USVI Public Records

Document text

VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly Legislature USVI April 24, 2023 · 1.3 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/Et2AuQo9MdQ Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. Public record The underlying proceeding is a public record of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 3 V.I.C. § 881(a) defines public records to include all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government, or any "department, board, council or committee of any branch of government" · which names legislative committees by category. § 881(b) gives every citizen the right to examine and copy such records, and the news media the right to publish them. (The open-meetings chapter, 1 V.I.C. § 254, does NOT reach the Legislature: § 253(b) expressly excludes it and its Standing and Special Committees. § 881 does, and it is § 881 that confers the right to copy and publish.) The Legislature broadcast this proceeding publicly itself. The source recording is not ours, is not hosted here, and remains with its publisher at the link above. Rights To what we added · the transcription, its arrangement and its description · we assert nothing. A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. The The Committee on Housing, Transportation and Telecommunication is hereby adjourned. 0:00:00 We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Good afternoon, I am Carell Sheridan, Executive Director of the Legislature, and today, this body the 35th legislature of the Virgin Islands has the special honor of presenting a permaplaque to Kelly L. Charleswell Sr. Mr. Charleswell has had a few nicknames in the past such as Bon Jovi Ninja but Poopa Kelly is the stage name that we all know him as for this self-taught guitarist present with me today is the honorable senate president of the 35th legislature 0:02:56 Novelle E. Francis Jr., Vice President Marvin A. Blyden, Secretary Carla J. Joseph, and other members of the 35th legislature. The giving and receiving of a perma plaque acknowledges the achievements of the receiver for their outstanding record of public or civil service, an outstanding achievement or contribution to their respective field or craft, and a perma plaque and the corresponding ceremony is a historic event that memorializes the milestone. To bless this occasion, we will welcome the legislature's chaplain, Reverend Charles Brown, Jr. 0:09:54 Let every head be bowed. this is the day that you have made oh lord and we choose to rejoice and be glad in it on this april 24th 2023 the legislature of the virgin islands pauses from its regular business to give jehovah praise for gifting the territory with the musical genius of one kelly l charleswell senior better known as pupa kelly thank you lord for this son of the soil here in saint thomas and because of the divine gift of music you placed in him and his willingness to gift to his gift to inspire and educate others, we are reminded again, God Almighty, that you are supreme and there is none like you. May the Senate President's willingness to carve out this moment in time in this institution also be a witness that the senators of the Virgin Islands believe that music is a sacred gift from you. And we know the gift of music is sacred because your word says to praise you with the sound of the trumpet, praise you with the psaltery and harp, to praise you 0:10:40 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly with the timbrel and dance, to praise you with string instruments and organs, to praise you with loud sounding cymbals and high sounding cymbals. As we gather to execute a permaplaque ceremony in accordance with resolution 1903. Let everything that have breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Amen. Praise ye the Lord. Thank you for those words, Reverend Brown. At this time, the Honorable Senate President of the 35th Legislature, Novell E. Francis Jr., will formally welcome us to this ceremony. Thank you very much, Mistress of Ceremony, Executive Director Sheridan, and good afternoon to everyone. Let's try this again. Good afternoon to everyone. Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to welcome today's honoree, Mr. Pupakeli Charleswell Sr., his family, friends, and certainly the well-wishers to the Legislature of the Virgin Islands for today's perma plaque ceremony. I want to say thank you to Senate Vice President Marvin Blyden for graciously allowing us some time during his committee meeting to honor Mr. Charles Wells in advance of tonight's village opening. When Bill 35.0071, now Resolution Number 1903, was offered by its sponsor, Senator Donna Fred Gregory, it was an absolute no-brainer to vote yes. Many people may not know Mr. Charles Wells personally, but we have certainly enjoyed his musical talent over the years. We have a who's who of Virgin Islands musical royalty here today to give Mr. Charles Wells his flowers while he's alive. Welcome to Robert Sperm Leonard good afternoon thank you for joining us my colleague and friend police officer Roy Lovie Chesterfield and of course our very own as well Mr Delvin Duggins senior is here Jerry Azik Myers should also be here this afternoon joining us, as well as Mr. Alwin Daddy-Jones-Baptiste Jr. So again, one thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. I'm honored today to be celebrating Mr. Charles Wells' contribution to the Virgin Islands musical scene and his rich legacy as a musician and I certainly want to take this opportunity also to commend the bill's sponsors. It's starting off with Senator Donna Fred Gregory and certainly those that have joined her as well, Mr. Ray Fonseca, I think Senator Blyden also signed on and so many others that to make 0:12:58 this resolution possible today. God bless you Mr. Charleswell, thank you very much for your contribution to the music industry and teaching hundreds of our children here in St. Thomas as well. We appreciate you. We love you. Take care. God bless you. Thank you very much, President Francis. And we now recognize the bill's sponsor, the Honorable Donna A. Fred Gregory for remarks. Pleasant good afternoon to everyone, and happy carnival. 