A musical surprise

As a quadragenarian (aka a member of the 40-49 age bracket), there are few things that can shock or genuinely surprise me. I must admit that the Internet has done a fantastic job of adding things to that list over the years. However sometimes I get a pleasant and unexpected surprise that I feel compelled to share with you.

ScottyPedia often likes to lose himself in music!

If you are a child of the 80s like myself, you will no doubt recall that the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985 forever changed the gaming industry. As the first console that had legitimate worldwide mass appeal, the NES revolutionised an industry that had pretty much become stagnant by the mid-80s, producing graphics that were cutting edge and eye-catching at the time. Perhaps the most popular and enduring character in the Nintendo landscape is Mario, as introduced to us through the Super Mario Bros. game that came with each console. I am certain that many of you know the iconic Super Mario Bros theme and can recognise it from hearing just a few of the opening notes. Back then, the music was made up of MIDI sequences created by the legendary and prolific Nintendo game composer Koji Kondo.

The original artwork for the 1985 release of Super Mario Bros.

Where is the surprise though? Well, whilst on Facebook recently I received a "suggestion" to view a video that catalogued the musical evolution of the Super Mario theme through the years as the Nintendo consoles and Super Mario titles changed. Not really being a gamer, I was unfamiliar about these developments. At one point in the video I heard something that made me stop and replay that segment of the video several times over - an a capella version of the theme. Apparently it came from the game Super Mario Sunshine (2002) for the Nintendo GameCube - a game I hitherto knew almost nothing about before a few weeks ago.

Super Mario Sunshine was released in 2002 as the first Mario-based title for the Nintendo GameCube.

Nerd that I am, I initiated a hunt via the Internet to find this theme so I could listen to it in full. It took some doing because apparently this a capella theme only plays during a secret course within the game. My search led me to Smash Custom Music and I finally go to listen to it. Hooray for me! Hooray for you too if you want to listen to it as well, click here.

Mario riding Yoshi.

Mission accomplished? Not quite yet, there was another surprise in store. When I perused the list of available themes, I saw that several of them had a Yoshi version - one that played in the game if you entered the stage with Mario riding Yoshi (an anthropomorphic dinosaur). Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to sample one of the Yoshi versions after listening to the plain version. Well, I was blown away because: all the Yoshi versions of the songs feature one additional instrument - the tabla. There are some that might argue that it may be bongos (which admittedly does produce a similar drum sound) but I'm sticking with the tabla! Naturally this gives a very East Indian variation of the original melodies. You can listen to a medley of the plain and Yoshi versions of the Secret Course theme here (my advice would be to forward it to around 1:20 so you can hear the lead-in to the tabla transition, it is unexpected and awesome!).

Mario is always leaping to and for stars!

After hearing that, I naturally began to wonder about Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument - the steel pan. Over the years, Kondo has used pan music to affect a Caribbean feel to the scores in the Super Mario games and this game's setting is the fictional tropical Isle Delfino. So another surprise was in store when I encountered the Gelato Beach theme that featured steel pan as the lead instrument! You can listen to it here. I have one more surprise for you though ... there is also a Yoshi version of Gelato Beach! You can listen to that fusion of East Indian and West Indian vibrations right here.

The Shine Sprite from Super Mario Sunshine.

If you appreciate music and are interested, I would urge you to check out the site for yourself and listen to the theme songs there. In addition to the original in-game themes, there are also user-submitted mixes and remixes that cover a wide range of instrumentation and variations on some of the themes as well. One of my favourites is the Delfino Plaza theme. This is the original version here. Two of the remixes I'm partial to are the Brentalfloss Remix and the Nintega Dario Remix, both of which feature the steel pan (an instrument that is absent in the original version). And, if you like mellowed-out interpretations, this re-arrangment by Megalorganiste should tickle your fancy (as a piano fan, I especially like that piano drives this melody). Feeling to hear the full four-minute Megalorganiste version? Then click here!

Mario, Yoshi and the whole gang on Isle Delfino!

Feel free to let me know your thoughts about these musical gems and on video game music in general. Personally, I find that many small treasures of content such as these exist and happen to pass under our radar too easily. Hopefully I can help bring some of them out!

The war is on!

