This is a great read... hilarious yet incisive, trust me you wont regret it. Here's a quote: "The high priest give me the power to conquer all the priests, until all the priests decrease, like we conquer Greece, Greece was one of the beasts..."
Read More: The Survivors: Lee "Scratch" Perry Music: GQ.com
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Remembering My Big Brother...!!!
Never Ending Rain by Kristi Maxim
Twenty one years ago, my big brother moved away
for good, away from this life. It was a hard lost for all those who were close
to him, being only 21 years old myself, he was always there to give advice, to
lend his wisdom in almost any and all situations, he was the renaissance man.
His
memory is survived by my nieces, nephew, sister-in-law and our dear mother. In
loving memory of Winston who left but will never be forgotten - Gone too soon!
You had to go and that is understood.
Things just weren't right here for you.
The feeling you have given me
Has left me alone, standing alone.
I'm almost certain that you can see.
During your absence it has given me time
To think of ways I can escape this.
To run away from the pain.
Nothing ever seems to work
It's almost like a never ending rain.
With you there and me here standing alone
I worry for the day to come
The day when we are further apart
You won't be there in the coming week month year,
To help me through things, but you'll be in my heart.
There is also a fear of being detached,
Of being separate for so long.
We have progressed through the years.
The times we have shared merely brightened my day
And now all I can do is shed the tears.
The hurt that I am feeling right now,
I know that you can feel it inside.
But I want you to remember that once it's through,
You'll always be my big brother,
Someone whom I will forever look up to.
Thanks to Kristi Maxim for helping me to salute
my big brother.
Winston (1950-1991)
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Fire Ernest Hilaire & Board including Hunte
The hoopla and fiasco around West Indies cricket
continues with no end in sight, all the time showing the current leadership of
the Caribbean side to be woefully incompetent and lacking in basic decency.
The
events of the last seven days have been a true revelation to what most of us
knew all along, yet we play footsy with the truth, there is no love lost
between Sir Julian Hunte – President WICB and Ernest Hilaire – CEO WICB, for the
Jamaica Cricket Association and right now Chris Gayle is the sacrificial lamb.
How else do we process and understand the events of the last few days.
 |
| The Rt. Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller Prime Minister - Jamaica |
Jamaica's Prime Minister,
the Right Honorable, Portia Simpson-Miller demanded and quite rightly so that a
resolution in the impasse between Chris Gayle and the WICB be found quickly.
The plea from the PM came at
Jamaica Cricket Association awards, Simpson Miller said, “Gayle was being
treated unjustly and deserved a place in the West Indies team.” She also
expressed concern that Sabina Park was not allocated a match for West Indies'
upcoming home series against Australia.
In emphasizing her point on the
issues sited, PM Simpson-Miller went on to say, "Justice delayed is
justice denied and we demand that a resolution be found as quickly as
possible," Simpson Miller said on the Gayle issue. "Cricket is too
important to the people of Jamaica and the West Indies for this to be left down
the wicket."
Darn right she is… DARN
RIGHT!!! This absolute stupidity being perpetrated by the WICB is a farce and
my deeper concern is why the other Prime Minister’s and former players across
the region have remained voiceless about this matter, particularly in relation
to the treatment being meted out to Gayle, is it so hard for them to see we are
and have been on a path that can yield nothing but continued failure and
ridicule for the regional side? Why isn’t there more outrage from the media and
fans around the region about this matter?
 |
| Ernest Hilaire - CEO, WICB |
The audacity of Ernest Hilaire to respond a Prime
Minister of any Country the way he did PM Simpson-Miller is downright rude and
out of order and as a Jamaican citizen, I deeply offended.
In his response Hilaire said,
"The WICB believes
that the Prime Minister did not have the benefit of the full information
pertaining to the matters on which she spoke," - In other words shut up
lady you don’t know what you talking about, how dare you Hilaire… How dare you!
"The WICB is further disappointed that
the relevant officials in Jamaica did not brief the Prime Minister that the
West Indies v Australia tour was, for reasons pertaining to scheduling and
weather, always slated to be played in the Southern Caribbean," the
release stated. In other words, why don’t you leave what doesn’t concern you… I
am getting pissed!
"She would have been informed that Mr
Chris Gayle has been written to by the WICB, clearly outlining the full details
of what is required of him. The WICB is awaiting a response from Mr.
