Fred Harris writes;

   In these times of deception, misdirection and materialism our children cry out for truth, beauty and goodness. They are at a crossroad where they can buy into the false promises of our culture or embrace a different path. They are ready to rise to the challenge, but who will encourage them? Who will step into the void and speak fearlessly with love and clarity? And who will have the credibility to be heard by the kids?

    We at Mind, Body & Spirit have asked these questions ourselves. How do we reach the next generation?

    Enter Pato Banton.

    Pato, a Grammy nominated UK reggae star, has experienced his share of adversity. His natural father was gone by the time he was born. He rarely went to school, working instead at his step-dad’s illegal bar as a lookout for the cops. Early on he was allowed to spin the music at the club and ultimately became interested in music and performing. One day at his infrequent visits to school he submitted a poem to a contest about the chaos at the bus stop and, much to his surprise, he won the school poetry contest. This fueled his song writing interests and he went on to perform with many groups including the English Beat, Sting, and UB40. His songs have been #1 around the world. He appeared on Sting’s “We are spirits living in the material world” video. He formed his own band and toured the world.

    Then one day while on tour he got word that two of his children, ages 10 and 11, had been shot in a drive by shooting while they attended a birthday party. Although both recovered, it was an event that caused him to rethink his priorities. While he was on the road and even though he was working with kids while on the road, he now knew that he had to get back to his hometown of Birmingham, England and deal with the problems there. He quit touring and went home.

    Instead of attempting to locate the gunman and settling the score, he instead did his homework and found out that there were ten gangs in the city, each one intent on murdering members of the other gangs. He opened a music studio and invited members of the gangs to come in and practice and record music and raps. Ultimately he had them form bands which included various members of different gangs. He sponsored concerts where the new bands would play and ultimately the kids found other ways to more productively use their time. He was cited by the Birmingham police department for lowering the violent crime rate in the city. But he wasn’t done yet.

    Pato then became the head of the local university music department with the proviso that he could teach courses to kids who could not otherwise qualify for admission to the university. If they were successful in his courses, then they were given the chance to take regular university courses. He opened the door to this kids for an education. Ultimately he was teaching in five universities and training those who would take over for him when he left. After six years off the road, he knew it was time to take his mission back out into the world.

    He wasn’t sure how he would do it. His band was long gone. He doubted if he had any fans left and he hadn’t cut an album in many years. So he stepped out in faith. An old friend let him know that his band, the Mystic Roots Band, who itself was signed to a record label in its own right, would love to back his tour. The tour would start in Florida and work its way through the United States and into Brazil, Australia and into the world.

    We heard about the tour and offered to sponsor a date in Tallahassee. Pato told us that he wanted to do more than play at a club, he also wanted to connect with the kids, so we arranged for him to play for SAIL high school, a public high school focused on alternative education for creative kids. My daughter had graduated from there and Judy Langston’s daughter goes there now. Several of the SAIL kids had attended our youth camps. The principal was excited about it and arranged for the entire school to take the last period off on Friday to watch the show, which would be held outside in the courtyard.

    We also wanted to let the community know of the event, so we tried to get the show mentioned in the local newspaper. We also wanted to have an “in-store” appearance at a local record store, Vinyl Fever, and we wanted to get him an interview on the FSU student radio station, V-89. None of this was very easy, but it is interesting how things work out.

    MBS puts an ad in the newspaper every week with a Urantia Book quote and so we tried to get our ad agent to help us get to a staff reporter, but to no avail. We were getting frustrated. Then, during an art show opening I was introduced to the head writer at the newspaper and I asked him who I should talk to about getting an article for the band that we were promoting and he asked me who the band was. When I told him Pato Banton, he got excited and told me how much he liked Pato’s music. As a result Pato’s picture appeared in the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday editions of the paper and was the recommended “Best Bet” for events in the Tallahassee area for the day of the show.

    Vinyl Fever also presented a problem, as the manager wouldn’t call me back. As it turns out, MBS participated in this year’s “Christmas Connection”, as we had for many years. This year the family we adopted was a young couple with a new baby. The mother worked at Vinyl Fever and she connected me with the manager and we arranged an in store appearance by Pato.

