Post by skitter on Oct 23, 2007 16:48:58 GMT 1
One afternoon I wander into the derelict synagogue on Montague Road in Dalston looking a draw of herb.
Now Montague Road is a turning just off Sandringham Road, the centre of Jamaican activity in north and east London, and due to pressure on Hackney Council the derelict synagogue presently houses a community of these expatriates, mostly youth, who generally hang about the place by day, playing dominoes, chatting among themselves, selling weed, listening to Josey Wales sound tapes and generally keeping happily occupied. In the back of this building is housed a recording studio presided over by Coxsone Dodd's cousin Syd Bucknor and several of the centre's leading spirits like record producer Clancy Collins and singer Gene Rondo. In the studio this afternoon is a session conducted by Ruddy Ranks and Red Eye for their boss Ribs of Unity Hi Power and prominent in the musical mix are idren like Kenny Knots, Mikey Merican, Junior Frass and others I don't recognise.
With spliff in hand and ears alert, I spend half an hour or so reasoning with Syd on the subject of music and with Gene on the subject of Ras Tafari. I then take my leave and step outside into the huge yards that fronts the former place of worship, intending to make my way back to Stoke Newington where I live.
As I saunter across the yard, I sight Ranking Dread engaged in a solo game of football, while on the floor near him a child of five is howling for the return of his ball. Meanwhile, the child's mother is telling it to shush as she watches the scene nervously. I see at a glance that Dread has taken the child's football and that the mother is terrified to confront him on the matter.
As Dread dribbles the ball about the yard, I tackle him and win the ball and speed away with it, but Dread is no slouch and soon has the ball back in his possession. I come again, win the ball a second time, flick it in the air and deftly roll it into the path of the still sobbing child. Dread allows the merest flicker of a smile to flicker across his lips, then shrugs his shoulders, turns and walks away.
Penny Reel
Now Montague Road is a turning just off Sandringham Road, the centre of Jamaican activity in north and east London, and due to pressure on Hackney Council the derelict synagogue presently houses a community of these expatriates, mostly youth, who generally hang about the place by day, playing dominoes, chatting among themselves, selling weed, listening to Josey Wales sound tapes and generally keeping happily occupied. In the back of this building is housed a recording studio presided over by Coxsone Dodd's cousin Syd Bucknor and several of the centre's leading spirits like record producer Clancy Collins and singer Gene Rondo. In the studio this afternoon is a session conducted by Ruddy Ranks and Red Eye for their boss Ribs of Unity Hi Power and prominent in the musical mix are idren like Kenny Knots, Mikey Merican, Junior Frass and others I don't recognise.
With spliff in hand and ears alert, I spend half an hour or so reasoning with Syd on the subject of music and with Gene on the subject of Ras Tafari. I then take my leave and step outside into the huge yards that fronts the former place of worship, intending to make my way back to Stoke Newington where I live.
As I saunter across the yard, I sight Ranking Dread engaged in a solo game of football, while on the floor near him a child of five is howling for the return of his ball. Meanwhile, the child's mother is telling it to shush as she watches the scene nervously. I see at a glance that Dread has taken the child's football and that the mother is terrified to confront him on the matter.
As Dread dribbles the ball about the yard, I tackle him and win the ball and speed away with it, but Dread is no slouch and soon has the ball back in his possession. I come again, win the ball a second time, flick it in the air and deftly roll it into the path of the still sobbing child. Dread allows the merest flicker of a smile to flicker across his lips, then shrugs his shoulders, turns and walks away.
Penny Reel
