LOVE BUG MOVEMENTS

Friday, February 03, 2012

AMERICAN disc jockey Patti Zagranis is a 'Love Bug' lover like no other. During her lifetime, she has owned no fewer than 10 VWs. Now, retiring in Jamaica, she is seeking another.

"I've loved them since I was a kid. My mother and uncle owned one so I've been always aspiring to own one," she said.

Her Jamaican retirement also looking up as she has also located a model of her dream car.

"I'm buying one in Negril on Monday," she told Auto.

Over the last few years, Zagranis has carved out a reputation as an avid reggae music lover with a vast catalogue of classic reggae hits.

"I have a sound system too called Luv Bug Movements," she said.

With her larger-than-life personality, she is best known for her successful radio show on a station called Caribbean Fyah 96.5FM in Boston, Massachusetts. Her show, dubbed 'Nice Up U Medi' airs in the 12 noon to 2 pm time slot on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

"My listenership sometimes topped 50,000 people," she said.

Now that Zagranis has retired from her full-time job at an American phone company, which she held for 27 years, she will be turning her musical hobby into a full-time profession.

"I'm ready for music full time!" the perky reggae disc jockey said. She has been moonlighting as a "selectress" and reggae disc jock for almost 21 years now.

"I was the mix-tape girl in high school, making mix cassettes for all my friends, and always loved reggae... Bob, of course, Jimmy Cliff, Dennis Brown, Super Cat, Shabba... I even have Beenie Man's first album on vinyl," she boasted.

Zagranis got involved in playing music in 1991 after a Jamaican friend saw her record collection, was suitably impressed and actually got her to play at a club in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a small town about 30 miles north of Boston.

"My friend brought me down to the club and let me DJ and that was it, I absolutely loved it, so I DJ'd around Lawrence and went to Jamaica for the first time that year, then locked my hair by 1992 realising that I was always Rastafari, and started looking for places to play," she said.

At first, she found the experience challenging because the club owners in Boston refused to give her a chance to play, effectively shutting her out for several years. However, she persisted in the pursuit of her dream.

Eventually, she performed a neat bit of gymnastics and landed on FM radio. She began to play gigs at stations such as Dive FM in Boston, Reggae Vybz Radio in Mount Vernon NY, and also landed a prime time slot on Big City 101.3FM in Boston with Ghetto Hype of King Midas Sound on the Old Time Sittin' Show.

"I'll still be broadcasting from Jamaica but it will also be heard up in Boston still over the Internet at www.caribbeanfyah.com," she said.

She also dabbles in artiste management where she has reaped some amount of success with P Zed, the brother of Little Hero. She has been managing him since 2008.

"I really love artiste management and is currently promoting artistes such as PZed, Hezron, X-ALE, Junior X, Cutty Corn, Little Hero, Anthony Cruz, Tony Curtis, Singing Melody, Zamunda, Galawasp, Denno, Angele Smith, Ghandi, Suga Roy & Conrad Crystal.

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LOVE BUG MOVEMENTS