    The radio station was another difficult situation. Run by students, it is not the most efficient operation or very responsive. It appeared that there would be no interview. Then, on the day before the show they contacted me and we were on for the day of the show during drive time – perfect.

    The Thursday before the show, MBS sponsored a dinner for Pato at my house, catered by Taste Budz. We invited the principal of SAIL and some of our friends and supporters. Ultimately we probably had 30 or so people, including several people who came from out of town to celebrate with us. It was a smashing success and well appreciated by Pato and Roberto, his manager. They stayed with Lucy & I and we treated them to home cooking during their stay in Tallahassee – a welcome hospitality when you are on the road.

    Friday was show day and we started out by hiking a couple of miles in the woods to the Temple of the Father where we meditated and prayed and then came back to prepare for a busy day.

    The first stop was the SAIL concert. Initially we had only promised that Pato would come to talk about rising above adversity. But the band insisted on coming, so we had a full concert ready to go. The weather in Tallahassee in January can be dicey, so we had petitioned the weather angels to give us good weather. It was overcast and sprinkled a bit in the morning and was cool. But by the 1:30 pm show, the rain had stopped, the temperature had risen and by the end of the show the sun peeked out of the clouds. It was perfect.

    The principal had been concerned that Pato not be too overt in his encouragement of the kids to connect with God – public schools are sensitive to that – but she had nothing to worry about. Pato was introduced and he came on the stage in front of all 325 kids, the teachers, and a lot of people from the community (who read about it in the paper). He told his story and what he had done to overcome the hatred and violence in his life. The kids sat and listed attentively, but it was hard to know whether they were getting any of it. Then the band took the stage.

    If you have never heard a Pato concert, it is hard for me to explain what he does, but he grabbed those kids and before he was done, they, at his suggestion, had rushed the stage and were dancing and singing along with him. Reggae’s beat is so good for connecting with kids and the messages that he imparted, to stay positive, stay open, oppose intolerance, injustice and racism, and be the best you can be are all major themes to his songs. Heck, by the end of the show, I had rushed the stage myself and, with everyone else, had whipped out my cell phone and was snapping pictures, as was a reporter from the newspaper.

    I thought that my heart was going to explode in joy. I had trouble with my eyes tearing up, as I do when I tell this story. Pato had accomplished what we wanted. He connected with the kids and gave them the message of love. He was cool. He was fun. He was one of them. And he told them truth. They were believers. And he never tried to sell them dogma. The teachers were also thrilled and time and time again they thanked us from bringing Pato. That night at the club half of the crowd were kids from SAIL wanting more. Teachers too.

    When the SAIL show was over, it took us forever to get off the school grounds because the kids were all over the band and Pato getting signatures and having their pictures taken with them. As we left the parking lot Pato got into a hacky sack game and ultimately was chased down by the social studies teacher (himself sporting dreads) wanting a final autograph. It was great.

    We then headed for Vinyl Fever for the in store appearance. Because we were a little early I dropped Pato and crew off at restaurant and went by the store to make sure they would be ready for us. They weren’t. I had them set up the mikes and amplifier so that when we walked in Pato could do a quick song and then head over to the radio station. It was a tight schedule. But I found out that there had been no marketing of the event, so he would be playing to whoever happened to be shopping at the store, which was disappointing. We had a lot of our group coming, though, so we would fill up the store somewhat.

    When I went back to the restaurant, I let them know of the situation and Pato was of the mind to go in and sign a few autographs and not perform at all. We all grudgingly agreed that such a course of action might be for the best, but I mentioned to him that maybe there was one person in that store that needed to hear his message and if it were only one, that it would be worth playing a song or two. We agreed that we would see how it unfolded.

