Pluto Shervington and friends rock Redbones Cafe

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

A Night with Pluto Shervington and Friends, held on Friday at Redbones the Blues Café, had an intimate staging.

Segment one got off with a solo performance by Pluto, but it was not the expected great start as Pluto's hope of Tonight is Gonna Be a Good Night materialised in the last two segments, due to his preoccupation with some technical glitches.

And in spite of singing songs such as Be My Body Guard and the satirical Inna My Room from his new album, his mojo seemed to have been somewhere else. The segment came to an end with another of his popular songs, Hail That Man.

High quality performance

It was a delightful segment two that brought with it a vintage Pluto Shervington, and the anticipated high-quality performance.

"Get ready for some oldies," he told the gathering, and with that, he launched into Give I Pound of Dat Ting There. And with no distractions, he gave the audience his full attention, erasing the taste of the lengthy break.

Soon after, the list of Pluto's friends of many years began to unravel. Dwight Pinkney, on guitar, gave a beautiful interpretation of a medley of jazz-fused folk songs such as Dis Long Time Gal Mi Neva See You and Sly Mongoose.

He was followed by Andy Vernon who commenced his stint with a great performance of Shaggy's Strength of a Woman. The Montegonian closed his act with his catchy uptempo original song, Irie and Mellow.

The segment came to an end with another lively performance of Johnny Be Good from Pluto and friend, Wayne McGregor.

Segment three was par excellence. Do you remember an era in Jamaica's music industry when well thought out lyrics and music ruled? Now imagine a line-up of some of those Jamaican song-writing satirists, who, with their pens, transformed their experiences and social occurrences into either emotional or laughable matters. Well, along with Shervington, your list should have included Mickey Hanson, Boris Gardner, Grub Cooper and Wayne Hammond.

The talented group not only thrilled the now well-engaged audience with entertaining songs but shared a few humorous anecdotes of their experience with Shervington, who also returned the favour in his introductions of them.

Hammond, former schoolmate (both attended St George's College) of Pluto, after giving a dramatic rendition of his classic I Still Love You, used a story about a guitar to highlight Pluto's talent as a guitarist.

Ruled the world

Cooper used his time onstage to tell of his desire to do a voice-over for a movie, complimented and reminded Pluto of a time when they ruled the world of writing jingles. And before singing a medley of oldies such as Cricket, Oh Lord and Ragga Muffin with Pluto, Cooper took the audience back in time to Shaving Cream.

Lovindeer joined Pluto in vocalizing his hilariously penned A Long-Blackwood, a satire on women who chose to attach their maiden names to that of their husbands' after marriage. The exciting group of talented musicians ended the show with the singing of Bob Marley's One Love, and the audience was fully satisfied.

The Gleaner caught up with the man of the hour after the show and learned that while based in Florida, he visits Jamaica at least once per month to perform at private parties. He still tours frequently all over the world and has a new album titled, Second Wind, on the road.

He also shared his view on the present state of Jamaica's music saying, "Some of it is good ... Tarrus Riley is a good boy, Gyptian, great entertainer."

But while he believes that the younger generations of musicians should be encouraged, Pluto does not feel that the industry has grown.

"Too much slackness, too much killing, mi noh like dat. I would not like to hear my children sing those lyrics, too much slackness. We don't need that, we need conscious and positive music or even comedic lyrics as they make you happy and make you laugh," he said.

Adding, "it (the music) is not all bad, you have some good ones out there".