The Parrot speaks - Uncle Bharrat did GO-MOstly a favour

The Parrot speaks – Uncle Bharrat did GO-MOstly a favour

Jul 20, 2008 Features / Columnists

The Parrot is following keenly the exchanges between the Guyana De-Press ASSociation (GDPA) and the authorities regarding the banning of the Senior Producer/Reporter, GO-Mostly, of the Main City News.

After being banned, GO-MO struck up his band the GDPA: Gordon/Dennis Personal Agenda. In drama terms, the band’s performances can be described as one of overacting; something which is considered a “sin” in the performing arts.

This seems to have contributed to some members not wanting to be part of these performances.
The ASSociation has a fairly large number of members given the electoral roll and subscription list. Given this, I am a bit surprised that only ten were seen in the act of walking out of Parlour-ment as captured on the front page of the Big Market paper.

This obviously must be of concern to the GDPA and should result in some internal “post mortem” being conducted to ascertain the lack of gravitation of members to its “concerts”.

Questions must be asked about the band’s poor performances.
In an effort to mask the deficiencies in the local performances, the band leaders, GO and D, have been “e-tubing” parts of their “concerts” to associate members overseas.

These overseas members do not have the benefit of seeing the entire “concerts” and are at a disadvantage. As such they cannot give a fair and balance critique.

Their impressions therefore are only formed from the bits and pieces they receive. On the other hand, some overseas members with a similar “programme” as the GO-D band would have little difficulty in popularising the local tunes.

What the Parrot has found interesting and even depressing is the fact that given their experience with these types of “concerts”, the GDPA’s performance has not improved and has become predictable.

They continue to perform the same “songs” at these “concerts”; “songs” that have had their “lyrics” altered thereby presenting a distorted “message”.

Music fans know that every song has a message. Those by Uncle Bob readily come to mind. No not Uncle Bob from the Place of CONgress; the late Uncle Bob from Jamaica.

The GDPA’s songs, new or old, all have the same titles; “Protest Supporters”, “Opposing the Guvment”, “Busing BJ”, “Crime is Prime”, “Press Not Free” and their latest “Fed-Up” amongst others.

The vocalist of “Fed-Up” has been banned from performing at the New Garden arena and the House of State. His lyrics were deemed “disparaging” and “disrespectful”.

A similar situation existed with some brethrens from Jamaica; Bounty Killer and Mavado. They can’t perform here period. What is mind-blowing is the ability of the GDPA to seek support for their “cause” even when they are deemed to be disrespectful. What is even more mind-blowing is that others would actually support them.

One can understand the reaction of the overseas members since they saw “snippets” and not the entire “concert”.

However, it’s difficult to fathom how those here, having seen the whole “concert”, would support and join in a protest-like walkout. This action is not dissimilar to those of Uncle Bob and his band. No, not Uncle Bob from Jamaica; Uncle Bob from the Place of CONgress.

This makes it easy to suggest that the GDPA’s “song” of “Boycott” is in “tune” with that of the band’s hierarchy down in Palm Tree jungle.

It also can be construed as a case of “birds of a feather flocking together”. The support from the man with a similar name to the one who parted the sea seems to be a case of his first name having a related sound to GO-MOstly’s last. Or it may be a case of canvassing for an upcoming congress. Whatever the reasons, the support for the band’s songs is unfounded.

The Parrot sees this as a case of gross misrepresentation of the related occurrence. GO-MO’s Main City News outfit was not banned; he is. His ban is not related to any form of censorship of any report he filed.

The ban from the two places mentioned was as a result of the content of his letter published being deemed “disrespectful” and “disparaging”.

Uncle Bharrat like all of us should be able to prevent anyone found to be disrespectful to him from entering his home. Many, who would have experienced disrespect from a relative or friend, would have at some point said “you are welcome, but he or she’s not”.

Also, GO-MO is not prevented from reporting on Presidential issues outside of these two places. So how can this be construed as an attack on press freedom?

Their song “Press Not Free” has been overplayed to the point of becoming stale. It was “sung” with the Big Market paper ads issue and with the Half Dozen Channel issue. Like every contentious issue, there are different ways in looking at it. The Parrot urges GO-MO to look at the positive side of the ban. He, GO-Mo that is, stated in his letter that he is “…truly fed up with the President…”

When one is fed up with something, the natural reaction is not to have anything to do with it. So GO-MO being fed up would, by extension, want to be far from places inhabited by Uncle Bharrat.

Being aware of the natural reaction mentioned, Uncle Bharrat in his magnanimous and benevolent way has ensured that GO-MO does not continue to suffer from being fed up. The ban was an instant cure.

Squawk! Squawk!