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Reggae For Life ~ Movie Funding

8/30/2016

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​"Reggae For Life ~ The 13 Chapters

I was indoctrinated into reggae music being born Jamaican.  Yet not every Jamaican loves reggae like I do, yet a LARGE portion of us view this not as a genre but a life and a lifestyle.  The “life” of reggae is an everyday movement, from the way we walk, the rhythm of said walk, the way we talk, RasTafari (for me and some not for everyone), self expression, the intellectual capacity of the lyrical content in the music,  and an affinity to speak plainly the truths that we see to educate a worldwide populous.

As a youth walking the streets of Kingston, playing ball all over the city, one cannot get to any community or ball park where tunes aren’t thumping from speakers hooked up in all kinds of ways, from ‘borrowed electricity, to a truck battery hook up or a generator, to blaze the music across the park or in a dance.  Ball and reggae for me was one thing (still is to this day).  Back then being a baller gave you as much ratings as a top artist.   I liked the way elders and peers would view me as a youth when I came to the park.  It was an honor to strive for.

The ability of the colonial ideologies that block the earning power of the practitioners of reggae from earning the way other genre’s artists may earn is the path that I am searching to find answers for.  “They” tell us who to revere and who to like and who the best reggae artist” is based on some horse shit criteria that they invent.  Nah sah, dem do not set I standards for I man!

Being a reggae soldier is a life.  It is a calling.  It is a life responsibility that guides my path.  I have felt the ‘power’ of reggae as it strengthens me and many around this planet.  Even with the tyranny, through the music, all music, there are those tiny pockets of relief or solace we find in the ‘escapism of sound’.  Reggae music is a touch of country and western, jazz, classical, the blues, rock and roll.  Reggae shines through to so many different races, forming that common link of the spirit without forcing rules and laws to govern except for love, truth and honor.  Sure, as humans we fall well short of many of those ideals yet they are positive reassurances every time you hear those tunes...

Chapter 1...”

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I will be interviewing several of my fans, friends, peers, public officials shedding light on the challenges that reggae music faces globally with the greatest focus here in Toronto, Canada.
​

This will be what I hope to be my first in a series of stories / films in the years to come as I learn to tell my own story and not have it handed to me by some babylonian as has been my  his-story.
Within that vein, I will be seeking funding opportunities, for which some of you know, CRW has produced our own branding and product lines.  Reggae Lane and 876ers lines can be purchased online at www.reggaelane.org. 

​Some of my supporters who keep me going fiscally as well as spiritually.

Reggae For Life (RFL) knapsacks can be purchased directly through etransfer at canadianreggaeworld@gmail.com.  Any donations are greatly appreciloved as well.

I am not asking for handouts!  I am going to put in the work to achieve my goal / s as I always do and by buying the merchandise and wearing it proudly gives it a further sense of purpose and significance.
​
Without any great knowledge, film budgets are pretty astronomical yet whatever I earn will make this film insightful to the best of my abilities and a hope that it will improve better understanding of the challenges that the genre faces.


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Who is The Greatest Olympian Ever?

8/15/2016

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Bolt or Phelps ~  Who’s the greater Olympian?  Are one or both “the greatest Olympian / s of all time?

Aight, I’ll get into the foray of slinging opinions that will answer once and for all who the greatest Olympian is.

We must first focus on the “Olympic ideal” that they keep telling us about where a human pushes him or herself to physical feats of speed and strength in whatever endeavor they choose or lead to do, based on their amazing genetics.  To also compete cleanly, with integrity, with respect for one’s opponents / fellow competitors.

Michael Phelps has, last count I believe 26 medals where 20 of them are gold.  Based on those numbers there will never be a better Olympian!  He has more gold medals than a few countries combined, in the history of the Olympics.  He must then be the greatest?
We can argue that the nature of swimming does lend itself to multiple events based on their training of swimming THOUSANDS of laps in their careers so the swim a 50, or a 100 or a 200 or a 400 happens almost daily at any swim club anywhere in the world, so a good rest, stretching and a quick booster meal between swims can have an athlete compete in heats and finals on the same day.
Competing is fine yet to go on to win race after race, gold medal after gold medal, year after year makes Michael far more amazing than the competition or even other Olympians.  Michael Phelps is utterly unique!

Yet the most amazing swimming feat to this day for me is Mark Spitz!  He won 7 gold medals in one Olympic games!  An unheard of amount at that time and it wasn’t a plan like they have done with Phelps’s career.  Michael still has to train, sacrifice training time, swim heats to qualify, then still go out and win races for 12 years in a row!  26 medals later!  Yet when Spitz did it was so wondrous for so many years after.  It was a miracle what Mark Spitz accomplished!  It still feels like that today.

And what about that humility that Michael displays?  It does point to a great Olympian in so many of his accomplishments as well as his personal demeanor.  Yes he had some issues, smoked herb (which is SO fine with me) which bothered those who put this Olympian up on a pedestal that any contact with marijuana diminishes the Olympic sheen.  Whatever!

Usain Bolt!

Had to start the paragraph like that!  Just his name.  He takes your breath away!  His accomplishments seem herculean from his teen years as a junior runner to now this grown man, three Olympics in.

The games when Michael won his 8 gold medals to beat Mark Spitz’s record Bolt ran ONE race and we talked about it for the rest of that Olympics and even today.  The planet stopped when Bolt ran!  The 100m sprint, track finalist is like the Heavyweight Champion used to be viewed back in the day. Jesse Owens was as significant and as important as Joe Louis or Muhammed Ali.  He not only won, he smashed the world record and his Olympic Bolt Stance went viral!