Gayle." In other words, now stop wasting my time!
 |
| Sabina Park - South Camp Rd |
Each of the foregoing quotes pulled from the written response
from WICB, have been subsequently refuted by the Jamaica Cricket Association.
Will we ever know the truth?
Doubt we will get an answer to that. What I do
know for certain, Jamaica has no weather issues in March, April or May that
would have caused a scheduling problem for hosting a fixture during the Australian
series, coupled with the fact that Guyana who were originally selected to host
a test match, would have been at the tail end of their natural rainy weather
cycle… somebody seem to have their wires crossed here.
 |
| Sabina Park |
That wasn’t the only wire being crossed either, Hilaire said,
“the JCA should have told the Prime Minister that Jamaica was selected as a
host venue for the New Zealand tour in July.”
Well believe it or not, JCA President
Lindel Wright says, “this was never communicated to Jamaica Cricket Association
prior yet he (Wright) sits on the board of the WICB…” weird isn’t it?
If Hilaire is indeed lying, why should we believe
anything he says about the impasse with Chris and the WICB? Well it is clear
that most people don’t believe you Ernest Hilaire and you need to come clean
and admit that you blew this whole episode with Gayle out of proportion, and
now it’s too far gone for you to eat humble pie and do the right thing. Let’s
not forget Hilaire, Chris in response to your edict for an apology last year
October, asked and quite rightly so, for the WICB to state clearly what is he apologizing
for or in other words, what is he charged with. Surely, that can’t be too hard
for you to understand, yet to date you’ve been silent.
 |
| Chris Gayle |
I have said before in published pieces that if Chris did
something wrong he ought to be punished and the punishment must fit the crime,
who is to say the WICB wouldn’t have received an apology already if Gayle was immediately,
at the time of the infraction (whatever that was), referred to the disciplinary
committee and the matter handled accordingly, after all, isn’t that the process
in the WICB code of ethics.
It is strikingly obvious to me that the WICB has erred on
this one badly and it’s too embarrassing now to do the right thing. Instead it
has resorted to bullying a player by preventing him from playing and in the
process punish the fans of the Caribbean from seeing the best West Indies
eleven play. Whether you want to believe it or not Hilaire, Chris Gayle is the
most feared batsman in the world today in any format of the game, yet we
continue to discard him because of yours and the Board’s ego, selfishness and
insularity.
 |
| Sir. Julian Hunte |
I believe the time has come for Ernest Hilaire to be fired for
bringing the game into disrepute and the entire board should step down for
sitting idly by and allowing it to happen.
It would be instructive that Caricom
Executive Director is asked by the regional stakeholders to assume temporary responsibility
of the WICB and conduct a full audit of the boards business and practices with
a mandate to implement the necessary changes needed to put right the perennial issues
that have plagued West Indies Cricket for decades.
THIS
NONESENSE HAS GONE ON FOR TOO LONG NOW, HENCE IT IS IMPORTANT THAT IF YOU ARE
READING THIS BLOG AND HAVE AN OPINION, BE IT FOR/AGAINST MY OPINIONS, THAT YOU
LOG YOUR FEEDBACK BELOW.
Monday, 20 February 2012
A story about prayer & faith
"I came across this story this evening purely by accident, but felt compelled to share it... I hope when you read it and feel the same way" Donovan G. White
This
is a story written by a Doctor who worked in Africa.
One night I had worked hard to
help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died,
leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We
would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no
electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with
treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies
and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to
stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in
distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, "it had burst (rubber
perishes easily in tropical climates), and it is our last hot water
bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled
milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst
water bottles. They do not grow on
trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right, I said,
“put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and
the door to keep it free from drafts your job is to keep the baby warm.”
The following noon,
as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children
who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of
things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem
about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that
the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the
two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time,
a ten year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our
African children. “Please, God” she prayed, “Send us a hot water bottle today.
It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it
this afternoon.”
While I gasped
inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, “And while you are about it,
would you please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know you really
love her.”As often with
children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say “Amen?” I just
did not believe that God could do this.
Oh, yes, I know
that he can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't
there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending
me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at
that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone
did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the
equator! Halfway through the
afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was
sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car
had gone, but there on the veranda was a large 22lb parcel. I felt
tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the
orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each
knot. We folded the paper; taking care not to tear it unduly, the excitement
was mounting.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really
be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle.
