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In Kingston

In February I spent some time in Kingston, Jamaica. We were there to work out licensing deals for our vinyl distribution company, look for old records,1 and see some of the musical landmarks as it was my first time there. Here are some snapshots taken on a Blackberry, mostly from the car, as we drove thru the streets of Kingston. Caveat, we are not professional (or even amateur!) photographers by any means, so please take that into consideration with regards to the quality of the photos.

jamaica randy's studio 7 record cutting lathe trumbull island

Cutting Lathe
This is the old cutting lathe at Randy’s Studio 17. Randy’s was the most famous record store in Jamaica, and Studio 17 was the recording studio they operated upstairs from the store, at 17 North Parade, downtown Kingston. What was the studio is now the record store, and what was the record store, below, is now a different store. All the recording equipment from the 1960s is sitting there still, covered. This lathe cut the lacquers for thousands of Jamaican 7″ singles in the 1970s. Countless classic tunes were recorded, mixed, and cut here.

jamaica youth man promotion graffiti trumbull island

Youth Man graffiti
Here is some graffiti on Robert Crescent. The full piece reads “Youth Man Promotion”, as this wall is opposite Sugar Minott‘s yard where his Youthman Promotion label and soundsystem is based out of. You do not see much if any American style graffiti like this in Jamaica, so it really stood out.

empty lot street Kingston Jamaica Trumbull Island

Empty lot
Unfortunately an all-too-familiar street scene in Kingston. The city is ever aging and in bad disrepair, and the long-poor economic conditions do not allow for much development and infrastructure repair. Things burn down and/or crumble, and are not rebuilt.

zinc fence Kingston Jamaica trumbull island

Zinc fence
Yards in Kingston are often divided by scrap-looking pieces of this corrugated metal which is called zinc fence. Pasted-on dancehall posters and “Don’t Piss Here” are common sights on zinc fence.

dynamic sounds record stockroom kingston jamaica trumbull island

Dynamic Sounds record stockroom
Dynamic Sounds is the longest running record distributor still active in Jamaica. Here is one of the aisles in their stockroom. It was still kind of full, or at least more so than I expected it to be, but I can only imagine what it was like in the vinyl heydays of the ’70s and ’80s.

Kingston Jamaica brightah days graffiti trumbull island

Roadside stand
All over Kingston are little roadside stands/booths, tiny stores that sell juice, snacks, cold beer, etc. Many of them are decorated with/indicated by cool artwork like this one, “Brightah Days.”

hennessy wednesday kingston jamaica trumbull island

Hennessy Wednesday
Painted on a wall near Robert Crescent, Kingston 5, directing partiers to weekly dance Hennessy Wednesday.

general penitentiary guard tower kingston jamaica jail prison trumbull island

GP
Guard tower at General Penitentiary aka GP, Kingston jail.

    Footnotes

  1. My record pick, not Rob's.

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