Entertainment Reviews

CD REVIEW

Lee Perry

Revelation

Label: Megawave/MVD Audio

Toeing a fine line between sage sonic chops and irie eccentricity is a game Lee Scratch Perry has played for decades. Surfacing again with his latest full-length, Revelation, Jamaica’s legendary dub maverick christens echo-drenched beats with Rastafarian symbolism. Not to mention a myriad of ingredients that range from galactic laser zaps, hot and sticky reggae beats, a dash of George Clinton and a scraggly helping of Keith Richards. It sounds random, but for the average Perry fan, this formula is right in his wheelhouse. And despite a few songs that fall flat on this 13-track offering, it’s clear that the talents of this 74-year-old sound selecta are still sharp enough to leave a mark. From the outset, everything from the cover art to track titles like “Psalm,” “Holy Angels” and “An Eye For An Eye” remind us  that Perry’s proclivities for drugs and alcohol have been overcome by incense and scripture. But don’t be fooled. Perry’s religious overtones are spliced with hard-life experience, vice and psychedelic phantoms. With a voice that creaks and bends like an old wooden floor, Perry’s repetitive (often cryptic) lyrics go from hopeful to haunting, even horny at times (see the endless loops of porno groans and erotic devilishness of “An Eye For An Eye”). Much of the album delves into ancient biblical imagery, a unifying solvent over taut snare snaps, fuzzy bass lines, searing synth chords and stoned eight-notes. Aside from relying on sounds built during his ‘60s stint with the Upsetters, Perry also enlists the help of legendary confidants George Clinton and Keith Richards on the album. On “Scary Politicians,” Clinton lends some gravelly babbling to Perry’s song dedicated to the hopelessly corrupt ruling class.  Richards—a long-time champion of Perry’s music—lends some understated rhythm guitar licks to the album’s best track, “Book Of Moses.” Though the album is big on religious revelations, it’s good to see that reverence is still not Perry’s strong suit. Otherwise “Freaky Michael,” a randomly comical jab about Michael Jackson’s lifelong obsession with erasing his blackness, might not have made it on the track listing. Making fun of  the deceased King of Pop is a respectably daring move, even for a respected old-timer. It also reminds us that even though he may not have too many marbles left upstairs, Perry still has—and will always have—balls. (Nate Jackson)

BOOK REVIEW

Reefer Gladness: Stories, Essays and Riffs on Marijuana

Author: Michael Konik

Publisher: Huntington Press

There’s no shortage of books out there that tackle the issue of how the average angst-ridden youth finds him or herself preparing to light up their first joint. The history of drug use as a rite of passage is well documented. But for Michael Konik, that right of passage came slightly later—about 20 years later than most people. He was almost 40 the first time he got high. Seven years later, he’s published a self-auditing spirit quest/research expedition/short story project examining the fears and the freedom that befall well-established, productive (though mostly unhappy) people from all walks of life who choose to let a little THC into their lives. Reefer Gladness: Stories, Essays and Riffs on Marijuana is a common sense guidebook into cannabis culture told from someone who stumbled into it at a significantly more mature stage in life. A mix of compelling character sketches, rambling rants and artful character dialogue, the book offers a complex perspective on how the tranquilizing power of herb can temporarily erase the banalities of the everyday grind. Or at least hurry them along a lot quicker so we can live the good stuff. Whether it’s passing down and synthesizing long-held stoner mantras or recreating believable, emotionally stunted characters struggling to balance escapism and real-world responsibility, Konik’s short, punchy prose tackles common misconceptions of marijuana (the kind he once had before his first hit) with the likeable tone of cynicism and common sense reasoning. Through it all, his analysis consistently provides evidence that some of the world’s most successful people can also be functional cannabis users. (Nate Jackson)

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW

What If Cannabis Cured Cancer

Written/Directed by: Len Richmond

Len Richmond Films

Writer/director Len Richmond’s, top-notch, hour-long treatise on the ultimate use of cannabis—to cure cancer—is mindboggling in its wealth of data information. Narrated by Peter Coyote, Richmond briefly glances at the racist beginnings of marijuana prohibition (the leader of the movement, Harry Anslinger once said about marijuana users: “This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and others.”), but focuses mainly on the scientific data surrounding medical marijuana. Filled with fascinating interviews, graphs, charts and animated diagrams of how our internal endocannabinoids (yes, they naturally occur in our own bodies!) react positively to the intake of the external cannabis plant, the doc fairly well builds an air-tight case against the anti-cannabis factions. With European studies mounting on the pro-cannabis side, Richmond offers numerous articles into evidence that cannabis, with its naturally-occurring benefits, has destroyed cancer cells, shrunk brain tumors and halted the growth of new blood vessels, stopped breast cancer from spreading and prostate cancer from growing and slowed lung cancer tumor growth. He also includes studies that show cannabis (long ago used by ancient Christians in their Baptisms as well as by Queen Victoria for her menstrual cramps) can aid those who suffer from asthma, depression, multiple sclerosis and Tourette syndrome, without the unwanted side effects of pharmaceuticals. Probably one of the most polished, informative films on cannabis released in years (with a hilarious puppet cartoon side feature starring Malcolm McDowell and Roseanne Barr), this is one educational journey not to be missed. (Stacy Davies)