My @Home Attempt at Raggabone's Jerk Pork / Therapy / Trip Report Preview

Just got home from Negril and had my first full day of work today. That was depressing so I tried my hand at this:

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Seems like only a few days ago I managed to catch a bite at Red Dragon, oh wait, it was last Thursday. I gotta say, tonight's dinner was delicious. It's amazing how good food comes out when you are really into it with TLC. I put all my love and longing for Jamaica into it plus took out all of my despair of being back at work into it. Having a great infrared grill doesn't hurt either. I can honestly say that, though not fully authentic (has my personal twists to it), it could hold its own against some Jamaican Jerk. And how bout a dirty banana for dessert (drinking it now) with Sangsters Rum Cream, banana, milk, ice cream, crushed ice and Appleton Extra all in the blender topped off with some overproof (saw this @ Xtabi) and a dab of choc syrup in the glass. It was my first day back to work, and man was I bummed so I needed therapy. Anyone else treat their depression in a similiar way?

As you can tell, I do love to cook. I live in New Orleans, so I grew up with great cajun and NOLA cooking. I'm from Honduras so I definitely have a latin cooking flair, and in the past few years I've been adding Jamaican to my cooking reportoire.

One lesson I've learned from my trips to Jamaica is to bring some of the stuff I enjoy home (not ALL of the stuff b/c you can get arrested). I would always bring a little bit on previous trips. My first trip, I had a bottle of overproof bust in my luggage on my flight home. Before the luggage came out on the carousel, I could smell the smell and knew exactly what happened before any luggage came out. My senses were strong as I was totally hungover from overproof rum punches at Bourbon Beach. Needless to say, everybody was pissed because everyone's luggage reeked of overproof. I always felt bad but was able to blend in because it was everywhere and the culprit couldn't be identified. Oops! On my second trip, I had my hot sauces thrown away by MBJ airport security and then my unopened bottle of rum cream fell out of my fridge and busted all over my kitchen floor. My 13 year old akita (R.I.P. Nina) happily licked it up off the ground and got buzzed. At least she enjoyed it, I let her have at it after removing the glass. But I found that the little bits you get to enjoy at home do help. So this time I did it right. I brought home an arsenal, a liter of Sangsters, liter of Appleton Extra, bottle of JB, few bottles of Jerk, few bottles of scotch bonnet hot sauce and a couple of little Appleton and overproof bottles:

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Now I'm set for a few weeks... As you can see, I've already broken in to some...

I'll follow up with a trip report soon after decompressing and my wife gets through her photos. We stayed 7 nights at Xtabi, went to friends' vow renewal ceremony at BGN, went with newbies, hung at Sunbeach on the beach, got a taste of Jamaican healthcare, saw the Sands at The Caves, went out to Alfred's and Beach Bar at night, hung with the greatest guide/driver the whole time, ate at Kuyaba, Xtabi, Ivan's, Best in The West, Ossie's, Rick's, Just Natural + others, went to Jerk Fest, went to Orange Hill, watched the Saints kick the crap out of the Giants (hehe), took the One Love Bus Pub Crawl, etc... I'll remember the rest in time. I did meet Sprat & husband briefly fresh off the plane with no sleep, met Poolguy Windsor on the pub crawl and said hi to Rob & Lisa again. Also met Sweetness at Westender Inn that was the last stop on the crawl.

More coming soon... Good night, gotta get ready for work in the morning.

Hey NOLanmr! I can so relate to the post negril depression. It's hard arriving back home and then jumping back into a full day of work. We handle it the same way, Makeshift dirty bananas and our best attempt at a Jamaican dish. Usually both fall short, but tastes good anyway!

It sounds like you had a lot of great experiences in Negril and met a lot of awesome boardies! look forward to hearing about the pubcrawl, I regret that we missed it on our last trip, and what your experience with Jamaican healthcare was - Hope you didn't get sick! Xtabi is also on my list of places I'd like to stay. How'd you like it?

