'BODEDEREK

Stories are all works of fiction. Names, characters, place and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events and places is totally coincidental Fafo sat alone and isolated on the edge of the prison football field. His fellow convicts walked by him in twos and threes. A match was in progress between two wings within the medium category prison. Only a small number of spectators watched the match in progress. Some of the prisoners gave him a wide berth as they passed by him. A few sniggered, sneaked a peek at him and covered their noses as they walked by. The leather pouch was back around his neck. He seemed resigned to that fact now, deciding to accept  that life would be much easier for him, at least while he served his sentence, to stop trying to ditch the bloody thing. Two years and eight months served, twenty months of which had been as a remand prisoner. With good behaviour, his lawyer had explained, he would b...

Don't Relax Your Vigilance On-line This is a reminder to the many people who use the internet to search for products and services on-line, to be careful and not get conned or scammed. The internet is a great tool to access information, a great medium, enabling the world to become a more intimate, caring, secure and enlightened global village. Amongst all the benefits and the good it can do for us, there also exists, the very bad. True, on-line is where many of us are guaranteed the best prices and some fantastic deals, but it also has a higher risk factor, with a lot of scammers and con men poised to bilk us of our hard earned cash.  There are a lot of scam artists out there and they are usually very good at snaring their victims. Their methods are getting more and more sophisticated, so watch out. Many victims of scams, are intelligent people. They are so embarrassed at their own perceived stupidity, they keep quiet about it. Big mistake! Shout about it from the roo...

Fela Kuti contributed immensely to popular music. His unique musical talent created a genre that revolutionised dance music. The play Fela told only part of the story.  Fela's music was so powerful and hypnotic it was hard to ignore. A visit to his Afrika Shrine club in those heady days was a must for every recording star and celebrity that visited Nigeria. The list was endless, Paul and Linda McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Roy Ayres and all the top acts that performed at the first World Black Arts Festival that Nigeria hosted in 1977. Ginger Baker came and ended up staying, hanging out at the Afrika Shrine, jamming with the band and eventually setting up ARC recording studios, the first of it's kind in the whole of Africa. A gig saluting the first Black President (as he was referred to by the many youths he politicised) is scheduled for next friday, May, 17th at 229, Gt. Portland Street in London's West End. The show will be featuring Tony Allen, the beat behind the ...