Gaps eventually filled in at 'ReWine'

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The climax of a retro music-format session is about as predictable as that of a romance novel. For the former - such as Saturday's 'ReWine' at Waterfalls, Liguanea - there is going to be some disco, a serving or two of soca, chances are some rock and roll, and certainly lots of reggae rockers and dancehall.

Then, when the party gets down to the real gritty, somewhere on the downside of 3 a.m., it will be dry-humping paradise to early through mid-90s beats. Similarly, the romance novel hits a peak with the ins and outs of relationships between men and women - though not to Beenie Man and Terror Fabulous, of course.

So 'ReWine', happily locked into the tried, proven and, importantly, expected format, delivered what it should and seemed to satisfy the appreciable number of partygoers who eventually turned up. 'Eventually' is the key word, as retro parties are among the few events which partygoers tend to turn out to en masse before the clock's long and short hands merge at the top of the dial.

However, at a few minutes short of midnight, the white swathes of cloth which created three linked but still distinct spaces for dancing were brushing the backs of the few people at the party, as none dared break the ice and venture into the dancing spaces while Telephone Love and Rumours were on the turntables.

disparate j'can tracks

Colin Hines who, along with DJ Denvo and Dave Marshall was responsible for the tunes, was on and pulled the tracks from disparate Jamaican sources, while maintaining the format. So Frankie Paul's take on Cassanova and Shabba's Fresh came on either end of an approximately one-hour run-up to midnight, in between Jump Up stirring the few present perceptibly.

After the giveaway, which marked the top of each hour, the beat was switched to disco and a couple people - literally - started to fill in the gaps between the sheets. The ladies especially loved La Isla Bonita and, although lots of legs were being shown, there were none as great as Tina Turner's Simply the Best.

The joint was really jigging by the All Night Long and there was a good mix into Reggae Night, DJ Denvo now on the turntables. A tall lass tried to teach her shorter partner the moves on Electric Boogie, to predictably ho-hum results. All the ladies seemed to be a Caribbean Queen and, by the time the beat switched to Cocoa Tea's Crying Time, the gaps had definitely closed and 'ReWine' was in a groove.

Horse Tonic was an early shot at that highly anticipated dry-humping period before a dip back into the rockers with Level The Vibe and Winsome, Half Pint one of the artistes played in clusters of three or four songs.

The 'Sleng Teng' rhythm spanned eras, from the Wayne Smith song which gave the beat its name to Bounty Killer's Lodge, a big hit with the now appreciable crowd - even though it was interrupted by a giveaway.

On the downside of 1 a.m., Dave Marshall took 'ReWine' into hip-hop land, in the laid-back style of Biggie. Judgement Day was a slide into rockers, the crowd cheering and asking for a restart on the day when the predicted rapture never came.

Innocent Kru's Impossible Train was the transition point back to Jamaican music and from there until The Gleaner left 'ReWine' at 2 a.m. to the 'Joyride' rhythm, it was dry-humping tunes to the delight of the couples and glee of voyeurs, among them Shabba's Needle Eye.