featured artists failed to perform at the much-criticised concert held recently at BAA Field by reggae star Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon (aka Shabba Ranks).

Mr. Aming put the Business Diary on hold when it began asking searching questions about what had happened to no-show reggae artists Ritchie Stevens and Lady Patra, who had been given joint second billing on advertisements promoting the event.

Had they been struck down with a sudden illness, did their plane fail to take off due to bad weather or were they afflicted with the Caribbean's casual attitude to life and could just not be bothered to turn up? All were questions which surely the man who organised the event would have the answers to. But apparently not. Seemingly taken by surprise, Mr. Aming appeared uneasy at the line of questioning, told the Diary he would be "right back'' and never returned to the phone.

The Diary, which had been innocently hanging on for several minutes waiting to hear Mr. Aming's Trinidadian accent come back to the phone, eventually realised the line had been cut off and called back immediately.

A woman employee at Mr. Aming's Clay House Inn said he was "on a long distance phone call'' (to Mr. Stevens or Miss Patra, perhaps?). A message was left but never returned.

Choy Aming Productions had already taken in much of the estimated $200,000 ticket receipts by the time the company got around to "regretfully announcing'' -- only the day before the concert -- that Ritchie Stevens and Lady Patra would not be appearing.

But the audience was not to worry. Mr. Aming announced they were being replaced by the one and only Mr. Leopold Hartley, an unlikely sounding artist whose sole claim to fame was that he was "Shabba's brother''. The fact that not even die-hard reggae fans had heard of him did not appear to matter.

This is not the first time that temperamental and unreliable stars have let Mr. Aming down. Reggae star Charlie Chaplin never turned up for one show a few years ago (causing Mr. Aming to admirably cut the admission price) and a less-known artist failed to appear with Maxi Priest.

As it turned out, the late substitute this time around proved to be more than adequate.

The Royal Gazette's reviewer even went so far as to say that Shabba's brother "stole the show with his special version of Spanish Lullaby''. For Shabba, who performed for just 50 minutes, it could well have been the ultimate insult (worse to him, perhaps, than being called a homosexual).

Several years after quitting the stage at St. John's Field under a hail of beer bottles after performing just three songs, the man who has been described as the hottest reggae star to come out of Jamaica since Bob Marley once again made an ignominious exit from the Island.

* * * BUC First Bermuda Securities is repurchasing 300 shares from an angry investor in the newly-public Long Botham Boats, which owns the Henry VIII bar/restaurant.

FBS president Jeff Conyers made his buy-back offer to new shareholder Mike Shaw, who was unhappy to learn that general manager John Ferris was no longer running Henry VIII -- information which was not disclosed to the public before the recent share offering.

Mr. Conyers, who says he knew nothing about Mr. Ferris' departure until he was told by The Royal Gazette , called Mr. Shaw after the investor expressed his dissatisfaction in Friday's newspaper.

After thinking it over, Mr. Shaw decided to accept the offer, said Mr.

Conyers.

* * * BUC Mr. Paul Bawcutt, managing director of the London-based Risk & Insurance Research Group Ltd., is speaking on "Captives -- Still a Pawn in the Insurance Game'' at the Bermuda Insurance Institute monthly luncheon at the Princess Hotel on Thursday, April 15.