I cried.
I had not asked God
to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the
front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the
bottle, he must have sent the dolly, too!' Rummaging down to the bottom of the
box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She
had never doubted!
Looking up at me,
she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so
she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'
'Of course,' I
replied!
That parcel had
been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school
class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water
bottle, even to the equator.
'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24) http://kingjbible.com/isaiah/65.htm
When you receive
this, say the prayer. That's all I ask. No strings attached. Just send it on to
whomever you want – but do send it on. This awesome prayer
takes less than a minute.
Heavenly Father, I
ask you to bless my friends reading this. I ask you to minister to
their spirit. Where there is pain, give them your peace and mercy. Where there
is self doubting, release a renewed confidence to work through them where there
is tiredness or exhaustion, I ask you to give them understanding, guidance, and
strength. Where there is fear, reveal your love and release to them your
courage. Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and rise up leaders
and friends to support and encourage them. I ask you to do these things in
Jesus name. Amen.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Jamaica's Football... Reviewing with perspective!
"The great successful men of the world have used their imagination, they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building - steadily building."
Robert Collier
In 1994 when Captain Horace Burrell assumed the reins of President for
the Jamaica Football Federation, sports in Jamaica was never really viewed as a
serious proposition for brand owners and marketers, maybe because sports
administrators didn't have a bold vision or the will to think BIG and well
outside the proverbial box. I mean, it’s not like we didn't have trailblazing
sports men and women who made their names on the world stage and in the process
introduced brand Jamaica to the globe as a unique and trendsetting phenomenon.
 |
| Herb McKinley |
From as early as early 1948 Helsinki Olympics Dr. Arthur Wint and the
incomparable Herb McKinley showed the world how good we are and since then our
place on that stage as world beaters have continued to multiply in great
numbers.
Jamaican sportsmen & sportswomen excelled at almost anything they
had a mind to… Track & Field, Boxing, Netball, Table Tennis, Badminton,
Cricket and the list goes on.
 |
| Capt. Horace Burrell - JFF President |
However, it wasn’t until Captain Burrell uttered
his bold vision of Jamaica qualifying for the World Cup Finals 1998, that all of Jamaica took
a double take and in the good ole patois, most regular Jamaicans probably said "a
wha du dah bredda deh, wi nuh redy fi dat yet."
Suddenly, the brand owners and
marketers began to see a different paradigm for the way sports is managed,
sponsored and executed and suddenly, what seemed like a pipe dream to some had
others seeing dollar signs.
This was clearly no small feat and while the blue print was being created
on the go, bringing all the pieces together, there had to be some huge
psychological wars being waged. Neither the players, fans nor corporate Jamaica
would become believers in the vision if the coach who was going to take them to
the promise land was to be a Jamaican; it just wasn’t going to happen. Their experience
with local coaches managing the preparation of our teams/players wasn’t a
beacon of success and wouldn’t inspire confidence among the key would be
stakeholders.
First Base
This task required a foreign coach, after all Jamaica most successful
World Cup campaign prior came in 1965 under then coach Brazilian Jorge Pena. So
the bold Captain Burrell plan of qualifying Jamaica for the 1998 World Cup finals
needed a game changer, something large enough to make the entire country join
in the dream.
 |
| Brazilian - Prof. Rene Simoes |
The game changer came in the form of Professor Rene Simoes, another
Brazilian who bought into the vision and immediately was a hit with the
Jamaican media which made him likeable in the public domain.
This likability
was of course aided and abetted by our long time love affair with the artistry
of samba football, plus the Brazilians had just been crown World Cup Champions
1994, and immediately Simoes became the standard bearer for the nation’s
football and getting to first base was complete.
Second Base
Getting to second base involved winning the imagination of the players
available for selection. The professor’s job was to seduce the imagination of
the players, this he did by asking for a series of team camps in Brazil, just
imagine what going to Brazil must have done for the confidence and psychic of these
young men, some of which never boarded an air craft before and all of a sudden
they were in Brazil, a place every little who kicked a football daydreamed
about. Now the seduction of the players was complete and the program had stolen
second base.
Third Base
 |
| Reggae Boyz Fans |
With a man on first & second base we needed another hit to load
the bases in anticipation of hitting a grand slam home run… to do this captain Burrell needed
a solid hit with the fans to move the process along and seal the deal by
winning the love and adoration of the Jamaican public, after all sponsorship
wasn’t all there yet and somebody had to pay the bills.
