Tuesday, May 23, 2006  

Lee "Scratch" Perry
Washington Post, Tuesday, May 23, 2006; Page C04

Last month, reggae icon Lee "Scratch" Perry performed in Jamaica for the first time in 44 years. The surprisingly small crowd attending his show at Crossroads on Sunday must have wondered whether they'd have to wait four decades, too -- Perry canceled his last concert here -- but the genius-madman producer and writer behind some of reggae's greatest songs was merely 2 1/2 hours late.

Perry is a legendary eccentric, but the delay wasn't his fault: The driver from Crossroads was sent to the wrong airport to pick to him up. You can only imagine what the baggage-claim folks must have thought about their extended visit with the 4-foot-11 and 70-year-old Perry, whose beard is red, hair is green and style of speech seems to be that of a visitor from outer space.

When Perry finally took the stage, backed by Dub Is a Weapon, he rambled through a weak set that was appealing only because it was good to see "The Upsetter" in the flesh -- and what fine flesh it is. "No wrinkles, no crinkles, no pimples for Mr. Perry," he mumbled into a microphone elaborately decorated with Rastafarian images and colors.

His face did look pretty good, but his small, nasally voice was another matter. Perry was never a great crooner, so it's unfair to compare his versions of "Small Axe," "Kaya," "Exodus" and "Punky Reggae Party" to those of a true soul singer like Bob Marley. Still, Perry couldn't have sounded more disinterested on tunes such as "Roast Fish and Cornbread."

After an hour, he got a signal from a woman at the front of the stage, quickly picked up his bag, waved to the audience and left the club for good. --Christopher Porter
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Dub Is a Weapon featured legendary percussionist Larry McDonald, who has played with pretty much everybody in roots reggae. He's suffering from bladder cancer, is undergoing chemo, and was walking with a cane because of a severe case of arthritis. But he played great (Dub Is a Weapon did an hourlong set while waiting for Scratch), he looked strong, and there were definitely a few women there just to see him.


This is how empty the club was at 9 p.m. -- Scratch was supposed to start at 8.

I was shocked that so few people were there for such a legendary figure, but a local reggae promoter told me that Scratch isn't very popular in the West Indian community. In fact, a large part of the audience was white: jam-band kids, record geeks, etc. Scratch complained on stage that the show wasn't advertised properly, but it had been promoted for about two months and Crossroads is, by far, the No. 1 reggae and dancehall club in the D.C. area, so word was out there. The place filled out a bit by 10:30, but that's mostly because Dancehall Sunday was supposed to start at 10 and people started to arrive for that -- and they were still forced to pay the $20 cover for Scratch. They weren't happy.

Scratch's show may have been weak but his self-decorated kicks were strong.

Posted by CP | Link |

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