The White Stripes - Jolene

Meg White and John Gillis are The White Stripes - a guitar player/singer songwriter and his ex-wife drummer. John Gillis is of course now better known as Jack White, and the couple are now known as brother and sister, a bizarre untruth peddled by the group for reasons that remain unclear. They lack a bass player of course, something many fans and critics have concentrated upon. Rather no bass player than a bass player playing out of step funk lines going 'dink dink dink' as many hard rock groups seem to employ! But then, The White Stripes aren't a hard rock group. They are very much rooted in the alternative scene with added blues influences ala John Spencer Blues Explosion. The White Stipes wear red and white ( and black ) matching clothing and have a burning desire for recognition and fame quite unlike the scene from which they were brought. But, anyways....sex, lies and videotape out of the way, what's the album like? Well, we open with booming, very primitive primal sounding drums and guitar straight out of the Seventies. Then the whole thing explodes in distortion - the singer is barely legible in terms of words sung, but sounds on the edge, as the whole song does. Its strangely exciting in its amateurishness, even if Jack White does sound uncannily like Robert Plant in places.

Mindblower

The budos band

Rub a dub style

Dennis Brown, the “Crown Prince of Reggae” who had suffered from having just one lung, died on 1 July 1999 at the age of 42, from pneumonia. He leaves a wife and 13 children.

Beginning his musical career at 9 years of age, by the time he had reached 12, he had become a full member of Bryon Lee’s “Dragonaires”. A visit to Studio One at the age of 12 resulted in his first hits, the singles "No Man Is an Island" and "If I Follow My Heart".

In a career that spanned 4 decades, Dennis worked with many of reggaes top names, beginning with Coxon Dodd at Studio One, going on to work with such artists and producers as Winston (Niney) Holness, Joe Gibbs, Derrick Harriott, Herman Chin-Loy, Sidney Crooks, Prince Buster, Randy's, Phil Pratt and GG Ranglin.

The list goes on with Clive Hunt and Willie Lindo, engineer Errol Thompson, Sly & Robbie, Gussie Clarke, Tad Dawkins, Trevor Bow, Bunny Lee and Delroy Wright. In the 90’s Dennis worked with such luminaries as Junior Reid, Black Scorpio, Michael Bennett, and who can ever forget the legendary sides cut with Big Youth back in the 70’s.

After the recut “Money in My Pocket” hit the pop charts in England during the late 70’s, he moved to London and stayed for many years. This resulted in many hits and a contract with A & M Records. In 1994 he was nominated for a Grammy for the album “Light My Fire”.

Dennis Brown died on Thursday July 3rd 1999 of pneumonia/respiratory failure, while a patient at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

In the days leading up to Dennis’ funeral, a reported 10,000 mourners (right) filed past the casket. Later, crowds watched a tribute at the National Arena, which included performances from Maxi Priest and Shaggy, as well as an appearance from his five sons.

Jamaican Prime Minister Patterson led the eulogies while Dennis Brown became the first entertainer to be buried in the National Heroes.

Known as Bob Marley’s favorite singer, he released over 60 albums and 300 singles in 26 years.