Jamaica is no longer being considered as the 2011 venue host nation for the 30th anniversary celebration of the International Reggae & World Music Awards. According to its founder Ephraim Martin, Jamaica and a dozen more locations were eliminated from final consideration after officers met in New York recently.
Martin recently returned from a business trip to T&T but would not confirm or deny whether or not the twin island would be the locale for the milestone honors.
The recent visit to T&T marks the second such meeting since last May’s New York awards presentations held in Queens, New York.
Stopping short of announcing the final choice, Martin stated in a press release that Trinidad & Tobago, Guadeloupe and the USA are the three contenders.
Earlier this year Martin and his international associates agreed to introduce Trinidad and Tobago’s, “Chutney” music as one of the categories to his eclectic lineup.
The addition is to become effective next year when many believe the awards may either return to New York or go south to T&T.
Jamaica was among the high priority countries considered since the island has accommodated all of the out-of America honors.
At a reception given for Jamaica’s minister of sports, culture and music, Hon. Olivia “Babsy” Grange assured resident New Yorkers that the island was willing to host the event.
However, Martin stated there was no mutual agreement on terms and conditions for the ceremony to be held in the Caribbean birthplace of reggae.
At the N.Y. meeting, executives were named. They include:
Ephraim Martin—Chairman/President; Clifton Edwards—VP of Finance/Treasurer; Donovan Neita —Secretary/VP of Marketing; Bruce Williams—VP of Production; Howard Smith—Assistant Treasurer; and Byron Butler—Assistant Secretary and European IRAWMA Coordinator.
At press time, Martin was traveling to Guadeloupe for talks with potential, French Caribbean hosts there.
Books By & About Presidents
Numerous books by and about presidents are scheduled for publication this fall. As a matter of fact, two weeks after the November elections, Grammy winning, spoken word author President Barack Obama promises a reader aimed at ineligible voters.
Written for children too young to cast a deciding ballot, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters is a tribute to 13 groundbreaking Americans, from the first president, George Washington, to baseball great Jackie Robinson to artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
The book will provide inspirational profiles of American pioneers.
It will be released Nov. 16 by Alfred A Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.
Obama is not the first president to write for young people.
Former President Jimmy Carter’s “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer” was published in 1995, more than a decade after he left office.
President Carter’s White House diaries, biographies of Washington and Roosevelt and George W. Bush’s “Decision Points,” are due one week before “Of Thee I Sing.”
More in line with Obama’s effort, Theodore Roosevelt collaborated with Henry Cabot Lodge on “Hero Tales from American History,” released in 1895, before Roosevelt was president.
Random House children’s president and publisher Chip Gibson lauded the new Obama book, which is intended for readers ages three and up.
“It is an honor to publish this extraordinary book, which is an inspiring marriage of words and images, history and story,” Gibson said Monday in a statement. “’Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters’ celebrates the characteristics that unite all Americans — the potential to pursue our dreams and forge our own paths.”
Obama’s 40-page book will have a first printing of 500,000 copies and a list price of $17.99.
Both of Obama’s previous works, the memoir “Dreams From My Father” and the policy book “The Audacity of Hope,” are million sellers published by Crown, a division of Random House Inc.
The president will donate any author proceeds to a scholarship fund for the children of fallen and disabled soldiers serving our nation,” the publisher said in a statement.
Catch You On The Inside!