Jacque Rogge the past racist head of the IOC detested Bolt and his Lightning Bolt stance.  What Rogge should look at are the statues and paintings of Apollo who is the ‘god’ of the Olympiad.  He might recognize that pulling of an arrow motion.  Even to this day, with the exploits of Abebe Bikila (ran the entire marathon barefooted and WON) till now with the dominance of the distance races by the African nations and the sprints by black athletes, the Olympics are a white supremist  event and people like Jacque Rogge are great reminders of that ideology.

The weekend of sprints and track events has always been the marquee events of the games, especially the 100m dash as they used to call it.  A dash!  Ten seconds and less!  Way less with Mr. Bolt running!  A fierce and successful competitor, almost everyone wants Usain to win.  The track world is a brighter place with his presence.  He is certainly there to compete and to win yet his aura makes the games more thrilling for all viewing.

He has been tested and passed them all in the most emphatic manner, on the biggest stage.  Which Olympian could have been better?  Is he greater than Spitz or Phelps because he is more popular?

Then I started to take a look at the Olympics and the World Cup of football (soccer) and I realized that they are the world’s greatest exploiters of humanity.  Especially the current Olympiad and the past World Cup in Brazil.  Brazilian governments from the dawn of time are renowned racist ‘leaders’ for what they do to the people of the favelas.  Supposedly their own people.  For decades, for centuries!

The “Olympic Ideal” is about oppression!

As a youth I was programmed to believe the Olympic Champion had his or her moment to “stand with the gods” by their accomplishments, true merit and a higher standard than the rest of us mortals, so most over the years have been revered as such, based on the programming that has been forced on us.

Who is the greatest Olympian?  Bolt or Phelps?  None!

Their idea of the Olympic Ideals may have been a propaganda schpeal but my ideals don’t change.  It is about humanity and morality.  I cannot in good conscience celebrate any of their feats when city after city, each Olympiad has put dollars in the pocket of these oppressors, using Olympic heroes to distract as they exploit and murder.

*No Olympian is a good Olympian!  They are all crap!  These or any games do not distract me from the blood, shed on the ground by black people in the favelas.

This is not a personal knock on all who have participated in any Olympic games.  I wished that I was gifted enough to have represented Jamaica or Canada in the sprints.  That was always a dream of mine.  Which is why to this day I watch the 100m men’s final.  I wished for a few seconds that I was Don Quarrie, Lennox Miller, Ben Johnson, Donovan Bailey or Usain Bolt.  I have developed a love and reverence for these athletes and others like Franz Klammer, Muhammed Ali, Wilma Rudolph, Victor Davis and Alex Bauman, Michael Phelps, Jessie Owens, Abebe Bikila, Mo Farrah, Valerie Alexiev (sp).  The list is endless!

But now that I know that it was created on the blood of black people, I choose no “great” Olympian.

One of my “heroes”, “Olympic gods” with the morality and integrity of the gods should have spoken up for the weak and disenfranchised.  The corruption in FIFA and the IOC is well documented and well known.

The Olympian that stands up for the masses is the greatest one in my opinion.  None measure up!

* Not meant as a personal attack on any specific athlete.

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Xola Lololi ~ Rastafari Farmer ~ Reggae For Life

8/1/2016

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Click on the photos to enhance the shot for better viewing.

Xola Lololi is a RasTafari elder in our community and a proud farmer.

I saw him at Kensington Market yesterday and I bought these cloves of garlic off him as we discussed the lack of black or African farmers here in Ontario and even in our own parent countries.  We discussed how some continue to use the psychological backlash of slavery as an excuse to not put their hands in the dirt, yet if that is the case, MANY of us will starve or eat the genetically manipulated food that is sold in this worldwide marketplace, poisoning ourselves and our children.

What we may need to do is to encourage more farmers by supporting the ones that we currently have by purchasing their products and elevating their businesses.  In that vein I encourage you all to come out to the Farmers Market at Dufferin Park, opposite Dufferin Mall.  The market is open from 2:00pm – 6:00pm, this Thursday 4th August, 2016.

Those tired of ingesting Monsanto food can come buy fresh foods from any and all of the farmers present and support rally tasty and fresh organic foods.

The market @ Dufferin Grove is open from 3:00pm – 7:00pm, every Thursday.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Come and check out the Afri-Can FoodBasket Ujamaa Farm @ 
these Farmers Markets Sundays & Thursdays :
The Leslieville Farmers’ Market
http://leslievillemarket.com/

2016 market dates are: May 22, 2016 – October 30th, 2016, 
Every Sunday from 9am-2pm in Jonathan Ashbridge Park.
On Queen St E. between Greenwood & Coxwell
2014 Season: May 25th to October 26th 
Email: info@leslievillemarket.com



Afri-Can FoodBasket Ujamaa Farm 
416-248-5639
Xola eMail ixola@yahoo.com
​

Dufferin Grove Organic Farmers' Market
http://www.dufferingrovemarket.ca/
When & Where: http://www.dufferingrovemarket.ca/when-where/
Thursdays 3 to 7 pm, rain or shine, all year long, from the first Thursday after New Year’s Day to the last Thursday before December 24th.

Location
Dufferin Grove Park rinkhouse (875 Dufferin, S of Bloor), across from the Dufferin Mall. The rinkhouse is in the northwest corner of the park, just off of Dufferin. The closest subway stop is Dufferin Station (one block north). Dufferin buses, both northbound and southbound, stop every three minutes right at our corner. The market is outdoors around the rinkhouse in summer, on the rinkpad in fall, in and around the rink house in winter.
Afri-Can FoodBasket Ujamaa Farm 
416-248-5639
Xola eMail ixola@yahoo.com
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