Memories

Now all that's left is a faint memory
Based on the theme of a strange melody
Still, we must think of them and recall their image with pride
Telling people from deep inside ...
This is dedicated to those who died

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that just over five weeks ago I lost a dear friend and coworker in Roger Gibson. May his soul continue to rest in eternal peace.

The lyrics quoted above are from The Mighty Sparrow's Memories, released in his 1974 album Hot And Sweet. The song is a classic bittersweet  ode, exhorting the listener to deeply cherish the memories of the dearly departed, making sure that they are never truly forgotten by those of they have left behind. If you wish to listen to it, please follow this YouTube link.

In the song, Sparrow calls the name of some of his friends, all local carnival icons in their own right, who had shuffled off their mortal coils before he penned this song. That got me to thinking: this song is now 41 years old, meaning that everyone named in it has been dead for over four decades! All of those  memories have been carried in Sparrow's mind -and others - for a really long time (Sparrow turns 80 in July). And all of those persons have been deceased for literally more than half of Sparrow's life.

I have not yet cracked the four-decade mark (that comes next year) but like Sparrow, I too have several memories about the departed ones that I have carried for a long time. My earliest one is a "mere" three decades old. And most of these departed ones that I remember fondly have been struck down in relative youth. And just like the others they left behind, I miss them still.

• "Tuntun" (whose real name I now cannot remember), passed away in the early 80s. I think this was the first time ever I missed school to attend a funeral.
• Terrence Hendy, a schoolmate at Presentation College whose tragic accidental home death his family never truly recovered from. Terrence passed on in early 1990 and was an avid competitive swimmer.
• Ian Cambridge, who took his own life (my sister especially misses him and keeps in touch with his family).
• Kern Fourniller, another suicide victim whose school yearbook description I still remember offhand: "dressed like a nerd but built like a prize-fighter …" (and no, I wasn't responsible for that witticism).
• Wayde "Muffy" Callendar, with whom I had attended the same primary, secondary and tertiary level schools and whose fatal motor accident led to the formation of the Cyber Fatigue football club.
• Shiva "Slashos" Ramlakhan, an avid rugby enthusiast who died from complications from colon cancer and was also from Pres and in Cyber Fatigue. Had a memorial game for him too.
• Michael Forgenie, an ex-national youth football player (and captain) and good friend from my village who drowned tragically from spasms while swimming.
• Khiron Rahaman, whose battle with leukemia meant that in his last year alive I hardly got to see him (for risk of catching any infections from me)
• Mala and Yolande, both coworkers with me in my KFC days (1994-1996) who lost their battles with chronic illnesses well before reaching 40.
• Denise "Goose" Cyrus, my ex-sister-in-law (I dated one of her sisters more than ten years ago and that moniker "ex-brother-in-law" is what one of her sisters still calls me to this day) who died from HIV complications. I am still in touch with my ex in-laws after all this time.
• Yvonne Friday-Tenia, who battled her chronic condition for years before eventually losing the fight (because of her there are some people with whom I am better friends now than when she was still alive). 
• Ijah Williamson, whom during my last months at KFC was literally the youngest employee ever (just barely 16). Didn't hear from or about him until more than ten years later when a news report indicated that he and a friend were gunned down in Port-of-Spain
• Heidi Vieira, who teased me when we traveled to school together and died from lupus. Heidi was someone I appreciated more when we became adults and outgrew the entertaining but juvenile insults.
• Taan Maraj, a brilliant Pres man who I used to sometimes go out of my way to antagonize at school (even though he was older, taller, my senior and a respected prefect to boot). In later life, despite his brilliance (national scholarship winner), Taan suffered from severe depression and committed suicide some years back.
• Roxanne Morris, a former flame of mine in the mid-90s who suffered from and succumbed to an inoperable brain tumor a few years ago. I still have a scar on my left forearm from a soldering iron burn I received while hustling to meet up with her an afternoon in early 1995. 
• Marlene Morris, one of Roxanne's cousins whose funeral I nearly missed due my first ever bout with red-eye (acute conjunctivitis). Went to that funeral on a gloomy Friday afternoon in shades.
• Suren Bissoon, a childhood neighbor with whom I had been trying to reconnect with for years, only to find out that he had perished in a building fire last year just as i was about to make contact. Suren was the first person I knew who had an extremely adverse reaction to the caffeine in Coca Cola.
• Peter Rigsby, another Presentation alumnus who, like Roger, died last month from complications due to his diabetes.
• O'brien "OBJ" Joseph, who passed away from sickle cell anemia two years ago and whose gravesite I still visit for brief chats and whose family I remain in contact with very regularly. I still miss hearing from that Red Monkey, OBJ...

