01282022 WEEKEND

Friday, January 28, 2022

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Weekend

Bubble Beer soap for men Page 08 + 09

Goombay queen Bahamian kids show snags awards in Cannes

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02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 28, 2022

Life

home

STARK contrasts for best effect

WOOD and white are light and bright. A glass jar vase makes flowers pop

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elcome to ‘Life

by Design’ – How to bring the outdoors inside with little effort, lots of reward Welcome to Life by Design, a place where every week we try to bring a little more light into your life with tips for making the space where you live, work and play exactly what you want it to be. Many of us do not have any idea where to start. Others are on a budget. Some of us are afraid of colour, others cannot get enough. Somewhere in between there is a balance that will suit your taste. And if there is one thing that we all have in common it’s this: You don’t have to be a designer to know what you like when you see it. You know that is the look, feel, texture and sensation that pleases you. You may not know why. You just know it.

So what we will try to do every Friday as you prepare for the weekend is provide tips to help you achieve the effect you desire even if you did not know what you desired to begin with.

We hope you will enjoy the ride to the home or space of your dreams.

We all have to begin somewhere and this week we start with one of the freshest ideas that, ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped to advance, bringing touches of the outside in, an exercise that takes little effort and reaps lots of reward.

Design by

By Brooke Pyfrom

Let’s start with a simple question. Ever notice how your spirits lift when you step outside?

That’s because inhaling fresh air revives the soul. And since nature is the world’s greatest designer, it’s not surprising that bringing more of the outdoors inside has been trending now since COVID-19 when we found ourselves spending more time in our homes.

Whether you went all out and started backyard farming or just added a few leaves to a centerpiece on the table, you are already creating your own oasis. If you’ve not yet begun, do something simple and small, like cutting a fresh flower from the garden to bring inside every day. Or buy a living plant to replace that silk one in the living room you’ve had in there for years and you feel silly dusting.

Choose a room you want to add greenery to. A good place to start is the dining room or wherever you gather to eat. One thing we’ve noticed is the trend to trade traditional centerpieces like silver or brass candlesticks for small ceramic pots. If you love orchids – and who doesn’t – splurge on one that still has unopened buds. Once the orchid is through blooming, take it outside and let it rest until it re-blooms, which it will if not overwatered or totally neglected.

To give your orchids a look that is different and says you have imagination, try placing them in something different, be creative, have a piece of interesting driftwood nestle the pot inside of it,

PALM in wicker basket offers a touch of outdoors or have an interesting oblong shaped vase place the orchids inside of this and decorate the top with moss and or air plants.

You can also create a table arrangement using small ceramic pots and greenery. Take three or five depending on available space and your taste and group them together. Remember art comes in thirds and uneven numbers. Don’t be afraid to be whimsical or colourful. Fill them with leafy lettuce type plants or stem succulents. Plop plants in at different heights. Plants offer a pop of colour and more character than you realise.

Think of your plants as tapestry or fabric and layer different types, colours, heights and textures.

Another benefit of small organic ceramic planters is never having to worry about silver or brass polish and that’s another lesson we learned, the joy of simplifying. In addition to fresh air and natural light, plants offer a healing power which can positively affect your spirit and soul. They impact the way you feel about being in your own space, making it feel even more like home.

Bringing the outside in is one of the least expensive and most satisfying changes you can make to make your home your happy place, your oasis. It sounds so simple and that’s because it is.

• Brooke Pyfrom is the proprietor of Oasis, Sandyport, with furniture, home décor and gifts for the interior, and Oasis, East Shirley Street, contemporary furniture for outdoor living. She sources exceptional pieces from around the world to combine trendy with traditional.

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, January 28, 2022

Does the ‘Fresh Prince’ need a reboot?

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

entertainment

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hether the globally beloved 90s hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of BelAir” – Will Smith’s star-making show – really needs a remake or is now a moot point.

Like so many other faves from the past, a reboot is here in the form of “Bel-Air”, a much grittier version of the light-hearted source material.

The original show which ran from 1990-96, and has been continuously in reruns around the world, has gotten a very dramatic makeover.

The new show evolved from a fan-made trailer written and directed by Morgan Cooper, and posted in March 2019. It went viral for its dark vision of the original show. To date, it has more than seven million views, and more importantly, it caught the attention of Will Smith. He and Cooper are credited as executive producers on the new series.

The reboot introduces all the series’ beloved characters – Will,

NEWCOMER Jabari Banks as the rebooted ‘Fresh Prince’ Ashley, Hilary, Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv, Carlton, and more – but in a different way than they were first presented in the original sitcom.

Though the core plot of the series remains the same – a teenage Will moves from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to have a chance at a new life – deeper, darker issues are addressed this time around.

Bahamian television fans shared their views on the remake of this iconic 90s show.

Jason said he has always loved “The Fresh Prince”. It was always

his go- to when re-runs started playing on Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite segment.

“Whenever I wanted a good laugh I would watch it, and now that it streams on Netflix, I have been watching just about all the episodes.

“As for this reboot, I do not want to knock it before giving it a chance, even though sometimes I feel it’s best to just leave certain shows as they are. But we will see what this remake is all about,” he said.

Delmaria said: “How do you even reboot or remake ‘The Fresh Prince’? It’s iconic. I don’t think no other show captures the essence of Black life in a funny and cool way like the original. But I am a Will Smith fan and I want to see what they come up with.”

Joyce said what made the original show such a hit was its humour “that it is as relevant and funny today.”