We needed International
games… lots of games and captain was the master at getting these games
organized and selling them to the public.
 |
| Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardener |
We played and won so many games in the National Stadium that it was
renamed ‘the Office’ and the Jamaican public ate it all up, soon we were having
almost sold out stadium crowds for friendly matches.
With approximately 20k-25k
paying patrons at an average ticket price of $500, JFF was having gross
earnings of $10m-$13m per outing. With the public now totally sold, this was
evidence for captain to attract huge corporate sponsorships from the likes of
American Airlines, Grace Kennedy, Red Stripe, Sports Development Foundation and
a host of other contributing sponsors.
By the time the World Cup Qualifying matches came around, every team
in Concacaf feared coming to 'the office' because we had won something like (51)
consecutive games there. Just imagine the aura of 51 straight games at home without a loss... WOW!!!
To add insult to injury, we were making them play in 1pm sun hot with
a sea of yellow in the stands numbering upwards of 30,000 at an average of
$1000 per ticket... you do the math. All in all, one awesome sight to behold that was super
intimidating to the best of teams in World Football. Some of our most recognizable entertainers even came together and produced what is now the Reggae Boyz Anthem: http://youtu.be/wKATB0NjFgM
Grand Slam Home Run
 |
| Deon Burton |
Now the bases are full and we were half way through the qualifiers, Coach
Simoes and the JFF needed a grand slam home run to put the journey over the top
and into the World Cup Finals.
To do this, the team needed experience and goal
scoring punch, so the coach and his team went talent scouting in the diaspora
for players who were born to Jamaican immigrants particularly in England.
The
plan came up trumps again by finding the super six; Paul Hall, Fitzroy Simpson,
Robbie Earle, Marcus Gayle, Deon Burton & Frank Sinclair. The grand slam
was delivered on that faithful November day in 1997 inside 'the office' against
no lesser opponent than Mexico.
What began as a dream became a reality and the
rest of the story is a legend for Hollywood… hint hint!!!
To have pulled this off I cannot help but ask the question: Is captain Burrell….?
- A great leader par excellence
- A visionary in the right place at the right time
- Or a marketing guru
Whichever is your answer, it is safe to say that a blue print for
success would have been created, and with a little more thinking, tweaking and
planning to deepen the development of football, qualifying for the biggest show
on earth would become an activity in perpetuity; instead we have reverted to
being minnows in the sport globally.
 |
| Andy Williams |
·
So where did we go wrong?
·
Why have we missed out on 3 successive World
Cups since 1998?
·
What’s next?
Where did we go wrong?
While Captain, Simoes and the rest of the JFF team was busy getting
the team to qualify for the World Cup in France, they failed to see beyond the
original goal and omitted some key development steps for widespread growth of
the sport at all levels.
Consequently we failed to provide critical attention
to some glaring age old flaws in our football system:
- Bad playing surface is the single largest hindrance to the slow development of our youth players because it forces them into bad habits which are almost impossible to correct in later years.
- The full development of our Football Academy should have been our first priority after the World Cup and we should have seized the moment to get the eventual FIFA grant and made this a reality before the ensuing qualifying campaign for South Korea/Japan 2002.
- Failure to take full control of prep, primary and secondary school football programs, identifying the special talented kids early and place them in ongoing advanced development programs, this we could have done in tandem with the Brazilian connection we so skillfully cultivated.
- The development of our coaches especially the youth level coaches needed focus to deepen the pool of professional coaches to continue this development and forward progress.
- We missed the opportunity to corner all the stakeholders: Government, clubs, federation, sponsors and foreign investors with a view to create the right infrastructure and facilities for the sole purpose of a fully professional football league in Jamaica.
 |
| The Rt. Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller Prime Minister of Jamaica |
The economic windfall that would have ensued in Jamaica through sports and
in particular Football would have been epic and long lasting.
Job creation,
revenue generation, foreign direct investment, sports tourism & crime
reduction are all positives that could have resulted from just these five
ideas, truly one of the biggest missed opportunity since our independence in
1962, and we didn’t have to look further than the United States of America who
turned their local football into economic prosperity after staging the 1994
World Cup.
Today the US Major League Soccer (MLS) is drawing sold out stadium
attendance for club matches.
