Roots Archives Forum

i know carson, san diego, new york, miami and them places. anywhere else in the US where reggae large. oh i forgot hawaii is extrmely big for a us territory.

carson???
in southern california?
i have never heard of that

The Bay Area and Northern California (my homebase) has a pretty massive following. There aren't many good record shops for Jamaican music but a huge number of live shows.

yes carson in southern california. between compton and long beach.
back in the 80s carson was big big for reggae 'splash, Kangol productions.
you would have nice stageshow performances of some wicked artists like

johnny clarke
tony tuff
sugar minott
dennis brown
pinchers
supercat
tinga stewart
sagitarrius band
freddie mcgregor
general trees
frankie paul
dominic
major mackeral
lt. stitchie
swelele

and many other artists i can't remember at this moment. its been a blessing just to have that amount caliber of artists coming to town at that time. i'll try and remember some of the other artists that came to town and post them.

Seattle, where I'm currently located, has a reasonably large reggae following. There have been a lot of acts coming through town since I've lived here for the last 3 months. They have a "Reggae Record Shop" called Zion's Gate, which you would expect to be the cornerstone for roots music community. Unfortunately, the guy who owns the shop is a bit of a troll and does not provide a righteous atmosphere for such a thing (not to mention his absurd prices). All and all there seems to be a large and fragmented community of reggae brethrens up here.

-- Will

@picsces i had never heard of that?
good to know, im not far from there
is there still a following?

Hail Jah Chicken !

I'm from Seattle as well. In fact, I may have run into you at a record fair a few months ago on Capitol Hill? I agree Zion's Gate has room for improvement. The pricing is pretty standard, but the inventory to me is the weakest point. EBreggae has pretty much everything there for cheaper online. That said, I did find a couple very cheap original 12"s last time I was there. Mikey General - Parring P and Ed Robinson - Roughneck Sound for $3 each ! Reggae is dishearteningly difficult to come across in Seattle record stores.

Eventually I'd like to help set up a devoted 60s/70s/80s reggae/soul/funk night in the city. Most Seattle reggae nights right now tend to focus on bashment-style dancehall which is not my cup at all. I'm building my arsenal of selextions at the moment, but with a couple other collections thrown in the mix we could probably get something going relatively soon.

well during the 90s when dj quik and supercat headlined at the valadrome where they usually keep the reggae splash, was a total disaster, which ended up with pure gunfire between bloods and crips. mixing gangsta rap with reggae as a stageshow wasnt a gteat idea. so that was the last time they realy any kind of reggae shows, until 2000 and something, with yellowman, shabba rank along with pupa pinchers, yes the bandelero performed pinchers one of my favorite dancehall sing-jays had a short set. but he use to always be at the reggae splash events. one other i forgot to mention, that i remember being at reggae splash was sanchez. but nowadays long beach queen mary hold some pretty good events at queen mary park. memorable artists like little john, linval thompson, johnny clarke, horace andy, leroy sibbles, errol dunkleyon carlos, barrington levy and many other artists i cant remember. long beach bob marley day had some of the best in the business. like al campbell, cornell campbell, junior reid, michael rose, original black uhuru line up with don carlos and garth dennis. half pint, glen washington, brigadier jerry, charlie chaplin, cocoa tea, edi fitzroy , gregory isaacs and many others. a rare treat was seeing winston hussey, errol dunkley and philip frazer and the same event together at hillywood park casino.

San Diego, CA.... here are some of the artists that have been here recently..
Milton Henry, Edi Fitzroy, JAH Mel, JAH Mali, Twinkle Brothers, Ras Teo, Black Redemption, Wildfiyah Rootikal, Steve Knight, Tinga Stewart, Martin Campbell, Horace Andy, JAH Batta, Ranking Joe... Plus, youve got BlackHeart Warriors, which are the first ones ever in SD to bring authentic soundsystem culture to the forefront (dubplates, preamps, sirens, etc).. they run things here with that heavy, U.k. dub/roots vibe...
Also, Trade Roots Reggae (the oriJAHnal roots/vinyl shop) is back In operation...

I always got to give up nuff rispek to san diego massive.
wow, steve knight? impressive.
you forgot to mention you guys get high caliber artists like

sammy dread
robert ffrench
michael palmer
triston palma
wayne smith
horace martin

this would be an all-star line up on one billing. that would be a dream show, ha ha ha.
have you guys ever had Michael Prophet? if you did, i wouldn't be surprised. i know veteran artist like these are always in demand in SD.