Jimmy Cliff will be in Brooklyn tonight. He opens Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell rain or shine. Doors open at 6:30. Be there. Be there early. It will be crowded. It will be incredible. I hope he sings Many Rivers to Cross.

What song do you hope he sings tonight?

It was a hot summer night in 1976. I went with a friend to the Elgin Cinema which used to be on Eighth Avenue and 21st Street in Manhattan. They showed the best movies there (the popcorn was good and they had health food which is what we called it then) and on that night they were showing “The Harder They Come.”

I was transfixed. Truthfully, I remember little about the film But the music, the MUSIC. Soon after I purchased the album, my first entry into reggae,  and practically wore out the grooves of it on my Onkyo turntable, the turntable I took to college.

Remember when you took a turntable to college?

The music by Jimmy Cliff, The Maytals, The Slickers, The Melodians, and others got under my skin. Forever. Who can forget those fabulous songs? You Can Get It If You Really Want, Rivers of Babylon, Sweet and Dandy, The Harder They Come, Johnny Too Bad (performed by The Slickers), Sitting in Limbo, Pressure Drop…