The list above is not necessarily in chronological order nor is it exhaustive. However, I do miss them all and recall their memories with pride from time to time. I don't wish to be morbid here or seem to be dwelling too much on mortality but I felt the need to express this here. Hope that it stirs up some good memories for you while you read it.

Goodbye, Roger!

ScottyPedia is back, loyal readers. I've been absent from the blogosphere for a bit, for reasons I will shortly explain.

One of my closest colleagues and friend at work, Roger Gibson, passed away on March 7th after nearly two weeks in the hospital. Roger, diagnosed as a diabetic for over 25 years, got a cut on his right Achilles tendon that degenerated into septicaemia. During his hospital stay, my friend had an amputation, suffered renal failure and had some cardiac events as well, finally succumbing to septic shock. His funeral was on March 13th; he was only 48.

Roger was one of my best friends in the world and I will miss him dearly. We shared many adventures together, professionally and personally, over the past 14 years. He is now in a better place, free of the pains and craziness of this world.

Roger Gibson. Friend to the end.

I've decided to share with you the speech I made at his funeral. I hope you all appreciate it.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Where Roger is concerned, I knew him well both as a co-worker and a friend. And, to pique your curiosity, this box that you see here has a part to play in telling you about my good friend but I’ll get to that later.

I first met Roger on August 5th, 2001 when I started working with the company. Roger’s first question to me was not about my work experience or expertise; it was about my residence. He asked me, “Young boy, Ah hear yuh from south. Where yuh really from?”

As fellow southerners, we hit it off almost immediately. At the time Roger was already a fixture in the workplace where he remained right up to the end – arriving at work sometimes well before 5am and swilling huge amounts of coffee. That image of him is one that I’m sure remains with all who knew him will. And let us not forget how at Christmas time he would harass us all for pastelles.

Very difficult to get a picture of Roger smiling.

Over the last 14 years, Roger shared many experiences and adventures at work, all the while maintaining a level of professionalism and commitment that few would be able to emulate. Despite some of the setbacks we faced on the job, he remained loyal throughout, adhering to his principles and core beliefs to the very end.

So that there will be no doubt about the quality of work Roger produced, I’d like to share with you this message I received from a colleague in England when he heard of Roger’s passing and the  funeral arrangements:
“Please pass on my condolences to all concerned. Roger was a star and his work undoubtedly made the world a better place. And I mean the world, not just Trinidad. The results of the work done in Trinidad made ripples throughout the Caribbean, North America and Europe.”

Those 40-odd words speak volumes about the calibre of my friend.

Always on his smartphone ...

On the personal side, the closeness Roger and I shared was almost inevitable; it would not be overstating the case to say that we were like brothers. We shared names, his first name being my middle name; we ate at each other’s homes, drove each other’s vehicles and we sought each other out at times when advice, expertise, support, an attentive ear or a shoulder to lean on was needed. Faithful friend for life and, I think I can say today, after-life was what Roger was to me.

Everyone at work will tell you of the kind of helpful and dedicated person Roger was there. And, if they’re in the mood to be brutally honest, they’ll tell you too of the sharp tongue lashings they would have had to endure from him as well. Not one for niceties in donkey city – a phrase he coined and used quite often – he was not one to sugar-coat his words. I know there are several here today who were told, no punches pulled, that their computer problems existed in the interface between the chair and the keyboard.

So was he a near perfect man? His sharp tongue aside, did he have no shortcomings? Well, one that I can identify was that he was too private. Over the years I learned that he just really hated people being all up in he business. Sure there were times when he was right to take stance but there were others when softening that position would have actually been a benefit to him. That never diminished our love for him and I want to let all of you know that, although he never was able to publicly thank you, he was aware and very appreciative of your support and prayers during his final ordeal.

