I've lived in Oakland since February 2008. Before that I lived in Los Angeles and before that in Long Beach. The roots of my current arrival began when I still lived in Camarillo, the small town in Ventura County where I grew up. Almost 20 years later, I have become more involved in the vintage reggae scene than I ever expected to be! Quite often I think about how something really great is happening in the San Francisco/Bay Area with this music and how fortunate I am to be a part of it. I am grateful to people like Adam RevivalSound System for his regular gigs around town and his radio show on Radio Valencia, Wake the Town Radio, for offering the collector selectors in the area and visitors too, an outlet to share these great tunes with appreciative audiences far and wide!
I'm grateful to my boyfriend, Shawn Atkinson, for teaching me so much about these tunes (and sharing his vast knowledge of soul & disco too!), for sharing his records monthly at Wake the Town, (SF's longest running vintage Reggae night!) and for always choosing choice tunes with just the right rhythms, organ bubbles, guitar riffs and vocals that I love!
I'm grateful to Ryan "Mr. Ryha" White for introducing me to everyone in the Bay area scene. Because of that fateful night in April, (just 2 months after I moved here), when I went to check out the first vintage reggae night I would attend in SF, I met Shawn and Adam and many of the other great people here.
To all the rest of the guys in the San Francisco Vintage Reggae Society and to all of the supporters of the scene, BIG UPS!
To Jim Martinez of First Round Promotions, I am eternally grateful to being given the honorable opportunity to create the flyers and posters for his events over the past year. Starting with Roy Ellis "Mr. Symarip" in October 2010, to Mary Love, Dean Parrish, Queen P. & The Delirians, and most recently to Pat Kelly and looking forward to Derrick Harriott NYE...this has been a fantastic ride!
So, with that said, YES! The time is NOW! Let's keep the ball rolling and continue to support our SF Vintage Reggae Society DJs and our promoters at First Round Promotions so we can have more amazing musical experiences in the future!
Cheers to everyone involved, the selectors and the fans alike!
