If Hurricane Bertha behaves herself and moves further away from the Island, than the Veterans in Action Part Two concert will go off tomorrow night at the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation.

The event's aim is to reach fans of old school reggae and the "session scene".

Veterans in Action Part Two is being promoted by Tec Productions and CellularOne.

The headliners are international Reggae stars Shinehead and Nahki. Joining them are Screechy Dan, Bo Bo General and the Mini Mart Crew.

Local artists such as Mikey Wild, Mr. Mikey, Fat Jaw, Junior C, Shorta Ranks, Tristan and Sleepy Don are scheduled to perform, as well as local DJs Black Star, Stalwart, Jake & Lenny, Dub City Int'l and Magnum Force Int'l.

Organiser Declan Harris spoke to The Royal Gazette about why he decided to hold a sequel to the 2005 event.

"CellularOne has decided to come on again, so I am doing it in conjunction with them," he said.

"It is basically part two and the theme of it being Shinehead and Friends. He hasn't been styling in quite some time.

"For me it is an emotional period from a music stand point and the connection given my age and people that are my age a little older and a little younger - that time frame in the 80s was where we had a lot of traditional dance hall events that took place in Bermuda.

"For a number of reasons that has changed a bit, the business itself has changed and the direction that the music itself has taken, which is unfortunate.

"And now you almost have to look back. Well do we consider ourselves old now? And it still caught outside of Bermuda, in Jamaica they still have that, and maybe it is the same for the youngsters, but not the same for adults."

Explaining the format of the dance hall events, Mr. Harris said: "You have a set of speakers, everything is wired up, the DJ with his vinyl, which is important, because that is what I am trying to capture from a nostalgic standpoint, no CDs.

"Early on they (the DJs) are going to have what they have, but once show time starts it is like out comes the vinyl. That will be what we call the early warmer, people are just settling in, having a drink, a chat and getting ready for show time.

"Once it starts, out comes the vinyl and we are going to go from there and what that looks like is when we have traditional clashes when Radigun will come and he will do a speech and talk about this is, what a 45 is, because the kids are clueless to what he is talking about.

"Because I remember when I was growing up 8-tracks (a recording tape that was prior to cassette tapes) were a big thing.

"They were all the rage, but for youngsters it's, 'what is that?'

A dance down the Reggae memory lane is what he is trying to recreate.

"I can talk about it emotionally and I have with the artists that I have and the way I am trying to do it and attempting to capture exactly what I am looking for - to make people reminisce and for people that haven't experienced it to be able to come out and witness what it used to be like.

"Given the demographics, the artists, and the people that we are hoping to come and I think it is going to be a curiosity factor with the younger generations and I think some of them will come, not a huge amount, but I have found that there is a great appreciation for old school or traditional reggae, but there aren't a lot of outlets for it."

Mr. Harris added that all the music would be played on the B-side of the record.

"On a traditional vinyl on one side you will have one or two songs, same version, or one song on a version.

"Then on the B-side it will just be the instrumental and in dance hall style what they would say is, 'hold on!' Then they would turn it over and start singing to that. Then you might have four or five guys singing to the same version.

"The beauty of it is, if people are coming to see an artist come out and do his set, don't come because it is not like that. I am letting people know in advance, it will not be choreographed like that, it is spontaneous.

"And according to the crowd's response the artist continues if the crowd is making a whole pile of noise, but if the response is lukewarm then you pass it on to another until another version comes out and you jump back on.

"They have some songs which are standards, tunes that they are going to sing."

However with all of the explanation above, he said: "Shinehead's set is going to be a little different, because he's very spontaneous, known to be quite a comedian, and he is coming early so he is going to get a feel back for Bermuda, he's been a number of times, so don't be surprised if he adds in some humour that is related to the current climate whether that is politically or whatever.

"He is very astute at picking it up and throwing it right in. If you are one with the people, then the people are going to be on your side.

"He's great at that and I don't want to say the greatest, but certainly one of the greatest from that era. He brings it!"

Japanese Reggae star Nahki, who began his band when he was 18, will also be here.

"They have more people into Reggae and at Japansplash then what are here in Bermuda," Mr. Harris said.

"The funny thing is to see the Japanese people singing the Reggae songs, like Nahki, he can speak patois and even though it is broken English, he sings Jamaican style, but his conversational English is dreadful.

"It is like there are languages in all sorts of businesses that you learn, but what is amazing is that he is able to focus and do such a good job.

"He has collaborated with some of the Reggae greats that are no longer with us, like Dennis Brown, Sugar Minot, you name it and they took him under their wing for a while, when he went to Jamaica.

