`Mr. Boombastic' set to explode

`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.