But I promised to tell you the story of this box. Both our full names have only 11 letters. And one would think that nobody could misspell a simple five-letter surname. But Roger pounded me mercilessly when he saw that someone had handwritten my name as “S-o-c-t-t.” But what goes around comes around. During his hospital stay, I had a prescription filled for him. While walking back to the hospital, I read the label on this box. It read R. G-i-b-b-s-o-n. In the unpleasant atmosphere of that hospital Friday evening, we shared a light-hearted chuckle at his bedside, finally equal as pals whose easy-to-spell names had been butchered.

I still possess the proof. How can someone really misspell Gibson?

Roger left us with many happy moments, experiences and life lessons. Here in my view are two of the more significant ones: Firstly, his last experience should remind us all that tomorrow is never promised to anyone and that we should seize all opportunities presented to us; we never really know when the Lord will decide to call us home. Secondly, it is never too late to try to correct any mistakes that we have made in life. In this I had the pleasure of seeing Roger repair and rekindle a relationship that he himself acknowledged should never have been abandoned. In that regard, I would like on my friend’s behalf to publicly acknowledge and thank Mrs Debra Richards for the care and devotion she showed him in the weeks leading up to his untimely passing.

Finally, I should like to leave you with the following words from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, which I think in a way aptly sum up my dearly departed friend’s life here on Earth:

And now, all in my own country,
I stood on the firm land!
The Hermit stepp'd forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.

"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!"
The Hermit cross'd his brow.
"Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thee say—
What manner of man art thou?"

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrench'd
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.

Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.

We shall never forget you, Roger. May your soul rest in eternal peace.

Nostalgia Within

As an example of how reading a particular comic book has made an impact in my life. I hereby give you ...

The Nostalgia Within

As a student (and, my classmates tell me, part-time teacher) of language, there are times when I marvel at how truly expressive the English language can be. Of course, once one is exposed to the true depth of the English vocabulary and nuance, the world will be one’s oyster. One thinks its richness is unparalleled.

However, there are times when foreign languages can surprise you, delivering a word or phrase with no direct English equivalent or for which the best English equivalent is but an inadequate approximation.

One such word is the Brazilian Portuguese noun saudade (sa-oo-dah-day or sa-oo-dah-jhay depending on whom you’ve learnt the language from). I came across the word some years ago while reading, of all things, a Wolverine comic book. It was a riveting story which made me wish to study the origins and usage of the word. And my experience has been richer for it having found out its deeper meaning, unparalleled in my native tongue. Some may try to equate saudade to “I miss you.” A poor equivalence because it means so much more than that.

Saudade was once defined as "the love that remains" after someone is gone. .It is used to describe a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent person or thing that you genuinely love. With this state, there is also a kind of repressed knowledge that the person or thing you long for is either lost forever or suspicion that he/she/it may never return. A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people (such as a lost lover or an absent family member who has gone missing).and things whose current whereabouts are unknown. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure or well-being, which now triggers those senses and makes you live again.

One of my personal saudades has to do with an unlikely subject: grandparents. Both of my grandfathers were deceased well before my arrival in 1976 so I never had a chance to know them. I was barely two in 1978 when my mother’s mother passed away and I was not yet four when my father’s mother joined the rest.

As a result, I never got to experience the grandparental love that was common amongst many of my peers during my younger days. I actually was quite envious as well as in awe of other children who openly proclaimed before the weekend or a holiday period that they were going down by grandma/grandpa in so-and-so and spend some time.

Which is probably why I used to relish the trips to Princes Town, Indian Walk and environs my mother took my sisters and me on to visit our relatives there.. Those trips exposed me to the elder relations on her side of the family who, although not really my grandparents, offered me a true glimpse into the experiences I knew I was missing out on. And I am thankful for that, even though it meant that I eventually knew more of and about my mother’s side of the family – the Beaches, Rogets and Osbornes and more.

Of the three Scott siblings, my first sister is so far the only one who is a parent. She has a beautiful young daughter named Maya. And, of course, Maya is adored by her Trini grandmother. In their interactions I see a bond that I unfortunately did not have.  Saudade makes me yearn to be a part of that. It’s not so much that I crave the actual doting that grandparents are renowned for, it’s that I miss the knowledge of having someone to dote on me.

Maybe I shall just have to wait until I see my child’s child to get that relationship going. And I’ll see the end of my saudade although I shall be the one doing the doting.


Just to update you, my sister has doubled her advantage on me with the arrival of Marcus two months ago. Guess I have to work hard now to make up the deficit.