Words by Jesse Serwer
Our own Eddie STATS first brought us word of Tracks & Records after returning from a weekend in Jamaica last month with stories of a new Usain Bolt theme restaurant/sports bar that had just opened in a Kingston stripmall. Though it just opened in April, already the Jamaican answer to both the Hard Rock Cafe and the ESPN Zone (it’s sports- and music-themed, hence the punny name), in which Bolt is a minority investor (the majority owners are Kingston Live, the people behind the adjacent Fiction nightclub), is growing satellites. According to the Jamaica Observer, a second location will open on Royal Caribbean’s massive new cruise ship pier in Falmouth, Trelawny, near where Bolt grew up, followed by another in London. The latter, it’s hoped, will be ready for business in time for the 2012 Olympics, when Bolt will look to set new records in the 100- and 200-meter sprints and then, presumably, gully creep his way over to his own theme restaurant to celebrate with an escoveitch sandwich. For now, Kingstonians and visiting music journalists are the only ones who can watch Lee “Scratch” Perry videos (every booth comes with a giant screen and interactive table-top LCD) while they sample T&R’s renowned jerk chicken, coconut-and-cassava crusted shrimp and scotch bonnet wings. But we hear the company is considering locations in Atlanta and New York so…people, get ready.