“I saw the trailer for the reboot and it just feels too serious of a tone, almost like Jada (Pinkett Smith) found a way to translate the heaviness of Red Table Talk onto it. I’m not excited. Why couldn’t they just leave it in its pure state?

Why do they have to dig deeper into where Will came from? Why do they have to explore what it means to be a Black man in America in this show’s reboot? Couldn’t they just come up with a different show altogether to explore those themes?.”

Damien is hopeful that the show won’t disappoint.

“I think the key is to not watch it expecting it to be the original show.

Yes, the characters played by different people of course are there, but you have to view it as ‘Fresh Prince’ being reimagined. With that thinking you might be able to embrace the reboot,” he said.

‘Goombay Kids’ snags Cannes World Film Festival Awards The Bahamian children’s the MoVi Group, the Valley show Goombay Kids is Boys Junkanoo group, the creating international Ministry of Youth, Sports buzz, with five interand Culture’s Culnational awards now tural Grant and LFD under its belt, includProductions.” ing winning at the The educational Cannes World Film show was created by Festival Awards for Nihon. Supervising Best Web/TV Series, producer of Goomand its creator, Stephbay Kids is Rowena LEAH Eneas anie K Nihon, winning the Poitier-Sutherland, niece of as Mama DLo Best Producer award. legendary Bahamian-AmerThe awards come on the heels of ican actor Sir Sidney Poitier. Serving Leah Eneas winning Best Actress as senior producer is Leslie Ellisfor her character Mama DLo in the Tynes, known for the hit Bahamian UK’s Multi Dimension Film Festival talk show The Stew. and the show winning an award for “The very talented all Bahamian ‘Best TV Pilot’. cast and crew made this vision come “Congratulations to the incredible to life and I am absolutely thrilled writers, director, producers, crew that they have been rewarded and cast whose whole past summer internationally for their hard work was dedicated to making this last and dedication,” said Nihon. “It is season of Goombay Kids a reala great honour to be awarded Best ity,” said Nihon. “We couldn’t have TV Series and Best Producer by done it without the dedication and the Cannes World Film Festival, support from REV Cable Bahamas, which regularly awards well-known

faces through its prestigious awards event.”

Nihon continues to provide opportunities for creatives, using a local cast and crew, including the three stars of the show, child actors Javien Rankine (Netflix’s Mighty Express), Ravyn White and Keara Jones – all with CMM Talent Agency in the Bahamas, as well as actress Leah Eneas (Beneath The Blue, Miracle at St Anna), and director/filmmaker Lanthro Munroe (Coco Studios, Tyler Perry Studios).

The MoVi Group (Orbitz, Miss Universe, HGTV, Atlantis) worked along with Goombay Kids to provide crew, equipment and editors.

“It’s going to sound cliché, but it feels surreal and I still can’t believe it,” said Eneas. “I didn’t even know I had been entered in the category at so many film festivals to begin with, so it was a huge surprise. I feel ‘legit’ now, even though I literally have a degree in performance.”

Eneas graduated from Fisk University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatics and Speech/ Dance and Communications. Her character on Goombay Kids has been compared to Queen Quet of the Gullah Geechee people and Yemaya, a West African deity of motherhood and the ocean.

“This character felt very natural for me to play. Mama DLo sings, crochets and tells stories just like I do,” said Eneas. “She protects the children along with protecting the legends and stories of the African diaspora in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I feel that as the actress playing her, I am passing on the legacy and the stories to all the future Bahamian children in the arts.

She is very important to me and my development as a performer.”

For more information and auditions for the next season, visit @ goombaykids on Facebook or Instagram.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 28, 2022

Bethell

Keva

interview

This first-time author wants to provide children with a fun adventure to help them cope with the global pandemic. She tells Cara Hunt how she hopes to encourage youngsters to read more.

The Tribune | Weekend | 05

Friday, January 28, 2022

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he entire world has been irrecoverably impacted by the coronavirus.

The global COVID19 pandemic has also taken a toll on children, who have been forced to attend school virtually and have not been able to enjoy socialisation.

Many struggled to understand exactly what was going on and why life as they knew it had so drastically changed, to be replaced by constant hand sanitisers, face masks and social distancing, Keva Bethell hopes her debut book “Adventures with Kohen Coronavirus Changes Everything” will help Bahamian kids deal with the stresses of the pandemic and encourage reading.

“Prior to the initial lockdown, the last event that I attended was a child’s birthday, and during the early days of the pandemic all I kept thinking about was how that little boy’s and the lives of all the children really changed because of the coronavirus.

And that was the beginning of the idea that I had for the book. I do think it was a bit of a coping mechanism for me during the pandemic as well,” she told Tribune Weekend.

Writing a children’s book was never something that Keva thought she would do.

“I have always loved writing and I never had a problem writing in school, I loved my language and literature classes and I could easily write descriptive essays. So I do think that it was something that was just always inside of me,” she said.

Professionally, she has written for textbooks, particularly in science subjects, but it took the pandemic to bring out her artistic side as a children’s author.

She said writing the book gave her the chance to combine four things she is passionate about into one creative medium: her faith, science, her love of children and her love of literature.

This first book starts a planned series, she explained, that will follow the adventures of a young Bahamian boy named Kohen who lives in the Bahamas and has just celebrated his fifth birthday party when the COVID-19 pandemic hits.

“The narrative spirals into the peak of the pandemic and all the changes that accompany it. Kohen depends on the support of his

family - especially the creativity of his grandmother - to cope with the changes but fears the worst. Will he and Maximus ever play together again? How can he and his dad be together while apart?”

