Love My Records Sessions (Toronto)

Jodie D x PDR Sessions (Session 25)

Bob Williams, Sonic Boom, and VIN Hurricane Melissa relief fundraiser for Jamaica

I’ve known Toronto-based, Montegonian vocalist and producer Bob Williams for a good 20 years now. Along with his original singing partner, the late, great, Jimmy Wisdom (of Wisdom’s Barber Shop and Hairdressing Salon on Eglinton Avenue West), Bob was prominently featured on the landmark 2006 Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk, and Reggae 1967-1974 compilation, which was re-released in an expanded version last November on Light In The Attic Records. 

Bob and I are also neighbours and friends, so when I got a call from him about how we might be able to help generate some much needed funds for Jamaica’s Hurricane Melissa relief initiatives, I was all ears. I immediately thought of the Sonic Boom record store in Toronto, a supporter and stockist of the Jamaica to Toronto album. Their large, street-facing window display late last year reminded me of the cross-cultural and intergenerational love that was shared through the 6-album Jamaica-Toronto series, which I produced in my early thirties over a number of years. 

Without hesitation, Bryce at Sonic Boom was open to collaborate with us and it was an adventure to head downtown with Bob after Toronto’s first snowfall of 2025 to meet his fellow Sonic Boom staff member Margarita, who filmed Bob and assembled an Instagram reel to let our city, and the world, know of a special way to offer financial support to Jamaica in their time of need, while sharing the gift of music connected to this tragedy. 

Bob’s remaining, original 12” vinyl copies of the 1989 Hurricane Gilbert relief single "Wind of Sadness" by Planet Earth and the Charitable People (featuring Bob Williams, Terry Brown, and Carlton Harrison, as well as vocals from Canada’s “First Lady of the Blues,” the dearly departed Salome Bey) are currently available at Sonic Boom (215 Spadina Avenue) for $20 (or more, by donation) with all funds collected going towards Hurricane Melissa support as recommended by the Consulate General of Jamaica, Toronto. Graciously, Sonic Boom will match minimum donations of $20 per record. 

“Stay strong, hold on, and you’ll make it,” says Bob to his fellow Jamaicans.

In this time of need, any word spreading is much appreciated... 

Media requests can be directed to Kevin Howes at voluntaryinnature at gmail dot com

PEACE

Cold Journey screening (Revue Cinema, Tkaronto, September 30)

Birdapres + Sipreano x The Little Jerry, Toronto, June 15, 2025

VIN x The Little Jerry, Toronto, May 1, 2025

SIP / KAE / TLJ (SAT. MAY 25)

Searching for vinyl at Ontario's largest record show

Reggae In Toronto - New Music, Toronto TV May 1981

Kevin Howes: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1449 (VIN re-post)

*It was an honour to speak on Toronto Mike'd earlier today. Listen and learn HERE!

Dan Charnas on the Magic, Mythology, and Genius of J Dilla (Loop Sessions Toronto)

Live Convention 2023

Toronto (June 3, 2023)

(Thank you) Toronto

Voluntary In Nature at The Little Jerry

Joseph "Jo-Jo" Bennett RIP (1940-2021)

It's safe to say that the world will never host another gem of a person quite like Kingston, Jamaica-born Joseph "Jo-Jo" Bennett, who, according to family, passed away in his sleep on August 3rd. Jo-Jo was a musician, teacher, family man, Rasta man, bandleader, connector, entertainer, and a true force of nature. With help from the man himself, I pieced together the following bio of Jo-Jo's musical migration for 2004's Jamaica to Toronto compilation. There is a very good reason why "Fugitive Song" was the album's first track... Bennett will always lead the way...

"Joseph “Jo-Jo” Bennett began his musical career at the esteemed Alpha Boys’ School in Kingston, Jamaica, over sixty-five years ago. His mastery of the trumpet, jubilant stage presence, and eagle eye soon caught the attention of prominent bandleader Byron Lee who quickly snapped up the young player for his busy group, The Dragonaires. Performing all over the Caribbean, it wasn’t long before Lee offered Bennett and long-time friend, lyricist, and business partner Owen “Bunny” Stone an opportunity that they couldn't refuse, a small label of their own where the duo could develop talent and release their own material. The label was named Fugitive in tribute to the popular American television show starring actor David Janssen which aired from 1963-1967.

The original “Fugitive Song”—there are two separate recording sessions of the song released on vinyl—was captured in 1967 with Stone and members of The Dragonaires during the same sessions that produced “The Lecture” and a rocksteady version of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island” dubbed “Cantelope Rock.” “I came up with the lyrics inside of the studio,” explained Stone. “They go, ‘All over the country I work and I live and that's why, that’s why they call Jo-Jo, the Fugitive.’ That was describing a lifestyle which was his and partially mine.” Leaving Jamaica to travel with The Dragonaires to Montreal for Expo 67, the trumpet dynamo decided to remain in Canada after the world’s fair. He sought out potential work in Toronto (542 kilometers south-west), and immediately befriended Kermit and Kingsley Lyn of the West Indian Federation [W.I.F] Club. After a short stint with The Cougars, Bennett was given the challenge to assemble his own group, and he drafted in a gang of players from Montego Bay, including guitarist and songwriter Wayne McGhie, who all shared a house on Temple Avenue in Toronto while getting acclimatized to life in a new country.

