`Mr. Boombastic' set to explode

Joseph Mangga, Contributor, Jakarta

Hang on to your dreadlocks ladies and gentlemen, as a little bit of Jamaica will be performing live here in Jakarta on Tuesday, Jan. 28, when famed reggae and R&B artist Shaggy arrives in town as part of his Lucky Day World Tour.

For those of you who need a memory refresher, Shaggy is the deep gravelly-voiced reggae singer who rose to fame with the infectious cross-over hit Boombastic -- a track that annihilated the charts in 1996 and also won him a Grammy for best reggae album the same year.

You may not want to admit it, but you all definitely know the lyrics: "Mr. Lover Lover! She call me Mr. Boom-bas-tic! Say me fan-tas-tic! I'm Mr. Ro-mantic".

Shaggy's subsequent pop-stardom was heavily assisted by none other than Levi's jeans - the company that produced a very memorable animated short advertisement that used Boombastic as it's soundtrack. The ad ran for ages on MTV until the whole planet was strutting around and muttering Shaggy's infectious wonky reggae prose.

Numerous hits and three albums later, including the memorable singles Angel (after Angel of the Morning), Lonely Lover and It Wasn't Me, he's still going strong with his latest album release Lucky Day on MCA records.

Originally born in Kingston, Jamaica as Orville Richard Burrell, with a decidedly square name like that it is little mystery why he later changed it to "Shaggy" (a reported childhood nickname after the skinny, scruffy and forever-famished Scooby- Doo cartoon character of the same name).

Shaggy moved with his parents to the U.S. when he was 18, joined the United States Marines at age 19, then trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. No sooner was he out of boot camp, before the Marines shipped him off to the Middle East to fight Iraqis in the Gulf War.

Upon his return, he regularly made 18-hour train trips to New York to record and kick-start his music career while he was still on active duty with the Marines.

The show, sponsored by Star Mild and Original Production, will be at the Senayan Indoor Tennis facility, and is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Two types of seating arrangements are available: Tribune (Rp 225,000) and Festival (Rp. 150,000). For more information please call 72794423, 7658585, 535037, or visit www.tommypratama.com.