Why have we missed the last 3
World Cups?
Well, in addition to the (5) points above that were missed by the JFF to
implement after the World Cup 1998, there are a number of other key factors:
- With World Cup finalists now on his resume, Rene Simoes was more than marketable and it would have taken a whole lot more money to keep him here in Jamaica.
- One of the key components to the successful qualification was having all our players based in Jamaica for more than half of the campaign that facilitated them building a unit and team chemistry. This all changed after 1998 with some of our key players plying their trade overseas. Today the problem is even worse, more than 90% of any starting eleven now play their football in different countries.
- A number of the core players such as: Peter Cargill, Warren Barrett, Robbie Earl, Fitzroy Simpson, Walter Boyd & Linval Dixon had passed their prime and that left the JFF in a talent deficit
- Concacaf counterparts went back to the drawing table and improved while we stood still and in some areas regressed
- Credibility and trust worthiness among stakeholders as well as widespread nepotism in the selection of teams.
- A lack of professional behavior among key players understanding and taking responsibility for their personal physical development, nutrition and fitness, as a result Jamaica is unable to play good football for much more than one half.
- Implementation of a wide scale development program for the players who qualified for and have played in (3) youth World Cups since 1998. Just have a look at our players standing against their age group counterparts at the last Under 17 or Under 20 World Cups and the difference is a stark contrast.
Has the window of opportunity that opened after the World Cup in 1998
to truly develop Football in Jamaica closed..? Probably not but it’s ten times
harder now to achieve the same things that would have been almost automatic
after our maiden entrance to the World Cup finals.
 |
| FIFA President - Joseph Sepp Blatter JFF President - Capt. Horace Burrell |
It is my opinion that Captain Burrell needs to return to the well of
bright ideas again to recapture the imagination of the stakeholders yet again, only
this time it needs to be a plan to develop local football even ahead of making
it back to the World Cup Finals, if by chance we do both that would be great
but any sustained success at the highest level, starts and ends with local
development, which must include at the core the five points above listed under ‘where did we go wrong’.
It is also my opinion that the next Rene Simoes (Technical Director) must
have far more involvement and interest in the overall development of Jamaica’s football
and not just the senior men’s team, it quite possibly hasn’t been their fault if
it wasn’t included in the mandate given at the point of engagement, in which
case the administration must see this as their short sightedness.
Unlike the 1994 Burrell ensemble, this plan and execution needs
greater participation from all stakeholders especially those outside the
immediate football fraternity. By that I mean, Burrell must open the otherwise
closed football inner circle to galvanize help from near and far; strategic
thinkers, business analysts, marketers, successful business leaders and other
professionals are all available here and in the diaspora ready and willing to
give of themselves if asked. Fact is, the Jamaican people have waited for 14
years since 1998 for a coherent plan to show the way forward and today we are
still asking… when?
So captain Burrell, dare to dream again you’ve done it before and we
tipped our hats and lauded you “job well done…” but as I know you are
infinitely aware, the dynamics are different now and it will take a far more
complex and comprehensive plan to deliver the goods yet again.
Monday, 13 February 2012
The Devil is in the Detail
Madonna and Nicki Minaj's Performances during Super Bowl and the Grammy's!
By John Pastah P Parker ( A servant of God)
Last week, the Super Bowl took place & viewership was at
an all time high. The game itself was entertaining and exciting, but at the end
of the night, what took place at halftime, became full-time talk, Madonna's
performance. Remember, the Super Bowl is watched by the most people of all
events shown on television. So, the devil made sure he had the world stage and
the world watching, to slip in spiritualism, occultism, and the Illuminati,
while he (Satan), had everyone's attention.
 |
| Madonna & MIA at the Super Bowl |
It was no accident, you saw what
you saw at half-time and the devil made sure EVERYONE had an opportunity not to
only see it, but plant a seed of evil in the heart and the subconscious minds
of those watching. Many are still talking about the half-time show and WHY was
it granted permission when basically, the whole world was watching. Well, the
old devil was in the details.
The
devil wasn't through yet. We shift to the week after the Super Bowl, to the
Grammy's, music's biggest and grandest stage for those in the music industry.
Some people were inclined to watch the Grammy’s; normally I'm not one of them.
