Digicel Rising Stars contestants deliver mediocre performances

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

T Rizzy

For Sunday’s staging of Digicel Rising Stars, it was more of the same, with judges mostly commenting on the song choices of the 10 contestants.

The first contestant to feel the wrath of the judges at the live show which was held at the TVJ studio in St Andrew was Quani. The judges were certainly left unimpressed after her rendition of Give Your Heart A Break.

“I think you are cute, but that’s about it. Choose something that all of Jamaica wants to hear,” Anthony Miller said.

T Rizzy and Sarai-Lee Moodie were not particularly impressive, but the judges said they saw signs of improvement.

The smooth-singing Lionel Williams was also better this time around with Lost Without You. Judge Conroy Wilson thought his falsetto performance was decent, but somewhat sedated. But Travis Brown left the judges a bit confused. Despite what they agreed was a good song choice, the judges were not very keen on Travis’ arrangement of the song.

While Miller thought Asharie Maye was merely pretending to play the guitar, judge Alaine said, “good song choice, but I want you to light up the stage more.”

Kyann Knight sang Perfect, but while she was not necessarily perfect, she got passing marks from all the judges. “I liked the song and I liked your performance of it,” Wilson said, while commending her for commanding the stage.

Later, one of the better performances for the night came from Garnett Ferguson with Stay With Me.

“That was a good performance, but I don’t think it made anybody rise up and shout, and that’s where you need to get,” Alaine said.

Avia Welsh was the second-to-last performer, but Miller believed it was difficult to comment on her performance of Darkhorse because the song was extremely short. Luckily, she was liked by the other judges.

And despite rave reviews for their previous performance, Young Kings did not move the judges as much as they would have liked. Miller regarded their granny-inspired song and routine as “corny and boring”, while Alaine and Wilson thought they lacked clarity.

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Digicel Rising Stars contestants deliver mediocre performances

Pulsating performances from Bounty and Spragga

CORPORATE and middle-class fans of dancehall artistes Bounty Killer and Spragga Benz turned out in their numbers Saturday at Puls8 in St Andrew.

The deejays were headliners for an event billed ‘The Ultimate Pepperseed…The Return of Spragga Benz Meets the Warlord.Taking the stage at 1:15 am, a hostile Bounty Killer lashed out against homosexuals, supporting singjay Queen Ifrica who was alleglly recently dropped from a show in Canada for anti-gay remarks.From long time youth a tun badman but from di other day some man a turn demon and ‘rodman’. When since me can’t disagree with wha’ wrong? Mi people, mi waan unoo tell mi what wrong wid watQueen Ifrica sey di other night,” he bellowed, before performing his hit song, Cyaan Believe mi Eyes. He followed with Sufferer, Eagle And The Hawk, Anytime, Fed Up,Special Delivery, Mystery is The Man, and Down Inna di Ghetto. His female fans were not left out. Killer dedicated the last 15 minutes of his set to them with Good to Go,Living Dangerously and Wutliss Bwoy.Patrons eagerly awaiting Spragga Benz’s entrance became restless, giving his protégé Hallowpoint the wind-up treatment into his second song.The headliner came to his rescue and reignited the crowd.A long time mi nuh deh ya…mi couldn’t wait. Long time mi nuh come roun’ ya, so mi a go sing out all mi song dem,” he said to an approving audience.He took them down memory lane with Step Inna Him Face, Machine Gun Kelly, Hype Offa Yuh, We Nuh Like, and Girls Hooray. Spragga Benz also did two new songs which were well received. The Rastafarian artiste rounded out his set with more hits from the 1990s. He used the occasion to introduce his 42-track mixtape, Spragga Benz mi Name.Bounty Killer. (PHOTOS: RICHARD LINDO)

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Pulsating performances from Bounty and Spragga

Creditable performances by young golfers at regional champs

Sport

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Jamaica’s nine-member team gave a creditable performance in the Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championships held at the North Sound Golf Club in Grand Cayman.Zandre Roye shot rounds of 80, 78 and 76 (234) to finish 10th in the Boys’ 16-17 group. Sherisse Walker had rounds of 96, 89 and 84 (269) which placed her sixth in Girls’ 16-17 category.In the Boys’ 14-15 section, Romaine Evans finished half way down the field with scores of 74, 81, 76 (231). Jordan Lowe had rounds of 90, 82, 90 (262).Kaitlin Robertson (88, 83, 82) finished seventh in the Girls’ 14-15 category.Justin Borrowes was the highest placed boy on the Jamaican team, finishing fourth in the Boys’ 11-13 group (73, 84, 76). Sebert Walker, Jr was sixth with 79, 82, 77.Kei Harris finished second in the Girls’ 11-13 segment with rounds of 80, 76, 76. Tiana Cruz was seventh with 81, 85, 84.Jamaica finished fifth overall with some steady rounds from the island’s talented young golfers, despite being at the disadvantage by not competing with a full team. This year’s event was won by Puerto Rico on 159 points. The Dominican Republic was second with 139 points and Trinidad & Tobago was third on 135 points.Support for the young golfers was provided by the Sandals Foundation and Tropicar.

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Creditable performances by young golfers at regional champs