0:15:01 Colleagues, listening audience, those that are in the well, those that are in the audience with us today, it is with immense pride that I offered bill number 35-0071, now resolution 1903, to honour and commend my classmate, the class of 1983, Charlotte Amali High School chicken hawks to excel always. And absolutely, the Virgin Islands and most definitely, Charlotte Amali High School definitely contributed to a Virgin Islands musical genius. So good afternoon. Charlie Charleswell, known as, I didn't even know that he was calling him Pupa Charleswell. 0:15:53 Pupa Kelly, right? As he's affectionately known, is a talented Virgin Islands musician who has spent decades creating music that uplifts spirits and ignites crowds. And we know what I mean when we say ignite crowds. He's best known for his role as the guitarist and lead singer for the awesome jam band. I almost wanted to sing ting-lang, but I could leave it alone. He also played with dozens of other groups, both within our territory and across the Caribbean. The Puerto Rico Symphony, Eartha Kitt, Rhythm and Brass, and Ellie Matt at St. Kitt's musical icon are just a few. a few. His profound impact in the music industry is felt not just within our community, but throughout the Caribbean region. In addition to his work as a performer, he has been intentional in utilizing his knowledge and talents to impact future generations. He has spent 27 years or more giving back to the community by working in our public school system as a music teacher, band coach, and band coach at the Joseph Gomez Elementary School. During his tenure he even went a step further and created the student-led fish and fungi Quilby Band. This created an outlet for student musicians to have the awesome opportunity to perform in public and develop new skills. To this day, he remains the band teacher, caring for our youth, serving as a mentor and helping the next generation of musical performers enhance their skills and 0:16:51 hone their craft. Beginning in 1977, Kelly also created two recording studios where musicians had an avenue to record their music. In our territory, where resources in this arena are often limited, through his studio, talented bands and and solo performers were afforded an outlet to produce their music and pursue their dreams. Cool Sessions Brass, Imagination's Brass, The Mighty Chalk Doss, King Louie Aibo, To Equip Now Our City. When my staff said Our City, I said, what the name, Rock City? She said no, it's Our City. And so many more, too numerous to mention, are all acts that recorded, that recorded at his studio. Kelly has such an invaluable impact in the music industry, and his contributions will last for generations to come. I would like to take this opportunity to thank his family with special appreciation to his children, Kelly Jr., Kelis, Kijani, Kayesha, his grandchildren, Kali and Kaya and his other extended family for graciously allowing him to share his talents with our community. 0:18:59 Thank you, Kelly. And of course, today's celebration did not happen by happenstance. This is a fitting day as we celebrate the 71st Carnival in St. Thomas and the village being named in his honour. Kelly is indeed a true, true son of the soil. I wanna ask my classmates to stand. All members of the class of 1983, please stand. We deep, okay? Our class is 0:20:30 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly deep. I just want to congratulate you Kelly. Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you so much for being here, and I want to thank all of the testifiers, the supporters that came here on his behalf. Today I see his former principal, one of his teachers, just a whole family of people. I see the big musician in the back, I'm gonna call her name, but I just want to thank everyone for being here. This is a well-deserving honor and it's so important for us to recognize our people while they're still here with us. So Kelly, I don't see you all the time, but you're always on my mind. Thank you for coming out thank you Senator Fred Gregory we'll now hear from the bill's co-sponsor, the Honourable Senator Ray Fonseca. Yes, pleasant good afternoon to all the listening audience and a special congratulations to the family and friends of Popa Kelly. I want to give special acknowledgement to the bill sponsor, the Honorable Donna Fred Gregory. Welcome to everybody. You know I born in Savanne but I actually grew up in Bovoni. So it was a whole group of them, Halva Hart, Nick Friday, all of them is my neighbors. So when Nick was singing the song etc etc, Papa Kelly used to be doing that guitar to get all the lyrics and all of that going. So I used to witness the band from growing up, you know, and hearing all these guys are, you know, rest in peace, Nick Friday, of course, Halva is still around. You know, Papa Kelly been in 17 plus, he was in Milo and the Kings, the movement, and of course, Jam Band. You know, he has dedicated 27 plus years of his life to teaching music to our students. He is a great musical ambassador to the people of the Virgin Islands. We're all familiar with a lot of the Jam Band songs and especially, well Papa Kelly was guitarist and also some vocals on those. So be it resolved by legislature of the Virgin Islands Act number 1903, the legislature of the Virgin Islands on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands honors and commends Pope Kelly for his many years of expansive contributions to the Virgin Islands community as a whole through his roles as a musician, teacher and instructor of music in the territory of the Virgin Islands and throughout the Caribbean. Poppa, may the good Lord continue to bless your soul abundantly and may you have great health, love and happiness. Thank you and pleasant good afternoon to all. 0:22:23 Thank you very much, Senator Fonseca. Before we hear from those who know Puba Kelly the best, we have a video presentation in honor of our honoree this afternoon. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, please don't ask me why I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, till the end of time I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, and it ain't no lie I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you Babe, don't ask me why Girl, I know this love won't fade away I am in love with you Give the chance, I'll show you how I feel I know this love is real Oh, baby, come into my heart The place where love starts, keep love attached We can't get by, love can't control Cause I love you, love me, love me, and I will love you Girl, if you love me, I wanna spend life with you Love me, love me, and I will love you Girl, if you love me, I wanna spend life with you 0:24:49 I am Ian Thomas, Ian Adolphus Thomas, aka DJ Commodore, the legendary DJ Commodore. Straight out of Tortola, British Virgin Islands And I'm here, of course, to pay my respect and tribute to Pupa Kelly Now that's the name I'm going to call him through my short speech Pupa Kelly That's the name I've always called him That's the name I know him by I have admired him I've admired his style From the first time I heard his songs with the jam band Until now now the thing is this there's only one word i could think of to describe papa kelly which is unique he is unique unique in dressing unique in singing unique in presentation hi my name is dan darima they call me danny cat um i am from st croix but better known from various bands My first band was The Enforcements out of St. Croix and Mambejo Posse. 0:26:47 Then I moved to St. Thomas with Imaginations Brass. I played with Jam Band with Nick Daddy Frady, Pure Passion. Jam time. Jam time, your time, carnival time. Yeah, and that's me. I'm a guitarist, vocalist. yeah that's a signature of mr kelly pooper kelly charles well also he had a name we used to call him ninja too i don't know where you got that one from my name is azik from 17 plus most of you know me as azik uh if you know me from a long time ago you know you know me as jerry myerson bordo so here we go we talking about kelly charleswell songwriter producer educator guitarist bassist This is Doc Walters, everyone knows me as Durkee, musician, producer, songwriter, rhythm master, you know, based here in the Virgin Islands, live on Tortola, BVI representing the BVI and USVI. Just want to really take this opportunity to big up my good friend, my brethren, my mentor, my big brother, Pupa Kelly, being honored, is really great, Anna, for a real legend and an icon from the virgin islands and through the entire caribbean you know what can i really say about pooper kelly in one word just amazing amazingly incredible individual and human being you know that's how i describe kelly you know my first memory of meeting kelly is many years ago i was a very young boy and kelly is actually one of the musicians from the caribbean one of the very best that actually motivated me just by watching him playing music and seeing how disciplined he's been and really you know push me towards becoming a musician and repping that virgin island song for years so kelly definitely is one of those poor sins congratulations my friend kelly i am so proud of you this honor is well deserved thank you people of the virgin islands my people 0:28:13 for honoring my friend this is long overdue uh for those of you don't know my name is cleave maloon i am the arts supervisor for the school district of palm beach county here in florida kelly and i grew up together playing music we started in junior high and we went to high school And we played in CAHS band, jazz band, which Kelly initiated and 0:30:54 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly started. We played, we started a group together called Rhythm and Brass. And then we both started to play with Eddie in the movement, which is now called the Jam Band. Kelly and I played in the group and I remember working with him and watching him move the group from one sound to the unique sound that it is. with power and drive I met him in high school through concert band like I met a lot of musicians like bolo and stuff like that so we started from then you know we used to play concert music but we always wanted to do the jam thing you know go out and find a group so we formed a band rhythm and brass you know up in school and it was nice that was like the you know the the launching pad for some of us musicians and um after that we uh went to ubi and one of the things i'm most proud about is playing actually playing for urtha kit she's like the first original bat woman Catwoman, or Catwoman, not Batwoman, Catwoman, Eartha Kitt, the late great, and me and Kelly, we got the music and rehearsed with her, and we went and performed live with her, so that was one of the big accomplishments, I thought that was great for young musicians to have done something like that and i got the chance to play with kelly in jam band um 90 and 91 um let loose and stuff like that was big chewing in them times and um i realized when i was there that friday and kelly was the perfect perfect duo for a band it's like both Both artists used to demand attention from the crowd. I mean, it was do for do. In high school, Kelly was a percussionist. He started out playing percussion. And I remember one time he looked at me and he said, I'm going to play trombone. And I was a trombonist. And in one summer, or it seems like it was a summer, it may have been shorter, he picked