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"FacebookPinterest\n\n Last night, reggae icon Jimmy Cliff delivered a highly personal performance at Miss Lily's Variety in New York's Soho. The show happened to be the very first \"Radio Lily\" broadcast from the soon-come gallery/exhibit space, an adjunct to the chic Miss Lily's Favorite Cakes restaurant one and a half doors down from its cozy spot on the corner of Houston and Sullivan. The series could not have launched with a more auspicious send-off. In between questions from Caribbean radio personality Pat McKay, the reggae legend (and GQ Survivor) sang songs and told stories about the birth of reggae, at which he happened to be present. For instance, a tale about the time Cliff was sitting at the piano in Leslie Kong's studio when a young Bob Marley walked in and played him a handful of tunes, was punctuated with an impromptu acoustic version of \"Judge Not\"\u2014which thanks to Cliff's subsequent introduction, became Marley's first recording pressed on 45. Classics from Cliff's own repertoire had the high-powered crowd\u2014which included Salman Rushdie and Julian Schnabel, among others\u2014singing along and licking shots of imitated gunfire. It was the rousing, gospel-tinged rendition of his immortal \"Many Rivers to Cross\" however, that caused (former 1Oak doorman and Lily's co-owner) Binn Jakupi to break down in uncharacteristic tears.\n\n Crucial songs from Cliff's new EP Sacred Fire were present only in the form of selections by the night's DJ Rob Kenner but no one was complaining about the chance to be a part of such an intimate musical conversation\u2014a format that would not have worked quite the same in either a conventional interview or stageshow. The icing on the rumcake comprised goodies in the form of limited edition Jimmy Cliff tees and hot-off-the-press 45s of his new \"Guns of Brixton\" cover (A portion of all Miss Lily's Variety sales will go to the Rockhouse Foundation, a U.S.-registered charity dedicated to transforming education in Jamaica)\u2014and of course a steaming plate of oxtail, washed down with ginger beer.\n\n \u2014Edwin Houghton"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/about-last-night-jimmy-cliff-gets-intimate>