I'm really looking forward to your upcoming trip report!

Hey Clarity,

I'm sure your dirty bananas and food are great. It will just come out more to your style and like me, it sounds like you enjoy the process of trying to recreate them. I really enjoyed Xtabi, location is perfect on the cliffs. We had a group of people who stayed in Breezes Grand Negril AI for the ceremony and they sometimes would come hang with us on the cliffs cuz they thought it was more chilled out. I did have an accident in Xtabi's caves and gashed the palm of my hand pretty bad that I had to go see paramedics. I'll cover all bases when I continue my complete trip report at some point soon. Right now I have a week's worth of clients anxious for their holiday advertising and ads to be bought.

Great pics, you truly love Negril .... How was Orange hill????

NOLAnmr.....are you a media buyer?

Gerryg - I really enjoyed the ride & scenery out to Orange Hill. My previous furthest point in that direction had only been Westender Inn so it was cool to see a more residential setting. Of course we did go on the mandatory "farm" expedition. I enjoyed that alot more than I thought I would. Honestly, I was not that excited about it as a couple of guys with us were. I've just never been the type to idolize and drool over High Times magazine centerfolds. But, once there I was very glad I decided to go. I realized that it's not something I see everyday and the aroma was just divine. Plus it was nice to experience the higher grade varieties of the island. I will include pix (maybe) and more info when I write my trip report.

Marley - Yes, media buying is probably the biggest part of what I do. I'm all over the place though. My "dayjob" is Marketing Director for Gardner, Realtors here in NOLA. It's the biggest real estate company in this area and I run the corporate marketing department in which we do ALL of the company advertising as well as produce a bi-weekly TV show, monthly magazine, weekly newspaper spread, etc... On top of that, I'm also this area's Regional Promo Manager for Silverback Artist Management out of Los Angeles. I noticed on your profile that you did some work in the reggae and music industry. Did you ever cross paths with any of the bands on our roster (Slightly Stoopid, Fishbone, The Expendables, Rebelution, The Beautiful Girls, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, The Aggrolites, etc...)? It's all mostly west coast reggae/rock and we're starting to make in imprint here in New Orleans starting with Dumpstaphunk. Then I do a ton of freelance marketing for live venues and semi-management/consultant to up & coming local groups from here as to setting up a business model, on-line presence, promo, advertising, booking, touring, contracts, licensing, etc... There is no rest for the wicked!

NOLAnmr.....
Yes! I know of Slightly Stoopid and also Rebelution, both play here quite frequently, in fact Rebelution is here (Tampa) next month. Have heard of the others as well.
I just started a new job (Sept.) at a small ad agency, just marketing/advertising in Florida but I am a Media Coordinator training to be a media planner/buyer....I am liking it a lot. Change is good they say.
I really miss working in the music business, and I still do some work for some of the gang, but not as heavy into it as I used to be.

Marley - That is great about your new job and sounds very exciting... I'm glad for you. Seems like a natural professional progression whith what you've done. It seems like the experience we get in music translates and prepares us well for other forms of marketing/advertising. I also use to do alot more in music and did it full-time up until hurricane Katrina threw us a huge monkey wrench and spread most of my people from Austin to ATL. The up-side is that it spread my regional contacts and I gained much more valuable experience than I even realized at a young age. So it helped as I got older and my bills kept GROWING. So now all of that helped me get my stable full-time job at Gardner in which I ended up running the department in 3 years. The sporadic income of the music industry now scares the hell out of me but I'm able to pick and choose more music work that I like and want to do, rather than running like a madman looking for everything I possibly could to put some $ together.

