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Tag Archives: johnny clarke
RIP the great Striker Lee
Yesterday we were very saddened to hear of the passing of the great Jamaican producer/arranger and vibes man Bunny Striker Lee. Watch the above at 2.15 minutes and onwards to see the great man in action with some brill dance moves!
And here’s a Bunny Lee produced classic with some versions that’s been played at the Weeds HQ many many times.
And below is another top tune produced by the great man which will be given an airing on the “Weeds up to me knees dub mix” on Jesse Yuen‘s excellent North of the River Swan show from 4pm-6pm on RMT.FM Radio Thamesmead this Sunday coming.
RIP the great Bunny Striker Lee! You will be sorely missed but your tunes will live on and on!
Bean pole idea of the week
The other week we went over to an open garden event in Blackheath and had a lovely afternoon in some fantastic surroundings and even dipped a hand into our pockets at the plant sale there. While in the veg garden this bean pole idea (above) caught our eye. We very much doubt that the rusty looking metal things that are holding the bamboo canes in place have anything to do with garden centres (they’re probably something off a building site or in a steel-fixers toolkit) but we could be wrong. It’s a great idea though! If you know what they are actually are (and if you can buy them at garden centres) answers on a postcard please.
And two other good ideas if you’re thinking of picking up some tunes this weekend. The first the Aimes mix of Cloud Nine by Joe Morris and the next a belter from yesteryear from the excellent Johnny Clarke called Blood Dunza/Dub Dunza. May the sun reign this weekend and while we’re asleep we get a bit of rain.
Don’t touch that (internet) dial
Big shout to Sam for letting us know about this excellent show on Red Bull Radio about the Peckings record shop in Shepherd’s Bush available here. There’s a nice bit of history about the shop and contains some fine tunes as well. Sixty minutes well worth listening to and only up online for another couple of week so get in quick for an audio treat.
Post-frost therapy
There was a frost here Wednesday morning (as we’re sure we saw a white veil over the local cars on the way to work) and hopefully that’ll be it now, even though it’s still a bit parkie outside today.
We’re not taking any chances here for a few days at least, the tomato plants that were outside in the upside down terrarium are now in the back room (that might have to be hardened off a little before they go out) and there’s still fleece over the Easter Sunday sown spuds. And then there’s the brassicas, runner beans and peppers that want to go out, finger’s crossed it won’t be too long now…
And if you have lost a plant or two in the recent frosts here’s a tune for you…
It’s a corker from the great Mongo’s Hi-Fi (which we’ve featured a few times here at Weeds) with Johnny “Move Out Of Babylon” Clarke called “Rain keeps falling” which comes back with a lovely dub as well. The 7″ single is a special record store day release and you can get it here and if you fancy the download go here. Tune!
Egyptian Reggae
A package arrived yesterday; a few bulblets of one of lifes great intergalactic mysteries. As you know we love a plant that’s a bit “out there,” so we love the weird and wonderful world of the Egyptian Walking Onion (above) and especially the site below, link here. 
As it says on the website “The ancient Egyptians worshipped onions. They believed that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Small onions were found in the eye sockets of Ramesses IV…
The name “Walking Onion” was given to this plant because it literally walks to new locations. When the cluster of topsets becomes heavy enough, it will pull the plant over to the ground. These plants can walk between 1 and 3 feet per year!” We’ve never tried eating them but with a plant that looks as strange as that, why would you want to spoil the fun?
Weeds on the wire
Socialism Train – 19 in a socialist reggae style
Big thanks to Steve Barker from the excellent On The Wire on BBC Radio Lancashire for supplying this ace reggae chart for us. On The Wire has been playing the best in reggae, dub, electronica, ambient and all sorts of eclectic business weekly for over 30 years and is available Saturday midnight here and available on listen again here.
So here’s the tunes and there’s some crackers on here. If the tune is not featured, click on the links to view on youtube.
Cheers again to Steve for the chart, shouts to Fenny and Jim at On The Wire too. Keep up the good work!
1. Ethiopians – Socialism Train
2. The Mighty Diamonds – I need a roof
3. The Heptones – Equal rights
4. Peter Tosh – Get up, stand up
5. Burning Spear – Social living
6. Abyssinians – This Land is for everyone
7. Derrick Morgan – People’s decision
8. Max Romeo – Socialism is love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maYExnnp7AI
9. Dillinger – Crashie First Socialist
10. King Tubby – Big Youth King Tubby fights against capitalism
11. Freddie McGregor – I’m a revolutionist
12. The Youths – We a socialist (version)
13. Prince Jazzbo – Step forward youth
14. Jeb Loy Nicholls – To be rich (Should be a crime)
15. Still Cool – To be poor is a crime
16. Johnny Clarke – Declaration of rights
17. I Roy – Every mouth must be fed
18. Gregory Isaacs – Working class
19. Screechy Dan – Raise Your Glass Fi Di Working Class
I’m waiting for the (weather) man
What’s going on with that weather at the moment? One day you’re in the garden with your jumper off, the next indoors with the heating on. They’ve even talked about sleet and snow at the London Marathon tomorrow. Madness!
Well we aren’t taking any risks here at Weeds HQ (above) so there’s a array of tomato plants, a squash, a safflower plant and sweet peppers all being kept indoors until the risk of frost is passed. And look at that Mongolian Giant Sunflower in the centre go! Below: That will be us up that ladder in the summer if the advert for those giant sunflower seeds we bought on ebay for 80p is to be believed.
Out in the garden we’ve got some fleece over the spuds (after we earthed them up as extra protection) that are now coming through. Don’t be fooled by that bit of sunshine at the moment as it can still be nippy overnight but give it a few more weeks and all will be well! 
Soon we’ll be able to put out those Dahlia tubers that are sitting in the corner of the back room that are starting to sweat in their packaging. Talking of Dahlias, have a butchers at The National Dahlia Collection here for a comprehensive list of said plant, there’s even varieties called Punky and Abba but why no Charlie Harper or John Peel?
Soundtrack to this post is this classic Babylon from Johnny Clarke that’s being played on last week’s Ross Allen’s Mi-Soul show on Mixcloud as we write. Tune!
It’s been a long time coming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAx0omEN21M
Thank God that January’s now over! We here are now officially counting down to spring.
Here’s a tune to get us all back on track, heard on last week’s Tom Ravenscroft show by the great Johnny Clarke/The Aggrovators called It’s a disgrace/It’s a disgrace dub. One to dream about starting those seeds off outside to. Tune!
S is for Squash and R is for Ross
Three corkers this week, one from the back garden and two from Ross Allen and Andrew Hale’s brilliant show on Misoul available here.
The above is the squash/blue pumpkin harvested this evening. This is the first time I’ve ever had success with squashes, I got this specimen (which was the only one) from a plant that I constantly watered and fed weekly during the summer. It went all sprawling over the shop, but it was worth it for this mad looking thing with weird eyelashes! Big up the squash!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li6S2KVZQVk
Johnny Clarke – Babylon – Cha Cha
And here’s two corkers from Ross and Andrew’s excellent show on Misoul, it’s been a while since listening to it and the first time back I wasn’t disappointed. The first is the excellent Johnny Clarke with Babylon, a Jah Shaka favourite which has a great dub too.
Gloria Ann Taylor – Love is a hurting thing
Next is a tune I’ve never heard before and one that puts me in mind of Siouxsie and the Banshees “Happy House” and Eddie Kendricks’ “Girl you need a change of Mind” with Liberace at the controls! Don’t listen too hard to the mix as the kick drum is well up front. Two tunes to take your mind of the bad weather of late!
Weeds up to me knees 