This simple story idea turned into an almost two-year labour of love.

“It has definitely been a rigorous project. I came up with the idea for the book in April of 2020 and it was just released last week Thursday, so it’s been just under two years. And there were times when I was looking for a publisher; that it was very discouraging,” she said.

Additionally, she said that the process was very costly.

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rior to the initial lockdown, the last event that I attended was a child’s birthday, and during the early days of the pandemic all I kept thinking about was how that little boy’s and the lives of all the children really changed because of the coronavirus.”

“If you are thinking about publishing a book that is a big thing to consider, because paying the publisher, printing and shipping costs all have to be subtracted from any profits that you will make,” she said.

That being said, she encourages anyone who is interested in writing and publishing to follow their passion and to go for it.

“If you believe in something then you should keep trying and see it

through. Every dream comes with its challenges,” she said.

Keva was very pleased with the publishing company which ended up picking up the book – Trilogy Christian Publishing. The company is an affiliate of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Trilogy offers its authors access to more than 50 years of combined publishing experience and promotional opportunities via the TBN Family of Networks.

“Partnering with them will help me gain access to retailers all over the world,” she said.

Keva said her book is geared to young readers aged three to nine years old.

She has already started writing follow-up stories and has been in talks with her publisher for additional books.

“I really want this book to encourage young people to start reading, but more importantly, I want this book to help them as they deal with

this pandemic. This is history in the making and the children who are going through this pandemic and how they cope with it are a big part of the history of this.,” she said.

“In every book, Kohen will also have an adventure he has to get through and he will learn a message along the way, so that the children can learn a message or moral as they read.”

Keva said it is very important that Bahamian children be able to see themselves represented in the books they read.“So I hope they will enjoy this story about a little Bahamian boy who is a lot like them. The response to the book so far has been wonderful,” she said.

She is also excited to share the book with readers from all over the world so that they can to get a firsthand glimpse of what childhood is like in the Bahamas.

For more information or to order the book, you can contact the author at adventureswithkohen@gmail.com

26 Stun reversed kernels (4) 27 Some steel isn’t salesrun (9)

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

down: 2 Opinion; 3 Stretch; 4 Electric torch; 6 Leisure; 7 Sincere; 8 Demand; 13 Induced; 14 Tillage; 15 Excite; 16 Scapula; 17 Younger.

● The Target uses words in the main body of Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (1999 edition)

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TODAY’S TARGET Good 9; very good 13; excellent 17 (or more). Solution tomorrow

Yesterday’s call 0907 181 2585 Sudoku Answer for today’s target solution *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

BATTLESHIPS Across 1 Study criticism (10) 6 Violently attacks container vessels (4) 10 I get on both sides of the plant (5) 11 It’s up to a cafe to provide hot drink (1,3,2,3) 12 Where to enjoy the pleasures of the slippery path (3,5) 13 Work to make some dough (5) 15 Absorbing business transactions? (7) 17 One said to swear or turn into a drunkard (7) 19 Not pictured as sheathed (7) 21 Role man arranged as a charity worker (7) 22 Farewell announcement that is socially acceptable (5) 24 Dog raves after fruit (8) 27 Sid cheats badly and is punished (9) 28 Victor out West is a pretty good shot (5) 29 The location provides a sound view (4) 30 Stream of notes composed

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Down 1 Cheat on the board (4) Across: 1 Chamois, 5 Basis, 8 Bombshell, 9 Oil, 10 Edgy, 2 Didn’t display the same 12 Unsettle, 14 Bonsai, 15 Die brilliance all the time (9) out, 17 Sounding, 18 Snap, 21 Fan, 22 Booby trap, 24 Large, 3 Birds which need some 25 Disobey. bigger nests (5) Down: 1 Cable, 2 Aim, 3 Oust, 4 Home-brewing accessories 4 Seeing, 5 Bulletin, 6 Shoot down, 7 Salient, 11 Gunrunner, (7) 13 Laudable, 14 Bashful, 5 There’s no let-up for the 16 Untold, 19 Poppy, 20 Ayes, 23 Rib. rich (7) 7 Sort of nut that is loose maybe (5) 8 They’re not good reporters (10) Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution 9 Devourer of knowledge (8) Across: 1 Exhumed, 5 Prose, 14 Ill-used vehicles (10) 8 Cold frame, 9 Fit, 10 Lean, 16 It’s clear the girl has a cute 12 Comedown, 14 Raffia, 15 Actors, 17 No change, 18 Iris, wiggle (8) 21 Obi, 22 Innkeeper, 24 Nancy, 18 They are a sorry lot (9) 25 Stirrup.

20 Capital one invested in new Down: 1 Excel, 2 Hal, 3 Miff, 4 Dragon, 5 Presence, 6 Offcasino (7) colour, 7 Extends, 11 Affection, 21 Shorten a river crossing?