up the trombone and he surpassed all 12 of us at the time that played trombone in that section. He's that kind of a musician. He taught me so many things 0:31:33 about music that I still carry with me today that I share with my students. Kelly, you must know that your musical wisdom has been spread across my students and several other people's students at least for the past 35 years. Greetings everyone, this is DJ Poppy Pops, Miguel A. Santos Jr. I'm from St. Croix. I've been a radio DJ for over 35 years, but I'm here to big up and give honor to Kelly of Jamban. Kelly and I have known him since the 1980s. We've been on boat rides together. We've been on stage shows together. who have traveled with the jam band and do entertainment around the world. And I just want to say that Kelly has been an impacted source in the music industry in our Virgin Islands. And I just want to give him his props that Kelly deserves every bit. He has been a composer of much of the jam band hits. 0:34:01 I just want to say that Kelly have impacted me as a DJ Because his music always lifted up souls and parties and events So on behalf of me, DJ Poppy Pops I'd like to say proudly, Kelly, big up yourself And you deserve every little bit that is given to you in this time i just wanted to list a few bands that we me and kelly actually play in together we played in rhythm and brass we played in um problems band we played in uh jam band of course pure passion 17 plus and we did a couple um we did a couple projects together too so it's like we have a long history together doing music together one of the things that i am very proud of is me and kelly actually built a studio together from scratch not sure that we had uh drawings or anything like that we just built it we uh wired it ourselves and recorded some of the best music um uh clean music that you could hear why i find really great about kelly is how such an immense talent you know someone's such skill sets but still so humble you know so that's that's kelly for you and kelly's always he always has a joke just like our mutual good brother boots you know long live boots as well from jamban you know we always could share memories of boots and other portions and the role that kelly played in developing the song the vi song as we all know it in the virgin islands is much larger than most persons would ever give him credit for because kelly is a producer he's a songwriter he's a reader man himself he's an arranger a lot of the very greatest arrangements and jam man albums in the past you know have been arranged by kelly and even mixing people don't even know kelly's an exceptional audio engineer live and studio recording so he actually mixed some jam man albums in the past singles and he's had a really tremendous career popa kelly is one of two guys that made me lose sleep playing this guitar 0:35:10 as popa kelly and of course onion um i would go to the the jams look at them look at the fingering look at the positioning uh and go home and not even go to sleep just pick up the guitar and you know try to work out try to remember what they do and how they do it you know he's one of the most respected guitarists and all-around musicians in the entire caribbean nothing but love and respect so i just want to show that give that positive energy kelly love you for life big brother you already know for me teaching music i remember one time we were in uh we're sitting in your bedroom in high school and we were working on an arrangement or something you You were working on an arrangement, I was listening, and you said, you looked at me and you said, the music always wants to go home. And I sort of understood what you were saying then. And then as the years gone by, I really kind of understood the deep meaning behind it when you're saying go home. 0:37:38 Yes, we're always trying to get to one, but you were talking about being honest with the music, being sincere about what you play. And that has stayed with me for a very long time, all my life, since you said it. And thank you for that bit of witness, wisdom that you've shared with me. Kelly as a musician is, I mean, driven as you could find any musician. He is, you can't put him in a box. He's willing to do anything and try anything when it comes to music. what I love about him. So the next thing I'm going to say is I've never heard someone play a rhythm guitar like Kelly. Rhythm. Never heard it. I 0:38:40 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly don't think I'll ever hear it. I mean it's clean with bite um i mean as the best i've heard was him laying on tracks and i want i just want to say if you know even if he could teach people how to do that you need to do that and i'm just going to close by saying one of my best tunes that you have written, Kelly, the one that I, one of them, that I kind of really fell in love with was the tune Love You. You remember that? Yeah, that tune there, the chord structure in that tune is no joke, okay, no joke. And that was playing that live with Jamman, that was like a highlight for me as a musician. So I want to say, look, congrats again. Popakeri, that's him, you know, salute to you brother. And without you, there's no Danny Kean. You are a remarkable human being, musician, and friend. 