"Shaggy & Friends 2014": Mo' Money(?) Mo Problems

so, the "Tessanne Homecoming" edition of Shaggy & Friends is now behind us. Having opted not to go (neither by purchase nor accreditation),  I had refrained from any public review/comment, apart from a social media debate (Ok, Facebook)  on the "unfortunate" decision to give working media armbands with "No Meals" printed on them.

Having watched the greater portion of the live telecast ( I dozed off twice, but more on that later), and having covered each of three previous shows, I write out of a compulsion to address some glaring issues. Before that though , the show had a few positives. Firstly, the turnout was obviously the biggest they have had and that no doubt augurs well for the cause - so eloquently outlined by Agent Sasco mainly, and the other artistes. Secondly, the decision to provide live stream and also live television coverage (the latter via CVM) was highly commendable.

Several of the performances were good to very good; Sasco, as I already mentioned, the Mighty Diamonds, Matthew Schuler and more.

Tessanne, as expected, sounded absolutely great, but I just couldn't fathom why she would want to do her "Voice" repertoire all over again (maybe its just me) but, having acknowledged that your own material has been stifled by local interests (media and otherwise) why not make a proper showcase of that material now that you have the people at your feet?

Next - Macka Diamond. I could probably just leave that there and it would be self-explanatory.

But WHY?

Why bring to the stage of a family event, with scores of kids (okay maybe not "scores" but you get the point) visible in the front rows, one participant in the egregiously disgraceful Sting clash incident. Giving Lady saw her due, she apologised publicly and repeated the apology in an on-camera interview at the venue. Macka Diamond has, to my knowledge, remained defensive and unrepentant. She then added insult to injury by proceeding to tell said audience "how to give bun and not get caught.". Okay, on one level I get it. Shaggy had  a big  hit with "It Wasn't Me" and Macka scored a not-so-big hit with "Bun Him" (which of course was a springboard for her literary career, but I digress). But whereas the Shaggy-Rik Rok combo was an acceptably tongue-in-cheek comic paean with some risque lines, Macka's mini-lecture left subtlety far behind.  A Mercedes Benz and a Lada are both automobiles: they hardly conjure up the same mental associations in people's minds.

Enough on that. On this next issue, I have mixed feelings. Young Gio, Wayne Marshal's son, delivered of himself a poised and very confident performance - in plain terms, he one-upped his Dad on the night. But, truthfully I have some personal misgivings about a pre-teen (or even an adult) using public platform to boast about "stoopid money" and having a house with an Olympic-size pool. I have no objections to kids being inculcated about wealth, but sheer material acquisitiveness without a corresponding attention to values like respect and community-building sends, in my view, the wrong set of messages.

Inadvertently or not, it had a seam of crassness about it that beyond any particular act or performance,  tainted the body of the show in my opinion. I'm the last person that anyone could justifiably label a snob, but the show came across as a virtually "anything goes" type of affair which, to me is not befitting the cause: will the  children lying ill or recovering in their beds at Bustamante really be uplifted by "How To Give Bun"? or "Stoopid Money"? With great respect, I think not.

Then to the famous media pass issue, which as I indicated, formed the basis of a moderately lengthy debate on my Facebook page (here:  https://www.facebook.com/EmxGroup - scroll dwn to Jan 4). In the strictest sense, hospitality for media is not mandatory but then, neither is media coverage at said events. Its not  a quid pro quo, but simply a matter of basic goodwill. My belief is that if I invite your presence at my event, then all such invitees - media included - are deserving of an acceptable level of hospitality. This, obviously, is not (necessarily) the same level as paying patrons, but it should still be acceptable. Also, there's a media accreditation process, where the organizers, having received applications to cover (or having decided to invite select media directly) will make a determination, in good time, as to the media presence at the event, give or take a few "unexpecteds" (my term) If, for whatever reason, the promoters decided not to provide any such hospitality then it should not have been too difficult to communicate directly to said media, again, in good time. To do otherwise, such as to have it blatantly displayed on the press accreditation, as was reported to me (reliably) to be the case, speaks to a level of disdain that also is unworthy of an event such as Shaggy & Friends 

I expected the telecast to be long and, frankly, having been busy through the day and facing an early assignment (6:00 am) the following morning, I admittedly didn't have the juice to stay up through the whole thing. That knock is squarely on me. Having said that, why was Tessanne not the closing act? As far as I'm aware, the convention in multi-act shows is that the headliner closes and I'm sure that notwithstanding his name in the title, even Shaggy would concede that the clear headliner in this case, was Tessanne. With respect Tarrus, Sean Paul, et al who I understand followed her ( I was counting sheep), the overwhelming public anticipation was for the "Voice" winner so why not allow her the honour, even if it might have meant trimming the line-up/running order to accommodate her?

I'll reserve comment on the technical aspects as I believe those would be more fairly served by an on-site experience which, clearly, I did not have.

So that essentially, is my two cents on the subject. I see neither acclaim nor attack, but I've been doing this long enough now to comfortably handle either. I'm open to to being corrected (if its demonstrable that I was incorrect) as well as challenged on any of the preceding points.

One last thing: I included this partial shot of the 2009 Shaggy & Friends poster (the inaugural show, if memory serves). Tessanne is pretty much smack in the middle of that pic. This is highly personal of course, but I ca't help but prefer that lushly exotic and dare I say, sensual, image to the more streamlined Tessanne whose visage is now justly world-famous.

Again, that's just me