Birthday celebrations and Moon Jamaica's launch

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

Happy birthday wishes to Professor Dr Trevor Munroe; artist David Pinto; Ulla Wyckoff; the enterprising Kimala Bennett; Dhalia McDaniel; the fabulously lovely Lydia Cherry; entertainer Kevin Clarke; and Bevon Bennett, in New York, who all celebrate today.

Celebrating tomorrow are Tomlin Ellis; designer Lilieth Edwards; man-about-town and party overlord Dwight Sangster; Wayian Smith, in New York; Natahsa Shaman, formerly of Russia, now Toronto resident, visiting Hedonism II with her Men of Steele contestants; and Edward Brett, in London, England. On Sunday, Portia Simpson Miller will be celebrating her birthday, and it will be an intimate affair. Also celebrating on Sunday are the lovely Nurma James; Delroy Gordon; Samuels Sutton Grant; Elsa Thompson, from Coleyville, Manchester, now residing in Nassau, The Bahamas; Adrian Smallwood, formerly of Morant Bay, St Thomas, now residing in Toronto, Canada; and Alesha Nicole Nicholson in London!

On Monday, those celebrating include the fabulous Sandra Feanny; the beautiful Khian James Hendricks, in Florida; Ricardo Gayle, now in Trinidad; and the lovely Moya Baston, formerly of Ocho Rios, now residing in Dubai. On Tuesday, Joe Matalon; multimedia mogul Lennie Little-White; the talented Della Manley; hotelier Horace Peterkin; Lionel McNeil; Janice Huey, in Westhampton Beach, New York; Alicia Brown, in New York; Keisha-Lou Anderson, formerly of Linstead, St Catherine, now residing in New York; the lovely Jean Fennell, form St Thomas, now residing in Loganville, Georgia; and lawyer Franz McFayden, now living in Toronto, Canada.

On Wednesday, painter Viv Logan; celebrated photographer Janjoi Jaja; the graciously lovely Angela Amir; the fabulously stunning Kathrine Goodhall, in Florida; and the lovely Heather Gray, in California, all celebrate. Thursday will see the elegant Sheila Graham, businessman Joscelyn Campbell and the lovely Rhona Beswick in Minnesota, partying on their very special day! And belated wishes to Douglas Orane, who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, December 8, and the elegant Veenal Vaswani, who celebrated her special day yesterday. Then more congrats to Patrick and Marguerite Lynch, the tres elegant couple who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on Sunday. Congratulations also to Jonathan and Paula Surtees, as the fabulously lovely couple celebrated their 17th anniversary on Sunday, but made a weekend getaway of it at Sandals Ocho Rios.

Belated birthday greetings to Mike Drakulich. Many happy returns to y'all!

Alive with studio 30

Studio 38 at the Pulse Complex on Trafalgar Road is decidedly one of the hottest venues in the nation's capital.

In a city where its inhabitants are given to restricting their nightlife and clubbing to being a weekend activity, Studio 38 has upended that notion and is creating a whole new perspective. Prior to its advent, Tuesday and Thursday nights in Kingston were pretty much non-events for the party-loving, nightclubbing or café crowd. And Sundays was another no-no, as the party people, with nowhere to go, pretty much decided that Sunday nights were best suited for prepping for Mondays, and so the largest English-speaking and oh-so cosmopolitan city in this hemisphere, known centuries ago for its unrivalled partying, was fast becoming comatose.

Enter Studio 38 with its hot entertainment offerings and, suddenly, it is the place to be and be seen with more and more of the trendy members of the social elite and the business community enjoying the laid-back comfy atmosphere and now booking the hot spot for their very own events. Dears, a case in point is author Oliver Hill.

Redoing moon jamaica

Hill first came to Jamaica in 2004 to conduct research for a documentary titled Coping With Babylon, as part of his master's project for his journalism degree from Columbia University. He returned to the island in 2006 to research and upgrade the then very internationally popular Moon Handbook on Jamaica, that was then in its fourth edition. Now the Moon Handbook is really a traveller's companion and guide, providing a most detailed and intimate narrative of the island, its attractions, hot spots, general places of interest and, perhaps more important, a very comprehensive look at the island, covering spots, places and people off the beaten track, thus making it a true gem.

For the fifth edition, Hill did not merely upgrade the handbook, he rewrote it, and in a comprehensive manner. Well, that was 2006. Last Thursday, Hill launched the updated version of his guide, now titled Moon Jamaica, and announced the launch of the website at Studio 38.

Not only has Hill proven to be a master at documenting Jamaica in the book, he did so by taking the roads well travelled and those less travelled. The venue was transformed to reflect the essence of the subjects of Moon Jamaica, so Donnie Bunting from VIP Meats served up a fabulous roasted lamb. Jo Jo's Jerk Pit and More was there too, as one of the restaurants designated in the Kingston chapter of Moon Jamaica as Top Picks. So, too, were Starapples, Whitebones, Sonia's Homestyle Cooking and Natural Juices, Ashanti Oasis, Mi Hungry Whoi', Norma's On Whitehall Avenue, 1876 wines, providing its own deli corner and its fab wines, and powerhouse J Wray & Nephew, providing name brand spirits.

Dears, with liberal sampling of foods, wines and spirits everywhere, DJ Archie playing some def tunes and party people, the fab trendsetters and followers, y'all know we are talking a happening do here and nothing but! Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett officially launched the book.

Among those out were Dr Paul Robertson; French Ambassador Marc-Olivier Gendry; Mexican Ambassador Leonora Rueda; Spanish Ambassador Celsa Nuno; Dr Michael Banbury; Professor Dr Carolyn Cooper; Michael Campbell; Bindley Sangster; Alexandra Consten of the German Embassy; Alex Dropinski of the European Union; Mike and Robin Lumsden; Jonathan and Paula Surtees; Michael Fox; the fab Tiffany Gordon; businessman Oliver Magnus; the lovely Dollis Campbell; Colin Reid; artist Andy Jefferson; designer Fern Procter; Knolly Moses; Catherine Handa; Christopher Barnes; Zachary and Tamara Harding; the simply stunning Romae Gordon; Kynan Cooke; the fashionable siblings Karen and Michelle Neita; Paul Shoucair and his beautiful sister, Marlene Shoucair; Dan Kelly; Tanya Shirley; Paul Bucknor and fab Kai Wakeling and their children, River and Skai Bucknor; Andrew Gordon; Nevardo Pow; Taquise Gordon-Smith; David Morrison; the lovely Tracey McArdle; the fab Annie Harris; Ika Wilmot; Richard Peters; Tammi-Ann Lewin; and a number of others.

And yes, Moon Jamaica is quite the picker-upper!