0:40:26 You definitely deserve this honor. I can't express how proud I am to have known you all these years and to see this happening finally on this day, in this year, in 2023. And I want to say enough respect for changing and also keeping and also creating memories with Virgin Islands music. He's one of the icons. Of course, you know Daddy Friday, and then you also know Topa Kelly, two icons. Kupakeli unique. That's the only word I can describe him. So before I overdo it, let me lose his vocals to my name, to my job, please. And again, Pupakelli, enough respect. You deserve it. You deserve it. And I'm glad that we're giving it to you while you're here with us. Respect. Love you, love you, till the day I die. 0:41:05 The man wonder if Commodore can hold the strain Superhero, Superhero So they open down tongue calling up the name Superhero, Superhero The man wonder if any DJ Lord can top he Superhero, Superhero Don't know DJ come to a big celebrity Superhero Watch it And I must say For the people of the Virgin Islands You have a true treasure In a musician You have a true treasure Of a human being And I'm sure you realize That he has shared The wealth of his Musical knowledge This is not something you can teach he is one of those rare musicians that you can say he's got it he he's you know he's always has we knew that from high school to sit around under the tree skip class I think our teacher was Miss Louvie would skip her class and hide out and he would grab his guitar and and play stuff for us And we would just sit and just kind of soak in the knowledge while we're clowning around. He was, you know, way lightspeeds, light years ahead of us in his thinking and what he's doing as a musician. 0:42:17 But Kelly, are you feeling the love? You feeling the love? I'm feeling the love for you. That was an awesome, awesome video testimonial for so many persons and so many lives that you have touched musically. The impact that that video made on me is how many students you have touched, not just here in the Virgin Islands, but also on the mainland. So you have so much to be proud of. So we're going to continue to have you feel the love this afternoon, and we are going to hear from Robert Sperm Leonard, a keyboard player. He was with you in Eddie and the Movements and the Jam Band. Mr. Leonard, the floor is yours. 0:44:07 One. Good afternoon, one and all. How am I going to say anything now? Let's get real. I am not going to be very long at all. I was in Eddie and the Movements when Kelly came to be in Eddie and the Movements. I was the keyboard player at that time. He constantly and always impressed me with his ability. I'm proud to have been able to play it with him. So without any further ado, let's shout, Bamaclar, by saying. Thank you very much. Thank you. 0:44:51 Somebody is going over to the opening of the village. You ready? You ready to go? All right. Next, we're going to hear from Roy Lovie Chesterfield, who was also in Eddie and the Movement and Jam Band and served as the drummer. Roy Lovie Chesterfield Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I really had to write this down a little bit because they say, first of all, they say I am long-winded. And then secondly, this is my brother, so like, it's so much thing to talk about this guy. I will be here till another month. So some of the things that they talk about, there's so much other stories to that. Again when I was listening to him doing the lovely, the love you, love you, we were in the studio and that song in itself, it was different than what we recorded but that song was a different twist on the album. And that song became one of the biggest hits on the album. And so it brought me back to memory and even to tears. and again with robert leonard he was our keyboard player so it's a close band with us and again i had to put something down short because again i could get carried away you guys know me already so you know so i want to say good afternoon honorable 34 35th legislature senate novel e francis jr honorable donna fred gregory bill spencer and other admirable senators of the 35th in attendance fellow testifiers guests and viewing listening audience thank you for the invitation to speak on resolution 1903 which are now the contribution of kelly l charles well senior better known as pooper kelly again my name is roy chesterfield i'm a retired police sergeant entrepreneur professional drummer uh founder of unity reggae explosion he also played with me too reggae so when them guys are playing thing we switch and we start to play reggae now he playing gospel so you know we balance we put a balance i appear before you today with great pride and honor to be able to provide remarks on behalf of a man i've known for over 40 years not only as a band maid but also as my closest friend there's so much i can say about this musical genius his musical arrangements now is unmatched his playing style of the guitar can only describe as a gift and it's truly his time to consider one of the music the musical ambassador of the virgin Islands. Kelly and I began our friendship as a member of the EDIAN movement. Kelly originally joined the band as a trombone player, 0:45:33 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly but became the guitarist after the original guitarist had resigned. Kelly immediately started composing and arranging music for the band and it afforded him another opportunity to showcase his talent as he became one of the lead singers of the same band. As he displayed his talent with other bands, Kelly was also known for his high pitch range on vocals as a singer in jam band, along with Daddy Friday. So, you know, they had a combination with high and high. Friday was a barring tone singer and Kelly is a tenor singer. That's the musical terms. And he was known for that high pitch. As the band traveled all over the world the song and the song right he was a songwriter arranger composer kelly also had a special touch in his creativity that can only be described once again as a gift with all his accomplishments and recognition kelly has remained one of the most humble and loyal friends to me i feel without a doubt his legacy and talent share with continue to his children and every music musical student he has the opportunity to teach and develop musically over 25 years i thank you for the opportunity to give my friend and my brother his recognition that he's so dissolved and is long overdue i would also like to