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Spirituality

SEARCHING…. UNSHACKLING THE DOGMATIC, EURO-CENTRIC DICTATES OF VATICAN...
In the late sixties, Luigi had started dating an ebony princess named Yvonne who lived in the Berwick Rd area just off of the Maxfield Ave. On his many “trods” to visit his princess he had to go pass the Martin’s house where Cecil, Everton (Evah Martin who had led JC and XLCR to consecutive Manning Cup titles in 1968 & 1969), Desmond (Desi), and Joe lived. Subsequent “tighter reasoning” with Evah & Desi led a search that “touched-down (up)” at the Twelve Tribes meetings which eventually led to the “setting up” of a full-fledged organization under the auspices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

DESTINATION….TWELVE TRIBES.. LEVELING THE VIBES
These thought-provoking, insightful “sit-ins” (study sessions) were a delight to Luigi where he could closely “collaborate” with the original “founding fathers” and elders of the Twelve Tribes “Nation”. Though retaining a certain “balance” within his persona, Luigi dedicatedly, reverently engaged in all the spiritual, cultural, socio-economic, and most assuredly the emotional and intra-gender relational elements of not just his new-found religion but also of the Jamaican genre. Other ‘Tribes-man” collaborating with Luigi and the Martin brothers in those embryonic stages of The Nation included Patrick “Becky” Beckford, Winston “Hyah Stan" Grey, Garth White, Peter Phillipps, Devon “Ducketts” Anderson and several other brethrens.

LOVE...PRACTICING THE FAITH…DEDICATION…COMMITMENT…
Luigi discovered that he had a lot of love in his heart not just for his family, relatives, and brethren but especially so for “the sistrens”. Luigi proudly professed his new-found faith to the utter dismay/disapproval of Dad and the multitude of Nuns and Priests that had so strongly influenced his early years. But there was no stepping back as Luigi clung to his faith and though he engaged his younger siblings in many “Autical” conversion-seeking conversations, he never tried to “force” it upon them. Luigi studiously read the various versions of the Bible and other notable theological literary publications and engaged in many a debate not only with senior “Tribesmen” but also with many of the Vatican-leaning Nuns and Priests whom had so influenced his early life.

MUSIC
They say music is the food of love and Dad’s sound system Mutt & Jeff projected Dad into the upper echelon of JA’s Music Masters of the day ranking him just slightly below musical behemoths such as Sir Coxsone Downbeat and Duke Reid The Trojan. The second tier behind these giants included Tom The Great Sebastian, Mutt & Jeff (Clear as a Bell), Lloyd the Matador, and V-Rocket among others. They also say Luigi was born to love - so, of course, his favorite song by the Mighty Sensations was actually "Born to Love You" (click on highlighted link to listen).

As a youngster, “first son” Luigi would often lead his siblings in “stringing-up” connections from the 500-watt amplifier to the highly perched “steel horns” and to numerous 12” and 18” diameter speakers to assist his late Father Kenneth Snr. (RIP), founder and operator of the mighty “Mutt & Jeff” Sound System, (click then scroll to see World-wide listing of sound systems) in preparation for a Saturday night’s music-filled dancehall at various venues throughout the corporate area. Vivid memories still endure and have been told and re-told (with typical flavorful JA embellishments) of Luigi encouraging his youthful siblings to hide from the exasperatingly futile attempts of Ken D. to “round up his boys” to take them home before it got too dark to prevent their young minds from being “contaminated” lest their curious eyes should ever be exposed to “….witnessing how big people dance…”. Luigi’s Dad, one of Jamaica’s musical giants himself, can count among his contemporaries/classmates at the Alpha Boys school such legendary icons as Lenny Hibbert (RIP), Roland Alphonso (RIP), Tommy McCook (RIP), Don Drummond (RIP) “the musical Nun” Sister Mary Ignatius et al

The immediate neighborhood and closely adjacent locales in which Luigi grew up, flourished with youthful talent in many fields including, most notably, music. On a given summer night, most of the youths would congregate at Luigi’s “yard” (maybe because of Mutt & Jeff’s influence and/or maybe because the yard already had the six Davy brothers). All would eventually start strumming make-shift, home-made musical instruments and the more vocally gifted would sing far into the wee hours of each morning. The mix often include future recording artists and band members such as Phillip “Burr” Martin (RIP - a John Holt-like talent who was "taken" at age 20), Winston “Cobra” Francis (Mr. Fix It, Go Find Yourself a Fool), Maxey Burton, Trevor “Shorty” Brown, Neville “Tinga” Stewart (and younger brother Roman-RIP), Mikey “Drummy” Stephens, Raymond "Polack" Huie, and numerous others who must be apologized to for not being included. Later on, Luigi would start hanging out at "Big Yard" off of the Maxfield Ave where talented brethrens often included Leroy "Heptones" Sibbles etc. In the early sixties Dad would often take Luigi, Michael and Richard with him when he visited various recording studios (Studio One, Dynamics, Treasure Isle, etc.) to get "wax" copies of the latest recordings and to fraternize with his former Alpha Boys School classmates who were "in session" (i.e. recording bacground music). While waiting for Dad in these studios, Luigi's favorite musician, the talented Jackie Mittoo (RIP) , used to always have fun playing "hide and seek" with the young Luigi.