13 Hilarity, 14 Run down, 16 Agents, 19 Strap, 20 Peri, (7) 23 Par. 23 Spilling a pint - clumsy (5) 25 It’s taken for granted at ten to ten in the morning (5) 26 He serves cooked rice (4) Down Across 1 Pay attention to (4) 1 Having weak 2 Idiosyncrasy (9) 6 7 8 character (5-5) 3 Seagoing pleasure 6 Roman god of 9 craft (5) war (4) 4 Distress severely 10 Bracing (5) (7) 11 Belligerent person 5 In a violent rage (7) (4-5) 7 In the style of (5) 13 12 Straddle (8) 8 Well versed in 13 Curt (5) urban living (10) 9 Rapid disastrous 15 No Clue 18 collapse (8) 17 Expertise (4-3) 14 Irritability (10) 19 Mastery (7) 16 Celestial (8) 21 Seek opinions of 18 Initial advantage (7) (4,5) 22 Point in question 20 Make out (7) 25 (5) 21 Chuckle gleefully 24 Snooty (8) 26 (7) 27 High-spirited (9) 23 Skin diving 28 apparatus (5) 28 Sprang (5) 25 Down river from 29 Burglar’s booty (4) (5) 30 Submarine (10) 26 Commotion (4)

EASY PUZZLE

FIND where the fleet of ships shown is hidden in the grid. The numbers to the right of and below the grid indicate how many of the squares in that row are filled in with ships or parts of ships. The ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some squares have been filled in to start you off.

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HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here? in making a word, each letter may be used once only. each must contain the centre letter and there must be at least one nine-letter word. no plurals.

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Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so the each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

A C H R X A A V

Friday, January 28, 2022

TARGET Best described as a number crossword, the task in Kakuro is to fill all of the empty squares, using numbers 1 to 9, so the sum of each horizontal block equals the number to its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the number on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Kakuro increases from Monday to Sunday.

N I A F Z Q S V

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The Tribune | Weekend | 07

Friday, January 28, 2022

Margaritaville makes a comeback with new Bahamian-inspired menu

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

food

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ith a new Bahamian-inspired menu, new live entertainment acts and an outdoor waterfront venue, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Bahamas is back in the game.

The Paradise Island spot is among several local restaurants which have reopened with new safety accommodations in place.

Margaritaville’s new general manager Ray Morrison said when the restaurant was first opened

by Bahamian restaurateur Peter Maury in 2015, it immediately gained a tremendous local following. And now, as people get used to the ‘new normal’, the Margaritaville team is repositioning the brand to once again appeal to locals.

They are doing this, in part, with a new menu which features customer favourites like lobster poppers and ahi poke nachos, as well as conch bites, island cracked conch, Bahamian style snapper with sides like peas and rice and macaroni.

“There is a wonderful fusion with a combination of Margaritaville’s signature dishes like the Cheeseburger in Paradise and Volcano Nachos, which you would get exclusively at Margaritaville, but also there are those amazing Bahamian-inspired options, conch bites and jumbo lobster tails for the real seafood aficionado, plus our unique fresh catch of the day option,” said Mr Morrison.

In addition to the revamped menu, he said they’ve made changes to their entertainment offerings.

“We have launched an exciting schedule of entertainment options for the first quarter, focused on all demographics. People can come on out and enjoy our karaoke night, which happens every Thursday starting at 7pm, live Bahamian bands and much more,” he said.

Performing for the first time at Margaritaville last Saturday was the band Static B. Lead singer

FOOTBALL Platter Special

FISH tacos with sweet potato fries

BBQ Ribs

MARGARITAVILLE Salad

Dee The Entertainer said it was an amazing experience.

“We are used to a sit-down crowd, making them get up and actually interact with us, that is our specialty. We make those who wouldn’t normally get up feel comfortable enough to do so,” she said.

They have two songs playing on the radio at moment, “Told You I Was Coming” and “Venom”.

“This was almost like an official audition and we are hoping for only good things, and we are trying

to lock down a sustainable contract,” said Dee. “We appreciate the fact that Margaritaville has a natural following and it introduces us to possible new fans.”

Mr Morrison said Margaritaville is more than just a restaurant; it is a lifestyle brand. “(In addition to) great, fun, interactive activities, our dedicated staff is knowledgeable and has tons of personality. We believe in having fun at work, because it’s contagious. When we have fun, it carries

over to our guest experience,” he said.

“We have seen a great local response with our new Bahamian menu items and our extraordinary outdoor venue with exciting events.

We have a wonderful buzz and locals are rediscovering us. The hardships of this pandemic have affected all of us, but it is great to step away from reality from time to time in a responsible way that can provide a diversion from the daily schedule, to hit the reset button and sip margaritas.”

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 28, 2022

Friend or foe: the braconid wasp

G

ood day gardeners!

Recently, a friend sent me a photo of what can be best described as a white blob on their papaya plant, to ask for identification on what it was. I was stumped as I had rarely come across such an odd-looking thing.

After a bit of research, I found that the white foamy looking substance was in fact the cocoon of a beneficial insect known as the braconid wasp.

insect, as small as that may seem to some, this is all a crucial part of the cycle of life. As much as I love tomatoes and fresh greens, there are tolerances that I have for so called pests, and my first option is to plant more. If I plant more than I need, then so-called pests become less of an issue right away. If I follow an integrated pest management programme that encourages the use of beneficial insects, increases damage tolerances, and uses minimal amounts of pesticides where possible. With the presence of some insect pests, we also encourage the presence of beneficial insects, those that help us, directly. So, to wrap things up cocoon like, you see, even the strangest of insects may be one of your hardest working helpers in the garden. The commercial grower has increased pressure to keep harmful pests at bay, and there is

gardening

What is a braconid wasp and why is it important to know?

The braconid wasp is what is considered a parasitoid insect, meaning that its lifecycle is dependent upon a host insect. In the case of the Braconid wasp, the list of detrimental or harmful host insects that it seeks out, is long.

