Latest update April 12th, 2026 12:50 AM
I finally found the childhood memory I was looking for
On Friday afternoon, I was the first person to be in the auditorium of the National Library, waiting for the Walter Rodney Commemoration event sponsored by film-maker Clairmont Chung. Clairmont was putting on his film on Walter, plus his book launch of his work on the great Guyanese hero.
I was early because I wanted to collect two books Clairmont had brought for me when he came into Guyana a few days ago. The Library official told me that Clairmont was expected at 16:00 hours, but after half an hour’s wait I decided I would make a spin and return.
I went CD shopping at what may be one of Guyana’s historic sites, Matt’s Record Bar. This place has been around for ages and I always say to my friends that if Austin’s Bookstore and Matt’s Record Bar should leave the Guyana landscape, I don’t think this country will be the same again. I honestly hope that they never go out of existence and stay with Guyana forever.
I wanted the latest album by that fantastic diva that Burt Bacharach created, the aunt of another great diva, Whitney Houston, the inimitable Dionne Warwick. You are not going to believe this, but I tossed aside the latest album by Elton John after buying it. I feel John’s days of creative composing after the soundtrack of the Lion King are gone. The new material lacks the cutting edge that made Elton John a global phenomenon. But judging from her new material, Warwick can stand the test of time.
Entitled “Now”, the cuts are rearrangements of the Bacharach hits that made her as famous as Elton John. I wanted to hear her version of my favourite Bacharach composition – Love’s Still the Answer. Plus she covered in her new album a fantastic love song I loved when I studied in Canada – “99 Miles from LA”.
While looking at the shelves, the famous name in music archives turned up –the owner of the store – Aubrey Baptiste. I told Aubrey I had been looking for years now for a ‘60s Ska tune by the name, “Bombshell.” It is no exaggeration; for years and years I have been looking for “Bombshell.” Jamaican Ska was very famous in Guyana, yet no music vendor at the Stabroek Market Square could find Bombshell. You name any Ska song from the sixties and they had it, but they never heard about Bombshell.
Aubrey said, “Freddie wuh wrang with yuh maan, I have Bombshell.” He turned to his sales attendant and said, “Nichola, find Bombshell for Freddie, it is on one of dem Ska compilations.” They looked and the item was invisible. I put on Dionne Warwick and drove to the National Library to see a good film on Walter Rodney.
Just as I was about to park, Aubrey called, “Freddie I found it.” I drove back to Matt’s and bought. “Caribbean Classics, Vol. 2” in which cut nine was “Bombshell” by Ike Bennett & the Crystallites. It is an instrumental Ska tune where the saxophone goes through a variation of pitches that makes it a very accomplished use of the saxophone that could be compared to soulful strut on the American blues scene.
I always wanted “Bombshell” to keep my company. I wanted to covet a wonderful memory of growing up in Wortmanville in South Georgetown. I don’t ever want to be separated from my Wortmanville roots. I want to always remain a working class boy from Wortmanville. Bombshell was the first song I danced to as a boy who frequented the Saturday night dance halls in Wortmanville. The place was the three-storey Lodge building at the corner of Lime and Hadfield Streets.
Interestingly, the structure still stands there but is in terrible condition and may be pulled down by the City Council. When that happens, a part of my Wortmanville memory bank will die.
I never took the floor anymore after dancing Bombshell. All my friends laughed at me. They all described my movement as ape-like (actually I believe dancing is a genetic reminder of where Homo sapiens came from). In working class areas, the taunting can be devastating. I was never made to forget that I looked like a fool dancing Bombshell. From that night, I knew I had a natural impediment – I couldn’t dance and I wanted to dance so badly. I think it had a profound effect on my psyche.
David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye and I left the Walter Rodney event and went to go lime at Stabroek Market Square. As Tacuma entered my car, I told him to listen to a CD I just bought. I was playing Bombshell. We limed late into the evening, with me being oblivious to my security situation, and I drove home late that night playing Bombshell on my car stereo over and over. Some memories never die.
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