I'm glad you know of our Silverback ( www.silverbackmusic.com ) bands as well. I work with and know most of those guys well. As a matter of fact, Kyle from Stoopid was married in Sandals in Negril in 2009, I was married at CCLP in 2008 and I see you were recently married on the cliffs too (congrats). We also have a big New Years Eve blow out at Hard Rock in Orlando with Stoopid & Expendables. That may be a bit far for you though. Other than that, if you enjoy similiar types of music to those, check out my old band FUEGO at www.myspace.com/fuegoroots . We've been broken up for a couple of years and only recorded a 5 track demo but if anybody is interested, send me your email and I'll email you all of the trax for free. We weren't together but a few years but had moderate succes plus did 3 tours with HR of Bad Brains who are one of my greatest influences. I found I much rathered the business side of music than being a musician and having to be the responsible one in a band.

Looks delish, actually that made me real hungry.

Really looking forward to your trip report Nola. Good luck with the decompression. lol

that looks GOOD! if anyone can prepare Jerk at Home it would be a fellow cajun. Didn't you just LOVE the butt wiping the Saints gave the Gaints! Anyway back to your jerk and trip. Can't wait to see photos!! I WISH I still lived in the Big Easy because I would pay you to make me a serving, I miss Jamaica and jerk anything just that much!

sammyb - WHO DAT!!!

NOLAnmr- I hear you on all of that...similar experiences here too
Orlando is only an hour for us, we go up there all the time....especially for Reggae shows, good shows at HOB and Hard Rock Live and of course the Bob Marley Cafe

You will be there this New Years Eve? We might have to come check it out!
And yes, I will pm you my email address
Thanks!

so you ve gone from punk rock to being an executive? that's VERY impressive!

Sounds like you had a great time. I remember your story about the rum cream falling out of the frig, so happy you made it home with all your goods. Looking forward to more trip report and photos.

I have always had a hard time getting dirty bananas to taste the way they do in Jamaica, but I finally found those little bananas at a local grocery store, and they make all the difference in the world. They always taste better in Negril, though. When I go next, one thing on my "to do" list is to try some dirty bananas at Xtabi.

Tizz - thanks for wishing me well with the decompression... One of these days I 'll get started on the actual trip report. Gaining a little traction with photos and I better hurry before I forget. The ole short term memory problem may act up at any moment...

Marl - I emailed you our tracks, so you should have them now. I will not be there New Years Eve as we have some stuff going on here in New Orleans. But that should be a massive blowout. If nothing else, those Stoopid guys sure as hell know how to throw a party.

Gerry - geez, I feel like I should be blushing. Thanx... It's funny when you put it like that because its like an oxymoron...

Maryann - You are right about getting the taste down. For me, I had to really experiment to ge them as sweet. But I think you're really onto something about the little bananas b/c they are sweeter.

On a completely different side note, talking about my broken rum cream being licked up by my late Akita:

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(That is me and Nina with her only doggie friend, Willis the Wamerainer. Man, she hated all other animals, loved people tho. We were on Bourbon st for The Krewe of Barkus during Mardi Gras)

We had to put Nina to sleep about 4 months ago and it was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life. She had a good long life of 13 years which was great because Akitas are expected to only live up to 8-10 years. We fell in love with the breed though. I am excited because literally, as soon as I finish this post, I'm leaving my office and driving 8 hours to Little Rock to pick up our new as of yet unnamed Akita puppy from the breeder. Isn't she cute?

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Awwww..... so precious! Love the little white spot on her chin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NOLAnmr

Did you ever cross paths with any of the bands on our roster (Slightly Stoopid,

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You lost me at Slightly Stoopid. One of my favorite bands! ok. I'm gonna go finish reading the rest of the thread.

*finished reading the thread. Sorry about your loss of Nina. :(

What a cutie! Both Nina and the new *unnamed*
I am thinking a Jamaica inspired name would be good
Our blue pit is named "Reggae" and he loves rocking his Rasta collar

By the way, just checked my email and I see the tracks you sent....I am going to give them a listen, thanks for sending!

Touring with HR must have been QUITE an experience!

Jeannie - Glad you are digging Stoopid. They are killing it and pretty much writing the book on being independantly succesful. Which is really an understatement of their world wide success at the moment. Thanks for condolensces on Nina...