Braconids seek out their prey and lay their eggs on or in a host insect, and eventually the larvae destroy the target pest insect by eating it from the inside out, ah the horrors!

Some, but not all of the host insects include tomato hornworms, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, stinkbugs and squash bugs. That being said, the braconid wasp is a great insect to promote and to have around, as it is doing most of the pest control work for you.

If you enjoy growing tomato or cabbage, these plants commonly host or are affected by many of the listed host or prey insects of the braconid wasp and so it becomes even more valuable to the garden.

For many of us, the initial reaction upon seeing something unknown is to spray pesticides or to remove the affected plant parts in the case that it may be a detrimental pest.

This can disrupt the balance of the garden, and often times leads to the destruction of a harmonious garden space and creates imbalance by eradicating beneficial insects. Identifying an insect ought to be the first step, long before taking action to remove or destroy said unknown creature or object.

So before using Bacillus thuringiensis or Spinosad, or (loathe) a toxic chemical (Malathion for example, how is this still legal?!) to indiscriminately spray the garden, it is always advised to thoroughly scout the garden for signs of beneficial insects such as braconid wasps,

lacewing, lady bugs, mealy bug destroyer, etcetera.

Just because something is crawling or flying around desired plants does not mean that the plant needs to be treated with anything that kills. After all, are we not stewards of the earth? Or are we the destroyers? Garden pest identification, control or promotion is a simple step in the choice between earth steward and earth destroyer.

It is that simple. Everything in the garden has a purpose, even those pesky aphids or caterpillars are food for other critical insects that act as food for something bigger (or smaller!) and it most likely will not benefit your garden or the bigger picture for eradication to be the initial go-to action. And around we go.

I would not rest until I identified the white blob, as I certainly do not wish to see the eradication of a beneficial

an entire industry that provides beneficial insects to commercial growers to aid in maintaining the market value of a plant. When these beneficial insects show up in our yards uninvited, it is balance and harmony presenting itself to us. I do not know the local rates of occurrence of the braconid wasp in our islands. I have only stumbled across this recently and I am interested to know if any of you have seen this in your own gardens, yards, or in the bush. And there’s an introduction to the braconid wasp and their strange looking white blobs. As always, I wish you happy gardening!

• Adam Boorman is the nursery manager at the Fox Hill Nursery.

You can contact him with any questions you may have, or topics you would like to see discussed, at gardening242@gmail.com.

The Tribune | Weekend | 11

Friday, January 28, 2022

Yah Doctrine promotes message of unity on new single

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

music

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AHAMIAN artist Yah Doctrine hopes his new song can set the tone for the year by encouraging unity and helping people see they are all one.

The reggae artist has released his new single “One People”, which he hopes gets the message across in an impactful way.

“One People” started as a recording project last year and eventually was ready for release early 2022. The inspirational tune is picking up steam and getting airplay on the local airwaves.

The main goal with this song, Yah told Tribune Weekend, is to encourage collaboration over competition.

“The single and upcoming album speaks to humanity. I am asking for everyone to work at being more connected in harmony with their neighbours. For example, for Bahamians to see how they can better collaborate with our Caribbean/regional families such Barbados, Haiti and Jamaica. Perhaps they can help us learn how to manufacture goods locally and then we can form mutually beneficial relationships,” he said.

“People tend to see their differences as opposed to seeing how we can meet on common ground. Our wants may be extensive, but our needs are finite. We all share a common need for food, shelter, safety, community and inner fulfillment.”

In addition to his message of unity, Yah believes what makes “One People” resonate with listeners is its musicality. The sound, he said, is unique. It is a “melodic, catchy rootsreggae song that uses Bahamian dialect to convey

a message of planetary oneness.”

“It also touches on current world themes such as putting a stop to manipulation by the global elite.

It touches on prophesies and deception, plus on

overcoming these obstacles on the way to enlightenment or Zion,” he said.

There will be also be an accompanying music video to underscore and amplify the song’s message.

“I am currently in the editing stages of the music video’s creation, filmed mostly while visiting Switzerland last November for work,” said Yah. This latest release builds on the momentum Yah

Doctrine had established last year.

“I have been consistently releasing new music,” he said.

In 2020, it was the ‘Love and Revolution’ album featuring most recently the single ‘Forgiveness’.

The music video for ‘Forgiveness’ premiered internationally on the website Reggaeville on November 15, 2021, garnering over 8,000 views thus far.

“By December 21, 2021, I released ‘The Poster Child’ mixtape hosted by Zion Sound International which has been gaining more popularity in the underground scene, even building momentum in some overseas territories,” he said.

And even as this year is just beginning, Yah said he will as diligently as he can ensure his music is being heard and received by those with an appetite for his unique sound.

“I want to continue to access the orange economy along the road to building supporting platforms for creatives. We need steady bookings on a yearly basis that can bring more artists closer to having sustainable careers. With this in mind I hope to inspire other business-minded creatives to be managers, publicists and booking agents. I am branching out in terms of the art I create.

So my goal is to continue to develop the ‘Speak Fa Yah Self’ podcast. This show is dedicated to promoting Bahamian art and addressing interesting topics. I expect for the podcast to do really well as the word gets out. As I continue to mature, I hope to further aid in the development of the Bahamian industry,” he said.

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Literary lives – CHER

The goddess of pop Part II

Sir Christopher Ondaatje continues the extraordinary career of Cher Sarkisian, the singer, actress and television personality who has enjoyed decades-long success.