Whenever the young Luigi would engage in “playing dolly-house”, he and elder sister Sonia would sort of organize the “pairing-up” of the neighborhood kids. It would be Sonia & Ever Nevers (StGC alumnus), Luigi & Marjorie (Simpson), Mike & Verna (Ever’s sister), Richard & Angella “Gella” Prendergast (elder sister of famed FIFA referee Peter), Dirty Harry & Millicent (Gella’s younger sister), and so on. While none of those infantile romantic pairings withstood the tests of time… all those females blossomed into some endearingly gorgeous “beauties” causing all the males to forever rue the fact that we…”…let them get away…”

RELAXING WITH THE BRETHRENS:
When he was not at the office or not praising his God at the Twelve Tribes weekly Sunday services or not playing, coaching or administrating his favorite game of soccer, Luigi would find much solace, peace, and serenity just hanging out with "the brethrens" especially Everton "Mr. J" Jennings and Calvin "Webba" Stewart at the rather dimly-lit "House of Brim" on 77 Lane off of the Waltham Pk Road. The setting at this venue and the unique hospitality of host Brim combined to serve up a sort of "home away from home" atmosphere for Luigi and frequently he informally conducted many a counselling sessions to positively motivate the youths of the immediate and adjacent areas. Initially these "sit-ins" took on the form of brotherly advice and, as the years went by, the scene naturally evolved into Luigi offering "fatherly" and eventually "grand-fatherly" words of wisdom. Luigi, his siblings, & Webba would, over the years, "entertain" a litany of notable brethrens at Brim's including many already mentioned herein plus Mike Fray (1968/72 Olympic sprinter), Noel "Marley" Miller, Tony Keyes, John "Jellico" Fenton, John Sayles, etc.

LOVE FOR HIS SISTERS
Although he had as many as five sisters, Luigi’s heart was so big that despite his “busy” schedule “policing” his many brothers’ soccer careers, he still somehow managed to find time to just as fervently support the females who comprised his close-knit family. Though his love for all of his sisters was graced with the requisite tenderness that Luigi delicately reserved for the fairer sex, his lifelong passion for the physical game of soccer and his tendency to “guide” his siblings therein, also “spilled over” to the “distaff” side of his siblings whereby Andrea honed her soccer skills under Luigi’s watchful eyes to the extent that after “stamping” her class with his stringent label of approval, Luigi made arrangements for Andrea to parade her soccer skills, as a “guest player” with a few men’s teams in some local N.Y. soccer tournaments. Andrea will always remember Luigi's pleadings for her to read at least "a chapter a day" of the Holy Bible, to be forever proud of the true significance of her mighty "tribe" GAD.

First-born sister Sonia, before she started dating, could always depend on the youthful Luigi to "escort" her to the selected high school parties held at various "night spots" in the corporate area of Kingston and St. Andrew. Luigi took these "escort services" real seriously, acting as a sort of surrogate parent "guardedly" chaperoning sister Sonia amidst all those gazing male admirers from St. GC, KC, JC, Calabar, Wolmer's, XLCR, Ardenne, etc. in the 1960's.

Grace, the seventh (7th.) born of Luigi's siblings, holds among her most treasured memory of his truly sensitive nature, the sight of Luigi being "moved" to shed grieving tears at her husband Kenny's mother's funeral, a sight Grace insists she will always remember and cherish. It is spontaneous, un-planned sensibilities such as these that so vividly depict the warm, caring, loving spirit of Luigi!! Grace will also always lean on the tremendous amount of "brotherly love" that flowed from Luigi whenever he had advised her on biblical, relationships, and life-sustaining elements of the human experience.

Between Colette and Luigi were five other siblings but, despite this seeming "generation gap", there existed a unique relationship and closeness devotedly cultivated by the loving spirit which characterized Luigi so definitively thus it was that Luigi
created a very private, "house" nickname for her. Private in the sense that Luigi was afforded Colette's special permission as the only sibling that could refer to her by that monicker. No one else dared violate that "special" arrangement between Luigi and his little sister Colette.

Sidonie, well... Sidonie was the baby but despite this, Luigi spent much time grooming her as a superb dancer showing her all the moves he had learned while spending "overtime" as a youngster hiding after "stringing up" for Dad at the various dancehalls. You see, while "hiding out" from Dad trying to "round-up" his infant boys, Luigi was mesmerized and much impressed by the deft shuffles of the top dancehall "legs men" of the early 60's including "Bop" & Persian" the informally crowned King & Crown Prince of the day. Luigi even encouraged Sidonie to unfold her dancing skills by "exposing" her to the crucible of competition wherein she won many public dancing championships some from as young as the age of just eight (8) years old.

FATHERHOOD (& MORE FIRSTS)
Luigi's first-born was Mark in 1968, followed by the beautiful first daughter Audia (1970) and then the very cute Denise (RIP - 1973 - 1989). As a very young Dad Luigi was heavily into doling out the love to his toddlers and reserved a special place in heart for all of them. He was the typical proud Dad mentioning them every chance he got no matter the setting. All told, Luigi's first six (6) kids were born in Jamaica (refer to the new york page within this site for more on Luigi's kids). Audia was to later make Luigi become the first of his siblings to be a grand-parent (there goes Luigi again with those "firsts") and thus gave him a "hand" in giving his mother Gloria her very first great grand child!!

CULINARY ARTISTE…
Luigi developed quite exceptional culinary and beverage concocting skills and often “bubbled” creative palate-pleasing Ital dishes and thirst quenching juice mixes which were much in demand whenever Twelve Tribes would host public events. His younger sister Grace still delights in relating the many occasions on which Luigi’s tasty stove-work has stoked her taste buds as she partook of his “Ital Brown Stew”.

Quite notably, Luigi still, to his final days, maintained strong contacts throughout his adult life with all the Nuns/Priests who had so permeated his early life.