter, Natalie, and Billie did.

Athletes don’t need to use drugs, because every game is different, but a singer, actors too, they sing or say the same thing until they are sick, hence the giant need for artificial therapy. You bet that, being sympathetic to the breed, I’m not one who was after Kimberly, that refreshing girl from Guatemala. I heard enough Belizean girls seh she very fresh fu tek Ding Ding Wala like da fu she song, and they wanted to put a claw into her. I bet some purist guys did too, but I enjoyed her fresh looks and exuberance.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that Kimberly and her band are from Livingston, and the people there, jos like those in Melchor, are part Belizean. Ah, popular bandmaster, the bane of Wave when he was a talk show host, the twice councilor in Belize City, Albert Vaughan, featured recently on his fb page a band from Flores, Peten, doing Rhaburn’s “Yu Baan Deh”. I understand why Belizeans who come from stock that worked chicle and mahogany consider Flores to be Belize territory tu, and while I don’t yet extend the embrace fully that far, the gusto those guys put into the song, got to love it.

This copyright, property rights, it’s a big deal, but note that wires can get crossed. In this world there’s a lot of mixing, and you can never be sure who made what. Some things we think are 100% Belizean were brought here, and some things da foreign they think was made in US, or UK, or Mexico, kom strayt frahn Belize.

Generally, who puts it down on paper first gets the prize. Remember when someone “stole” the name of Dr. Chimilio’s football association? I think it was the late Murphy who did it. We didn’t get any explanations, but the sure thing is that Dr. Bertie’s association changed its name.

I’m not about quarreling with anybody who wants to sing Ding Ding Wala, but if Ms. Kim had sung “Two Kooli Uhman” without giving the credits…. Hmm, we really need to poll East Indian Belizeans to find out how they feel about being called, Kooli. It is my experience that dehn noh tochiz like a lot a wi. Check it, there’s a band from PG that proudly carries the name—Kooli Rebels. If we find that it’s no big deal, we can then start playing Leela’s hottest song again.

I think it’s akin to murder, not murder, obliterating an artist’s work to enforce too stringently this new, excessive woke mentality. There are things that cross the line, but if Leela knew that Belize would get so sensitive…I didn’t know her, but I wouldn’t have been mad with her if she had made a song that said…Blank all a unu. I wonder if Rhaburn can still sing, and write. Damit, ih noh fair!

I have suggested that the owners of Ms. Leela’s legacy do a remake. Today they are turning black and white movies into color; they must be able to engineer out any offense.
Turning to Mista Peetaz, I notice that you can’t play his music on Youtube; you have to buy it. The price of the music is well within reach, but unfortunately I, and others like me who don’t have a credit card, can’t access. I can drink with entire Peter Tosh and Toots albums on Youtube, drink with so many of the great reggae and calypso songs from the Caribbean, but it’s hard to find much Brokdong and Punta.

Off the top I think our artists have decided that they don’t have much appeal out there, so they confine themselves to selling songs to Belizeans at home and abroad. Culture is a—barrier. One reason (I think) reggae got its foot into the US and UK is because the artists sang many of the popular songs on the US and UK charts, and calypso didn’t make it big over there because Calypsonians, same as our songsters, sing songs relevant to their home country. If our culture was dominant in the world, Mista Peetaz and St. Croix’s Jamesie would be two of the most popular artists of all time.

Ah, permiso, for one last mention of Kim, and the youthful looks. Don’t discount that. You see how much money and energy a not-so-young Jennifer Lopez spends to try and keep up. But our Tanya Carter doesn’t have to spend anything at all, bikaaz she still got it. Bah, every blessing is a curse. That poor girl, with a body like hers, her music will never get the full attention it deserves.