http://negrilnotes.com/blog Thoughts - Words - Images - Music - Loosely based on my travels to Negril Jamaica Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:21:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I can't believe I missed the West Indian Day Parade last year! I don't remember what I did instead, but if I'd gone I would have remembered what I did, since I did this, and it would have been awesome, but then I'd be comparing this year to last year ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/09/a-little-jamaica-in-brooklyn/ Big bad Gustav was still only a tropical storm as he made his way along the southern coast of my beloved Jamaica, lucky for my Jamaican friends. There are reports of wind, some down trees and lost bech chairs, but it seems Negril fared ok. I found some storm video of ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/08/gustav-visits-negril/ George Carlin died yesterday, it's sad but it's not really a shock. I'd been a fan since I first heard him in 1974. Jeff Geist and I "borrowed" the Class Clown album from his uncle and sat listening to it through shared headphones while his little brother Michael stood look-out. ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/06/george-carlin-rip/ Yes, Yes it's time for another trip to sunny Negril, though this one kinda snuck up on me. Saturday June 7th I'll leave the house in Brooklyn about 5AM, and I'll be on the J.U.T.A. bus to Negril by noon. On past trips I'd be packed by now, my over-stuffed rolling ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/06/its-almost-that-time-again/ At first I thought the situation called for an ode, "Ode to Rebecca", but our entire relationship consists of two emails and a phone call. An ode might be a bit much. Maybe I should explain: Friday night I went over to my friend Dee's place in Crown Heights. She had somehow come into possession ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/05/rebecca-the-blackberry-angel/ The next day started early for me. Well before dawn I walked cool damp Castle grounds. I love his place! I love the gentle slosh of the Sea emanating from the Blue Cave, the cool salty breeze in my hair, the sun lightening the edges of the eastern sky, and ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/05/kings-of-the-castle-part-3/ It's been on my mind to continue telling the story of my Dad's first trip to Negril. In the weeks after returning I'd spent hours scribbling this and that in my journal, that's my process. I write and write, I dump it all onto the the page, and then I ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/05/negril-with-dad-continued/ For years I've been moving towards eastern philosophy for the answers to my questions. I tried to find my place in conventional western belief systems, but I just couldn't get past the invisible man in the sky thing. The Force, Universal Consciousness, call it what you will, but that's what made sense to me. I wanted to cut ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/04/zen-thoughts/ Upon hearing about Hands-On New York Day, a friend of mine said, “Ya know, that's one of those things that when you hear about it you and think, 'Hey I’d like to do something like that someday', but you never actually do it.” And for a long time that was my ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/04/hands-on-new-york-day/  I never dreamed of climbing Mt. Everest whether it was there or not, hell I get winded on a ski lift. Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, evokes wonder, tempered by visions of stark conditions and daunting sacrifice. Krakauer writes in a way so pain-stakingly specific, yet somehow leaving room for the reader's imagination to fill-in the scene. A rudimentary map in ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/03/into-thin-air/ I'm finally doing it. I'm writing a book. There, I said it, and I'm holding to it! I've wanted to write this book for a long time, but there's a lot more to the process than simply writing. The abstract idea, "I think I'll write a book about my time in the bikini business," sounds like a ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/02/the-devil-wears-spandex/ The night was electric, two great teams poised on the brink of immortality, an entire city humming with excitement. "Could it actually happen?" the fans of the underdog whisper, afraid to predict too boldly. I could be talking about New York City and the Giants fans this last week. But I can't stop comparing ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/02/something-was-so-familiar/ 205, Damn! The scale in my mother's upstairs bathroom shouts up at me in bland grey digits. At first weighing the scale showed a more agreeable, albeit false, 186, but I knew it was just toying with me. The fluffy artichoke green toilet mat somehow got stuck in the lower left corner of my mom's digital scale. It's the ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2008/01/back-in-philly/ Into the Wild is Jon Krakauer's exhaustive, insightful, if sometimes bleary-eyed look at the life of Christopher J. McCandless, and his unfortunate death in the Alaskan taiga during the summer of 1992. An admittedly a semi-objective biographer, Krakauer is able to get past his infatuation to give a deep, even beautiful account of this young man's ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/12/out-of-the-wild/   Info: West End Road - Garden Side across from Rockhouse. Food: Erica's Lobster dishes are the mainstay of this little gem in the Negril cliffs. Grilled Lobster all over Negril is so often tough and/or lacking in flavor, few people really know what to do with it. At Erica's the lobster is tender, buttery and the lobstery deliciosity just explodes ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/11/ericas-cafe-review/ Life has been such a whirlwind since coming back from Jamaica. I’ve been writing in flashes of insight and memory, but coherence is eluding me. I’ll be on the subway, something will pop into my head, and I’ll scribble furiously in my journal trying to catch the essence of my ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/11/getting-there/ Before going Negril a few weeks ago I made a special website banner, and I planned to make the switch with my first