“I’m insecure about everything, ... because I’m never going to look in the mirror and see this blond blue-eyed girl. That is my idea of what I’d like to look like.”

- Cher In 1974, Cher won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. She was divorcing her husband whose own The Sonny Comedy Revue was cancelled after a mere thirteen weeks. During her divorce proceedings she had a two-year romantic relationship with David Geffen, who was at the time only a record executive. He helped sever her business relationship with Sonny Bono, and secured a $2.5 million contract for her with Warner Bros. Records.

“I don’t need a man. But I’m happier with one.

I like to have someone I can touch and squeeze and kiss. But I don’t fold up and die if I don’t have a man around.”

- Cher Cher’s first record with Warner Bros. Records was Stars, which wasn’t commercially successful.

She was trying to copy artists like Elton John, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. It didn’t work.

On February 16, 1975, Cher returned to television with a CBS show called Cher produced

by David Geffen, with guest stars Flip Wilson, Elton John and Bette Midler. Critical reception was good.

CHER wins the ‘Best Actress’ Oscar for ‘Moonstruck’ in 1987

Her show lasted less than a year and was surprisingly replaced by another show where she was professionally re-united with ex-husband Sonny. It was a disaster.

On June 30, 1975, four days after finalising her divorce from Sonny, Cher married the rock musician Greg Allman. She filed for divorce nine days later because of his heroin addiction and liquor problems, but they reconciled within a month. They had one son Elijah Blue on July 10, 1976.

Cher continued to make albums between 1976 and 1979 whether they were profitable or not. She was a single mother with two children and had to make a decision about what to do with her singing career. In 1979, she produced Prisoner which cover featured an almost nude Cher draped in chains - but it caused a backlash from feminist groups who saw her as a sex slave.

She then formed a rock band Black Rose with her then lover guitarist Les Dudek. The band and their album of the same name failed in 1981, but during its active period she was a resident in Las Vegas, earning $300,000 a week at Caesars Palace. The show eventually became Cher’s first world tour as a solo artist, with concerts in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

Restless, thirty-six years old, with decreasing album sales and no commercially successful singles, Cher decided to develop her acting career.

No one took her seriously “I was making a fortune on the road, but I was dying inside ...”

- Cher So she moved to New York in 1982 to take acting lessons with Lee Strasberg – founder of the Actors Studio – but never enrolled as she auditioned for and was signed by director Robert Altman for the Broadway production of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, playing a member of the twenty-year reunion of the James Dean fan club. Altman cast her again in the film adaptation.

“Without Bob Altman I would never have had a film career. Everyone told him not to cast me.

- Cher Quite suddenly everything changed. Mike Nichols saw her onstage in Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and offered her the part of Dolly Pelliker, a co worker and Meryl Streep’s lesbian roommate in the film Silkwood. When the film premiered in 1983 Cher was in the audience when they laughed on seeing her name in the film credits. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

In 1985, Cher formed her own film production company, and her next film Mask (1985) reached number two at the box office. She played a drug addict freewheeling biker with a teenage son who had a severe physical deformity – carniodiaphyseal dysplasia. It was her first critical and commercial success and she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.

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live tracks taken from the tour was released in 2003 and attracted seventeen million viewers. It was the highest rated network-TV concert special of 2003, and earned Cher the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. The Farewell Tour ended in 2005 by which time it had become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, seen by over three and a half million viewers. She did not stop. After three years of retirement she began in 2008 a three-year, two hundred performance residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, for which she earned a reported $60 million.

Cher starred in three films in 1987. In Suspect she played a public defender who is romanced by a juror in the homicide case she is handling. Next, with Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, she starred as one of three divorcees involved with a mysterious and wealthy visitor (Jack Nicholson) who comes to a small New England town, in the comedy-horror The Witches of Eastwick. In the third Norman Jewison romantic comedy Moonstruck she played an Italian widow in love with her fiancé’s younger brother. The last two films ranked among the highest grossing films of 1987.

“Moonstruck offers further proof that Cher has evolved into the kind of larger-than-life movie star who’s worth watching whatever she does.”

In Burlesque (2010), now sixty-four years old, she made her first musical film since Good Times in 1967, and recorded the power ballad from the film’s soundtrack “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me”. It reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs in January 2011, and made her the only artist ever to have a number one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades from the 1960s to the 2010s.

- Janet Mastin The New York Times Cher won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award – also for Best Actress in Moonstruck. By 1988, she had become one of the most bankable actresses of the decade, commanding $1 million a film. That year, 1988, she released the fragrance Uninhibited, which earned $15 million in its first year.

“I don’t know what else I would be if I wasn’t me.

I am not looking from the outside, looking back, I am who I am.”

- Cher

By the end of the 1980s Cher was getting attention for her controversial lifestyle, including her tattoos, plastic surgeries, exhibitionist fashion sense, and affairs with younger men. She had romantic relationships with Val Kilmer, Eric Stoltz, Tom Cruise, hockey player Ron Duguay, film producer Josh Donen, guitarist Richie Sambora and Rob Camiletti – a bagel baker eighteen years her junior whom she dated from 1986 to 1989.

In 2013, Cher made her twenty-fifth studio album Closer to the Truth, and embarked on yet another “Dressed to Kill” tour in March 2014, nearly a decade after announcing her “Farewell tour”. She quipped that this would definitely be her last – while crossing fingers. The first leg of the tour included forty-nine sold-out shows in North America and grossed $54.9 million. In November 2014, she cancelled all remaining dates because of an infection that affected her kidney function.

