

What’s a man to do when no one will believe his side of the story that almost destroyed his life? Write a tell-all book. In his hilariously titled new memoir, The Day I Went to Work in My Underpants: My Sandals Story (recently launched in Kingston), former tourism hotshot-turned-author Horace Peterkin explores and illuminates (with wit and humour) his very interesting life story, including a 7-week stint in the loony bin at the UWI Hospital’s infamous Psych Ward. He exclusively tells TALLAWAH his reasons for writing the book – and how it’s already changing lives.
Reggae superstar Ziggy Marley treated his expectant wife, Orly (who is poised to give birth to their fifth child any day now,) and two of their kids (daughter Judah and son Gideon) to Sunday morning breakfast at the uber-chic Urth Café in LA on December 26.
It’s been a minute since we’ve spotted the Marley sub-clan out and about, so this sighting is rather special. Earlier this year, the multi-Grammy winner opened up to Culture magazine about creating his new comic book superhero, Marijuanaman.
“[The comic book] is coming along good. It’s a concept [designed] to educate people about the plant and using it as a resource beyond just the medical purposes. There are many more beneficial uses,” Marley told the mag, also dishing details on his decision to release new music online via his new Wild & Free singles series. “Each song is totally different. I am going to get there, though. It’s also about involving friends and seeing what they say and think and to see what the next songs are going to be like. It’s an experiment, and I don’t have [a] formula yet.”
FREE SPIRIT: Laura Izibor to bring her musical magic to the Jamaica Jazz & Blues stage.
If Jill Scott and Maxwell had a love child, she would very likely be the result. Poised between girldom and full-fledged womanhood, soul singer Laura Izibor proves worthy of the hype that envelopes her name in the industry. When the 23-year-old Dublin-born singer (born to an Irish mother and Nigerian father) released her debut album, Let the Truth Be Told, in 2009, it peaked at number two on the charts and was unanimously praised by both listeners and critics, who anointed her one of the standout new voices bringing real R&B back to the airwaves.
The album (released via Atlantic Records) is a suave, sensitive record full of subtle pleasures and vintage soul, buoyed by the singer’s mesmerizing voice. It spawned radio-friendly chart climbers like her debut single “From My Heart to Yours” and the follow-up track “Don’t Stay.” (My hands-down joint, however, is the stirring “If Tonight Is My Last.”
Izibor, who cites James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone as her inspirations and musical heroes, has opened on tour for people like India.Arie, Maxwell and John Legend. Since then, the singer-songwriter and remarkable pianist has branched off into acting, appearing recurrently on the hit CW show One Tree Hill, as Erin Macree. Her haunting single “What More Can They Do” appears on the soundtrack to Tyler Perry’s latest film For Colored Girls.
MORE: TALLAWAH review of Laura Izibor’s Let The Truth Be Told
Chalk it up to artistic perfection. After wowing audiences with his thoroughly convincing turn in Against His Will earlier this year, actor Jerry Benzwick yearns to pull off his most demanding role yet. The of-the-moment leading man, who is already garnering awards season buzz as the frontrunner in the Actor Boy best actor race, appears next in Basil Dawkin’s A State of Affairs, which opens Monday at the Little Little Theatre in Kingston. Entering familiar domestic territory, he portrays a husband who is shocked to discover his wife’s infidelity.
“[With this new role], I am doing comedy; I have never done comedy before. I’ve been in comedic situations. I’ve played characters with comedy elements that come out in the drama. But from I left Edna Manley I’ve been doing drama,” states Benzwick, who enjoys the difficulty of mastering a character before going on to dominate authoritatively. This time, though, he may have met his match.
“I think my breakthrough came when I fell into a deep rut. My mother called and asked me what was going on. I told her that I can’t manage this piece. It’s stressing me out. She said I should talk to somebody who might understand, so I said, ‘I’m gonna call Glen (Campbell)’,” he explains. “I know Glen very well, and he is a comedic actor with years of experience. So I decided to call him and ask him for some advice. And Glen said, ‘Just go with your mad head, trust yourself and let the director fix the rest.’ And when he told me that, then I started relaxing more, and I started doing different things.”
For director Douglas Prout, who quickly noticed the change in Benzwick’s approach to the part, all the actor needs to do is simply lose himself, something he accomplished quite remarkably (coincidentally under Prout’s direction) in Against His Will as computer salesman Daniel Bryan, who brings sexual assault charges against his female boss. “The director said, ‘Jerry, I see that you are getting into that place where you should be getting, and I need you to fast-forward the process now that you’re getting it and run in with it.”
Rounding out the cast for A State of Affairs are seasoned stage talent Ruth HoShing, Rishille Bellamy-Pelicie and Sakina Deer, who also co-starred in Against His Will. “With the cast now, they have recognized [my] struggle. They didn’t know exactly what was going on with me, but I talked to them, I told them.”
While digging deeper into the role, Benzwick was spent physically, emotionally and mentally. But it wasn’t all pain, considering that the payoff has been ultimately gratifying. “My next breakthrough came when I found out what my real objective was, what was I playing,” he explains. As for the play itself, without giving away too much, he notes that it will keep viewers on the edge till the conclusion. “The play is one that does not reveal the hundred percent of what is really going on until the very end. But everything is there for you to feel and recognize the situation at hand: this is a man who is in love with his wife, and she cheated, but the question is why.
As a playwright, Dawkins is known for cooking up storylines that both entertain and challenge viewers. So whatever the outcome of A State of Affairs, the audience, I’m sure, will probably never view relationships – or Jerry Benzwick – the same way again.
COMING SOON: The Theatre Year in Review: The Highlights and Duds of 2010