By 1968, the Fugitives had also recorded McGhie’s “Chips-Chicken-Banana Split,” which was released on the Cobra label. “Chips and chicken go together, and the dessert was banana split,” explained Bennett with his trademark laughter. As for the flavour-filled sound, the song is a wildly animated R&B shouter with utterly raw vocals by McGhie and the unique brand of contagious playing that typified the explosive energy that the crew delivered on-stage. Jo-Jo And The Fugitives pushed in along in Toronto until their namesake leader’s short-lived return to Jamaica in 1969 where he recorded the Groovy Joe LP for producer Harry A. Mudie, which included the all-time classic "Leaving Rome." Under heavy pressure and without solid guidance from Bennett, the Fugitives collapsed and its members pursued other avenues."

Of course, this was just the beginning of Jo-Jo's life in Canada, which later saw him launch a music school w/ drummer Joe Isaacs (The Soul Brothers, Sound Dimension, Lynn Taitt & the Jets, Frank Motley and the Hitch-Hikers, Risco Connections), launch his own Bunjo record label, and help to form the Canadian reggae institution The Sattalites ("Wild," "Easier Said Than Done," "Gimme Some Kinda Sign" to name a few) along w/ veteran Canadian singer-songwriter Fergus Hambleton, winning two Juno Awards in the process. 

In the early 1990s, The Sattalites were showcased in an hour-long MuchMusic special entitled "10 Years of Roots, Reality & Culture," celebrating the band's many achievements up until that point. As a music loving and playing teenager with my own roots in Toronto, I cherished the program, which I recorded onto a VHS tape, as well as the songs and warm personalities of Hambleton and Bennett, who took us back to Sister Mary Ignatius Davies [1921-2003] and the Alpha Boy's School in Jamaica and recapped their legendary Reggae Sunsplash performance. In other words, it influenced me greatly. 

A decade later, it was such an honour to connect w/ Jo-Jo (and Fergus) while producing the Jamaica to Toronto compilation. Both were very kind to me and I will cherish the moments that we connected. Included below are a photo of Jo-Jo (right) blowing his trumpet alongside Bobby Gaynair (left) courtesy of the Mullings family, Jo-Jo's "Fugitive Song," Jo-Jo hanging out w/ Noel Ellis at a gathering to honour Wayne McGhie at the Aura Club in Toronto in 2003, and a clip from MuchMusic's 1990s Sattalites special... 

Though Jo-Jo wasn't the first to make the trip from Jamaica to Toronto, the legacy of his trailblazing journey and life should be celebrated FOREVER... PEACE, VIN

GIVING THANKS FOR THE INCREDIBLE JO-JO BENNETT

Orange t-shirt today

I walked down the lanes as I often do, en route to the post office. In the distance, I saw what could only be described as a gaggle of little people, surely under 3 feet tall, children from Chabad Midtown, lining up to enter a short yellow school bus. The sight tickled my stomach and I began to chuckle like the image of old Saint Nick seen in advertisements. They could have been little bears, cats, or birds and I would have felt the same. Spirits. Today, I chose an orange shirt from my closet, emblazoned w/ the Native North America album cover image. Three the Hard Way: Willie Thrasher, Willie Dunn, and Willy Mitchell (*Fellow journalists, note the spellings). On my face, a pair of polarized lens sunglasses that ease my eyes from the bright sun shining down from the sky and reflecting against a great many surfaces. My destination was close, yet it felt hazardous crossing the busy Vaughan/St. Clair intersection, a diverse meeting place where a road and avenue connect and the smells of Jamaican food from Albert's Real Jamaican Foods can be enjoyed free of charge. Today, I catch pimento and coconut milk. Heading south on Vaughan on a green light saw two left turning cars eek ahead of the many pedestrians. To quote Giorgio, "Watch your step!" or maybe just watch the road drivers? Shoppers was my destination and I strolled into the large store w/o batting an eye. I was only until I joined the queue for a minute that I realized that I hadn't put my face mask on, a rare breach of COVID-era etiquette and bylaw. I'm sure that the postal clerks would have mentioned it to me one way or another causing much embarrassment on my part so I'm glad that I eventually clued in to my lapse. To think that there are still relatively new ways to participate in society on the street level is still a trip, wherever it is you may roam... PEACE

NOW: Decade in review: 50 things that defined Toronto in the 2010s

Thanks for the Native North America and Native North America Gatherings mention in your Decade in review: 50 things that defined Toronto in the 2010s NOW... PEACE

RIP Jimmy Wisdom

*Sending LOVE

December 21 (Toronto)