thank the member of the 35th legislature for recognizing the god-given musical talent of mr kelly l charleswell better known as pooper kelly so i want to say thank you guys for this opportunity and to share a little bit of his story, because his story is so deep, I mean, some of the things that you guys know, some of the albums that we recorded, Kelly also play the bass line, play the bass lines for the songs because sometimes we just create music right in the studio. We create the songs in the studio and record it. We have recorded songs just taking one take, and just 0:48:03 one take because sometimes the engineer will say okay we're going to do a mix and there's a text mix to make sure every instrument is balanced and the balance just doing the balanced mix at a take one they come the engineer say that's a go i mean again we need it again but hey thank you guys so i just wanted to share a little bit of some of the insight uh in the music that we did together as as band members and give a little opening so people can understand the magnitude and the talent that this brother has thank you again for for testifying thank you thank you thank you mr chester feel that was awesome next we will go virtual and we're going to hear from jerry azik myers bass player the 17 plus band uh good good afternoon to uh noble francis and all the senators that are representing represented here today from the 35th legislature um and to all the friends and family that came to represent you know the honoree um i also wrote down something but i'm not going to go through because from the video and you know Lou V and what everybody said is like you know say no more you know what I'm gonna do is uh thank the like the legislature thank the kind of the the festival committee for even thinking about you know naming the village after uh Pupa Kelly and and one of the things I want to get put in your heads is Kelly was one of the major musicians in Jamban along also in the in the VI along with other groups right that actually made the the Virgin Islands a great part of of shaping jam music. Because back in the day, you know, I don't want to say too much 0:49:59 because you don't think I'm an old guy, but back in the day, you know, places like Trinidad never used to play, you know, uptempo. But because of the VI and the music that was coming out, the arrangement and stuff like that, they started to listen to the Virgin Islands to come to music and even um um marshall montano who's on island right now he was quoted as saying that he listens to uh virgin island's music you know to get uh you know stuff so what i'm gonna say is uh congrats to kelly man you you deserve it you are one of the musicians that i've been around that i learned from and and and like i said on that video you can't put kelly in a box he's willing to try anything when it comes to music and that's what i love so uh again congrats to kelly cooper kelly and um peace man i love you much bro thank you mr mayor and as we continue to hear from musical greats we now will hear from one of our own and the saint croix village honoree for the last christmas crucial christmas festival mr alwyn daddy jones baptiste jr good afternoon everybody um first of all um first of all first of I would like to thank the Legislature, first of all, for the resolution. 0:52:13 I know we do a lot of resolutions, but whenever we do resolutions, I have to do with musicians. I get all excited, including for my dad, Papa Kelly, and for myself. All I do is music. All I've done for the last 30 years of my life is music. I really appreciate what it is it takes to get to this point to be sitting down here, especially next to Papa Kelly. Every conversation that we have lasts for an hour, every single one. And most of the time, by the time I leave the conversation, I just want to either produce music or go listen to another set of music or just embrace music even more. He really does that to me. One of my humbling stories I have to tell is when we were working on one of the Jamal albums we were doing, I had a song, I had a rhythm, actually it was for Diamonds in the Sky. 0:54:00 We didn't have any lyrics to it yet so I brought it and when I brought it I was thinking about Kelly because I was thinking about Love U and how the impact of Love U did for the Virgin Islands and so I said well, I wanted to get an opportunity to do a Love U with Kelly. So when I played the rhythm, Freddie jumped up and said, no, no, no, I want that. That's my rhythm. So I was like, man. But Freddie did do a good job with the rhythm. But then Kelly came with, love makes the world go round. And as much as we could talk about love you, you have to listen to love makes the world go round. That alone by yourself proves everything that I've taught about musically. I had a chance to sit down with him in the studio. 0:54:58 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly We walk on it. Kelly's one of the first musicians to tell you, Al, take it out. You don't need it. Take it out, take it out, take it out, take it out. Everybody else is put it in, put it in, put it in, add it more, add it more, add it more. And as a producer, you know you will keep going or keep going. But then you understand that you have to leave room for the music to breathe. Kelly, I love you, like a brother. You do a lot for me, you do a lot for the Virgin Islands. I am so grateful for this accomplishment for you and for myself, you know? 0:55:47 I really love you, brother. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Baptiste. And now, last but not least, we will hear For Mr. Delvin Duggan, Sr., a legendary DJ and radio personality. One, two, one, one. Good afternoon. Hello, one, two. One, Tess. Good afternoon, Mr. Senate President, Senators, listening and viewing audience. 