JOEL DILLON

 

THE BAD BOY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

 

By Terry Joseph

Express

April 13, 2000

Page 6 & 7

 

From age seven, Joel Dillon wanted to be a recording artiste, but did a number of other things instead - including time at two correctional facilities.

 

Today, at 32, he is a well-spoken young man, rebuilding a dream that suffered severe slippage when at 11 he had his first brush with the law.

 

For Carnival, he sang back-up at the Soca Monarch competition and performed one of the songs on his CD at Crosby's launch.

 

Born in La Romaine of a construction worker mother and a barber who fathered more children than Dillon could keep count of, the boy lived mostly with his grandparents, who lived in Marabella and then in Cushe Village, Biche.

 

At age seven, he was already left pretty much on his won, hanging out wherever music was played.  It was late in that year that he entered a band room in Cushe Village and impressed the leader of Dread and the I Ternals with his singing.  By age eight, he was the band's wonder-boy lead singer.

 

He subsequently worked with Volts Express, doing a Carnival season and later auditioned with the then popular Taxi.

 

But let us not race ahead of the unfolding story.

 

At age 11 and on the very day of his Common Entrance examination, Dillon decided that life in Cushe was not what he had in mind.  "I ran away from home without a cent and only the school uniform on my back," Dillon confessed.

 

"Although I had never been to the capital city before in my life, I took a bus from San Fernando to Port of Spain.  I had no idea where I was or what I was doing walking around, but I knew I did not want to be home.

 

"When it began to get dark and I got very hungry, I went to a policeman and told him I was from Marabella and I was lost.  He believed me and took me to the station.  They asked me how I got to town and I lied and said I did not know the bus was a non-stop and I had fallen asleep on the trip.  They put me on the television news, asking for my parents to claim me and my mother came the next morning."

 

It would not be the last time that Dillon would sleep in a police station.

 

"Surprisingly, my mother did not lay a finger on me," he said.  "Instead, she said that if I wanted to learn a trade, she would send me by one of my uncles in Morvant to train.  I learnt all the aspects of general construction, starting with plumbing, then welding and masonry.  I am an A-class joiner now, but I was reasonably good from about age 13."

 

Bad company.  That's his explanation for why things began going wrong.

 

"I used to follow a clique I thought was hip, but then trouble started coming.  We did a number of stupid and senseless things to people and their property and since the group looked up to me, I had to do the most outrageous things.

 

"It didn't take long for the police to reach.  I was caught driving a car that my brother-in-law had given me a job to wash.  The magistrate did not want to hear anything and I was sent to the Youth Training Centre for three years.  Jail! Real jail!"

 

But after ten months and advice from his jailors, Dillon sent his case to the Ombudsman, who had him released on a pardon.

 

"I went full into joinery when I came out and worked with a few companies who either treated me badly when they found out I was inside, or generally did not give me good reward for my skills, after I went at the work wholeheartedly," Dillon said.

 

"I began thinking that the rebellious road would be the only thing that would bring results, but I fought it back and went into barbering, following in my father's footsteps.  Round about age 23, I found the girl I thought I would like to settle down with.  But I was working hard and long hours, because I wanted to provide something for us, but while I was away, she did not behave right and we had to part and I got a bad tabanca.  I could not take the hurt and ended up using hard drugs."

 

He turned to the most rebellious don't-care thing he could think of: renting guns and holding up maxi-taxis.

 

"That way, I would just live fast and die young, probably in a shoot-out," Dillon said.

 

But he got caught instead and was sent to jail for five years.

 

He actually served three years and some months.

 

But in that time, his life was turned around.

 

"Somehow, I had come to the attention of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, perhaps because of my skills in sculpting, barbering, joinery, general construction and entertainment.

 

They all asked me what I was doing in prison, if I had such a combination of skills.  They spoke to me often about life, pointing out that life is not about what I did to get me into prison.  People on the outside think there is no attempt to rehabilitate anybody in jail, but I can say that they not only tried with me, they were successful.

 

"I also had a lot of guidance from Mr. Godson Neptune, who spoke to me one day on the basketball court and told me he would teach me English and how to organise business and how to get along in life.  Anyone who has been in the Frederick street prison will tell you about Mr. Neptune and the work he is doing in there," Dillon said.

 

Neptune, a former general manager of the Employers' Consultative association (ECA) and personnel manager at the West Indian Tobacco Company (Witco), was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife.

 

"He became my surrogate father, replacing the one I never really had," Joel said.  "Everybody calls him Mr. Neptune.  Apart from the Commissioner and the deputy, nobody else really gets called Mister, but Mr. Neptune."

 

After some months of coaxing and cajoling, Dillon began to admit his wrongs and it dawned on him that he did not belong in prison.

 

"I realised that I had already disappointed my family, friends, myself and The Creator, which meant that I had no one else to disappoint.  I decided to go into the prisons calypso competition, just to try something new.  After all, I used to work with people who are now famous names, like Ataklan, Black Mayl, KMC, Nadine Grant, Shadow Banton, General Grant and a set of people, singing back-up or whatever, but now they were all famous and legit and I was in prison."

 

Dillon got help from King Fires (Michael Hague), who has been the prison monarch for several years in a row and Dexter Taylor, a former lead guitarist with a popular band.

 

In his first attempt at the calypso crown in the prison competition, Dillon came in third.

 

On his release from prison early last year, Dillon made it to the semi-final of Scouting for Talent and received a special prize for having the best calypso in the series.

 

But it was not over yet.

 

Dillon tried to get a steady job, knocking on all doors in the process.  One such door was at de Leon's security company, Protective Services.  Dillon could never be a security guard with his background but de Leon tried to help him.

 

De Leon said, "I realised that there was something about this young man that was different from those who always promise a fresh start."

 

Dillon said, "Mr. De Leon only came into my life about three months ago, but what he has done for me is what I was trying to accomplish for the past 32 years."

 

De Leon realised he wanted to sing.

 

"God sent a fourth man.  A fellow I know working there told him I could sing.  He asked me about it and I sang two lines for him and he called up Kenny Phillips and spoke with him and Sprangalang, telling them I had a couple of songs and wanted to record them."

 

He went to Keny's studio (KMP Music Labs) with the songs and came out with a three-track CD.

 

One of the songs was written by fellow prisoner Ricky Lee in 1998 ("Bounce Around"), another ("We Fete") was written by Ricky and myself and "Uplift Pan Trinbago" started with me, but was completed by David Frank and Newton Thomas, known as Bigga Youth.

 

While in the studio, as he met Richard Nanan, bandleader of Princes Town's Andaz International, who heard his work and immediately engaged him as lead vocalist.  De Leon also engaged Joel as caretaker for his warehouse and mobile stock.

 

"If I don't do this now for myself, at least I cannot disappoint any more of the people who have put their trust in me," Dillon said.  "And I don't want to spoil it or other people who God may be considering for a second chance.  I have to let everyone know that I shall not make the same mistakes again."

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