By MEL COOKE, Freelance Writer
Beenie Man - file
BEENIE MAN TOOK a seat on a stage monitor at the JAMALCO Sports Club, Halse Hall, Clarendon, yesterday morning and refused to proceed further without his lady.
He took his stance, or seat, as the nearly 10-hour musical marathon of birthday and music career celebration headed to its daylight close. He may have been displaying the Rebel In Me, as Jimmy Cliff had riveted the huge audience earlier in the concert, or Putting Up Resistance as Beres Hammond had crooned to screams of delight.
He may have been demanding Stick By Me as John Holt had delighted on the other side of the midnight hour, or murmuring Eediat Ting Dat as Assassin had chanted minutes before. Or he may have even been living up Natty Pon Har Frontline, with which Turbulence moved the ladies to ecstasy as night turned to day.
The brief ceremony took place after he and his special guest, Capleton, had alternated lyrics, whipping the audience into a frenzy with Or Wha and Dude, among pieces of many other songs.
When his celebratory cake, complete with a knife stuck in the decoration of a red Hummer, was brought on stage, Beenie Man smiled and refused to go any further without his girl.
"Linda, wheh yu deh woman?" he asked. "A who sey mi woman gone wid a nex' man?" he joked, to chuckles from the audience. "Me naa move till my woman come pon stage," he said, taking a seat. "She know har name. Me no haffi call har name. She alone a my woman. Me no have no odda woman inside ya."
He was told that she was being escorted to the stage and Beenie Man said "oh, she inna de vehicle".
"Some man ting no set right. My ting set right. Me haffi know whe mi woman deh. Mi nuh watch har. If she sey 'babes me gone roun' desso', me know sey a desso she gone. If yu cyaan trus' yu woman, yu cyaan dey wid har," Beenie Man said to applause.
No sleeping
"Whe mi woman deh?!" he demanded again. MC Richie B, who was watching over the cake cutting, said "she a tek long fe come". "A so she tek long fe come sometimes," Beenie Man said, and there was laughter all around.
On his request, the members of the audience sang Beenie Man 'happy birthday', but the lady had still not arrived. "Me a look di woman fi 10 year an me jus' get har. How could I be impatient?" Beenie Man said.
It was a family affair, as he introduced a son and a daughter then, with the lady all had been waiting for duly in place, they cut the cake.
Beenie Man kissed the white pants suit clad lady her on the cheek and said "babes, go back to sleep".
There was no sleeping for the thousands in attendance, though, as Beenie Man once again upped the party tempo with King of The Dancehall, before ending the 'Summer Sizzle' at a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. yesterday.
It was a climactic close to a long concert to celebrate Beenie Man's '30-odd' birthday ("I am not old") and 28th year in music business. It had included the young QQ, whose stage moments and lyrical Neva Know De Use A Har ripped the venue, and Lady Saw, who hit a brief church note after a steamy I've Got Your Man and Pretty Nookie start. Cocoa Tea with Tune In and Face, popular from the Digicel Rising Star competition, were at home in Clarendon, while a belly bouncing, crack showing Bonecrusher with Lighter, Rupee with Tempted To Touch and Kevin Lyttle who joined Spragga Benz on Turn Me On came form far.
Not all the promised stage sizzlers were present, with Bunji Galin, Vybz Kartel, Admiral Bailey and Leroy Smart missing in action.
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