0:56:22 My name is Delvin Delano Duggan, Sr. Since everybody's putting their career and their musical career on the table, let me put mine. I'm a 44-year DJ legend of St. Thomas. Every, every major nightclub, I've made number one. I've played in every major carnival in America and throughout the Caribbean, even in Trinidad. So let's put that there. Now, Kelly Charleswell, I met him in kindergarten. And we used to drum on a desk. And the funniest thing about Kelly is, he used to have the guitar strumming, strumming. We didn't know what he doing, but he's strumming. And he's singing. Back in them times, they were like Kitchener songs, and then Swallow songs, and them kind of stuff. But his range of voice was funny. You know, that soprano high note. And we went through elementary school. We drumming, we getting beat with a ruler. We're in Aspinall School, high school. 0:56:53 But then when he end up in the band class, like our classmate, Cliff, said, Kelly was a percussionist. I was a drummer. Kelly was a percussionist. And Kelly said he going to play the trombone. He picked up the trombone. He surpassed everybody. He became the section leader for the trombone. But the guitar never, never left his heart. So back in those times, that's like 82, 83 in that time, Kelly and Azik, my neighbor from Bodo, them guys joined Rhythm and Brass. And from Rhythm and Brass, some of them transitioned to Eddie and the Movements, and then which became the Jamba. But Kelly has always been an amazing, amazing musician. You know, one time I was playing on a boat ride with Jamban when we used to do boat ride on the badge, because they were banned from the Contiki. And I see Kelly walking on the boat ride with a bass. 0:58:03 I said, Kelly, what are you doing? He said, go and play bass tonight. I said, you could play bass? He said, yeah, man, you just know the cards and bounce it up, that's Jamban. And Kelly, amazing enough, Kelly did a better job than some of them regular bass man. So to give him his fair ado, Kelly is a musician, a guitarist, a trombonist, a percussionist, a keyboardist, a bassist, and he's a great arranger. 0:59:09 He could write everybody part. The hand part, the rhythm part, the drum, everybody part. He's a composer. He can mix, do studio mixing. He can sing, and he can write. And to me, everybody praise him for his attributes of being a musician. If you listen to his lyrics, like Daddy Jones just said, love is what makes the world go wrong. I listened to that song this morning, and it bring water to my eye. Because last night, we did a boat ride in Trubit Akeli. And he showed us what real soldiering is. He played the whole night of the time that he was supposed to play. And when he couldn't go no more, he said, somebody hold the string. And then he come back. 0:59:43 And he did it till the end. And I walked off the boat right behind of him, because that's George Washington School, Charlotte Amali High School, class at 83, strong. Because just like he, walking away, for the last three years, I tried to walk away from DJing, and people still calling. And I really have to say no. So to you, Kelly Chazwell, and I call him Kelly Ninja. I don't call him Papa Kelly. Kelly Ninja. We grew up in Down Street. He grew up in Simmons Alley. I was down in Anisfancy. And we together brought us from elementary school until we went through Charlotte and Molly. I want to tell you, Kelly, I love you with all my heart. You's my brother, tell me I die, and wherever you need, you can call me I die for you. Thank you. 1:00:34 These were some awesome moving testimonies here that we heard this afternoon, and it is so wonderful that you are here and that you are able to be present to receive your flowers. So thank you very much to all who have provided testimonials on behalf of Pupa Kelly. At this time, we would like to present you, Mr. Pupa Kelly, with your resolution. So I invite to the podium the bill sponsor, the bill co-sponsor, and the Senate President of the 35th Legislature. Thank you. 1:01:28 Kelly, I am so delighted that the members, myself and the members of the 35th Legislature was able to be the vehicle for your friends who are near and dear to you, to speak so well on your behalf. This is just an awesome time. I keep telling people great things are happening here, and this is a perfect example of great things. So Kelly, we honor and revere you. We don't see you all the time, but know that you are in our hearts and you are dear to us, you are dear to the Virgin Islanders here in the territory. So we have this resolution, and I'm not certain how to send it, the President wants me to hand that you wish for it to be read? 1:02:39 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly No, in the essence of time, I mean, I just want to read all of it. Well, I believe I have a copy of it, do you have a copy of the resolution? Yes, the short title, do you have a copy? Okay, so I'll stand on this side and it says, a resolution, okay, thank you. Alright, this is a short title. The resolution that's before us today is resolution number 1903. A resolution honoring and commending Kelly I. Charles Wells, senior, better known as Pupa, Pupa Kelly, his contribution to the people of the Virgin Islands in the field of music as a teacher and an instructor in the public school system and his involvement with the musical bands of the US Virgin Islands. And this is on behalf of every single member of the 35th Legislature. When we brought this measure, everyone said yes. It was a unanimous yay. So congratulations to you, and congratulations to your family, and congratulations to all in the community who have supported him over the years. I have one question though, I have to ask it. 1:03:41 You a part of coming out of the classroom? Coming out of the classroom, heading straight to the ballroom, wiggling, wiggling, wiggling, wiggling, wiggling. Walking up in a band, bending over, bending over. No? That was when we were in high school. That's when we were kids. Yes, yes. Okay, that's our age. No man, that's when we were in high school. That's right, it was 83. That was Nick Friday. Yes. I just wonder if you were part of the Arranging? No, no. Oh, okay. 1:05:05 Unfortunately. That's these guys. The original, the writer of that is a guy named Sela. Okay. Sela wrote it, but it was Eddie and the Movements, and Sela wrote the music for it. But you are definitely Ting Lang. Thank you. Okay. All right. Let's make sure we're clear on that. So, we want to congratulate you. behalf of our Senate President and all the members of the Legislature, the 35th Legislature, congratulations to you and your family. 