Poet learns from 'The Cool Ruler'

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Wayne 'Joseph Current' Thomas says the late Gregory Isaacs, whose African Museum studio and shop he managed up to 2005 after returning to Jamaica in 2000, called him a different name for each role.

"If him say 'Jubbie' him talking about music. If is dub poetry him say 'Joseph Current'. If he was talking about the shop him say 'Mr Thomas'," Current said.

However, the lesson that Current learnt from Isaacs on one fateful Portland promotion covers all names and roles, although he applies it mostly to his Joseph Current Show, where he will play dual roles as performer and poet.

Current tells The Gleaner that he simply does not trust anyone else to promote the show, his personal showcase that is 70 per cent poetry and features special poetry guests as well as singers.

The show was first held in 2008 at Weekenz, Constant Spring Road, St Andrew, and tomorrow will be staged for the second time. Current will host and poet Steppa is one of the special guests, along with another well-known poet, at The Wyndham hotel's Jonkanoo Lounge.

Current learnt his lesson on a drive from Kingston to Portland, where Isaacs was slated to do a show. Before, Isaacs had asked Current if he was sure the posters which had been printed and sent to Portland were put up.

"He said 'go look and make sure the posters put up'," Current said. He assured Isaacs that everything was all right, as it was his cousin who had been entrusted with the job.

"The day of the show Gregory personally drive me down there, me and Courtney Melody. While we driving down we don't see any poster, not even one. Every town we reach Gregory say 'Jubbie, you see any posters yet?' When we each near the venue we see one - and it look like it recently put up," Current said.

The band and musicians turned up at the venue, but there was no audience. "Gregory say is a valuable lesson you learn. I make sure come with you," Current said.

So, he says, "Me can tell you me not comfortable performing on the Joseph Current show and is not me promoting it."

Isaacs was not in Jamaica for the inaugural staging in 2008, although they discussed the show. However, 'The Cool Ruler' got positive feedback on the event and says when it was not held in 2009 and 2010 he asked about the event. He would have been involved in a 2010 staging, but February had already passed and Current is insistent on holding it in Black History Month.

Guest performer

"Him say 'all right, make we do it 2011 and he would be part of it, as guest performer and financially'," Current said. "I was planning it, hoping that he would be here, but it never happen."

Still, the two-hour show will go on.

Current says he met Isaacs while he was still travelling back home to Jamaica from the United States, from where he toured with roots reggae group Wailing Souls as the deejay. He would rent a particular car consistently and was eventually introduced to the owner, Isaacs, who gave Current his phone numbers and said they should stay in touch.

They did, and when Current came back to Jamaica to live at the turn of the century, he eventually ended up running African Museum.

Current also has another interest behind the music, as he produced the documentary Great Works of Men, which aired on free to air television last October.