Philly transplant Jamaican Dave rocks reggae culture with an all-day fest Sunday

JAMAICAN DAVE. We've been spotting that presenter's name on concert posters for 15 years. In fact, almost every reggae show that lands in town, most visibly at big venues like the Electric Factory and Blockley, seems to carry his production credit.

For a while, we thought it could just be a brand, like Maui Jim sunglasses. But there really is a guy named Dave Russell - a native of Kingston, Jamaica, and a Philadelphia transplant since 1994 - who's made it his mission to bring the reggae music and Rastafarian "one-love" culture here.

Even on his birthday last week (he just turned 41) the work-obsessed Russell was happy to interrupt the party to share his mission with a reporter. Mostly because this Sunday, he's rolling the dice again with the day-into-night, two-stage strong "Reggae in the Park" festival at the Mann Music Center in West Fairmount Park, a coproduction with AEG Live and the Mann.

"Last summer, going into the first festival at the Mann, we thought we'd get about 1,000 people, that we would lose our shirt," Russell said.

Then the Mann box office sales on the day of the show were "insane," remembered AEG staffer Jen Corsilli in a separate chat. "People just kept coming, all day long. At the end, ticket sales totaled more than 7,000. And it was really quite a party, a cultural celebration. A rainbow of people, with lots of West Indies food and craft vendors, too."

This year, with a huge lineup that includes the ever-frisky, Kingston-to-Brooklyn transplant Shaggy, global star Maxi Priest (remember "I Just Want to Be Close to You"?), conscious crooners Beres Hammond and Tarrus Riley (an undeniable eye and ear opener in the Jimmy Cliff vein). "We're hoping we'll do even better," Russell said.

"This is the biggest Jamaican music festival on the East Coast. I know people are coming from Maryland and Virginia as well as Delaware, New Jersey and from across Pennsylvania."

And that's because Russell, in a typical run-up to a big show, scores "at least a thousand miles" in his car, "driving all over the place" to visit radio stations, drop off tickets for sale at some Jamaica-friendly businesses and press others to put posters in store windows. That's the way all concert promoters used to operate, before the business blew up so big it became a Wall Street stock play.

But except for the occasional fluke success, like (formerly) Hasidic reggae man Matisyahu or a rare crossover sensation like Shaggy, or the late, super-great Bob Marley, mainstream concert promoters have "rarely seen reggae as an important market to pursue," said Russell. "That's how I got to put a toe in the water."

Today, "as the area's only full-time black promoter," he stages about 25 shows a year.

Always a resourceful fella, Russell was raised in Southeast Jamaica's St. Catherine parish by strict grandparents who put him to work early in their grocery store. As a teen, with the local tourist industry booming, he found work at resorts, keeping the guests happy planning special events and booking bands.

In 1994, at 22, Russell moved to Philadelphia - "a land of opportunity" he enthused. On his second day in the city, he met local party planner Bobby Morganstein, who coaxed him into gigs spinning reggae records at bar mitzvahs and anointed him "Jamaican Dave."

The nickname would serve well when he took over the "Caribbean Rhythms" weekend morning reggae show on WRTI and founded Jamaican Dave Productions in 1997.

Not incidentally, Russell is still grateful to all those now-grown bar and bat mitzvah clients for giving his career and music a boost. "The music brings all kinds of people to the shows, of course. But I'd have to say the Jews and the Italians are the biggest supporters of reggae here," he said, without a hint of irony. And also help populate Philly-based reggae bands, a contingent Russell described as "highly educated" and numbering "more than 80."

A bunch of the best local bands, including Steppin Razor, Cultureal and Reggae Vibrations, will perform on the second, lobby-area stage at Sunday's fest.

Up-tempo, dancehall-style island music fired with rowdy, hard core toasting (half singing/half rapping) is now a huge component of the Jamaican scene and often copped by U.S. hip-hop talents. But style originator Yellowman, once viewed as a novelty act, will be pretty much waving the dancehall flag by his lonesome on the main stage at Reggae in the Park. A dub-style DJ performing at the top of the Mann's hill may also court the fan base.

Jamaican Dave acknowledged that he intentionally stacked the deck. "Dancehall attracts a different, more excited kind of crowd," he said. And some of its biggest practitioners, like Buju Banton and Beenie Man, also attract serious protests from activists, for the artists' intentionally controversial, divisive, gay-bashing lyrics.

Yes, Jamaican Dave has brought those acts to the area, and argued for their free speech right to be as obnoxious as they wanna.

But this Rasta man said he is all about "oneness - one God, one people." And he shared the "wisdom" when his reggae fest co-promoters asked that he keep the music vibes mellow all day and into the night.

"It's all positivity, mon. Respect. Rastafari. Jah music."

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