Marley - Thanx for the Jamaican name suggestion.. I think we are going to go with "Lucea". It was a tough weekend making that short turnaround 16 hour round trip from NOLA to Little Rock. I'm exhausted. The puppy is now at home and seems to be doing great. She is so cute and everything is so new. It's fun seeing her little personality develop. She is a huge puppy and the father was over 100 lbs so she might end up a monster sized teddy bear. Now it's time to go through all of the puppy training...

Z-Corn - U know it, touring with HR was "quite" the experience. Anyone who knows anything about Bad Brains or HR has always known him to be extremely turbulent to the point of hindering the band's success, from crawling out of bathroom windows before signing major recording contracts to recording vocal tracks from jail through the phone. It's also part of what gives him & the band their mystique and legendary status because you really never know what's going to happen. You are not going to have a normal 2 person conversation with him before he starts ranting on about angels and mysticism. On the business side of it, was kind of tough also because the man is going to do only what he wants to do. Aside from touring with the opening band, I was also involved in booking and promotion such as setting up radio interviews for him and all. It was an honor to be able to do what I could for him since his band was so instrumental in shaping me into who I am today. He only has a briefcase, guitar and cd burner as all of his worldly possesions on him and carries them with him EVERYWHERE he goes. Sometimes even on stage. Maybe he has been ripped off in the past, but it is one of his quirks. I did feel somewhat special when he reached into his guitar case and handed me a piece of his personal collection. He gave me an original print of a professional photo of him in CBGB's green room in NYC. It now sits as on my wall of prized possessions with 5 guitars that hang (one of which is a replica Bob Marley Les Paul).

I'll tell you a little story about his time in New Orleans with us: We did 3 different small legs of touring with HR & The Dubb Agents (his solo project at that time) from 2006-2008 for the DIA Global Rock Showcase. Our last date on our first leg of the tour was @ home at Tipitinas. That was awesome for us for many reasons, 1 being we're playing with HR, 2 we're playing at the legendary Tipitinas night club that has seen so many greats pass through the years (I believe Robert Nesta Marley played there himself in the 70's) and 3, what a better way to end this tour for us than at home with our friends. HR & his band had a few days off before they continued onward to California for their west coast leg of the tour. They ened up crashing at our bass player Matt's house for a few days (he is actually the other guy with Willis the Wamerainer in the Bourbon St photo above). Matt is an awesome host and was grilling up meat for them all the time. HR, being Rasta, was of course a vegetarian but never really said anything. One morning, Matt wakes up and his house stinks really bad. He goes into the kitchen and finds HR boiling something on his stove. HR said "I'm just cooking some greens" and Matt asks "Oh, did you go to the store?". HR replies, "no, I just picked them from the backyard". He picked and was boiling the grass where the dog peed and pooped and stinking up the house. We later learned that he also ran up $300 worth of porn on his cable box. Good times...

Sorry about Nina, very sad. We were in town for that parade, a lot of fun. Your new pup is PRECIOUS, what did you guys name her?

Awwww, Lucea! What a great name

Have fun with her :)

I only got to see Bad Brains once, in 1989 in Detroit...I think it was The Quickness tour. My wife and I have seen hundreds and hundreds of shows, this is a top 5, maybe even top 3 show OF ALL TIME for us both. People jumping off the balcony...HR doing backflips off the stage into the crowd...the whole crowd just smiling and dancing together, such a good vibe...

It really is sad how his mental condition has kept the band from getting as HUGE as they should have and deserve to be. I think he just couldn't handle the fame and notoriety that they did receive.

I got into them when I Against I came out. STILL one of my favorite albums, even with the crappy production and no reggae songs on it. I just had to put it on as I'm typing this!

I wish I'd run into you earlier during your last trip. My wife and I were the ones sitting at the bar when you got your Dirty Bananas to-go for your trip back to Mo-Bay...small world, eh?