"He's well known throughout Asia and Japan in particular, he is considered the godfather, as you will, for them.

"There was a group here, I want to say Better 45, they play sound, and one of them performs as well and, just like Mighty Crown, they do well in that arena and when they saw posters for the show of Nahki, and they were talking they just lit up. For them, he was like somewhere they wanted to get to.

"Within Reggae circles, he's known, in Bermuda not as well. But within the Reggae community he is well known."

Another performer is Screechy Dan, said Mr. Harris.

"He yodels, literally, and he does it to Reggae and it is off the chain, because it is nothing that you have seen before.

"He is also quite versatile, because he is also very humorous. He is also very familiar because he has been here so many times.

"Him and the other guy James Bond, which is a funny moniker, but they have a song that they wrote about Bermuda years ago, and I can't change any of the lyrics, but it talks about (the late Dame) Lois Brown Evans in it and it was written probably ten years before they came into power. You hear (the late) Freddy Wade and (Sir) John Swan in it.

"And for Reggae, and from a social standpoint, a lot of what's going on and the people in the street, is what comes out in the music, that is how Reggae originated and for older Bermudian artists political commentary was it for that genre."

Coming out of Brooklyn is the Mini Mart Crew.

"The performed out of a mini mart and they became the Mini Mart Crew," he said.

"The would sing off of that sound system and they performed a lot around New York and in the Tri State area. But one place that they ended up coming to over and over, was Bermuda. Now maybe that had something to do with the proximity, as it was easier for us to get people to come from New York, rather than Jamaica, but then we were getting more stuff from America, so in a sense, they were Jamericans.

"It was a connection that was made and when it came down to cruises people talk about Incubator, which is traditionally known as Pigs Field. They'd set a generator up and guys would sell goods out of the back of their cars, and guys would show up on any given weekend and a lot of the time it was these guys.

"Sometimes it was organised, and other times it wasn't. So they spent a lot of time in Bermuda and immigration laws where not were you had to pack up and get out the next day.

"They may have stayed for a couple of weeks."

Some have said that Mr. Harris is focusing on a microcosm of people, but he argues: "Where I do disagree is that there are a lot of people who do listen to that music, who didn't necessarily go to incubator, or to the sweat box. They wanted to, but for whatever reason they didn't.

"And unfortunately a lot of that does cross racial barriers. I look at it from both lenses, because I have been fortunate from where I grew up, I've been exposed to that side and because of my skin colour I have been allowed in for no other reason then I am a white Bermudian.

"But I have found that the tapes of those sessions would circulate more in the white or Portuguese community, then in the black community.

"I see younger Bermudians now, who are still listening to those tapes, so what is the connection, was your father or your uncle listening to it, even when you look at Collie Buddz, when he talks about some of the stuff he grew up listening to.

"There were some dance hall artists and most of it was the foundation stuff and the most successful Reggae artists are the ones that historically know what the historical significance is and if you are not in touch with that, I think you lose a lot.

"And another thing that is good about these artists is that they are aware of that, both then and now.

"I want people to walk away and know that they have had an experience."

Of the venue, he said: "It is going to be at what is known as Old Elliot, it is going to be outside and it is all fenced in.

"There is a limited amount of tickets, there are only 1,000 tickets and if I get more than that, the venue probably can't hold it. The budget is such that if I get 1,000 people everyone will be happy.

"If there are 600 people there, it will feel like 1,000. If you get 1,000 it is definitely going to feel like a thousand, however if you get more than that, I don't know where I am going to put them.

"I think the venue itself is a lot bigger than people perceive it to be, and I am pretty good with numbers and spacing, but you don't know until you have the thousand. I can see it holding 14 or 15 hundred people, but it would be real tight and I don't want to do that and I don't want to turn away 400 people who have money in their hand, but the reality is that you have to take all the safety precautions and security because if you have that many people in a confined space, things happen."

In addition he said: "The reason that I am so excited about this, is because there are not a lot of avenues from a show standpoint or from an entertainment point that these people have, because you move on, that demographic that has that residual to just throw away every weekend. So I am hoping that this is going to be an event that people will come out for where they don't have to worry about stepping on somebody's foot or going like that."

CellularOne will also be giving away some BlackBerrys, he said.

"So the odds are pretty good if you get five or 600 people."

The mobile phone company will also hold an autograph-signing event at their Burnaby Street store location today from 12 to 2 pm. The show will be held at the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation, also referred to as the "Old Elliot," 27 Jubilee Road, Devonshire.

Advanced tickets are $45 and will be available at the CellularOne, on Burnaby Street, Dub City and Music World. Gates will open at 8.30 pm.