'This ilant in the sun'
Published:Sunday | February 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Street musician entertains visitors to Ocho Rios
FOR RESIDENTS of Ocho Rios and regular visitors to the resort town, the dreadlocked Don Gordon is as familiar as the clock which towers over the town square.
For years, Gordon, with his guitar and flowing white beard, has paced the streets, beachfronts and cruise-ship pier, offering to sing for anyone who wants to listen.
"I promote tourism every day. I meet the tourist on the street each day because I am a street musician," Gordon told The Sunday Gleaner, with an accent that sounded like a mixture of the cultures of Jamaica, North America and Europe.
According to Gordon, he has been doing the street musician act for more than 20 years earning a living from the tips he receives from visitors.
"But things not so great now. It's the (winter tourist) season but the visitors who come this year are not so generous. However, you can move around them and you might get a food," said Gordon.
He bristled at the suggestion that he might be part of the problem of visitor harassment in Ocho Rios.
"I don't harass them. As they see me, they want to take photographs and I have to make some characteristic pose which they love same time.
"They don't wanna leave until I sing two or three songs," Gordon added as he broke into song about "the ilant in the sun" named Jamaica.
Gordon has no intention of giving up his street musician business anytime soon, so on your next visit to Ocho Rios, look out for the singing Rastaman and hear the rest of his hit single, 'This ilant in the sun'.