“I’m from a gypsy background! Anyone who’s a great kisser I’m always interested in.”

- Cher She seemed indestructible. Her nineteenth studio album Heart of Stone (1989) was certified triple platinum. The music video for its second single “If I Could Turn Back Time” caused untold controversy because of her performance on the battleship USS Missouri, straddling a canon, and wearing a leather thong that revealed her tattooed buttocks. She didn’t care, and the song topped the Australian charts for seven weeks, and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It became one of her most successful singles. She embarked on a Heart of Stone tour in 1989. Cher at the Mirage (1991) was filmed during a concert in Las Vegas.

After the success of Moonstruck, Cher was overly cautious about her next film career move.

She turned down leading roles in The War of the Roses and Thelma and Louise. In the early 1990s she contracted the Epstein-Barr virus and developed chronic fatigue which left her too exhausted to sustain her music and film careers. Instead she launched health, beauty and diet products which earned her over $10 million in fees. Literally anything she did earned money and her skits were parodied in Saturday Night Live. She made cameo

CHER with Greg Allman appearances in the Robert Altman films The Player (1992) and Prȇt-à-Porter (1994), and topped the UK Singles Chart in 1995 with “Love Can Build a Bridge”, and followed it with the release of It’s a Man’s World (1995).

In 1996, now fifty years old, Cher played the wife of a businessman who hires a hitman to murder her in the dark comedy Faithful, and made her directional debut in the abortion-themed If These Walls Could Talk (1996) which attracted over seven million viewers.

In June 2002, Cher embarked on the “Living Proof: The Farewell Tour” announced as the final live concert tour of her career. By October 2003 it had grossed $145 million from two hundred shows, playing to over two million fans. A collection of

In 2018, Cher returned to film the romantic musical comedy film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Cher starred as Ruby Sheridan - the grandmother of Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, and the mother of Donna, portrayed by Meryl Streep. Cher recorded two ABBA songs for the film’s soundtrack, “Fernando” and “Super Trouper”. Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA commented: “She makes Fernando her own. It’s her song now.”

Cher is now one of the wealthiest female musical entertainers in the music business with a fortune approaching $500 million. She has announced that she will be making cover versions of every one of the ABBA songs and has no intention of cutting short her extraordinary show business career.

No one has the slightest idea what she will do next.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; CHER: A Biography (1986) by J Randy Taraborrelli; and The First Time (1998) by Cher (with Jeff Coplon).

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Trans Island Airways – the original Part I

history

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hanks to the photo of the front cover of my book, The Island Airman, in the January 7 Forgotten Facts article, I received a lot of questions and comments about Trans Island Airways (1970-1992) and how it fits into Bahamian aviation history.

Before TIA went out of business, it was the oldest operating air service in the Bahamas, some three years older than Bahamasair.

Closing TIA was a traumatic event, mitigated only by its resurrection by my son, Paul Francis Aranha. But this article is about the ‘original’ TIA, the brainchild of David Sumner, Pierre Dion and Frank Treco (all three deceased). I was not a founder of TIA. Sumner and Dion, proprietors of Tropical Exterminators Ltd, planned to introduce aerial spraying to the Bahamas. In 1970, with Frank Treco, they found themselves in the air-taxi business, but business was very slow, until Bahamas Airways stopped flying, TIA had its ups and downs and, in 1973, Leonard Thompson and Gill Hensler, two experienced seaplane pilots, contracted to run the company for 12 months with an option to buy. During their time, TIA operated its only seaplane, a Grumman Goose amphibian.

This weekend in history January 28

• In 1547, Henry VIII, England’s notorious Tudor King remembered for divorcing two of his wives and beheading two, as well as breaking away from the Catholic Church, dies at age 55. He is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI.

DeHavilland Dove, Cessna 172, Douglas DC-3, an Enstrom helicopter, evolving into a fleet of four five-passenger Aztecs and two nine-passenger Islanders, painted white with yellow and brown. This developed into predominantly yellow with white and brown to make them easier for our passengers to recognise.

To be continued next week...

THE FUSELAGE of the Grumman Goose was white with a yellow stripe; engines were painted yellow, and as an accent therewas chocolate-brown trim

1970S TIA kiosk The option to buy expired in 1974 and the shareholders (David Sumner, Pierre Dion, Patricia Treco and Arnold Cargill) contracted with me to take over as

general manager and chief pilot, as of June 1 that year.

I inherited an experienced maintenance department, headed

by Michael ‘Butch” Lockhart and Sherman ‘SJ’ Johnson; a well-oiled reservations/scheduling team led

by Wendy Ann Holland and a hard-working porter. The small fleet of five-passenger Piper PA-2325 Aztecs were in need of TLC. The immediate need for more pilots was alleviated when my friend, Godfrey ‘Gully’ Culmer, who passed away in December, asked for a job. Gully and SJ remained with TIA until the company went out of business in 1992.

Over the years, TIA operated a variety of planes – Beechcraft 18, Britten-Norman Islander,

Canaveral and 73 seconds later explodes in air. All seven members of the crew, including the first ordinary US citizen to travel into space, high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, are killed.

• 1813, one of the world’s most famous novels is published: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. Initially, it was published anonymously.

• In 1886, engineer and inventor Karl Benz patents the “Benz Patent Motorwagen” in Germany, the world’s first automobile with a burning motor. In 1926, his company merged with the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz which produces the Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

• In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Cape

• In 1920, famous animator and entrepreneur Walt Disney starts

PAUL C ARANHA

FORGOTTEN FACTS following the end of the First English Civil War. Charles’ side, the Royalists who believed is absolute monarchy, lost to the Parliamentarians who backed a constitutional monarchy.

