Peacemakers and New Year's Eve 40 years ago

Egerton Chang, Contributor

I operated a sound system (disco) when I was in my late teens-very early 20s. I was attending UWI (University of the West Indies) at the time and was into music in a big way. The disco started small, playing at one of my sister's weddings. It had only one turntable initially, and it took great skill to change 45s as quickly as possible without causing the dancing to stop.

It was the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius (Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group for the Grammy Awards of 1970) by the Fifth Dimensions. It was also the time of the Vietnam War and of the peaceniks, and the iconic symbol of peace was everywhere. The V-sign hand gesture, the counter-culture's sign for peace, was also very ubiquitous at the time. War (What is it good for? Absolutely nothing) by Edwin Starr, 1970, was symbolic of the times. It was the hippie era, and I, being an Aquarian, identified with it, particularly wearing my hair long.

So, Peacemakers became our name. This was 1968. We were an "uptown" disco, so how was I to know that Duke Fuller was also operating a disco called Peacemaker "downtown". It was years later that I had a good laugh after learning of this.

One-page contract

I printed a one-page contract with the peace symbol in the background. I recall it was printed at a printery operated by one Khaleel around the Molynes Road-Waltham Park Road intersection. It called for playing from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. with provision for additional payments for every half hour extra. We would ensure that the party was swinging at 2 a.m. to "force" the client to pay for an additional half hour, at least.

My first speaker boxes were made from round containers made of 3/8" ply which were molded into barrels and used to ship spices to National Continental Corporation (National Bakery) on Half-Way Tree Road. A 15" speaker was placed to blow upwards out of the round top of each barrel. It was novel and cool, but because of the quite flimsy construction, very prone to reverberations. And it had a slight aromatic odour (LOL!).

One of my first amplifiers was actually made of "tubes". I had a very close schoolmate named Claude Braithwaite who introduced me to a "builder" of this type of amplifiers. Even though transistors were, by then, taking over the world, aficionados, at the time, would swear that electronic vacuum-tube amplifiers still provided the better "sound". One of Claude's claims to fame was being featured on the reverse sign of the Jamaican two-dollar bill (remember those?). He was a student at Central Branch at the time the photo of the group of children featured was taken. I ran into Claude fairly recently (after over 30 years), and we reminisced.

When we started in 1968, it was the dying days of rock steady, which was quickly changing to reggae. Ernie Smith ruled the waves, the Techniques, Melodians and Heptones were popular, Wear You to the Ball by the Paragons was huge, Harmony Hall, U-Roy (Wake the Town and Tell the People) and the various versions were all the rage. Black (UV) lights were standard lighting along with glow-in-the-dark posters. In 1970, Sugar, Sugar (The Archies) and Dizzy (Tommy Roe) were top hits on the American scene, the latter being used to name a very popular nightclub at Northside Plaza.

Operating a disco was quite difficult in those days. There were only a small number of land lines (cellular was not even conceived), so getting engagements was done by word-of-mouth and face-to-face contact. And clients were often hard payers. I remember charging $30 to a high-end client and one of my elder brothers and I virtually fighting over the fact that this client hadn't paid me. You see, the client was a close friend of my brother's.

We "played out" at a number of "spots", including Swiss Chalet on Holborn Road, the Senior Common Room at the university, at Casa Monte Hotel (Stony Hill) for Alpha's graduation ball of 1971 (were we paid for this?), the nurses' residence at UWI, numerous house parties, and the New Year's Eve ball at the Flamingo Hotel on Trevennion Park Road in the Cross Roads area. The British High Commission was a repeat client.

Hard to Believe

It is hard for anyone to believe that aspect of my life, let alone try convincing my children. All evidence is long gone, including the contracts.

Fortunately, I remembered a photo of the Peacemakers playing at the Flamingo Hotel for New Year's Eve 1971 appearing in a STAR immediately afterwards. I had this memory in my mind so long that I had almost begun to think it was a figment of my imagination.

I happened to be down at The Gleaner Library recently doing some research and finally decided to look for this picture. I was in disbelief when I couldn't find it. Being unsure of the year, I checked the 1970, 1971, and 1972 editions of the STAR. I searched once, twice, over and over again. It wasn't there.

Maybe it appeared in The Gleaner I thought, clutching at straws. Sure enough, on page 14 of the January 2, 1971, edition under the heading "Welcoming the New Year", there was the (very grainy) photo. It showed swingers having a good time at the Flamingo Hotel with our Peacemakers disco sign in the background. On the same page were photos of revellers in jackets and evening gowns at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club dancing to Ingrid Chin Family Flintstones, St Andrew Club (Byron Lee and the Dragonaires), Hotel Kingston, House of Chen (Alpha Omega Band), Curphy Place (Mighty Vikings), Courtleigh Manor Hotel (Boris Gardner Happening), Morgan's Harbour, and Terra Nova Hotel.

I left Jamaica for McGill University in 1972 and my brothers operated the disco until 1974.

As we prepare to welcome a new year, perhaps we should reflect on the life and times surrounding New Year's Day some 40 years ago. For those too young to know, perhaps you could speak to your parents/elders. The talk might be very enlightening.

Egerton Chang is a businessman who may be reached at e_rider69@hotmail.com. Feedback may also be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.