Bman's Blues Report

Entertaining us and musically educating the youth for more than 30 years, Isidore York, known as the Mighty Dow, is an island treasure and a staple in Carnival. Born on the Friendly Island in the lovely month of April, the Mighty Dow has been working hard to reach his objective of supporting the local youth to reach higher standards of performance. With a passion for steel-pan music, the Mighty Dow is a renowned calypsonian and an accomplished steel pan instructor, entertainer, musical arranger and vocalist. His musical talent was found and nurtured since the age of 8 by his father and Caribbean music icon, Chester York. The once lead performer in his former high school band (Milton Peters College), the stellar entertainer made a splash when he won best Carnival song in 1982 with the hit "For King." Since his start, the Mighty Dow has recorded 8 albums and has had great international hits like "St. Maarten Rhumba", "Soca Salsa", "Christmas Morning...

When we hit St. Croix, USVI, it was just in time for the St. Croix Blues Festival. This festival began at noon and was spread out across various bars all afternoon culminating in a huge gathering at the Verne I. Richards Memorial Park stage in Frederiksted at dusk where the featured artists were Coco Montoya, Shemekia Copeland, and the Low Rider Band (formerly known as WAR... the band can't legally market themselves as WAR, but I can say that). After a hike of 1.25 miles through "the jungle," as my wife called it, I hit a place ca lled Rhythms At Rainbow Beach. They had a local band called the St. Croix Blues Society playing. These guys jammed and played well beyond the 12-3 time frame. I ended up here due to a prior commitment to deliver some Tom Jenkins BBQ Sauce down from Ft. Lauderdale to the keyboard player of the St. Croix Blues Society, Tom Eimer. And what I discovered at Rhythms is that Harry Nilsson was right. You put de lime in de coconut and drink em bot togett...