Soul of calypso, a hit in W. Philly
Philadelphia JerkFest 2016 turned West Fairmount Park into a Caribbean culture festival all Sunday afternoon with its jerk chicken, pork and goat on the heavily smoking grills, and its nonstop island music, including soca ("soul of calypso") stars Leadpipe & Saddis from Barbados.
Philadelphia JerkFest 2016 turned West Fairmount Park into a Caribbean culture festival all Sunday afternoon with its jerk chicken, pork and goat on the heavily smoking grills, and its nonstop island music, including soca ("soul of calypso") stars Leadpipe & Saddis from Barbados.
Jamaican-born Andre Russell, who lives in Mount Airy, wore his Rasta colors, draped a Lion of Judah kerchief over his 3-year-old daughter Mackenzie's head to shield her from the sun, and said, "I want her to feel the vibe of the culture I grew up in so when I take her to Jamaica next year, she'll know the music and the food."
The crowd loved Leadpipe & Saddis, who patrolled the front of the stage in perpetual motion, joyful and playful.
Introducing a song called "Condense," which compares women to the sweetness of condensed milk, Leadpipe exclaimed, "This one's for all the independent ladies!"
He waited for all the independent women to cheer him, but when he got a weak response, he looked shocked and said, "That's all the independent ladies here?"
Women laughed and cheered so Leadpipe, gold-framed front teeth gleaming in the sun, launched into the dance-driven song.
Afterward, a tired but happy Leadpipe said, "Everywhere there's a carnival, there's soca. And everywhere there's soca, there's us."
Kristina Hill, dressed in a multicolored bikini and lime green feathers, and her friend Khenti Pratt, dressed in a purple bikini and feathers, were schmoozing with JerkFest goers, talking up next spring's all-Caribbean Fairmount Park bash, Philly Carnival 2017.
Like JerkFest 2016, Hill said, "it's a chance to let yourself be free. It's all about expression of the human body. For women, it's about feathers and jewels. For men, it's about stamina and strength."
Hill said she could always tell when a man cooked the jerk chicken because it has a stronger flavor than a woman's.
"Men know what they want," Hill said. "They just have trouble communicating. Women can communicate but they don't know what they want."
That ruffled Pratt's purple feathers. "I know what I want," Pratt said, "and I can communicate!"
"Well," Hill said, "you are an anomaly, girl!"
Pratt laughed and said, "I am a phenomenal anomaly!"
Hill, who has an alter-ego life as reggae Deejay Supa Tang on Germantown's online station, G-Town Radio, said, "Some men soak their jerk chicken in beer and bury it in wood for days. But my jerk style is to just give the chicken a schmeer of sauce, put it in the oven, take it out and eat it up, um um ummm, because I can't wait!" She made slurping noises. "That's my jerk style," she said unapologetically. "My boyfriend doesn't dare say a word."
Smiling and sweating in the smoke while he grilled his mom Sunshine's family-recipe jerk chicken and pork, Alton McKenley, who owns the Carib Grill in Upper Darby, said he worked in IT for 20 years before creating the family business.
"Nothing like doing your own thing, going back to your roots," he said as his wife, Camara, worked alongside him. "We marinate the pork for two, three weeks," McKenley said. "The longer you cure it, the better it tastes."
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