January 29

• In 1595, William Shakespeare’s famous play “Romeo and Juliet” is thought to have been performed for the first time. It was officially published two years later.

• For questions and comments, please send an e-mail to islandairman@gmail. com

JANE Austen (1775 - 1817) work as an artist with the Kansas City Slide Company for $40 a week. This is where he produces his first animated shorts called “laugh-o-grams” and learns the animation principles which will inspire all his future films.

January 30

• In 1649, King Charles I of England is beheaded for treason

• In 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor.

His former World War I colleague General Erich Ludendorff sends a letter to Hindenburg, stating “this accursed man (Hitler) will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery.”

• In 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, is assassinated in New Dehli by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse Godse, who opposed Gandhi’s tolerance of Muslims, was tried and executed in 1949.

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Animal matters Kim Aranha

PET OF THE WEEK

animals

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here is presently an article circulating on Facebook written by a veterinarian that deals with euthanasia. I was unable to finish reading it. The raw emotion and truth expressed in that article was more that I was able to deal with. Very rapidly I could feel the tears coming.

This article doesn’t deal with the euthanasia that most of us have to face – the compassionate act of helping a sick animal over the Rainbow Bridge because they have reached the end of their earthly lives and there is no more that can be done for them after every possible intervention has been attempted . Both Chief and Buddy were assisted that way. They were 15 years old and greatly loved, and because of how much we loved them, we helped them go rather than spend an extra day or two suffering.

However, there is another very harsh and devastating side to euthanasia, a side that breaks compassionate animal-care providers hearts in two; a horrible cold and cruel reality that makes veterinarians all over the world shudder.

The euthanasia of healthy animals who have done nothing more than be born and become inconvenient; animals who have been let down by none other than humans.

This vet describes the sad moment when he has to end their lives and they greet him with such excitement because they think he is there to play.

Please read that line again, a heartwrenching situation: That animal, frequently a dog, jumping up and down in excitement to play only to be killed. It makes me so angry.

This mental picture is so vividly stamped in my mind that I lie in my bed at 2.22am and write this piece on my phone because I cannot get that image out of my mind. It has to stop, and it can.

Humans thoughtlessly let millions of companion animals be bred and born every year, dogs and cats that end up in shelters around the world, languishing, waiting for homes they never get, only to be killed because of

PHOTO/ LINDA GILL-ARANHA

A serious problem

man’s inability to get it right.

The Bahamas Humane Society, a no kill shelter, has hundreds of dogs and cats whose birth could have been avoided. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars caring for these wretched and unwanted souls. We feed them, treat them for heart worm, erlichiosis, ringworm, and we struggle and scrounge to find the funds to make them healthy, to give them a chance to find the loving, happy home they deserve.

Well over half the human population just doesn’t care two hoots about animals. They feel no compassion for them, zero empathy, yet persist in resisting spay and neuter programmes that would alleviate the suf-

An inquisitive friend

By The Bahamas Humane Society

Amie is one of the many kittens available for adoption at the Bahamas Humane Society. This young lady’s about three months old and is very inquisitive and curious about the world around her. Her two brothers were adopted last weekend, and she’d really like to be the next to find that special home of her own. Have you ever needed a new friend (Ami is French for friend) in your life?

Amie might be the match for you!

Call 323-5138 for more information about Amie or fering - simply idiotic pushback that these animals should be allowed to reproduce, an irresponsible mindset that they deserve the right to a “sex life” and the “experience” of parenthood…at what cost?

This inane stupidity is unfathomable. How can anybody on earth think it is a good thing to have millions of animals born to suffer, live aimlessly and die either from euthanasia or sickness?

Returning to the deplorable image that keeps me awake, I think of the owners who abandon their pets or surrender them because they don’t have time, or they bark too much or not enough, having a baby or changing apartments or leaving town, these

any of the other adoption animals at the BHS. Amie looks forward to meeting you!

• The BHS Thrift Shop is open and ready to sell you all kinds of wonderful things. Books, clothing, housewares, giftware, art, and much more! Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 11am to 3pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm. Bring your bag!Tickets are $5 each or a book of 21 for $100.

Available at the BHS or Fox Hill Nursery.

are the dogs and cats in cages desperate for homes, lost, confused and frightened because man has let them down with his inability of keeping a simple commitment.

These are the people that cause veterinarians around the world to have to kill innocent, healthy animals whose only sin was to get in the way.

Inane breeding has to stop. This country has to come to terms with the explosion of unwanted cats and dogs at every corner who simply would not exist if we got our act together and have a national spay and neuter programme; it is not rocket science.

It costs money, yes, it needs to be properly run and once the majority of animals have been fixed - smaller constant clinics dedicated to spay and neuter could be maintained. In a matter of five years, we could see a huge difference.

The human population of this little paradise has to stop pushing back, we have to stop breeding pets and then not wanting them anymore. We need to understand the meaning of responsible animal ownership. Am I preaching to the converted in my column or am I rallying the troops who will lobby their government representatives to help us do something productive?

I spend my life begging people to dig deep into their pockets to help us help those innocent victims.

The shelter is full of animals who are lonely, confused, scared and need homes. If we are not part of the solution, we are automatically part of the problem. There is a way out and you can help make it happen.

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