Retro music Three the Hard Way and Friends way
Popular party makes UWI debut on Friday
ON FRIDAY, November 24, the main tent at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, will be transformed into a pulsing dance floor, decked from top to bottom with state of the art LED disco lighting and five seven-feet high DJ booths.
Three the Hard Way and Friends – the wildly popular ’70s, ’80s and ’90s retro party put on by the old boys of Jamaica College (JC), Kingston College (KC), St George’s College (StGC), Calabar High and Wolmer’s Boys’ School – will make its UWI debut, moving from its traditional home at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College.
Three the Hard Way started in 2015 with a simple concept – old boys from three of Jamaica’s most celebrated boys’ schools would host a retro reunion party featuring three DJs who are old boys of the schools, playing ’70s, ’80s and ’90s hits. That year, DJ Squeeze, Marlon Young and Stone Love icon Rory represented JC, KC and Calabar, respectively.
The concept was expanded last November to include the other Kingston-based boys’ schools, and thus, ‘Three the Hard Way and Friends’ was born. This year’s DJ line-up is even more solid, as founding member Squeeze will warm up the night with some scorching ’70s hits, before Richie Ras (St George’s), DJ Smurf (Calabar), DJ Boyd (Wolmer’s), and Kurt ‘The Party Animal’ Riley (KC) rinse the dance floor with some of the best ’80s and ’90s ‘chunes’.
Despite the strong old boys influence David Miller, president of Calabar Old Boys is quick to point out that “Three the Hard Way and Friends is not a JC, KC, Calabar, Wolmer’s or St George’s event. It is for anyone who enjoys a good, fun time in a delightful, well puttogether entertainment package and wants to have an incredible night of music and dancing. It is a clean, mature and professionally organised party that attracts and represents the best of Jamaica.”
NOTHING LIKE IT
For his part, KC Old Boy Kurt Riley, who has been playing records in public since the 1990s and is fully capable of plying his trade just about anywhere, says that there’s nothing quite like the atmosphere at a Three the Hard Way party. “You have to turn it up a little bit at this party, because your old school is depending on you to recapture those timeless memories of high school fetes and house parties. And with your alma mater cheering you on, you definitely put a little more feeling and passion into playing,” he said.
Three the Hard Way and Friends is a major fund-raiser for the five old boys associations, as income earned is used to help needy boys with uniforms, books, lunch, scholarships and more, while driving home the timeless message of unity and camaraderie
Steve Billings, JC old boy and CEO of SunCityFM, said, “We wanted to show the current boys that great rivals can be even greater friends and that despite our rivalries and intense competition, we all have a common goal of developing our boys into men of character and high achievement.”
Sponsors for Three the Hard Way and Friends include First Global Bank, FLOW and ATL Automotive, through their BMW brand.