BEYOND THE IMPLODE 3 - BRITISH AIRWAYS 0

...I sort of regret shouting, "GET OFF THE MIC, YOU OLD HIPPY...YOU'RE A DISGRACE!" at Ari Up.

Oh well.

I doubt she heard me anyway. She was too busy toasting over Nicolette's singing.

Still, I'm a bit old fashioned at heart. I like to stub out my cigarette and take off my hat whenever a coffin's being carried out the door, regardless of whether or not I usually took the piss out of her. Why, I'd do the same for Don Letts ((er...don't hold me to that one)). So, I'm going to be good today and only say nice things about her:

To give her her due, she was an annoying white rasta before you were. Yes, YOU - don't bullshit. Just because you changed your name from Jeremy to JAH DUBKAT when the first Spiral Tribe 12" came out, and wasted your money on a Twinkle Brothers LP because you knew shit about reggae, doesn't mean you broke any boundaries. In fact, the Crustie and Goa Trance communities should be holding a candlelit vigil in Ladbroke Grove, right this very minute. ARI WAS THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE RASTAS. I mean, try and imagine how provocative she must have looked to meat'n'potato pie racists in 1970s Britain. It's a bit different from spending £80 on rasta extensions in Kensington Market, so you could whip peoples' arms while you were jiving around down Megatripolis.

Her version of Fade Away was so good that when I later heard the original by Junior Byles, I thought it was a bit dull. So, there you go. She trumped a real rasta, once.