On Saturday afternoon, February 11, there was BREAKING NEWS that Whitney
Houston had died. Mind you, this happened on the eve of the Grammy's.
 |
| Whitney at the Grammy's 1985 |
The world
stood still, in shock and amazement that the GREATEST VOICE of our time and era
had passed. Whitney was preparing to open up for Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Party
as she always does. But this time, neither fate nor destiny would have it so. Everyone
is scrambling and scratching their heads trying to make sense of it all.
Emotions were high with the Grammy's itself, but now feelings were mixed
because her untimely death.
I personally believe, that in the mercy and
providential will of God, that he allowed the greatest singer the world has
known, who also had her challenges with substance abuse, alcohol, smoking,
etc.., to be a WAKE UP CALL to those within the same profession to see their
"dark side", through her death. It was NO ACCIDENT; she was at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel, with her friends and colleagues in the music industry.
Fame, fortune, power, and prestige were not enough to stop the icy fingers of
death from claiming Whitney's life.
 |
| Jennifer Hudson |
Believe
me when I tell you my friends, the handwriting on the wall, were seen by all
who were present at the Grammy's and those of us who watched. Trying to make
sense of it all, the pieces just didn't fit. All the major networks were told
there would a tribute honoring the life and legacy of Whitney Houston. The
prayer by L. L. Cool J. and the moment of silence were done and condolences to
the families were extended.
We all concluded that something grand and great
would be done for this great woman, with a stellar career, spanning over 30
successful years, yet we sat with bated breath through and high expectation,
for the Tribute by Jennifer Hudson, which was very emotional and passionate and
spectacular. After singing for 1:07 seconds, we asked, IS THAT ALL? Where's the
Tribute? Okay, so we're all FIRE MAD because Whitney put the Grammy's on the
map during her 30 year career, and to only sing "ONE SONG" in her
honor?
I
believe the tribute should have been last, so everyone would leave remembering
a remarkable woman who gave so much, for so long. Yet, the show took a terrible
turn with some of the performers after the tribute. After waiting all evening
for the tribute and to be sorely disappointed at the brevity of it, then Nicki
Minaj hits the stage.
 |
| Nikki Minaj performing at the Grammy's |
Bear
in mind that with Whitney's passing and tribute in her honor expected, millions
more than usual tuned in. Again, the whole world looks on, just as they did
during the Super Bowl.
The devil seized the moment and got in the details,
AGAIN! I don't think any of us were prepared to see what we saw with Nicki
Minaj's performance.
 |
| Minaj arriving at the Grammy's |
According to www.zap2it.com they had this to say about the performance: "She arrived at Sunday's
(Feb. 12) Grammy Awards in a red garment reminiscent of one Roman Catholic
cardinal’s wear and accompanied by a guy dressed like the pope.
She kept the
dress/clerical robe on throughout the show, and then took the stage around 11
p.m. ET for... Well, we're really not sure what to call her performance of 'Roman Holiday', which included her red-carpet friend (who in the
interim had been demoted to a regular priest), dancing monks, Minaj strapped to
a table, inquisition-style, levitation, a lot of stained-glass windows and a
filmed piece depicting an exorcism.
 |
| Nikki Minaj |
Near as we can tell, the 'Roman' she's referring to is her alter ego Roman Zolanski, whom
Minaj has referred to as a demon living inside her (hence the exorcism, we
guess). 'Roman holiday' is a track on her forthcoming album 'Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded', which is all about that persona. We're
sure that someone from the Catholic League or a similar group will issue an
angry denouncement of the performance, but we almost feel like it was so over
the top that it's hard to take seriously as any kind of statement on God,
religion or any church."
It
is obvious; Satan got in the details and exposed us to spiritualism and devil
worship while the whole world watched. It is unfortunate, individuals are so
blind and unwilling to see that the devil knows his time is short and he went
out of his way to capitalize on two of the most prized and coveted weekends,
the Super Bowl and the Grammy's, to expose himself for who he is.
Instead on
reflecting on Whitney's life and legacy, our attention centers on WHY such a
performance was permitted in the first place. All I can say is that, JESUS IS
ABOUT TO RETURN! Just as we weren't expecting Whitney Houston's death, we
should be mindful, that we could be next. The real questions is, are we ready
to close our eyes for the final time and are we in the ark of safety should
Jesus Return.
God
has given each of us that "One Moment in Time" to make all things
right! You Make The Choice, Jesus Will Make The Change!
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