post from Negril. I still don't know exactly why, but when I made the changes my site blew up! It didn't take me too long to get it to display ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/11/finally-fixed-posting-today/ It was a little rough getting here, a delay at Newark Liberty and a lot of evening traffic in Mobay, landed us at the Blue Cave Castle about 7:30-8:00PM. It wasn't too bad, we had champagne on the plane and Red Stripes in the taxi. Our first day included a trip ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/10/kings-of-the-castle/ The day has come! Woo Hoo! It's still dark in Brooklyn. I'm heading out to breakfast at Marko's, then on to the D Train to 34th Street, then NJ Transit to Edison, NJ where my Dad will pick me up. By Late afternoon we'll be in sunny Jamaica! Stay tuned to this ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/10/and-it-begins/ What a blog avoiding jerk I've been these past few weeks! My impending Negril trip looms near, and like always I attempt squeezing four weeks of work into the two weeks before a two week vacation. I should know better, but it seems to happen to some degree or another every trip. Hmmm, so what ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/10/busy-busy-bzz-bzzz-bzzzz/ At 30 days out from a Jamaica trip I usually begin to stress about packing, rounding up all the supplies, and trying to remember all the things I forgot last time.  Well, this time I'm not stressed at all. Here is it 28 days, 14 hours and 45 minutes from wheels up and ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/09/packing-time-28-days-out/   My first 9/11 as a New Yorker was thankfully uneventful, though it seemed to me there was a lot more security around on 9/10. All day people were looking up, and pointing south, "Where were you?" conversations overheard everywhere. In some ways, it was just another 9/11 which is pretty sad. The news covered the ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/09/nine-eleven-in-07/ This isn't a diatribe against the Eagles coaching staff for letting great player like Jeremiah Trotter go—again. No, the sudden sacking of the vaunted Middle Line-Backer, or more so my reaction to it, brought into clear relief the fact that I no longer live in Philadelphia. It's funny how things hit you. ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/08/jeremiah-and-me/ Writing about and visiting Jamaica in due course includes dealing with hurricanes. Hurricane Dean is slamming the shores of our favorite likkle place as I write this. I nervously watch the NOAA Storm Track, and I sit helplessly online in a RealNegril.com Boardie chat-room keeping an all night vigil hoping for some word ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/08/deans-big-blow/ Here we go again! I just booked another Negril trip! Woo Hoo! I did the cha-ching thing with the nice Air Jamaica gentleman last night around 9PM. I was going to wait till next week to book, but the fares plummeted in the last few days. EWR (Newark NJ) to ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/08/66-days-14-hours-29-minutes/ For years I’ve been a proponent of Eastern Philosophy. I read "The Wisdom of Insecurity" by Alan Watts in the late nineties, which set me on a course of discovery. Since then I’ve read boxes of books on subjects ranging from Vedanta to Voodoo, Tao to Toltec, and nearly every ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/08/stepping-into-zen/ Cub reporter Buzz Bogan here on the scene in Midtown Manhattan where something happened at or near Grand Central Station around 6-6:15 today. The police closed 42nd Street, only allowing westbound foot traffic, heading away from the scene. It was quite a sight! Thousands of New Yorkers walking calmly but quickly eastward ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/07/something-happened-on-the-way-to-the-train/ I haven't completed my first week in Brooklyn, but I'm enjoying the culture shock. Wow! Brooklyn is a lot different than Philly, but since I lived in Abington, a comparatively bucolic backwater, not actually in Philly, my head is spinning. Rosie "The Cat" is adjusting well, thought she was really pissed the first ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/07/brooklyn-without-batteries/ The Jamaican Cowboy was a friend of mine, though I did not know him well. Like a piper calling us home to Negril, his music and his charm filled our living rooms every Sunday morning. Our first meeting was on my first trip to Negril way back in February 1994. I ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/06/the-jamaican-cowboy-into-the-sunset/ Sunset Park Brooklyn to be exact. It's a nice upscale Spanish neighborhood, a ground floor apartment, and only a few minutes from the Subway. I'm excited to make the move. My suburban Philadelphia existence needed some shaking up, so I decided to try something, and somewhere, completely different. It's been ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/06/brooklyn-it-is-vinny-from/ She did it again! My amazingly attractive, smart, competent and witty daughter Kristine graduated from Hofstra University yesterday afternoon with a B.A. in Film Production. Woo Hoo!! What a week Kristine had. Last Monday (5/14) she turned 21, and on Sunday (5/20) she not only graduated from college, but she hosted ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/05/congratulations-kid/  Yes, Yes, Negril Notes has won the prestigious "Bloggy Award." I'd like to thank the "little people" who have made this all possible: My family; my friends; my beloved readers; and, of course, the phalanx of midgets I employ who do the actual typing, spell checking, etc. (they prefer the term "little people," they're ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/05/bloggy-award-thanks-to-all-the-little-people/ I woke early Thursday morning, and though I tried to go back to sleep, I found myself staring at the moon-lit ceiling of Deluxe 1, our room at the Blue Cave Castle, for what seemed like an hour. Without waking Dee, I slipped out of the room to stretch my ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/04/springtime-in-negril-round-trip-to-mobay/ "So, are you heading up to Alfred's for the beach party?" I asked Georgina, a beautiful Jamaican girl who's attention to me was motivated by commerce, not by any interest in forty something American men. "Let's go to Triple-X, I have friends there." She offered, suddenly bouncing back into sales mode. ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/04/chivalry-is-not-dead-wounded-maybe/ After a great meal at Selina's, we headed over to Kuyaba for dessert. We'd planned to relax, digest a little, and then to ride our second wind up the beach to Alfred's for the Thursday Night Beach Party. Does Kuyaba just keep getting nicer, or do I forget every time I visit? You can't beat ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/04/kuyaba-for-dessert/ I never thought to have dinner at Selina's. Sorry Selina :( I've always thought of your place for brunch, beans and Bloody Marys, but not anymore.  I met Petra at Selina's Sunday Brunch Webcast. I knew she was German, and that she recently moved to Negril. We didn't talk much, but I envied her moxie ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/04/selinas-not-just-for-pancakes-anymore/ Most people who frequent Negril tend to shun so-called tourist traps like Rick’s Café. Thought of as a haven for All-Inclusive types (people not in-the-know), Rick’s Café is an island of crass commercialism in what we consider our little bay of authentic Jamaican culture. Even the guidebooks play along. Lonely Planet’s Guide to Jamaica ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/03/my-continuing-relationship-with-rick/ A few weeks before last trip to Negril, I was doing some spring cleaning, getting the Love Shack ready for Christmas. Yeah, I was spring cleaning in November, make your judgments as you must. Anyway, I came across a package of battery powered Christmas lights in the back of a closet, ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/a-pirate-looks-at-christmas/ It annoys me that they don't say, "... and the Winner is ..." Does it really make the fellow nominees feel any less like looooooosers? l-) I think not. I bought Little Miss Sunshine this weekend, and it was just amazing. I laughed, I cried. I felt good because, in contrast, my family is normal, though ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/oscar-weekend-and-the-winner-is/ The Traveler's Pen,  has published an excerpt from one of my current projects "Springtime in Negril."  'pon de Sea with Famous Vincent by Vinny Bogan With another to be published in the following weeks. Thanks to Zach Caudill and staff at The Traveler's Pen! Peace (~~) Vinny http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/published-the-travelers-pen/ Banana Shout is the great novel of Negril, and Mark Conklin the grand old man (well, not that old). I first heard of the book on my April '04 Trip to Negril, and the day I got home I went to Amazon.com to order me a copy. About two weeks later Irene ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/banana-shout-the-book-review/ I read Walk Good, written by fellow Negril-aholic Roland Thomas Reimer, on two successive trips to Negril. On the first trip I read it cover to cover, and on the second I went straight for the dog-eared highlights trying to decipher the code of names changed to protect the not-so-innocent. I'm ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/walk-good-book-review/ So you know what that means... I've been back in Philly for about six weeks, I've barely unpacked, my loud Hawaiian shirts are still at the cleaners, and I'm already planning my next trip. Ground Hog Day! At least I spend my never ending day in sunny Jamaica not in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, which ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/02/ground-hog-day/ Deep in the hoary depths of Negril Jamaica, lives a mysterious and fabled creature. A creature that has defied definite detection, yet the locals know well the curious scent and the slimy trail of this jumping Jamaican juggernaut. Yes, it's the Jamaican "Leaping" Slug. The first whispered accounts of this mythic creature date back to the earliest Spanish ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/the-jamaican-leaping-slug-myth-or-menace/ Negril.com is Negril's Official website, and they will be publishing some of my articles and reviews. The first one is featured on today's home page, and is a review of The Appleton Estates Rum Tour. You can find the article here: Negril.com - http://www.negril.com You can read the full article here: Appleton Estates Rum Tour Thanks ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/published-on-negrilcom/ This past weekend I updated the "Reviews Page" on this site. I'd been trying to come up with a format, a ratings system, a color scheme, yada, yada, yada... But it was just not getting done, so I decided to read over my notes, and to write the damn things once and for all. From ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/reviews-page-updated/ Fly Eagles Fly, on the road to ... ? 2006 Divisional Playoff - New Orleans, LA - 1/13/07 Saints 27 - Eagles 24 What did I do the morning after? I watched Rocky, the original one. I needed a dose of pure Philly heart, beacuse in the final anaysis that what my Eagles ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/fly-eagles-fly/ When I’m in Negril I try to travel light money-wise. I know me, the more I have, the more I’ll spend. Filling up also forces me to get off my butt, and to get out of the resort. This particular money run took place on Wednesday, though it may have been Thursday, ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/guardian-guardians-guarding/ The answer comes back, "they have to be." I always notice this same building, next to the train tracks, abandoned, a five story walk up close to the "bad" part of town. Just past the Temple Train Station heading into Center City, a block from a beautiful gold domed church, or maybe ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2007/01/why-do-the-windows-have-to-be-broken/ I didn't know what to expect this trip. I was so busy at work I barely had time to plan things out, so I just went. Air Jamaica cancelled our flight 14 hours before we were to take off. We were told to come to Philadelphia International Airport and they would ... http://negrilnotes.com/blog/2006/12/negril-was-great-christmastime-was-fantastic/