    When we walked in the store, there were probably 15 customers and 15 friends of the band. Pato and his guitar player and a couple of the members of the band singing backup decided to do a couple of songs. One of them, Life Is A Miracle, was introduced by Pato who explained that he wrote it after he was present for the birth of his grandson. The song reminds us that life IS a miracle. On the way out I heard a few of the customers singing the song to each other and calling and telling their friends about it. A woman that Pato hadn’t seen in years also appeared and brought pictures of her two kids.

    But we had to rush because we were due at the radio station at 5pm and it was 4:45. I hustled Pato and his guitar player out to the truck and we headed for the station. We walked in the station at 4:59, but because it is a student radio station, they were in no rush to start the show, as they all wanted to talk to Pato first. Three island kids who were reggae DJs were there to meet Pato as well. The interview went well and Pato and his guitarist, D-Rock, played in the studio which was broadcast live over the air. The station gave us t-shirts and Pato signed the wall and we were off to the sound check.

    I had told the venue that this was to be an all ages show and that there was to be no smoking inside the club, but during sound check all of the venue’s employees were smoking and there were no signs telling people not to smoke. When I brought this up to one of the employees he said that they didn’t have any signs and, in any event, people smoked anyway and there wasn’t much they could do about it. He was smoking a cigarette as we talked. I told him that when I returned I had better see some non smoking signs and we left reeking of tobacco smoke.

    We headed home to eat and rest prior to the show. I had to take a nap because Pato went on at 11pm and I can’t remember the last time I was up past midnight (I went to bed at 12:01 on New Year’s). Pato and I spoke disparagingly about the club and its smoking policy. We weren’t happy, but we were resigned to the reality.

    We got Pato to the show at around 10:30 and the club was full – not overcrowded but a lot of people were there. That night at the show when we arrived the opening act was playing and, much to our surprise, no one was smoking inside and there were no smoking signs up. As we had experienced all week, things were working out.

    From the first song, the crowd was on its feet dancing, hands in the air and enthusiastic. Pato and the band were tight and the message continued. Have faith, love your brothers and sisters (Pato stopped the show and had everyone hug someone they didn’t know and the band left the stage and did the same, although I noticed that they picked some of the most beautiful women!), no fear, no racism, no intolerance, the world as family, rising over adversity. One World is Enough for All of Us. He threw in Jamming from Bob Marley. On and on. High energy. Audience participation. Dancing. Then at the end he actually said the Lord’s Prayer and recognized the angels, midwayers, melchizedeks, and other celestial personalities and thanked them. Then he invited those interested to meet him in the parking lot for a prayer circle. When was the last time you saw someone do that at a concert?

    After the show I joined Pato in the parking lot with around 30 others, all of us holding hands in a circle, and he told us how blessed he was and asked Jah, God, the Mother Spirit to bless his mission, encouraged everyone to find people to form circles with and pray, to keep the faith that everything is going to be OK, and then asked everyone to individually go around the circle and say a prayer. It was powerful. All kinds of people were there. A kid whose girlfriend was pregnant and he was scared. A drunk whose sister had cancer. A middle aged black couple who thanked Pato for the message. Everyone was sincere and everyone else listened at 2 in the morning as each individual prayer was said out loud. The 15 year old girl to my left passed, but everyone else said something. The real stunner for me was the last guy.

    He said that he just happened to be in Vinyl Fever with his friend this afternoon when Pato arrived. His friend was depressed and was planning to divorce his wife even though they had three small children that he loved. This guy then told us that when his friend heard Pato’s story and song, Life Is A Miracle, that something clicked within him and be became a changed man and told him that he was going home to reconcile with his wife. Pato had reached the one guy that needed to hear the message.  
     
    Then the 15 year old girl who didn't want to speak approached Pat, gave him a big hug and then walked into the night.

    It is interesting how spirit works. It is rarely dramatic. I find that I have to pay attention and expect the best. That is when spirit can best reach me. This was a week of spirit moving in my life. God bless Pato Banton and his music ministry.

    Pato burned down the house!

    Lighten Life,  Fred Harris

P.S.  Pato sent Fred this additional comment:
"I just wanted to let you know, the 15 year old girl whispered in my ear, "you were sent here for a reason."

One Love Always

Pato Banton