1:05:39 Hello, good afternoon everyone, 25th Legislature, Senate President, and everyone else. The hardest thing for me today was not to cry. It's very understandable during this time, I'm going to start it. Wow. 1:06:31 We also have a few more presentations. We have a gift basket, again, on the behalf of the legislature, the members of the 35th legislature of the Virgin Islands. You and your family. Thank you. You're welcome. My granddaughter, come here. It's my daughter. How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? All right. I'll just rest it down here for the time. Also, you have a presentation? Yes. Brother Popa, thank you for being a musical ambassador to the Virgin Islands community. And brother, I forgive you for robbing like your old friend of mine, Tahini. But we good, we good. Love you. 1:07:19 I thought it was most fitting to give you something from St. Croix. One thing that I most honor is a musician, because I was married to one. So, I understand your connection to the music, to the community, and I just want to say thank you. Best wishes. 1:08:06 This is yours. Is that a friend Gregory? So, this particular picture was shared with me by my classmate Delvin Duggins, and I said to my staff, this is an awesome, awesome photo of Kelly, and I wanted it remade. This is an old photo. We had to actually have it digitized and pixelated in order for me to get it done. 1:08:46 On the first time we printed it, it didn't come out good. But on behalf of myself, my family and my staff, we present you this portrait to be placed in your home or the place of where you feel it best to be placed. Congratulations again. We love you. Thank you. 1:09:30 Okay. Time? I'll give you a score at 20 m. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 1:10:30 Thank you. Thank you, and in closing, while we wrap up, my congratulations to you, Mr. Charleswell, this well-deserved acknowledgement of your talent and generosity. The Versailles is the better for all that you have given to support culture and the musical arts. This evening, my colleagues and I look forward to celebrating with Mr. Charleswell, further at the opening of the Pupa Kelly Charleswell Senior Musical Arena. Again, my thanks to all who have made today's ceremony possible. The Executive Director's Office, certainly Senator Frank Gregory, Senator Ray Fonseca, and all of the individuals that really spoke highly of Mr. Charles Will. God bless you all, and again we'll see you this evening where we continue the celebration and celebrate the work of 1:11:58 this great man. God bless this adjourn, this Prometh-Pak ceremony. quick benediction let us depart in peace and in love and charity with our neighbors may we be joined together in the continued remembrance of celebrating one of our own gifted to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords let us drive safely and carefully from this institution and may god's blessing be upon us all amen you know baby love is what makes the world go around and you know i've got lots of love for you Baby, I love ya Do up, do up, do up, do up, do up Oh, oh, oh I am certain No more searching You're all I need Our love's so real You came along Now I'm so strong Let the world know Let our love show You rock my boat, shower me with love A pretty angel from above No one could ever come between me And you You turn a figure into a faithful girl Whenever you call my name Sometimes I think it's all too good to be true Love is what makes the world go round And babe, I am in love with you Love is what makes the world go round And babe, you know I still have love for you Love is what makes the world go round Love is what makes the world go round Love is what makes the world go round 1:13:43 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 8 of 9 Legislature USVI · | Perma Plaque Ceremony Honoree Pupa Kelly Love is what makes the world go round Like a lion, straight from Zion Like Bob Marley, little birdie Like the ocean, deep emotion Will not forsake Your heart won't break You rock my boat, shower me with love You're like an angel from all over No one could ever compete with me and you A storybook with a happy end My lover girl, you're also my friend Sometimes I think it's all too good to be true Love is what makes the world go round And baby, I am in love with you Love is what makes the world go round And baby, you know I still have love for Come on, baby, baby Can't you see from the time I lived 1:15:43 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 4x Senator Ray Fonseca heard in this transcript as: Fonseca 2x Senator Donna A. Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna Fred Gregory 2x Senator Frank Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Senator Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Senator Marvin Blyden heard in this transcript as: Blyden 1x Senator Donna Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Frett-Gregory Bills and acts referred to Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one the Legislature gave the act. Referred to but not found in our acts corpus: Bill 35-0071 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 9 of 9