Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Rock on girl: She showed she wasn't shy and took the dance floor by herself while Kool FM's Crazy Chris rocked the party at 'All White', held at Curphy Place.
Approaching Curphey Place, Swallowfield, St. Andrew, on Saturday night, it seemed that even the chicken vendors had complied with the night's dress code.
Fo long white coats are a part of their standard attire, the unusually high number who were decked out at the entrance to 'All White' indicated that a special effort had been made to set the tone from the outset.
Save for their long forks and chef hats (for some), they could have been among those still heading into Curphey Place at 1:30 a.m. some of the ladies were short where the men were long. One young woman's clinging white outfit was so abbreviated that while making a purchase at the entrance, she dropped a $100 bill and stood looking down at it, unable to bend or stoop for fear of indecent exposure.
A man smiled and did the honours.
The dress code
On the inside, Jimmy Cliff's Reggae Night was on the CD player and Al Jarreau was asking Gimme The Night, the white theme carried through to white strips of cloth from the speaker boxes and surrounding the stage where the selectors were placed. The outfits showed that an all-white theme did not mean a lack of variety, jackets and long-sleeved shirts being popular with the men and the women running the range of floor-length dresses to short shorts.
Colours were rare, those who were not in white paying an extra $200 at the gate.
Although the packed 'All White' was in a groove, the pace stepped up after MC Nuffy gave away a gift basket to a couple who had impressed on the dance floor, the pair showing the moves onstage. He introduced Crazy Chris of KOOL FM and the selector proved his worth with smooth mixing and timely changes in pace.
He started off with slow retro jams, couples coupling in clothes, some doing stylish steps, while the singles satisfied themselves with rocking and singing, Cruisin' among the numbers which hit home. After the slow run, Nuffy asked Chris "how yu have the ladies so weak?", the women screaming to acknowledge that he did.
The beat went uptempo with Dancing Queen and Oh What a Night. A lady in white tugged and twirled at a lead-footed partner in coloured clothing on Electric Boogie, eventually breaking him in. There was a smooth transition to rock and roll, the actual time hitting 2:21 a.m. as the musical clock in Rock Around the Clock striking 1:00 a.m.
Rockers
This couple heated up the dance floor and showed that the 20 somethings had nothing on them while they partied at All White, held at Curphy Place, St. Andrew on Saturday, January 5. - Nathaniel Stewrat/Freelance Photographer
Gospel and mento were in the mix with Man From Galilee and Kisilo, respectively, the women gleefully agreeing that some Soldering was in order.
When Chris went into rockers, those on the covered dance floor as well as on the grounds on both sides of it yelled and danced away to Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, Freddie McGregor and Tiger, among others, applauding his set when he eased the torrid pace.
There was a dramatic change in the party mood when Mix Master Marvin took over and 'All White' grooved merrily through the disco of I Will Survive, at one point Crazy Chris whipping the ladies into a frenzy as he chanted "kick out yu foot yu no man mascot". The extended disco run morphed into the foot-flinging frenzy of Footloose, which got extended play before it was dancehall time with Anything For You.
It was wonderful waistline time, all the way through to Action, then there was a pause for prayer from the mother of 'All White' promoter Carlton 'Shine' Brooks.
Chris sent out She's Royal to all the ladies and it was soon back to retro dancehall with Gone A Negril, the healthy body ladies bouncing along to Little Lenny as The Gleaner stepped out of the mass of white past 4:00 a.m.
